Print
Word
PDF
|
Mythology Part 4, Chapter 2: The Fall of Troy
Achilles was well aware that his death was near. A prince from Ethiopia reinforced the Trojans and the Greeks suffered until Achilles killed him. Achilles only weak spot was near the ankles, where his mother had held him when she dipped him into the river Styx. Paris hit him in this spot and he died. Ajax wanted his arms but Odysseus received them. He went into a fit and tried to kill Menelaus and Agamemnon, but instead slayed a group of cattle and eventually killed himself (Athena made him insane).
The Greeks were dismayed because they could still not defeat Troy. A prophet told them that they would need to use the arms of Hercules to defeat the great city. They look for them and Diomedes and Odysseus come back with them. Then they learned that they would have to steal the image of Athena from a temple in the city before it would fall. Odysseus and Diomedes accomplished this task one night. Finally, they realized that they would have to get the army within the city to be victorious. With the help of Athena, Odysseus devised the plan of the wooden horse. He filled it with armed men and left a single Greek behind to convince the Trojans to admit the horse.
When the Greek fleet left, the Trojans came out to find the wooden horse. Some believed it was a trick, and others wanted to take it into the city. The Greek left behind convinced them that the horse was a peace offering. The priest who opposed the horse being brought into the city was killed on his altar by twin snakes. The people took this as an omen that they should bring it into the city. At night, the men poured out of the horse and let the returning Greek army into the city. Soon Troy was engulfed in flames. "In the more distant parts of the town the Trojans were able to gather together here and there and then it was the Greeks who suffered." Part 4, Chapter 2, pg. 276. The Greeks soon overwhelmed the resistance. Achilles' son killed Priam. Aeneas led his father and son out of the burning city. Aphrodite led Helen to shelter and delivered her to Menelaus.
At dawn, the city was still smoldering and the surviving women and children were rounded up. Hecuba, the wife of Priam and Andromache led them. Andromache held her son close to her but a herald came and announced that the boy must be thrown from a cliff. The soldiers executed him. Troy was finally dead.
