Who won the war between Troy and Sparta. Greek mythology. Trojan War. Defensive structures of Troy

The Trojan War is one of the most legendary events in human history. It was glorified in Homer’s poem “The Iliad” and for many years was considered a myth, but after Heinrich Schliemann dug up Troy, this event took on completely historical contours. Every educated person has definitely heard about such heroes of the Trojan War as: Achilles (Achilles), Odysseus, Hector, Agamemnon, Priam, Aeneas, Paris and others, as well as the beautiful legend about the Trojan Horse and the abduction of Queen Helen. However, many facts are often blurred and it is difficult to remember the full picture of the Trojan War. In this article, I propose to recall the main events of the Trojan War, why it began and how it ended.

The Trojan War, according to the ancient Greeks, was one of the most significant events in their history. Ancient historians believed that it happened around the turn of the 13th-12th centuries. BC e., and began with it a new - “Trojan” era: the ascent of the tribes inhabiting Balkan Greece to a higher level of culture associated with life in cities. The campaign of the Achaean Greeks against the city of Troy, located in the northwestern part of the Asia Minor peninsula - Troas, was told by numerous Greek myths, later united in a cycle of legends - cyclical poems. The most authoritative for the Hellenes was the epic poem “The Iliad,” attributed to the great Greek poet Homer, who lived in the 8th century. BC e. It tells about one of the episodes of the final, tenth year of the siege of Troy-Ilion - this is the name of this Asia Minor city in the poem.

What do ancient legends tell about the Trojan War? It began by the will and fault of the gods. All the gods were invited to the wedding of the Thessalian hero Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis, except Eris, the goddess of discord. The angry goddess decided to take revenge and threw a golden apple with the inscription “To the Most Beautiful” to the feasting gods. Three Olympian goddesses, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, argued over which of them it was intended for. Zeus ordered young Paris, the son of the Trojan king Priam, to judge the goddesses. The goddesses appeared to Paris on Mount Ida, near Troy, where the prince was tending flocks, and each tried to seduce him with gifts. Paris preferred the love of Helen, the most beautiful of mortal women, offered to him by Aphrodite, and handed the golden apple to the goddess of love. Helen, daughter of Zeus and Leda, was the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. Paris, who came as a guest to the house of Menelaus, took advantage of his absence and, with the help of Aphrodite, convinced Helen to leave her husband and go with him to Troy. The fugitives took with them slaves and treasures of the royal house. Myths tell different stories about how Paris and Helen got to Troy. According to one version, three days later they arrived safely in Paris’s hometown. According to another, the goddess Hera, hostile to Paris, raised a storm at sea, his ship was carried to the shores of Phenicia, and only a long time later the fugitives finally arrived in Troy. There is another option: Zeus (or Hera) replaced Helen with a ghost, which Paris took away. During the Trojan War, Helen herself was in Egypt under the protection of the wise old man Proteus. But this is a late version of the myth; the Homeric epic does not know it.

The Trojan prince committed a serious crime - he violated the law of hospitality and thereby brought a terrible disaster on his hometown. Insulted Menelaus, with the help of his brother, the powerful king of Mycenae Agamemnon, gathered a large army to return his unfaithful wife and stolen treasures. All the suitors who had once wooed Elena and swore an oath to defend her honor came to the brothers’ call. The most famous Achaean heroes and kings: Odysseus, Diomedes, Protesilaus, Ajax Telamonides and Ajax Oilides, Philoctetes, the wise old man Nestor and many others brought their squads. Achilles, the son of Peleus and Thetis, the most courageous and powerful of the heroes, also took part in the campaign. According to the prediction of the gods, the Greeks could not conquer Troy without his help. Odysseus, being the smartest and most cunning, managed to persuade Achilles to take part in the campaign, although he was predicted that he would die under the walls of Troy. Agamemnon was elected leader of the entire army, as the ruler of the most powerful of the Achaean states.

The Greek fleet, numbering a thousand ships, assembled at Aulis, a harbor in Boeotia. To ensure the fleet's safe voyage to the shores of Asia Minor, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis. Having reached Troas, the Greeks tried to return Helen and the treasures peacefully. The experienced diplomat Odysseus and the insulted husband Menelaus went as envoys to Troy. The Trojans refused them, and a long and tragic war began for both sides. The gods also took part in it. Hera and Athena helped the Achaeans, Aphrodite and Apollo - the Trojans.

The Greeks were unable to immediately take Troy, which was surrounded by powerful fortifications. They built a fortified camp on the seashore near their ships, began to ravage the outskirts of the city and attack the allies of the Trojans. In the tenth year of the siege, a dramatic event occurred that resulted in serious setbacks for the Achaeans in battles with the defenders of Troy. Agamemnon insulted Achilles by taking away his captive Briseis, and he, angry, refused to enter the battlefield. No amount of persuasion could convince Achilles to abandon his anger and take up arms. The Trojans took advantage of the inaction of the bravest and strongest of their enemies and went on the offensive, led by the eldest son of King Priam, Hector. The king himself was old and could not take part in the war. The Trojans were also helped by the general fatigue of the Achaean army, which had been unsuccessfully besieging Troy for ten years. When Agamemnon, testing the morale of the warriors, feignedly offered to end the war and return home, the Achaeans greeted the proposal with delight and rushed to their ships. And only the decisive actions of Odysseus stopped the soldiers and saved the situation.

The Trojans broke into the Achaean camp and nearly burned their ships. Achilles's closest friend, Patroclus, begged the hero to give him his armor and chariot and rushed to the aid of the Greek army. Patroclus stopped the onslaught of the Trojans, but he himself died at the hands of Hector. The death of a friend makes Achilles forget about the insult. The thirst for revenge inspires him. The Trojan hero Hector dies in a duel with Achilles. The Amazons come to the aid of the Trojans. Achilles kills their leader Penthesilea, but soon dies himself, as predicted, from the arrow of Paris, directed by the god Apollo. Achilles' mother Thetis, trying to make her son invulnerable, dipped him into the waters of the underground river Styx. She held Achilles by the heel, which remained the only vulnerable place on his body. God Apollo knew where to direct Paris's arrow. Humanity owes the expression “Achilles’ heel” to this episode of the poem.

After the death of Achilles, a dispute begins among the Achaeans over the possession of his armor. They go to Odysseus, and, offended by this outcome, Ajax Telamonides commits suicide.
A decisive turning point in the war occurs after the arrival of the hero Philoctetes from the island of Lemnos and the son of Achilles Neoptolemus to the Achaean camp. Philoctetes kills Paris, and Neoptolemus kills the Trojans' ally, the Mysian Eurinil. Left without leaders, the Trojans no longer dare to go out to battle in the open field. But the powerful walls of Troy reliably protect its inhabitants. Then, at the suggestion of Odysseus, the Achaeans decided to take the city by cunning. A huge wooden horse was built, inside which a selected squad of warriors hid. The rest of the army, in order to convince the Trojans that the Achaeans were going home, burned their camp and sailed on ships from the coast of Troas. In fact, the Achaean ships took refuge not far from the coast, near the island of Tenedos.

Surprised by the abandoned wooden monster, the Trojans gathered around it. Some began to offer to bring the horse into the city. The priest Laocoon, warning about the treachery of the enemy, exclaimed: “Fear the Danaans (Greeks), who bring gifts!” (This phrase also became popular over time.) But the priest’s speech did not convince his compatriots, and they brought a wooden horse into the city as a gift to the goddess Athena. At night, the warriors hidden in the belly of the horse come out and open the gate. The secretly returned Achaeans burst into the city, and the beating of the inhabitants, taken by surprise, begins. Menelaus, with a sword in his hands, is looking for his unfaithful wife, but when he sees the beautiful Helen, he is unable to kill her. The entire male population of Troy perishes, with the exception of Aeneas, the son of Anchises and Aphrodite, who received a command from the gods to flee from the captured city and revive its glory elsewhere (see article “Ancient Rome”). The women of Troy faced an equally sad fate: they all became captives and slaves of the victors. The city was destroyed by fire.

After the destruction of Troy, strife began in the Achaean camp. Ajax Oilid brings the wrath of the goddess Athena upon the Greek fleet, and she sends a terrible storm, during which many ships sink. Menelaus and Odysseus are carried by a storm to distant lands. Odysseus's wanderings after the end of the Trojan War are sung in Homer's second poem, The Odyssey. It also tells about the return of Menelaus and Helen to Sparta. The epic treats this beautiful woman favorably, since everything that happened to her was the will of the gods, which she could not resist. The leader of the Achaeans, Agamemnon, after returning home, was killed along with his companions by his wife Clytemnestra, who did not forgive her husband for the death of her daughter Iphigenia. So, not at all triumphantly, the campaign against Troy ended for the Achaeans.

As already said, the ancient Greeks did not doubt the historical reality of the Trojan War. Even such a critically thinking ancient Greek historian as Thucydides, who did not take anything for granted, was convinced that the ten-year siege of Troy described in the poem was a historical fact, only embellished by the poet. Indeed, there is very little fairy-tale fantasy in the poem. If you isolate scenes with the participation of the gods from it, which is what Thucydides does, then the story will look quite reliable. Certain parts of the poem, such as the “catalog of ships” or the list of the Achaean army under the walls of Troy, are written as a real chronicle.

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The Trojan War is an important milestone in Greek mythology. Paris, son of the King of Troy, is invited to discuss the beauty of the three goddesses of Olympus. In exchange for his verdict, he is promised the most beautiful woman in the world. Since Helen was already married to the king of Sparta by that time, Paris kidnaps her in Troy.

The abduction of Helen the Beautiful sparks the ten-year Trojan War between the Greeks and the Trojans. In the end, it is resolved not by battle, but by Odysseus’s trick: Greek warriors hidden in a wooden horse (“Trojan Horse”) end up in an enemy city and open the gates to their comrades at night. Thus, Troy was taken and destroyed.

The Trojan War is a central event in Greek mythology.

Divine dispute and the abduction of Helen the Beautiful

The reason for the Trojan War was the abduction of Helen the Beautiful by the son of the King of Troy, Paris.

All the Greek gods and goddesses were invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, except Eris, the goddess of discord. In revenge, she comes uninvited and starts a dispute: in the middle of the holiday, at the center of the divine society, she throws a golden apple on which is written “To the Most Beautiful” (hence the “Apple of Discord”). A fierce dispute arises about who is the most beautiful among the goddesses on Olympus - Hera, the wife of Zeus, the goddess of wisdom, or Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

Zeus wants to end the argument. Therefore, he gives the right to judgment to Paris, the son of the Trojan king Priam, who should own the apple (this decision is the so-called “Judgment of Paris”). Paris rewards the goddess Aphrodite with an apple because he considers her the most beautiful woman in the world. However, Paris falls in love with Helen, who is already married to Menelaus, the king of Sparta, and wants to buy the title of beauty from Aphrodite. He fails and therefore Paris kidnaps Helen the Beautiful (Trojan).

