NP-B003 PRINCE OF TROY - HECTOR

The Trojan War is an armed conflict which, based on the "Iliad" of Homer, was fought between the Achaeans led by King Agamemnon, and the powerful city-state of Troy (Greek Ilion), which was ruled by King Priam. The conflict lasted 10 years, but its exact dating is virtually impossible at the moment. It is sometimes assumed that it ended around 1200 BCE, but this is only a hypothesis. The reason for the war, as given by Homer, was the kidnapping of the beautiful Helen, the wife of King Menelaus, by the Trojan prince Paris. Probably the real cause of the war (although this is also only a hypothesis) was the Achaeans' desire to master the shipping and trade routes leading from the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea. It is worth adding that for many years the Trojan War was considered merely a literary fiction. Only the discovery of its ruins by Heinrich Schliemman, a German amateur archaeologist in the early 1970s, completely changed this point of view. If we tried to provide information about the Trojan army fighting the Achaeans during the Trojan War, it can be concluded that it probably resembled its opponent in many areas. In terms of quantity, the largest part was constituted by infantry armed with spears and swords as well as eight-shaped shields (so-called eighth shields). Probably slingshots and bows were also used as a throwing weapon.