50 Fun Facts About Troy

The Trojan War began after Paris took Helen from her husband, the king of which Greek city?

Menelaus then called in every prince who had sworn to defend Helen's marriage.

Which goddess tossed a golden apple inscribed 'to the fairest' into a wedding?

Eris had been left off the guest list for the wedding of Peleus and Thetis.

At the Judgement of Paris, which goddess offered him political power and control of all Asia?

Athena offered wisdom and skill in battle; Paris chose the third goddess's offer of love instead.

Where was Paris being raised as a shepherd when Hermes led the three goddesses to him?

The goddesses appeared to him naked after bathing in a spring on the mountain.

Homer's Iliad covers only a short stretch of the war. In which year of the siege is it set?

Its core describes just four days and two nights of fighting.

Agamemnon, who led the Greek expedition against Troy, was king of which city?

He was Menelaus's brother, and his own wife Clytemnestra was seduced by Aegisthus while he was away.

According to one tradition, Thetis made the infant Achilles invulnerable by dipping him in which river?

She held him by the heel, which stayed dry, mortal and famous.

To keep Achilles out of the war, Thetis hid him at King Lycomedes' court disguised as what?

He gave himself away by grabbing weapons when Odysseus laid out trinkets and arms before the women.

Odysseus tried to dodge the war by feigning madness and sowing his fields with what?

Palamedes put the infant Telemachus in front of the plough, and Odysseus swerved, proving he was sane.

Whom did Agamemnon sacrifice at Aulis to appease Artemis and free the fleet from the calm?

In some versions Artemis swapped in a deer at the last moment and carried the girl away.

According to the Iliad's Catalogue of Ships, how many Greek ships sailed for Troy?

Thucydides rounded the tradition to about 1,200, implying an army of 70,000 to 130,000 men.

King Cinyras of Cyprus promised 50 ships but sent only one real vessel and 49 made of what?

It is one of the more elegant ways of breaking a promise recorded in Greek myth.

Philoctetes was abandoned on Lemnos for ten years after suffering what injury?

The festering wound smelled so bad that Odysseus advised leaving him behind; his bow was later needed to take Troy.

Who was the first Greek to land at Troy, and the first to die, in fulfilment of a prophecy?

Odysseus dodged the curse by throwing his shield down and jumping onto it instead of Trojan soil.

Legend said the walls of Troy were built by Apollo and which other god during a year of forced service?

They laboured for the Trojan king Laomedon, which explains why the walls held for ten years.

Achilles withdrew from the fighting after Agamemnon took which captive woman from him?

Agamemnon had been forced to give back his own prize, Chryseis, to end a plague sent by Apollo.

Who wore Achilles' armour into battle and was killed by Hector?

Hector stripped the armour from the body, and Achilles' grief brought him roaring back to the fight.

Which god forged the new set of arms that Achilles wore when he returned to battle?

Memnon later fought Achilles wearing armour from the same divine smith.

With Athena's help, Diomedes wounded Ares and which other deity on the battlefield?

He also killed Pandaros and nearly finished off Aeneas before the goddess whisked her son away.

Guided by Hermes, who came to Achilles' tent to beg for the return of Hector's body?

The Iliad ends with the funeral of Hector, not with the fall of the city.

Which queen of the Amazons arrived to fight for Troy shortly after Hector's burial?

In one version Achilles killed her and then mourned her; the ugly soldier Thersites mocked him and paid with his life.

Memnon, son of Eos, who aided Troy and was slain by Achilles, was king of which land?

Zeus weighed the fates of the two heroes on a scale, and Memnon's side sank.

In an alternative version of his death, Achilles was stabbed while marrying which daughter of Priam?

Both versions of his death deny his killer any valour: Achilles was never beaten in open battle.

When Ajax fell on his sword after losing the contest for Achilles' armour, where did it pierce?

It was his only vulnerable spot; he had first slaughtered a flock of sheep believing them to be his comrades.

Paris was finally shot dead by Philoctetes using a bow that had belonged to which hero?

