The Trojan War: Mystery or History?

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The Myth of the Trojan War in the Odyssey
Introduction
The Greek mythology is one of the subjects that have been widely studied across history. Scholars from across the globe have been trying to determine the legitimacy of the Trojan horse for millennia. With the artistry, amount of wisdom and the creativity set out in most of the Greeks historical artifacts, it is easy to see why most of the scholars are fascinated with the Trojan horse and the Trojan War (Encyclopedia Britannica). The Trojan horse had been a wooden, which had wheels on it and inside it had the capacity to carry the Greek soldiers across the gates of Troy (Cartwright). This was after they had failed to bring down the wall. The events as depicted in the Odyssey are a follow up of what happened in the Iliad events; one other piece by Homer that has tremendous recognition as the former (Jennings). Given the stalemate between the Trojans and the Greeks, Odysseus a king ruling Ithaca came up with the plan to make a Trojan horse as a strategy to get past the walls of Troy. According to the records of the story, the Trojan horse was rolled to the gates and left there, when the soldiers loyal to troy found it, they were told that it had been a present to Athena. As such the horse was rolled into the walled city (Barclay). In the quite of the night, the Greek soldiers in the horse attacked within the walls and signaled to the rest of the Greek soldiers outside the wall to join in. in the end, the Greeks won the war, killing all the men and capturing women and children as slaves to work in Greece. The events of the story are greatly contested with different scholars arguing for or against the story being a myth rather than a historical event. It is the premises of this paper to try and illuminate on the different theories that exist concerning this part of Greek mythology (Web.stanford.edu).
The Odyssey
This is one of the most recognized ancient Greek poems, written by a world renowned poet who lived around 8th and 9th century B.C. relative to his skills, not much exists about homer that can illuminate on his facts; even his existence sometimes is contested which can explain why the Odyssey faces such criticism. A faction of the debate cites that homer may have lived in an island called Chios; while the other faction argues that he lived in Lonia. Much of his works are in a dialect that depicts that he may have lived in Lonia, instead. Homer, who was a blind poet, wrote the poems commonly referred to as the Iliad and the Odyssey during the great Trojan War, which makes them quite relevant to the history of the Greeks and the Trojans (Jennings). Of great importance, is the Odyssey as it depicts the events surrounding the Trojan horse, the fall of Troy and the ten years that follow as Odysseus goes back to Ithaca from Troy (The Odyssey, Volume 2).
A review of the poem reveals some of the most crucial aspects of the Greeks as they lived in the ancient times. The poems points the readers to the various characteristics that create a mental picture of the Greeks cultures and the set of beliefs and customs that made up the great Greeks society. Aspects such as faithfulness and loyalty are depicted throughout the poem as a characteristic of the Greek society. Characters such Penelope, Argos, Eumainos and Philoitois show great loyalty and faithfulness as a trait among most of the Greeks. Most of the Greeks were also seen to value physical strength, especially for the men; as it determined their place in the society social hierarchy. Recreational activities are also depicted as some crucial customs, as Greeks engaged in storytelling, dancing and singing. Treating guest with respect was also one of the crucial aspects of the Greeks customs. However the most important of all is their religious ways and strict norms. According to the poem, Zeus among other Olympian gods watched over the people of Greece. It was the gods that decided ones fate and this could only be overturned by offering the gods some sacrifices.
The Trojan War as a myth
Depicting whether the Trojan War was a myth or a historical event that actually place in the Bronze Age, is quite momentous. According to this theory, the story of the Trojan War and the events surrounding the war point towards a mythical event that never took place and if it did it was not as pompous as the poem indicates. One of the aspects that lead the faction of scholars to believe that the story is simply a story is that the war between the Greeks and the Trojans was started by a woman. Ideally Helen was the heart and soul of the war where men fought to their death in honor of her beauty (HISTORY.com).
"The judgment of paris led to the seduction or abduction of Helen and so finally to the Achaean campaign against try to retrieve her, Trojan war." (William, 2005, pg. 125)
Use of a woman to depict the events leading up to the Great War, only makes it more believable that it may after all have been a good story. The aspect of drama in the poem is drawn from the fact that thousands of men took up arms and fought in the name of beauty of a woman. What more is the fact that Helen was a god, who had had taken the form of a beautiful woman and lowered herself to the state of the men and women of society (Beatty).
Everything in the story by homer in the poem is littered with mythical gods that were at the helm of the Greeks and Trojan society. Helen, who was a beautiful lady and the cause of the war, was also a goddess. It is important to note that the gods in the Greek mythology never die and they have no fear. What was more interesting is the fact that, the gods could take any form that wanted even turning into men. To create more drama, Helen actually fell in love with Paris, who was later killed with arrows of Heracles made by the Greeks (Beatty). According to homer, the gods used men like toys; making them go to war and fighting over an aspect that seems more bizarre than true. The aspects having the power to do anything they wanted and men offering the unquestionable loyalty is a common aspect in stories that are mythical.
When looking at the Trojan horse, it depicts clear signs of the mythical background of the story. According to homer, the Trojan horse was made of wood even though this was during the Bronze Age. At the same time the horse could carry around fifty Greek soldiers who were well armed. When the Greeks brought the horse to Troy palisade, they left it there and sailed away in a manner to disguise their real plans. What is more important is that, is not clear how such a large horse capable of carrying fifty men could have been hidden behind a palisade (Beatty). In reality the horse seems fictitious more than it was historic (Ancient Origins).
Why the Trojans brought in the horse to their compound is also questionable. According to homer, the Trojans after learning that the horse has been a present took it in without question. Given the size of the horse an...