Preview

Troy And Inaccuracies In The Iliad

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2098 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Troy And Inaccuracies In The Iliad
"There is no historical basis for the Trojan War, the location of Troy is debatable and therefore there is little conclusive evidence to support the Iliad"

For years the ancient story of Troy and the epic Trojan War has sparked dispute among archaeologists. Did it really happen? Was there a troy like the one Homer describes? What caused it? Historians are today still trying to prove the existence of troy and the Trojan War.

Our main source of interest in troy and the Trojan War is the Iliad. It is an account of the war, describing the events and people associated with it. It was written by Homer, the Greek bard who lived approximately 400 years after the war is said to have occurred. Our knowledge of Homer is very little and it is unknown whether he was a single person or a group of authors. He described Troy as being a colossal city of great wealth with enormous walls protecting it. The war lasted for 10 years, with the Iliad accounting for 55 days of it.
…show more content…
It is littered with metaphors and inaccuracies. It is nonetheless an extremely useful piece of evidence that holds a foundation of truth.

An example of one of the inaccuracies in the Iliad is in Homer's description of Troy. He details the buildings present, naming a temple of Athena, who was a Greek goddess, a temple of this god would not be present in a town such as Troy. Instead of describing Troy he described an ancient Greek city.

Despite its flaws, the Iliad is still considered an accurate piece of evidence, and provides a story of human experience that has lasted the ages.

The reason the Trojan War story has lasted so long is because of its universal appeal. It has elements that appeal to everyone; it combines the features of a well made chick-flick, a forbidden love ending in tragedy, with action packed bloodshed sure to grab the attention of the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Troy Versus Homers Illiad

    • 2242 Words
    • 9 Pages

    When comparing the movie Troy, directed by Wolfgang Petterson, and The Iliad, written by Greek poet Homer we can clearly see that although Petterson has made an excellent film he has clearly left out certain aspects of the Iliad which really define the story.…

    • 2242 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bibliography: Barry Strauss, ‘The Trojan War: A New History’, Simon & Schuster, New York, September 12, 2006.…

    • 1949 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The South had every opportunity to win the war. Even When they seemed doomed, England was there, ready to jump in. When the North issued the Emancipation Proclamation, all p\\hope was lost. They lost England’s support. They were stuck in a losing battle.…

    • 837 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Barry Strauss

    • 1220 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In Barry Strauss’, “The Trojan War: A New History”, he discusses a topic that has been talked about for thousands of years, yet is able to bring new interpretations and arguments about it. While Strauss shows that many of the accepted ideas about the Trojan War can be disproved, he also fails to support his claims with adequate historical references and analyzes.…

    • 1220 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    World History Study Guide

    • 1130 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Iliad and the Odyssey; last year of the Trojan war and heroes from the Trojan war…

    • 1130 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    An Examination of Similes in the Iliad - and how Homer's Use of Them Affected the…

    • 1897 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Homer’s The Iliad is a timeless epic that reveals the events during the Trojan War around twelfth century BC. The Iliad is an epic that has stood constant through thousands of years and is used in modern life. The Iliad provides questions and produces stories throughout the epic and some have never been answered. The cause of Patroklos’ death has been debated and questioned throughout history; however, the cause of Patroklos’ death is due to the anger and selfishness of Achilleus.…

    • 1168 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Madlibs Are Bad Libs

    • 4040 Words
    • 17 Pages

    Homer's The Iliad presents many key details on the Trojan War. The Iliad tells of the Trojan War, saying that there was a war and that it was an expedition to rescue Helen after her abduction by Paris. It tells us that "Agamemnon King of Men" (Homer, p.1) moved the Greek people to unite and take up arms against Priam's city of Troy where Helen was being held after she was stolen from Menelaus. The Iliad, however also brings myth into the mix with the idea that when Paris was asked to judge the beauty of the Goddesses, Athena, Aphrodite and Hera, he picked Aphrodite who offered him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world (Helen). It is these ideas that lead us to question the accuracy of The Iliad, and before considering The Iliad to be true, Homer's reliability as a creditable writer must be considered.…

    • 4040 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In Homer’s Iliad, Troy falls under the siege of the Greeks. Although the war itself sways back and forth, Greece still holds…

    • 3669 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The History of the Peloponnesian War can be verified with other documents and plays written about the same time. Each time part of the History of the Peloponnesian War is verified with another reliable source it increases its credibility of the History of the Peloponnesian War. Not all of the book can be verified or proven as an inaccuracy because of the limited amount of documentation that can be compared to the History of the Peloponnesian War.…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Trojan War Analysis

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The epic story told in Trojan War is considered by many to be a starting foundation of Greek mythology and to other modern stories we still tell today. It is a story of envy, disloyalty, cleverness, and persistence that few stories can challenge. Greek myths such as The War on Troy tell of epic tales of gods and goddesses working together and even feuding among each other in order to create a more desirable world for themselves. They are the stories of people dealing with and overcoming personal and cultural issues as represented by the gods in a society where history and storytelling go hand in hand. These so called myths…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Gender Roles in the Illiad

    • 1533 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Cited: Homer. The Iliad. The Essestial Homer. Ed. Stanley Lombardo. Brooklyn, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 200. 1-240…

    • 1533 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Homer Vs Shlieman

    • 1321 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The epic of the Trojan War have two names that stand out even more than of its protagonists: Homer and Heinrich Schliemann. Homer, the greatest poet of all time, compiled stories of an oral tradition that sang the heroic deeds of a war that pitted the city of Troy with a coalition of Greek States to the 8th century BC. A war that happened five centuries before and that was the last heroic deed of a powerful civilization whose track would disappear from history soon after until little more than one century ago it was returned to find. So, for almost 3,000 years, that fabulous civilization destroyed Troy only became legend transmitted by Homer in the Iliad and the Odyssey, deeds so the war, and even the very existence of Troy was taken as an…

    • 1321 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    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.…

    • 1665 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    While most historians believe that Homer’s works are not true accounts of Greek history, the Greeks studied his epics as legitimate facts of history. The Greeks didn’t have a lot of true history recorded in their time, so Homer decided to fabricate his own. The history that he designed gave the Greeks a past to be proud of. Hearing about the great warriors that fought in Greek wars allowed the people to enjoy their heritage and feel like they were part of a prominent country with a strong history. Homer’s works…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays