The True Story of Troy

This is a decent documentary. The first half is mostly archaeological and the second is historical. Quotations and conjectures about Homer's Iliad weave in and out of the narrative.

This is probably not the best place to retell the story of the Trojan War. Let's just say that Paris has always struck me as an impulsive idiot while Achilles is a thin-skinned braggart.

After Paris made off with Helen of Troy, the wife of the Greek Menelaus, the sensible thing would have been for the Trojans to kick the two lovers out of Troy and avoid the war.

But no. Considerations of national honor and all that. The Greeks were pretty dumb too. Fighting a ten-year war over a woman wasn't in their best interests, although it was an excuse to acquire control over the Dardanelles.

In the end, nobody really won. It took Odysseus nine long years to find his way back home. And the leader of the Greeks, Agamemnon, was offed by his wife, Clytemnestra, after he got home.

Moral: Never start a war over a woman, no matter how gorgeous, unless you think really really HARD about it.

There is appropriate commentary from various experts, including a general in the U. S. Army. There are classical paintings of the events and a few brief reenactments, not many. It's not very thorough. There's only the slightest of references to Achilles hiding among the women in a snit, and an offhand reference to Patroclus, but all in all it's a pretty professional job.