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Friday, February 10, 2012

The Trojan War by Kayley




            The other day my family and I visited the ruins of Troy.  Menelaus’s brother, Achilles and the other men agreed to fight the war because the wanted the Trojan land but the war was sparked by Helen.  The ruins were so ruined that you could barely see where a building stood because it all looked like a bunch of scattered boulders. It was unbelievable that the ruins used to be a striving city.  When we were walking through the ruins, I started thinking about what caused the destruction of Troy. I think the destruction of Troy was a lame one because it was all about Helen, land and riches.  

            The Trojan War all started with Helen in the 13th century BC. Helen ran away from Sparta and her husband, Menelaus, the ruler of Sparta, because she fell in love with Paris. Helen went to Troy to be with Paris, the prince of Troy. Menelaus and his brother gathered up a really big army including the famous Achilles. Then the Spartan army set sail for Troy.

            The Spartans landed in Troy some time later and set up camp. Then the Spartan army attacked Troy again and again for a decade. The Trojan War lasted a decade and lots of Spartans and Trojans lost their lives to this outrageous fight. There were probably other reasons besides Helen for the Spartans to keep on attacking Troy and those reasons were probably along the lines of honor and riches.

            After ten years of war the Spartans built a wooden horse out of the boats and 50 men went inside the horse.  The Spartans put the wooden horse in plain view of Troy. The next morning the Trojans woke up to find the Spartans horse. The Trojans thought the Spartans had sailed away and that the wooden horse was a gift. So the Trojans rolled the “gift” in to the city to be sacrificed to Zeus.  That night the 50 Spartan men let the rest of the army into the city and burned the city to the ground.

            It’s really sad that Troy was destroyed because a girl ran away from her husband and the husband got mad and Menelaus was greedy. I really wanted to see Troy when it was a striving city but unfortunately it’s destroyed. In the ruins, we saw the layers of buildings built on top of each other over the centuries.   

1 comment:

  1. Kayley--In terms of structure, coherence, and logic you have just won the prize for the best post of all time. You beat your sibs, hands down!!! Beautiful. Your rendition of the Trojan War laced through with your own reactions when you saw the site and your thoughts on war is marvelous.

    It makes me think: If that war and its legend is a metaphor [a symbol], what do you suppose it is a metaphor for?? What would the story-teller be trying to say?? I think of the following things. Getting what you want is never as easy as you think it will be. War hurts everyone. Don't be too proud or sure of yourself--the Gods will bring you down. Don't steal other people's beautiful women-but if the woman leaves, let her go. What other ideas do you have?

    There's a great book on the Trojan War written long ago by Homer--I suspect that all the signs at Troy and probably your parents have talked about this book. It's called the Illiad. I've never read it, but keep meaning to.

    Thanks for such a wonderful piece of writing, my Love. And be happy and healthy as you move on in your travels. Can't wait to see you all sometime this spring.
    love, love, bippy

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