The Trojan War (23 page)

Neoptolemus
Mythical figure, son of Achilles and conqueror of Troy.

Nestor
Mythical character, elderly king of Pylos and the Greeks' best counselor at Troy.

New Kingdom
In both Egypt (1550–1075
B.C.
) and Hatti (1400–1180) the Late Bronze Age era of expansion and empire.

Nubia
Southern Nile region conquered by Egyptians, inhabited by black Africans, some of whom rose to high positions in New Kingdom Egypt.

Odysseus
Mythical figure, king of Ithaca and most cunning and resourceful Greek warrior at Troy.

Old Babylonian literature
Body of poetry and prose, ca. 2000–1600
B.C.
, whose influence may have reached as far as Homer.

Palaic
Indo-European language of northern Anatolia, possibly language of Troy.

Palladium
Mythical wooden statuette in Troy of goddess Athena.

Pandarus
Mythical figure, son of Lycaon and great archer; Trojan ally.

Paris
Mythical character, prince of Troy, seduced Helen and thereby caused the Trojan War; also known as Alexander, recalling Alaksandu, historical king of Wilusa.

Patroclus
Mythical figure, son of Menoetius; Achilles' chief general and closest comrade.

Pellana
Village in northern Laconia, site of Mycenaean buildings and tombs, possibly including palace of Helen and Menelaus.

Penthesilea
Mythical figure, Thracian Amazon who brings contingent to fight for Troy.

Pergamos
In Homer, citadel of Troy.

Philoctetes
Mythical personage, Greek from Thessaly and mighty archer.

Piyamaradu
Luwian raider who successfully defied Hittites in western Anatolia ca. 1250
B.C.
; allied with Ahhiyawa.

Polites
Mythical character, brother of Hector; fast runner and lookout.

Polydamas
Mythical personage, son of Panthous of Troy; seer and shrewd tactician.

Priam
Mythical figure, king of Troy.

Protesilaus
Mythical figure, king of Phylace in Thessaly, first Greek killed at Troy.

Puduhepa
Wife of Hattushilish III and one of the Hittites' most powerful queens.

Pylos
In Homer, great kingdom in southwestern Greece, well-attested archaeologically by great palace, Linear B texts, and other remains.

Qadesh
Canaanite city and site of great battle between Egyptians and Hittites, 1274
B.C.

Rameses II
Long-reigning Egyptian King, 1279–1213
B.C.
, fought Hittites at Qadesh and later made peace with them.

Rameses III
Egyptian king, 1184–1153
B.C.
, defeated Sea Peoples.

Sarpedon
Mythical Lycian king and son of Zeus as well as commander of important allied contingent fighting for Troy; killed by Patroclus.

Scaean Gate
In Homer, main gate of Troy.

Scamander River
Main river of the Troad, flows from Mount Ida past Troy and into Dardanelles.

Sea Peoples
Loose and shifting coalition, possibly including Greeks, that attacked eastern Mediterranean lands 1200–1100
B.C.
and did great damage.

Shardana
Mercenaries in and sometimes pirates against Egypt in 1200s–1100s
B.C.

Shuppiluliuma I
One of the strongest Hittite kings, 1344–1322
B.C.
, crushed Mitanni and rebuilt Hattusha.

Shuppiluliuma II
Last Hittite king (1207–?
B.C.
), fought sea battles off Cyprus.

Simoeis River
A river of the Troad that flows into the Scamander north of Troy.

Sinon
Mythical figure, duplicitous Greek who tricks Trojans into accepting the Trojan Horse.

Storm God
Sky god such as Zeus or Teshub, chief deity of Greeks and Anatolian peoples alike.

Taruisa
A kingdom referred to in Hittite documents, possibly to be identified as Troy.

Tawagalawa
Brother of king of Ahhiyawa, he aided Piyamaradu's rebellion in western Anatolia against the Hittites; possibly equivalent to Eteocles.

Telephus
Mythical king of Mysia.

Teucer
Mythical figure, brother of Ajax son of Telamon of Salamis, a great archer among the Greeks at Troy.

Thebes
A major Mycenaean city in central Greece, destroyed violently ca. 1250
B.C.

Thebes-under-Plakos
Trojan-allied city on Gulf of Adramyttium (Edremit); its site has not been identified.

Thersites
Mythical character, malcontent and rabble-rouser in Greek army at Troy.

Tiryns
Heavily fortified Bronze Age Greek city near Mycenae.

Tlepolemus
Mythical figure, son of Heracles and king of Rhodes, fought with Greeks at Troy.

