The Trojan War A New History Sparknotes

In The Trojan War: A New History, author Barry Strauss argues for the historical authenticity of the event that was immortalized in epic poetry and song from the Archaic and Classical periods of Greece, and later Rome. Strauss keeps these epic works in mind as he digs deeper in the site of what is believed to be the ruins of once was Troy, and provides a fresh outlook on the most memorable conflict of the late Bronze Age. I will analyze and critique the work of Barry Strauss on the subject of the Trojan War as presented in his book, The Trojan War: A New History. The background of the author will be explored before beginning the journey into commenting on his abilities as a writer in discussing the format of his prose, and the historical method Strauss used in his piece. This will culminate with a brief analysis on how his evidence was presented, before concluding remarks summarizing the critical view of the book. Barry Strauss is no stranger to the events of the ancient world. He received a bachelor of arts from Cornell University, and his doctorate from Yale University in the subject of history, and has received several fellowships for his research. Strauss is
currently a professor of history and the classics at Cornell, and has published nine books in his preferred area of expertise, ancient military history. The Trojan War, was published in 2006, and according to Strauss’ website, is considered the first full military history written on the subject. Strauss presents his knowledge on the subject in a popular history format, meaning that his words and research are written in such a fashion that anybody with a desire to learn about the topic can do so by flipping through a chapter or two a night without being bogged down by heavy academic terms or citations.
The Trojan War is broken down into eleven chapters that describe each stage of the war, precluded by an introduction with snappy, description language that acts as a “hook” for readers to continue their exploration. Strauss also provides a timetable of historical events, and a note on ancient history and archaeology to act as an introduction for those that may not be familiar with this type of writing. For an academic, this could be skipped, but for a casual reader, such information is
vital.
The primary premise of the book is not so much as telling the story of the Trojan War as everyone knows it from the classical sources, but to support it using archaeological evidence, and comparisons with written record from the neighboring Hittites and Egyptians. Rather than dismissing the epic poems of Homer or Greek Mythology as nothing more than fiction, Strauss takes the well-known characters of the Iliad, including Agamemnon, Achilles, and Hektor, and puts them up against contemporary viewpoints from the neighboring empires to support their existence. He heavily associates the Trojans with their Anatolian cousins the Hittites, and applies a great deal of Hittite custom to describe what a Trojan may have worn, how they acted, and how they fought.
The arguments presented are plausible, but sometimes too heavily weighted on what other cultures were doing. This removes any individuality and uniqueness of the Trojan culture, and generically presents them as Hittite copycats. This may not have been the author’s intention. However, the comparisons made are fascinating, and it does provide the reader with information on the Hittite Empire which may inspire them to look into further research, or other works of popular history for their enjoyment and enrichment as a casual reader.
Strauss is biased in preference of the Greeks and writes favorably of their actions, as the outline for his work follows the events in the Iliad. This does not detract from the piece, and in fact allows the author to embellish upon what readers already know and insert more information. For example, in chapter two, Strauss examines the route that the Greeks would have taken to Troy via boat using the ships that they had available, and describes in great detail how these would have functioned without the navigation equipment that did not come about until several centuries later by comparing the Iliad to Bronze Age shipwrecks.
Overall, Strauss does seem more driven to paint a vivid picture of the Bronze Age world with his words, than bog it down with historical research. This is entertaining, but at times not fulfilling. He does not augment his style with footnotes or reference points at all, and leaves all of that for the end of the book, which boasts a glossary, photographs, and notes on sources rather than an organized bibliography. This is a detriment for a scholar looking to increase their research or find primary source evidence on their own, whereas a casual reader may glance briefly, or ignore it entirely upon completion of the book. Both types of readers are left with Strauss’ conjectural world to draw their own hypotheses from.
With this lack of bibliography in mind, it is difficult to comment on the historical method used by Strauss in this book. His thesis occurs in the introduction to the book prior to the chaptered content, essentially stating that the Trojan War did happen, and he would compare the poem with what scholars know of the Late Bronze Age. He does fulfill this, but the overall complaint of the book reading more as a companion narrative to the Iliad rather than presenting more than cursory comparisons to contemporary cultures remains.
Strauss did engage in quite a bit of research for the argument he is trying to support, but the notes he has on the sources he used in the back of the book are in no way shape or form a substitute for historiographical analysis and a structured bibliography with footnotes to support the primary sources he includes in his text so others may follow up on them. This makes me difficult to know if Strauss is presenting the words of others, or if they are entirely his own unless you systematically go through every book and article he includes in his source notes section. This is not a practical approach to research, but the book was clearly not designed for scholars. Anyone turning to this book for more than a short entertaining historical read may find themselves frustrated with the lack of cited evidence with the body of work. This is the sacrifice that must be paid when reading a work of popular history versus an academic release.
On the other hand, it cannot be overlooked or discarded based on these measures, either. Strauss not only did his homework, but his attempt to solidify the occurrence of the Trojan War through the support of slim evidence from the Hittites and other contemporary cultures is still impressive, and appears to be the only work devoted to this direction of analysis. His approach is rather innovative, and is designed to keep you reading and to keep you wanting more.
As a whole, the book is easily read, it is digestible, and each chapter is well organized and thought out with a stunning attention to detail, such as placing the words of Homer next to a painted piece of pottery supporting something as simple as the women watching the fights on the beach from the safety of the citadel. It is these little minute details that break up the over-descriptive nature of people, places, and things which is meant to embellish his research and keep the reader’s imagination engaged as they absorb these new facts. The descriptions are far more literary and seem to hearken more to the soul of someone with a background in creative writing or English, rather than hard historical writing. They are beautiful and give the sense of Strauss’ own photographic details that his mind is weaving to present his information, but after a time they can become drawn out, leaving the reader to desire for him to move on swiftly to the meat and potatoes of his research and finally make his point.
Though thought-provoking and a page-turner, one has to wonder how much creative license Strauss did use in order to come to his conclusions or share his visions. As fun as it is as a reader to imagine the hair of Hector or the dress of Helen, one may wonder if Strauss is going too far, or if he has a time machine and a photographic memory. As is the case with all new approaches to history or new ideas that have not been documented yet, it can be difficult to get a point across without dazzling readers first. This is possibly why he chose to create such a heavily embellished book with vivid and imaginative descriptions of the heroes and events of the Trojan War, rather than publishing his work as a shorter article in a journal full of stuffy citations. Perhaps he felt that he had more to offer by bringing his hypothesis and this new approach to the history of the Trojan War to the public eye without bogging the volume down, which allows both scholars and casual history buffs a chance to enjoy the book, but at the cost of concise historical method.
Barry Strauss presents a compelling and unique argument for the existence of the Trojan War by using supporting evidence through archaeological and written record from the Hittite, Egyptian, and Babylonian Empires to fill in the gaps of Greek and Trojan record. He presents his work in The Trojan War: A New History, in the form of a volume of popular history written as a way to reach out to general readership of history, and engage them in a flourishing descriptive piece designed to keep the pages turning. However, his lack of presented evidence in a usable format for further research, and his over use of literary hyperbole may detract from the experience that a more seasoned reader of history may be looking for.