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HOMER AN
ROIAN wAR
for
hir
for
usi
SttI
UC
Lre
vi(
I
2
3
ar(
to
hl
ev
ttef
1a'
oLrr
F GURE
9.1
'Iht
Tu E LEGEN D oF Tnoy
'liojan War have fascinatcd people
thc world over.'l'he main \4'ritten source of these traditional stories is Homer's
famous cpic poem, the lliad. The name 'Iliid' comes frcm Iliotl, anothcr name
for Troy. The word 'epic' cornes from the Greek word cpos meaning'the spoken
word'. lt is believed that the 1/ii.i was written by the poet Hon]er.
For centuries the mythological stol ies of the
There are many stories that make up the cycle of stories called The
lioian
106
Antiquity
Paris is soon reunited with his parents and travels as an ambassador of rroy to the Greek kingdom
of sparta where he meets King Menelaus and his beautiful wife, Helen. Helen and pads fall in love,
escape together and return to Troy. This sets in train the tragic sequence of events that had been
foretold.
Menelaus, enraged by the treachery of Helen and Paris, calls on his fellow Greek chieftains to
ioin
him in a war to regain Helen and punish the Trojans. The fleet is assembled and eventually sets sail
for Troy. What follows is a ten-year-long siege of this fortified city before it finally falls to the creeks
using the stratagem of the wooden horse. This trick was devised by the Greek hero odysseus, who
survives the war but is fated to wander for ten years before retuming to his native Ithaca. The tale of
Odysseus's adventures is told in Homer's sequel to the 1/l ad, known as the Odyssey,
The major part of Homer's lliad descdbes the final stages of the war and features epic battles
between the great wanior heroes of Greece and rroy, including Hector and Achilles. After the Greek
victort Troy is sacked, bumed to the ground and its men are put to the sword. The women of rroy
are taken captive and given as spoils of war to the conquering Greek generals. Helen returns to sparta
to live out her days with Menelaus. one Trolan prince, Aeneas, manages to escape the destruction of
his city with his father and son. After many adventures, he arives on the plain of Latium in Italy to
lay the foundations for the future city of Rome. His tale is told in VitgiI's tamous Aeneid.
FIGURE9.2
One ofthe ea iest rcpresentations of the wooden horse is showfi in this clay rclief vase
the
Greek island of Mykonos. The faces of the Grceks can be seen in the squate openings
ftofi
on tlE side of the wheeled horce. Some solilies have alrcady climbed doun a d are distributinN amour.
(c.
670
BC)
of almost 2000 years between 3000 and 1100 BC. Archaeologists further divide this period into the
Earlt Middle and Late Bronze Age,
The use of bronze as the main material for tools and weapons gave rise to important political,
economic and social change. Particularly important was the development of extensive trading
networks between the major centres of the Aegean and Meditefianean regions. (See Figure 9.3.)
Homer and the Trojan War
107
Cil
th(
stf
\.,1i
Black Sea
Po
i()
CC
L)
ci
T
A
0_______:!!
FIGURE 9
,_i!9_j00
Tn].lt' ft)utt\ ol tlta
N[rlitcr]tl
eatt
\|atltl tlutittii
tht'AcSCLln
llranzt A:l(
fhc farrous Bronze ,\ge Uluburun shjp\'\'reck discovered in 1982 (sce FiSure 9 3) is an
rat! rraterilLs and
archaeological treasure trove. It reveals not onl,v the lange and qualit) oi
possiblc trading
marufacturcd goods bcing traded cluring the late Bronze Age, but aiso the origin and
bronze) is indicated bv
destinations o1 the cargo. The importance of copper (used with tin to make
in the form of :15'l flat'
coppcr
the main cargo. This consistcd of approxinatel-v 10 tonnes of Cypriot
thcir shape'
fouf-handled rectangular ingots, usually referred to as 'oxhide' inSots bccause of
FGURE9'4C0|)|do^h1|t(ilt|tot.Ttl(jstd]1do|C).|ru\(itsl]L1]11e1]rinJ,.a||cl',)wtlsdnl|qa|\
tir
108
Antlqurty
-7'l'he earliest devclopments in Bronze Age Aegean civilisation can be traced to the islands of the
Cyclades located between Crete and mainland Greece. The
then became a maior ce[tre of development duIing the Middle Bronze Age. Crete developed a social
structure based on elaborate palaces, fi.st built between 2000 and 1900 B(:. For the next 500 years the
Minoans were the major power in the Aegean, but around 1450 Bc they were eclipsed by the rising
power of the Mycenaeans. 'l'his was a warrior civilisation that took its name from Mycenae, which
was an important centre on the Greek mainland at this time. Mycenaean civilisation flourished
for 500 years during the Late Bronze Age (between 1600 and 1100 tsc), when the Bronze Age world
collapsed for reasons that are still being debated by Bronze Age scholars.
