Trojan War Thesis

Trojan War Thesis Paper

From the reading the Trojan War we can see that the Mycenaean people regard themselves as inferior to the gods, and are the gods pawns meant to carry out what they will not do themselves. Since the Trojan War is a document taken almost entirely from Homer’s Iliad, as well as a variety of poems written around the time, the insecurities of the Mycenaean are clear as they themselves created gods to worship who have little to no respect for the human race. The gods treat the humans as their pawns, encouraging them to do things they would not do themselves. “The murderous War-god urged was there to urge men on to slaughter each other” (Trojan War 266). By studying the gods’ treatment of the people we are able to get more insight into Mycenaean life.
The war’s basis was a dispute between three jealous goddesses, Aphrodite, Athena and Hera. After Paris’s decision to give Aphrodite the apple in exchange for the fairest woman in the world, we see the war begin to unravel, as Aphrodite sides with the Trojans, and Athena and Hera with the Greeks. Aphrodite keeps her promise, leading Paris to Helen, the wife of Menelaus, the King of Sparta, and they soon fall in love and severing ties between Sparta and Troy. Menelaus calls upon his brother Agamemnon and the rest of Greece to stand by him and “lay mighty Troy in ashes” (Trojan War