The Trojan War is a war that took place around c. 1200 BCE and is one of the many events that contributed to the fall of the Bronze Age. It was a revolutionary war for its time, yet its existence is questioned by many. Throughout this text I will answer the question: "In your opinion, is the existence of the city of Troy and the Trojan War real or "just a good story" (an artistic creation)?" I believe in the existence or the city of Troy as well as the Trojan War because of all the written and archaeological evidence that has been found on this topic.
First of all, written evidence plays a big part in why I believe the city of Troy and the Trojan War were real events. The biggest written evidence is the famous poem Iliad written by Homer which tells the story of the Trojan War through Homer's eyes. He sees it as a war that began because of a love affair between the kind of Greece and his wife, a beautiful young woman who fell for the prince of Troy. The evidence that has been found throughout many years has shown that it was not a war based on a love affair, but one that began because of desire. The city of Troy was a very wealthy city found in a very strategic location which attracted civilizations, therefore, civilizations such as the Mycenaeans wanted to take over. Furthermore, written tablets are another big piece of evidence when it comes to the Trojan War. These tablets provided information that archaeologists were looking for to answer the question: "Who fought
The Trojan War, the event depicted in Homer's Iliad, was the most popular subject in Greek drama and told its story elaborately to next generations. According to Homer, the war started because Helen, the most beautiful Greek woman and wife of a Greek king, Menelaus, decided to leave her husband and ran away with a Trojan Prince, Paris. This angered the Greeks so they sailed to Troy and fought for Helen's return. As the war continued on, the Greeks were forced to plan a new strategy to attack Troy since the city had very strong walls and the Greeks began to realize they were unable to defeat the Trojans. The plan was to build a huge, hollow, wooden horse that was filled with Greeks soldiers. It led the Trojans to believe that the horse was
Throughout the past three thousand years since the occurrences of the Trojan War, numerous archaeologists and historians have contributed into finding evidence on the accuracy of the Epic Battle. When explaining the events of this infamous war between the Greeks and Trojans, the roles of archaeology and written evidence have played a vital part.
The Trojan War has long been debated on historical accuracy by experts on whether or not it actually happened. In Barry Strauss ' book, The Trojan War, he draws from multiple sources to illustrate what occurred during this time period. Strauss utilizes archeological evidence and descriptions from poets, such as Homer, surrounding the Trojan War to argue what probably happened and what was likely made up.
The story of the Trojan horse is quite a well-known tale. To summarize, the Greeks brought the Trojans the gift of a colossal wooden horse, but the horse was filled with soldiers prepared to attack the Trojan empire. "Why did the Greeks want to destroy Troy?" one might ask. The answer to that question is rather perplexing. The epic "Illiad", by Homer, proposes that the feud between was caused when Prince Paris of Troy seized King Menelaus of Greece's wife, Helen, and took her for himself. This ultimately led to a 10 year long war between the Greeks and the Trojans, and the Trojan horse event occurs. But, how do people know that Homer's epic states the truth? There is evidence to support the fact that Troy existed, but did the actual Battle of Troy actually occur? "Is Troy True? The Evidence Behind Movie Myth" by Stefan Lovgren conveys that the Battle of Troy did not happen because of absence of evidence, embarrassment of the Trojans, and likelihood
By the 19th century the story of the war was told as mythology, but by the start of the 20th century the story was discovered to be much more historically accurate. “Archaeologists found remains of great citadel that existed on the Western shore of Asia Minor, the traditional location of Troy.” Whether it is legend of fact, they start the same way, a wedding.