Menelaus demands the return of his wife, but the Spartans refuse to return Helen. Then the powerful brother of Menelaus Agamemnon, who was the king of Mycenae, unites the Greek army and heads the high command. There were many brave heroes on the Greek side, of which the most important role was played by Odysseus, king of Ithaca and Achilles, son of Peleus and Thetis.

On the Trojan side were, first of all, Hector, the son of King Priam, and Aeneas, the son of Aphrodite. The Greek gods also take sides: Athena supports the Greeks, Aphrodite and Apollo help the Trojans.

Wrath of Achilles

Troy is besieged for ten years, but the Greeks are unable to capture the city. In the tenth year, a split occurred in the Greek army: Achilles was deprived of his beloved slave Briseis by Agamemnon. Out of anger, Achilles leaves. But when his best friend Patroclus is killed by Hector, Achilles wants revenge and returns to the fight against Troy. He was invulnerable, plunging into the waters of the Styx as an infant - only the heel by which his mother held him remained vulnerable (hence the vulnerable point or weak point of a person is called the “Achilles heel”).

Achilles defeated and killed Hector and dragged him around the tomb of Patroclus. King Priam begs the body of his son from Achilles, and the funeral procession leaves. Achilles himself was killed by Paris, whose arrow was guided by Apollo and hit Achilles' heel.

The end of the war and the conquest of Troy occurred thanks to the trick of Odysseus: on his advice, the Greeks build a wooden horse (“Trojan Horse”), in whose belly the bravest heroes hide. The horse was left at the gates of the city of Troy, the Greek ships retreated.

The Trojans believe that the Greeks abandoned the siege and left the horse as a gift to the Trojans. Despite Laocoon's warnings of danger, they drag the horse into the city to dedicate it to the goddess Athena. At night, Greek fighters secretly emerge from the wooden horse, summon ships with fiery torches and open the gates to the Greek soldiers. Thus, Troy was finally conquered and destroyed.

Escape of Aeneas from Troy

The Trojan king Priam, his family and his soldiers were killed or captured. But Aeneas escapes from the burning city, saving not only his father Anchises, whom he carries on his shoulders, but also his son Ascanius. After long wanderings, he arrives in Italy, where his descendants founded Rome. Thus, Troy is associated with the myths surrounding the founding of Rome.

Mythological sources

Homer, in the 8th century BC The Iliad describes only the decisive final phase of the ten-year war, starting with the episode “the wrath of Achilles” until the death and burial of Hector. The backstory and the Trojan War itself (the divine dispute and the abduction of Helen) are quite vividly woven into the narrative. Likewise, the end of the war and the conquest and destruction of Troy are also indirectly described in the Odyssey.

Historicity of the Trojan War

They were written long before Homer and were passed down orally from generation to generation until Homer put them in writing. The myth reflects traditional poetry and legend, the historically unproven past. The question of the historicity of the Trojan War remains controversial. Although the events of the war have not been confirmed by archaeological findings, many scholars believe that the myth is based on real events during the period of Mycenaean colonization in Asia Minor (in the 13th century BC).

Ascalaf
Yalmen
Schedii
Epistrophe

Dating

The dating of the Trojan War is controversial, but most researchers place it at the turn of the 13th-12th centuries. BC e. The question remains controversial about the “Sea Peoples” - whether they became the cause of the Trojan War or, conversely, their movement was caused by the results of the Trojan War. American astronomers, analyzing the events of the Odyssey, came to the conclusion that Odysseus returned to Ithaca in 1178 BC. e. , in connection with which it can be assumed that the war began in 1198 BC. e.

Before the war

See also Cypria

According to the ancient Greek epic, at the wedding of the hero Peleus and the Nereid Thetis, whose unborn son Themis predicted that he would surpass his father, all the Olympian gods appeared, except for the goddess of discord Eris; Having not received an invitation, the latter threw among the feasting people the golden apple of the Hesperides with the inscription: “To the most beautiful”; a dispute over this title ensued between the goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. They asked Zeus to judge them. But he did not want to give preference to any of them, because he considered Aphrodite the most beautiful, but Hera was his wife, and Athena was his daughter. Then he gave the court to Paris.

Paris gave preference to the goddess of love, because she promised him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, the wife of King Menelaus Helen. Paris sailed to Sparta on a ship built by Phercles. Menelaus warmly received the guest, but was forced to sail to Crete to bury his grandfather Catreus. Aphrodite fell in love with Helen and Paris, and she sailed with him, taking with her the treasures of Menelaus and the slaves Ephra and Clymene. On the way they visited Sidon.

The abduction of Helen was the closest pretext to declaring war on the people of Paris. Having decided to take revenge on the offender, Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon (Atrides) travel around the Greek kings and persuade them to participate in the campaign against the Trojans. This consent was given by the leaders of the individual nations by virtue of the oath to which Helen's father, Tyndareus, had previously bound them. Agamemnon was recognized as the commander-in-chief of the expedition; after him, a privileged position in the army was occupied by Menelaus, Achilles, two Ajaxes (the son of Telamon and the son of Oileus), Teucer, Nestor, Odysseus, Diomedes, Idomeneo, Philoctetes and Palamedes.

Not everyone willingly took part in the war. Odysseus tried to evade by pretending to be mad, but Palamedes exposed him. Kinir did not become an ally of the Greeks. Pemander and Teutis did not participate in the campaign. Thetis tries to hide her son with Lycomedes on Skyros, but Odysseus finds him, and Achilles willingly joins the army. Lycomedes' daughter Deidamia gives birth to Achilles' son Neoptolemus.

The army, consisting of 100,000 soldiers and 1,186 ships, gathered in Aulis harbor (in Boeotia, along the strait separating Euboea from the Greek mainland).

Here, during the sacrifice, a snake crawled out from under the altar, climbed a tree and, having devoured a brood of 8 sparrows and a female sparrow, turned to stone. One of the fortunetellers who was with the army, Kalkhant, deduced from here that the upcoming war would last nine years and end in the tenth year with the capture of Troy.

Beginning of the war

Agamemnon ordered the army to board ships and reached Asia. The Greeks landed by mistake in a battle in Mysia, in which Thersander was killed by Telephos, but Telephos himself was seriously wounded by Achilles and his army was defeated.

Then, having been carried by a storm from the coast of Asia Minor, the Achaeans again arrived at Aulis and from there they sailed to Troy for the second time after sacrificing Agamemnon’s daughter, Iphigenia, to Artemis (the last episode is not mentioned by Homer). Telephus, who arrived in Greece, showed the sea route to the Achaeans and was healed by Achilles.

Landing on Tenedos, the Greeks capture the island. Achilles kills Tenes. When the Greeks were making sacrifices to the gods, Philoctetes was bitten by a snake. He is left on a deserted island.

The landing in Troas ended successfully only after Achilles killed the king of the Troasian city of Colon, Cycnus, who came to the aid of the Trojans. Protesilaus, the first of the Achaeans to land, was killed by Hector.

When the Greek army was encamped on the Trojan Plain, Odysseus and Menelaus went to the city to negotiate the extradition of Helen and the reconciliation of the warring parties. Despite the desire of Helen herself and Antenor’s advice to end the matter with reconciliation, the Trojans refused the Greeks to satisfy their demand. The number of Trojans commanded by Hector is smaller than the number of Greeks, and although they have strong and numerous allies on their side (Aeneas, Glaucus, etc.), fearing Achilles, they do not dare to give a decisive battle.

On the other hand, the Achaeans cannot take a well-fortified and defended city and limit themselves to devastating the surrounding area and, under the command of Achilles, undertaking more or less distant campaigns against neighboring cities to obtain provisions.

In the battle, Diomedes, led by Athena, performs miracles of courage and even wounds Aphrodite and Ares (5 rapes). Menelaus kills Pylemenes, but Sarpedon slays the king of Rhodes, Tlepolemus.

Intending to engage in single combat with the Lycian Glaucus, Diomedes recognizes him as an old guest and friend: having mutually exchanged weapons, the opponents disperse (6 rapes).

The day ends with an indecisive duel between Hector, who returned to battle, and Ajax Telamonides. During the truce concluded by both sides, the dead are buried, and the Greeks, on the advice of Nestor, surround their camp with a ditch and rampart (7 rapes).

The battle begins again, but Zeus forbids the gods to take part in it and predetermines that it should end in the defeat of the Greeks (8 rapes).

The next night, Agamemnon begins to think about escaping, but Nestor advises him to reconcile with Achilles. Attempts by ambassadors sent to Achilles for this purpose lead to nothing (9 rapes).

Meanwhile, Odysseus and Diomedes go out on reconnaissance, capture the Trojan spy Dolon and kill the Thracian king Res, who came to the aid of the Trojans (10 rapes).

The next day, Agamemnon pushes the Trojans back to the city walls, but he himself, Diomedes, Odysseus and other heroes leave the battle due to their wounds; The Greeks retreat beyond the walls of the camp (11 rapes), which the Trojans attack. The Greeks bravely resist, but Hector breaks the gate, and a crowd of Trojans freely enters the Greek camp (12 rapes).

Once again, the Greek heroes, especially both Ajax and Idomeneo, with the help of Poseidon, successfully push back the Trojans, and Idomeneo kills Asia, Ajax Telamonides throws Hector to the ground with a stone; however, Hector soon reappears on the battlefield, filled with strength and strength, which, by order of Zeus, Apollo instilled in him (13 rapes). The Trojan Deiphobus kills Ascalaphus, and Hector kills Amphimachus, while Polydamas (14 rapes) kills Profoenorus.

Poseidon is forced to leave the Greeks to their fate; they again retreat to the ships, which Ajax tries in vain to protect from the attack of the enemies (15 rapes). The Trojans attack: Agenor kills Clonius, and Medont is struck down by Aeneas.

When the leading ship is already engulfed in flames, Achilles, yielding to the requests of his favorite Patroclus, equips him for battle, placing his own weapons at his disposal. The Trojans, believing that Achilles himself is in front of them, flee; Patroclus pursues them to the city wall and kills many enemies, including Pyrekhmus and the brave Sarpedon, whose body the Trojans recapture only after a fierce struggle. Finally, Hector, with the assistance of Apollo, kills Patroclus himself (16 rapes); the weapon of Achilles goes to the winner (17 rapes). In the struggle for the body of Patroclus, Ajax Telamonides kills Hippophous and Phorcys, and Menelaus defeats Euphorbus. The Achaean Schedius dies at the hands of Hector.

Achilles, suppressed by personal grief, repents of his anger, reconciles with Agamemnon and the next day, armed with new shiny armor made for him by Hephaestus at the request of Thetis (18 rapes), enters battle with the Trojans, many of them die, and including Asteropeus and the main hope of the Trojans - Hector (19-22 rhapsody).

