Historical Inaccuracies In The Trojan War

The Trojan War was an epic siege carried out by the Achaean kingdoms against the Trojan city of Troy, spanning through the 12th and 13th century, approximately 1250 BCE. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, the 2004 film adaptation “Troy” was supposedly inspired by the text of the Homer’s Iliad, a poetic variation of the events, which incorporated both historical and mythological aspects into said poem. With this, the film falls short historically; having excluded all religious notions involving gods and nymphs, and was instead an over-dramatized action movie that altered a number of significant, historic facts. The film seems not too far gone within the beginning sequences. The king of Sparta, Menelaus, holds a banquet on behalf of the Trojan princes, Hector and Paris, after negotiating a peace treaty between their territories. During the festivities, Paris sneaks off to pursue a secret love affair with Menelaus’s wife, Queen Helen. The next day, Paris smuggles …show more content…
She explains, "My parents sent me there when I was 16 to marry Menelaus." This is historically false, especially considering that her Mother Leda, was the Queen of Sparta. Menelaus, being a prince of Mycenae, was chosen to be her husband and only after marrying her did he gain the throne of Sparta. Another prominent historical inaccuracy within the film includes the fact that Hector kills Menelaus in front of both armies in order to save his brother Paris. Factually, Menelaus didn’t even die during the Trojan War and was happily reunited with Helen afterwards. This in turn questions the romance between Helen and Paris to be vastly over-dramatized as well. It delivers much speculation over the true nature of their love because there is actually very little knowledge in regards to the depth of their relationship. Helen was also portrayed as the one who choose to leave with Paris for Troy, when, historically, this is also not necessarily