The Trojan War (27 page)

300 an imposing monument: Among many examples from Bronze Age Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and Egypt, see Kitchen, “First Beth Shean Stela, Year 1,” “Second Beth-Shan Stela, [Year Lost]”; Frayne, “Iahdun-Lim,” in Hallo, ed.,
Context of Scripture,
vol. 2, pp. 25, 28, 260; Hawkins, “Tarkasnawa,” 4–10 (the Karabel Relief).

301 Murshilish II: Beal, “Ten Year Annals,” Year 3, in Hallo, ed.,
Context of Scripture,
vol. 2, p. 85.

302 Babylonian prayer: Benjamin R. Foster, “IV. Adad (a) Against Thunder,” in
Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature,
vol. 2,
Mature, Late,
2nd edition (Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press, 1996), 540–41.

303 dog: Moran,
Amarna Letters,
EA 76, p. 146.

304 “son of a nobody”: A. K. Grayson, “Ashur-Uballit I,” in
Assyrian Royal Inscriptions,
vol. 1: 15*.325, p. 50.

305 should turn into a woman: Collins, “The First Soldiers' Oath,” in Hallo, ed.,
Context of Scripture,
166.

306 “Go, less than woman”:
Iliad
8.163.

307 “Trojans and Lycians”:
Iliad
8.173–74.

308 “his manhood dwindle away”: Grayson, “Tukulti-Ninurta I,” in
Assyrian Rulers,
vol. 1: 1.vi 2–22, p. 238.

309 Purple was the royal color: Gary Beckman, “Edict of Suppiluliuma I of Hatti Concerning the Tribute of Ugarit,” in
Hittite Diplomatic Texts,
166–68.

310 Mesopotamian saying: Sasson,
Military Establishments at Mari,
42.

311 dogs were the favorite animal for insults: Among many examples, consider the Hittite King Shuppiluliuma I's characterization of the tribal chief Huqqana of Hayasa as “a lowly dog” (Beckman, “Treaty Between Suppiluliuma I of Hatti and Huqqana of Hayasa,” in
Hittite Diplomatic Texts,
27) and a Canaanite mayor's assertion that only a dog would disobey the orders of Pharaoh (Moran,
Amarna Letters,
EA 314, ll. 11–16, p. 347).

312 “the bridges of war”:
Iliad
4.371; 8.378, 555; 11.160; 20.427.

313 food served by Syrian towns: Moran,
Amarna Letters,
EA 55, ll. 10–15, p. 127; EA 324, ll. 10–15, p. 352.

314 sound the alarm: Heimpel,
Letters to the King of Mari,
26 168, p. 239.

315 “This night will”:
Iliad
9.78.

316 sentinels: Beal,
Organization of the Hittite Military,
251–60.

317 whose property was as wide as the sea: For the phrase, see Moran,
Amarna Letters,
EA 89, ll. 39–47, p. 162.

318 “a razor's edge”:
Iliad
10.173.

319 “man of tongue”: Heimpel,
Letters to the King of Mari,
s.v. “informer,” 585; S. Dalley,
Mari and Karana: Two Old Babylonian Cities
(New York: Longman, 1984), 150. Cf. Gabriel Lemkin,
My Just War: The Memoir of a Jewish Red Army Soldier in World War II
(Novato, Calif.: Presidio, 1998), 154.

320 white horses: Dalley,
Mari and Karana,
161; Moran,
Amarna Letters,
EA 16, 9–12, pp. 39, 40 n. 3.

321 guerrilla war: Richard Holmes, ed.,
Oxford Companion to Military History
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 383–86.

322 “the war of the flea”: The phrase comes from Robert Taber,
The War of the Flea: The Classic Study of Guerrilla Warfare
(Dulles, Va.: Brassey's, 2002).

323 staple techniques of Mesopotamian warfare: Sasson,
Military Establishments at Mari,
39–42.