The burial of Patroclus, the celebration of the funeral games arranged in honor of him, the return of Hector's body to Priam, the burial of Hector and the establishment of a 12-day truce for this last purpose end the events that make up the content of the Iliad.

The final stage of the war

Immediately after the death of Hector, the Amazons come to the aid of the Trojans; soon in the battle their queen Penthesilea kills Podarcus, but she herself dies at the hands of Achilles.

Then an army of Ethiopians comes to the aid of the Trojans. Their king Memnon fights bravely and kills Achilles' friend Antilochus. Avenging him, Achilles kills Memnon in a duel.

A quarrel arises between Achilles and Odysseus, and the latter declares that Troy can be taken by cunning and not by valor. Soon after this, Achilles, while trying to get into the city through the Scaean Gate, or, according to another legend, during the marriage with Priam's daughter Polyxena in the temple of the Fimbrean Apollo, is killed by an arrow from Paris, directed by God. After the funeral of his son, Thetis offers to give his weapon as a reward to the most worthy of the Greek heroes: Odysseus turns out to be the chosen one; his rival, Ajax Telamonides, offended by the preference given to the other, commits suicide.

These losses on the part of the Greeks are balanced by the hardships that then befall the Trojans. Priamid Gelen, who lived in the Greek army as a prisoner, announces that Troy will be taken only if the arrows of Hercules, which were owned by Hercules' heir Philoctetes, are brought and the young son of Achilles arrives from the island of Skyros. Specially equipped ambassadors bring Philoctetes with his bow and arrows from the island of Lemnos, and Neoptolemus from the island of Skyros.

After the destruction of Troy, Agamemnon and Menelaus, contrary to custom, in the evening call the drunken Greeks to a meeting, at which half of the army with Menelaus speaks out for immediate departure to their homeland, while the other half, with Agamemnon at the head, prefers to stay for a while to appease Athena, angry at the sacrilege Ajax Oilidas, who raped Cassandra during the capture of the city. As a result, the army sails in two parties.

Allegorical biblical and philosophical interpretation

In addition to the historical explanation of the legends about the Trojan War, there were attempts to interpret Homer allegorically: the capture of Troy was recognized not as an event from the history of ancient Greece, but as an allegory invented by the poet for other historical events. This category of Homeric critics includes the Dutchman Gerard Kruse, who saw in Homer’s “Odyssey” a symbolic picture of the wanderings of the Jewish people during the time of the patriarchs, before the death of Moses, and in the “Iliad” - a picture of the later destinies of the same people, namely, the struggle for the Promised Land, with Troy corresponding to Jericho, and Achilles to Joshua. According to the Belgian Hugo, Homer was a prophet who wanted to depict in his poems the fall of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar and Titus, and in Achilles the life of Christ is symbolically represented, and in the Iliad - the acts of the apostles; Odysseus corresponds to the Apostle Peter, Hector - to the Apostle Paul; Iphigenia is nothing more than Jephtageneia (daughter of Jephthai), Paris is a Pharisee, etc.

With the advent of "Prolegomena" Fr.-Aug. Wolf in the city, new techniques arise in the study of the historical basis of the epic, the laws of the development of myths, heroic tales and folk poetry are studied, and the foundations of historical criticism are created. This includes, first of all, the works of philologists and mythologists Heine, Kreuser, Max Müller, K. O. Müller and others (according to the latter’s views, myths represent the personification of natural, social, state and national life; their content is the ancient local and tribal history of Hellas , clothed in the form of personal events and individual phenomena).

Attribution of events to the history of other regions

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Notes

Literature

• Kravchuk A. Trojan War: Myth and History = Wojna Trojanska. Mit i Historia, 1985 / Alexander Kravchuk / Trans. from Polish D. S. Galperina; Afterword L. S. Klein. .. - M.: Science, Main Editorial Board of Oriental Literature, 1991. - 224 p. - (In the footsteps of the disappeared cultures of the East). - 30,000 copies. - ISBN 5-02-016589-1.(region)

Trojan War Greeks The gods are on the side of the Greeks Allies of the Greeks Trojans The gods are on the side of the Trojans Allies of the Trojans Additionally

Homeric Greece Trojan War Archaic Greece Classical Greece Hellenistic Greece

Initial deities Titans Titanides Children of the Titans Olympic gods Other Olympians Gods water element Basic Chthonic deities Basic Born on earth Earth

Excerpt characterizing the Trojan War

“I asked my father and mother about this blackamoor,” said Natasha. - They say that there was no blackamoor. But you remember!
- Oh, how I remember his teeth now.
- How strange it is, it was like a dream. I like it.
- Do you remember how we were rolling eggs in the hall and suddenly two old women began to spin around on the carpet? Was it or not? Do you remember how good it was?
- Yes. Do you remember how dad in a blue fur coat fired a gun on the porch? “They turned over, smiling with pleasure, memories, not sad old ones, but poetic youthful memories, those impressions from the most distant past, where dreams merge with reality, and laughed quietly, rejoicing at something.
Sonya, as always, lagged behind them, although their memories were common.
Sonya did not remember much of what they remembered, and what she did remember did not arouse in her the poetic feeling that they experienced. She only enjoyed their joy, trying to imitate it.
She took part only when they remembered Sonya's first visit. Sonya told how she was afraid of Nikolai, because he had strings on his jacket, and the nanny told her that they would sew her into strings too.
“And I remember: they told me that you were born under cabbage,” said Natasha, “and I remember that I didn’t dare not believe it then, but I knew that it wasn’t true, and I was so embarrassed.”
During this conversation, the maid's head poked out of the back door of the sofa room. “Miss, they brought the rooster,” the girl said in a whisper.
“No need, Polya, tell me to carry it,” said Natasha.
In the middle of the conversations going on in the sofa, Dimmler entered the room and went to the harp that stood in the corner. He took off the cloth and the harp made a false sound.
“Eduard Karlych, please play my beloved Nocturiene by Monsieur Field,” said the voice of the old countess from the living room.
Dimmler struck a chord and, turning to Natasha, Nikolai and Sonya, said: “Young people, how quietly they sit!”
“Yes, we are philosophizing,” Natasha said, looking around for a minute and continuing the conversation. The conversation was now about dreams.
Dimmer started to play. Natasha silently, on tiptoe, walked up to the table, took the candle, took it out and, returning, quietly sat down in her place. It was dark in the room, especially on the sofa on which they were sitting, but through the large windows the silver light of the full moon fell onto the floor.
“You know, I think,” Natasha said in a whisper, moving closer to Nikolai and Sonya, when Dimmler had already finished and was still sitting, weakly plucking the strings, apparently indecisive to leave or start something new, “that when you remember like that, you remember, you remember everything.” , you remember so much that you remember what happened before I was in the world...
“This is Metampsic,” said Sonya, who always studied well and remembered everything. – The Egyptians believed that our souls were in animals and would go back to animals.
“No, you know, I don’t believe it, that we were animals,” Natasha said in the same whisper, although the music had ended, “but I know for sure that we were angels here and there somewhere, and that’s why we remember everything.” ...
-Can I join you? - said Dimmler, who approached quietly and sat down next to them.
- If we were angels, then why did we fall lower? - said Nikolai. - No, this cannot be!
“Not lower, who told you that lower?... Why do I know what I was before,” Natasha objected with conviction. - After all, the soul is immortal... therefore, if I live forever, that’s how I lived before, lived for all eternity.
“Yes, but it’s hard for us to imagine eternity,” said Dimmler, who approached the young people with a meek, contemptuous smile, but now spoke as quietly and seriously as they did.
– Why is it difficult to imagine eternity? - Natasha said. - Today it will be, tomorrow it will be, it will always be and yesterday it was and yesterday it was...
- Natasha! now it's your turn. “Sing me something,” the countess’s voice was heard. - That you sat down like conspirators.
- Mother! “I don’t want to do that,” Natasha said, but at the same time she stood up.
All of them, even the middle-aged Dimmler, did not want to interrupt the conversation and leave the corner of the sofa, but Natasha stood up, and Nikolai sat down at the clavichord. As always, standing in the middle of the hall and choosing the most advantageous place for resonance, Natasha began to sing her mother’s favorite piece.
She said that she did not want to sing, but for a long time before, and for a long time since, she had not sung as she sang that evening. Count Ilya Andreich, from the office where he was talking with Mitinka, heard her singing, and like a student, in a hurry to go play, finishing the lesson, he got confused in his words, giving orders to the manager and finally fell silent, and Mitinka, also listening, silently with a smile, stood in front of count. Nikolai did not take his eyes off his sister, and took a breath with her. Sonya, listening, thought about what a huge difference there was between her and her friend and how impossible it was for her to be even remotely as charming as her cousin. The old countess sat with a happily sad smile and tears in her eyes, occasionally shaking her head. She thought about Natasha, and about her youth, and about how there was something unnatural and terrible in this upcoming marriage of Natasha with Prince Andrei.
Dimmler sat down next to the countess and listened with his eyes closed.
“No, Countess,” he finally said, “this is a European talent, she has nothing to learn, this softness, tenderness, strength...
- Ah! “how I’m afraid for her, how afraid I am,” said the countess, not remembering who she was talking to. Her maternal instinct told her that there was too much of something in Natasha, and that this would not make her happy. Natasha had not yet finished singing when an enthusiastic fourteen-year-old Petya ran into the room with the news that the mummers had arrived.
Natasha suddenly stopped.
- Fool! - she screamed at her brother, ran up to the chair, fell on it and sobbed so much that she could not stop for a long time.
“Nothing, Mama, really nothing, just like this: Petya scared me,” she said, trying to smile, but the tears kept flowing and sobs were choking her throat.
Dressed up servants, bears, Turks, innkeepers, ladies, scary and funny, bringing with them coldness and fun, at first timidly huddled in the hallway; then, hiding one behind the other, they were forced into the hall; and at first shyly, and then more and more cheerfully and amicably, songs, dances, choral and Christmas games began. The Countess, recognizing the faces and laughing at those dressed up, went into the living room. Count Ilya Andreich sat in the hall with a radiant smile, approving of the players. The youth disappeared somewhere.
Half an hour later, an old lady in hoops appeared in the hall between the other mummers - it was Nikolai. Petya was Turkish. Payas was Dimmler, hussar was Natasha and Circassian was Sonya, with a painted cork mustache and eyebrows.
After condescending surprise, lack of recognition and praise from those not dressed up, the young people found that the costumes were so good that they had to show them to someone else.
Nikolai, who wanted to take everyone along an excellent road in his troika, proposed, taking ten dressed up servants with him, to go to his uncle.
- No, why are you upsetting him, the old man! - said the countess, - and he has nowhere to turn. Let's go to the Melyukovs.
Melyukova was a widow with children of various ages, also with governesses and tutors, who lived four miles from Rostov.
“That’s clever, ma chère,” the old count picked up, getting excited. - Let me get dressed now and go with you. I'll stir up Pashetta.
But the countess did not agree to let the count go: his leg hurt all these days. They decided that Ilya Andreevich could not go, but that if Luisa Ivanovna (m me Schoss) went, then the young ladies could go to Melyukova. Sonya, always timid and shy, began to beg Louisa Ivanovna more urgently than anyone not to refuse them.
Sonya's outfit was the best. Her mustache and eyebrows suited her unusually. Everyone told her that she was very good, and she was in an unusually energetic mood. Some inner voice told her that now or never her fate would be decided, and she, in her man’s dress, seemed like a completely different person. Luiza Ivanovna agreed, and half an hour later four troikas with bells and bells, squealing and whistling through the frosty snow, drove up to the porch.
Natasha was the first to give the tone of Christmas joy, and this joy, reflected from one to another, intensified more and more and reached its highest degree at the time when everyone went out into the cold, and, talking, calling to each other, laughing and shouting, sat in the sleigh.
Two of the troikas were accelerating, the third was the old count’s troika with an Oryol trotter at the root; the fourth is Nikolai's own with his short, black, shaggy root. Nikolai, in his old woman's outfit, on which he put on a hussar's belted cloak, stood in the middle of his sleigh, picking up the reins.
It was so light that he saw the plaques and eyes of the horses glinting in the monthly light, looking back in fear at the riders rustling under the dark awning of the entrance.
Natasha, Sonya, m me Schoss and two girls got into Nikolai’s sleigh. Dimmler and his wife and Petya sat in the old count’s sleigh; Dressed up servants sat in the rest.
- Go ahead, Zakhar! - Nikolai shouted to his father’s coachman in order to have a chance to overtake him on the road.
The old count's troika, in which Dimmler and the other mummers sat, squealed with their runners, as if frozen to the snow, and rattled a thick bell, moved forward. The ones attached to them pressed against the shafts and got stuck, turning out the strong and shiny snow like sugar.
Nikolai set off after the first three; The others made noise and screamed from behind. At first we rode at a small trot along a narrow road. While driving past the garden, shadows from bare trees often lay across the road and hid the bright light of the moon, but as soon as we left the fence, a diamond-shiny snowy plain with a bluish sheen, all bathed in a monthly glow and motionless, opened up on all sides. Once, once, a bump hit the front sleigh; in the same way, the next sleigh and the next were pushed and, boldly breaking the chained silence, one after another the sleighs began to stretch out.
- A hare's trail, a lot of tracks! – Natasha’s voice sounded in the frozen, frozen air.
– Apparently, Nicolas! - said Sonya's voice. – Nikolai looked back at Sonya and bent down to take a closer look at her face. Some completely new, sweet face, with black eyebrows and mustaches, looked out from the sables in the moonlight, close and far.
“It was Sonya before,” thought Nikolai. He looked at her closer and smiled.
- What are you, Nicholas?
“Nothing,” he said and turned back to the horses.
Having arrived on a rough, large road, oiled with runners and all covered with traces of thorns, visible in the light of the moon, the horses themselves began to tighten the reins and speed up. The left one, bending its head, twitched its lines in jumps. The root swayed, moving its ears, as if asking: “should we start or is it too early?” – Ahead, already far away and ringing like a thick bell receding, Zakhar’s black troika was clearly visible on the white snow. Shouting and laughter and the voices of those dressed up were heard from his sleigh.
“Well, you dear ones,” Nikolai shouted, tugging on the reins on one side and withdrawing his hand with the whip. And only by the wind that had become stronger, as if to meet it, and by the twitching of the fasteners, which were tightening and increasing their speed, was it noticeable how fast the troika flew. Nikolai looked back. Screaming and screaming, waving whips and forcing the indigenous people to jump, the other troikas kept pace. The root steadfastly swayed under the arc, not thinking of knocking down and promising to push again and again when necessary.
Nikolai caught up with the top three. They drove down some mountain and onto a widely traveled road through a meadow near a river.
“Where are we going?” thought Nikolai. - “It should be along a slanting meadow. But no, this is something new that I have never seen. This is not a slanting meadow or Demkina Mountain, but God knows what it is! This is something new and magical. Well, whatever it is!” And he, shouting at the horses, began to go around the first three.
Zakhar reined in the horses and turned around his face, which was already frozen to the eyebrows.
Nikolai started his horses; Zakhar, stretching his arms forward, smacked his lips and let his people go.
“Well, hold on, master,” he said. “The troikas flew even faster nearby, and the legs of the galloping horses quickly changed. Nikolai began to take the lead. Zakhar, without changing the position of his outstretched arms, raised one hand with the reins.
“You’re lying, master,” he shouted to Nikolai. Nikolai galloped all the horses and overtook Zakhar. The horses covered the faces of their riders with fine, dry snow, and near them there was the sound of frequent rumblings and the tangling of fast-moving legs and the shadows of the overtaking troika. The whistling of runners through the snow and women's squeals were heard from different directions.
Stopping the horses again, Nikolai looked around him. All around was the same magical plain soaked through with moonlight with stars scattered across it.
“Zakhar shouts for me to take a left; why go left? thought Nikolai. Are we going to the Melyukovs, is this Melyukovka? God knows where we are going, and God knows what is happening to us - and it is very strange and good what is happening to us.” He looked back at the sleigh.
“Look, he has a mustache and eyelashes, everything is white,” said one of the strange, pretty and alien people with a thin mustache and eyebrows.
“This one, it seems, was Natasha,” thought Nikolai, and this one is m me Schoss; or maybe not, but I don’t know who this Circassian with the mustache is, but I love her.”
-Aren't you cold? - he asked. They did not answer and laughed. Dimmler shouted something from the back sleigh, probably funny, but it was impossible to hear what he was shouting.
“Yes, yes,” the voices answered laughing.
- However, here is some kind of magical forest with shimmering black shadows and sparkles of diamonds and with some kind of enfilade of marble steps, and some kind of silver roofs of magical buildings, and the piercing squeal of some animals. “And if this really is Melyukovka, then it’s even stranger that we were traveling God knows where, and came to Melyukovka,” thought Nikolai.
Indeed, it was Melyukovka, and girls and lackeys with candles and joyful faces ran out to the entrance.
- Who it? - they asked from the entrance.
“The counts are dressed up, I can see it by the horses,” answered the voices.

