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La historia de Troya
Un acercamiento perfecto para el público más joven a la cultura clásica y sus mitos, en una magistral versión de la última gran leyenda de la Edad Heroica, el asedio de Troya: con su caída comienza la Historia.
Roger Lancelyn Green se acerca una vez más a la mitología, en esta ocasión para contar la extraordinaria historia de Helena, cuyo rostro lanzó mil naves al mar, y la del juicio de Paris; la de la reunión de todos los héroes y la del asedio de Troya; la del feroz Aquiles y su vulnerable talón, guerrero criado con miel salvaje y médula de león por un centauro; la de Odiseo, el último de los héroes, y su ardid del Caballo de Madera, y la de las muchas aventuras en su largo viaje de regreso a Grecia.
La Ilíada, la Odisea, la Eneida, el Agamenón, Ovidio, Homero, Sófocles... Solo Lancelyn Green conseguiría recoger en un único volumen y para el lector más joven a los grandes de la literatura clásica.
Roger Lancelyn Green se acerca una vez más a la mitología, en esta ocasión para contar la extraordinaria historia de Helena, cuyo rostro lanzó mil naves al mar, y la del juicio de Paris; la de la reunión de todos los héroes y la del asedio de Troya; la del feroz Aquiles y su vulnerable talón, guerrero criado con miel salvaje y médula de león por un centauro; la de Odiseo, el último de los héroes, y su ardid del Caballo de Madera, y la de las muchas aventuras en su largo viaje de regreso a Grecia.
La Ilíada, la Odisea, la Eneida, el Agamenón, Ovidio, Homero, Sófocles... Solo Lancelyn Green conseguiría recoger en un único volumen y para el lector más joven a los grandes de la literatura clásica.
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
70 people are currently reading
978 people want to read
About the author
Roger Lancelyn Green
153 books250 followersRoger (Gilbert) Lancelyn Green was a British biographer and children's writer. He was an Oxford academic who formed part of the Inklings literary discussion group along with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Born in 1918 in Norwich, England, Green studied under C. S. Lewis at Merton College, Oxford, where he obtained a B.Litt. degree. He delivered the 1968 Andrew Lang lecture. Green lived in Cheshire, in a manor which his ancestors owned for over 900 years. He died in October 1987. His son was the writer Richard Lancelyn Green
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
January 15, 2024
I am endeavouring to understand and remember the Greek myths and legends (because, like the Bible, they are the background to so much modern European literature) and this text was a further attempt to store in my memory the incidents in the tale of Troy, the names of the heroes and the interventions of the gods. It is very clearly recounted, keeps to the storyline and I am hopeful that it has added to my knowledge. I would recommend it to those who are not experts on these matters and, like me, intend to master them one day!
March 14, 2019
"To the ancient Greeks the Siege of Troy was the greatest and most important event in the Age of the Heroes – that age of wonder when the Immortals who dwelt on Olympus and whom they worshiped as gods, mingled with mankind and took a visible part in their affairs.
The fall of Troy marks the place where legend ends and history begins; yet that great adventure had its beginnings in the early myths of the making of the world: for the Tale of Troy starts with the story of Prometheus."
And so begins one of the best stories of the ancient world.
I first read this story as a child going through my mythology phase. I put the book aside for many years and only thought of it as a "child's book". Recently my neighbor wanted to share the story of Troy with her high school class. So I found my original book and lent it to her. But before I did so I reread it one more time.
It really marks the end of mythology and the start of history. At the beginning the gods, goddesses, titans, centaurs, nymphs and dryads are everywhere. They are like older, interfering family members that urge you to do strange things. (Some actually are the older relatives of the human heros). At the end they have returned to their home on Mount Olympus never again to mix with mortal men.
The heros go on to found actual Greek cities that are still here today. The city of Athens, from the goddess Athena, is one of the most famous.
The story is too big to be merely summarized in a few paragraphs.
Just read the book and Enjoy!
The fall of Troy marks the place where legend ends and history begins; yet that great adventure had its beginnings in the early myths of the making of the world: for the Tale of Troy starts with the story of Prometheus."
And so begins one of the best stories of the ancient world.
