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Available
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Osprey Publishing, Limited (2003), Paperback
Description
Hisarlik is a small place, a sandy stone strewn hillock cut up into gullies and hummocks. Yet its historical significance is immense, for this is the site of Troy - the legendary city whose story sprawls across cultures, time and geography. The tale of the siege of Troy is the greatest secular story ever told, and has captured the imagination of the Western World for some 3,000 years. Although there are many difficulties in using Greek myths, oral traditions and the Homeric epics to reconstruct the Trojan War, this title uses the latest archaeological evidence to reconstruct in detail the fortifications of Troy as well as making more general observations about the possible historical events behind the epics of Homer.
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LibraryThing member Petroglyph
This is a decent overview of the state -of-affairs of the archaeological reality of Troy as opposed to the City of Myth. It introduces the local variant of the Bronze Age, provides a sober account of Schliemann and discusses the architecture and the culture of the nine successive stages (albeit
Fields does have a tendency to insert references to Homer whenever the Iliad can be cited to back up a point -- windy area! fast-flowing waters! -- and once the main points have been made there follow a couple of sections where he connects features from geographic reality with events from the Iliad (e.g. the Trojans attacking the Achaean rampart) without justification outside the poem. But these criticisms are aesthetic only; overall I liked this book. It's clear, concise, and it's well-written by somebody who clearly knows what they're talking about.
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briefly) before going into detail about the construction and the continuous restoration of the fortifications of Troy VI. Many sections are supported by clear illustrations and reconstructive drawings, which make up one of the main assets of this booklet (practically all of the photographs were taken by Fields himself). I also liked the chapter on what the "historical reality" of the Trojan Horse might have been.Fields does have a tendency to insert references to Homer whenever the Iliad can be cited to back up a point -- windy area! fast-flowing waters! -- and once the main points have been made there follow a couple of sections where he connects features from geographic reality with events from the Iliad (e.g. the Trojans attacking the Achaean rampart) without justification outside the poem. But these criticisms are aesthetic only; overall I liked this book. It's clear, concise, and it's well-written by somebody who clearly knows what they're talking about.
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9.61 inches
ISBN
1841767034 / 9781841767031