Pelageya Danilovna Melyukova, a broad, energetic woman, wearing glasses and a swinging hood, was sitting in the living room, surrounded by her daughters, whom she tried not to let get bored. They were quietly pouring wax and looking at the shadows of the emerging figures when the footsteps and voices of visitors began to rustle in the hallway.
Hussars, ladies, witches, payassas, bears, clearing their throats and wiping their frost-covered faces in the hallway, entered the hall, where candles were hastily lit. The clown - Dimmler and the lady - Nikolai opened the dance. Surrounded by screaming children, the mummers, covering their faces and changing their voices, bowed to the hostess and positioned themselves around the room.
- Oh, it’s impossible to find out! And Natasha! Look who she looks like! Really, it reminds me of someone. Eduard Karlych is so good! I didn't recognize it. Yes, how she dances! Oh, fathers, and some kind of Circassian; right, how it suits Sonyushka. Who else is this? Well, they consoled me! Take the tables, Nikita, Vanya. And we sat so quietly!
- Ha ha ha!... Hussar this, hussar that! Just like a boy, and his legs!... I can’t see... - voices were heard.
Natasha, the favorite of the young Melyukovs, disappeared with them into the back rooms, where cork and various dressing gowns and men's dresses were required, which through the open door received the naked girlish hands from the footman. Ten minutes later, all the youth of the Melyukov family joined the mummers.
Pelageya Danilovna, having ordered the clearing of the place for the guests and refreshments for the gentlemen and servants, without taking off her glasses, with a restrained smile, walked among the mummers, looking closely into their faces and not recognizing anyone. Not only did she not recognize the Rostovs and Dimmler, but she also could not recognize either her daughters or her husband’s robes and uniforms that they were wearing.
-Whose is this? - she said, turning to her governess and looking into the face of her daughter, who represented the Kazan Tatar. - It seems like someone from Rostov. Well, Mr. Hussar, what regiment do you serve in? – she asked Natasha. “Give the Turk, give the Turk some marshmallows,” she said to the bartender who was serving them: “this is not prohibited by their law.”
Sometimes, looking at the strange but funny steps performed by the dancers, who had decided once and for all that they were dressed up, that no one would recognize them and therefore were not embarrassed, Pelageya Danilovna covered herself with a scarf, and her entire corpulent body shook from the uncontrollable, kind, old lady’s laughter . - Sashinet is mine, Sashinet is that! - she said.
After Russian dances and round dances, Pelageya Danilovna united all the servants and gentlemen together, in one large circle; They brought a ring, a string and a ruble, and general games were arranged.
An hour later, all the suits were wrinkled and upset. Cork mustaches and eyebrows were smeared across sweaty, flushed and cheerful faces. Pelageya Danilovna began to recognize the mummers, admired how well the costumes were made, how they suited especially the young ladies, and thanked everyone for making her so happy. The guests were invited to dine in the living room, and the courtyard was served in the hall.
- No, guessing in the bathhouse, that’s scary! - said the old girl who lived with the Melyukovs at dinner.
- From what? – asked the eldest daughter of the Melyukovs.
- Don’t go, you need courage...
“I’ll go,” said Sonya.
- Tell me, how was it with the young lady? - said the second Melyukova.
“Yes, just like that, one young lady went,” said the old girl, “she took a rooster, two utensils, and sat down properly.” She sat there, just heard, suddenly she was driving... with bells, with bells, a sleigh drove up; hears, comes. He comes in completely in human form, like an officer, he came and sat down with her at the device.
- A! Ah!...” Natasha screamed, rolling her eyes in horror.
- How can he say that?
- Yes, as a person, everything is as it should be, and he began and began to persuade, and she should have occupied him with conversation until the roosters; and she became shy; – she just became shy and covered herself with her hands. He picked it up. It's good that the girls came running...
- Well, why scare them! - said Pelageya Danilovna.
“Mother, you yourself were guessing...” said the daughter.
- How do they tell fortunes in the barn? – asked Sonya.
- Well, at least now, they’ll go to the barn and listen. What will you hear: hammering, knocking - bad, but pouring bread - this is good; and then it happens...
- Mom, tell me what happened to you in the barn?
Pelageya Danilovna smiled.
“Oh, well, I forgot…” she said. - You won’t go, will you?
- No, I'll go; Pepageya Danilovna, let me in, I’ll go,” said Sonya.
- Well, if you're not afraid.
- Luiza Ivanovna, may I? – asked Sonya.
Whether they were playing ring, string or ruble, or talking, as now, Nikolai did not leave Sonya and looked at her with completely new eyes. It seemed to him that today, only for the first time, thanks to that corky mustache, he fully recognized her. Sonya really was cheerful, lively and beautiful that evening, like Nikolai had never seen her before.
“So that’s what she is, and I’m a fool!” he thought, looking at her sparkling eyes and her happy, enthusiastic smile, making dimples on her cheeks from under her mustache, a smile that he had never seen before.
“I’m not afraid of anything,” said Sonya. - Can I do it now? - She stood up. They told Sonya where the barn was, how she could stand silently and listen, and they gave her a fur coat. She threw it over her head and looked at Nikolai.
“What a beauty this girl is!” he thought. “And what have I been thinking about so far!”
Sonya went out into the corridor to go to the barn. Nikolai hurriedly went to the front porch, saying that he was hot. Indeed, the house was stuffy from the crowded people.
It was the same motionless cold outside, the same month, only it was even lighter. The light was so strong and there were so many stars on the snow that I didn’t want to look at the sky, and the real stars were invisible. In the sky it was black and boring, on earth it was fun.
“I’m a fool, a fool! What have you been waiting for so far? thought Nikolai and, running onto the porch, he walked around the corner of the house along the path that led to the back porch. He knew that Sonya would come here. Halfway along the road there were stacked fathoms of firewood, there was snow on them, and a shadow fell from them; through them and from their sides, intertwining, the shadows of old bare linden trees fell onto the snow and the path. The path led to the barn. The chopped wall of the barn and the roof, covered with snow, as if carved from some precious stone, glittered in the monthly light. A tree cracked in the garden, and again everything was completely silent. The chest seemed to breathe not air, but some kind of eternally youthful strength and joy.
Feet clattered on the steps from the maiden porch, there was a loud creaking sound on the last one, which was covered with snow, and the voice of an old girl said:
- Straight, straight, along the path, young lady. Just don't look back.
“I’m not afraid,” answered Sonya’s voice, and Sonya’s legs squealed and whistled in her thin shoes along the path towards Nikolai.
Sonya walked wrapped in a fur coat. She was already two steps away when she saw him; She also saw him not as she knew him and as she had always been a little afraid. He was in a woman's dress with tangled hair and a happy and new smile for Sonya. Sonya quickly ran up to him.
“Completely different, and still the same,” thought Nikolai, looking at her face, all illuminated by moonlight. He put his hands under the fur coat that covered her head, hugged her, pressed her to him and kissed her on the lips, above which there was a mustache and from which there was a smell of burnt cork. Sonya kissed him in the very center of his lips and, extending her small hands, took his cheeks on both sides.
“Sonya!... Nicolas!...” they just said. They ran to the barn and returned each from their own porch.

When everyone drove back from Pelageya Danilovna, Natasha, who always saw and noticed everything, arranged the accommodation in such a way that Luiza Ivanovna and she sat in the sleigh with Dimmler, and Sonya sat with Nikolai and the girls.
Nikolai, no longer overtaking, rode smoothly on the way back, and still peering at Sonya in this strange moonlight, looking for in this ever-changing light, from under his eyebrows and mustache, that former and present Sonya, with whom he had decided never again to be separated. He peered, and when he recognized the same and the other and remembered, hearing that smell of cork, mixed with the feeling of a kiss, he deeply inhaled the frosty air and, looking at the receding earth and the brilliant sky, he felt himself again in a magical kingdom.
- Sonya, are you okay? – he asked occasionally.
“Yes,” answered Sonya. - And you?
In the middle of the road, Nikolai let the coachman hold the horses, ran up to Natasha’s sleigh for a moment and stood on the lead.
“Natasha,” he told her in a whisper in French, “you know, I’ve made up my mind about Sonya.”
-Did you tell her? – Natasha asked, suddenly beaming with joy.
- Oh, how strange you are with those mustaches and eyebrows, Natasha! Are you glad?
– I’m so glad, so glad! I was already angry with you. I didn't tell you, but you treated her badly. This is such a heart, Nicolas. I am so glad! “I can be nasty, but I was ashamed to be the only happy one without Sonya,” Natasha continued. “Now I’m so glad, well, run to her.”
- No, wait, oh, how funny you are! - said Nikolai, still peering at her, and in his sister, too, finding something new, extraordinary and charmingly tender, which he had never seen in her before. - Natasha, something magical. A?
“Yes,” she answered, “you did great.”
“If I had seen her before as she is now,” thought Nikolai, “I would have asked long ago what to do and would have done whatever she ordered, and everything would have been fine.”
“So you’re happy, and I did good?”
- Oh, so good! I recently quarreled with my mother over this. Mom said she's catching you. How can you say this? I almost got into a fight with my mom. And I will never allow anyone to say or think anything bad about her, because there is only good in her.
- So good? - Nikolai said, once again looking for the expression on his sister’s face to find out if it was true, and, squeaking with his boots, he jumped off the slope and ran to his sleigh. The same happy, smiling Circassian, with a mustache and sparkling eyes, looking out from under a sable hood, was sitting there, and this Circassian was Sonya, and this Sonya was probably his future, happy and loving wife.
Arriving home and telling their mother about how they spent time with the Melyukovs, the young ladies went home. Having undressed, but without erasing their cork mustaches, they sat for a long time, talking about their happiness. They talked about how they would live married, how their husbands would be friends and how happy they would be.
On Natasha’s table there were mirrors that Dunyasha had prepared since the evening. - Just when will all this happen? I'm afraid I never... That would be too good! – Natasha said getting up and going to the mirrors.
“Sit down, Natasha, maybe you’ll see him,” said Sonya. Natasha lit the candles and sat down. “I see someone with a mustache,” said Natasha, who saw her face.
“Don’t laugh, young lady,” Dunyasha said.
With the help of Sonya and the maid, Natasha found the position of the mirror; her face took on a serious expression and she fell silent. She sat for a long time, looking at the row of receding candles in the mirrors, assuming (based on the stories she had heard) that she would see the coffin, that she would see him, Prince Andrei, in this last, merging, vague square. But no matter how ready she was to mistake the slightest spot for the image of a person or a coffin, she saw nothing. She began to blink frequently and moved away from the mirror.
- Why do others see, but I don’t see anything? - she said. - Well, sit down, Sonya; “Nowadays you definitely need it,” she said. – Only for me... I’m so scared today!
Sonya sat down at the mirror, adjusted her position, and began to look.
“They’ll definitely see Sofya Alexandrovna,” Dunyasha said in a whisper; - and you keep laughing.
Sonya heard these words, and heard Natasha say in a whisper:
“And I know what she will see; she saw last year too.
For about three minutes everyone was silent. “Certainly!” Natasha whispered and didn’t finish... Suddenly Sonya moved away the mirror she was holding and covered her eyes with her hand.
- Oh, Natasha! - she said.
– Did you see it? Did you see it? What did you see? – Natasha screamed, holding up the mirror.
Sonya didn’t see anything, she just wanted to blink her eyes and get up when she heard Natasha’s voice saying “definitely”... She didn’t want to deceive either Dunyasha or Natasha, and it was hard to sit. She herself did not know how or why a cry escaped her when she covered her eyes with her hand.
– Did you see him? – Natasha asked, grabbing her hand.
- Yes. Wait... I... saw him,” Sonya said involuntarily, not yet knowing who Natasha meant by the word “him”: him - Nikolai or him - Andrey.
“But why shouldn’t I say what I saw? After all, others see! And who can convict me of what I saw or did not see? flashed through Sonya's head.
“Yes, I saw him,” she said.
- How? How? Is it standing or lying down?
- No, I saw... Then there was nothing, suddenly I see that he is lying.
– Andrey is lying down? He is sick? – Natasha asked, looking at her friend with fearful, stopped eyes.
- No, on the contrary, - on the contrary, a cheerful face, and he turned to me - and at that moment as she spoke, it seemed to her that she saw what she was saying.
- Well, then, Sonya?...
– I didn’t notice something blue and red here...
- Sonya! when will he return? When I see him! My God, how I’m afraid for him and for myself, and for everything I’m afraid...” Natasha spoke, and without answering a word to Sonya’s consolations, she went to bed and long after the candle had been put out, with her eyes open, she lay motionless on the bed and looked at the frosty moonlight through the frozen windows.

Soon after Christmas, Nikolai announced to his mother his love for Sonya and his firm decision to marry her. The Countess, who had long noticed what was happening between Sonya and Nikolai and was expecting this explanation, silently listened to his words and told her son that he could marry whomever he wanted; but that neither she nor his father would give him his blessing for such a marriage. For the first time, Nikolai felt that his mother was unhappy with him, that despite all her love for him, she would not give in to him. She, coldly and without looking at her son, sent for her husband; and when he arrived, the countess wanted to briefly and coldly tell him what was the matter in the presence of Nicholas, but she could not resist: she cried tears of frustration and left the room. The old count began to hesitantly admonish Nicholas and ask him to abandon his intention. Nicholas replied that he could not change his word, and the father, sighing and obviously embarrassed, very soon interrupted his speech and went to the countess. In all his clashes with his son, the count was never left with the consciousness of his guilt towards him for the breakdown of affairs, and therefore he could not be angry with his son for refusing to marry a rich bride and for choosing the dowryless Sonya - only in this case did he more vividly remember what, if things weren’t upset, it would be impossible to wish for a better wife for Nikolai than Sonya; and that only he and his Mitenka and his irresistible habits are to blame for the disorder of affairs.
The father and mother no longer spoke about this matter with their son; but a few days after this, the countess called Sonya to her and with cruelty that neither one nor the other expected, the countess reproached her niece for luring her son and for ingratitude. Sonya, silently with downcast eyes, listened to the countess’s cruel words and did not understand what was required of her. She was ready to sacrifice everything for her benefactors. The thought of self-sacrifice was her favorite thought; but in this case she could not understand to whom and what she needed to sacrifice. She could not help but love the Countess and the entire Rostov family, but she also could not help but love Nikolai and not know that his happiness depended on this love. She was silent and sad and did not answer. Nikolai, as it seemed to him, could not bear this situation any longer and went to explain himself to his mother. Nikolai either begged his mother to forgive him and Sonya and agree to their marriage, or threatened his mother that if Sonya was persecuted, he would immediately marry her secretly.

According to the ancient Greek epic, at the wedding of the hero Peleus and the Nereid Thetis, whose unborn son Themis predicted that he would surpass his father, all the Olympian gods appeared, except for the goddess of discord Eris; Having not received an invitation, the latter threw among the feasting people the golden apple of the Hesperides with the inscription: “To the most beautiful”; a dispute over this title ensued between the goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. They asked Zeus to judge them. But he did not want to give preference to any of them, because he considered Aphrodite the most beautiful, but Hera was his wife, and Athena was his daughter. Then he gave justice to Paris.