I first read this story as a child going through my mythology phase. I put the book aside for many years and only thought of it as a "child's book". Recently my neighbor wanted to share the story of Troy with her high school class. So I found my original book and lent it to her. But before I did so I reread it one more time.
It really marks the end of mythology and the start of history. At the beginning the gods, goddesses, titans, centaurs, nymphs and dryads are everywhere. They are like older, interfering family members that urge you to do strange things. (Some actually are the older relatives of the human heros). At the end they have returned to their home on Mount Olympus never again to mix with mortal men.
The heros go on to found actual Greek cities that are still here today. The city of Athens, from the goddess Athena, is one of the most famous.
The story is too big to be merely summarized in a few paragraphs.
Just read the book and Enjoy!
January 17, 2016
این کتاب بصورت مختصر و مفید جریانات نیمه دوم دوران اسطوره ای و قهرمانی یونان باستان و تمدن غرب رو شرح داده و انصافا منبع مناسبی برای علاقه مندان این مبحثه که نمیخوان بصورت مفصل روش وقت بزارن، البته یک نکته ای هم عرض کنم که این کتاب عملا جلد دوم کتاب اساطیر یونان از همین نویسنده هستش، ترجیحا اول اون رو بخونید تا راحت تر جریانات این کتاب رو متوجه بشید هرچند بدون خوندن اون کتاب هم خلل مهمی در مطالعه این کتاب ایجاد نمیشه
July 6, 2017
Another good volume of Roger Lancelyn Green's retellings of ancient myth and legend. This follows on directly from his Tales of the Greek Heroes and refers back to it several times.
The siege itself takes up surprisingly little of the narrative. Approximately the first third of the book covers the background of the war--the judgment of Paris, Helen's marriage to Menelaus with the attending oaths from all the other Greek kings, etc.--the second third focuses on the Trojan War proper, with a good two or three chapters summarizing The Iliad and episodes from other sources like Ovid and Sophocles interwoven (e.g Ajax), and the final third relates the postwar adventures of several heroes, with chapters or sections of chapters based on The Aeneid, Aeschylus's Agamemnon, and of course The Odyssey.
Green's greatest strength in this volume is his ability to evoke the pathos of the original stories; I was almost moved to tears when reading these to my wife, especially the moment when Hector's infant son Astyanax cries out of fear of his father's helmet, which Hector removes to kiss him goodbye, and the little moment in which Odysseus's faithful old dog Argos recognizes him and then dies. Stylistically and interpretationally, Green stands out of the way of the stories themselves and lets them do their work. Well done and very readable.
Highly recommended.
The siege itself takes up surprisingly little of the narrative. Approximately the first third of the book covers the background of the war--the judgment of Paris, Helen's marriage to Menelaus with the attending oaths from all the other Greek kings, etc.--the second third focuses on the Trojan War proper, with a good two or three chapters summarizing The Iliad and episodes from other sources like Ovid and Sophocles interwoven (e.g Ajax), and the final third relates the postwar adventures of several heroes, with chapters or sections of chapters based on The Aeneid, Aeschylus's Agamemnon, and of course The Odyssey.
Green's greatest strength in this volume is his ability to evoke the pathos of the original stories; I was almost moved to tears when reading these to my wife, especially the moment when Hector's infant son Astyanax cries out of fear of his father's helmet, which Hector removes to kiss him goodbye, and the little moment in which Odysseus's faithful old dog Argos recognizes him and then dies. Stylistically and interpretationally, Green stands out of the way of the stories themselves and lets them do their work. Well done and very readable.
Highly recommended.
November 23, 2023
Este libro nos explica de forma bastante resumida varios poemas épicos griegos. El libro lo podemos dividir en tres partes. Una primera parte en el que se nos narran los antecedentes de la guerra de Troya, la segunda parte se centra en la guerra y por último, una tercera parte que nos cuenta la vuelta a casa de varios héroes griegos como son Agamenón, Melenao u Odiseo.
Leí este libro con la intención de tener una aproximación al tema ya que la mitología es algo que me llama mucho la atención. Si bien me ha gustado en algunas ocasiones se me ha hecho tedioso acordarme de todos los nombres que se mencionan, así como de su descendencia y ascendencia. He echado de menos un glosario final con todos los nombres y su parentesco para poder tener una idea más clara.
