The saga has been retold for hundreds of years and has become even harder to trace back to truth because of the many views on the account mainly by Homer’s take on the event in his fictions The Odyssey and The Iliad. His versions both contain gods and portray Achilles as immortal except for the heel of his foot. The movie Troy, aside from a bit of dramatization and a few minor twists in the tale, is probably more accurate than not. The main question that has been posed is if Troy really existed. Manfred Korfmann, a German archeologist, has led excavations on the site believed to be Troy told of by legends for the past 16 years.
AP World History: World Civilizations: The Global Experience Part II The Classical Period: 1000 B.C.E. to 500 C.E. : Uniting Large Regions Chapter 5: Classical Civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (Greece & Persia) • Textbook Error: on page 102, the textbook refers to a naval battle between the Persians and Greeks that happened at the “Straits of Thermopylae”. This is incorrect. The naval battle won by the Greeks happened at the Straits of Salamis, while the 500 Spartans previously made a valiant last stand against the Persians at the Pass of Thermopylae in northern Greece.
That figures from Greek mythology were still being represented artistically in Homer’s time shows that the people still respected the tales after centuries had gone by. Homer also described great palaces belonging to kings and heroes, enormous structures the like of which was unknown in Greece in the eighth century BC. Such opulence and extravagance had not been seen in Greece since the twelfth century BC, not long after Troy was said to have fallen and Homer is describing a world of which his audience would have no experience (BHAG, p. 41 – 42). From archaeological remains of eighth century settlements, homes were much smaller
This epic poem, written in 700 BC, (five hundred years after the war) is a compilation of the oral histories passed from one generation to another. The poem focuses on the wrath of Achilles, using Troy as the poetic setting for a conflict between men and gods. According to Korfmann, “There is nothing in the archeological record to contradict the assertion that Troy and the surrounding countryside formed the setting for Homer’s Iliad in 700 BC.” In his description of the city , the terrain, the landscape, the natural features, etc, can be matched up with the archeology and geography around Troy today. There are however inconsistencies in the Iliad which have questioned its reliability. Homer’s audience however, knew that a war had been fought in Ilios or Troy and accepted the mythology of the poem and the exaggerated feats of its Greek heroes without questioning its historical accuracy.
Undoubtedly, one of the greatest fictional characters recognized in English literature is the majestic King Arthur. The hundreds of legends surrounding this central figure and his kingdom in Camelot each have their different tweaks but contain the same basic plotlines: the marriage of Arthur and Guinevere, the betrayal of Guinevere and Lancelot, and the culminating battle between Arthur and his illegitimate son Mordred. Despite this compelling tale on the surface that has been alive for over a thousand years, a closer look deeper into its origins provides the true insight into the complexity of this beloved legend. As a compilation of Celtic mythology, pagan symbols, and Christian allegory, perhaps the element that stands out the most is the latter as it is reflected consistently throughout the legend. The beginnings of Arthur as king are an interesting juxtaposition of pagan symbolism and Christian allegory.
A Time Traveling Yankee (A Connecticut Yankee by Mark Twain) Written in 1889, Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is regarded by many scholars as the most important of American Arthuriana. Twain strips Arthurian legend of much of its glory and grandeur, thereby making it possible for his contemporaries to identify with his main character; Hank Morgan. However, in doing so Twain also diverted from history quite a bit. Most, if not all, of the social structure of King Arthur’s court is based on Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, which is the first real account of the King Arthur legend. Twain also mentions the Grail quest that is central to Malory’s work.
Beowulf, the Great Epic Hero There are two lengendary epic poems that have great epic heroes. The first is The Iliad, written by author Homer in 850 b.c., and the second is Beowulf, from the time period 750 a.d., whose author is unknown. Both of the poems tell a story about epic heroes. Between the two heroes, I think that Beowulf appears to show more traits of an epic hero than Achilles. One reason why I believe Beowulf is brave is because he fought Grendel with his bare hands.
The Persian Wars was an 11-year skirmish between the Greeks and Persians. In the period 480 to 479BC, the 2nd invasion of Greece by the Persians, the Persians where defeated by the Greeks in seemingly impossible odds. One single factory cannot be held accountable for the Greeks’ victory, but rather an amalgamation of factors. These factors include unity and communication, morale, leadership, strategy, warfare, and geographical knowledge. Each factor played a definitive role in the various battles, ensuring the Greek’s ultimate success.
It's clear that Plato made up Atlantis as a plot device for his stories because there no other records of it anywhere else in the world. There are many extant Greek texts; surely someone else would have also mentioned, at least in passing, such a remarkable place. There is simply no evidence from any source that the legends about Atlantis existed before Plato wrote about it. The 'lost' continent Despite its clear origin in fiction, many people over the centuries have claimed that there must be some truth behind the myths, speculating about where Atlantis would be found. Countless Atlantis "experts" have located the lost continent all around the world based on the same set
The story of Atlantis is one of the oldest myths of mankind, a lost paradise and the most popular of all supposed advanced prehistoric lost civilizations. It’s location has been assigned to almost every possible place on earth including Sardinia, Crete, Cyprus, Malta, Turkey, Israel, Sinai, Sweden, Bahamas, Bermuda Triangle, Japan and even Kumari Kandam (“Lost Continent”). In Plato's book, Timaeus, a character named Kritias tells an account of Atlantis that has been in his family for generations. According to the character, the story was originally told to his ancestor, Solon, by a priest during Solon's visit to Egypt. There had been a powerful empire located west of the “Pillars of Hercules” (what is now known as the Straight of Gibraltar) on an island in the Atlantic Ocean.