Good afternoon, ER.

Quick, sporadic research here...

No, not a queen of Athens, sorry about that. She was Spartan, through and through.

It is believed that Troy was involved in anywhere from 2, to as many as 6 great wars that nearly destroyed the city. It seems the last one may have been the one that succeeded.

"Ancient Greek historians variously placed the Trojan War in the 12th, 13th, or 14th centuries BC: Eratosthenes to 1184 BC, Herodotus to 1250 BC, Duris of Samos to 1334 BC (www.wikipedia.org)."

Our great Homer (c. 800BCE) chose c. 1200BCE for supposedly his Iliad. I say supposedly because the Iliad is in fact an unsigned work. He -- or whomever -- professed to tell a story of historic value, but doubtless embellished quite a bit.

BTW:
"Athens is one of the oldest named cities in the world, having been continuously inhabited for at least 7000 years (www.wikipedia.org)."

That's 70 centuries of recorded history, or since approx. 6800BCE, well before the Bronze Age and into Mid-Stone Age.

Sparta became the dominant military power c. 600BCE, but was a militant community well before this, as far back as Homer (c. 800BCE, Late Iron Age), and likely further, possibly as long ago as 1200BCE (Early Iron Age).

According to Greek mythology, Helen of Troy was the daughter of the god Zeus and the mortal Leda. According to lore, she was considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world, and her abduction by Paris brought about the Trojan War (the face that launched a thousand ships).

Her sister, Clytemnestra, was wife to King Agamemnon of ancient Mycenae (a city-state founded by Perseus, a son of Zeus and grandfather to the mighty Herikles). She is reported to have killed Agamemnon upon his return home from the war, as he had supposedly sacrificed their daughter to entice the wind spirits that took the fleet to Troy.

Written, the name Helen was unheard of until the time of Homer, when it first appeared in verse. I believe it is also the oldest woman's name that has been in contiguous use since it first appeared. Helen of Troy, also known as Helen of Sparta and wife to King Menelaus of Sparta, was courted by many suitors in her youth, and great names of mythology are generally associated with hers, including Ajax and Odysseus. According to the Iliad, Odysseus accompanied Menelaus to Troy to attempt a more diplomatic settlement to the coming war, but failed. Dunno how true this could be, considering the distance involved, and the 10 years such a journey was said to have taken.

The fleet that attacked Troy was possibly on horseback, coming across Thrace and down through the Dardanels. Other reports are of foot soldiers trudging the same path, but most agree it to have been the most glorious fleet of fighting ships the world had ever seen, sailing straight across to Troy. The count was perhaps more than 1000 war vessels.

Interestingly enough, I believe the Iliad stated it took approx. 10 years to get to Troy, and another 10 years to bring down the city, with Odysseus taking yet another 10 years in his arduous odyssey home to his waiting Penelope and their son, Telemachus -- as well as his faithful hunting dog... Navigation by stars was either in its very early stages, or utterly unknown. As I recall, I believe this 30-something dog finally died, upon seeing his master again. Well, upon his return, Odysseus was said to have killed his faithful wife's suitors, purging his home of them by fire, and returned his kingdom to prosperity (AKA, they lived happily ever after).

As a footnote, we also have the first recorded draft dodgers:
Not wishing to miss the planting season, Odysseus feigned madness, sowing his fields with salt, and it seems Achilles' mother disguised her eldest son as a woman, so he would not have to go to war. They went.

Some of the royalties involved in the Trojan War were:

Greek:
King Menelaus of Sparta (brother to Agamemnon of Mycenae)
King Odysseus of Ithaca
Queen Penelope of Ithaca (being Odysseus' supportive wife)
King Agamemnon "the Lion" of Mycenae (brother to Menelaus of Sparta)
King Nestor of Pylos
Prince Mygdalion of Cyprus
Prince Idomeneus of Mycenae led the Cretan contingent
15-year-old Prince Achilles (later king of Myrmidon)
King Phoenix of Myrmidon (guardian to Achilles)

Trojan:
King Priam of Troy
Queen Hekabe of Troy (Priam's wife)
Prince Hektor of Troy
Princess Andromache of Troy (Hektor's wife)
Prince Paris of Troy (the crux of the matter)
Prince Polites of Troy
Prince Aeneas (a son of Aphrodite) of Dardania (north of Troy)
King Sarpedon of Lycia
The barbaric Carians
King Helikaon of The Seven Hills (in Italy, possibly the region now held by Rome)
Princess Andromache of Thebe (under Plakos, a city-state south of Troy)

Whether Helen was actually abducted, or merely found the stories told by visiting Paris, who was so handsome, btw, of the wealth of Troy and the nearby growing Hittite empire more enchanting than life with her totalitarian, military-minded husband, and therefore simply wishing to improve her political station in the world, remain in academic debate. The only facts we have for certain are that she was raised a Spartan and was therefore likely quite ambitious, and that Troy, and the Iliad, both existed, and this glorious city is now found to have been destroyed. Now whether this final destruction was by war, or by an ill-fated natural cataclysm, as with the ancient kingdoms of Knossos and Minos (today's Crete) are unknown.

A lot of this is from my personal book-notes over the years, but is relatively accurate. ...And there's a lot more out there, with names and places by the boat-load, but that's it from me.

Cheers.