Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts

 Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts

      Today marks the anniversary of the traditional Fall of Troy in 1184 B.C., as calculated by Eratosthenes, thereby bringing to its culmination the Trojan War.  

      The Fall of Troy is not recounted in Homer’s Iliad, the iconic epic, it rather covering only a period of ten days to two weeks within the supposed ten-year span of the war.  The Fall of Troy through the subterfuge of the Trojan Horse is briefly mentioned in the Odyssey and is referenced in several other Greek sources. (a/k/a The Homeric Cycle).  Keep in mind that Homer lived in the 8^th century Before the Common Era, so his stories were crafted hundreds of years after their supposed historical happenings.

But come now, change the theme, and sing of the building of the horse of wood, which Epeius made with Athena's help, the horse which once Odysseus led up into the citadel as a thing of guile, when he had filled it with the men who sacked Ilios. 

Homer, Odyssey, Book 8, Line469.

The story would not find, however, its full development until book II of Virgil’s Aeneid, it written just before the Common Era.

      Some modern historians have attempted to explain the story as an allegory, suggesting that an earthquake – Poseidon, whose portfolio included horses, was as well the god of earthquakes – was the reason for the fall of Troy’s walls.  Others have suggested the “sea horse” was a disguised tribute ship left at Troy with the same effect.  I, for one, would rather retain the literal interpretation as it affords more credit to Odysseus, said to be the wisest of the Greeks and according to certain legends the son of Sisyphus.  FYI, a new movie on Odysseus is in the works for release in 2026, and a new translation of the Odyssey, it by Daniel Memnelsohn, was released last year.

      Regardless it is a great story, especially the fall of Achilles to Paris after the former killed Hector after he killed Patroclus.  Speaking of which, the movie Troy misstated the story, likely because they wanted to keep Brad Pitt on the screen.  Achilles was killed before the fall of Troy; he never entered the city.  That is not the biggest problem with the movie vis-a-vis the books, but it is a big one.

            Some might consider the Trojan War to be ancient history.  It’s all matter of perspective.  At the time of the Fall of Troy the Egyptian civilization had been flourishing already for 2000 years, and the Great Pyramid of Cheops was nearly 1400 years old.