Archaeology and the Trojan War Essay

The destruction of Troy and the massacre of the Trojan is the most obvious and inarguable facet of the tragedy of the Trojan War. There is a single positive outcome for the Trojan War, and not one that the Greeks would have concerned themselves with; Aeneas, fleeing Troy as a refugee, founds the people who would later become Romans (Livy, Rise of Rome, 1.1-3).

Homer stated that the Trojan War was a conflict that was created from the abduction of the queen of Sparta, defying the peace treaty between the Greeks and the Trojans. The Greeks and the Trojans previously fought constantly and finally agreed to cease the violence between the nation’s strongest armies. Although the Greeks were defeated after attempting to invade Troy’s walls with footmen, they defeated Troy during the night with a trick. In the book The Trojan War: A New History by Barry Strauss, the author creates an argument that undermines Homer’s credibility on his interpretation of the Trojan War. Strauss identifies that much of what we know about the Trojan War is false.

The Trojan War was a battle between the people Greece and the people of Troy, over the abduction of Queen Helen by the Trojan Prince Paris. Helen’s husband ordered for his wife’s release instantly but the Trojans refused to. Soon a battle was seen as the only way to win Helen back, the Greek gods found interest in this and joined the battle shortly. King Poseidon, Hera, and Athena sided with the Greeks, while Ares and Aphrodite sided with the Trojans (encyclopedia.com). Ares had promised Hera and Athena before he would fight on the Greek’s side, but switched due after his long time lover Aphrodite had decided to fight with the Trojans (greek-gods.org). He and his two children led the Trojans on the battlefield,

Barry Strauss organizes his summary of the Trojan War by referencing Homer 's the Iliad and the Odyssey and compares it to the historical contexts of what he thinks happened. Most scholars agree that the Trojan War dates back around 1200 B.C. during the Bronze Age. The most popular tale of how the Trojan War starts is when Paris, Prince of Troy, goes to visit Sparta to mend relations. In Sparta, Paris is welcomed by Menelaus, King of Sparta and his beautiful wife Helen. According to ancient sources, Menelaus went to Crete for business and foolishly left Helen all alone with Paris (Strauss, 15). Afterward, Helen is seduced by Paris and flees Sparta to accompany him back to Troy, along with bountiful treasures.

The Trojan war was a ten year siege on the city of the city of Troy at the hands of the Greek forces led by a psychopathic king, Agamemnon. This conflict, which took place about 1200 B.C has become one of the most well known Greek mythology events in history. In the 13th century B.C, Troy and Sparta had stopped their wars and become allies, this was until Paris the youngest prince of Troy seduced Helen, the Queen of Sparta and left with her back to Troy. When Menelaos (The King of Sparta) found out what had happened, he vowed

As most know, Greek Mythology is a very complex concept that is free for interpretation and is shown in multiple ways. Many believe Greek Mythology is fiction, whereas some believe that it is nonfiction. As seen in Barry Strauss’s The Trojan War: A New History, the author argues that the Trojan War was significant and then shows evidence from as of late that supports the concept of the Trojan War actually occurring. Throughout his book he explains and gives insight into what happened during the Trojan War and how it developed based off of Homer’s writing. Strauss’s sole purpose is to inspect what was previously said about the Trojan War and evaluate it enough to the point where he is able to make logical reasoning to determine the

One of the oldest, yet most famous works in literature is the esteemed myth called The Odyssey. This epic, or long, narrative poem, was written by Homer, a blind poet, around 650 B.C. and has truly withstood the test of time. The story focuses around a Greek named Odysseus and his troubles after the long war that took place between the Greeks and Trojans, known as the Trojan War which lasted ten years. The tale is written in three distinctive parts, part one being about Odysseus’ wife and son back home, part two centering around Odysseus’ travels that occurred in the ten years it took him to reach Ithaca, his homeland, and part three, concentrating on Odysseus after he gets home and dealing with the changes that have happened in the twenty years he was gone. Religion was a huge factor in ancient Greeks’ lives and shapes much of the poem through the influence of the Greek Gods.

