June 11

June 11 is the 162nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (163rd in leap years), with 203 days remaining.

Events

- 1184 BC - According to the calculations of Eratosthenes, the date that Troy was sacked and burned.
- 1509 - Marriage of King Henry VIII of England and Katherine of Aragon.
- 1770 - Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef.
- 1774 - Jews in Algiers escape the attacks of the Spanish army.
- 1788 - Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska.
- 1825 - The first cornerstone is laid for Fort Hamilton in New York City.
- 1866 - The Allahabad High Court (then Agra High Court]] is established in India.
- 1892 - The Limelight Department, one of the world's first film studios, is officially established in Melbourne, Australia.
- 1898 - Spanish-American War: U.S. war ships start to sail for Cuba.
- 1901 - New Zealand annexes the Cook Islands.
- 1903 - Alexander Obrenovic, king of Serbia, was assassinated in Belgrade by the Black Hand (Crna Ruka) organization.
- 1907 - George Dennett, aided by Gilbert Jessop, dismisses Northamptonshire for 12 runs, the lowest total in first-class cricket.
- 1937 - Great Purge: The Soviet Union executes eight army leaders under Joseph Stalin.
- 1838 - An earthquake occurs in Belgium.
- 1935 - Inventor Edwin Howard Armstrong gives the first public demonstration of FM broadcasting in the United States, at Alpine, New Jersey.
- 1940 - World War II: British forces bomb Genoa and Turin, Italy.
- 1940 - World War II: First attack of the Italian Airforce on the island of Malta.
- 1942 - World War II: The United States agrees to send Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.
- 1955 - Eighty-three are killed and at least 100 are injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collide at the Le Mans Grand Prix.
- 1962 - Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin become the only prisoners to apparently successfully escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island. No conclusive evidence has ever been found that they survived the escape attempt.
- 1963 - American Civil Rights Movement: Alabama Governor George Wallace stands at the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block two black students from attending that school.
- 1963 - Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc burns himself with gasoline in a busy Saigon intersection to protest the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam.
- 1964 - World War II veteran Walter Seifert runs amok in an elementary school in Cologne, Germany, killing at least eight children and two teachers and seriously injuring several more with a home-made flamethrower and a lance.
- 1967 - Mexico becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
- 1970 - After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington officially receive their ranks as U.S. Army Generals, becoming the first females to do so.
- 1977 - Seattle Slew wins the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.
- 1985 - A Fabergé Egg was sold for £1,375,00 in New York.
- 1988 - Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute Wembley Stadium, London.
- 1988 - The name of the General Public License (GPL) is mentioned first time.
- 1998 - Compaq Computer pays $9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in largest high-tech acquisition.
- 2001 - Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
- 2002 - Antonio Meucci was recognised as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
- 2004 - Cassini-Huygens makes its closest flyby of Phoebe.
- 2004 - Ronald Reagan's funeral held at Washington National Cathedral
- 2005 - G8 finance ministers agree to cancel the debt owed by 18 of the poorest countries.

Births

- 1403 - John IV, Duke of Brabant (d. 1427)
- 1456 - Anne Neville, queen of Richard III of England (d. 1485)
- 1540 - Barnabe Googe, English poet (d. 1594)
- 1572 - Ben Jonson, English dramatist (d. 1637)
- 1588 - George Wither, English writer (d. 1667)
- 1671 - Colley Cibber, English poet (d. 1757)
- 1672 - Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (d. 1749)
- 1696 - Francis Edward James Keith, Scottish soldier and Prussian field marshal (d. 1758)
- 1704 - Carlos Seixas, Portuguese composer (d. 1742)
- 1713 - Edward Capell, English critic (d. 1781)
- 1723 - Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (d. 1788)
- 1776 - John Constable, English painter (d. 1837)
- 1842 - Carl von Linde, German engineer and industrialist (d. 1934)
- 1847 - Millicent Fawcett, British suffragist and feminist (d. 1929)
- 1864 - Richard Strauss, German composer and conductor (d. 1949)
- 1867 - Charles Fabry, French physicist (d. 1945)
- 1876 - Alfred L. Kroeber, American anthropologist (d. 1960)
- 1877 - Renee Vivien, English-born poet (d. 1909)
- 1879 - Roger Bresnahan, baseball player (d. 1944)
- 1879 - Max Schreck, German actor (d. 1936)
- 1880 - Jeannette Rankin, American politician, feminist, and pacifist (d. 1973)
- 1903 - Ernie Nevers, American football player (d. 1976)
- 1910 - Jacques-Yves Cousteau, French explorer and inventor (d. 1997)
- 1913 - Vince Lombardi, American football coach (d. 1970)
- 1919 - Richard Todd, British actor
- 1920 - Hazel Scott, West Indian-born singer (d. 1981)
- 1922 - John Bromfield, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1925 - William Styron, American author
- 1928 - Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of the Belgians
- 1932 - Athol Fugard, South African playwright
- 1933 - Gene Wilder, American actor
- 1936 - Jud Strunk, American musician-comedian (d. 1981)
- 1936 - Chad Everett, American actor
- 1937 - Robin Warren, Australian pathologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
- 1937 - Johnny Brown, American comic
- 1939 - Jackie Stewart, Scottish race car driver
- 1945 - Adrienne Barbeau, American actress
- 1947 - Laloo Prasad Yadav, Indian politician
- 1947 - Henry Cisneros, American politician, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development secretary
- 1949 - Frank Beard, member of rock group ZZ Top
- 1950 - Lynsey De Paul, British singer and songwriter
- 1950 - Bjarne Stroustrup, Danish computer scientist
- 1952 - Donnie Van Zant, American rock musician
- 1953 - Peter Bergman, American actor
- 1956 - Joe Montana. American football player
- 1957 - Jamaaladeen Tacuma, American musician
- 1959 - Hugh Laurie, English actor and comedian
- 1962 - Erika Salumäe, Estonian cyclist, Olympian
- 1965 - Joey Santiago, Filipino guitarist (Pixies)
- 1969 - Steven Drozd, American drummer
- 1973 - Robby Kiger, American actor
- 1978 - Joshua Jackson, Canadian actor
- 1982 - Diana Taurasi, American basketball player
- 1982 - Eldar Rønning, Norwegian cross-country skier
- 1984 - Vagner Love, Brazilian footballer

Deaths

- 1183 - Henry the Young King, son of Henry II of England (b. 1155)
- 1216 - Henry of Flanders, Emperor of the Latin Empire
- 1488 - King James III of Scotland
- 1557 - King John III of Portugal (b. 1502)
- 1695 - André Félibien, French architect (b. 1619)
- 1712 - Louis Joseph, duc de Vendôme, Marshal of France (b. 1654)
- 1727 - King George I of Great Britain (b. 1668)
- 1796 - Samuel Whitbread, English brewer and politician (b. 1720)
- 1852 - Karl Briullov, Russian painter (b. 1799)
- 1858 - Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, Austrian statesman (b. 1773)
- 1882 - Louis Maigret, Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1904)
- 1903 - Alexander Obrenovich, King of Serbia (b. 1876)
- 1903 - Nikolai Bugaev, Russian mathematician (b. 1837)
- 1911 - James Curtis Hepburn, American missionary and linguist (b. 1815)
- 1924 - Théodore Dubois, French composer and teacher (b. 1837)
- 1927 - William Attewell, English cricketer (b. 1861)
- 1934 - Lev Vygotsky, Russian psychologist (b. 1896)
- 1936 - Robert E. Howard, American author (b. 1906)
- 1937 - R. J. (Reginald Joseph) Mitchell, British aircraft designer (b. 1895)
- 1970 - Frank Laubach, Christian missionary (b. 1884)
- 1974 - Julius Evola, Italian philosopher (b. 1898)
- 1974 - Eurico Gaspar Dutra, President of Brazil (b. 1883)
- 1979 - John Wayne (Born Marion Morrison), American actor (b. 1907)
- 1984 - Enrico Berlinguer, Italian politician (b. 1922)
- 1985 - Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (b. 1954)
- 1986 - Chesley Bonestell, American-born engineer, architect, and artist (b. 1888)
- 1993 - Ray Sharkey, American actor (b. 1952)
- 1996 - Brigitte Helm, German actress (b. 1908)
- 1998 - Catherine Cookson, British novelist (b. 1906)
- 1999 - DeForest Kelley, American actor (b. 1920)
- 2001 - Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (executed) (b. 1968)
- 2002 - Robbin Crosby, American guitarist (Ratt) (b. 1959)
- 2003 - David Brinkley, American television reporter (b. 1920)
- 2004 - Egon von Furstenberg, Swiss fashion designer (b. 1946)
- 2004 - Xenophon Zolotas, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1904)
- 2005 - Vasco Gonçalves, Portuguese general (b. 1922)

Holidays and Observances

- Kamehameha Day, official state holiday of Hawai'i, United States, in honor of its first monarch, celebrated with floral parades, hula competition, and festivals
- Feast of St Barnabas
- Roman Empire, Matralia in honor of Mater Matuta
- Roman Empire, fifth day of the Vestalia in honor of Vesta

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/11 BBC: On This Day] ---- June 10 - June 12 - May 11 - July 11 – listing of all days ko:6월 11일 ms:11 Jun ja:6月11日 simple:June 11 th:11 มิถุนายน

June 11

June 11 is the 162nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (163rd in leap years), with 203 days remaining.

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and Observances

External links

1184 BC

Centuries: 13th century BC - 12th century BC - 11th century BC Decades: 1230s BC 1220s BC 1210s BC 1200s BC 1190s BC - 1180s BC - 1170s BC 1160s BC 1150s BC 1140s BC 1130s BC ----

Events and trends

- April 24 1184 BC - Traditional date of the fall of Troy.
- 1181 BC - Menestheus, legendary King of Athens and veteran of the Trojan War, dies after a reign of 23 years and is succeeded by his nephew Demophon, a son of Theseus. Other accounts place his death a decade earlier and during the Trojan War (see 1190s BC).

