Archaeology and the Iliad: The Trojan War in Homer and History

Written by Eric Cline

Narrated by Eric Cline

The Trojan War, captured forever in Homer's epic poem the Iliad, resonates to the present day in the popular imagination, and this magnificent confrontation continues to exert a tremendous influence on modern audiences. But did Troy actually exist? And if so, where is it located? Was the Trojan War actually fought? If it was, did it take place over the course of ten years, as Homer wrote, or was it a much longer series of battles? And why was the war fought? Could Helen's face alone really have launched a thousand ships? In this course, esteemed professor Eric H. Cline examines the real history of Troy and delves into the archaeological discoveries (which continue to the present day) that help to answer the questions above. Through an entertaining and incisive analysis of known data, Professor Cline provides a fuller, richer understanding of this historic clash.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 12, 2008
• ISBN: 9781436172684

Reviews for Archaeology and the Iliad

[pbadeer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Admittedly, Archaeology is not a field of study in which I am particularly interested. Since my teenaged daughter is currently considering archaeology as a field of study in college, however, I find it necessary to explore it a little further.This title, part of Recorded Books' Modern Scholar audio collection was a great primer - somewhat "archaeology lite" - taking a popular topic of the Trojan War and applying the research to explain it. Although parts of the recording were a little dry, that was because it sometimes became very "into" the analysis. I was looking at this more to skim the surface. But overall, I was very pleased with the final result. I'm still reeling from the concept that the Trojan Horse could actually have been a poetic metaphor for an earthquake. Wow - didn't see that coming. It was thought provoking and even had some humor. Wouldn't recommend it for the average audiobook listener, but great for a non-fiction option.

[clif_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

These lectures contain a good overview of the archaeological discoveries that provide information about the late bronze age when the events in The Iliad occurred. An analysis of the known data provides an fascinating view of political, technological and economic conditions at the time. Likewise, the events during the 500 year period when the story was being carried forward until the time of Homer when the story was written down also had their impact on the narrative of The Iliad. Another interesting issue discussed is how many of the details in The Iliad reflect the iron age technology of the time of Homer as opposed to the bronze age technology of the time of the Trojan War. Also, the discussion of the Epic Cycle is interesting. The Epic Cycle includes the parts of the story related to the Trojan War that are not contained in Homer's stories and have been preserved in fragmentary form through quotes by later writers.The following are my musings and are not necessarily a review of the contents of the lectures:It's interesting to note that the 500 years between the time of Homer and the Trojan War is considered by historians to be the Greek Dark Ages. That is because the fairly advanced late bronze age civilization described in The Iliad collapsed soon after the Trojan War. This can partly explain the motivation of the story tellers during the Greek Dark Ages for keeping alive the memories of a golden past. Homer's admiration of those past glorious times was probably similar to the enthusiasm of the Renaissance writers for the memories of the Roman Empire and ancient Greece. The two cases are different in that Homer and his scribe were putting their stories into writing for the first time, whereas the Renaissance writers were finding, saving and learning from old manuscripts. It's interesting to note how much of human history has been looking back in time to a golden age past as the source for wisdom. Since The Enlightenment the expectations have shifted toward looking to the future for increased knowledge and understanding. The recent global economic meltdown is a reminder how quickly things can change. Could we be witnessing the beginning of another dark age? We may be remembered in the future as the wise masters of a golden past era. Wow, and we didn't even know that we were that smart!