Genocide. Defined as the
The Trojan War is perhaps one of the most famous examples of genocide. Though much of the tale seems to be simply a story created to entertain the masses, much of it is not fabricated. According to the myth, it all began when three goddess, Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, who were bickering over which one of them was the most beautiful. They decided to involve Paris, a mortal, in their argument. Aphrodite promised Paris that she would give him the most beautiful woman in the world if he chose her as the winner. After she was selected, Aphrodite caused Helen, the wife of Menelaus, to fall in love with him. When the two lovers fled to Troy, her husband attempted to retrieve her and thus sparked a war lasting ten years. However, this tale does have some truth to it. It is evident to historians that the great city of Troy did in fact exist, and that it was destroyed and rebuilt on at least ten separate occasions. The ancient city of Troy was located where the modern city of Anatolia in Turkey now stands. Historians believe that the city addressed in Homer’s The Iliad existed from 1700 BC and 1190 BC. The description of the walled city matches the ruins found. However, this city did not experience the Trojan war. Rather, evidence displays that the city may have been demolished by an earthquake. Having existed
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However, the logic supporting the Trojan genocide fits into none of these categories. So one must ask what exactly was reasoning behind the Trojan genocide. The answer is quite simple. According to Hans Vee Wees, it was a show of power, as was typical of the time. Utterly demolishing the entire city proved to their enemies that the Greeks were were not to be challenged. Occasionally religion would play a part but wars and genocides started on the basis of religion were extremely rare, something that would change in later