Paris gave preference to the goddess of love, because she promised him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, the wife of King Menelaus Helen. Paris sailed to Sparta on a ship built by Pherekles. Menelaus warmly received the guest, but was forced to sail to Crete to bury his grandfather Katreus. Aphrodite fell in love with Helen and Paris, and she sailed with him, taking with her the treasures of Menelaus and the slaves Ephra and Clymene. On the way they visited Sidon.

The abduction of Helen was the closest pretext to declaring war on the people of Paris. Deciding to take revenge on the offender, Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon travel around the Greek kings and persuade them to participate in the campaign against the Trojans.

As a result, when the Trojan War began, the Trojans were supported by Aphrodite, their opponents who arrived to return Helen to her rightful husband - Hera and Athena. And in general, all the gods were divided into 2 camps. So troubles did happen because of Pandora...

Task 1. Part 2. Phraseologisms

1. Augean stables– a reference to the sixth labor of Hercules. Cleaning the farmyard of Augeas in one day became one of the labors of Hercules - Hercules broke the wall surrounding the farmyard on two opposite sides and diverted the water of two rivers, Alpheus and Peneus, into it. The expression “Augean stables” has become a catchphrase and means “great disorder, neglect in business.”

2. Reach the pillars of Hercules - Greek myths, later borrowed by the Romans, tell of the 12 labors of Hercules, one of which was the theft of the cows of the giant Geryon. During his journey to the west, Hercules marked the farthest point of his route. This point served as the border for sailors in ancient times, therefore, in a figurative sense, the “pillars of Hercules” are the edge of the world, the limit of the world, and the expression “to reach the pillars of Hercules” means “to reach the limit.”

3. Homeric laughter- uncontrollable, loud laughter. Often used to mean laughing at something extremely awkward or stupid. It arose from the description of the laughter of the gods in Homer’s poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey”. The epithet “Homeric” is also used to mean: abundant, huge.

4. Greek gift- a symbol of deceit, deception, cunning, hypocrisy and flattery. Trojan horse reference.

5. Two-Faced Janus- a symbol of duplicity, hypocrisy and lies. Janus - in Roman mythology - the two-faced god of doors, entrances, exits, various passages, as well as the beginning and end, as well as the god of time. The two-faced Janus was always depicted with two faces - usually young and old, looking in opposite directions.

6. Wheel of Fortune- chance, blind happiness. Fortuna is the goddess of blind chance, happiness and misfortune in Roman mythology. She was depicted blindfolded, standing on a ball or wheel and holding a steering wheel in one hand and a cornucopia in the other. The rudder indicated that Fortune controls a person’s destiny, the cornucopia - the well-being, the abundance that it can give, and the ball or wheel emphasized its constant variability.

7. Sink into oblivion- disappear from memory, forget. Lethe is the name of the mythical river of oblivion among the ancient Greeks.

8. Hippocratic Oath – a medical oath expressing the fundamental moral and ethical principles of a doctor’s behavior. According to legend, the oath goes back to the direct descendants of Asclepius; it was passed down orally as a family tradition from generation to generation.

9. Ariadne's thread- a guiding thread, a means to get out of a difficulty. This famous phraseological unit came to us from the ancient Greek myth about the Athenian hero Theseus. Ariadne, the daughter of the Cretan king Minos, helped Theseus, who arrived from Athens, fight the terrible Minotaur. With the help of a ball of thread that Ariadne gave Theseus, he managed to get out of the famous labyrinth in which the Minotaur lived after defeating this monster.

10. Procrustean bed - the desire to fit something into a rigid framework or artificial standard, sometimes sacrificing something significant for this. Procrustes is a character in the myths of Ancient Greece, a robber who waylaid travelers on the road between Megara and Athens. He deceived travelers into his house. Then he laid them on his bed, and those whose legs were short cut off their legs, and those whose legs were too long, he stretched their legs along the length of this bed. Procrustes himself had to lie down on this bed: the hero of ancient Greek myths, Theseus, having defeated Procrustes, did to him the same way as he did to his captives. The story of Procrustes was first found in the ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus.

11. Skilla and Charybdis- sea monsters from ancient Greek mythology. Charybdis in the ancient Greek epic is a personified representation of the all-consuming abyss of the sea. In the Odyssey, Charybdis is depicted as a sea deity who lives in a strait under a rock within an arrow's flight of another rock, which served as the seat of Scylla.

12. Sisyphus's work- endless and fruitless work. Sisyphus - in ancient Greek mythology, the builder and king of Corinth, after death, sentenced by the gods to roll a heavy stone onto a mountain located in Tartarus, which, having barely reached the top, rolled down over and over again.

13. Bonds of Hymen- marriage ties.

14. Pandora's Box- something that, if careless, can serve as a source of grief and disaster. When the great titan Prometheus stole the fire of the gods from Olympus and gave it to people, the father of the gods Zeus terribly punished the daredevil, but it was too late. Possessing the divine flame, people stopped obeying the celestials, learned various sciences, and came out of their pitiful state. A little more - and they would have won complete happiness for themselves... Then Zeus decided to send punishment on them. The blacksmith god Hephaestus sculpted the beautiful woman Pandora from earth and water. The rest of the gods gave her: some - cunning, some - courage, some - extraordinary beauty. Then, handing her a mysterious box, Zeus sent her to earth, forbidding her to remove the lid from the box. Curious Pandora, as soon as she came into the world, opened the lid. Immediately all human disasters flew out of there and scattered throughout the Universe. Pandora, in fear, tried to slam the lid again, but in the box of all the misfortunes, only deceptive hope remained.

15. Apple of discord- the cause of disputes and strife. Peleus and Thetis, the parents of the Trojan War hero Achilles, forgot to invite the goddess of discord Eris to their wedding. Eris was very offended and secretly threw a golden apple onto the table at which gods and mortals were feasting; on it was written: “To the most beautiful.” A terrible dispute arose between three goddesses: the wife of Zeus - Hero, Athena - the maiden, goddess of wisdom, and the beautiful goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite. “The young man Paris, the son of the Trojan king Priam, was chosen as judge between them. Paris awarded the apple to the goddess of beauty. Grateful Aphrodite helped Paris kidnap the wife of the Greek king Menelaus, the beautiful Helen. To take revenge for such an insult, the Greeks went to war against Troy. As you can see, the apple of Eris actually led to discord.

16. Riddle of the Sphinx- a difficult problem that is not easy to solve. A reference to the myth of Oedipus.

17. Golden Rain- sudden and easily acquired wealth. In the form of golden rain, Zeus penetrated to Danae, who was in captivity, and impregnated her.

18. Throw thunder and lightning- emotionally reprimand, scold someone, go on a rampage, angrily smash.

19. Saddle Pegasus– to soar in thought, to be inspired/speak in poetry. As the Greek myth tells, from the blood of Medusa beheaded by Perseus, the winged horse Pegasus arose. On it, the hero Bellerophon defeated the sea monster, fought with the Chimera and the Amazons, and when Mount Helicon, having listened to the wondrous singing of the muses, was ready to rise to the sky, Pegasus, with a blow of his hoof, kept the mountain from rising and at the same time knocked out the magic key - Hippocrene - from it. Anyone who drinks the water of Hippocrene suddenly begins to speak in poetry.

20. Cornucopia- prosperity, wealth. An ancient Greek myth tells that the cruel god Kronos did not want to have children, because he was afraid that they would take away his power. Therefore, his wife gave birth to Zeus in secret, entrusting the nymphs to look after him. Zeus was fed with the milk of the divine goat Amalthea. One day she got caught in a tree and broke off her horn. The nymph filled it with fruits and gave it to Zeus. Zeus gave the horn to the nymphs who raised him, promising that whatever they desired would appear from it.

Task 1. Part 3. Terms

2. Hexameter- in ancient metrics, any verse consisting of six meters. In a more common understanding, it is a verse of five dactyls or spondees, and one spondea or trochee in the last foot. One of the three main sizes of the classical ancient quantitative metric, the most common size of ancient poetry.

3. Dithyramb- a genre of ancient Greek choral lyrics. Dithyrambs are folk hymns of a stormy orgiastic nature, sung by a choir, mostly dressed as satyrs, at the grape harvest festival in honor of the god of the productive forces of nature and wine, Dionysus (the word “dithyramb” itself is one of the epithets of this god). In the 7th century BC. e. the poet Arion gave the dithyrambs an artistic design, especially, apparently, in the musical part. Greek tragedy originated partly from the popular dithyramb. In the 5th century BC. e., for example, in the poet Bacchylides, the dithyramb approaches drama, sometimes taking the form of a dialogue, performed to the accompaniment of an aulos and alternating with the singing of a choir.

4. Idyll- “small image”, “picture”, diminutive of είδος - “view”, “picture”) - originally (in Ancient Rome) a short poem on the topic of rural life. Later in Byzantium, the word idyll was used by scholiasts who interpreted certain passages from the writings of Theocritus. In historical and literary terms, the meaning of the term “idyll” largely overlaps with “pastoral” and “bucolic”; the difference is manifested in the fact that “idyll” refers to a separate poetic work of the pastoral genre, which is not limited to a biography of only pastoral life. In modern times, this narrow meaning is blurred, and works about the peaceful life of a couple in love (“Old World Landowners” by Gogol), or even about peaceful patriarchal life in general, not necessarily rural, are often called idylls.

5. Catharsis- concept in ancient philosophy;

A term to denote the process and result of the facilitating, cleansing and ennobling influence of various factors on a person.

A concept in ancient Greek aesthetics that characterizes the aesthetic impact of art on a person. - The term “catharsis” was used with multiple meanings; in religious meaning (purification of the spirit through emotional experiences), ethical (elevation of the human mind, ennoblement of its feelings), physiological (relief after strong sensory stress), medical.

A term used by Aristotle in his doctrine of tragedy. According to Aristotle, tragedy, evoking compassion and fear, makes the viewer empathize, thereby purifying his soul, elevating and educating him.

7. Coturnus- a high open boot made of soft leather with a high sole.

As everyday shoes, buskins were affordable only for wealthy people. Bustles were used by actors when performing tragic roles - they visually increased the actor's height and made his gait more stately, as befitted the characters of tragedies. In ancient Rome, buskin boots were worn by tragic actors portraying gods, and sometimes by emperors who equated themselves with deities.

8. Oh yeah- a genre of lyricism, which is a solemn poem dedicated to an event, hero or a separate work of such a genre. Initially, in Ancient Greece, any form of poetic lyric intended to accompany music was called an ode, including choral singing. Since the time of Pindar, the ode has been a choral epipic song with emphasized solemnity and pomp, usually in honor of the winner of sports competitions.

9. Orchestra- in the ancient theater - a round (then semicircular) platform for performances by actors, choirs and individual musicians. The original and etymological meaning is “place for dancing.”

