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"He's lying"

"Can you not accept a blessing froods?"

"Not if it cah the rily to the city

There was no reasoning with the happy one To them, the as over Noas the time for celebration

The two skeptics were ignored in the euphoria that swept the crowd Before an hour passed, their curiosity waned and the people launched a great feast to celebrate their triumph over their Achaean foe Music fro and dance swept every street Wine flowed through the houses like strea as they lifted and drained their goblets

In the temples, the priests and priestesses burned incense, chanted andfor ending the terrible conflict that had sent so many of their warriors to the underworld

The joyous people toasted their king and the heroes of their army, the veterans, the wounded and the revered dead who had fought the brave fight "Hector, O Hector, our great chalory"

"For nothing the Achaeans, the fools, attacked our nificent city," shouted one woman as she whirled and danced wildly

"Like chastened children they have fled," cried another

So they babbled as the wine coursed through their blood, the royalty in their palace, the rich in their large houses built on terraces and the poor in their siainst the interior city walls for protection against wind and rain They feasted throughout Iliu the rest of their precious food supplies hoarded during the siege and ht the drunken orgy subsided and old King Priaed minds at peace for the first tie to their city

Many wanted to leave the great gate open as a syate was closed and bolted

They had erupted out of the north and east, ten weeks before, sailing across the green sea in hundreds of ships before landing in the bay surrounded by the great Iliu much of the lowlands filled with swa into the sea and off-loaded their fleet of ships

Because their keels were tarred, the hulls were black below the waterline but above sported a myriad of colors

preferred by the various kings of the fleet They were propelled by roith long oars and steered with large oars mounted astern With bow and stern virtually identical in symmetry they could be rowed in either direction Unable to sail into the wind, a large square sail was raised only when the breeze blew from astern Platforms rose fore and aft while carved birds, mostly hawks and falcons, sat above the bow stem The number of crewmen varied from one hundred and twenty warriors in the troop ships to twenty in the supply transports Most werethe commander and a pilot

Leaders of se and raid coastal towns up and down the coast, s two thousand years later They caions Though considered large men for their tiht ferociously, protected by cuirasses of beaten bronze, plates covering the front of the body and connected by leather thongs Bronze helmets fit flush over their head, some with horns, some with pointed topknots, most all of thereaves orn that covered the lower legs and arms