Troy: Ethnographic Study

“… 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

In the Mediterranean, Troy was known for it’s impenetrable walls that towered over its city. Troy’s walls were said to be one hundred feet tall and fifty feet thick. This was one of the main reasons why the Greeks needed the Trojan horse to enter the city. Another reason was that since they had the walls they also had the military might to defend them in one of the best-trained armies in the world at that time. Also, since Greece wasn’t united they would have trouble coming to agreements, which had already made the war last ten long

At the beginning of Book 2 of The Aeneid, Aeneas tells his story about the fall of Troy. The Greeks constructed a massive wooden horse to which the Trojans believed was an offering goddess Minerva. They then sent one of their youths, Sinon, to give the offering to the Trojans. The Trojans brought the wooden horse into to please the goddess but, the wooden horse was actually a structure to house some Greek soldiers to infiltrate Troy as well as execute a sneak attack when the city was asleep. Similar to guerrilla soldiers, the Greeks exit the wooden horse to begin their attack on the Trojan city. When Aeneas sees the city in flames, he gathers his men to attempt to save Troy. Aeneas attempts to kill as many Greeks as he can, but forced to retreat.

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

The research discussed above focused mainly on the Greek mainland itself, understandably so. But one would be remiss to discard any discussion relating to the physical site from which Homer drew inspiration, the city of Ilion located in Troy. In Aslan’s recent publication, she provides remarkable detail on her findings regarding pottery found in burials near the city of Troy itself, which discovered offerings mixed together ranging from the Late Bronze Age all the way to the Roman Empire. . Although Aslan provides the possibility of incidental mixture of layers, one cannot dismiss the possibility of worshippers wanting to mix their friends/relatives directly with heroes who may have attained immortality in the battle for Troy itself. And since

In Greek mythology there is a classic tale of the Trojan War. According to Homer’s Illiad, the Greeks besieged Troy for ten years without success. Subsequently after the death of the warrior Achilles, many wanted to give up the fight. However the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, formulated a strategy which would admit the Greek army access into the city of Troy. Odysseus erected an immense wooden horse. He and his warriors hid inside it. Moreover, after leaving the horse at the gates of Troy, the Greek army sailed away. The Trojans concluded that the Greeks had surrender and left the horse as a gift to the gods. Therefore, the Trojans didn’t want to anger the gods brought the horse inside the gates.

"We could describe (Heinrich) Schliemann's excavations on the hill of Hissarlik and consider their results without speaking of Troy or even alluding to it," Georges Perrot wrote in 1891 in his Journal des Savants. "Even then, they would have added a whole new chapter to the history of civilization, the history of art" (qtd. in Duchêne 87). Heinrich Schliemann's life is the stuff fairy tales are made of. A poor, uneducated, and motherless boy rises through his hard work and parsimonious lifestyle to the heights of wealth (Burg 1,2). He travels the world and learns its languages ("Heinrich Schliemann"), takes a beautiful Greek bride, and together they unearth the treasures of Troy and the citadel of

The topic of the Trojan War has been analyzed, criticized, and researched for millennia. Many archeologists have spent decades trying to unveil the truth of the Trojan War. In 1894, the University of Texas was presented with the opportunity to purchase the alleged site of Troy. Alexander Watkins Terrell, the minister to the Ottoman Empire, believed it was imperative that the University of Texas capitalize on this opportunity as he felt the site was teeming with academic possibilities. The University of Texas, however, did not purchase the site. The decision to not obtain the land was a mistake on the part of the University of Texas as the site held the potential to gain an advantage over other universities of the time and reveal truths pertaining

Answering dido, Aeneas begins telling about the fall of troy, even though retelling it involves reexperiencing the agony (this is from the actual book which i have a copy of). He takes us back to ten years into the Trojan War, where the Danaans (Greeks) have suddenly retreated (from view) but also built a big wooden stallion with a stomach filled with warrors. They covertly hide their best officers, with supplies, inside the stallion, while whatever is left of the Greek armed force keeps out of sight some separation from Troy. Seeing a monstrous steed before their doors confuses the Trojans

In actuality, there are many theories concerning the destruction of Troy that do not involve a giant wooden horse. One is that Homer, the author of the "Illiad", made up the story of the Battle of Troy, and that there was actually an earthquake instead. According to the article, "'...Homer knew that the city he was describing had been destroyed by an earthquake...But that's not how you want to end your monumental saga-with a whimper'" (Lovgren). It is reasonable that Homer would want to defend Troy, since the concept of the Trojan horse made the Greek offense look strong, and Homer was from Greece. In addition, it was probably humiliating for the Trojan empire to have been up taken by something as mediocre as an earthquake. The idea of writing an epic that not only made the Greeks look good, but at the same time make the Trojans look bad, would have been appealing to

With the whole city of Troy quiet, the Greeks attack and take hold of the city. The loss of Troy, in Virgil’s eyes was deceit, lies, and broken

Schliemann assumed that Troy was located in the North West of Turkey; he came to this conclusion with the description given by Homer. When Schliemann arrived he attacked the mountain with pic axes to get rid of all the debris, and to be able to see the hidden treasure underneath, “Troy”. One day he found ruins of the pre historic city. Ramps guided to a gate. Schliemann found gold, and jewels that Helen once wore, or so he thought.

The ancient city of Troy, a legendary city in classical literature and Hollywood films alike, has been an attraction to visit for at least twenty-five centuries. Visitors such as Alexander the Great, who stopped at Troy in 334 BC while on route east to conquer Asia, came to Troy looking for the city immortalized in Homer's Iliad. Presently, archaeologists visit Hisarlik, a site in northwest Turkey, as it is believed to be the location of the ancient city. Alexander must have been puzzled when he had arrived in Ilion, the name of the city at the time of his visit. Ilion was a small colony founded centuries after the Trojan War supposedly took place; Alexander and his men must have had a similar reaction to what they saw as many a

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.

In ancient times, people thought that the great War of Troy was just a myth of Homer's. Then in the mid 19th century, a German businessman, Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890), discovered Troy. Heinrich had always loved Homer's poem. Since his childhood he had believed that the story of Homer was truth and not a myth. He absorbed the beauty of the epics, but his practical mind also caused him to analyze the facts behind the poetic fiction. He became convinced that the Greeks were right; the War of Troy was not a myth but historical reality. He carried on his excavations from 1870 to 1873, 1878 to 1879, and in 1881. The results were fantastic. Nine cities that had been successively destroyed emerged from the excavations. According to the archeologists' studies, Priam had ruled Troy. Priam was one of the kings who ruled Troy