Wrong Lessons from Trojan War

While Greek thought is not as dominant now as it once was, it still remains influential. I would like to analyze one of the foremost literary masterpieces of ancient Greece – the Iliad – and show where it has gone wrong.

One of the major claims of the Iliad is that Helen brought the war. Helen did not bring the war; Menelaus did. And of whatever hubris she may have been guilty, he was guilty to a far greater extent. He thought that his possessive interest over his wife justified destroying a whole city and leading a whole nation into war. If I was in his position, I would never do that. At most I would meet Paris in person and have a man-to-man.

Paris is seen as a coward; Helen, as a cold brainless bimbo. Rather the two were international lovers who knew that love knew no boundaries. They were the world's first internationalists – the world's first universalists – and they paved the way for people in other times to likewise form loving matches, whether with partners inside the country or partners outside the country.

The story of the Trojan Horse paints trickery as heroic. Odysseus tricked the Trojans. He claimed that the Greeks were about to leave and left as a gift a wooden horse, which turned out to be filled with soldiers. When the Trojans accepted the wooden horse into the city, the soldiers came out and burned Troy to the ground. It is seen as a heroic act; but it was in fact an act of deception, and it is just as wrong to paint it as heroic as it is to claim that Helen brought the war.

The “lessons” from Trojan War – that women are evil, that man-woman love is corrupt, and that trickery is intelligence – have been absolutely poisonous, and we are still dealing with the aftermath of these wrongful “lessons.” Misogyny and oppression thrive when such beliefs are in vogue. The lessons from Trojan War need to be redefined. It is Menelaus, not Helen, who is at fault for the war. And there is nothing rightful about the actions of Odysseus.