Why Trojan Warriors?

Why Trojan Warriors? Surprises can be exciting how ever they are not necessarily dangerous

The exciting thing about a surprise present is that you never know what might be inside. That can also be the danger.

According to Greek legend, the war between the Greeks and the people of Troy was a long and bloody one, and at the centre were Helen, the most beautiful woman in all of Greece, and Paris, the Trojan prince who loved her.

Paris was the son of the King and Queen of Troy. When he was born, his mother dreamed that she was giving birth to a flaming torch. Fearful that this was a bad omen, King Priam ordered that the child be left on a hillside to die.

Paris was saved and when he grew up he was tricked, by the goddess Aphrodite’s, into saying that she was the prettiest of all. This was because she had promised him the power to win the love of the most beautiful women, Helen of Troy.

Paris went to Sparta believing he had got this power, convinced that Helen would fall in love with him. He snatched Helen from her husband and took her back to Troy.

A huge fleet of Greek heroes set sail to Troy to try to bring her back. When words failed, they laid siege to the city. After nine long years of war, someone in the Greek ranks hatched a plan and built a huge, hollow, wooden horse on wheels.

One morning, the sentries at the gates of Troy woke to find the extraordinary horse left outside. The next thing they noticed was that the Greek armies had gone. Reports soon reached Troy that the Greek fleet had been seen sailing away. The war was over! A captured Greek soldier claimed that the horse had been built as an offering to the goddess Athena so that she might give them the wind for their sails. Helen, who, as Aphrodite had promised, now loved Paris with all her heart, was suspicious of the wooden horse, but none of the Trojans would listen to her. They wanted to bring this offering to Athena inside the walls of the city.

That night, while the city slept, the Greek fleet came silently back to the shore and the armies made their way to the walls of Troy. Inside the city, there was a movement from within the horse. It was full of Greek soldiers who had been hiding there all the time!