324 Hittite laws: Albrecht Goetze, “The Middle Assyrian Laws,” in Pritchard,
Ancient Near Eastern Texts,
188–97.

325 breaking and entering: S. N. Kramer, “Lipit-Ishtar Lawcode,” in Pritchard,
Ancient Near Eastern Texts,
160.

326 raids on merchant caravans: Dalley,
Mari and Karana,
150.

327 Egyptians decry: Miriam Lichtheim, “The Autobiography of Weni,” in
Ancient Egyptian Literature,
vol. 1,
The Old and Middle Kingdoms
, 20.

328 merchant counted himself lucky: Dalley,
Mari and Karana,
150.

329 foiled an assassin: Moran,
Amarna Letters,
EA 81, ll 14–24, p. 150.

330 elder brother: Miraim Lichtheim, “The Two Brothers,” in
Ancient Egyptian Literature
, vol. 2,
The New Kingdom,
205.

331 macehead: Grayson, “Shalmaneser I,” in
Assyrian Rulers,
vol. 1: 22, pp. 210–11.

332 farmers of Late Bronze Age Ugarit: Sylvie Lackenbacher,
Textes Akkadiens d'Ugarit: Textes provenants des vingt-cinq premières campagnes
(Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 2002), RS 17.341 = PRU IV, 161s. et pl. L, pp. 143–44.

333 “miserable Asiatic”: Miriam Lichtheim, “The Instruction Addressed to King Merikare,” in
Ancient Egyptian Literature,
vol. 1,
The Old and Middle Kingdoms,
103–4.

334 Scouting patrols: Sasson,
Military Establishments at Mari,
18; Heimpel,
Letters to the King of Mari,
26 156, p. 236; Beal,
Organization of the Hittite Military,
260–63.

335 two Bedouin: Beal,
Organization of the Hittite Military,
266–68.

336 Sumerian poem: Dina Katz, “Gilgamesh and Akka,” in Hallo, ed.,
Context of Scripture,
vol. 1, p. 551.

337 “hunger contorts”: Piotr Michalowski,
The Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur
(Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1989), ll. 390–91, p. 61.

338 the chief magistrate of the Bronze Age city of Byblos: Moran,
Amarna Letters,
EA 125, ll. 14–24, 25–32, pp. 204–5.

339 mayor of Byblos: Moran,
Amarna Letters,
EA 85, ll. 6–15, p. 156.

340 “rivaling in height heaven and earth”: The phrase comes from Moran,
Amarna Letters,
EA 29, ll. 16–27, p. 93.

341 “My early youth was bred”:
Iliad
6.444–46.

342 “All males”:
Iliad
6.493–94.

343 an ancient talisman for bringing back a man: Barber,
Prehistoric Textiles,
372–73.

344 as an Assyrian text put it: Grayson, “Shalmaneser I,” in
Assyrian Rulers,
vol. 1: 1.88–106, p. 184.

345 Hammurabi: Heimpel,
Letters to the King of Mari,
26 379, p. 329.

346 details of an operation: See, e.g., Heimpel,
Letters to the King of Mari,
26 170, p. 240.

347 Repair the gate: Heimpel,
Letters to the King of Mari,
26 221–bis, p. 263.

348 “A chosen phalanx”:
Iliad
13.126–31, 133–35.

349 “a man insatiable for war”:
Iliad
13.746–47.

350 like frightened cattle or sheep:
Iliad
15.321–26.

351 “Bring fire!”:
Iliad
15.718.

352 “Zeus has granted us today”:
Iliad
15.719–21.

353 showers that deposit red dust:
Iliad
16.458; Richard Janko,
The Iliad: A Commentary,
vol. 4, on books 13–16 (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 377. The sirocco (ancient Greek Notos or Lips) sometimes brings red rain in the form of dust-laden air from the Sahara. See J. B. Thornes and John Wainwright,
Environmental Issues in the Mediterranean
(New York: Routledge, 2002), 80; cf. Jamie Morton,
The Role of the Physical Environment in Ancient Greek Seafaring
(Leiden: Brill, 2001), 50–51.

