The Trojan War: Is There Truth behind the Legend?

Author(s): Trevor R. Bryce

Source: Near Eastern Archaeology, Vol. 65, No. 3 (Sep., 2002), pp. 182-195
Published by: The American Schools of Oriental Research
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3210883
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THE
T ROJAN
WAR

havebeenthe
ouldthis
really

Forhere,we are to believe,was the

oftheten-year
conflict
between
setting
citadelofHomeric
mighty
Greeks
and
immortalized
in the
Trojans
visitors
toHisepic?First-time
epictaleoftheTrojanWar,toldbya blind
whoareunprepared
arhk
poet called Homerwho
fortheexperience
may
lived on or close by
Anatolia'swestern
Ionian
wellbedisappointed
by
coast.Thepoeticnarrative
whattheysee.Romanthathecomposed,
andthat
ofanimposing
ticvisions
we knowas theIliad,was
fortress
above
towering
first
recited
toaudiences
at
thesurrounding
plains
theverydawnofGreekliterature.
To
mustbesetaside.TodaythelowtheancientGreekworlditbecame
located
moundofHisarlik,
what the Bible is to the Judaeolying
Christian
world.
Andfrom
thetimeof
innorthwest
neartheDardanelles
its
some
composition,
twenty-eight
thesiteof
andreputedly
Turkey
centuries
as a major
ago,ithasserved
from
is
distinguishable
Troy,barely
sourceofinspiration
forsuccessive
Thecitadelcovers
itssurrounds.
generationsof artists,poets and
an areanotmuchlargerthana
Amongsttheancient
playwrights.
field
football
Greeksthemselves,
(itisabout200meters
episodesfrom
Homer'saccountofthewarprovided
andpresents
tothe
indiameter)
themes
forGreektragedy,
forpoetry,
ofbroa confusion
traveler
modem
fornarrative
forpainting
and
tales,
kenpavements,
building
sculpture.The tradition
andsuperfoundations,
was kept alive by the
crisscrossing
imposed,
Romansin theirownart
ofwalls.
andliterature.
Itwas,most
Today
fragments
thestarting
most
dominant
Hisarlk's
notably,
point
for
the
Aeneid,
Virgil's
great
literary
masterpiece
woodenhorse,
is an enormous
feature
Trevor
R. Br~ce written
atthebehestoftheemperor
Augustus.
the
ofrecent
construction,
arguably site's
Eventodaythetradition
surfaces.
constantly
toassureus Manyofuslearntas children
andintended
mostphotogenic
feature,
thestories
ofHelenandParis,
of
all thatthiswasindeedthefabled
Troy,
cityofKing thegreatheroesOdysseus,
andHektor,
andaboveall
Achilles,
theSpartan
which
harbored
hascaptured
Priam,
queenHelenand oftheTrojanhorse.Thislastinparticular
popular
in
contexts
from
film
and
television
forces
assemto
the
Greek
succumbed
imagination,
ranging
epics
besieging
finally
tocorny
oftheGreeksoldier
jokes(likethestory
ofthemighty
theleadership
bledunder
Agamemnon.documentaries
whofellillwhileentombed
in thecreature's
bellyand
ifthere
askedhiscomrades
wasa doctorinthehorse),'
tocode-names
forprisonerof-warescape plans and
viruses.
computer

IS THERE
TRUTH
BEHIND

THE LEGEND?

Posedby
Questions
theTradition

ThefabledcityofKingPriam
viewofthemoundat Hisarlik.
Aerial
today
from
thesurrounding
isbarely
distinguishable
plain.

Muchofourfascination
withthetraditionarises
from
a setofquestions
that
havebeenaskedeversince
Homerfirst
recited
histale
ofTroy.
DidtheTrojanWar
Today'sversionoftheTrojanHorse, really happen? Was a
locatednextto thesiteat Hisarlik. womanthe cause of it?

