The Trojan War: A New History by Barry Strauss (PDF)

Description

The Trojan War is one of history’s most famous conflicts, a ten-year-long war waged over the beautiful Helen. For more than two thousand years this story has been a source of artistic inspiration. But is it true?In The Trojan War historian and classicist Barry Strauss explores the myth and the reality behind the war, from Homer’s accounts in The Iliad and The Odyssey to Heinrich Schliemann’s discovery of ancient Troy in the late nineteenth century to more recent excavations that have yielded intriguing clues to the story behind the fabled city. The Trojans, it turns out, were not ethnic Greeks but an Anatolian people closely allied with the Hittite Empire to the east. At the time of the Trojan War the Greeks were great seafarers while Troy was a more settled civilization. And while the cause of the war may well have been the kidnapping of a queen—and, more significantly, the seizure of her royal dowry—the underlying cause was a conflict between the Trojans and the Greeks for control of the eastern Aegean Sea. Through vivid reconstructions of the battles and insightful depictions of its famous characters, The Trojan War reveals the history behind Homer’s great epic, without losing the poetry and grandeur of the epic myth.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “The Trojan War is a lyrical, entrancing book, ringing with arms, and also with truth.” — Nathaniel Fick, author of One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer”A must-read for anyone interested in war, history, or ancient times.” — Max Boot, senior fellow in national security studies, The Council on Foreign Relations, and author of War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History, 1500 to Today”An exciting tale written in a lively style that brings Homer’s heroes and the world in which they lived to vibrant and colorful life.” — Donald Kagan, Sterling Professor of Classics and History, Yale University About the Author Barry Strauss is a professor of history and classics at Cornell University, The Corliss Page Dean Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and a leading expert on ancient military history. He has written or edited several books, including The Battle of Salamis, The Trojan War, The Spartacus War, Masters of Command, The Death of Caesar, and Ten Caesars. Visit BarryStrauss.com.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I didn’t like the narrator for the Audible title at first but the he got better as his reading of this book continued. This may seem like a rehash of well known material but in reading and listening to this book, I had a break in my research for a narrative I’m writing along with a script, simultaneously. If it wasn’t for this book, I wouldn’t have found what I was searching for. As far as student papers are concerned, professor Strauss added basically a paper at the end of this book about the argument if the Trojan war was real or not including valuable papers and books on the subject. And that could put you on course to write a paper that could impress your professor so your paper stands out amongst the others submitted by your fellow students. This book is interesting enough I am going to listening to it more than once and it’s definitely worth reading this book.

⭐This is a lovely book. Essentially, it is a retelling of the Trojan War, but in light of the conclusions (always tentative, of course) of modern history, archaeology, epigraphy, physical anthropology, and the studies of multiple classical languages. The author clarifies (to the degree possible) the actual length of the war (shorter than ten years) and the actual number of combatants (far fewer than 100,000 on each side). For example, he notes that idiomatic Greek in Homer’s time may use expressions comparable to our “On a scale of one to ten, how great . . . ?” Hence, the Trojan War is a ten but not necessarily ten years in duration.We learn at length about Greek and Trojan weapons, armament, foods and attitudes toward women. We hear the hisses of arrows in the winds and the sounds of spears hitting flesh targets, and realize the threats posed by malaria-carrying mosquitoes from the standing water on the Trojan plain.The information in the Iliad is supplemented by information from other literary fragments and the military practices of the Bronze Age are utilized as background material. The book is the product of massive research but the results are delivered in lovely prose that is accessible by a lay audience. In my opinion, this is the sort of book that academics should spend a good bit more time writing—a book that utilizes the results of serious scholarly research to clarify matters of significant interest to a general audience. Just a sample of the quality of the writing:”On the mountaintop, where the goats forage in the crevices between the rocks and the only sound beside their bleating is a sudden burst of wind in the wildflowers, the sky is the same shade of pale blue and gray as the eyes of the goddess Athena” (p. 183).The quotes from the Iliad are from Pope’s translation and it is very special. One of the problems in the American university is that courses are taught to large numbers within the constraints of a semester or quarter and the readings must fit within those constraints. In the 18thc, e.g., students are never exposed to some of the masterpieces of the period (Pope’s Homer, Gibbon’s history of Rome, Johnson’s Dictionary, etc.) because their size does not fit neatly into the syllabus. Here is the chance to hear some of Pope’s Homer and it is wonderful.The book also contains a very helpful set of maps of the area, a 7-page glossary of key names and a long ‘note on sources’ which is, in effect, a set of ‘additional readings’.For readers seeking an intelligent, informative and entertaining read, look no further.

