The legendary Trojan War was fought between Menelaus, king of Sparta, and Paris, prince of Troy. The war was unleashed by the abduction of the beautiful Elena, whose countenance "set sail a thousand ships." Are these facts that actually happened or a literary invention? Did the city of Troy really exist?For centuries Troy and its legend remained a myth, a place evoked by an ancient Greek poem, Homer, in his epic poem, the Iliad.