Trojan War

American  

noun

Classical Mythology.

1. a ten-year war waged by the confederated Greeks under Agamemnon against the Trojans to avenge the abduction of Helen, wife of Menelaus, by Paris, son of the Trojan king Priam, and ending in the plundering and burning of Troy.

---

Trojan War British  

noun

1. Greek myth a war fought by the Greeks against the Trojans to avenge the abduction of Helen from her Greek husband Menelaus by Paris, son of the Trojan king. It lasted ten years and ended in the sack of Troy

---

Trojan War ¹ Cultural  

1. In classical mythology, the great war fought between the Greeks and the Trojans. The Greeks sailed to Troy in order to recover Helen of Troy, the beautiful wife of a Greek king. She had been carried off to Troy by Paris, a prince of Troy. (Aphrodite had promised Helen to Paris following the Judgment of Paris.) The fighting continued for ten years, while Achilles, the greatest warrior of the Greeks, refused to fight because he had been offended by the commander, Agamemnon. Achilles finally took to the field and killed the greatest Trojan warrior, Hector. Having seriously weakened the Trojan defense, the Greeks achieved final victory through the ploy of the Trojan horse. They burned Troy to the ground and returned to Greece.

---

Trojan War ² Cultural  

1. A war in ancient times between forces from the mainland of Greece and the defenders of the city of Troy, in what is now Turkey. The war seems to have begun about 1200 b.c. It is the basis of many classical legends, some of which appear in the ancient poems the Iliad and the Aeneid.

---

Example Sentences

The young man longs for the return of his father, who left for the Trojan War when Telemachus was a baby.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 10, 2026

The big screen adaptation of Homer's ancient Greek epic poem stars Matt Damon, as the hero Odysseus, King of Ithaca, who is heading home from the Trojan War to rescue his wife and son.

From BBC • May 5, 2026

The Trojan War, most famously described in Homer's epic poem the Iliad, tells of a legendary ten year conflict between Greek forces and the city of Troy, ruled by King Priam.

From Science Daily • Feb. 13, 2026

Twenty years have passed since Odysseus left Ithaca to fight the long-ended Trojan War, his whereabouts since a mystery.

From New York Times • Dec. 5, 2024

“So if the gods fight,” I said, “will things line up the way they did with the Trojan War? Will it be Athena versus Poseidon?”

From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan