The Kingdom Of Ahhiyawa And The Dispersed Kernels Of Truth Which Have Cumulatively Been Recorded By Homer As The Trojan War
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The Kingdom Of Ahhiyawa And The Dispersed Kernels Of Truth Which Have Cumulatively Been Recorded By Homer As The Trojan War
The Kingdom of Ahhiyawa and the Dispersed Kernels of Truth Which Have Cumulatively Been Recorded by Homer as the Trojan War
Any historical or archaeological investigation of the Trojan War will most likely begin with a close reading of Homer's Iliad which unfortunately only records a few days of the colossal clash said to have lasted for ten years . This conflict involved a coalition of Greek states sailing to Asia Minor to lay siege to Troy. . According to Homer, the aforementioned coalition consisted of leaders from distinct areas of the Mycenaean world including Pylos, Tiryns, and Thebes (The Iliad Book II ). These rulers were characterized as being subordinate to Agamemnon of Mycenae, a figure which can be viewed as the supreme allied commander of Mycenaean forces in the struggle against Troy- a leader whose clout over his neighbors was amplified in times of war (Palmer 1961). However, the Trojans' struggle was not hopeless. When defending against the Mycenaean onslaught, the Trojan forces were joined by allies and together they defended the city of Troy until it was ultimately razed by the Mycenaeans (Blegen 1963).
For twenty five hundred years, an analysis of the historical integrity of the Homeric epics would be intricately bound with either the romantic desire to interpret the Iliad as a historical reality or with the pessimism stemming from a logical and highly conservative outlook. Luckily, the modern scholar has a greater frame of reference when attempting to evaluate the Trojan War's historicity and can now use the archaeological record and the increasing availability of ancient texts to supplement Homer's descriptions. C.M Bowra claimed that "Archaeology has brought the Trojan War back from legend to history" and I could not agree with him to a greater extent. This paper will attempt to analyze the historical roots of Homer's epic through a lens of critical analysis which will be focused through the various components of the archaeological...