Trojan War
Preserved but no longer current.
The legendary war sung by Homer in the Iliad (q.v.) as having been waged for ten years by the confederated Greeks against the men of Troy and their allies, in consequence of Paris, son of Priam, the Trojan king, having carried off Helen, wife of Menelaus, king of Lacedemon (or of Sparta). The last year of the siege is the subject of the Iliad; the burning of Troy and the flight of jEneas is told by Virgil in his &neid.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Trojan War” mean?
The legendary war sung by Homer in the Iliad (q.v.) as having been waged for ten years by the confederated Greeks against the men of Troy and their allies, in consequence of Paris, son of Priam, the Trojan king, having carried off Helen, wife of Menelaus, king of Lacedemon (or of Sparta). The last year of the siege is the subject of the Iliad; the burning of Troy and the flight of jEneas is told by Virgil in his &neid.
Is “Trojan War” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.