Significant people

- 1180 BC - Birth of Ramses III of Egypt Category:1180s BC

Trojan War

The Trojan War was a war waged, according to legend, against the city of Troy in Asia Minor by the armies of the Achaeans, following the kidnapping (or elopement) of Helen of Sparta by Paris of Troy. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in a cycle of epic poems of which only two, the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer, survive intact. The Iliad describes an episode late in this war, and the Odyssey describes the journey home of one of the Greek leaders, Odysseus. Other parts of the story, and different versions, were elaborated by later Greek poets, and by the Roman poet Virgil in his Aeneid. Ancient Greeks believed that the events Homer related were basically true. They believed that this war took place in the 13th or 12th century BC, and that Troy was located in the vicinity of the Dardanelles in what is now north-western Turkey. By modern times both the war and the city were widely believed to be mythological. In 1870, however, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated a site in this area which he believed to be the site of Troy, and at least some archaeologists agree. There remains no certain evidence that Homer's Troy ever existed, still less that any of the events of the Trojan War cycle ever took place. Many historians believe that the Homeric stories are a fusion of various stories of sieges and expeditions by the Greeks of the Bronze Age or Mycenean period, and do not describe actual events. Those who think that the stories of the Trojan War derive from a specific historical conflict usually date it to between 1300 BC and 1200 BC.