The first round orchestra appeared at the foot of the Athenian Acropolis. Choirs performed there - they sang and danced praises in honor of the god Dionysus. When dithyramb transformed into tragedy, the theater inherited the orchestra as a stage for actors and choir.

10. Parod- in ancient Greek theater (tragedy and comedy) a choral song that was performed by the choir when entering the stage, when moving into the orchestra. The word "parod" also refers to the passage itself (an open corridor), a structural element of the ancient theater. Parod and stasim were important elements of the structure of not only tragedy, but also comedy. Qualen's treatise (considered a summary of the second, lost part of the Poetics) does not contain the term "parod", but mentions the "exit of the chorus" as an important watershed in the structure of the comedy.

The dramaturgical significance of the skit was to give listeners the first information about the further plot and to set the audience as a whole in a mood appropriate to the story. The earliest tragedies (of those that have come down to us) do not contain parodies. The parod is supposed to have been monodic and performed by a choir in unison. Since complete musical samples of parods (as well as other genres of choral theatrical music) have not been preserved, it is difficult to talk about their more specific compositional and technical features (for example, musical rhythm and harmony).

11. Rhapsodes- professional performers of epic, mainly Homeric poems in classical Greece; traveling singers who recited poems with a rod in their hand (the rod is a symbol of the right to speak at a meeting).

Rhapsody belongs to a later stage of the development of the epic, to the era of large poems with more or less fixed text; at an earlier stage the epic song was improvised by the aed, a singer who accompanied his singing by playing the lyre. At the rhapsodic stage, performance was already separated from creativity, although individual rhapsodists could be poets at the same time (Hesiod). In historical times, large poems were usually performed at festivals in the form of a rhapsod competition. Homer's poems are already designed for rhapsodic performance, although in the poems themselves, the action of which dates back to the distant past, only the aeds are mentioned. The rhapsodes, sometimes united into entire schools, apparently played a significant role in the collection of Greek epic at the stage of its decomposition. Antiquity imagined Homer as a rhapsode, and Homeric criticism attributed to the rhapsodists the creation of Homeric poems, the unification of individual small songs into a large epic.

12. Skena- it formed theatrical props, and from it the first playwrights-actors, putting on theatrical costumes, went out onto the stage of the orchestra to perform their roles. Later, when dramatic performances became regular, this temporary tent was replaced by a durable building - first wooden, and then stone and marble. But this building retained its original name “skena” forever. From this came the modern word “stage” (the late Latin pronunciation of the word) in the sense of a raised platform or stage on which actors perform. However, in the Greek theater of the classical period there was no such exaltation - at least, no traces of it have survived.

13. Exod- in ancient drama, the final entrance of the choir in a performance

14. Elegy- a lyrical genre containing in free poetic form any complaint, expression of sadness or the emotional result of philosophical reflection on the complex problems of life. Initially, in ancient Greek poetry, elegy meant a poem written in a stanza of a certain size, namely a couplet - hexameter-pentameter. The word έ̓λεγος among the Greeks meant a sad song to the accompaniment of a flute. The elegy was formed from the epic around the beginning of the Olympiads among the Ionian tribe in Asia Minor, among whom the epic also arose and flourished.

Having the general character of lyrical reflection, the elegy of the ancient Greeks was very diverse in content, for example, sad and accusatory in Archilochus and Simonides, philosophical in Solon or Theognis, warlike in Callinus and Tyrtaeus, political in Mimnermus. One of the best Greek authors of elegy is Callimachus.

Among the Romans, the elegy became more defined in character, but also freer in form. The importance of love elegies has greatly increased. Famous Roman authors of elegies - Propertius, Tibullus, Ovid, Catullus.

15. Epic- a heroic narrative about the past, containing a holistic picture of people's life and representing in harmonious unity a certain epic world of heroic heroes.

16. Iambic– 1) in ancient metrics, simple foot, two-syllable, three-moral, short syllable + long syllable (U-); in syllabic-tonic versification (for example, Russian) - unstressed syllable + stressed syllable; 2) the same as verse consisting of iambic meters; 3) lyric genre

Task 1. Part 4. General questions

After ten years of exhausting war and siege, one fine morning the Trojans, not believing their eyes, saw that the Greek camp was empty, and on the shore stood a huge wooden horse with a dedicatory inscription: “In gratitude for the future safe return home, the Achaeans dedicate this gift to Athena.” . Ancient people treated sacred gifts with great reverence, and, by the decision of King Priam, the horse was brought into the city and installed in the citadel dedicated to Athena. When night came, the armed Achaeans sitting on horseback got out and attacked the sleeping inhabitants of the city. Thus, thanks to the horse, Troy was captured, and thus the Trojan War ended.
Nowadays, this legend is known to everyone, and the Trojan horse itself has long become a common noun - our ironic contemporaries even named a destructive computer virus after it. The fact that Troy fell because of a horse is taken as an axiom. But if you ask someone why the horse was the cause of the death of Troy, the person will most likely find it difficult to answer.

But really, why?
It turns out that this question was asked already in ancient times. Many ancient authors tried to find a reasonable explanation for the legend. A wide variety of assumptions were made: for example, that the Achaeans had a battle tower on wheels, made in the shape of a horse and upholstered in horse skins; or that the Greeks managed to enter the city through an underground passage on the door of which a horse was painted; or that the horse was a sign by which the Achaeans distinguished each other from their opponents in the dark... It is now generally accepted that the Trojan horse is an allegory of some kind of military trick used by the Achaeans when taking the city.

There are many versions, but, admittedly, none of them gives a satisfactory answer. It would probably be naive to believe that in this short study we will be able to comprehensively answer such an “old” question, but it’s still worth a try. Who knows - maybe the Trojan horse will reveal its secret to us a little.
So, let's try to enter into the position of the Achaeans. Simulating the lifting of the siege, they were supposed to leave something under the walls of Troy that the Trojans would simply be obliged to take into the city. Most likely, this role should have been played by the dedicatory gift to the gods, because neglecting the sacred gift from the point of view of the ancient man meant insulting the deity. And an angry deity is not to be trifled with. And so, thanks to the inscription on the side, the wooden statue receives the status of a gift to the goddess Athena, who patronized both the Achaeans and the Trojans. What to do with such a dubious “gift”? I had to bring it (albeit with some caution) into the city and install it in a sacred place.
However, almost any sacred image could play the role of a dedicatory gift. Why was the horse chosen?
Troy has long been famous for its horses; because of them, traders came here from all over the world, and because of them, raids were often made on the city. In the Iliad, the Trojans are called "hippodamoi", "horse tamers", and legends say that the Trojan king Dardanus had a herd of magnificent horses, descended from the northernmost wind Boreas. In general, the horse was one of the creatures closest to humans in ancient horse breeding, agricultural and military culture. From this point of view, it was quite natural for the Achaean warriors to leave a horse under the walls of Troy as a dedicatory gift.
By the way, the images for sacred statues and sacrificial gifts were not chosen by chance. Each deity had animals dedicated to him, and he could take on their appearance: for example, Zeus in myths turns into a bull, Apollo into a dolphin, and Dionysus into a panther. In Mediterranean cultures, the horse in one of its aspects was associated with the fertility of the fields, with a bountiful harvest, with mother earth (in ancient mythology, the goddess Demeter sometimes turned into a mare). But at the same time, the beautiful freedom-loving animal was often associated with violent, spontaneous and uncontrollable force, with earthquakes and destruction, and as such was the sacred animal of the god Poseidon.

So, maybe the key to unlocking the Trojan horse is in the “Earth Shaker” Poseidon? Among the Olympians, this god was distinguished by his unbridled character and penchant for destruction. And he had old scores to settle with Troy. Perhaps the destruction of Troy by a horse is just an allegory of the strong earthquake that destroyed the city?

It turns out that this really happened. But this only happened with another Troy.

Before Priam, the ruler of Troy was King Laomedon, famous for his stinginess and treachery. Once, the gods Apollo and Poseidon, punished by Zeus, were given to his service. Apollo tended the flocks, and Poseidon labored as a builder: he built invulnerable walls around the city. However, after the expiration of the term, the gods did not receive any reward for their work and were kicked out with threats. Then they sent an epidemic and a sea monster to the city. Hercules volunteered to save Troy from the monster and successfully carried out his undertaking, but the greedy king here too regretted the due reward - he did not give up the magical white horses. Then Hercules gathered an army, returned to the walls of Troy, destroyed the city to the ground and killed Laomedon, and installed Priam as king (“Priam” means “bought”: he was indeed bought from slavery by his sister).

Modern archaeologists believe that the legendary Troy of Laomedont has its own historical analogue - the so-called Troy VI, which died from a strong earthquake shortly before the events of the Trojan War. But earthquakes, as is known from mythology, were sent in anger by the “Earth Shaker” Poseidon. It is possible that the cataclysm that destroyed the city took in the myth the allegorical form of Poseidon’s anger at the Trojans. In addition, white horses, his sacred animals, formally caused the disaster. (Troy seemed to be haunted by some kind of fate: to be destroyed twice because of horses!)

Unfortunately, divine wrath was unlikely to have anything to do with the Trojan horse. Priam's Troy did not fall due to a cataclysm (this has also been proven by archaeologists), but was captured and plundered by the Achaeans. In addition, in the Trojan War, Poseidon takes the side of the Trojans, and the idea of ​​​​infiltrating the city with the help of a horse is suggested by his eternal rival Athena.

So, the symbolism of the horse does not end with Poseidon...

In some, especially archaic, traditions, the horse symbolizes the transition to another space, to another qualitative state, to a place inaccessible to ordinary means. On a horse with eight legs, the shaman makes his mystical journey; among the Etruscans, the horse transports the souls of the dead to the underworld; the wonderful horse Burak carries Muhammad to heaven. Why go far - remember our Little Humpbacked Horse, who takes Ivanushka to the Far Away Kingdom and to visit the Sun and Moon.

What does this have to do with Troy, you ask? The most direct thing. According to Homer, the Trojan War lasted almost ten years; for ten years the Achaeans could not take the walls of the city, built, according to myth, by the god Poseidon himself. In fact, from the point of view of myth, Troy was an “inaccessible” place, a kind of “enchanted city” that could not be defeated by ordinary means. In order to get into the city, the heroes did not even need military cunning, but a special, magical “carrier”. And such a carrier becomes a wooden horse, with the help of which they accomplish what they have been trying to do for ten years without success (naturally, when speaking about the wooden carrier horse and the “enchanted city,” we mean not historical, but mythological reality).

But if you follow this version, then Troy, described by Homer, takes on a completely special meaning. We are no longer talking about a small fortress on the banks of the Pontus, or even about the capital of the ancient state of Asia Minor. Homeric Troy receives the status of a certain transcendental place for which a battle is being waged. And the battles taking place under the walls and within the walls of this Troy are by no means a vendetta between two tribes, but a reflection of events of global significance. The Trojan Horse opens the last act of this world drama.