La forma de narrar los hechos es bastante fluida y fácil de leer ya que este libro está dirigido a un público joven.
Leí este libro con la intención de tener una aproximación al tema ya que la mitología es algo que me llama mucho la atención. Si bien me ha gustado en algunas ocasiones se me ha hecho tedioso acordarme de todos los nombres que se mencionan, así como de su descendencia y ascendencia. He echado de menos un glosario final con todos los nombres y su parentesco para poder tener una idea más clara.
La forma de narrar los hechos es bastante fluida y fácil de leer ya que este libro está dirigido a un público joven.
May 11, 2019
جلد دوم پر بود از شخصیتهایی که به درستی معرفی نمیشد. طوری که بارها و بارها نیاز بود برگردی و اسم شخصیتها رو در کتاب پیدا کنی. یا اینکه از گوگل کمک بگیری. به همین خاطر جریان داستان خیلی کند پیش میره. با اینکه سعی شده به طور مختصر به وقایع پرداخته بشه، اما این اختصار به مفید بودن کتاب آسیب میزنه.
البته نمیدونم سهم ترجمه در این نامفهوم بودن داستانها چقدره و سهم مؤف چقدر.
در کل کتابی نبود که انتظارش رو داشتم. اگر کمی طولانیتر بود احتمالاً وسط کار رهاش کرده بودم و میرفت توی قفسۀ ناتمامها.
البته نمیدونم سهم ترجمه در این نامفهوم بودن داستانها چقدره و سهم مؤف چقدر.
در کل کتابی نبود که انتظارش رو داشتم. اگر کمی طولانیتر بود احتمالاً وسط کار رهاش کرده بودم و میرفت توی قفسۀ ناتمامها.
June 19, 2025
Qué buena lectura.
Recientemente me he releído la Odisea y la Ilíada y con esta lectura pretendía rellenar los huecos que estas dejan, ya que hay ciertos poemas que no se incluyen en estos libros anteriores que siento que son importantes para el contexto, así que este es un buen libro para ampliar el conocimiento sobre Troya, su guerra y el viaje posterior de los griegos a su hogar.
Si bien es cierto que los poemas en este libro están muy resumidos, creo que está muy bien hecho y no se siente que falten cosas.
En general un muy buen libro si te gusta la mitología.
Recientemente me he releído la Odisea y la Ilíada y con esta lectura pretendía rellenar los huecos que estas dejan, ya que hay ciertos poemas que no se incluyen en estos libros anteriores que siento que son importantes para el contexto, así que este es un buen libro para ampliar el conocimiento sobre Troya, su guerra y el viaje posterior de los griegos a su hogar.
Si bien es cierto que los poemas en este libro están muy resumidos, creo que está muy bien hecho y no se siente que falten cosas.
En general un muy buen libro si te gusta la mitología.
November 29, 2015
A great book, one of my favourites; Roger Lancelyn Green really brings the magic of Ancient Greek mythology to life, but remains the friendly objective informer throughout (not unlike Homer).
I think this book acts as both a fun and exciting read in itself (I first read this when I was about 8 and loved it), and as an informative precursor to Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey (Homer's books are quite dense, so this gives one the background of the characters and the story). I would strongly recommend reading this before reading Homer for the first time, e.g. this book begins with the Judgement of Paris, and ends with the return of Agamemnon, putting the events of The Iliad in their mythological context.
Some have said the book reads a little like a history summary, with characters undulating in and out - as the book encapsulates so many events over so long a time, that is to be expected, but reading it I do not think the breadth of events detracts from the book itself. It is as if Green introduces us to the characters, and then with Homer we can explore more about them. If anything, it shows that the story just as important as the characters within them.
Green also harkens beautifully to a classical style of writing - though he writes in modern prose, there is a certain grandeur or classic rhythm there, that is very endearing and appealing - the first time I read it I wanted nothing more than to be a hero at Troy.
If you are a classics student, someone about to read The Iliad / The Odyssey, a person who wants a good read, or, like I was, an 8-yr old who has been enchanted by Greek Myths, then I suggest you stop reading my review and start reading the Tale of Troy!
Enjoy.
I think this book acts as both a fun and exciting read in itself (I first read this when I was about 8 and loved it), and as an informative precursor to Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey (Homer's books are quite dense, so this gives one the background of the characters and the story). I would strongly recommend reading this before reading Homer for the first time, e.g. this book begins with the Judgement of Paris, and ends with the return of Agamemnon, putting the events of The Iliad in their mythological context.
Some have said the book reads a little like a history summary, with characters undulating in and out - as the book encapsulates so many events over so long a time, that is to be expected, but reading it I do not think the breadth of events detracts from the book itself. It is as if Green introduces us to the characters, and then with Homer we can explore more about them. If anything, it shows that the story just as important as the characters within them.
Green also harkens beautifully to a classical style of writing - though he writes in modern prose, there is a certain grandeur or classic rhythm there, that is very endearing and appealing - the first time I read it I wanted nothing more than to be a hero at Troy.
If you are a classics student, someone about to read The Iliad / The Odyssey, a person who wants a good read, or, like I was, an 8-yr old who has been enchanted by Greek Myths, then I suggest you stop reading my review and start reading the Tale of Troy!
Enjoy.
December 3, 2020
A good introductory retelling of the Iliad that includes all the details, especially from the beginning, but doesn't get so deep in the weeds a younger reader would be lost.
February 6, 2015
Puffin Classics has reprinted all six of Roger Lancelyn Green's re-tellings of myths and legends--and my son owns them all. We actually started with Myths Of The Norsemen prior to a trip to Iceland last year, but haven't (yet) finished it. He is currently on a huge Greco-Roman mythology kick thanks to Rick Riordan. He devoured Percy Jackson's Greek Gods in like two days.
Green's syntax is occasionally antiquated for no good reason, but otherwise these books are solid. While the worst excesses are glossed over, there is still a fair amount of questionable content which should come as no surprise to those familiar with these stories--plenty of violence, forced marriages, etc. These have sparked some good discussions with my son. Some parents might find this content understandably objectionable. On the other hand, many of those parents think nothing of such content at sunday school where it is often decreed by a God they aren't willing to criticize for it. So it goes.
Green's syntax is occasionally antiquated for no good reason, but otherwise these books are solid. While the worst excesses are glossed over, there is still a fair amount of questionable content which should come as no surprise to those familiar with these stories--plenty of violence, forced marriages, etc. These have sparked some good discussions with my son. Some parents might find this content understandably objectionable. On the other hand, many of those parents think nothing of such content at sunday school where it is often decreed by a God they aren't willing to criticize for it. So it goes.
February 17, 2014
Once again, another masterpiece of mythology. I greatly enjoy the stories, but still can't quite understand why anyone would say these stories are just as believable as the Bible. I love reading the stories about the Age of Heroes and the gods and goddesses, but the fact that this could be plausible is befuddling to me. I would and will highly recommend that my students read this, but not as a history but as a retelling of the epic story of Troy and the Trojan War as known to the ancient Greeks. If any story could be inspiring it is this one. A story of Helen, with a face that launched a thousand ships and a conflict that took over 10 years to resolve. The fierce warriors Odysseus, Achilles, Ajax, and others make a compelling and fascinating story that has been worth telling and and retelling for thousands of years.
November 19, 2016
This is a book that I wish I had read as a kid and find myself very fortunate to read now. Mr. Green writes the famous story of Helen and Paris and the war fought to win her back in a fluid, easy to read style that doesn't detract from the details of the war. And he pulls from other ancient texts, not just the Iliad, and in turn familiarizes the reader with the connection between the Greek tragedy plays and Homer's epics. Brilliantly done! A great book to help pave the way for a later reading of the classics.
August 6, 2013
I always have a hard time keeping my Greek mythological figures straight and this helped. I think I'll have to reread it from time to time, because I still can't keep my Perseus and my Theseus straight, etc.
When normalized such as in this book, the Greek mythology is no more or less plausible than the Biblical mythology.
When normalized such as in this book, the Greek mythology is no more or less plausible than the Biblical mythology.
