Trojan War History and Myth

By Michael James

In this book you will find the following questions:

• The discovery of Troy
• The myth of the Trojan War
• The Trojan horse

• How was the city of Troy?

• The Peoples of the Sea and the Fall of Troy

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael James
• Release date: Dec 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201826215

Michael James

Michael James is a father of three who creates stories for his children to treasure and others to enjoy. His writing draws upon his travels, experiences of the world from yesteryear… and now family life too. His stories demonstrate that during times of adversity being creative and fun is a positive route to take.

Book preview

1 Introduction

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If there is a mythical city par excellence, it is Troy. Everyone has heard of it, of the famous horse, of Helen or of Achilles. But in this book, besides the myth, you can also discover the real city of Troy.

Ancient Troy, which was also known as Ilios or Ilion, was located on the northwest coast of Asia Minor, specifically on the Hissarlik hill in modern-day Turkey. Its position near the Dardanelles Strait connected the Aegean with a small portion of water that was the antechamber to the Black Sea.

It is not easy to answer the question of whether the Trojan War existed. But it is possible that the memory of a Trojan War would remain alive in the memory of the ancient Greeks, although it would not happen such as in narration of the Iliad and other ancient texts, but these narrations would be mixed with magnified traditions and customs of other conflicts. We also have no way of knowing if Agamemnon, Achilles, or Ulysses and other mythological heroes like Hercules really existed.

The ancient Greeks thought that a poet from the 8th century B.C., whom they named Homer, was in charge of composing the two Greek epic poems par excellence: Iliad and Odyssey, in which the Trojan War and the adventures of some of its heroes are narrated.

We know almost nothing about Herodotus' life, and what little we do know is closer to the realm of speculation than to reality. What is certain is that the writing of the Homeric poems was the last stage of a process of oral transmission in the stories of the Trojan War and the return journeys of the Achaean heroes to their homes would be transmitted by rhapsodies, a kind of medieval troubadours.

Therefore, the Odyssey and the Iliad would preserve the memory of customs and ways of life of the Mycenaeans who lived in Greece during the Bronze Age.

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