⭐For centuries the established wisdom has held that the Trojan War is pure myth, a heroic fabrication of poets like Homer. This idea was little altered even with the discovery of Troy’s ruins. Barry Strauss’s contention in this book is that Homer’s account is not as outlandish as has been believed. Strauss doesn’t attempt to show that the Trojan War occurred in exactly the way Homer described, but only that it certainly could have. He does an admirable job.The book takes most of its structure from the Greek myths themselves, especially the version found in The Iliad. Strauss begins with Paris abducting Helen and proceeds rapidly from there to the final destruction of proud Ilium. Each chapter covers a particular section or theme found in The Iliad, including the initial abduction, the bickering between Achilles and Agamemnon, the plague, the nighttime treachery of Odysseus and Diomedes, and the great final duel between Hector and Achilles.With each section Strauss adopts something of an “if-then” approach, for example: if a Trojan prince named Paris seduced and abducted a Greek queen how would it have happened, knowing what we now know historically and archaeologically about that period in history? IF he had THEN they may have spoken in Greek, or perhaps Luwian, a near-relation of Hittite etc. The results are endlessly fascinating. Strauss clearly knows his stuff and knowing you’re in the hands of a master makes the book a joy to read.The book is not without its flaws. It’s very short, offering a very tasty sample of a rich subject but not a full course meal. And, quite honestly, the vast majority of Strauss’s work is conjecture. Well-reasoned conjecture based on extensive research and an obviously keen mind, but conjecture nonetheless. Also, Strauss extrapolated from the Hittites and Egyptians just a little too often. They may have lived in close proximity in both time and place to the bronze-age Greeks and Trojans described here, but there still must have been huge cultural differences.In the end, all we do know for sure is that Troy once was and then burned to the ground in some catastrophe. Whether Strauss’s book offers the answers or not, it is engaging, enlightening, and never boring. It gave me not only a greater appreciation for the history that may lie behind the myth, but for the myth–and Homer’s account of it–itself. The next time I read The Iliad I’ll do so with this book firmly in mind.Recommended.

⭐In ‘The Trojan War’ Barry Strauss writes a convincing and cogent text the weaves Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey together with archaeological facts, findings and extrapolations; the weave also includes diverse ancient literary references and historical events. The result is a carpet of colour that brings the war at Troy to life.The book contains a useful chronology at the front and an extensive section on sources at the end. Both are highly valuable and focus the reader on the period and it’s extensive investigation. The level of knowledge and understanding about the late Bronze Age period has expanded hugely over the past 30 years. What Strauss does (and quite brilliantly) is bring much of this knowledge to the reader in a very easy but academically rigorous manner. Whether you have read a great deal or nothing at all of the increasing body of Troy-related knowledge, this book will enthuse and enlighten readers with an interest, not matter how cursory, in Tory and the Trojan war.I am delighted to have added this volume to my growing library of books on the subject.

⭐Strauss is a good writer, and a knowledgeable historian. This book does a good job of putting the Trojan War in context with regards to the politics and warfare of Bronze Age culture around Greece, but don’t expect any wild revelations about the Trojan War itself. The binding of the illustrations in my copy was very poor, but I bought it used so that could be wear and tear from the previous owner.

⭐Expertly written using some of the new archaeology since 1990’s and new discoveries in clay tablets. tremendous insights into Homer and his characterisation of key characters and into realities of the Hittite Empire and its alliances, and Mycenaen encroachment into Asia Minor.

⭐The book is well written but jumped about a little bit too much for me. One minute we are in 380, the next 420 the 280. I found it hard to follow at times. It is worth a read but not the best.

⭐Arrived really quickly, great gift.

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