Background

Peleus and Thetis, the apple, and the judgment

:See also Judgement of Paris. Judgement of Paris)]] According to Greek mythology, Zeus became king of the gods by overthrowing his father Cronus; Cronus in turn had overthrown his father Ouranos. Zeus came to learn of a prophecy that he himself would be overthrown by a son of his. (Within the extent of Greek myth, though, this never happened). Another prophecy said of the sea-nymph Thetis, with whom Zeus had an affair, that her son would be greater than his father. Possibly for one or both of these reasons, Thetis was betrothed upon Zeus' orders to a now-elderly human king, Peleus. To Peleus and Thetis a son was born, named Achilles. It was prophesied that he would die, young, at Troy. Hoping to protect him, when he was an infant his mother bathed him in the river Styx, making him invincible everywhere except the heel by which she held him. He grew up to be the greatest of all mortal warriors. All of the gods were invited to Peleus and Thetis' wedding, except Eris, or Discord. Insulted, she attended invisibly and cast down upon the table a golden apple on which were inscribed the words Kallisti, (To the fairest one). The apple was claimed by Hera, Athene, and Aphrodite. They quarrelled bitterly over it, and none of the other gods would venture an opinion favouring one contender for fear of earning the enmity of the other two. Eventually, Zeus ordered the matter to be settled by the judgment of Paris, a prince of Troy, who was being raised as a shepherd because of a prophecy that he would be the downfall of Troy. The goddesses tried to bribe the boy. Athena offered Paris wisdom, skill in battle, and the abilities of the greatest warriors; Hera offered him political power and control of all of Asia, and Aphrodite offered him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris awarded the apple to Aphrodite, and returned to Troy.
The elopement of Helen
The most beautiful woman in the world was Helen, one of the daughters of Tyndareus, king of Sparta. Her mother was Leda, who had been seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan; accounts differ over which of Leda's four children were fathered by Zeus and which by Tyndareus. Helen had scores of suitors, and her father was unwilling to choose one for fear the others would retaliate violently. Finally, one of the suitors, Odysseus of Ithaca, proposed a plan to solve the dilemma. In exchange for Tyndareus' support of his own suit towards Penelope, he suggested that Tyndareus require all of Helen's suitors to promise that they would defend the marriage of Helen, regardless of who she chose. The suitors duly swore the required oath, although not without a certain amount of grumbling. Helen chose Menelaus to wed. He had humbly not petitioned for her himself, but instead sent his brother Agamemnon on his behalf. The two brothers had been living at Tyndareus' court since being exiled from their homeland of Argos after their father, Atreus, was killed and had his throne usurped by his brother Thyestes and Thyestes' son Aegisthus. Menelaus inherited Tyndareus' throne of Sparta, with Helen as his queen, and Agamemnon married Helen's sister Clytemnestra and took back the throne of Argos. On a diplomatic mission to Sparta, Paris fell in love with Helen and, with Aphrodite's help, kidnapped or seduced her (accounts vary) and took her back to Troy as his wife. All the kings and princes of Greece were called upon to make good their oaths and retrieve Helen. The story of Helen is paralleled by the earlier elopement from Troy of the princess Hesione with Telamon of Salamis.
The marshalling of the forces
Odysseus had by this time married Penelope and fathered a son, Telemachus. In order to avoid the war, he feigned madness, and sowed his fields with salt. Palamedes outwitted him by putting his infant son in front of the plough, and Odysseus turned aside, unwilling to kill his son, and so revealed his sanity and joined the war. Calchas the oracle had stated that the Greeks would not win without Achilles. His mother Thetis, knowing that Achilles would die if he went to Troy, disguised him as a woman in the court of king Lycomedes in Scyros. There he had an affair with the king's daughter Deidameia, resulting in a child, Neoptolemus. Odysseus, Ajax the Greater, and Achilles's tutor Phoenix went to retrieve Achilles. According to one story they blew a horn, and Achilles revealed himself by seizing a spear to fight intruders rather than fleeing. According to another, they disguised themselves as merchants bearing trinkets and weaponry, and Achilles was marked out from the other women by admiring the wrong goods. Eventually, a fleet of more than a thousand ships was gathered, commanded by Agamemnon. But when they reached Aulis, the winds ceased. The prophet Calchas stated that the goddess Artemis was punishing Agamemnon for killing a sacred deer (or a deer in a sacred grove) and boasting that he was a better hunter than she. The only way to appease Artemis, he said, was to sacrifice Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia. According to some versions, he did so, but others claim that he sacrificed a deer in her place, or nothing, and that Iphigenia was taken by Artemis to the Crimea to prepare others for sacrifice to her. Hesiod said she became the goddess Hecate. The Greeks also brought the bones of Pelops, father of Atreus and grandfather of Agamemnon and Menelaus to help them win the war. An oracle said they would be necessary to win. The Greek forces are described in detail in the Catalogue of Ships in the second book of the Iliad. They consist of 28 contingents from mainland Greece, the Peloponnese, the Dodecanese islands, Crete and Ithaca, amassing to a force of some 100,000 men. The Trojan forces are also listed in the second book of the Iliad, consisting of the Trojans themselves, led by Hector, and various allies listed as Dardanians, Zeleians, Adrasteians, Percotians, Pelasgians, Thracians, Ciconian spearmen, Paionian archers, Halizones, Mysians, Phrygians, Maeonians, Miletians and Lycians.
The War
Lycia
Telephus
When the Greeks left for the war, they accidentally stopped in Mysia, ruled by King Telephus. In the battle, Achilles wounded Telephus, who killed Thersander. The wound would not heal and Telephus asked an oracle who claimed "he that wounded shall heal". Telephus went to Aulis, and either pretended to be a beggar, asking Achilles to help heal his wound, or kidnapped Orestes and held him for ransom, demanding the wound be healed. Achilles refused, claiming to have no medical knowledge. Odysseus reasoned that the spear had inflicted the wound and the spear must be able to heal it. Pieces of the spear were scraped off onto the wound, and Telephus was healed.
Philoctetes
Philoctetes was Heracles's friend and, because he lit Heracles's funeral pyre when no one else would, he received Heracles's bow and arrows. He sailed with seven ships full of men to the Trojan War, where he was planning on fighting for the Greeks. They stopped on Chryse for supplies, and Philoctetes was bitten by a snake. The wound festered and smelled horrible; Odysseus advised and the Atreidae ordered Philoctetes to stay on Lemnos. Medon took control of Philoctetes's men. Philoctetes stayed alone on Lemnos for ten years.
Arrival
An oracle had prophesied that the first Greek to walk on the land after stepping off a ship in the Trojan War would be the first to die. Protesilaus, leader of the Phylaceans, fulfilled this prophesy. The Greeks buried him as a god and Hermes was sent to show him his wife one last time before going to Hades. His wife, Laodamia, followed him to his death. Alternatively, Hector killed Protesilaus and Laodamia killed herself in grief. After Protesilaus' death, his brother, Podarces, joined the war in his place. The Greeks besieged Troy for nine years. There were occasional skirmishes, both with Troy and her allies. At one point, Greek forces sacked a nearby town and Agamemnon took as his slave-girl Chryseis, daughter of Chryses, a priest of Apollo. When Chryses tried to buy her back, he was rebuked, so he prayed to Apollo to punish the Greeks, and the army was struck by a plague.
Chryseis and Briseis
The events of the Iliad begin at this point. For more information, see that article. An oracle told Agamemnon he must give up Chryseis. Furious at this, and at Achilles who had guaranteed the oracle his own protection, Agamemnon took Achilles' concubine Briseis as his own. Achilles and Agamemnon argued and Achilles refused to fight any longer. Although the Greeks were destined to win the war, Achilles begged his mother Thetis to intervene with Zeus and ensure that the Greeks did badly until Agamemnon apologized to Achilles. The next day the Greeks were badly beaten in open battle, and all of the major warriors but Ajax were eventually injured too seriously to continue. The Trojans, led by Hector, advanced steadily on the Greek position. Seeing the danger, Achilles let his comrade Patroclus borrow his armour, and lead his troops into battle. Patroclus was killed by Hector who then took Achilles' armour. Maddened with grief, Achilles swore revenge. He donned new armour from Hephaestus brought to him by Thetis, and killed Hector, then dragged his body from his chariot around Troy three times. He refused to return it to the Trojans for funeral rites. Priam, with protection from the gods, personally came and begged to have it back, at which point Achilles relented, and a truce was called for twelve days while Hector was buried.
Xanthus
