Is the war at Troy really fiction or it is really history?

Answer 1

Actually when historians and acheologists examine the site of the city pertaining to the general date they know that some upheaval did exsist. A lot has been embellished and added on to the story. Here are the facts:

In examining the Troy of the time( and there were at least seven Troys-all built upon one another) historians have pieced together the general time of the war(if this is what the upheaval was). Most modern historians put such a war at about 1153-1143 B.C.(it being ten years). A late 19th century historian Liviousene puts it at 1053-1043 B.C. Liviousene has dynastic lists to back him up. Modern historians don't. Some very modern historians actually start to go into the late 1100 s and even the 1200 or 1300s B.C. But they have even less. I prefer personally to believe Liviousene who has dynastic list where the other have nothing but educated guesses. Therefore it will be for the purpose of this question 1053-1043 B.C.

The ancient Greeks have a legend about a prince named Paris from Troy stealing away with the queen of Sparta who was married to the brother of Argemenmon: Menelaus- Helen. This was supposed to precipitate the launching of a thousand ships. However today we realise that the Greeks had another motive(and there most likely was a war of some sorts). This was to eliminate a rival. Also I think that in it's position Troy commanded the access to the Hellesponte, the Bosphorus and the Black Sea beyond with its rich markets and wealth of grain, wood, furs, amber and jewel as well as it's alternative way to the east. And Troy was supposed to have a powerful army. To contol the Aegean and to have access to these territories and for power was most likely Argemenmon's real motive. The taking of Helen was just the excuse. In fact there is a legend that Helen was not really at Troy for the duration of the war but was in Egypt and that some Greek travellers were very surprised to run into her. This would explain why Troy would(or could) not give her up and expose Argemenmon's motive for all the world to see. It would also explain how Argemenmon(a ruthless person-he sacrificed his own young daughter for a safe voyage) could have fooled the rest of the Greeks to send so many men. However the biggest ship in the middle of the 11th century B.C. was the Pentecounter with 50 oarsmen. The combined Greek coastal forces would not amount to more than 200 of these ships, if that. The rest, if indeed there were one thousand ships, would have been fishing boats. Given a couple of hundred could probably fitted upon the Pentecounters, and they had to carry supplies and some horses and the chariots, and the fishing boats would have been chock a block-the most men they could have possibly had would have been 50,000-all told. However more than likely it would have been a hell of a lot less.

Now the Romans actually have a legend that the nephew of king Priam II of Troy(he was actually the second king named Priam)(the kings lists of Liviousene)- name Aeneas with his father and others escaped. Having many adventures including a liaison with Queen Dido of all places-Carthage(which is false as Carthage was founded by Dido in about 853 B.C.), ending up in Italy, founding Alba Longa and his decendents- Romulus and Remus founding Rome on the 21st of April 753 B.C. Thus Rome regarded Troy as it's mother city brought about by that famous war. In fact when in the reign of the emperor Tiberius a natural disaster devistated Troy-Tiberius refused it any help(he was an old miser). The people of the time and historians were shocked at this and said that Tiberius didn't even help Rome's own mother city-Troy. They must have helped later(most likely under Tiberiu's sucsessor-Calighula-who was a decent emperor for the first two years of his reign) for there is a city there that the Romans built.

So we have evidence of an upheaval at the time, most likely a war. We have Greek and Roman legends, the true example of the acknowledement of the mother city status to Rome of Troy in the reign of Tiberius and we do have Liviousene with his dynastic lists to back him up. So it is safe to say that there was a war at the time between Greek and Trojan. Although Hollywood has in the past embellished it. The latest picture starring Brad Pitt did do something to factualise it. They had about 50,000 troops. And if you look at the Trojan helmets in the picture, they were in factuality with the Myceneian helmets of the time. This at least. Although the Greek helmets in the picture did not begin to develope till the 8th century B.C. But it probably would not make a very good picture without the embellishments. Certainly not the great and grand picture this was.

And there of course is Homer. The soveriegn poet. Who in the 8th century B.C. formulated the stories into poems we are familiar with today. He wrote actually nothing but his poetry has been transcribed and handed down to us today. He is considered an original source. And the physician Aescipilus and his sons were supposed to be physicians to the Greek army at Troy. Aescipilus became the Greek god of medicine and was most likely an actualy person. And the story of the Trojan horse has come down to us as a metephor for cunning infiltration. Most likely it had it's basis in fact. It is so practical. So there is plenty of smoke. Now beneath all this smoke there is some fire. It is safe to say that there was a war. It was history. However much of it has been embellished. However, even if it were all fiction, it is inspirational to humanity. To all of humanity. And after all-isn't the most famous mortal combat between two warriors in history between those two immortal warriors who speak to us in history and live in the eons of eternity-Achilles and Hector.
Hope this helps.

Answer 2

well to start answering the question we must ask "which war?" Troy is the sight of many battles and the city just kept on building over the rubble it's pretty cool when you see some of the stuff they have found

the iliad was written long after the battle had happened it's one of those a friend of a friend type stories that inspired an amazing poem! Events changed names changed events morphed into a face that launched a thousand ships and so on, we don't know what really happened

The Trojan War probably reflected a real war (c.1200 B.C.) between the invading Greeks and the people of Troas, possibly over control of trade through the Dardanelles.

Some have suggested that the Trojan Horse actually represents an earthquake that occurred between the wars that could have weakened Troy's walls and left them open for attack. Structural damage on Troy VI—its location being the same as that represented in Homer's Iliad and the artifacts found there suggesting it was a place of great trade and power—shows signs that there was indeed an earthquake.

Others have suggested that the Horse was a piece of siege machinery. Most likely a wheeled wooden tower covered with wet horse hides protecting against incendiary arrows

hope this helps

Answer 3

It is more what some people refer to as "fact-tion". That is - a fiction story based on real events. Throughout ancient history there were several cities built at Troy, for it position near the Dardanelles made it an obvious trading centre. Most were burnt down either by accident or war. The stories of Homer are legends based on incidents during a conflict between the inhabitants of Greece and the contemporary trading city at Troy. And Homer was not the man to let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Answer 4

Yes, it was a historical event. Although Homer, who was the first to write about the Trojan war, did so several hundred years after it happened. So, although it's a great read, we can't trust it as a historical reference. However, archaeologists have found the site of Troy, and found evidence of a prolonged war, as well as native, and Greek artifacts, weapons, armor. etc.

Answer 5

It is a true story, th trojan horse is a true story, the Love story has more than likely been embelished over the years, it does seem to get more steamy wit h each telling these days, but yees the historical events did happen, it' well documented in ancient history books.

Answer 6

There was a war, but we know little about the individual participants, tactics, size or length of the war.

Answer 7

It is fiction written around a basically true story.

Answer 8

true story