The Trojan War (25 page)

135 as crocodiles fall: Lichtheim, “The Kadesh Battle Inscriptions of Rameses II: The Bulletin,” in
Ancient Egyptian Literature,
vol. 2, p. 62.

136 as one Greek common soldier boasts: Thersites,
Iliad
2.231. For an image of how Egyptians bound their prisoners, see the Medinet Habu relief, in Yadin,
Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands,
vol. 2, pp. 342–43.

137 Great Sea God: In Near Eastern myth, see, e.g., Itamar Singer, “Mursili's Hymn and Prayer to the Sun-Goddess of Arinna (CTH 376.A),” in
Hittite Prayers,
51–57.

138 Bronze Age gesture of respect: See, e.g., Rameses II as a god in Lichtheim, “The Kadesh Battle Inscriptions of Rameses II: The Poem,” in
Ancient Egyptian Literature,
vol. 2, p. 67.

139 Kukkunni: Beckman, “Treaty Between Muwatttalli II of Hatti and Alaksandu of Wilusa,” in
Hittite Diplomatic Texts,
no. 13, §3, p. 87.

140 the watchmen might anticipate: Cf. Miriam Lichtheim, “The Poetical Stela of Merneptah (Israel Stela),” in
Ancient Egyptian Literature,
vol. 2, p. 77.

141 verdict of Thucydides: Thuc. 1.11.1.

142 battle on the Sangarius River:
Iliad
3.184–90.

143 double doors: Cf. Yadin,
Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands,
vol. 1, pp. 21–22.

144 the build of a boxer:
Odyssey
18.66–74. For clothes, see
Odyssey
19.225–43; cf. Nestor's clothes at
Iliad
10.131–34.

145 bull that represented the army's god: The bull was a common Anatolian symbol of the Storm God, see Ann C. Gunter, “Animals in Anatolian Art,” in Collins, ed.,
History of Animal World in the Ancient Near East,
90; the Storm God was the symbol of Troy's army, see Beckman,
Hittite Diplomatic Texts,
92; a bull figure has been found recently in Troy VIi, see Wendy Rigter and Diane Thumm-Dograyan, “Ein Hohlgeformter Stier Aus Troia,”
Studia Troica
14 (2004): 87–100.

146 It was unmanly, said a Hittite king: Hattushilish III (1267–1230
B.C.
), as cited in Van den Hout, “Bellum Iustum,” 26.

147 a “tablet of war” and a “tablet of peace”: Van den Hout, “Bellum Iustum,” 17, 25.

148 as a Greek king once sent to the Hittite monarch:
Keilschrifturkunden aus Boghazköi
V (Berlin: Zu beziehen durch die Vorderasiatische Abteilung der Staatlichen Museen, 1921–25): 6, (E. Laroche,
Catalogue des Textes Hittites
ii (Paris: Klincksieck, 1971): 57–64; cf. Bryce,
Kingdom of the Hittites,
238–40; Bryce,
Life and Society,
168.

149 “This is what Zeus has given us”:
Iliad
14.86–87.

150 “disgraceful” and “an outrage”:
Iliad
11.142.

151 it was the gods and not she who were responsible:
Iliad
3.164.

152 One Canaanite mayor confessed his fear of his own peasantry: Moran,
Amarna Letters
, EA 117, ll. 83–94, p. 194.

153 driven into exile by a younger brother who despised him: Moran,
Amarna Letters,
EA 137, ll. 14–35, p. 218.

154 could force a city into surrendering: Houwink ten Cate, “Annals of Hattusilis I,” 67.

155 against the armed might of the Greeks:
Iliad
13.101–6.

156 Hector once barely escaped Achilles' charge:
Iliad
9.352–55.

157 this postern gate lacked protective bastions:
Iliad
5.789.

158 three ways to conquer a fortified city: Adapted from Yadin,
Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands,
vol. 1, pp. 16–18.

159 Mesopotamian proverb: John A. Wilson, “Akkadian Proverbs and Counsels,” in Pritchard,
Ancient Near Eastern Texts,
425.

