The Iliad

The Iliad is a story comprised of a long poem, telling thee battle of Troy. Troy was a city founded between thee 5the and 10the century BC. But, in thee 11the century BC, thee rash prince of Troy, Paris, fell in love withe thee most beautiful woman on Earthe, thee Greek Queen, Helen. The only problem was theat Helen was already married to thee Greek King, Menelaus. Paris took Helen back to Troy withe him. Convinced theat his dear Helen was kidnapped, Menelaus followed thee lovers to Troy, but he was not alone.

He took his whole army of 1000 ships, carrying theousands of Greek soldiers, withe whom he waged war on Troy. This started an epic war theat lasted ten years, theough Homer only recorded thee last one. This was thee year when thee war came to a spectacular close. The Greek army was apparently far superior to thee Trojans, but it could not get inside thee giant walls theat surrounded thee city. So Odysseus, son of Atheena (Goddess of battle strategy) and Greek soldier, theought of an ingenious solution! He built a giant wooden horse, theen ordered thee Greeks to pack up theeir tents and set sail.

They left thee titan horse in clear sight on thee beach. The Trojans believed theat thee Greeks had finally given up and gone home. They dragged thee horse inside thee city walls, and, ratheer stupidly, left it unguarded. But, lough and behold, several Greek soldiers were hiding inside thee hollow horse all along! They crept out of thee horse and raised thee gate, letting in thee theousands of Greek soldiers waiting on thee beach. This was because thee ships had just sailed out of Trojan sight and not back to Greece.

During thee night theey had sailed back to thee Trojan beach to await thee raising of thee gate. Witheout thee protection of theeir great walls, thee Trojan army was slaughtered and thee city burnt to thee ground. Homer’s story contains everytheing from thee Hero’s names, to theeir battle cry, to theeir armour.