December 14, 2014
A brief and child friendly telling of the siege of Troy and the endings of all of the heroes (questionable description of some of them...) involved.
Succinct and ties it together nicely with nothing "missing", though it has got yearning to reread the Odyssey in full again and then have a go at the Iliad and Aeneid.
Succinct and ties it together nicely with nothing "missing", though it has got yearning to reread the Odyssey in full again and then have a go at the Iliad and Aeneid.
January 10, 2013
Reads a bit too much like a phone book, with numerous characters appearing only once and having names too difficult to remember. The treatment of women may shock modern readers. Many famous heroes appear here and in all I felt that time spent reading the book was time spent wisely.
December 10, 2009
The story is well told, but I listened to the version from Overdrive...and the recording was second rate. I think my children would like the book much better!
December 9, 2013
An excellent intro to the famous epics.
September 9, 2015
A simple retelling of the Illiad, nice length for listening to while working on a project.
September 23, 2018
This is a great book for younger readers. I bought my copy at the Getty Villa gift shop in Malibu, CA. It's an abridged storytelling.
December 29, 2021
can't explain how crushed i am
August 21, 2025
Me ha parecido simplemente excepcional!! Cómo se aventura en la mitología y en la histia antigua hasta la fundación de la misma Roma tras la caída de Troya. Comonuna novela de aventuras no he podido parar de leer y pasar las páginas con avidez. Es un laberinto introducirse entre tantas familias, pueblos y héroes de la Antigüedad pero Lancelyn Green los introduce de forma sencilla sin que te despistes de la trama.
Me ha encantado y volveré de nuevo a él!
Me ha encantado y volveré de nuevo a él!
November 20, 2024
Very much enjoyed this retelling of the legends surrounding the Trojan war, including content from the Iliad, the Odyssey, and other classical works weaved together into a cohesive narrative. Like Green’s first installment on Greek Heroes, this is a great way to get a sense for how the plot of ancient western mythology fits together and informs our culture in so many ways.
December 28, 2025
The second half of my 1958 edition which combined the heroes of Greece with Troy. The events here span the taking of Helen through to the death of Odysseus and his rise to the Elysium fields. The rest is history.
April 7, 2024
I like how all these retellings related to Troy are woven together and yet still separated into their own stories by chapters.
September 1, 2024
had to read it for school which always ruins books for me but it was pretty interesting
April 7, 2025
Libro pequeñito y sencillo sobre la Guerra de Troya. Me ha gustado y me parece ideal para un primer acercamiento.
August 25, 2025
Informative. An enjoyable modern retelling of the Trojan War, it provides context to the Iliad as to the before and after.
August 28, 2025
Seems to be a good retelling of the classical sources, but not as engaging as the previous work, Tales of the Greek Heroes.
February 10, 2025
AMO. ES UNA LOCURA LEER ESTAS HISTORIAS.
June 5, 2020
To retell a story is harder than to create one from void because it requires a special ability with the aid of natural wit to make the original source texts adapt to the contemporary readership of the time the author belongs to. In this regard, The Tale of Troy by Roger Lancelyn Green is an excellent retelling of Trojan War that happened beyond the misty horizon of millenniums, which the father of western narrative history Herodotus defines as the Heroic Age of the Five Ages of Man (which, by the way, Ovid interestingly omitted in his Roman version of the Ages of Men) when divine immortals hobnobbed with and even made love with common mortals sired half-god, half-mortal.
The Tale of Troy by Roger Lancelyn Green bears a witness in your heart to the terrific Heroic Age disappearing into the mystic yonder of the Elysium Fields with vivid authorial accounts of evoking the fascinating images of the heroes, gods, goddesses, nymphs, and mythological beasts, all embroiled in the arena of historical war. Drawn on a compendium of classical narratives of ancient writers, principally Homer’s Iliad, Green retells the beginning and end of Trojan War, reprises the scenes of the heroic characters and capricious Immortals, and remasters the thematic theater of dramas so appealing to our contemporary minds that the story collapses a great divide of realms of heaven and earth, of the ancient and the modern, with his genius story-telling skills as an erudite but affable raconteur.
