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Author: Barry Strauss Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 0743264428 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 288
Book Description
Drawing on archaeological research, an expert account of the famous historical battle confirms many details recounted in Homer's epic account, from Troy's alliance with the Hittite Empire to the significant fire at the end of the twelfth century and facts
Author: Barry Strauss Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 0743293622 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 289
Book Description
The Trojan War is the most famous conflict in history, the subject of Homer's Iliad, one of the cornerstones of Western literature. Although many readers know that this literary masterwork is based on actual events, there is disagreement about how much of Homer's tale is true. Drawing on recent archeological research, historian and classicist Barry Strauss explains what really happened in Troy more than 3,000 years ago. For many years it was thought that Troy was an insignificant place that never had a chance against the Greek warriors who laid siege and overwhelmed the city. In the old view, the conflict was decided by duels between champions on the plain of Troy. Today we know that Troy was indeed a large and prosperous city, just as Homer said. The Trojans themselves were not Greeks but vassals of the powerful Hittite Empire to the east in modern-day Turkey, and they probably spoke a Hittite-related language called Luwian. The Trojan War was most likely the culmination of a long feud over power, wealth, and honor in western Turkey and the offshore islands. The war itself was mainly a low-intensity conflict, a series of raids on neighboring towns and lands. It seems unlikely that there was ever a siege of Troy; rather some sort of trick -- perhaps involving a wooden horse -- allowed the Greeks to take the city. Strauss shows us where Homer nods, and sometimes exaggerates and distorts, as well. He puts the Trojan War into the context of its time, explaining the strategies and tactics that both sides used, and compares the war to contemporary battles elsewhere in the eastern Mediterranean. With his vivid reconstructions of the conflict and his insights into the famous characters and events of Homer's great epic, Strauss masterfully tells the story of the fall of Troy as history without losing the poetry and grandeur that continue to draw readers to this ancient tale.
Author: Theodor Kallifatides Publisher: Other Press, LLC ISBN: 1590519728 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 209
Book Description
In this perceptive retelling of The Iliad, a young Greek teacher draws on the enduring power of myth to help her students cope with the terrors of Nazi occupation. Bombs fall over a Greek village during World War II, and a teacher takes her students to a cave for shelter. There she tells them about another war—when the Greeks besieged Troy. Day after day, she recounts how the Greeks suffer from thirst, heat, and homesickness, and how the opponents meet—army against army, man against man. Helmets are cleaved, heads fly, blood flows. And everything had begun when Prince Paris of Troy fell in love with King Menelaus of Sparta's wife, the beautiful Helen, and escaped with her to his homeland. Now Helen stands atop the city walls to witness the horrors set in motion by her flight. When her current and former loves face each other in battle, she knows that, whatever happens, she will be losing. Theodor Kallifatides provides remarkable psychological insight in his version of The Iliad, downplaying the role of the gods and delving into the mindsets of its mortal heroes. Homer's epic comes to life with a renewed urgency that allows us to experience events as though firsthand, and reveals timeless truths about the senselessness of war and what it means to be human.
Author: Rodney Castleden Publisher: Casemate Publishers ISBN: 1781596891 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 264
Book Description
“A most insightful treatment of the seemingly mythic events that make up part of the foundation of Western history . . . an excellent book.” —The NYMAS Review Thirty-three hundred years ago, Agamemnon, king of Mycenae in Greece, attacked the city of Troy in western Anatolia. The bloody siege that followed gave rise to one of the most famous legends of the ancient world, and the search for the truth behind the legend has intrigued scholars ever since. In this fascinating new investigation, Rodney Castleden reconsiders all the evidence in order to establish the facts and give a historical basis to the most potent myth of ancient warfare.
Author: John Lawrence Angel Publisher: Bryn Mawr Commentaries ISBN: 0929524594 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 129
Book Description
Proceedings of a symposium held at Bryn Mawr College in 1986. Includes 'Priam's Castle Blazing': A Thousand Years of Trojan Memories' (Emily Vermeule) and 'The Physical Identity of the Trojans' (Lawrence Angel).
