TROY 



5887 



TROY 



STORY OF TROY 



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.ROY, or IL'IUM, an ancient city of 

 Asia Minor, made famous by one of the great- 

 est poems in the world the Iliad. That there 

 really was such a city, recent excavations have 

 made very probable, and the large part which 

 it played in the legends of the Greeks shows 

 that it must have been a place of considerable 

 size and importance. All the marvelous things 

 which the Greeks told of Troy happened in 

 the prehistoric days in the twelfth century B. c., 



but within historic times, about 700 B. c., the 

 Greeks built a city, Ilium by name, on what 

 they supposed was the site of the ruined city. 

 Whether the story of the Trojan War be simply 

 legend, or whether it lie on the borderland be- 

 tween history and mythology, can never be 

 known, but that does not affect the value of 

 the tale, which remains to this day one of the 

 freshest and most fascinating of stories. The 

 following paragraphs give a summary of the tale. 



The Trojan War 



Paris. In the days of Priam, the king, Troy 

 became a great city, but there were signs of 

 approaching disaster. When Prince Paris was 

 born it was foretold that he should bring trou- 

 ble to his country, and to avoid this the royal 

 father ordered the boy to be exposed on the 

 hillside to die. The servants did his bidding, 

 but scarcely had they gone when an old shep- 

 herd found the beautiful boy and carried him 

 to his home. There Paris grew up as the .shep- 

 herd's son, tending 'the flocks of his foster- 

 fathejr on Mount Ida. 



The Golden Apple. When Paris had become 

 a young man, handsome as a god, there oc- 

 curred a wonderful wedding, to which no one 

 thought of inviting him. It was the wedding 

 of the sea nymph Thetis with Peleus, and to 

 it came all the immortals except Eris, goddess 

 of discord. To avenge the slight shown her, 

 Eris threw among the guests a golden apple 

 bearing the inscription, "For the fairest," and 

 she accomplished her purpose, for out of it 

 arose a wrangle which resulted in the disastrous 

 siege of Troy. Venus, Juno and Minerva all 

 jealously claimed the. apple, and a most un- 

 seemly quarrel ensued, of which Paris was 

 finally chosen as judge. 



All three goddesses appeared before him on 

 Mount Ida, each offering him a bribe if he 

 would decide for her. 



. "I will give you power and riches," declared 

 Juno. 



"I will make you a famous warrior," said the 

 martial Minerva. 



"I shall give you the most beautiful woman 

 on earth for your wife," smiled Venus. 



Not because of her promise, but because she 

 was really the most beautiful, Paris gave the 

 apple to Venus. He needed no beautiful wife, 

 for he had already wedded the nymph Oenone, 

 whom he loved ; but by his decision he won not 

 only the hatred of Juno and Minerva, but the 

 still more disastrous favor of Venus. 



Helen of Troy. Very shortly Paris was re- 

 called to his father's palace, and soon afterward 

 set out on a journey to Sparta, in Greece, urged 

 on by Venus, though this he did not know. 

 There he met Helen, wife of the Spartan king 

 Menelaus, and the most beautiful woman on 

 earth, and with her he fell in love. Through the 

 influence of Venus, Helen returned his love. 

 Whether she consented to flee with him to Troy 

 or he abducted her, there is doubt; but she 

 went, forgetting apparently that all the heroes 

 of Greece had promised to aid her husband if 

 any disaster ever overtook him. The heroes 

 were true to their oath, and preparations for 

 the expedition began immediately after the 

 flight. 



They were not made in a moment, these ex- 

 tensive preparations, and many difficulties stood 

 in the way of the Greeks. First Ulysses, wisest 

 of the Greeks, had to be induced to join the 

 expedition; then Agamemnon, the Greek com- 



