Was Achilles and Hector all real people?

Question

All of those people that go with the Battle of Troy. Helen, Priam, Paris, were they at one point alive and real?

Answer 1

Many myths have a basis in reality. Therefore, its highly probably that these people existed, but the monumental exploits were most likely exaggerated by Homer.

Answer 2

Maybe, but probably not.

Though there is considerable evidence that the Mycenaean Greeks fought a war with a city-state in northwestern Anatolia called Wilusa (the Greek cognate Ilios is Homer's other name for Troy) during the late Bronze Age, whether the site of the classical and Roman-era city of Novum Ilium (New Troy) corresponds to Wilusa is conjectural and not yet proven. (The site thought to be Homer's Troy is the mound called Hisarlik on the western Turkish coast)

We just can't be sure about the specifics of the war. All the characters, except one, have no known existence outside of Homer's poetry written 400 or more years after the purported events took place. Achilles, Hector, Agamemnon and the others may have been inspired by real people, Homer has been shown to be right about many details of the war, still there is no way to confirm their reality.

The one exception is Paris, who was also called Alexandros. Cuneiform Hittite records confirm that one of the leaders of Wilusa was called Alexandros.

Answer 3

That depends on your viewpoint. Recent archaeological evidence points to some degree of historical authenticity on the subject of the Trojan War, but as to how much, no historian can say. It's possible and even likely that the war occurred, which means that it's certainly possible that these characters were real people.

More than likely, however, I would say that they are, at most, loosely based on some past historical figure and are not actual representations of real people, kind of like Arthurian legend. You have to remember that these stories were legends and old tales by the time Homer came around. This particular account was not created until much later than the end of the war, and was not committed to paper until much later after that.

So, yes, it is possible that these characters are based on real people, but do not go betting your money on it. It's not likely. I think this was probably a Titanic-like situation (from the movie), in that the author took a story of an actual even and laced that of fictional characters in it to give it some life and pizzazz.

Answer 4

Although Homer's epics The Iliad and The Odyssey are fictionalized accounts of the war for Troy they may very well have been predicated upon real personages of the time period recounted by Homer .
Homer's characterizations of both Hector and Achilles are too real to be just fictionalizations of "The Everyman "suppositions portrayed in the epics ; after all , they are very real to us as readers .

Answer 5

no, these were fictional characters created in the Greek author, Homer, novels "The iliad" and "The Odyssey".

Answer 6

Maybe.