"… he [Heinrich Schliemann] found layers of ruins … and two bore unmistakable signs of violent destruction. One of these layers, the seventh according to more recent excavators, was no doubt the city of Priam and Hector. The historicity of the Homeric tale had been demonstrated archaeologically." - M.I. Finley, the World of Odysseus

The Trojan War started when a dispute happened between the goddess Hera, Athena and Aphrodite over an apple. They then asked Zeus to judge and he wouldn’t choose. Paris the prince of troy was then asked to judge Athena offered him ambition, fame, success in war. Hera offered Paris power, riches and king of Europe and Asia and Aphrodite offered Paris the love of the most beautiful women in the world. Paris chooses Aphrodite. The most beautiful women happened to be Helena who was married already. The Trojan War started when Paris visits Helen and Menelaus and kidnaps Helen with him back to Troy who is married to Menelaus who was a Spartan king. Helen’s father, Tyndareus promises to protect her and support her husband whatever choice she makes Menelaus finds out his wife is missing and goes after her. When he arrives Paris then offers a solution to keep his brother hector from fighting his battle. He challenges Menelaus to a one on one duel and the winner takes Helen. Menelaus accepts the challenge and they began fighting, Paris starts losing and his leg gets cut, he then crawls to Hectors feet. Menelaus threatens hector that he will kill Paris at his feet and as he raises his sword Hector stabs him, killing him and Agamemnon declares war. Later on, Hector ends up confusing Achilles’s cousin with Achilles because he was wearing his armor. Achilles then gets mad at him and him and Hector fight Achilles wins and drags his body back to his town. Hectors dad goes there to get back his daughter and hectors body. Later on, Greeks thought of an idea to get inside of Troy by building a giant wooden horse, also known as the Trojan horse and they had men hide inside of the horse. The Greeks made them think they left by sailing away and gave them the horse. The Trojans thought of it as a victory trophy or reward. But Paris thought it was a trick and didn’t want the horse brought inside and many others agree that they should burn

The Trojan War is described as one of histories most legendary battles. This battle is told to have lasted ten years, resulting in the eventual collapse of Troy, under the siege of Greek forces. Modern knowledge of the Trojan War has survived mainly through the account given in Homer’s Illiad, and while having proved to be a rich source of inspiration for other writers, artists, and even filmmakers in recent history, much speculation still exists surrounding his account. I will analyze modern interpretations of the Trojan War and examine both speculation and support for Homer’s account. Concluding with sufficient evidence that has been collected surrounding this epic battle, proving Homer’s account of a massive battle between these two powerful city states to not be just a tale of myth and legend, but actual history.

The Trojan War ends with the Greeks winning due to their brilliant idea of the Trojan Horse.

Achilles slaughtered the great Trojan hero, Hector and single-handedly changed the tide of the battle. He was a marvelous Greek hero, but his accomplishments paled in comparison to his friend Odysseus. In addition to accruing glory and fame in the Trojan War, Odysseus went on to write history in an epic journey all across the Mediterranean to return to his family. Odysseus acquired more kleos than any other Greek hero in Homer’s epics.

The Trojan War was during the Bronze Age in the 12th or 13th century BC. It was between Greece and Troy. The Trojan War mainly started when the Greeks brought a wooden horse over to Troy as a sign of “peace.” However, it was used to take over Troy since there were many armed men in the horse. A downfall the Trojans had that led up to this point in time was that they were foolish, “Four times did the Horse halt as they dragged it, before it passed through the gate, and each time their might have been heard a great clashing of arms within” (Church 9). In the Horse, there were sounds being made but the Trojans did not pay attention to these signs and Troy suffered as a result. Overall, the Trojan War was created due to many gods fighting over Helen and because of this Troy was taken over by Greece and Aeneas and his crew had to relocate and find a new safe place to live with the help of Venus and Apollo by their side.

The Trojan War was more than a series of battles between opposing forces, it was the climax of an age of heroes. The retrieval of Helen brought together many of the mythological characters of that time onto a single stage. Of the thousands of brave men who fought at Ilion, two men stood above the masses, sharing the title of hero. They were born in the line of those on Mt. Olympus, favored by the gods. Excelling in courage and skill, adored by those who followed them into battle, the actions of Achilles and Odysseus achieved a high place in Greek mythology. Through analysis we see that Odysseus and Achilles were close variations upon the same theme.

Barry Strauss, professor of classics at Cornell University attempts to redefine a one of history’s biggest love affairs, the Trojan War. Strauss explains how certain events and characters from Homers “The Odyssey” might have actually existed, but also uses modern discoveries from the Bronze Age to compare Homers account to those of Egypt, the Middle East, and etc. While Homer’s epic should not be read as a historical document which recounts the Trojan War hundred percent accurately, it can still be seen as document which embodies some historical truth. The novel as a whole explains the customs, economic standing, fighting styles and beliefs of the Greeks. Strauss’s writing style allows for the book to be accessible to both students and historians. He argues that just like Franz Ferdinand was the spark which ignited World War 1, Helen on the other hand was just a spark which escalated an existing tension between the Greeks and Trojans. Strauss’s personal input on the war itself gives the novel a different outlook on the Trojan War because, it allows for readers to see beyond the facts and make connections with ideas that Strauss had made with recent discoveries and Homers epic.