Author: Diane P. Thompson Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 0786472294 Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 237
Book Description
The Trojan War occurred more than 3,000 years ago. Since then, starting with Homer's epics, people have been writing, painting, sculpting and creating music about this event and its participants. This book starts with an overview of the Bronze Age when the Trojan War occurred, and then follows a selection of the major literature about this war from Homer down through the ages and on to the Internet. Each retelling of the Troy story is discussed in its historical context and includes a synopsis of the story itself. The ways of telling the story change over time. The main versions considered include Homer's Iliad and Odyssey; a selection of Classical Greek Dramas (especially Iphigenia at Aulis); Virgil's Aeneid; Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde; Guido delle Colonne's History of the Destruction of Troy; Racine's Iphigenia (at Aulis); Goethe's Iphigenia in Tauris; Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida; Joyce's Ulysses; and two feminist Troy novels, Sheri Tepper's The Gate to Women's Country and Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Firebrand. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
Author: Michael Wood Publisher: Univ of California Press ISBN: 9780520215993 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 300
Book Description
For 3,000 years, tales of Troy and its heroes - Achilles and Hector, Paris and the legendary beauty Helen - have fired the human imagination. With In Search of the Trojan War, Michael Wood brings vividly to life the legend and lore of the Heroic Age in an archaeological adventure that sifts through the myths and speculation to provide a privileged view of the riches and the reality of ancient Troy. This edition includes a new preface, a new final chapter, and an addendum to the bibliography that take account of dramatic new developments in the search for Troy with the rediscovery, in Moscow, of the so-called Jewels of Helen and the re-excavation of the site of Troy which began in 1988 and is yielding new evidence about the historical city.
Author: Eric H. Cline Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199333823 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 153
Book Description
The Iliad, Homer's epic tale of the abduction of Helen and the decade-long Trojan War, has fascinated mankind for millennia. Even today, the war inspires countless articles and books, extensive archaeological excavations, movies, television documentaries, even souvenirs and collectibles. But while the ancients themselves believed that the Trojan War took place, scholars of the modern era have sometimes derided it as a piece of fiction. Combining archaeological data and textual analysis of ancient documents, this Very Short Introduction considers whether or not the war actually took place and whether archaeologists have really discovered the site of ancient Troy. To answer these questions, archaeologist and ancient historian Eric H. Cline examines various written sources, including the works of Homer, the Epic Cycle (fragments from other, now-lost Greek epics), classical plays, and Virgil's Aeneid. Throughout, the author tests the literary claims against the best modern archaeological evidence, showing for instance that Homer, who lived in the Iron Age, for the most part depicted Bronze Age warfare with accuracy. Cline also tells the engaging story of the archaeologists--Heinrich Schliemann and his successors Wilhelm Dörpfeld, Carl Blegen, and Manfred Korfmann--who found the long-vanished site of Troy through excavations at Hisarlik, Turkey. Drawing on evidence found at Hisarlik and elsewhere, Cline concludes that a war or wars in the vicinity of Troy probably did take place during the Late Bronze Age, forming the nucleus of a story that was handed down orally for centuries until put into final form by Homer. But Cline suggests that, even allowing that a Trojan War took place, it probably was not fought because of Helen's abduction, though such an incident may have provided the justification for a war actually fought for more compelling economic and political motives. About the Series: Oxford's Very Short Introductions series offers concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects--from Islam to Sociology, Politics to Classics, Literary Theory to History, and Archaeology to the Bible. Not simply a textbook of definitions, each volume in this series provides trenchant and provocative--yet always balanced and complete--discussions of the central issues in a given discipline or field. Every Very Short Introduction gives a readable evolution of the subject in question, demonstrating how the subject has developed and how it has influenced society. Eventually, the series will encompass every major academic discipline, offering all students an accessible and abundant reference library. Whatever the area of study that one deems important or appealing, whatever the topic that fascinates the general reader, the Very Short Introductions series has a handy and affordable guide that will likely prove indispensable.
Author: Barry Strauss
Author: Barry Strauss
Author: Theodor Kallifatides
Author: Homer
Author: Rodney Castleden
Author: John Lawrence Angel
Author: Virgil
Author: Diane P. Thompson
Author: Michael Wood
Author: Eric H. Cline
Author: Justine Fontes