Troad
Region of Troy, about 650 square miles in size.

Trojan Harbor
See
BE
IK BAY
.

Trojan Plain
Broad area west of city of Troy, whose northern part was largely underwater in Bronze Age; in Homer, site of pitched battles of Trojan War.

Tukulti-Ninurta
Assyrian king, 1244–1208
B.C.

Tyndareus
Mythical personage, king of Lacedaemon, father of Helen.

Ugarit
Wealthy and literate Canaanite city, commercial and naval power, Hittite ally, destroyed by Sea Peoples ca. 1187
B.C.

Ur
Wealthy city in southern Mesopotamia.

Vergil
Also known as Virgil, Roman poet (70–19
B.C.
), author of the
Aeneid,
epic of Aeneas's struggles after the Trojan War.

Walmu
Exiled king of Wilusa, ca. 1225
B.C.
; vassal of Hittites.

wanax
Linear B term for “king,” perhaps recalled in Homer's use of term
anax
for Greece's leading king, Agamemnon.

Wilusa
A kingdom referred to in Hittite documents, thought to be the Greek (W)ilion, that is, Troy.

In citing ancient Greek and Roman authors, I follow the abbreviations of the standard reference work, the
Oxford Classical Dictionary,
3rd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999). I cite the titles of Greek and Latin works, however, in English translation. For Near Eastern texts I refer, wherever possible, to common English designations and to easily accessible English translations. EA (“El Amarna”) designates a tablet of the Amarna Letters.

1 makes it likely that the Trojan War indeed took place: I follow the arguments set forth by Joachim Latacz in his
Troy and Homer: Towards a Solution of an Old Mystery,
translated by Kevin Windle and Rosh Ireland (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).

2 in its heyday: Manfred Korfmann, “Die Arbeiten in Troia/Wilusa 2003,”
Studia Troica
14 (2004): 17.

3 ninth year of the long conflict: For an argument that the
Iliad
is set in the ninth and not the tenth year of the Trojan War (as is usually thought), see Ernst Aumueller, “Das neunte Jahr. Ilias B 134-295-328,” in Joachim Latacz and Heinrich Hettrich with Guenter Neumann, eds.,
Wuerzburger Jahrbuecher fuer Die Altertumswissenschaft,
Neue Folge 21 (1996/97): 39–48.

4 “nine times and then a tenth”: William L. Moran, ed. and trans.,
The Amarna Letters
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), EA 81, l. 24, p. 50, and p. 151 n. 6; cf. EA 82, l. 39, p. 52.

5 Helen is dressed: My description is based on Homer,
Iliad
3.121–71, 380–447;
Odyssey
4
passim,
15.58, 104–8, 124–30, 171, and Ione Mylonas Shear,
Tales of Heroes: The Origins of the Homeric Texts
(New York: Aristide D. Caratzas, 2000), 61–72; Elizabeth Barber,
Prehistoric Textiles
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991), 170–73. See the descriptions in Bettany Hughes,
Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore
(London: Jonathan Cape, 2005), 42, 65–66, 109–11.

6 Hittite proverb: Billie Jean Collins, “Animals in Hittite Literature,” in Collins, ed.,
A History of the Animal World in the Ancient Near East
(Leiden: Brill, 2002), 243; Harry A. Hoffner Jr., “The Song of Hedammu,” in
Hittite Myths,
2nd edition (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1998), 54.

7 Menelaus's palace: That palace has not yet been discovered, so I use features from other Bronze Age Greek palaces such as Pylos and Mycenae.

8 rich hills of Lacedaemon: A region better known today as Sparta, although technically Sparta is only a small part of Lacedaemon. Sparta was not a city yet in the Bronze Age, but the name is much better known than Lacedaemon, so it is used here.

9 the company sits: C. W. Shelmerdine, “Review of Aegean Prehistory VI: The Palatial Bronze Age of the Southern and Central Greek Mainland,”
American Journal of Archaeology
101:3 (1997): 578–80; reprinted with an addendum on the period 1997–99 in Tracey Cullen, ed.,
Aegean Prehistory: A Review,
Supplement 1 to
American Journal of Archaeology
(Boston: Archaeological Institute of America, 2001), 370–72.

10
Pari-zitis:
Calvert Watkins, “Troy and the Trojans,” in Machteld J. Mellink, ed.,
Troy and the Trojan War,
from a symposium held at Bryn Mawr College, October 1984 (Bryn Mawr, Pa.: Bryn Mawr College, 1986), 57.

