Essay about The Historic Accuracy of Homer’s Iliad

During the latter part of the twentieth century, several technological advances came to allow historians to gain a better grasp on the events that took place in areas in which written records are scarce in such periods such as the heroic age of Greece. Such technology as Carbon Dating, Dendrochronology and Satellite Imagery in which Robert Bittlestone goes into great depth about in Odyssey Unbound. In comparison to the writing of Samuel Basset in The Poetry of Homer of whom wrote his piece long before such technology was available the focus is not on the physical clues of the existence of a real Troy that existed on both land and sea, but more on the human aspect of Homer as a poet and mediator between two cultures. When one compares the two

“As is the generation of leaves, so is that of humanity. The wind scatters the leaves on the ground, but the live timber burgeons with leaves again in the season of spring returning. So one generation of men will grow while another dies” (6.146-50)

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.

Thucydides and Homer, though they lived a relatively short 300 years apart, wrote about very different Greek cultures. While the Greeks who Homer wrote about in The Iliad were, in many respects, dissimilar to the Greeks in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, this stands in marked contrast to the profound similarities that exist between contemporary cultures and those that Thucydides wrote of. There are, however, similarities between modern cultures and those in Homer’s writing, as well as differences between modern ones and those in Thucydides’ writing. Thucydides’ history is, therefore, a relational bridge between the cultures of ancient Greece and modern ones.

The stories provide an important insight into early human society, and illustrate, in some respects, how little has changed. Even if The Iliad itself seems unfamiliar, the story of the siege of Troy, the Trojan War and Paris’ kidnapping of Helen, the world’s most beautiful woman, are all familiar characters or scenarios. Some scholars insist that Homer was personally familiar with the plain of Troy, due to the geographical accuracy in the poem. Homer’s real life may remain a mystery, but the very real impact of his works continues to illuminate our world

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.

The writings of Homer can be considered the foundational documents of the Greeks. These epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey, were some of the first things the Greeks wrote down after they adopted the alphabet, and they taught the Greeks what it meant to be Greek. The poems depict the Trojan War and its aftermath. This war between the Greeks and the Trojans might or might not have occurred, and if it did it certainly did not occur as Homer describes. Even so, these stories communicate important values to the Greeks. The Iliad tells the story about the rage of Achilles. Achilles is the best of the Greek warriors, but he feels slighted by the Greek king, Agamemnon. The Iliad explores the consequences of Achilles’ rage.

The Iliad is an epic tale of war and hero’s within the Greek way of life. A

A truly talented storyteller must be able to craft his or her tale in various ways. A proficient writer can present the same literary tool in differing forms, and thereby entertain his audience despite the fact that he may be telling repetitive ideas. Yet, such a writer will connect these ideas in subtle ways, so as to create a unity in his tale. Homer was a writer who performed this feat throughout the entirety of the Iliad and showed his unique ability to weave a tale full of similes that both enhanced and unified his story. Although Homer used a variety of subjects in his similes, and many of them had a common thread. Homer’s unique ability was to create a tale so descriptive that the listener was able to fully immerse him or

The son of Laertes is neither weak nor a poor fighter, but he is certainly not Achilles who blows through waves of Trojans in a flood of fury. Rather, Odysseus is a witty hero, contrasting to the powerful, hardheaded fighters that generally appear in The Iliad. His purpose in The Iliad is to demonstrate, through tact and strategic ability, that strength and brawn isn’t all that compose a hero.

Many literary characters experience some sort of change in their story that changes the trajectory of their motives and development. In Homer’s epic poem The Iliad, there is a humongous amount of conflict due to the Trojan War, but the characters surrounding it make the story appealing. One of the most captivating characters of his piece, however, is the demigod warrior Achilles. Even when he is missing in action throughout the middle of the epic, he is still one of the most interesting characters in the piece due to his character background and development throughout the story. Homer does this in such a way so the reader/listener can sympathize with him and the Greek army, even when he is committing horrible acts of violence. Clearly, Homer’s The Iliad is actually a response to the violent world surrounding Achilles, due to how he and his loved ones are ultimately affected by it and his sad but necessary response.

The Iliad is an epic composed by the poet Homer in 700 century BC, depicting the events of the Trojan War, where the Greeks and Trojans fought over Helen of Troy, who had been taken by the Trojan prince Paris. For years, the poem was believed to be fictional, until the discovery of the site of Troy by Heinrich Schliemann. This site was composed of 9 layers, containing various artifacts and architecture, providing new archaeological evidence. However, excavation has been made difficult by the work of Schliemann, who bulldozed through layers and stole artifacts and treasure with his wife. While scholars have differing opinions on the extent to which Homer’s account of the Trojan War is historically accurate, the new general consensus is that there was a war. The Trojan War is likely to have been motivated by economic and political factors rather than love, and was not as long or as substantial as Homer portrayed it to be.

“Heroes get remembered, but legends never die,” because their stories are too unbelievable to be buried amongst the ruins of history. This holds true for the Trojan War, the famous war described in Homer’s epic The Iliad. The epic poem tells the tale of a war between the people of Troy (Trojans) and the early Greeks (Mycenaean’s) after Helen, wife of Menelaus in Sparta, was taken by the Prince Paris of Troy and Sparta enlisted help from the Mycenaean ruler, King Agamemnon (Cincinatti ??). Now, the story does not just involve love and crime, but gods, goddesses, and demigods as well. Before the early 1900s, people believed the city of Troy and its story to be purely fiction until ruins of the great city were discovered. The backstory, archaeological finds, and facts about the area convey the idea that the Trojan War should be considered a legend with aspects of the truth.

To establish anything as true, of course, naturally lends itself to the question of where and when the event happened. The Trojan War is not an exception to this convention, and fortunately, most historians agree that a site in northwestern Turkey, known as Hisarlik, is the most probable location of ancient Troy. In this site, which was discovered by Heinrich

Troy has long been shrouded by myth, with historians and other experts trying to answer the questions that this great city poses. One of the questions at the center of the mystery of Troy that has long plagued historians is whether or not Troy actually existed. The setting for the great epics of Homer, a location that bore witness to one of the most famous wars of all time, that saw the fall of some of history’s greatest heroes; but was any of it real? Is there a historical basis behind the story of Achilles’s rage, Patroclus’s sacrifice, or Hector’s death? When Hienrik Schliemann set out to answer this question in the late 19th century he felt he had with his discovery of Hisarlik at the mouth of the Dardanelles (Kolb, 2004). As more modern-day archaeologists have excavated the site, the belief of Hisarlik as the Troy of legend has been called into question. The site that Schliemann believed to be Troy simply was not a prominent enough city during the time period of the Trojan War for such a large conflict to have taken place. While Homer may have drawn some inspiration from historical events for his epic poems, the Trojan War was a fictional event.