During the Trojan War, Xanthus, one of Achilles' horses, was rebuked by Achilles for allowing Patroclus to be killed. Xanthus responded by saying that a god had killed Patroclus and a god would soon kill Achilles too. The Erinyes struck the horse dumb. The narrative of the Iliad ends here.
The death of Achilles
Shortly after the death of Hector, Achilles defeated Memnon of Ethiopia, Cycnus of Colonae and the Amazonian warrior Penthesilia (with whom Achilles also had an affair in some versions). He was very soon killed by Paris — either by a poisoned arrow (the arrow was guided by Apollo; Paris did not do it by himself), or in an older version by a knife to the back (or heel), while visiting a Trojan princess, Polyxena, during a truce. Both versions conspicuously deny the killer any sort of valour, saying Achilles remains undefeated on the battlefield. His bones were mingled with those of Patroclus, and funeral games were held. Like Ajax, he is represented as living after his death in the island of Leuke at the mouth of the Danube.
Achilles' armour/death of Ajax
Achilles' armour was the object of a feud between Odysseus and Ajax. They competed for it and Odysseus won. Ajax went mad with grief and vowed to kill his comrades; he started killing cattle (thinking they were Greek soldiers), and then himself. The Greeks captured Helenus, son of King Priam of Troy, a prophet, and tortured him until he told them under what circumstances they could take Troy. Helenus said they would win if they retrieved Heracles' arrows (which were in Philoctetes's possession); steal the Trojan Palladium (they accomplished this with the Trojan Horse; or Odysseus and Diomedes did so one night) and persuade Achilles' son (Neoptolemus) to join the war. Neoptolemus was hiding from the war at Scyros but the Greeks retrieved him. Alternatively, he told them that they could win if Troilius, Helenus' half-brother, son of Apollo and Hecuba, was killed before he turned twenty. Achilles ambushed Troilius. Odysseus and Neoptolemus retrieved Philoctetes from Lemnos. Philoctetes' wound was healed by Machaon or Asclepius. Philoctetes then killed Paris with a poisoned arrow he got from Heracles.
Diomedes
Diomedes almost killed Aeneas in battle but Aphrodite, Aeneas's mother, saved him. Diomedes wounded Aphrodite and she dropped her son, fleeing to Mount Olympus. Aeneas was then enveloped in a cloud by Apollo, who took him to Pergamos, a sacred spot in Troy. Artemis healed Aeneas there. Later in the war, Diomedes fought with Hector and saw Ares, the war-god, fighting on the Trojans' side. Diomedes called for his soldiers to fall back slowly. Hera, Ares's mother, saw Ares's interference and asked Zeus, Ares's father, for permission to drive Ares away from the battlefield. Hera encouraged Diomedes to attack Ares and he threw his spear at the god. Athena drove the spear into Ares's body and he bellowed in pain and fled to Mount Olympus, forcing the Trojans to fall back.
The Trojan Horse
Trojan Horse] The end of the war came with one final plan. The Greeks (or, in some records, Odysseus on their behalf) devised a new ruse - a giant hollow wooden horse, an animal that was sacred to the Trojans. It was built by Epeius and filled with Greek warriors led by Odysseus. The rest of the Greek army appeared to leave and the Trojans accepted the horse as a peace offering. A Greek spy, Sinon, convinced the Trojans that the horse was a gift despite the warnings of Laocoon and Cassandra. The Trojans, who were understandably overjoyed that the ten-year siege had lifted, entered a night of mad revelry and celebration, and when the Greeks emerged from the horse the city was in a drunken stupor. The Greeks opened the city gates to allow their fellow soldiers in, and the city was utterly destroyed--every single man and boy killed (including infants), every woman and girl enslaved, all its wealth pillaged, and the city itself reduced to rubble. There is much question as to whether a wooden horse was even created. Homer's stories are believed by many to be the merging of many wars fought on Troy. In his merging, he creates many characters out of the gods and uses many metaphors. It is suggested that the Trojan Horse actually represents an earthquake that occurred between the wars that could have weakened Troy's walls and left them open for attack. Structural damage on the city believed to be Troy - its location being the same as that represented in Homer's Iliad and the artifacts found there suggesting it was a place of great trade and power - shows signs that there was indeed an earthquake. Other scholars, including several ancient sources, suggest that the "Trojan horse" was in fact a battering ram.
The aftermath
The ghost of Achilles appeared to the survivors of the war, demanding Polyxena, the Trojan princess, be sacrificed before anybody could leave. Neoptolemus did so. According to the Odyssey, Menelaus's fleet was blown by storms to Crete and Egypt where they were unable to sail away because the wind was calm. Menelaus had to catch Proteus, a shape-shifting sea god to find out what sacrifices to which gods he would have to make to guarantee safe passage. Proteus also told Menelaus that he was destined for Elysium (Heaven) after his death. Menelaus returned to Sparta with Helen. According to some stories the Helen who was taken by Paris was a fake, and the real Helen was in Egypt where she was reunited with Menelaus at this point. They had a daughter, Hermione. After the war, Idomeneus's ship hit a horrible storm. Idomeneus promised Poseidon that he would sacrifice the first living thing he saw when he returned home if Poseidon would save his ship and crew. The first living thing was his son, whom Idomeneus duly sacrificed. The gods were angry at his murder of his own son and they sent him in exile to Calabria in Italy. (Aeneid III, 400). In an alternate version, his own subjects on Crete sent him into exile because he brought a plague with him from Troy. He fled to Calabria, and then Colophon, in Asia Minor, where he died. In yet a third version, used by Virgil, the plague was visited upon Crete as punishment for Idomeneus' act. Virgil illustration from Stories from the Greek Tragedians by Alfred Church.]] Cassandra was raped by Ajax the lesser, then taken as a concubine by Agamemnon. Agamemnon returned home to Argos. His wife Clytemnestra (Helen's sister) was having an affair with Aegisthus, son of Thyestes, Agamemnon's cousin who had conquered Argos before Agamemnon himself retook it. Possibly out of vengeance for the death of Iphigenia, Clytemnestra plotted with her lover to kill Agamemnon. Cassandra foresaw this murder, and warned Agamemnon, but he disregarded her. He was killed, either at a feast or in his bath according to different versions. Cassandra was also killed. Agamemnon's son Orestes, who had been away, returned and conspired with his sister Elektra to avenge their father. They killed Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. Orestes married Hermione and retook Argos, becoming king over all the Peloponessus. Neoptolemus took Andromache and Helenus as slaves and married Andromache. He feuded with Orestes, because Menalaus had promised his daughter Hermione to him, but now wanted her to marry Neoptolemus. They fought, and Neoptolemus was killed. Helenus then married Andromache and they ruled over a colony of Trojan exiles in what had once been Achilles' kingdom. There Aeneas encountered them on his journey to Italy. Queen Hecuba of Troy was enslaved by the Achaeans. Lycaon was enslaved by Achilles. He was later killed trying to escape. Since Antenor, Priam's brother-in-law, had supported giving Helen back to the Greeks, he was spared. Helen Galleria Borghese, Rome]] Aeneas led a group of survivors away from the city, including his son Ascanius, his trumpeter Misenus, father Anchises, the healer Iapyx, all the Lares and Penates and Mimas as a guide. His wife Creusa was killed during the sack of the city. They fled Troy with a number of ships, seeking to establish a new homeland elsewhere. They landed in several nearby countries that proved inhospitable and finally were told by a Sibyl that they had to return to the land of their forebears. They first tried Crete, where Dardanus had once settled, but found it ravaged by the same plague that had driven Idomeneus away. They found the colony led by Helenus and Andromache, but declined to remain. After seven years they arrived in Carthage, where Aeneas had an affair with Dido. Eventually the gods ordered him to continue onward (Dido committed suicide), and he and his people arrived at the mouth of the Tiber in Italy. There a Sibyl took him to the underworld and foretold the majesty of Rome, which would be founded by his people. He negotiated a settlement with the local king, Lavinius, and was wed to his daughter, Lavinia. This triggered a war with other local tribes, which culminatied in the founding of the settlement of Alba Longa, ruled by Aeneas and Lavinia's son Silvius. Three hundred years later, according to Roman myth, his descendants Romulus and Remus founded Rome. The details of the journey of Aeneas, his affair with Dido, and his settling in Italy are the subject of the Roman epic poem the Aeneid by Virgil. Odysseus, attempting to travel home, underwent a series of trials, tribulations and setbacks that stretched his journey to ten years' time. These are detailed in Homer's epic poem The Odyssey.
The Trojan War in art
The story of the siege of Troy provided inspiration for many pieces of art, most famously Homer's Iliad, set in the last year of the siege. Some of the others include Troades by Euripides, Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer, Iphigenia and Polyxena by Samuel Coster, Palamedes by Joost van den Vondel and Les Troyens by Hector Berlioz (1855-1858).
Participants

