Troy

[CCamfield]

Well, if you take out the mythology, Paris visited Sparta and Helen fell in love with him, and ran away/was abducted by him. There'd have to be another reason for him to be visiting Sparta in the first place (than Aphrodite promising Helen to him), but it still works.

 

[mmu1]

I saw a theatrical trailer yesterday before Hidalgo and it looks good.

Although I'm really wondering how much, if at all, they're going to modify the story to make it a more palatable action film - or whather they're just going to stick to the story as written and have the great heroes on both sides die, and the whole thing ends in meaningless slaughter...

With the way the trailers have been structured, I'm really looking forward to the suprise of all the illiterates out there when they go to see the movie and realize in shock that Achilles, the "hero", dies.

 

[Ranger REG]

According to the Iliad? Or historically?

Historically, if possible.

I mean, were Troy and Sparta rival city-states? Did Paris and Helen have an affair without the aids of gods? Did the war between them started because of the scandal or are there other contributing factors?

 

[shilsen]

Historically, if possible.

I mean, were Troy and Sparta rival city-states? Did Paris and Helen have an affair without the aids of gods? Did the war between them started because of the scandal or are there other contributing factors?

Historically, it's difficult to say if there was one Trojan War, and if there was, when it happened. Archaeological evidence suggests that Troy was sacked multiple times. The primary reason is probably just to do with trade. Troy is geographically placed perfectly along the sea route for trade between Greece and Asia Minor, and could probably exercise a lot of influence on (i.e. make money off) local trade.

There is no historical evidence of Troy and Sparta as rival city-states, nor for the existence of Paris and Helen. Sure, every once in a while someone tries to argue that some find is linked to a character from the Iliad (Agamemnon's supposed death mask, for example), but all of it is very shaky.

And just for the record, people are still debating whether what we think is the site of Troy really is so, whether the entire epic is simply a giant metaphor for the Greek battles against the barbarians and there was no historical battle/war, etc. Troy is a fascinating, but very troublesome, subject for historians and archaeologists and there isn't much consensus on it.

 

[Desdichado]

During that time period, you don't really have the classic Greek city states either. The high king at Mycenae would have ruled an Achaian "empire." There's even a theory that the sack of Troy was a hot-spot action in a "cold war" between the Achaians and the Hittitles. If the Trojan war actually happened, the sack of Troy VII most closely matches the myth.