160 when men mount swift-footed horses:
Odyssey
18.263–64.

161 when he said goodbye to his wife Penelope:
Odyssey
18.258.

162 Thucydides is the source: Thuc. 1.11.1.

163 “a hateful path”:
Odyssey
14.235–36.

164 “as many as the leaves”:
Odyssey
9.51.

165 Pithana and his son Anitta: Harry A. Hoffner Jr., “Proclamation of Anitta of Kusar,” in Hallo, ed.,
Context of Scripture,
vol. 1, pp. 182–83.

166 One ancient Greek literary critic: Aristarchus; see discussion by G. S. Kirk,
The Iliad: A Commentary,
vol. 2, on Books 5–8 (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 217–18; cf. ibid., vol. 1, on Books 1–4, pp. 38–43.

167 “That quarter most”:
Iliad
6.433–39.

168 a painted pottery fragment: Shear,
Tales of Heroes
, 29 and fig. 42, p. 31.

169 Ajax could defeat Achilles:
Iliad
13.324–25.

170 “the bulwark of the Greeks”:
Iliad
7.211.

171 favorite of the goddess Ishtar: Van den Hout, “Apology of Hattusili III,” in Hallo, ed.,
Context of Scripture,
vol. 1, p. 201.

172 “mistress of strife and battle”: A. Kirk Grayson, “Tukulti-Ninurta I,” in
Assyrian Rulers of the Third and Second Millennia
BC
(to 1115
BC
),
Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Assyrian Periods/vol. 1, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987), 1.v, 2–22, p. 238.

173 The outer wall: The existence of a wall around the lower city is likely but not certain. For arguments in favor of its existence, see D. F. Easton, J. D. Hawkins, A. G. Sherratt, and E. S. Sherratt, “Troy in Recent Perspective,”
Anatolian Studies
52 (2002): 91–93; for arguments against, see D. Hertel and Frank Kolb, “Troy in Clearer Perspective,”
Anatolian Studies
53 (2003): 77–81.

174 heaps of blood: Lichtheim, “The Kadesh Battle Inscriptions of Rameses II: The Poem,” in
Ancient Egyptian Literature,
vol. 2, p. 70.

175 “Sole Companion”: John A. Wilson, “Texts from the Tomb of General Hor-em-Heb,” in Pritchard,
Ancient Near Eastern Texts,
251.

176 no one could match Achilles for his looks or physique:
Odyssey
11.469–70.

177 big and beautiful:
Iliad
21.108.

178 “None of the bronze-wearing Greeks is my equal”:
Iliad
18.105–6.

179 Achilles claimed to have destroyed:
Iliad
9.328–29.

180 Anum-Hirbi: Kemal Balkan,
Letter of King Anum-Hirbi of Mama to King Warshama of Kanish
(Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basimevi, 1957), 16; Houwink ten Cate, “Annals of Hattusilis I,” 69–70.

181 sea raiders: Bryce,
Kingdom of the Hittites,
368, 369.

182 Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Hittite texts: Wilson, “The Asiatic Campaigns of Thut-Mose III: The Battle of Megiddo” and “Subsequent Campaigns,” in Pritchard,
Ancient Near Eastern Texts,
234–41 passim; Heimpel,
Letters to the King of Mari,
27 112, p. 449; Harry A. Hoffner Jr., “Deeds of Supiluliuma,” in Hallo, ed.,
Context of Scripture,
vol. 1, pp. 185–92 passim; cf. Bryce,
Life and Society,
104–7.

183 Attarissiya: Beckman, “Indictment of Madduwatta,” in
Hittite Diplomatic Texts,
27 §19, p. 158.

184 Melanippus son of Hicetaeon:
Iliad
15.546–51.

185 engineers from Lycia: Pausanias 2.16.5, 25.8.

186 “making war on other men over their women”:
Iliad
9.327.