Troy was also an important Aegean centre located at the entrance to the Hellespont (the modern
Dardanelles). Lxcavation at the site suggests that it flourished in the Late Bronze Age at the height
as
well
as
TABLE9'1A|1oNe1|ie||ofson1eafthenBindev(lopn1c|
Dates
Bc
Crete
Hittites
Greece
2000
other
1700
1600
Emergef ce of iVycenaean
Grave C rcles A & B
cvlsation
1550
1400
Beginning of Mycenaean
occupat on ot Knossos Linear B
n use
r37A
nnossos
1370 1300
U ulrurun sh pwreck
1300 1200
afd
Egypt
Period of [/]ycenaean
1275 1250
1275
occu patr0n
rrq]
900 700
Geometr c Period
Ear iest date for Homer's ///bd
800 500
Archa ic Per od
Fma.oa..a
Craal .it\/.t,ta.
^f
rtr o q^>ri> Aihan<)
500+00
s Peloponnesian War
Homer and the Trojan
War
109
Compile a short profile on the members of the Royal Houses shown in Figures 9.5 and 9.6. The
following websites are useful starting places for your investigation:
.
.
htm
Zeus
I
Te
ucer
I
Dardanus = Batea
Ericthonius
Tros
I
Laomeoon
Capys
Priam = Hecuba
Anchises = Aphrodite
Hector
F GURE
Ganymede
Assaracus
US
9.5
Deiphobus
Paris
Royal House
Cassandra
Polyxena
ofTroy
Tantalus
PeloPS
Atreus
Thyestes
I
I
lvlenelaus =
Aegisthus
Helen
Agamemnon =
= Clytemnestra
lphigenia
Key = maniage
FIGURE
9.6
110
Antiquity
.-Z-
HOTTzIER
was
accompanlment.
The epics are structured in a loosely knit form. This
means that different episodes can be recited and enl'oyed as
separate poems or stories. The heroic ideal in the ancient
oral epic is expressed through heroes who strive pdmadly
for personal self-fulfilment while national or patriotic
sentiments are usually less important.
As a poet, or bard, Homer gives written form to the oral
tradition of the epic poets and minstrels who told these
stories as entertainment. The poems that were passed down
over the centuries were learned by heart. The language
of the epic is formulaic. It uses repetitious stock phrases
and descriptions of places, people and events as an aid to
.
.
.
century
BC,
Hone\
The
lliad,Baok
1.1
k,
"n
The iad,
ig Ach
Boak 22
'
.
'
How does Horner arouse the reader's interest in the events he describes? Choose examples of poetic language to
ls epic poetry a useful source for the historian? What aspects m ght make it unrel able?
lf Homer did not live at the time of the events he describes, how valuable is his work to the historian?
'fi1
"
Thucydides, the Greek histodan writing hundreds of years later in the 5th century BC, reiects
the mythological story that Helen's father had made all her suitols promise to bring her back if she
should ever be stolen. Thucydides' main interest lay in tracing the development of Athens' naval
empire in the Aegean (in his own day) and he argued that the Troian wal may have been the lesult of
a desire by Mycenae, the most important city of its time, to extend its power'
Agamemnon t seems to ne, mLtst have been ihe most powerful of ru ers of his dayi and t was for th s reason that he
raised the force aga nst Troy, not because the su tors of Helen were bound to fo ow hlm by the oaths which they had
swoTn to Tyndareus-..at the same time he had a stronger navy than any other ruler; thus in my op nion, fear p ayed a
greater part than Joyalty in the ra s ng of the expeditlon aga nst Troy
Ihrc\dides.
