Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff

I like this because I know exactly what she’s talking about. Therefore, I have come to look upon sleep as the best of all gifts.” My favorite quote from the book is from Helen as she discusses with Odysseus how she feels about starting this war, “Always, in these times, I am wretched save when sleep comes to me. Troy is sacked and the Greeks finally return home with the spoils of war. They drag the Horse into their city where that night the plan unfolds exactly as planned.

They also cunningly decide to leave one soldier behind whom the Trojans do not know, Sinon, who’s job it is to tell the Trojans that the Horse is an offering to appease Athena. The rest of the Greeks pretend they are leaving by sailing away, leaving the Horse behind.

This lasts for nine years until the wars finally start.Īfter many, many battles involving heroes on both sides such as Hector and Achilles and heavy losses by both, Odysseus comes up with the idea to build a huge wooden horse to hide in in order to gain access to Troy. So, Menelaus wants Helen back so he gathers the Greeks who sail to Troy and lay siege to the city. Hence, this is how all the Greek heros ended up in the war despite their attempts (notably by Odysseus) to renege. So, Helen’s father made all her suitors swear to stand by her husband if ever he needed them. Now, before this time, everyone wanted to marry Helen because of her beauty including Odysseus. Helen bewitched by Aphrodite, falls in love with Paris and runs off to Troy with him. (This tale definitely says something about the moral values of the time period).

Oddly enough, Paris is married to to a wood nymph. Typical male, he chooses the woman who happens to be Helen, wife to Menelaus, King of Sparta. But Aphrodite offers him a wife as fair as herself. Hera offers him wealth and power if he chooses her. No god will decide who the fairest is so the goddesses chose Paris, a shepherd essentially (who’s really a prince) to choose between them.

The summary is this: Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena are fighting over a Golden Apple that reads “To the Fairest”. Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff retells the story of the battle of Troy as told in The Iliad by Homer, beginning with cause of the battle (the fight between the Greek goddesses Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena over the Golden Apple) and ending with the final sack of Troy.