1. The Epic Cycle and the Trojan War

2. What is the epic cycle? Epic cycle (Greek kyklos “circle, wheel”) as sum total of all myths connected with the Trojan War, arranged chronologically. Capable of expansion and contraction. No one poem spans the whole cycle. Other than Iliad and Odyssey most of the poems are lost, exist only as fragments or summaries (e.g. Proclus in Anthology) Poets “hop on” to the cycle at a particular point, then “hop off” E.g. Homer’s Iliad only covers a small part (51 days) of the tenth year (final) of the Trojan War: does not show the beginning or the end of the war

3. Trojan War Where is mythic Troy? Was there a historical Troy? Did a Trojan War really take place? Who were the Trojans? If so, was there really an Agamemnon and an Achilles and a Helen of Troy? And if so, what difference does it make?

4. Map showing principal sites listed in the Iliad and Odyssey

5. Chronology Mycenaean period (aka Bronze Age): 1600- 1100 BCE: the time of the Mycenaean palaces and, conventionally, the time of the Trojan war (ca 1200 BCE) Dark Age (1100-800 BCE): destruction of palaces, time of collapse, then slow growth Archaic period (750-480 BCE): conventionally, the period when Homeric poems flourish (8th- 7th century BCE)

6. Troy Occupied from ca. 3000 BCE Trade What language did they speak? Luvian seal found: Anatolian Indo-European language Mentioned in Hittite documents (also an Anatolian Indo-European language) as Wilusa: cf. Greek name (W)Ilion=Troy Hittite documents also refer to problems with the Ahhiyawa: cf. Greek Akhaioi = Achaeans, one of the names used in the Iliad to refer to the Greeks) Reference in documents to ruler of Troy as Alaksandu: cf. Greek Alexandros, alternate name of Paris, son of Priam, King of Troy in Homer. One of three gods guaranteeing the terms of the treaty on the side of Alaksandu is the "Storm god of the Army", Apaliunas ( D A-ap-pa-li-u-na-aš ). Could be Apollo? Fragment of song in Luvian: “when they came from steep Wilusa” – cf. Homeric description of Troy as “steep”: see Layout of city and environment: citadel, city, plain, walls all part of description of Troy in Iliad.

7. Hittite tablet in cuneiform script recording a treaty with Wilusa (=Ilion=Troy). Dated c. 1280 BCE

9. Excavations at Troy (Turkish name of site is Hisarlık) Heinrich Schliemann, 1870s and 1880s: belief in historicity of Iliad and Odyssey, excavation to prove truth of this. Successive excavators W. Dörpfeld, Carl Blegen, U. of Cincinnati, 1930s Manfred Korfmann, University of Tübingen, began in 1990s and ongoing

10. Heinrich Schliemann, 1822-1890, German excavator of Mycenae and Troy

11. Sophia Schliemann, wife of Heinrich Schliemann, wearing treasures discovered at Hisarlık (Turkish name of site of Troy).

12. Nine layers of occupation of site, from c. 3000 BCE to c. 500 CE. Red level is Troy VI (1700-1250 BCE)

13. Artist’s impression of Troy VI

14. Troy today

16. Agamemnon’s city: “Mycenae rich in gold” One of the large centers of Mycenaean civilization (1600-1200 BCE, other centers include Knossos, Tiryns, Pylos, Thebes) Flourishes in 14th century BCE Elaborate burials found (“Treasury of Atreus” “Tomb of Clytemnestra”: names given by Schliemann not based on any evidence) Destruction begins in mid-13th century, by 1100 Mycenae is no more than a village

17. Location of Mycenae

18. Bronze Age Mycenae

19. Lion Gate, entry to Mycenae

20. Funeral mask known as “Agamemnon Mask”. Gold, found in Tomb V in Mycenae by Heinrich Schliemann (1876), 16th c. BCE. Were the features “touched up” by the excavators?

21. Another funeral mask from Mycenae

22. Boar’s tusk helmet, described in Homer’s Iliad. L. actual helmet found at. R. Boar’s tusk helmets on fresco from Orkhomenos.

23. How does Greek myth relate to history? Greek myth remembers and preserves places of importance in the past even when they no longer exist or are no longer important (Troy, Mycenae) Greek myth attaches itself to places and landscapes But does not necessarily preserve personages accurately or at all