By the way, this is confirmed by the scale of the war. Archaeologically, Troy is just a small fortress. Why, according to Homer, to take it, ships are sent from 160 city-states of Greece - from 10 to 100 ships, that is, a fleet of at least 1600 ships? And if you multiply by 50 warriors each - this is an army of more than 80 thousand people! (For comparison: Alexander the Great needed about 50 thousand people to conquer all of Asia.) Even if this is the author’s hyperbole, it indicates that Homer attached exceptional importance to this war.

What happened under the walls of Homer's Troy?

It is usually believed that the war began with the famous feast of the gods at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, the parents of Achilles, at which the goddess of discord threw an apple with the inscription “To the Fairest” and three goddesses - Athena, Hera and Aphrodite - argued among themselves for the right to receive it. Their dispute is resolved by Priam's son, Paris, who, seduced by the prospect of having the most beautiful wife in the world (Helen), awards the apple to Aphrodite (then Paris kidnaps Helen, and a war breaks out).

But, in fact, the war began much earlier: when Zeus, tired of the complaints of Mother Earth, to whom the human race caused suffering with its wickedness, decided to destroy part of humanity, but not with the help of a cataclysm, but with the hands of the people themselves. The goal of the “world drama” is clear, it’s up to the main characters.

Then, from the marriage of Zeus and Nemesis, Helen is born, a perfect beauty for whom the entire heroic world will fight. From the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, the last greatest of mortals is born - the hero Achilles. And finally, the “instigator” of the war, Paris, is born with the prediction that he will destroy the Trojan kingdom. So, all the characters are there, Helen is kidnapped and a war breaks out, the real goal of which is to destroy two great kingdoms and the best of the heroes of the ancient world.

And what Zeus planned comes true: almost all the heroes, both Achaeans and Trojans, die under the walls of Troy. And of those who survive the war, many will die on the way home, some, like King Agamemnon, will find death at home at the hands of loved ones, others will be expelled and spend their lives wandering. In essence, this is the end of the heroic age. Under the walls of Troy there are no victors and no vanquished, heroes are becoming a thing of the past, and the time of ordinary people is coming.

By the way, it is interesting that the horse is also symbolically associated with birth and death. A horse made of spruce wood, carrying something in its belly, symbolizes the birth of a new one, and the Trojan horse is made of spruce boards, and armed warriors sit in its hollow belly. It turns out that the Trojan horse brings death to the defenders of the fortress, but at the same time it also means the birth of something new.

Modern researchers date the Trojan War to around 1240 BC. (archaeologically, the death of Troy VII falls on this date). Around the same time, another important event took place in the Mediterranean: one of the great migrations of peoples began. Tribes of the Dorians, a barbarian people who completely destroyed the ancient Mycenaean civilization, moved from the north to the Balkan Peninsula. Only after several centuries will Greece be reborn and it will be possible to talk about Greek history. The destruction will be so great that the entire pre-Dorian history will become a myth (so much so that only from the middle of the 19th century will scientists begin to talk seriously about Mycenaean Greece and Troy, and before that they will be considered a fairy tale). Of the 160 Greek states mentioned by Homer in his Catalog of Ships, half will cease to exist, and the greatest, Mycenae, Tiryns and Pylos, will turn into small villages. The Trojan War will become a kind of boundary between the ancient and new worlds, between Mycenaean and classical Greece.

Of the heroes who fought under the walls of Troy, only two survived: Odysseus and Aeneas. And this is no coincidence. Both of them have a special mission. Aeneas will set out to create his “new Troy” and lay the foundation for Rome, the civilization of the world to come. And Odysseus... the “much-wise and long-suffering” hero will make a great journey home to find his promised land. In order to lose and regain everything that is dear to him on his journey, including his own name. To reach the borders of the inhabited world and visit countries that no one has seen and from which no one has returned. To descend into the world of the dead and again “resurrect” and wander for a long time on the waves of the Ocean, the great symbol of the Unconscious and the Unknown.

Odysseus will make a great journey, in which the “old” man will symbolically die and a “hero of the new time” will be born. He will endure great suffering and the wrath of the gods. This will be a new hero - energetic, insightful and wise, inquisitive and dexterous. With his ineradicable desire to understand the world, his ability to solve problems not with physical strength and valor, but with a sharp mind, he is not like the heroes of the “old” world. He will come into conflict with the gods, and the gods will be forced to retreat before man.

It is probably no coincidence that Odysseus will become the ideal of the coming era - classical Greece. Together with Troy, the old world will irrevocably go away, and with it something mysterious and hidden will go away. But something new will be born. This will be a world whose hero will be man: a master and a traveler, a philosopher and a citizen, a man no longer dependent on the forces of Fate and the game of the gods, but creating his own destiny and his own history.
One can get an idea of ​​the characteristic features of the emerging military art of this period from the heroic poem of the ancient Greek poet Homer, “The Iliad,” in which he describes one of the episodes of the Trojan War, which took place between the Achaeans (Greeks) and the Trojans in the 12th century BC. e. However, it should be taken into account that the poem was created in the middle of the 9th century BC. e., i.e. 300 years after the Trojan War. Consequently, the Iliad was created according to legend. In addition, as the Greek historian Thucydides correctly noted, Homer exaggerated the significance of this war and embellished it, and therefore the poet’s information must be treated very carefully. But we are, first of all, interested in the methods of combat in that period - from the Trojan War to Homer inclusive - as reported by the poet.

The city of Troy was located a few kilometers from the shore of the Hellespont (Dardanelle Strait). Trade routes used by Greek tribes passed through Troy. Apparently, the Trojans interfered with the trade of the Greeks, this forced the Greek tribes to unite and start a war with Troy. But the Trojans were supported by numerous allies (Lycia, Mysia, etc.), as a result of which the war became protracted and lasted more than nine years.

The city of Troy (now in its place is the Turkish town of Hisarlik) was surrounded by a high stone wall with battlements. The Achaeans did not dare to storm the city and did not block it. The fighting took place on a flat field between the city and the Achaean camp, which was located on the banks of the Hellespont. The Trojans sometimes broke into the enemy camp, trying to set fire to Greek ships pulled ashore.

Homer listed in detail the ships of the Achaeans and counted 1186 ships on which a hundred thousand army was transported. There is no doubt that the number of ships and the number of warriors are exaggerated. In addition, we must take into account that these ships were just large boats, since they were easily pulled ashore and launched into the water quite quickly. Such a ship could not carry 100 people.

Therefore, it would be more correct to assume that the Achaeans had several thousand warriors. This army was led by Agamemnon, the king of the “many-gold Mycenae.” The warriors of each tribe were led by their own leader.

The main weapon of the Greek warriors was a spear for throwing with a copper tip, which is why Homer calls the Achaeans “spearmen.”

In addition, the warrior had a copper sword and good defensive weapons: leggings, armor on his chest, a helmet with a horse’s mane and a large copper-bound shield. Tribal leaders fought on war chariots or dismounted. Ordinary warriors were worse armed: they had spears, slings, “double-edged axes,” axes, bows and arrows, shields and were a support for their leaders, who themselves entered into single combat with the best warriors of Troy. From Homer's descriptions we can imagine the setting in which the combat took place. The opponents were located not far from each other.
The war chariots lined up; the warriors took off their armor and placed them next to the chariots, then sat down on the ground and watched the single combat of their leaders. The combatants first threw spears, then fought with copper swords, which soon became unusable. Having lost his sword, the fighter took refuge in the ranks of his tribe or was given new weapons to continue the fight. The winner removed the armor from the dead man and took away his weapons.

To conduct combat, war chariots and infantry were placed in a certain order. The war chariots were lined up in front of the infantry in a line maintaining alignment, “so that no one, relying on their art and strength, would fight against the Trojans ahead of the rest alone, so that they would not rule back.” Behind the war chariots, covering themselves with “convex” shields, lined up foot soldiers armed with spears with copper tips. The infantry was built in several ranks, which Homer calls “thick phalanxes.” The leaders lined up the infantry, driving the cowardly warriors into the middle, “so that even those who don’t want to have to fight against their will.”

War chariots first entered the battle, and then “continuously, one after another, the phalanx of the Achaeans moved into battle against the Trojans,” “they walked silently, fearing their leaders.”

The infantry first struck with spears and then cut with swords. The infantry fought war chariots with spears. Archers also took part in the battle, but the arrow was considered an unreliable weapon even in the hands of an excellent archer.

The outcome of the struggle was decided by physical strength and the art of wielding weapons. Primitive weapons often failed: copper spear tips bent, and swords broke from strong blows. The maneuver had not yet been used on the battlefield, but the beginnings of organizing the interaction of war chariots and foot soldiers had already appeared.

Usually the battle continued until nightfall. At night, if an agreement was reached, the corpses were burned. If there was no agreement, the opponents posted guards, organizing the protection of the army in the field and defensive structures (the fortress wall and the fortifications of the camp - a ditch, sharpened stakes and a wall with towers). The guard, usually consisting of several detachments, was placed behind the ditch. At night, reconnaissance was sent to the enemy’s camp in order to capture prisoners and find out the enemy’s intentions; meetings of tribal leaders were held, at which the issue of further actions was decided. In the morning the battle resumed.

The Trojans, having achieved success in battle, drove the Achaeans back to their fortified camp. They then crossed the ditch and began to storm the wall with the towers, but were repulsed. However, they soon managed to break the gates with stones and break into the Achaean camp. A battle ensued near the ships. Until this time, some warriors did not participate in the battle due to intertribal strife. The danger forced the Achaeans to rally, as a result of which the Trojans met fresh enemy forces at the ships. It was a dense formation of closed shields “peak near peak, shield against shield, going under the neighboring one.” The warriors lined up in several ranks, as a result of which “in bold, hesitating hands, spears stretched in layers.” In this formation, the Achaeans repelled the Trojans, and with a counterattack - “with blows of sharp swords and double-edged peaks” - drove them back.

Describing the course of the battle among the Achaean ships, Homer showed some aspects of the tactical order. He mentions ambushes, in which, according to him, the valor of the warriors is most manifested, he talks about the choice of the place to strike by the Achaeans who came to the rescue: “Where, Deucalidus, do you intend to attack the Trojan army? Do you want to strike your enemies with the right wing, in the middle, or with the left?” It was decided to strike from the left wing.

The multi-day battle did not decide the outcome of the war. Ultimately, Troy was taken by cunning. The Achaeans launched their ships into the water, loaded and sailed. While the Trojans, intoxicated by success, were celebrating their victory, one of the Achaean detachments secretly entered Troy at night, opened the gates of the city and let in their army, which had returned from behind the island behind which it was hiding. Troy was sacked and destroyed. Thus ended the many years of the Trojan War