Razboiul Troian!

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“For my sake, Achilles, and for the sake of the Queen of Heaven herself, who loves you and Agamemnon equally, put down your sword!”

The great Greek fleet did not immediately attack Troy, and instead made one last stab at diplomacy. An embassy of Menelaus, Odysseus and Palamedes went into the city and were given shelter by Antenor, expressing their terms for not just the return of Helen, but the emptying of the Trojan treasury to pay for all of the war expenditure. The Trojans were divided over whether to discuss terms or dismiss the group, so in the night Paris bribed the negotiator Antimachus to murder them in their sleep. Antenor’s spies heard the plot, and he apologised for the shame of his kin to the Greek embassy, sending the trio back to their ships. Word spread of Paris’ duplicity, further outraging the Greeks. The next day, the Greek fleet landed to make beachhead.

Agamemnon’s ship, with Hera as its masthead, surged forward, while Hector marched the Trojan alliance out across the Scamander to repel the Greeks. Achilles looked set to steal Agamemnon’s thunder, preparing to jump ashore as the king was still being fitted in armour, only for Calchas to stop him with a warning that the first man ashore would die. Achilles was undeterred, though his delay allowed Iolaus, leader of Phylacean, to leap onto the sand. The Greeks swarmed forward, and Iolaus cut down many Trojans, until he was confronted with hector. Unable to match the prince’s skill, he was slain on the beach. His brother Podarces took command of the Phylaceans, and Iolaus became known as Prothesilaus, “the first to step forward”.

With cries of defiance Cyncus, son of Poseidon, urged the Trojans forward, bellowing that no blade could piece his flesh. He hacked down Greeks, and his words seemed true as Teucer’s arrows bounded off him, while the spear of Ajax deflected off him. The charge of Cyncus looked to have won the battle, as Greeks began fleeing back to their ships as the Trojans surged forward. Achilles charged forward, bowling Cyncus down and strangling him to death with his own helmet straps. At the moment he died Cyncus turned into a swan and flew west, away from Troy. Achilles’ charge turned the battle, and Agamemnon allowed the defeated Trojans to flee into the city, ordering no pursuit.

The Greeks began setting up a defensive stockade, and placed their ships amongst the numerous coastal bays and inlets. Troy was prepared for siege, with secret tunnels granting access outside the city and to the sea, and water sources supplying the city. Its higher towers offered panoramic views of the surrounding land, and each home was stocked with grain, oil and wine. Troy was too big to encircle, and after the opening day’s battle its soldiers were too wise to come out for a decisive engagement. The Greeks and Trojans were perhaps the first to discover that when an expeditionary force meets a defending force of equal technology, the result is a stalemate. It seems strange that the Greeks seemed not to storm the city with rams and ladders, though the Trojans still had a large army of their own, capable of fielding outside of the walls to prevent such an attempt and drive on the stalemate. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, months into years. Nine years, in which no decisive encounters took place betwixt the foes.

Those years saw the war descend into attacks on the surrounding regional allies, much as Rome and Hannibal did during the Carthaginian occupation of Italia in the Second Punic War. Among the scheming saw Odysseus seize and opportunity to avenge himself on Palamedes, who had forced him into the war. A dead Trojan spy was found with a note bearing Priam’s stamp thanking Palamedes for his support, though Odysseus defended Palamedes and said it was a forgery, that a search of his tent would reveal no further evidence. Instead the search revealed a hoard of Trojan gold, and Palamedes was executed. His father King Nauplius of Euboea was convinced by other son Oeax that Palamedes had been the victim of a plot, though would have to wait for his vengeance.

With all the sons of Troy committed to the fight, the youngest prince, Troilus, was frustrated to be held back. Prophecy told that Troy could not fall if Troilus reached the age of twenty, and so the citizens were keen to protect him. Athena whispered of this prophecy to Achilles, who ambushed Troilus while he was out riding with his sister Polyxena. Seeking sanctuary in the Temple of Apollo, Achilles committed sacrilege when he decapitated Troilus and butchered his body. Achilles and his Myrmidons would sack some twenty towns during the nine years of stalemate, and his attacks on Mt Ida forced Aeneas into the city. Ajax attacked Phrygia and took captive the king’s daughter Tecmessa, while he and Achilles were almost ambushed by Trojans one day when they were so engrossed in a board game, and were only spared thanks to a warning from Athena.

During a raid of Lyrnessus, in Cilicia, Achilles killed the king and his sons, taking his daughter Briseis as his prize, and also capturing Chryseis, daughter of Chryses, priest of Apollo. Agamemnon was given the pick of the booty from each raid, and from this one he chose Chryseis. Achilles and Briseis became very close, with the Myrmidons suggesting they may marry when the war is over. When Chryses arrived to plead for the return of his daughter, Agamemnon laughed and dismissed him from the Greek camp. As he left, Chryses prayed to Apollo for vengeance upon the Greeks, and the god responded by sending plague arrows into their camp.

After ten days of plague, Achilles convened a meeting where Calchas explained that the plague was the vengeance of Apollo for taking Chryseis. Agamemnon was most aggrieved, even more so as Achilles had offered his protection to Calchas so the prophet could explain the matter without fear of reprisal. The scheming Agamemnon agreed to return Chryseis, on concession that he could select her replacement from among the captives, which they all agreed. He triumphantly declared that he would take Briseis, and Achilles looked like he may have slain the king were it not for the guidance of Athena to lower his blade. A gloating Agamemnon took captive of Briseis, while Achilles vowed to never fight for the Greeks again. As she left the Myrmidon encampment, Achilles told Briseis to pray to Zeus to see the Greeks humbled, to see them crushed in battle with their backs to the ships, crying out for his support. After nine years of stalemate, the Trojan War was about to explode into a spectacular climax.