The
LI
The Troian War may well have had an economic cause based perhaps on competition for trade.
Greek trading interests in the north-eastern Aegean may have been thleatened by TIojan intelests.
The strategic position of Troy may have enabled the Trojans to control sea tlaffic flom the Aegean to
the Black Sea. Were the Greeks trying to destroy a trade rival?
112
Antiquity
strata
offsh bones...'
Sources 9.3-9.5
.
.
.
dramatically. A number of men, including Frank Calvert, Heinrich Schliemann, Wilhelm Ddrpfeld, Carl
Blegen and Manfued Korfmann, have contdbuted to the discovery and excavation of Troy.
lrank Calvert
until the 18th century that any serious scholarly attempt was made to find the actual site. In
1865, Frank Calvert, a British archaeologist, sank trial trenches into a mound known as Hissarlik or'the
place of the port'. This was situated in the Troad area in north-western Asia Minor. Calvert realised that
It was not
the mound at Hissarlik promised much for the excavator who had the resources to carry out such an
investigation. He was convinced that Hissarlik was the site of the ancient city of Troy.
Heinrich Schliemann
alive on the scene was the German amateur archaeologist and self-made millionaire, Dr
Heindch Schliemann. Schliemann was fulfilling a childhood dream by jouneying to Asia Minor in an
attempt to discover the ancient city of Troy. With an unshakeable faith in the literal truth of Homer's
account of the war in tl\e llicld, Schliemann set out with Homer in one hand and a stop-watch in the
other, pacing out distances in the Troad. He recognised some scenes from descriptions in Homer, and
dismissed other sites that did not agree exactly with the text. That the topography and coastline had
altered greatly in 3000 years did not matter. On the advice of Frank Calvert, and because it agreed in
many regards with Homer's descdption, Schliemann began to dig at Hissarlik.
The next to
Schllemann 'found' Troy by an energet c comb nat on of loglc, intuition, self conf dence, and the who esa e borrowing
of ideas from prev ous researchers who had been scouring the area ooking for the elusive c ty. He succeeded where
much rnore earned men before him hadfailed, notjustbecause he believed nTroybutbecauseheboldyludgedthe
clues n Homer taken all together rather than re y ng on one sing e factor. The clue that had been mislead ng most of
his predecessors was the most arrest ng topograph cal feature about the Troy that Homer descrlbed-the presence of
hot and cold spr ngs...Schlieman n, w th his unshakeab e conviction that Troy wou d conform to the whole scenar o of
Homefs //la4 disregarded the single false c ue of the hot and co d springs and looked elsewhere. Thus he succeeded
n finding what others had m ssed.
Tin Sewtft, fhe Ulysses
Vayage,
pp.43
Homer anc
Troja n
'Ihe task of excavating the rnound prQved to be extraordinarily difficult. cJver a period of three
years, Schliemann excavated the mound using tlle labour ol as lnany as l aro rv\orklllen lJc dro\'e a
great tfench floLe than 230 feet $,idc and 45 feet dccp into the hill5ide and removed an estil]rated
325 (X)0 cubic yards of earth.
F GURE
9.7
ll-r/(,r.r,,rl
Hi\\r7l/ik
In sealching for Homer's city of lro-v, Schliemann found not one but scven cities supcrimPosed on
one another. Ihe second cit), from the bottom, Tfoy II, revealed evidence of btll llillg and destruction
and Schlienann concluded that this was the Troy of Homer that the Gteeks had sacked and bulned.
unwittinglv, however, in his searcil for tlle lro]' of Llomer, Schliemann llad actually dug through and
destroyed the lemains of other cities that werc more iikely contenders for IJQIner's Tlov.
The'Treasure of Priam'
'lieasure of Prian. The
Schliemann u'cnt on to crown Ilis achievemcnt by unearthing the so-ca llcd
tleasurc consisted of golden pendants, ea[ings, bfacelets, rings and diadems, as well as cults, salvers,
cauldrons and vases-more than 8700 pieces in all. source 9.7 is schliemann's o\\rn accoLrnt of the
themoreandl
114
Aftiqulty
b e
.
.
.
.
.
What was the major reason for Sch emann's dectsion to d g at Hissarl k?
Shou d Sch iemann get a I the cred t for the red scovery of Troy?
