War or a United World (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 Excerpt: ... headed by Agamemnon, king of Mycene, besiege Troy in order to avenge the wrong inflicted upon Menelaus, one of their number, by Paris, son of Periam, king of Troy, who seduced and bore away with him the wife of Menelaus, Helen, to his father's city. The siege is reported to have lasted ten years (1894-1884) and to have occupied to an extreme the attention of the Olympian Gods. Achilles was the strongest among the Achaeans, but he withdrew from active service, when Agamemnon took away from him his fair prize--a maiden girl. After an absence of many years, he returned to active participation in the fray. In order to avenge the death of his friend Patroclus, killed by Hector, Achilles slew Hector, but was himself killed later. The city of Troy fell at last through a ruse of Odysseus, the wily, and was given over to plunder and loot. The city was burned, its men were killed and its women were made the slaves of the conquerors. Though unquestionably this account is traditional, one cannot help thinking that it contains a germ of truth--so widely was it believed by the Greeks themselves. Recent excavations by Dr. Schliemann in the Troad made this view credible owing to the fact that they have disclosed the ruins of a large city, in the old site of Ilion. The next movement of importance is the Dorian Invasion or the Return of the Heraclidae. Homer represents monarchy to be the form of government during the age whose accounts he gives in his poems, and yet the historic age of Greece (beginning with the eighth century B. C.) dawns with oligarchy established in the various states. To explain the change we must take account of the Dorian Invasion, which is supposed to have taken place toward the end of the twelfth century B. C. According to tradition, the descendants...