The legendary conflict between the early Greeks and the people of Troy in western Anatolia, dated by later Greek authors to the 12th or 13th century BC and lasting 10 years. It was described in Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey" as occurring when Paris son of the king of Troy eloped with Helen wife of Menelaus king of Sparta. Menelaus's brother Agamemnon king of Mycenae raised an army and besieged Troy.