The Trojan War, which is among the…
1341 BCE to 1198 BCE
The Trojan War, which is among the most important events in Greek mythology, is to be remembered in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer.
Ancient Greeks thought the Trojan War to be a historical event, believing that it took place in the thirteenth or twelfth century BCE, and that Troy was located in the vicinity of the Dardanelles, which is in modern day Turkey.
Whether there is any historical reality behind the events of the Trojan War cycle is an open question.
Many scholars would agree that there is a historical core to the tale, though this may simply mean that the Homeric stories are a fusion of various tales of sieges and expeditions by Greeks of the Bronze Age or Mycenaean period.
Some scholars believe that the Trojans were a Luwian-speaking people who came into conflict with the Achaean Greeks.
"Ahhiyaiia," which occurs in contemporary texts of the Hittite empire of Anatolia, appears to be the same word as "Achaioi," Homer's name for the Greeks besieging Troy, and possibly refers to such a Mycenaean empire, some lesser state, or its post-Mycenaean successor.