Is the Trojan War a true story?

Answer 1

Accounts of the Trojan War are legendary (ie a traditional story believed to be true). The story has been built up from a diversity of sources, from the epic Iliad (which covers a few weeks of the closing stages) through later plays, passing references in other writings, and pottery paintings.

The legend is unreliable, as it reflects political and social conditions covering about six centuries, built up from the repertoire of the bards who composed and sang the epic tales such as the Iliad. Much of the content, purportedly describing 12th Century BCE events, really reflects Dark Age Greece of the 8th Century BCE, in which the Iliad's reputed composer, Homer, lived. Indeed there were many different versions of the story by a variety of bards, who made up their own versions, and even varied their own versions. Even the archaeological excavations of the site traditionally held to be that of Troy (Ilium) are inconclusive.

The best which can be said is that there was apparently a coordinated series of pirate raids by the Achaeans (Greeks) on the coast and islands of Asia Minor in the 12th Century BCE, lasting about ten years. This culminated in the sack of Troy.

The rest is based on oral transmission which, after about three generations, becomes so corrupted that it is impossible to determine which is fact and which is fiction and embellishment. Even when Homer's version was written down, it was edited and changed so heavily over the centuries that we don't know what he actually wrote. Much of the supplementary stories comes from later plays and pottery paintings.