The Story Behind The Iliad

The story behind The Iliad

In The Iliad, book began with nine years of fighting between Greek and Trojans. Before finding out the cause of this war, we need to read a story first. From this story, your will understand why they fought with each other and the later conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon.

Long time ago, God Zeus held a banquet about the marriage of Peleus and Thetis who were Achilles' parents. However, there was a goddess named Eris who was not invited. She was so angry, so she wanted to break this banquet. Eris threw a "Golden Apple" and said "to the most fair". As a result, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite all thought this apple should belong to them. Then Zeus decided to let the prince of Troy, Paris to judge which goddess was qualified to have the apple. Every goddess offered good condition to convinced Paris. In the end, Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite, goddess of beauty, because Aphrodite promised to give him the most beautiful girl, Helen in the world. Though Paris' decision made him win the beautiful girl in the world, it killed thousands of people and broke the peace between Greece and Troy.

Now, you can realize the cause of war is a beautiful girl who named Helen. We always say that's Helen's fault, because she is too beautiful. However, do we really think of the original problem? If Paris didn't make the decision, the war between two countries might not happen. That's a good issue for us to think about. Then, after reading the story, we will see what's happened in the war.