Argumentive Essays - Trojans, Mythological Kings, Epic Cycle

The Trojan War I am almost sure that we all know the stories of Greek Mythology. Now for Troy and its war, we may only know the stories implied by novels and movies. Some tails and myths have only part of the story which might seem more exciting then what actually started the fight, and how it really ended. Achilles didn?t really die at the end of the war. He was said to conquer Troy after the war had ended. This war is very popular because it lasted a decade. Achilles was the son of Thetis and Peleus. His mother tried to protect him from a prophecy of early death by dipping him into the River Styx, which would make him invulnerable? However, she held him by the heel so his heel was unprotected. She sent him to hide in the court of the king of Scyros, where he was disguised as a girl and married the princess Deidamia. Odysseus disguised himself as a traveling merchant, and tempted Achilles into revealing himself using a beautiful sword. The Iliad is a story that deals with a small part of the Trojan War. The cause of this war is when Paris, the prince of Troy, sailed to Sparta, seduced and abducted Helen and returned to Troy. When Menelaos discovered that his wife was gone, he gathered a number of Greek generals together to go with him, conquer Troy, and retrieve his wife. However, the Iliad only covers a few months during the tenth year of the war. In this time, many important events took place that could have possibly altered the outcome of this historic event? Two beautiful women whom were enemies of the Achaeans are captured during one of the many raids the army had on Troy. One of the women, named Chrysies is the prize for Ahomemnon (the king and commander-in ?chief of the Achaeans). But Chrysies? father, Chrysies wants his daughter back. Cheresies, whom was the priest God of Apollo, is hoping to go to the Achaean camp and claim his daughter. Unfortunately, this plan did not work out. And because of this, Chrys ies prays to Apollo for help. Apollo did in fact help the old man by spreading a deadly plague through the Achaean army, killing hundreds of them. After days of this, the Achaean?s most honored soldier, Achilles calls a meeting to determine the cause of the plague. A soothsayer of the Achaeans determines that King Agamemnon?s arrogance caused the plague by not returning the woman whom was captured to be his war prize. After finding this out, the woman is returned but Agamemnon takes Briseis whom was the prize captured for Achilles. Achilles is angry and publicly insulted so therefore he refuses to fight for the Achaeans and withdrawals his troops. He then requests to his mother Thetis (a sea nymph) to influence Zeus to help the Trojans defeat the Achaeans. The leader of the Gods promises Thetis that he will help. Zeus sends a dream to Agamemnon that has him convinced he will defeat the Trojans in battle the next day. With the order from Agamemnon, the army prepares itself for attack . The Trojans and Achaeans draw towards each other and Paris challenges one of the Achaeans to a one on one fight. The challenger of this is Menelaos. The winner will win Helen and both sides will agree on a treaty of peace. During the duel, Menelaos wounds Paris and begins dragging him to the Achaean?s territory when suddenly, Aphrodite appears and rescues him. Agamemnon announces to his army that they have won and demands that Helen is given back to them. Goddesses Hera and Athena want a complete destruction of Troy and they ask Zeus if no truce were made. Zeus in turn gives in and grants them their wish. As a result, the fighting soon resumes. As a way to start the war anew, Athena searches for Pandaros, a Trojan leader and tells him to kill Menelaos. Being the type of person Pandaros is he follows through with her advice. But instead of killing Menelaos, he only wounds him. The Achaeans are shocked that the Trojans would do this being that the truce is