Green takes you to the farthest possible to the Christ-like titan Prometheus punished for his divine compassion for mankind to the wedding banquet of Menelaus and Helen in Sparta where the goddess of discord Eris first presented an apple of discord, to Paris of Troy happily living with Oenone, a mountain nymph, on Mount Ida, to the Greek Camp outside the Wall of Troy where Agamemnon and Achilles were having a row over their beautiful Trojan female captives, and to Odysseus’s proverbial 10-year journey back to his Ithaca. Then the tale of Troy regenerates more stories about the fates of the characters following the end of the epic war, which leads to the dawn of the Iron Age, the Age of Man, where history as what we are textually familiar with, which is still ongoing like Odysseus’s journey to the destined purpose.
The Tale of Troy, which is as a matter of fact focused on the last few weeks in the final year of the war, is a literary equivalent of Matryoshka, a frame story embedded in manifold stories that surprise you with a jolly expectation of ‘what next?” Thus, it has no occasion for boredom as a result of the pedantic display of archeological artifices, ostentatious authority of scholastic knowledge usually associated with classical texts. That said, you should not make a rash judgment to regard this book as an abridged version of the great classical literature to be found in the aisle of Children’s book section in booksellers. Instead, it is Green’s altruistic intention to propagate the legacy of Mankind and cherish it as a great cultural endowment to the posterity of the forefathers of human enterprise by sharing his erudition of the Classical in universally comprehensive language with extraordinary vividness and superb narrative skills.
This book is a magical casement of the misty past told by a Homeric storyteller of our modern time who will take you to where the ancient ocean sends forth the breeze of the shrill Aegean Sun to let you sail an imaginary voyage with the Greek Kings and the Trojan refugees, while the Olympian gods are watching you from Mount Olympus.
The Tale of Troy by Roger Lancelyn Green bears a witness in your heart to the terrific Heroic Age disappearing into the mystic yonder of the Elysium Fields with vivid authorial accounts of evoking the fascinating images of the heroes, gods, goddesses, nymphs, and mythological beasts, all embroiled in the arena of historical war. Drawn on a compendium of classical narratives of ancient writers, principally Homer’s Iliad, Green retells the beginning and end of Trojan War, reprises the scenes of the heroic characters and capricious Immortals, and remasters the thematic theater of dramas so appealing to our contemporary minds that the story collapses a great divide of realms of heaven and earth, of the ancient and the modern, with his genius story-telling skills as an erudite but affable raconteur.
Green takes you to the farthest possible to the Christ-like titan Prometheus punished for his divine compassion for mankind to the wedding banquet of Menelaus and Helen in Sparta where the goddess of discord Eris first presented an apple of discord, to Paris of Troy happily living with Oenone, a mountain nymph, on Mount Ida, to the Greek Camp outside the Wall of Troy where Agamemnon and Achilles were having a row over their beautiful Trojan female captives, and to Odysseus’s proverbial 10-year journey back to his Ithaca. Then the tale of Troy regenerates more stories about the fates of the characters following the end of the epic war, which leads to the dawn of the Iron Age, the Age of Man, where history as what we are textually familiar with, which is still ongoing like Odysseus’s journey to the destined purpose.
The Tale of Troy, which is as a matter of fact focused on the last few weeks in the final year of the war, is a literary equivalent of Matryoshka, a frame story embedded in manifold stories that surprise you with a jolly expectation of ‘what next?” Thus, it has no occasion for boredom as a result of the pedantic display of archeological artifices, ostentatious authority of scholastic knowledge usually associated with classical texts. That said, you should not make a rash judgment to regard this book as an abridged version of the great classical literature to be found in the aisle of Children’s book section in booksellers. Instead, it is Green’s altruistic intention to propagate the legacy of Mankind and cherish it as a great cultural endowment to the posterity of the forefathers of human enterprise by sharing his erudition of the Classical in universally comprehensive language with extraordinary vividness and superb narrative skills.
This book is a magical casement of the misty past told by a Homeric storyteller of our modern time who will take you to where the ancient ocean sends forth the breeze of the shrill Aegean Sun to let you sail an imaginary voyage with the Greek Kings and the Trojan refugees, while the Olympian gods are watching you from Mount Olympus.
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