Comment on the following aspects of Schliemanf's methods as an archaeo og st: locat on of the srte,
metfrods of excavat o|, ethics invo ved n the'd scovery'and remova of the treasure.
Today Troy is described
methods does
Sch
ca
this
as'a ruin of a ru n'. What does th s mean? What criticism of Sch iemann's
mp y?
lired with enthusiasm after his Troian triumph, ancl this tinle follo$'ing Pausanias, an ancient Creek
travel writer of the 1st ccntLlry AD, Schliemann now decided to excavate at Mycenae. Mycenae,
famously described by Homer as 'rich in gold', was thc home of Agamcmnon, the leader of the
Grecks at the time of the Troian War. Within the walls of thc Mycenaean citadel, Schliemann
discovered a circle of shaft gravcs. The graves contained 15 skeletons covered in golcl. Schlieinanr.r
immediately announccd,'l do not for a moment hesitate to proclaim tl-tat I have found here thc
sepulchres which...tradition attributes to the king of men, Agamemnon.' rOnce again, Schliemann
wrong
the bodies belonged to a much carlier period of Cireek history. 'l'lte authenticity of the
golden firneral mask which Schliemann discovered and claimed was a likeness of Agamemnon, has
also been challenged by both archaeological and scientihc eviclence.
was
I600
uc:
Wilhelm Oiirpfeld
Controversy has plagued Schliemann's discovery of'froy. Ile had identificcl
seven citics and believed that Troy II was the Troy described by Homer
in
F GURE
Lh?
Ilia(l.lt
is
ti1tilo
^,r,r,rr,/ill\
otir
to tl1(
inltle 4, s(vi
il
u,r,,/
War
'l '15
!a;t
'l
i,lrag;;
He dug
in
1\'as
Carl llleSen
areas Llnk)uchcd Lr\'Schlienrann antl Dorpfelcl iincl samplccl all phases of the site's histor\'.
IIc 1ra5 ablc t.l cstablish a lllore scientihc scclLlcncc of buildirgs and artefacts. Hc' idcntihcd Trov VIIa as
tlle 'ieal' lioy oI Homcf. Scholars continue to clisagree. lroy VI fits thc clescription of Honrer bLlt Blcgclt
l)fr)\/ccl thiit its r'\,alls \,\:ere destro),ed llot bv r\'arfarc Ilut bv an earthquake. lio) Vlla on thc other haltd,
does lrot ht Hornel's descril)tion. Its houses \'\'ere poorl)'built ancl cranpccl but its \,\,alls lvere strong.'fhc
cit\
[14*rrf
red Kr:rfmanrl
|r'orn 1!lfJlJ, thc (;crnran archaeologist l)rofessor \lanlred l(orfnrann ot the Universit)'of ILibingcn led the
cxcavations at Tro),. Worliing With a largc tcam of intelnational experts, Korlmann \,\, as able to use solne
of tlle ver) lalcsl tcchnolog)'to reveal lle$ areas of the:iitc lof cxcavatioll and studv.
,t" t
Archaeal1gy ya
rneSl
Nt)nber
,
3 lilay/lIfe
F GLIRE
.E
2004.
F,GURE9.10 &hLl nlit sc.tiatt tl)rctttlt tltL't:itttlel Dk\unl of Tt)t- sho',rin! tltr o.cupntiou rtidta ol lhr \it(
116
Ant qulty
St)uth Gdtt
ol li!\'.
-!
9.2 You will note that archaeologists dispute the ctating ofthe levels and the nature ofthe
which may or may not support the clear identification of a level as the lioian War level.
stucly Table
evidence
TA B
tE
ptul
rcconsh
scs
of oc.rtptltio,t
d tl
Li
Leve I of
occupation
Suggested dates
Bc revealed by
excavation
Troy
c, 3000 2600
Sma lgfoup of adjo ning rnud brick holtses surrornded bv stone circuit wall
c.26AA-275A
Wel bu lt citadel with i0 metre high fort ficat ons, approachecl by a paved rar|p ano
well-defended gates. Period of econom c growth. Development of pottery and metal urgy.
Bu ldings inc uded temple, audtence hal , ceremonial gateway. Schlemann roL.tnd
'Priarn's treasure n this evel. Destruciion by fire c. 2350 Bc.