In Greek mythology, the walls of Troy had been discovered to have been built by Poseidon and Apollo who, after an act of ignorance, were obligated to serve for the Trojan King Laomedon for one year, by Zeus. Many tough battles had been fought outside of the city, sometimes they fought with chariots, but the majority of them were fought by men on foot, using weapons such as spears, sword, shields, helmets, and armour for protection of the chest and legs. War fumed back and forth across the plains of Troy, over the years, but the most important battles seemed to have been saved for the final year of the siege. There were four major battles between a Greek warrior, and Trojan warrior. The first battle came down between Menelaos and Paris. Menelaos offered to fight Paris just between the two of them, so they could settle the issue of the war. Agreeing to this, both warriors brought lots together to see who would have first throw with their spear. Paris won, and threw first, but his spear landed in the shield of Menelaos. All four battles began like this, with the throwing of the spear. Other warriors included in these battles were, Ajax, and Hektor, Achilles, and Hektor, and lastly the most important battle of all, the Trojan Horse, and the victory. Many believed that Trojan Horse, and the victory is a myth, because
The Movie Troy has been one of the best Hollywood movies to be filmed. However, many historical events that took place in the movie, and the Iliad can be questioned whether or not they are reliable, creating controversy about the historical accuracy of the film. This essay will examine and evaluate the evidence, and compare the movie with archeological evidence about the Trojan War. It will be argued that the myth of Troy was altered while creating the epic movie, Troy, to make it more attractive for the audience. I will begin by introducing the source of the movie’s storyline.
The Trojan War. Confined totally to the pages of Homer's The Illiad, the indulgent fantasy of a Greek poet who lived over two and a half thousand years ago- or a historic fact at the centre of the most famous quarrel ever? The Illiad is the ancient tale of a mighty city called Troy that lay at the edge of Asia Minor whose prince abducted Helen, the most beautiful woman of all time, from the king of Greek Sparta, causing the Greeks to send an army in a thousand ships to attack and lay siege to Troy for 10 years. Historians have long doubted the credibility of Homer as a reliable historical source. However evidence has been uncovered by archaeologists to suggest that The Iliad has some basis in truth
The Trojan War has always been a mystery to many people, archaeologists, and historians. Troy, where the Trojan War was said to occur, was first mentioned in Homer’s Iliad. No one can truly prove if the Trojan War did or did not happen. In recent years studies have shown new evidence as to how the Trojan War may have happened. Researchers have made discoveries to help decipher why the Trojan War occurred. Artifacts found on land, the capital of the Roman Empire as well as a holy city, and Troy’s topography shows why the Trojan War happened and answers questions about why people may have doubts.
In the Iliad, Homer describes the city of Troy as a place destroyed by a war. In the eyes of historians, the city of Troy remained a work of fiction until a man by the name Heinrich Schliemann excavated a site which was believed to be the city of Troy. This site was found in northwestern Turkey and was in fact the ruins of the real city of Troy. Unfortunately, due to Schliemann’s carelessness he destroyed large amounts of the city during the excavation. The city of Troy was later found out to have been destroyed by an earthquake, rather than an actual war. It was discovered that the city had been destroyed several times and that there are actually layers on top of layers of the city being
If the lliad written by Homer is real, which the majority of people believe then the Trojan War must have happened
The story of the Trojan War written and told by Homer portrays the many different aspects of war, the way it is handled by society, and the aftermath of it. I believe that this particular story greatly deplores the idea of war. The way things were perceived by the people during the battle, it was solely based upon the title of pride and honor. Soldiers were seen as brave and courageous fighters, and whatever they did was commended by society. The obsessive desire of respect and pride was majorly expressed through the actions and traits of Achilles, the hero of the Greeks.
The Trojan War is a topic that comes with many discussions, questions, and beliefs that many people even today are looking into. The Iliad, created by Homer, is the oldest record many Historians use to start their research on the Trojan War. Unfortunately, his version of the Trojan War was made 480 years after it occurred, which leaves many people to question if Homer’s story was true or not. In today’s times we still may not have all the answers of the Trojan War but we do have evidence and possibilities of there being one. The Trojan War is discussed by many Historians of their different views and findings that we continue today to learn more about. Historians have analyzed, researched, and discovered new theories to the Trojan War from
Over the past years a lot of archaeological and literary evidence has helped us gain a better understanding of the history of Troy. Much hard work has gone into the excavations there by many archaeologists, and many interesting artefacts have been found. The story of the Ancient City of Troy is a great one, however many people believed it didn’t exist and that Homers Iliad, the story of the Trojan War was just some story. This has since been proved untrue as the city of Troy was discovered, and the pieces of this amazing puzzle have fallen together. Homer described Troy as an exceptionally large city with large high powerful walls, wide streets, twisting paths and large houses. Some of the archaeologists that have contributed to the
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.