Armies on the Greek side (Achaeans)
Achaeans See Catalogue of Ships #Abantes #Arcadia #Aetolia #Athens and Salamis #Argos and Tiryns #Boebeans (Thessaly) #Boeotia #Crete #Dulichium #Elis #Elone (Thessaly) #Enienes #Iolcus (Thessaly) #Ithaca #Locris #Magnesia #Meliboea #Minyans #Mycenae and Corinth #Myrmidones of Argos #Oechalia #Ormenius #Pherae #Phylacia #Phocia #Pylos #Rhodes #Sparta #Syme
Armies on the Trojan side
Syme] #Amazons #Adrasteia #Chalybes (Halizones) #Colonae #Cicones #Dardania #Ethiopia #Lycia #Maeonia #Miletus #Mysia #Paionia #Pelasgians #Percote #Phrygia #Thrace #Troy #Zeleia
Participants on the Greek side
(incomplete list) Gods #Athena #Hera #Poseidon #Hermes #Hephaestus #Thetis Humans #Acamas #Achilles #Agamemnon #Ajax the great #Ajax the lesser #Alcmaeon #Antilochus #Asclepius #Automedon #Canopus #Diomedes #Epeius #Eteoneus #Eumelus #Euryalus #Eurybates #Eurypylus #Halaesus #Idomeneus #Machaon #Medon #Meges #Menelaus #Meriones #Neoptolemus #Nestor #Nireus #Odysseus #Patroclus #Philoctetes #Podarces #Polidarius #Polypoetes #Sinon #Stentor #Sthenelus #Teucer #Thersander #Thersites
Participants on the Trojan side
(incomplete list) Gods #Aphrodite #Ares #Apollo #Artemis #Scamander #Leto Humans #Aeneas #Ainia #Anchises #Andromache #Antibrote #Antiphus #Ascanius #Asius #Astyanax #Cassandra #Cebriones #Cleite #Coroebus #Cycnus #Deiphobus #Dolon #Euphorbus #Eurypylus #Eurytion #Glaucus #Hector #Hecuba #Helenus #Hicetaon #Iapyx #Lycaon #Memnon #Mygdon of Phrygia #Pandarus #Paris #Penthesilea #Phorcys #Polites #Poludamas #Polyxena #Priam #Rhesus #Sarpedon #Tenes #Teucer #Troilius #Two sons of Merops (Adrastus and Amphius)
Participant/killer