Troy ll
Troy
lll
c.
2i50
2000
Troy lV V
c.2004-1700
Troy Vl
c. 1700 1280
Troy Vlh
c. 1280-1250
lvlagnifcent fortress, strong stone wails and towers, monumental palace. Lower rown
surrounded by d tch and pa isade extended 400 metfes to south. This Troy be ieved to
be the c ty n coftact with the lvlycenaeans at the height of their power.
(Dorpfeld argr.res this s the eve of the Trojaf War, due to evtclence
of destruclon Dy
lire. According to B egen, however, the ev dence of destruct on could be relaLeq ro
earthquake damage raiher than wadare.)
Troy Vlla
c. 1250-1180
Ev dence of makeshtft dwei ings, commufa kitchen and storage jars set in the lloors of
houses. (Blegen sLtggests this is evidence of the clisturbance calsed by the siege and
destruct on of Troy).
(pl'rases
d-g)
Vllb
c. 1200 1000
CIass'.
This couid be the leve associated w th invasions of the Sea-peop es that fo lowed the fal
of Troy and the destruction of the N/lycenaean pa aces on the main and. S te abandoned
at this time.
Troy V
c.730
S/te reocc!pied by Greek colontsts (Honter,s tinte) ancl the c tadel was rebu lt.
Troy lX
c. 85 ac no 400
.
.
'
.
ty was attacked and burned in 85 BC. lviajor reb!i ding carried out dur ng period of
Roman occupation. City destroyed by earthquakes towards end of 5th century Bc.
Which levels have been identified as the Troy of the Trojan War? Why?
Wlrat do you notice about pottery f nds n different levels? What is the significance of this?
What dliferent nterpretations of the evidence re atifg to the destruction of Troy are ofiered by Blegen ancl
Ddrpleldl
Why could fire be evidence of both warfare and earthquake?
War
117
Homer gives no hint as to the date of the events he desc bes. Thucydides, the Greek historian, in his
Histoly of the Peloponficsi.ttt Wor, writes of the Troian War as having happened in the ancient past and
according to tradition. Some historians have suggested a likely date for the war between 1250 and
1200 trc. Others place it a little earlier at round about 1275-60 tsc, but all of these dates are speculative.
.
.
estab shing a rel able date for the Trojan War in lvl. Wood,
Us ng the headings given n the table below, summar se what you have learned in th s section by completlng the tab e. Find
out some additional biograph cal deta ls for each of the archaeo ogists. These could inc ude dates of birth/death, country of
origin, early career.
Archaeologisl
Biographical
details
Excavation
dates at Troy
Methods
Ca vert
Sch iemann
Dorpfeid
B egen
Korlmann
118
AntrquLty
\'
Linear B tablets
lnolvn today as Linear B \\hich thcv inscfibcd on clav tal)Lcls
with a shrrp stylus. The tablcts datc to thc lvlvccnacan l)efiod (al)Pro\iDratel) 16i)0- 1200 r(.). 'fllev
\ftre kept in [)isliets in the palace archives and n'hen the palaccs I]ufncci in largc scalc hlcs as a result
of eilfthquakes or invasion, thc lablcts \\'crc bakccl b1'the hres a d so $ele accidentally preseNed.
l he nriijor palaces used Linear B nrostl) to record econonr ic t|ansactions- Somc of thc comnlon
jtenrs lrentiolrcd in thc tablcts inclLrclc r'!ool, shec'p, uheat and barley \'rhich \'\,ere often given to
groups of religious people. 'lhe tablets froDr the lalace ot P)'los locatcd on thc Iar \\'est coast of the
Creeli rlainland .efcr to gfoLlps of 'nrcn r\,atching thc coastlir]e'. lhis rna) indicate the threat of
Thc N[] ccnaciurs Llsed a \'\,litten script
F GURE
9.11
l ittt\| ll rlrt|tttl)|rt
War
19
Tht
'fhe Hittites were a warlike and powerful civilisation of Anatolia that existed at the same time (Late
Bronze Age) as the Mycenaean civilisation in mainland Greece. Their scdpt, also preserved on clay
tablets, was called curreiform. Historians and philologists have spent many years trying to identify
Hittite place names and locate them on maps of the region. J.D. Hawkins, professor of ancient
Anatolian languages, sums up what has so far been established about Troy and Mycenae from Hittite
records. The key Hittite terms discussed in Source 9.9 are Arzawa, wilusa and Ahhiyawa. (Refer to
Sch
hisl
9.7
Fisure 9.3.)
