Saturday, May 18, 2013

An Aegean World War


The Trojan War was not some ordinary war between the Greeks, as was typical in both myth (as evidence by Nestor's constant stories and Odysseus' comments that the Greeks as a people are destined to fight their wars to the better end) and history. The Trojan War was a grand expedition, a coalition of Greeks uniting against a common foe. The grandness of the armada is aptly shown to the audience by Homer in Book II of the Iliad.

Troy was not alone in its effort to defend itself either. It had allies of its own around the Aegean, also described in Book II of the Iliad.

And so this contest was not a petty affair. It was about far more than Helen. Instead, the war for Troy resembles an Aegean world war- a monumental struggle that would touch every part of the region and determine its future. No one living there would be unaffected by the conflict.


 A map of Homeric Greece.

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