Troy and Homer: Towards a Solution of an Old MysteryIn this book Joachim Latacz turns the spotlight of modern research on the much-debated question of whether the wealthy city of Troy described by Homer in the Iliad was a poetic fiction or a memory of historical reality. Earlier excavations at the hill of Hisarlik, in Turkey, on the Dardanelles, brought no answer, but in 1988 a new archaeological enterprise, under the direction of Manfred Korfmann, led to a radical shift in understanding. Latacz, one of Korfmann's closest collaborators, traces the course of these excavations, and the renewed investigation of the imperial Hittite archives they have inspired. As he demonstrates, it is now clear that the background against which the plot of the Iliad is acted out is the historical reality of the thirteenth century BC. The Troy story as a whole must have arisen in this period, and we can detect traces of it in Homer's great poem. |
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Contents
A Lack of Authenticity | 15 |
Troy and the Empire of the Hittites | 101 |
Achaians and Danaans | 120 |
Homers Backdrop is Historical | 137 |
The Basic Facts | 143 |
Homers Iliad and the Tale of Troy | 154 |
The Tale of Troy Independent of Homers 2 06 | 206 |
When Was the Tale of Troy Conceived? 2 13 | 213 |
the Tale of Troy Reach Homer? | 250 |
The Tale of Troy and History | 278 |
318 | |
Common terms and phrases
Achaian Achilles Aegean Aeolian Alaksandu Alaksandu treaty Anatolian ancient appears archaeological Arzawa Asia Minor Assuwa bards Bronze Age catalogue of ships centre citadel Crete culture cuneiform discovery ditch documents Egyptian eighth century BC epic evidence example excavations geographical Greece Hattusa Hawkins hexameter hieroglyphic Hisarhk historical Hittite empire Hittite Great King Homer Homer's Iliad Iliad Ilios inscriptions islands Karabel king of Ahhijawa Knossos known Korfmann land of Arzawa land of Hattusa land of Wilusa language Latacz later Lesbos Linear linguistic lower town Luwian Majesty Manfred Korfmann metres Miletos Millawanda Mira Mycenae Mycenaean age narrative Niemeier Odyssey palace Peloponnese period Pijamaradu place-names poem poet political possible Priam Pylos question region Schliemann script seal second millennium BC Seha settlement Starke story syllable tablets tale of Troy Thebes tion toponyms tradition treaty Troad Trojan Tudhalija vassal Visser Wilios Wilusa writing