The kingdom of Arzawa, located roughly in western Anatola, was a threat to the Hitttes
throughout most of the fourteenth century Bc but toward the end of thai period was decisLVe y
defeated and broken up into provinces. The ireat es concluded w th the vassal ru ers of these
provinces are known among the Hittte iexts.
Recent inscripton readings havea owed schoarsto locate the two ma n Arzawa lands n
the centra -west part of Turkey, extend ng from the nland plateau to the coast...One Arzawa
afd, WilLrsa, is known princ pally from the treaty between its ru er Alaksand! and the Hittte
k ng N,4uwata | (whoruledc. 1295-1272 Bc)...
etter from a Hittite king, probably Hattus lll (who ruled c. 1261-1'237 B.),Io the
W usa was ofce a bone of contention beh{een the two. The
ocation of Ahhiyawa has been controversial since ts earliest recognition in the H ttite texts In
the 1920s. The scattered references to it suggested that t lay across the sea and that its
A ong
Saurce 9.9
.
.
.
this evidence?
nterests often conf icted with those of the Hittites... Furthermore, the references to the
politica nterestsofAhhiyawaonthewestcoastrneshwe wth ncreasing archaeo og cal
ev dence for Mycenaean Greeks n the area, so that
it
http,//wwwarchae0 0gy.0rg/040s/etc/iloy3.htrnl
TI
If
C
Make notes on the usefulness and rcliability of the main wdtten sources for the Trojan War by
completing the table below. (Check again if needed, the information about evaluating sources in
ChaDter 2, 'The Nature of Sources and Evidence'.)
12O
Antlquity
Usefulness
Reliability
ea
pi
Agamemnon, then, needed to reward and equ p their war host with loot treasure, raw materials, precious
metas, catteandwornen...ln Homer...the greatest prase stobeca eda'sackerofctes'...Soo| after 1300the
tvediterranean had staded to witness the widespread ra ding and instability wh ch wou d later engulf t. There may have
lleen economrc problems, overpopu ation, crop failures, drought and fam fe...it mav be that Greek interests were
squeezed out of south-western Anato|a, forcing them to ook fudher northwards for their s aves and raw materialstoward Troy...we have to assume that Agamemnon and his fellow kings and citles did what they cou d to remedy the
situation...aId frequent predatory forays must have been the way they susta ned themselves...Seen in thls light, an attack
K ngs I ke
onTroy,arnongotherplaces,seemssoobviousthatifwehadnotaeofTroywewouldhavehadtopostuatet...ThereS
an mmense amount
of c rcumstant al evrdence that suggests that a kernel of the tale of Troy goes back to a rea event
the Bronze Age; how mLtch we cannot yet be sure...
M. Waod, ln Search ol the hajan WaL
Peryuir,
1981
, pp. 246,9
Vo
.
.
Do some research on the Wooden Horse, using the following as suggestions for research:
.
.
.
.
.
think t
What other exp anations are suggested apart from the earthquake theory rnentioned above?
What assessment would you make of these different suggestions?
The
Women played an important role in Homer's 1/i4d We have aheady seen that,
according to Homer, it was the abduction of Helen that was the cause of the war'
A later quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles over a valuable slave woman
prompted Achilles to withdraw from the fighting and thus provided the major
theme for the lliad. Just as interesting are the stories of prominent Troian women
such as Hecuba and Andromache. However important they miSht have been,
it
One ol
Euripi(
of Tro)
Althot
ano rrl
In an atmosphere of fierce
competition among men, wornen were
viewed symbolically and terally as
propert es-the prizes of contests and
EuriPi,
Athen
War. T
they
LEr
For th
iavoul
ancrel
Helen of Ttoy
Of all the women in Homer's epic, it is Helen who stands out and whose story
has inspired a long and fascinating tradition. As Source 9.13 indicates, Helen is
enigmatic and elusive as any of the characters and events in the Trojan legend.