11 “Trojan”: Michael Ventris and John Chadwick,
Documents in Mycenaean Greek,
2nd edition (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1973), PY 57, p. 190; cf. pp. 103–5.

12 “Trojan Woman”: Ventris and Chadwick,
Documents in Mycenaean Greek,
PY 143, pp. 258–59; cf. pp. 103–5.

13 “Lacedaemonius”: His father was Cimon son of Miltiades, a leading politician of classical Athens. See J. K. Davies,
Athenian Propertied Families 600–300
B.C.
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971), 306.

14 not that he was fooled:
Odyssey
4.264.

15 he was no-nonsense:
Iliad
3.213–15.

16 his rival Paris:
Iliad
3.54, 393–95.

17 “feeble” or “despicable”: For example, James K. Hoffmeier, “The Gebel Barka Stele of Thutmose III,” and K. A. Kitchen, “The Battle of Qadesh—The Poem, or Literary Record,” in W. W. Hallo, ed.,
The Context of Scripture: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World,
vol. 2 (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 16, 33.

18 “soft spearman”:
Iliad
17.588.

19 the Greek historian Herodotus: Hdt 1.4.1.

20 Near Eastern kings proclaim in their inscriptions: For the items in this paragraph, see James K. Hoffmeier, “The Memphis and Karnak Steleae of Amenhotep II,” in Hallo, ed.
Context of Scripture,
vol. 2, p. 20; K. A. Kitchen, “First Beth Shean Stela, Year 1,” in ibid., 25; K. A. Kitchen, “Karnak, Campaign Against the Hittites,” undated, in ibid., 28; Richard H. Beal “The Ten Year Annals of Great King Mursili II of Hatti,” in ibid., 84; Itamar Singer, “Treaty Between Supiluliuma and Aziru,” in ibid., 93–94; Douglas Frayne, “Rim-Sin,” in ibid., 253; Douglas Frayne, “Iahdun-Lim,” in ibid., 260.

21 A Hittite king says: Murshilish II (r. ca. 1321–1295
B.C.);
see Beal, “Ten Year Annals,” in Hallo, ed.,
Context of Scripture,
vol. 2, pp. 82–83.

22 example from Canaan in the 1300s
B.C.
: Moran,
Amarna Letters,
EA 250, ll. 15–27, p. 303.

23 king of Troy, Alaksandu: Gary Beckman, “Treaty Between Muwattalli II of Hatti and Alaksandu of Wilusa,” in
Hittite Diplomatic Texts,
2nd edition (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996), 87–93.

24 “soldier servant”: On the expression, see J. D. Hawkins, “Tarkasnawa King of Mira,”
Anatolian Studies
48 (1998): 14. For the alliance between the Hittites and Wilusa (Troy), see Beckman, “Treaty,” in
Hittite Diplomatic Texts
, 87–93.

25 Cadmus: The reinterpretation of this letter was announced by Frank Starke in summer 2003, but a full scholarly version has not yet been published. See Frank Starke, “Ein Keilschrift-Brief des Konigs von Theben/Ahhijawa (Griechenland) an den Konig des Hethitischen Reiches aus dem 13. Jh. V. Chr,” handout, August 2003, and Michael Siebler, “In Theben Ging's Los,”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,
August 12, 2003, p. 31, http://www.faz.net/s/RubF7538E273FAA4006925CC36BB8AFE338/Doc˜EC6CFECB6D44B4344B70010A6675AF6A3˜ATpl˜Ecommon˜Scontent.html. For an argument against the thesis that the Hittite document reveals an ancestor of a king of Ahhiyawa named Kadmos, see Joshua T. Katz, “Review of Joachim Latacz's
Troy and Homer: Towards a Solution of an Old Mystery,
Version 1.0, December 2005, Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics, http://www.princeton.edu/˜pswpc/pdfs/katz/120503.pdf.

26 Tawagalawa: He appears in a document known as the Tawagalawa Letter or Piyamaradu Letter. See the discussion with translated excerpts in Trevor Bryce,
Letters of the Great Kings of the Ancient Near East: The Royal Correspondence of the Late Bronze Age
(New York: Routledge, 2003), 199–212. An English translation of the letter is available online (as “The Piyama-radu Letter”) at http://www.hittites.info/translations.aspx? text=translations/historical%2fPiyama-radu+Letter.html.

27 Walmu: Gary Beckman, “Letter from a King of Hatti to an Anatolian Ruler,” in
Hittite Diplomatic Texts,
145.

28 “For beauteous Helen”:
Iliad
3.70.