The prophecy said Troy could not fall without that bow, so Odysseus and Diomedes fetched its owner from Lemnos.

Which sacred Trojan statue did Odysseus and Diomedes steal because Troy could not fall while it stood?

The captured seer Helenus had revealed the conditions for the city's fall.

Who physically built the wooden horse, working under Athena's guidance?

The wood came from a cornel grove sacred to Apollo, and the ruse itself was Odysseus's idea.

What inscription did the Greeks put on the wooden horse?

The rest of the army burned its camp and sailed just out of sight to Tenedos.

Which Trojan priest warned against the horse and was devoured by serpents that came from the sea?

The portent alarmed the followers of Aeneas, who withdrew to Mount Ida and survived the sack.

Cassandra also warned the Trojans about the horse. Why did nobody listen?

Apollo had given her the gift of prophecy and then, when she spurned him, made it useless.

Which Greek spy stayed behind and signalled the fleet at midnight once the Trojans were asleep?

The soldiers inside the horse then emerged and killed the guards.

Which Roman poet describes the sack of Troy in Book 2 of the Aeneid?

Aeneas himself narrates the fall, before founding the line that leads to Rome.

The scholar Eratosthenes dated the Trojan War to which years?

The date roughly matches archaeological evidence of a catastrophic burning of the layer called Troy VII.

The lost poems telling the rest of the war, such as the Cypria and the Little Iliad, are known as what?

They survive only in fragments and a summary in Proclus's Chrestomathy.

The ruins identified as Troy lie at Hisarlik in which modern country?

The site, in Çanakkale province near the Dardanelles, joined the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1998.

Which German businessman-turned-archaeologist dug at Hisarlik in the 1870s, sure it was Troy?

Calvert, an Englishman who owned a nearby farm, had already excavated there in 1865.

How many major archaeological layers, or successive cities, have been identified at the site of Troy?

The city was destroyed and rebuilt again and again over some 4,000 years of settlement.

Where has the gold of 'Priam's Treasure', taken from Troy to Berlin, been held since 1945?

The Soviet Union confiscated it in 1945 and Russia has kept it since, despite German requests for its return.

Troy VI–VII is believed to be the city called what in Hittite records?

The Hittite name is thought to echo the Greek Ilios, another name for the city.

Which conqueror crossed the Hellespont in 334 BC and sacrificed at the tombs of Homeric heroes at Troy?

He also visited the temple of Athena Ilias before marching into Asia.

From 1988 to 2005, excavations at Troy were led by Manfred Korfmann of which German university?

Working with the University of Cincinnati, his team uncovered the large lower city of Troy VI–VII.

Who directed the 2004 film Troy?

David Benioff, later of Game of Thrones, wrote the screenplay.

Which actor played Hector opposite Brad Pitt's Achilles in the 2004 film Troy?

Sean Bean was Odysseus and Peter O'Toole played King Priam.

Where was the city of Troy built for the 2004 film?

The set went up at Fort Ricasoli, while beach battle scenes were shot in Mexico, where Hurricane Marty disrupted filming.

What did Brad Pitt suffer while filming Troy, delaying production for weeks?

The irony was not lost on anyone: he was playing Achilles at the time.

Which composer replaced Gabriel Yared and scored Troy after poor test-screening reactions?

The film earned an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design and grossed about $497 million worldwide.

Roughly how much did the 2004 film Troy gross worldwide?

That made it the eighth highest-grossing film of 2004 on a budget of up to $175 million.

Which settlement at Hisarlik did Schliemann wrongly take for Homer's city because of its walls and treasure?

Built around 2550 BC, it was destroyed for good around 2300 BC, centuries before any plausible Trojan War.

Which University of Cincinnati professor ran the Troy excavations from 1932 to 1938?

Working with Dörpfeld, he brought a professional rigour the site had lacked and confirmed there were at least nine cities.

Early travellers such as Pierre Belon mistook which Hellenistic ruin, 20 km south of Hisarlik, for Troy?

The true site was only pinned down after Frank Calvert surveyed Hisarlik in 1865 and identified it as classical Ilion.