Unknown side
#Ascalaphus #Mentes, King of the Cicones #Mentes, King of the Taphians
Cultural References

- Trojan Condoms: a brand of condoms, product of Church and Dwight, makers of Arm and Hammer baking soda.
- Trojan Horse: a malicious Computer program that is disguised as legitimate software.
- Caballo de Troya (Trojan Horse) is a song by mexican group Mago de Oz (Wizard of Oz).
In film
Many films have been inspired by the Trojan War, including:
- Helen of Troy (1956), featuring Stanley Baker as Achilles.
- Helen of Troy (2003), a miniseries starring Rufus Sewell as Agamemnon and Sienna Guillory as Helen.
- Troy, by Wolfgang Petersen, starring Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris, and Diane Kruger as Helen; released in 2003.
External links

- [http://www.timelessmyths.com/classical/trojanwar.html Timeless Myths - Trojan War] A full summary of the Trojan War.
- [http://www.archaeology.org/0405/etc/troy.html/ Was There a Trojan War?] Maybe so. From Archeology, a publication of the Archeological Institute of America. May/June 2004
- [http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/TrojanWar.html The Trojan War] at [http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/ Greek Mythology Link]
- [http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/clas101/troy.HTM The Legend of the Trojan War]
- [http://projectsx.dartmouth.edu/classics/history/bronze_age/lessons/les/27.html The Historicity of the Trojan War] The location of Troy and possible connections with the city of Teuthrania. Category: Trojans
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- ko:트로이 전쟁 ja:トロイア戦争 simple:Trojan War

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England and Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) from 22 April 1509 until his death. He was the second monarch of the Tudor dynasty, succeeding his father, Henry VII. He is famous for having been married six times and for wielding the most untrammelled power of any British monarch. Notable events during his reign included the break with Rome and the subsequent establishment of the independent Church of England, the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and the union of England and Wales. Several significant pieces of legislation were enacted during Henry VIII's reign. They included the several Acts which severed the English Church from the Roman Catholic Church and established Henry as the supreme head of the Church in England, the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542 (which united England and Wales into one nation), the Buggery Act 1533, the first anti-sodomy enactment in England; and the Witchcraft Act 1542, which punished 'invoking or conjuring an evil spirit' with death. Henry is known to have been an avid gambler and dice player. He excelled at sport, especially royal tennis, during his youth. He was also an accomplished musician, author, and poet; according to legend, he wrote the popular folk song Greensleeves, along with the lesser-known Past Time With Good Company. He was also involved in the construction and improvement of several buildings, including King's College Chapel, Christ Church, Oxford, Hampton Court Palace, Nonsuch Palace and Westminster Abbey.

Early life

Westminster Abbey Born at the Palace of Placentia at Greenwich, Henry was the third child of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Only three of Henry's six siblings, Arthur (the Prince of Wales), Margaret and Mary, survived infancy. His Lancastrian father acquired the throne by right of conquest, his army defeating and killing the last Plantagenet king Richard III, but further solidified his hold by marrying Elizabeth, the daughter of the Yorkist king Edward IV. In 1493, the young Henry was appointed Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. In 1494, he was created Duke of York. He was subsequently appointed Earl Marshal of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, though still a child. In 1501 he attended the wedding of his elder brother Arthur and Catherine of Aragon, who were at the time only about fifteen and sixteen years old, respectively. The two were sent to spend time in Wales, as was customary for the heir-apparent and his wife, but Arthur caught an infection and died. Consequently, at the age of eleven, Henry, Duke of York, found himself heir-apparent to the Throne. Soon thereafter, he was created Prince of Wales. Henry VII was still eager to maintain the marital alliance between England and Spain through a marriage between Henry, Prince of Wales, and Catherine. Since the Prince of Wales sought to marry his brother's widow, he first had to obtain a dispensation from the Pope from the impediment of affinity. Catherine maintained that her first marriage was never consummated, if she were correct, no papal dispensation would have been necessary, but merely a dissolution of ratified marriage. Nonetheless, both the English and Spanish parties agreed on the necessity of a papal dispensation for the removal of all doubts regarding the legitimacy of the marriage. Due to the impatience of Catherine's mother, Queen Isabella, the Pope hastily granted his dispensation in a Papal Bull. Thus, fourteen months after her husband's death, Catherine found herself engaged to his brother, the Prince of Wales. By 1505, however, Henry VII lost interest in an alliance with Spain, and the young Prince of Wales was forced to declare that his betrothal had been arranged without his assent.