354 “that war was sweeter”:
Iliad
11.14–15.

355 As a Babylonian hymn says: Foster, “To Nergal (a) Nergal the Warrior,” in
Before the Muses,
vol. 2, p. 612.

356 “If thou but lead”:
Iliad
11.796–800.

357 “Think your Achilles sees”:
Iliad
16.269–74.

358 “smashing his belly”: Izre'el and Singer,
General's Letter from Ugarit,
27, with an argument on 49–50 for this rendition of a difficult original in Akkadian.

359 like pharaoh's war cry: Moran,
Amarna Letters,
EA 147, ll. 9–15, p. 233; John A. Wilson, “The Egyptians and the Gods of Asia,” in Pritchard,
Ancient Near Eastern Texts,
249.

360 “So may his rage be tired”:
Iliad
18.282–83.

361 “useless weight on the ground”:
Iliad
18.104.

362 “Let me this instant”:
Iliad
18.120–21.

363 thirty-six miles or more: Luce,
Celebrating Homer's Landscapes,
103.

364 Like Hittite and Egyptian generals: For examples, see Billie Jean Collins, “The ‘Ritual Between the Pieces,'” in Hallo, ed.,
Context of Scripture
, vol. 1, pp. 160–61. More than one example of this ritual is known: Billie Jean Collins, “The Puppy in Hittite Ritual,”
Journal of Cuneiform Studies
42 (1990): 211–26; Wilson, “The Egyptians and the Gods of Asia,” in Pritchard,
Ancient Near Eastern Texts
, 248.

365 a classic gesture: See, e.g., Moran,
Amarna Letters
, EA 64, p. 135; EA 151, p. 238; EA 314, p. 377.

366 signal his surrender: Houwink ten Cate, “Annals of Hattusilis I,” 66–67.

367 “women who are equivalent to men”:
Iliad
3.189, 6.186.

368 several hundred thousand women: http://www.womensmemorial.org/PDFs/StatsonWIM.pdf.

369 surely were not cheap:
CTH 7
, rev. 31–32; Beckman, “The Siege of Ursu Text (CTH 7) and Old Hittite Historiography,”
Journal of Cuneiform Studies
47 (1995): 27, comm. 31.

370 Arzawa: Kuhrt,
Ancient Near East
, vol. 1, pp. 250–52, citing EA 31–32.

371 king of Mira: Bryce,
Kingdom of the Hittites
, 308–9.

372 “Talk not of ruling in this dolorous gloom”:
Odyssey
11.488–81.

373 “children of the Trojans”:
Odyssey
11.547.

374 “the king”:
Little Iliad
, frag. 3.

375 “like Artemis with her golden arrows”:
Odyssey
4.122.

376 Eurypylus's mother: Odyssey 11.519–21;
Little Iliad
, frags. 6–7.

377 figurines were a familiar way of representing a deity: See the illustrations in O. Tashin,
Die Hethiter und ihr Reich: Das Volk der 1000 Götter
(Stuttgart: Theiss, 2002), 227–31, 344–47.

378 wealthy Hittite capitals had monumental sculptures of the gods: Ekrem Akurgal,
The Art of the Hittites
, photographs by Max Hirmer, trans. Constance McNab (New York: H. N. Abrams, 1962), 108–10.

379 sacred medicine bundles: See under “medicine bundle,” in Arlene Hirschfelder and Paulette Molin,
The Encyclopedia of Native American Religions: An Introduction
(New York: Facts on File, 1992), 176.

380 the Hittites: Houwink ten Cate, “Annals of Hattusilis I,” 70.

381 the Romans: See under “evocatio,”
Oxford Classical Dictionary
, 580.

382 leave an enemy town unscathed: Houwink ten Cate, “Annals of Hattusilis I,” 73.