29 Aeschylus: Aeschylus,
Agamemnon
687–89.

30 In Hittite society it was possible for a man to marry: Trevor Bryce,
Life and Society in the Hittite World
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 124.

31 the same may have been true for Greece: Shear,
Tales of Heroes,
139–40.

32 “How would the sons of Troy”:
Iliad
6.441–43.

33 Queen Puduhepa: See Ekrem Akurgal,
The Hattian and Hittite Civilizations
(Ankara: Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture, 2001), 101–2; Trevor Bryce,
The Kingdom of the Hittites
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), 315–20; Bryce,
Life and Society,
13–14, 136–37, 174–75.

34 “prizes”: For example,
Iliad
1.185.

35 a woman without a husband: Moran,
Amarna Letters,
e.g., EA 90, ll. 36–47, p. 163.

36 Madduwatta married off his daughter to King Kupanta-Kurunta: Gary Beckman, “Indictment of Madduwatta,” in
Hittite Diplomatic Texts,
§§16–17, p. 157.

37 “You have become a wolf”: Gary Beckman, “Hittite Proverbs,” in Hallo, ed.,
Context of Scripture,
vol. 1, p. 215; Harry A. Hoffner Jr.,
The Laws of the Hittites: A Critical Edition
(Leiden: Brill, 1997) §37, p. 44, plus commentary, 186–87; Bryce,
Life and Society,
126.

38 Adultery: Hoffner,
Laws of the Hittites,
§197, p. 156; Bryce,
Life and Society,
128.

39 Zannanza: Bryce,
Kingdom of the Hittites,
193–99. The Pharaoh Ay maintained his innocence but he was the chief suspect.

40 Thucydides dismisses this story: Thuc. 1.9.3.

41 war as a lawsuit before the gods: Th. P. J. Van den Hout, “Bellum Iustum, Ius Divinum: Some Thoughts About War and Peace in Hittite Anatolia,” in
Grotiana,
New Series 12–13 (1991–92 [1994]): 26.

42 Hattushilish I (1650–1620
B.C.
), whose armies plundered: P. H. J. Houwink ten Cate, “The History of Warfare According to Hittite Sources: The Annals of Hattusilis I (Part II),”
Anatolica
11 (1984): 49.

43 “manly deeds”: For example, the ancient title of what is now commonly referred to as the “Comprehensive Annals” of King Murshilish II was “The Manly Deeds of Murshilish”; see Beal, “Ten Year Annals,” in Hallo, ed.,
Context of Scripture,
vol. 2, p. 82.

44 seven thousand Hittite subjects were transplanted: Tawagalawa Letter §9.

45 King Zimri-Lin of Mari: Barber,
Prehistoric Textiles,
27–28; cf. W. Heimpel,
Letters to the King of Mari: A New Translation, with Historical Introduction, Notes, and Commentary
(Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2003), 27 85, p. 440.

46 “extremely beautiful” female cupbearers: Moran,
Amarna Letters,
EA 369, ll. 15–23, p. 366.

47 “captives”: Ventris and Chadwick,
Documents in Mycenaean Greek,
PY 16, p. 161; cf. pp. 156, 579.

48 Herodotus commented: Hdt. 1.3–5.

49 when an ant is struck: Moran,
Amarna Letters,
EA 252, ll., 16–22.

50 a big man, healthy and muscular: This hypothetical description of Agamemnon's body, clothing, and arms is based on Homer and the royal skeletons of Mycenae. See Yiannis Tzedakis and Holley Martlew, eds.,
Minoans and Mycenaeans: Flavours of Their Time
(Athens: Production Kapon Editions, 1999), 220–27.

51 “opener of canals”: Frayne, “Iahdun-Lim,” in Hallo, ed.,
Context of Scripture,
vol. 2, p. 260.

52 “scepter-bearing king”:
Iliad
1.279.

53 symbol of power in Sumer: J. S. Cooper, “Enmetana,” in
Reconstructing History from Ancient Inscriptions: The Lagash-Umma Border Conflict,
vol. 2, fasc. 1 in
Sources from the Ancient Near East
(Malibu, Calif.: Undena Publications, 1983), §v, p. 50.

54 cooling their heels on rocky Ithaca:
Odyssey
24.118–19.

55 “of the great war cry”:
Iliad
5.855.

56 ghee-and-honey paste: A. K. Grayson, “Erishum I,” in
Assyrian Royal Inscriptions,
vol. 1,
From the Beginning to Ashur-resha-ishi
(Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1972), 7.62 and n. 36, p. 10.