187 Egyptian and Hittite booty lists: Wilson, “The Asiatic Campaigns of Thut-Mose III: The Battle of Megiddo” and “Subsequent Campaigns,” in Pritchard,
Ancient Near Eastern Texts,
234–41 passim; Hoffner, “Deeds of Supiluliuma,” in Hallo, ed.,
Context of Scripture,
vol. 1, pp. 185–92 passim; cf. Bryce,
Life and Society,
104–7.

188 Linear B tablets: Ventris and Chadwick,
Documents in Mycenaean Greek,
PY 16, p. 161; cf. pp. 156, 579.

189 eleven were in the vicinity of Troy:
Iliad
9.326.

190 But there were surely some refugees: Dozens of large storage jars were sunk to their full height (up to six and a half feet) beneath the floor of the houses of Troy VIi. This suggests crowding, which was once attributed to a surge of refugees during the Trojan War. Yet the houses date not to Troy VIi's end but to its early years, so they must refer to something other than the Trojan War—they may be a sign of squatters during the rebuilding of the city after the earthquake of ca. 1300
B.C.
See P. A. Mountjoy, “Troy VII Reconsidered,”
Studia Troica
9 (1999): 296–97.

191 “Where Trojan dames”:
Iliad
22.155–56.

192 “like locusts”: D. Pardee, “The Kirta Epic,” in Hallo, ed.,
Context of Scripture,
vol. 1, pp. 334–35.

193 Roman-era collection of myths: Pseudo-Apollodorus,
Epitome,
3.33.

194 Thermi: Excavations in the 1930s dated the destruction to ca. 1250, but the recent redating of Trojan pottery might suggest a later date for the destruction—and hence, a date that fits the Trojan War.

195 naval battle took place between Hittite and Cypriot ships: Hoffner, “The Hittite Conquest of Cyprus,” in Hallo, ed.,
Context of Scripture,
vol. 1, pp. 192–93.

196 sculpted Egyptian relief: See the illustrations of Rameses III's relief at Medinet Habu in Yadin,
Art of Warfare,
vol. 2, pp. 250–52, 340–41.

197 the “holy city of Eëtion”:
Iliad
1.366.

198 described as “high-gated”:
Iliad
6.416.

199 “we destroyed it and brought everything here”:
Iliad
1.367.

200 “The distant Trojans never injured me”:
Iliad
1.153.

201 “The well wrought harp from conquered Thebae came”:
Iliad
9.186–88.

202 died in their house “of Artemis's arrows”:
Iliad
6.428.

203 According to an ancient commentary:
Iliad
1.366–69, Scholion on 1.366; see Kirk,
The Iliad,
vol. 1, p. 91.

204 “Zeus / Preserved me”:
Iliad
20.92–93.

205 The arms of the Greeks: For the image, see Cooper,
Curse of Agade,
l. 159, p. 59.

206 fell on the town: Bronze Age Anatolians used the expression “fall on” to mean “invade,” e.g., Balkan,
Letter of King Anum-Hirbi,
1.0, p. 8, comm. p. 14.

207 more steadfast than a row of bricks: Compare Moran,
Amarna Letters,
EA 296, ll. 17–22, p. 338.

208 a silver drinking cup from Mycenae: Commonly known as the Silver Siege Rhyton, the vessel was found in Shaft Grave 4.

209 the Pharaoh Kamose: John A. Wilson, “The War Against the Hyksos (continued),” in Pritchard,
Ancient Near Eastern Texts,
554.

210 Better-documented, later periods of ancient Greek history: See, e.g., Diodorus Siculus 13.14.5; cf. Aeneas Tacticus,
Siegecraft,
40.4–5.

211 “Thy friendly hand”:
Iliad
19.295–97.

212 “I trampled the country of Hassuwa”: Amelie Kuhrt,
The Ancient Near East: c. 3000–330
BC
,
vol. 1 (London: Routledge, 1995), 242.

213 Seti I: John A. Wilson, “Campaigns of Seti I in Asia,” in Pritchard,
Ancient Near Eastern Texts,
254–55.