Homer and Trojan War Exam Notes PDF

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Homer and Trojan War Exam Notes...

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Homer and the Trojan War An overview of the Bronze Age world, including the name and sites of major Bronze Age civilisations The Bronze Age was the period in which the Trojan War is thought to have occurred. The Greek Bronze Age is from 3000 — 1100 BCE. Characteristics: Use of bronze in crafts, tools and weapons instigated trading, economic, political and social changes Civilisation

Location/Site

Text

Minoan Civilisation

Island of Crete

Linear A (undeciphered)

Mycenaeans

Mycenae, south of Athens in the Peloponnese

Linear B (deciphered)

Trojan civilisation

City of Troy situated on the northwest coast of Asia Minor

Hittite civilisation

Empire formed in central Asia Minor

Bronze Age Mycenae: Pottery, bronze weapons with gold and silver, lots of gold jewellery etc. Identifying locations on maps (Cities, Dardanelles, esp 3 cities) Our area of study focuses on Asia Minor in the north-eastern Aegean where Troy is located (in modern day Turkey) and the Peloponnese in mainland Greece where Mycenae is located. The legend of Troy Paris was born, the son of Priam and Hecuba, king and queen of Troy, but banished due to a prophesied risk to Troy. When he grew to maturity, he was involved in a contest with three goddesses (Hera, Aphrodite and Athena) to choose the most beautiful among them, and was bribed by Aphrodite’s promise to award Paris with the most beautiful woman in the world. When reunited with his parents, he meets King Menelaus in the Greek kingdom of Sparta, and falls in love with his wife Helen. Menelaus is enraged by their elopement and convinces his brother Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, to retrieve her, starting a ten-year-long siege with Greek heroic warriors Achilles, Odysseus, Nestor and Ajax. During this siege, famous deaths included prince Hector of Troy and Achilles. When the Greek armies retreated they left a giant wooden house outside the gates of Troy. When the Trojans pulled the mysterious gift into the city and when night fell, a group of Greek warriors climbed out and sacked Troy from within. After the Greek victory, Troy was sacked, burned to the ground and its men were put to the sword. ! Women of Troy were taken captive and given as spoils of war to the conquering Greek generals. Helen returned to Sparta to live out her days with Menelaus. Usefulness and limitations of Homer’s Iliad as an historical source for the Trojan War Homer’s Iliad is both a useful and limited sources for the Trojan war as it was useful in providing geographical and topographical information to help archaeologists like Schliemann locate the site of Troy at Hissarlik. Epic poetry helps historians and archaeologists reconstruct the past as it shows the importance and status of the war, its effect on the civilisation and a literary recount of the events. Homer was also a composer of high standing and created a well renowned poem to recount the war. However, the Iliad is also a limited source for the Trojan War due to questions of its factuality, especially considering its interpretation of mythology and involvement of goddesses. This presents events in the tale which are not realistic, therefore unreliable. The story may also have been written for entertainment, supported by mythology. Epic poetries also often exaggerate of dramatise due to it having been primarily for entertainment purpose, Lastly, the reliability of the information may be compromised as the original tale was transferred by mouth. Overall however, while not being a completely fictional historical account, certain elements can be extracted for a constructive interpretation of the Trojan War’s events.

Different perspectives about the origins/cause of the Trojan War Historian

Lived

Info

Homer

~8th Century BCE

Born in Asia Minor, it is not known if he actually existed or was part of a group known as the Homeridae. Epic poet to whom the Illiad and the Odyssey is attributed According to Homer, Helen, who was the wife of Menelaus (King of Sparta) who was brother to Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, was the fairest of her sex and well sought after. This gave rise to an oath swearing to defend her from injury and avenge her at all costs. While she chose Menelaus, Paris (aided by Venus) persuaded her to elope with him and carried her to Troy, whence arose the famous Trojan War.

Thucydides

c. 460 BCE - c. 400 BCE Came from a wealthy and influential family Was exiled as a commander who failed to save a major port. In time of exile he travelled and researched the war, usually speaking with members of elite classes. According to Thucydides, Agamemnon who was one of the most powerful rulers of his day, would have used any excuse to raise force against Troy and so not actually due to devotion to Helen, but instead to impose fear rather than loyalty to the oath.

