According to mythology, the Trojan War was a 10-year conflict between the Greeks and the people of Troy that took place in the 12th or 13th century B.C.E. But what really happened and what is only myth?

The Trojan War is one of the most famous battles of antiquity, playing a key role in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and appearing in Virgil’s Aeneid .

In Homer’s account, the Trojan War was the result of three goddesses — Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite — meddling in the affairs of mortals after approaching Paris of Troy and asking him to settle a competition between the three of them. After he named Aphrodite the “fairest,” the goddess awarded him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen.

There was one big issue, though: Helen was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta.

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