Mycenaean Greece : An Authentic Bronze Age Name

“… 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

Little is known about the legendary Greek poet Homer, who is attributed to writing the Iliad and the Odyssey. These heroic tales still influence lives today. His world, Ancient Greece, provides the foundation of western civilization.

 A sketchy figure by the name of Homer is given credit for the two great epic poems of ancient Greece. The Odyssey and The Iliad influenced Greek culture, education, and morality. Little is known about Homer and many scholars question whether he existed at all. (Encarta) Some say two different unknown authors wrote the two poems. (Britannica) Others say that many oral poets were responsible for the finished products. (Britannica) In this report I will discuss the theories that support the existence of an author named Homer. I will present the theories concerning his place of origin and those concerning the century he was likely to have lived in. I will also discus the artifacts

Schliemann was obsessed with the Iliad, having been read it as a child and seeing a depiction of Troy in a common history book by Ludwig Jerrer triggered his desire to find the remains of the city. He wasn’t a trained archaeologist but had a crucial guide to the location of sites that would prove the reality of the Homeric poems. Schliemann discovered that there were nine major levels, their chronology ranging from c. 3000 to 1100 B.C. From the beginning Troy had been a fortified stronghold as explained in the Iliad. “The well-walled city of Troy” . Finds also indicated that its occupants were wealthy. Therefore primarily Schliemann thought Troy II in which he found gold diadems, gold earrings, rings, buttons and bracelets discovered in the citadel wall was the treasure of king Priam. Later it was discovered that Troy II was far too early by more than one thousand years to have been the site of Troy described in the Iliad. Schliemann found artefacts in the 6th layer of Troy which could be used as verifiable artefacts. Arrow heads and spears found in the destruction level enabled Schliemann to unwittingly connect the city of Mycenae (as Mycenae an weapons were found) to the city of Troy, which proves correct when relating it to the

Although we cannot be sure of when Homer lived, we know he played a significant role in the formation of the literature of ancient Greece. Researchers believe that he probably lived somewhere around 8th century BC and was possibly one of the first literate authors. Other theories suggest that he only spoke his epics and they were put into writing by others. Homer’s stories show us the first glimpse of documented information of Greek myth and religion. Most important was the creation of Homer’s writing style named the Homeric epic. He was the first author to write epics and his writing style held strongly as the first major literature of its type in western civilization. Homer is considered a groundbreaking author of his time period because of his reoccurring themes and characteristics, his creation of the epic poem, and his significance to literature.

The Iliad was an epic poem written in the 8th century BCE by the Greek poet Homer. The Iliad is considered to be the earliest work in Western literature, and is one of the most well-known and respected stories ever written. The Iliad covers the events of the last couple weeks of the ten years that the Trojan War took place. The Iliad is an epic that has many underline themes such as love, war, hate and forgiveness. The poem greatly covers Achilles roll in the Trojan War and how the gods and goddess were constantly intervening with the outcome of the war. The Iliad also vastly covers Achilles and Hectors relationship thought the last weeks of the Trojan War.

“The Odyssey” depicted Odysseus’ journey back from the Trojan War, which was the story portrayed in The Illiad, to his homeland. It is believed that Homer is not the only author of the epic poems. "The story was memorized and recited by poets and minstrels during a period of several centuries when Greece had no written language." (Russell 151) Around 800 B.C. Homer put the story down in writing. According to Russell the stories are "... about the passions and follies of human beings and for this reason it seems in many ways to be as modern as the current dramas we see on television.”

In the book, and also you said that people are not 100% sure that Homer himself existed, and if the Trojan war really happened. Even tough in nineteenth Heinrich Schliemann proved that Troy existed, but he said Trojan War might have happened, and also didn’t prove that Homer was a real person. Since Homer wrote it after a long time when the Trojan War happened, does that mean that he collected all the legends and myths about Iliad and Odyssey, or he just made the whole story himself? In book it said that Aphrodite has promised a most beautiful woman for Paris, but why she promised him? And why she sides with him.

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.

The true history of Troy has been shrouded in mystery and has, to a certain extent, been lost. In the middle of the 18th century, the site of Ilios was the most sought after archaeological mystery. In the years between Achilles and Hector and modern time, the location of Troy had been lost. Only echoes of the ancient city remained in texts found elsewhere in the Anatolian peninsula and mainland Greece, and even though Homer’s epic poems ignited the passion to find Troy, they did little to reveal the exact location of his famous city. The one who found Troy would once and for all answer the Homeric Question: were the Iliad and Odyssey based on historical fact?

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 Iliad was written around 750 to 800 B.C. by Homer, one of the great author during the Ancient Greek. He is also known for writing the Odyssey. The Iliad is set in the middle of the Trojan War led by King Agamemnon and his Greek forces. The story focuses on this long ongoing battle but also how Homer has portrayed manhood of Ancient Greek.

What made the Greek city-state a new form of political and social organization was that there was no longer a king in power of the people. The Greek city-state came during the Archaic Age which was led on by the Greek Dark Age. Although the king no longer had any power within the government, there still remained a king. The new government that was formed was called the polis. The polis allowed for the people to feel they had more of a say of what was going on in the government. Instead of the king creating all of the laws, there was a group of people who made the laws. These people were not royal, they were common citizens who were interesting in creating laws and justice.

Homer and Ovid are two of the oldest, most influential poets that have ever lived. Although they are both poets, they have several differences in their writings. Homer, a Greek poet, is most famous for his epic poems Iliad and Odyssey. Ovid, a Roman poet, is most famous for Metamorphoses a 15 book poem containing over 250 myths. To compare and contrast these two poets and their writing styles, I will use Achilles’ battle with Hector in Homer’s Iliad book 22 and compare it with Achilles’ battle with Cycnus in Ovid’s Metamorphoses book 12. The comparison of these battles will give us a better understanding of these poets different views on the Trojan War.

      The Iliad is a story of rages of Achilles and the War of Troy. Thanks to the techniques of the author, Homer, The Iliad is very colorful, romantic, and it makes the readers imagine the ancient Greeks and their times of war. Homer is believed to be the author of epics other than the Iliad, although their authorship remains uncertain. Historian believes that Homer probably lived in the eighth century, B.C.1 (Discovering World History). However, there are very few things that we know about him. Some historians think Homer's birthplace may have been on an island on the eastern edge of the Aegean Sea, or perhaps in a city on the nearby coast, but they don't have evidence to