The Trojan War is a legendary conflict in Greek mythology in which a coalition of Greek kings besieged the city of Troy. According to the epic tradition, it began after Paris, a Trojan prince, took Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta, and the Greeks under Agamemnon sailed to retrieve her. The best-known episodes, including the anger of Achilles, the death of Hector and the trick of the wooden horse, come from Homer's Iliad and the later epics of the Trojan cycle. Archaeologists have excavated a city at Hisarlik in Turkey that is generally identified with Troy, and Hittite texts mention a place called Wilusa. Whether a real war lies behind the legend remains debated.
Before and after
- from 14th century BCE to 6th century BCEEdom
- from 14th century BCE to 4th century BCEMoab
- from c. 1,292 BCE to 1,189 BCENineteenth Dynasty of Egypt
- c. 1,274 BCEConstruction of Abu Simbel
- from c. 1,258 BCE to 1,180 BCETrojan War
- from 13th century BCE to 6th centuryAncient Greece
- from 13th century BCE to 6th century BCEAncient Israel and Judah
- from 13th century BCE to 4th century BCEMagadha
- 13th century BCEAncient Celts
More in Wars, politics & history
- from 149 BCE to 146 BCEThird Punic War
- from 58 BCE to 51 BCEGallic War
- 49 BCECaesar defeats Pompey at Pharsalus
- from 66 CE to 74 CEFirst Jewish-Roman War
- from June 68 CE to December 69 CEYear of the Four Emperors
- 476 CEFall of the western Roman Empire
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 13th century BCE.