Causes Of The Trojan War

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The Trojan War was a very long and brutal war which was essentially caused when Paris of Troy took Helen of Sparta from her husband Menelaus; this enraged the king to the point of sending troops to retrieve her. The Trojan War lasted for somewhat of 10 years. The war was predominantly caused by the mortals; however, as read in several of the books the god’s favored one side or the other, and helped their favorite mortals. Their interference with the mortals in books 1,9,16, and 22 show that the gods were the most responsible for the outcome of the war.
The first book of the Iliad is where we see most of the interference from the gods, it begins with Chryses. Chryses has come to The Greeks begging for his daughter to be returned to him. When the Greeks do not comply and send Chryses away is when we see the first interference of the gods. Chryses was enraged at the Greeks for holding his daughter so he began Praying to Apollo, “Hear me, Silverbow,
“Three times Patroclus reached the parapet, and three times Apollo’s fingers flicked against the humans shield and pushed him off. But when he came back a fourth time, like a spirit from beyond Apollo’s voice split the daylight in two: get back Patroclus, back where you belong. Troy is fated to fall, but not to you, nor even to Achilles, a better man by far” this causes Patroclus to abandon the idea of continuing the battle. The next act of Apollo is substantially the biggest evidence that the gods were the ones controlling the war. This occurred when hector was considering going back into battle or retreating into the walls of troy, Apollo came to him and persuaded him to go after Patroclus right after he had told Patroclus to go back to the Greeks. This leads to wonder if Apollo was entertained by watching them fight or what his motives

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