 The war dragged on for 10 years.
 The Greeks could not break into Troy and the Trojans
could not drive them off.
 Many heroes were killed on both sides.
 One great Trojan hero was Aeneas, Aphrodite’s son by
Anchises.
 He was wounded by Diomedes and Aphrodite rushed
to help him.
 Diomedes stopped her and even dared graze her with a
spear.
 In the end, Apollo carried him to Leto and Artemis,
who healed him.
 The most famous Greek warrior was Achilles.
 He was one of seven sons of Thetis and Peleus.
 She made six of her sons immortal by burning away
their mortal half.
 She was doing the same for baby Achilles when Peleus
came in.
 He thought she was hurting the child and prevented
her finishing, so Achilles was left with one vulnerable
place on his body where he could be fatally wounded.
 The heel by which Thetis had held him.
 when Achilles was born Thetis tried to make him
immortal by dipping him in the river Styx. However,
he was left vulnerable at the part of the body by which
she held him, his heel.
Or
 In another version of this story, Thetis anointed the
boy in ambrosia and put him on top of a fire to burn
away the mortal parts of his body. She was interrupted
by Peleus and abandoned both father and son in a
rage.
 Achilles was given the choice of a long,
undistinguished life, or, a short but glorious one.
 He chose the second.
 As time went on, the warriors began to quarrel.
 Achilles argued with Agamemnon over a slave girl and
left the battle (taking his Myrmidons with him) sulking.
 The Greeks lost heart and were driven back by the Trojan
hero Hector, Priam’s son.
 In desperation Patroculus put on Achilles’s armour
and led Achilles myrmidons in an attack.
 He was not as skilled as Achilles, but wearing his
armour he gave the Greeks hope and they fought back.
 Hector, the Trojan hero, killed Patroculus.
 Achilles was stricken with guilt and he plunged back into
the battle.
 He killed Hector and dragged his body round the city
behind his chariot before letting the Trojans buy it back
for burial.
 Paris emerged to avenge Hector’s death and shot Achilles
in the heel-his only weak spot- and killed him.
 Ajax and Odysseus disputed
who should inherit
Achilles’s armour, as they
both gaurded it during the
battle.
 Agamemnon decided
Odysseus should have it and
Ajax killed himself in
shame.
 To prevent more trouble, Odysseus gave the armour to
Achilles’s son Neoptolemus.
 With many of their heroes dead, the greeks were told
that only the famous archer Philoctetes could save
them.
 Philocetes had been on
his way to Troy when he
had been bitten by a
snake.
 The wound was not fatal
but would not heal so the
Greeks left him behind.
 He felt very bitter about
this and when the Greeks
came back looking for
help he refused at first.
 Then Heracles came to him in a dream, saying that if
he helped the Greeks and went to Troy, his wound
would heal.
 He returned with them and killed Paris with a skillful
shot, which gave the Greeks new hope.
 At once the snake bite began to heel as Heracles had
promised.
 Troy finally fell thanks to
a trick thought up by
Odysseus.
 The Greeks pretended to
give up.
 They built a huge
wooden horse as a gift to
Athene, so that she
would grant them a safe
trip home.
 They left it outside the
gates of Troy and sailed
away.
 The Trojans were
overjoyed. They pulled
the horse through the
city gates and offered it
at their own temple of
Athene.
 That night they
celebrated, but when
they were asleep, some
Greeks who had hidden
inside the hollow horse
slipped out of the trap
door in its side.
 They opened the city
gates to let in the Greek
army, who had sneaked
back under cover of
darkness.
 The Greeks ransacked Troy and vast numbers of Trojans
were killed. Helen was captured and taken to Menelaus.
 He intended to punish her but despite all the bloodshed
she had caused, he found he still loved her and took her
back as his wife.