The two men who want Helen, Menelaus and Paris, fight, but the fight isn't fair and the Trojans break the accompanying truce.
Although Paris has to be taunted into agreeing: "real men think about war not women," he and Menelaus agree to a duel for Helen and the wealth she took with her from Sparta. Menelaus is winning when Paris is whisked away by the goddess. Then, as if that weren't disgrace enough for the Trojans, another Trojan, Pandarus, breaks the truce and wounds Menelaus. Strauss details the treatment options available during the Bronze Age, which include a honey and olive oil antibiotic/antifungal. The use of honey is fascinating: In Chapter 2, honey mixed with ghee was used as a paste by Assyrians cementing rows of mud brick. Since the truce has been broken, a pitched battle can no longer be avoided. Strauss explains the use of chariots and the armor of the ordinary soldier. He says that soldiers usually used spears at close range because swords had a tendency to break, unless they were the new sort, the Naue II sword, which Diomedes appears to wield in his murderous charge which drives the Trojans back behind the Scamander River. Sarpedon urges Hector to rally the troops, which he does and then takes a break for sacrifice. Hector arranges for a duel between himself and Ajax, but their fight is inconclusive, so the two exchange gifts. Strauss' run-down of the day's events include Menelaus' disgracing Paris, Ajax accepting Hector's challenge, kills by Agamemnon, Idonmeneus, Odysseus, Eurypylus, Meriones, Antilochus, and Diomedes on the Greek side and the death of many Greeks, including Hercules' son Tleptolemus for the Trojans. Antenor then advises returning Helen, but Paris and Priam suggest only returning the treasure and hoping for a ceasefire to bury the dead.The Greeks reject the offer but agree to the burial ceasefire, which they use to build a palisade and trench.
The Trojan War: A New History, summary pages:
Introduction | 1. War for Helen | 2. The Black Ships Sail | 3. Operation Beachhead | 4. Assault on the Walls | 5. The Dirty War | 6. An Army in Trouble | 7. The Killing Fields | 8. Night Moves | 9. Hector's Charge | 10. Achilles Heel | 11. The Night of the Horse | Conclusion
