The Trojan War

I recently stumbled on Herodotus' version of the Trojan War. I downloaded free copies from Gutenberg at www.gutenberg.org He approaches it from the historical point of view, and concludes that war did happen in the Troad. He has an estimate of when, it occured, but more on that in a bit.

Before going any farther, it is my opinion that Troy/Illios/Wilusa were one and the same, and that the Ahhayian's mentioned in Hittite archives are the Achaians. After reading everything I could find, there was a "Trojan" war, though it may not have been quite like we find in the Illiad, Quintus of Smurna, and so on. A war did take place there. Was it Troy VIIa at the Hisarlik site? My opinion is yes. Now back to the "father of History".

One of the things he mentions is that there was plenty of provocation on both sides. Each side, Asia and Hellas, were stealing each other's women to work as slaves, or as wives, for some time. Things kept escalating, and nobody would back down. War became inevitable. What he explores is whether someone named Helen was actually taken to Troy. He suggests that when Alexandrros/Paris docked in Egypt, Helen and the treasure he had stolen was removed by the Egyptians.

Aside from some navigational oddities, like why go to Egypt when your destination is the Dardanelles, this makes the whole storyline that this was all to rescue Helen nothing but a big mistake. There is some evidence that this was a fig leaf.

It doesn't take much research to discover that a lot of food was grown in the Black Sea littoral. That wheat was traded with what is now Greece. Illios, being a good place to dock and wait out bad weather when traversing the Dardanelles (the harbor has since silted over, but 1832 Royal Navy charts show the bay still there) would be in a position to exact a toll. That city would grow very wealthy as it was also where East-West trade crossed. And such wealth would appeal to the acquisitive instincts of the Argives. It was almost natural that a war of some kind would follow.

The mistake a lot of people make is in not looking at the slightly wider picture. In my stories I've characterized Priam as King of Illios and King of the Dardanians. He would have a lot of resources farther inland to draw from. That is the context of the "Trojan" War.

Now per Herodotus, the Greek expedition landed in Mysia, sacked some cities, and otehrwise chewed up the countryside. Imagine their chgrin when they learned they were in the wrong place. So then they sat waiting for the right wind so they could go to Illios. And this is important. The Aegean is not a placid lake. Sailing at the wrong time of year could be disastrous. And if they wasted most of a summer burning and pillaging in Mysia, they would face autumn storms, not something you want to do if given half a chance.

Now we begin to enter into the mythical elements. Iphigenia is sacrificed to get favorable winds. The Argives land. They fight for several years. Eventually they take the city with the Trojan Horse. Much slaughter, burning, pillaging, raping, and otehr things. The men are killed, the women become slaves. And then the victors at Troy go home.

And a city grows at the same spot, Troy VIIb, but the Argives have other problems. Economics are a very powerful force.

Herodotus covers some of this. More is found in the Illiad and Quintus of Smyrna. Recent archaeology has filled in some of the blanks. For instance, on the day that Odysseus returned to Ithaka, there was a total eclipse of the sun. This was in 1199 BCE. If we run the clock backwards and say he was gone for 20 years, that puts the start of the Trojan War in 1219 BCE.

Now I have my doubts that: a) the war took 10 years of siege outside the walls of Troy; b) it took Odysseus 10 years to get home. The war probably did last ten years, but I think only 18 months of it were spent in the Troad. And as for returning home, all but three years are tossed away leaving him 4.5 years when he was gone. This pushes the Trojan part of the Trojan War to around 1204 or so BCE.

I've seen dates that suggest anything from 1176 BCE to 1224 BCE. The 1204/05 time is almost right in the middle.

When you read Herodotus, when you read The Illiad, and you throw out the supernatural elements, you get the account of a military expedition and event.

And when you do all of that, you end up with the hooks for a story or two. More of that next time.