Early reign

1505 Henry ascended the throne in 1509 upon his father's death. Catherine's father, the Aragonese King Ferdinand II, sought to control England through his daughter, and consequently insisted on her marriage to the new English King. Henry wed Catherine of Aragon about nine weeks after his accession on June 11 1509 at Greenwich, despite the concerns of Pope Julius II and William Warham, the Archbishop of Canterbury, regarding the marriage's validity. They were both crowned at Westminster Abbey on 24 June 1509. Queen Catherine's first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage in 1510. She gave birth to a son, Henry, on 1 January 1511, but he only lived until February 22. For two years after Henry's accession, Richard Fox, the Bishop of Winchester and Lord Privy Seal, and William Warham controlled matters of state. From 1511 onwards, however, power was held by the ecclesiastic Thomas Wolsey. In 1511, Henry joined the Holy League, a body of European rulers opposed to the French King Louis XII. The League also included such European rulers as Pope Julius II, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I and Ferdinand II, with whom Henry also signed the Treaty of Westminster. Henry personally joined the English Army as they crossed the English Channel into France, and took part in sieges and battles. In 1514, however, Ferdinand left the alliance, and the other parties made peace with the French. Irritation towards Spain led to discussion of a divorce with Queen Catherine. However, upon the accession of the French King Francis I in 1515, England and France grew antagonistic, and Henry became reconciled with Ferdinand. In 1516, Queen Catherine gave birth to a girl, Mary, encouraging Henry in the belief that he could still have a male heir despite his wife's previous failed pregnancies (one stillbirth, one miscarriage and two short-lived infants). Ferdinand died in 1516, to be succeeded by his grandson (Queen Catherine's nephew) Charles V. By October 1518, Wolsey had engineered the Papacy-led Treaty of London to resemble an English triumph of foreign diplomacy, placing England at the centre of a new European alliance with the ostensible aim of repelling Moorish invasions through Spain, which was the Pope's original aim. In 1519, when Maximilian also died, Wolsey, who was by that time a Cardinal, secretly proposed Henry as a candidate for the post of Holy Roman Emperor, though supporting the French King Francis in public. In the end, however, the prince-electors settled on Charles. The subsequent rivalry between Francis and Charles allowed Henry to act as a mediator between them. Henry came to hold the balance of power in Europe. Both Francis and Charles sought Henry's favour, the former in a dazzling and spectacular manner at the Field of Cloth of Gold, and the latter more solemnly at Kent. After 1521, however, England's influence in Europe began to wane. Henry entered into an alliance with Charles V, and Francis I was quickly defeated. Charles' reliance on Henry subsided, as did England's power in Europe. Henry's interest in European affairs extended to the attack on Luther's German revolution. In 1521, he dedicated his Defence of the Seven Sacraments, which earned him the title of "Defender of the Faith" (Defensor Fidei. Prior to this, his title had been "inclitissmus", meaning "most illustrious". The later title was maintained even after his break with Rome, and is still used by the British monarch today.

The King's Great Matter

Henry VIII's accession was the first peaceful one England had witnessed in many years; however, the new Tudor dynasty's legitimacy could yet be tested. The English people seemed distrustful of female rulers, and Henry felt that only a male heir could secure the throne. Although Queen Catherine had been pregnant at least seven times (for the last time in 1518), only one child, the Princess Mary, had survived beyond infancy. Henry had previously been happy with mistresses, including Mary Boleyn and Elizabeth Blount, with whom he had had a bastard son, Henry Fitzroy. In 1526, when it became clear that Queen Catherine could have no further children, he began to pursue Mary Boleyn's sister, Anne. Although it was almost certainly Henry's desire for a male heir that made him determined to divorce Catherine, he was very infatuated with Anne, despite her child-bearing inexperience and famously plain looks. Henry's long and arduous attempt to end his marriage to Queen Catherine became known as "The King's Great Matter". Cardinal Wolsey and William Warham quietly began an inquiry into the validity of her marriage to Henry. Queen Catherine, however, testified that her marriage to Arthur, Prince of Wales had never been consummated, and that there was therefore no impediment to her subsequent marriage to Henry. The inquiry could proceed no further, and was dropped. Without informing Cardinal Wolsey, Henry directly appealed to the Holy See. He sent his secretary William Knight to Rome to argue that Julius II's Bull was obtained by trickery, and consequently void. In addition, he requested Pope Clement VII to grant a dispensation allowing him to marry any woman, even in the first degree of affinity; such a dispensation was necessary because Henry had previously had intercourse with Anne Boleyn's sister Mary. Knight found that Pope Clement VII was practically the prisoner of the Emperor Charles V. He had difficulty gaining access to the Pope, and when he finally did, he could accomplish little. Clement VII did not agree to annul the marriage, but he did grant the desired dispensation, probably presuming that the dispensation would be of no effect as long as Henry remained married to Catherine. Being advised of the King's predicament, Cardinal Wolsey sent Stephen Gardiner and Edward Fox to Rome. Perhaps fearing Queen Catherine's nephew, Charles V, Pope Clement VII initially demurred. Fox was sent back with a commission authorising the commencement of proceedings, but the restrictions imposed made it practically meaningless. Gardiner strove for a "decretal commission", which decided the points of law beforehand, and left only questions of fact to be decided. Clement VII was persuaded to accept Gardiner's proposal, and permitted Cardinal Wolsey and Lorenzo Cardinal Campeggio to try the case jointly. His decretal commission was issued in secret; it was not to be shown to anybody, and was to always remain in Cardinal Campeggio's possession. Points of law were already settled in the commission; the Papal Bull authorising Henry's marriage to Catherine was to be declared void if the grounds alleged therein were false. For instance, the Bull would be void if it falsely asserted that the marriage was absolutely necessary to maintain the Anglo-Spanish alliance. Cardinal Campeggio arrived in England in