The Trojan War
Eris, the goddess of spite, was not invited to the wedding of King Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis, and her revenge was the Trojan War, in a slightly convuluted way. She gave an apple marked with the message 'for the fairest'. Hera, Athena and Aphrodite all went for the apple, and when Zeus would not decide between them, they decided to ask Paris, a prince of Troy (son of King Priam) and a bit of a womaniser, to decide. Of course the three goddesses all tried to bribe Paris: Hera offered him tremendous power, Athena offered him success in battles and Aphrodite offered him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world: Helen, the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta. Paris took Aphrodite's offer although he was in love with someone else at the time, and his carting off of Helen to Troy started the war. King Agamemnon of Mycenae led the Greek forces in an attempt to recover Helen. His companions included Achilles, Ajax, Diomedes, Odysseus and Patroclus. The Greek soldiers set sail for Troy in 1000 ships, and the war lasted for 10 years, with the Greeks laying seige to Troy. The Iliad*, by the blind Greek poet Homer (c. 800 BC), tells mostly of the actions of Achilles, who became so angry with Agamemnon for taking a woman he liked for himself that he withdrew from the fighting and the Greeks began to lose. Agamemnon pleaded with Achilles to fight, and eventually Achilles agreed to let his friend Patroclus wear his armour and lead his men against the Trojans, but he would not fight himself. At first the Trojans turned and ran at the sight of 'Achilles', who was a greatly feared warrior, but then Hector, one of the greatest Trojan warriors, came out and killed Patroclus. Achilles was so angered by this that he put on his armour and killed Hector, then dragged his body around the walls of Troy. Eventually Hector's father King Priam came out of the city and pleaded with Achilles for his son to receive a proper burial. Achilles felt sorry for the old man and agreed.
The war was brought to an end with the Trojan Horse, an idea thought up by Odysseus. Very few Trojans escaped the destruction of the city, the most notable being Aeneas, who led a few other survivors to a site near the future city of Rome. The travels of Aeneas are described in the Aeneid by Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) (70-19 BC).
After the Trojan War ended, the Greek soldiers returned home, and the journey of Odysseus is told in the Odyssey, also by Homer. Odysseus (Latin name Ulysses) had tried to avoid the war altogether by feigning madness. He was sowing his fields with salt, but the Greeks placed his child Telemachus in the path of the blades and Odysseus swerved at the last moment proving his sanity. So he had to fight for ten years, but now that the war was over he could return home to his wife Penelope. Penelope was beautiful and had many suitors during her husband's absence. She developed a plan to keep them at bay: she said that when she finished making a shroud for her father-in-law Laertes, she would marry one of the suitors, but every night before she went to bed she would unpick all the work she had done during the day, so it was never finished. Eventually one of her maids gave her away, and the suitors demanded that she choose and marry one of them. Luckily around this time Odysseus returned, but did not reveal himself, instead remaining disguised as a beggar. He did however reveal his identity to Telemachus. Penelope said she would marry whoever could fire Odysseus' mighty bow, which hung on the wall. Many of the suitors tried and failed, then Odysseus, still disguised as a beggar, asked to try amid much mockery from the suitors. Odysseus handled the bow easily and used it, with the aid of Telemachus, to kill the suitors.
* Ilium is the Latin name for Troy so Iliad means "about Troy"