Michael Wood

Born 1948

Writer and television presenter who believes in ‘hands on’ history. Michael Wood believed that fish was the cause for the Trojan War as it has been put forward as a source of Troy’s wealth. This was because in later times the seasonal migrations of mackerel and tunny through the Dardanelles (near Troy), bringing fishing fleets from all over the Aegean. And so the assault of a Mycenaean fish fleet could been a possible motive for the Trojan War. Supporting this theory is the archaeology of the Hissarlik (site of Troy) as Schliemann found a deep strata of fish bones.

Bettany Hughes

Born 1968

Award winning historian and broadcaster of women’s history, and has own website. From a feminist perspective on the Trojan War, Bethany Hughes criticises the accusation of Helen’s beauty and infidelity as the trigger for the Trojan War. She believes there are usually many contributory causes to international conflict and the ancient Greeks needed only one; however, in the grand scheme of things she is of little significance as she is a regent in Greece and Paris a minor prince of Troy.

Historian

Lived

Info

Louise Schofield

Now

Believed that greed was the primary cause of the Trojan War as palace civilisation demanded huge resources. The Mycenaeans didnt have tin or gold and so believed they started the war to gain wealth, especially as Mycenaeans had a wealthy warrior culture. Archaeological evidence of a shipwreck near the coast supports this few as it was abundant with resources showing the intricacy of ancient trade networks. The discovery of Hittite texts were significant as it mentioned a battle of a town mentioned named Wilusha. It denoted the archaeologically concrete Hittites and the movement of their army, which would confirm the mythological Troy. The verification of Troy and Wilusha being the same city led to a conclusion that the Trojan war may have instead been Troy caught in conflict between two larger cities, the Mycenaeans and the Hittites.

[Essay] Excavations and discoveries of Calvert, Schliemann, Dorpfeld, Blegen and Korfmann at Hissarlik.

The discoveries and excavations of possible Trojan site Hissarlik by Heinrich Schliemann, Wilhelm Dorpfeld, Carl Blegen and Manfred Korffman have incited significant archaeological and historical discussion to the study and understanding of the Trojan War. Schliemann produced noteworthy discoveries, but also infamous controversies in his site destruction and questionable artefacts. The emergence of mapping the Hissarlik saw conflicting opinions on the identifications on the identification of Homer’s Troy in the interpretation of the city’s structure. Dorpfeld and Blegen both introduced their own individual discoveries and conclusions of the true Homeric Troy, and finally Korfmann’s contributions to the discoveries of Troy saw the city’s extended geography and history. In depth analyses of the issues and triumphs of each archaeologist creates an opportunity for debate in the historical verification of the mythological Trojan War." Heinrich Schliemann uncovered many distinguishable discoveries in Troy, excavating several locations and sites however also created controversy through his destruction of the mound and questionable artefacts. He was also an amateur archaeologist who worked in collaboration with Calvert, largely motivated by dubious ambitions with his use of the Iliad reflecting his unconventional and audacious nature. He had three major excavations with usually over 160 workmen on site each day, and was able to identify seven different superimposed cities on the mound. He believed that the second layer from the bottom, Troy II was the Homeric Troy as it was destroyed by fire, however while there was evidence of a fortified citadel structure and crude pottery, there were no Late Bronze Age artefacts and so was unlikely to be the site of Troy. In 1873, he infamously unearthed Priam’s Troy where he unveiled Priam’s treasure, a hoard of gold jewellery and trinkets. Despite these discoveries, there were several issues in his excavations with many questioning the authenticity of Priam’s Treasure, his unscrupulous motivations and destructive archaeological methods. Many historiographical discussions find Schliemann to be biased due to his romanticised idea of Troy, and having used a literary text to excavate. He also ignored Calvert’s request for small, sustainable trenches and instead unearthed 325000 cubic metres of earth in one enormous trench, effectively destroying the site, as well as digging too deep. Many have also criticised the discovery of his Priam’s treasures being possible frauds, or at least falsely sensationalised, with various

