The Trojan War
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 4.6K Ratings
🗓️ 5 July 2026
⏱️ 70 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The story of Achilles, Odysseus and the siege of Troy has captivated audiences for millennia, but behind the legends lies a deeper mystery. Was this epic war a myth, a memory of a real Bronze Age conflict, or something in between?
Today Tristan Hughes is joined by Eric Cline to explore the reality behind Homer’s greatest tale. From the legendary heroes of The Iliad to the ruins of Troy, discover what archaeology and ancient texts reveal about the Trojan War, and whether the story of Helen, Paris and the fall of Troy truly has a historical foundation.
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Troy
The Bronze Age Collapse
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Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan. The producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.
All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ever wondered why the Romans were defeated in the Tudorburg forest? |
| 0:04.0 | What secrets lie buried in prehistoric Ireland? |
| 0:07.0 | Or what made Alexander truly great? |
| 0:10.0 | With a subscription to history hit, you can explore our ancient past alongside the world's leading historians and archaeologists. |
| 0:17.0 | You'll also unlock hundreds of hours of original documentaries with a brand new release every single week |
| 0:22.5 | covering everything from the ancient world to World War II. |
| 0:26.5 | Just visit historyhit.com slash subscribe. The Trojan War. |
| 0:44.7 | It is one of the oldest stories in human history. |
| 0:49.1 | The tale of a grinding 10-year siege launched by honour-bound Greeks to seize back their beautiful Spartan |
| 0:55.6 | Queen, Helen of Troy. A once glorious city brought to its knees by the efforts of Agamemnon |
| 1:02.4 | and Achilles, of Ajax and Odysseus, of Menelaus and Diomedes. All the tragic heroes whose |
| 1:09.7 | trials have been etched into the world's imagination. |
| 1:12.6 | Now the war forms the beating heart of Homer's first great literary masterpiece for Iliad |
| 1:18.6 | and directly informs its sequel, The Odyssey. |
| 1:22.6 | And so, with Christopher Nolan's blockbuster film on the horizon, we're exploring the Odyssey's |
| 1:28.8 | backstory. |
| 1:30.9 | What do we know about the Trojan War? |
| 1:33.6 | Who was it between? |
| 1:35.2 | When might it have been fought? |
| 1:36.9 | And most crucially, is it just a story or did it really happen? |
| 1:42.4 | What are the kernels of truth behind this epic? |
| 1:48.5 | Welcome to the ancients. |
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