Describe the events of a conflict that started due to unusual or unforeseen circumstances.
Causes of the Trojan War
Historians are divided as to whether stories of the Trojan War reflect memories of an actual engagement between Bronze Age Mycenaean and Anatolian forces. But even if there was a real Trojan War, perhaps with real life analogues of Agamemnon, Achilles, Priam, and Hector, the stories as we have them can't do any more than hint at the politics at play. What we have then is the war as depicted in the Epic Cycle, including the works of Homer and other traditional sources. From these, as in many real-world conflicts, there are numerous factors that led up to the war, and events that pushed history toward a conflict that seems inevitable in hindsight but didn't have to happen.Too Many Heroes
The Heroic Age of Mankind is defined by the abundance of heroes and demigods, a direct result of the gods being prolific in their procreative dealings with mortals. Some among the gods came to believe that there were too many demigods in the world, and that something should be done to thin them out, in order to restore the balance between the Earthly and Spiritual realms. When a major conflict erupted with demigods on each side, the gods were therefore not especially inclined to stop the war, and in fact allowed it to go on for ten years in which many demigods were slain. Among the Olympians, even Zeus sacrificed his favorite sons to even the balance of the universe.The Prophecy of Thetis
It was said that Thetis would give birth to a son who would be greater than his father. Since the prophecy didn't identify Thetis's mate, Zeus had some flexibility in arranging for her match. And as a god who earned his throne by taking it from his own father, he sure wasn't going to marry Thetis himself or allow her to marry any other immortal. The match between Thetis and the mortal King Peleus of Phthia led to two things: an epic wedding reception and a son named Achilles.The Apple of Discord
The wedding feast led to an awkward social situation because one immortal was left off the guest list. The uninvited party was Eris, goddess of strife and discord, which to be fair, are not the traits you want associated with a wedding. Her revenge came some years later in the form of an apple, which was made the prize in a beauty contest among three immortals: Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena.On This Page:
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Conflict Type
War
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