discrepancies in his recount of its excavations. Therefore, while Schliemann contributed many valuable discoveries on the strata of the Hissarlik, many of his actions and claims are untrustworthy and so substantially taints the reliability of his findings." Two influential archaeologists to contribute to the study of the Hissarlik are Wilhelm Dorpfeld and Carl Blegen, who both had unique approaches to their excavations. Dorpfeld, while limited by his controversies linked with the time he worked with Schliemann, was able to efficiently utilise his knowledge on three dimensional shapes as an architect, and cultural evolution. He discovered an additional two layers of the mound, and with its excavation concluded Troy VI to be Homer’s Troy. He was able to uncover supporting archaeological evidence, such as defensive citadels, bronze weapons and remains of pottery from the concurrent Mycenaean civilisation. However, he dated the sites using pottery, an unreliable technique at the time, and it is suggested that Troy VI was of an inadequate size as it only had the capacity to fit several hundred residents, an insufficient number of people to allegedly defend a substantial 10 year long siege. Recent evidence, also claims Troy VI was destroyed by an earthquake around 1300 BC, contradicting the story of the Homeric Troy. This evidence was found by Blegen, who excavated the Hissarlik after Dorpfeld in 1932 and dug in the southern portion, untouched by his preceding archaeologists. After establishing extensive lesser strata layers within the nine major city layers, he identified Troy VIIa to be the Homeric city layer of Troy, as it was a bronze age town with evidence such as burnt debris covered human skeletons indicating of fire and destruction. He also discovered debris of shanties (temporary housing) which he believed indicated the forced accommodation of a large population during an extended period of war An effective and notable achievement of his excavations were his scientific sequencing of buildings and artefacts, as well as being the first to chronologically order the stratas and map and photograph the Hissarlik. These two archaeologists continued to build and extend the archaeological excavations and discoveries of the Hissarlik, and thus the studies of the truth of Troy." Manfred Korfmann provided significant advancements in the studies of the Hissarlik, through his distinctive and original perspective of the site’s history and the use of new, innovative technologies. He was the only archaeologist to work extensively in Turkey, and approached the excavations with the interests of an Anatolian perspective, distancing himself from the question of historicity of Homer’s Trojan War to distinguish a more factual history. Korfmann, from 1988, conducted 17 annual campaigns, in which he used geomagnetic imaging to locate several Bronze Age buildings and paths outside the citadels of Troy VI, as well as evidence servings as indications of war such as ditches, skeletons and arrowheads. He concluded there was a second line of defence suggested the city’s insecure closures due to the lack of gateways, and successfully uncovered the surrounding lower city which was 15 times bigger than predicted. Archaeological evidence of warfare could be placed in this region, with the discovery of arrows and U-shaped ditches as possible evidence of fortification and defence as it could be used against chariots. With this information, Korfmann was the first to create a computer reconstruction of the cities and buildings. He also found a water tunnel, in which he utilised mass spectrometry to date uranium decay in the layers of limestone. This was essential in assisting him to contextualise the site as one from the Late Bronze Age, even claiming that “Troy was in the Late Bronze Age kingdom of Wilusa,” and thus had “political and military tensions [during] the supposed time of the Trojan War.” While Korfmann effectively identified the biases of a Greek Troy, and the myth-driven archaeologists before him and utilised advanced technology, his investigations still warranted criticisms such as having unconventional archaeological methods and his reconstructions being exaggerations and

half truths. Nevertheless, his excavations and discoveries are pivotal in the ongoing studies of the Hissarlik and the verifications of its relations with Homer’s Trojan war." Thus, the contributions of the various archaeologists Calvert, Schliemann, Dorpfeld, Blegen and Korfmann were all paramount to the study and understanding of the Homer’s Troy. Though these discoveries and excavations have been hindered by controversies and criticisms, the various perspectives and technologies developed have promote advancements in the question of the historicity of the Trojan War." 35 marks a) 10 mark 17 mins b) 10 mark 17 mins c) 15 mark...