of the
their l
as
anciel
a80
Th
both
were
HstoryisatoncebothbaffledandenrapturedbyHeen.apursuitofHelefacrossthe
ages throws !p three distinct, yet intetwined guises:-..The most farnlliar Helen is the
br lliant regal beauty from the epics, partlcular y Homer's HeLen. .the queen wno-led on
by the goddess of ove, Aphrodlte-we corred a Trojan prince into her bed whLLe her
hlrsband was overseas...But Helen was also a dem -god, a heroine worsh pped at shr nes
across the Eastern lvlediterranean. Some scholars beleve that a morta Helen never existed,
that she is simp v the hurnan face of an ancient nature-goddess Then there is the
'shame ess whore'. 'the traitorous
beauty and sexuality;
of th
Hect(
different medla?
2 0 0 5
'
p 10-1I
Homr
emuli
lmpi
The
impa
imPo
mod(
and i
taker
Shak
have
The '
a5m
passl
FIGURE
ctfini.)
9.12
Fragments from a
B, Atheninn
uP at Paris
122
Antlquity
sth
\ilh
ftonl
Although the play is set in the tine of the liojan War, it gives a universal
and timeless message about the victims of war and the suffering it causes. In
F,uripides' own 5th century, the play was performed in the afternath of thc
Athenian destruction of the island of Melos in 415 ts(. during thc Peloponnesian
War. The Athenians, having conqueled the island, put to death all the men, and
they sold all the women and chilclren into slavery.
llead Iluril)icies'
pl:.1,\t,
The Trcjatl
tfor'r'l
favourite narrative of great men and their dceds. It was also a popular subject for
ancient artists, including vase painters and sculptors. The Athenian tragedians
of the sth century featLrred the exploits and the themes of the lioian War in
their plays. Many of these plays a.e still perforrned today in the remains of the
ancient theatres whcre they wele f,rst performed two and a half tltousand yeals
ago. (See Chapter 14, 'Greek Drama'.)
The Trojan War provided a powerful inspiration for
both personal values and national identity. Creek youths
were reared in the Homeric tradition. An important part
of their education was learning to recite long passages of
Homer by heart. Greek soldiers marched into battle to
emulate the great deeds of warrior heroes such as Achilles,
Hector and Ajax.
the-liojan War
military histort
as a
as
.
.
.
ca
someth
|g a person's
s t ca led
this?
FIGURE
Ar I il Lrt
1
ki
at'
I 1
123
.
.
.
.
the iilm?
FIGURE
9.14
Wanrr
lll-os
Antiquity
.
.
.
I
-|:
January 1881
{ @17
: Arrives
in Berlin,
where it remains
until May 1945.
Removed by the
a---*
-_
lt4oscow
@ fi Jury 1945
)5 ) - Taken by air to
l\4oscow where it
is kept secretly in
Red Army.
the Pushkin
lvluseu m.
Berlin
Treasure's hiding
place revealed
when it goes on
31 May 1873
display in Pushkin
lvluseu m
I
@l l-6
vd'.]
Germany demands
its return. Russia
June
9Hidd"n
,:.fr
1"r_'-
6 June
.t
\r
-_
26 June 1873
Arrives in Athens.
Hidden from Greek
{3
FGURE9.15
ioln
cy
egendary collection of gold objects frorn anc ent Troy that was
seized by Soviet troops in Ber n ln 1945 should becorne Russian
government property, a top cultura off calsaidinan ntervLew
pub shed on Saturday. Anatoly V kov, deputy ch ef ol the
Russ an agency that preserves the nation's cu tural legacy,
stopped shoir of ru ng out the possibility the objects could
[s c] Sch emann,
wlll be
the a mateur German archaeologst who excavated
made Russian federal property after t is inventoried, Vilkov sald.
The gold
it
taken
egaly.
an appropriate exchange...'
Sa0a-Ap http://atheism.about.com/gi/dynamlc/oifsite.htm?sit=http'//wwwiol.co.zal
(published in
/oL,
ndex.php%3Fclick%5Fid=31%26art%5Fid=qw11094307213818262
February, 2005)
Source 9.14
.
.
.
What legal claim does Russia have to the treasure? Do you think
Under what conditions might the treasure return to Germany?
it
s justiiied?