65:3 (2002)
182 NEAREASTERNARCHAEOLOGY

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ofthetradition,
faithinthefundamental
historical
reliability
to thepointwheretheIliadis usedalmostlikea history
orarchaeological
textbook
manualforreconstructing
boththe
oftheperiodandthematerial
inwhichthe
history
setting
events
narrated
byHomertookplace.Theviewenunciated
by
CarlBlegen(1963:20),whoexcavated
from
1932
at Hisarlik
to 1938,stillattractsmuchsupport:"It can no longerbe
whenonesurveys
thestateofourknowledge
doubted,
Werethereotherreasons
today,
thattherereally
wasan actualhistorical
for the conflict?Was
TrojanWar,inwhich
ofAchaians,
orMycenaeans,"
a coalition
undera kingwhose
therea longsiegebefore
was
thepeopleofTroy
there
Was
fell?
recognized,
fought
against
overlordship
really
Troy
and theirallies."On theotherhand,Hiller(1991: 145)
a Trojanhorse?Ancient
ina historical
reminds
usthat"Ourfaith
Greekwriters
Trojanwarisfounded
pondered
all
a
above
on
but
Homer
is
not
historian.
Firstofall
Homer,
such
questions
upon
he is a poet;whathe relatesis nothistory
butmyth."A
almost as much as
heldmiddle
viewis thatHomeric
almost
tradition
scholarshave done in
commonly
outofa kernel
ofhistorical
truth,
more recent times.
certainly
though
developed
muchofthedetailofthetradition
mustbe creditedto the
Amongstthe ancient
fertile
of
and
a
doubted
the
most
hardened
Greeksthemselves
lively
imagination
great
poetwhoseprimary
only
skeptics
concern
wastotella goodstory.
thata TrojanWaras describedbyHomeractuallytookplace.
Ofcoursethere
ismuchinthestory
thatmustcomedirectly
werefarfromconvincedthatHomer
Butsomeofthebelievers
from
orthatincorporates
thepoet'sownimagination,
standard
had provideda trueand accurate recordof the waror the
ofa narrative
tradition
backwellbefore
eventsleadingup to it. Notableamongstthesewas thefifth features
extending
in
The element
ofdivineinteraction
withhumanity,
a versionofthe Homer.
Herodotos.Following
Greekhistorian
century
in
this
case
with
the
of
either
the
2.
Herodotos
him
told
gods
lining
up support
(Histories
byEgyptianpriests,
story
intheepic
GreeksortheTrojans,
makesitsfirst
appearances
112-18) claimedthattheshipin whichParisand Helen had
ingeneral
intheNearEastern
andnarrative
tradition
fledfromGreecewasblownbyviolentwindsontothecoastof genre,
Egypt.Here theEgyptiankingProteusdetainedHelen, until world,long beforethe genesisof Homericepic. The
tostories
anessential
dimension
toldon
such timeas herhusbandMenelaus could fetchherhome. supernatural
provided
a grandscale.Byleavingitout,a story-teller
wouldhaveleft
Thus the Trojan War was due to nothing more than a
So too a numberofthe
thewoman hisaudiencesorelydisappointed.
Farfromheroicallydefending
misunderstanding.
in
rituals
that
Homer
both
theIliadanditssequel
whohadfledwiththeirprince,theTrojanswhenchallenged
preserves
by
likethatinwhichOdysseussummoned
that theOdyssey,
theGreeksto handHelenbackdeclared,quitetruthfully,
up the
of
from
the
were
other
cultural
nor
ever
she
not
had
was
because
dead,
not
do
could
clearly
spirits
imported
so-simply
they
inthestories
Evensomeofthehumanfigures
could
beeninTroy!This,Herodotosbelieved,wasthetrueversionof contexts.
wellknew.Butit lackeddramatic conceivablyhavebeenbasedon historicalprototypesthetale,as Homerhimself
thefleshing
outoftheircharacters
andsituations
was
potential.Byusingit,Homerwouldhavedeprivedhisstoryof though
ofthepoet'sowndevising.
we
To thenarrator's
motive.Andso he rejectedit.
romantic
itsgrandunderlying
imagination
thecraftiness
ofOdysseus,
thepetulanceand
can attribute
doubtedthatHelenreallydid
Yetfewancientcommentators
ofSarpedon,
wrath
ofAchilles,
thefierce
andthe
belligerence
exist,and thatherabductionbytheTrojanprincePariswas
ofthenobleHektor'slastfarewellto hiswife
causeofthewarbetweentheGreeksand the poignancy
thefundamental
andbabysonAstyanax.
moreskeptical. Andromache
are generally
Trojans.Moderncommentators
Butafterfiltering
outall theelements
attributable
to the
Some are preparedto allow the possibilityof a historical

A nineteenth
century
byVirgil's
engraving
inspired
accountofthefallofTroy.
Aeneas
TheTrojan
prince
fleestheburning
citywithhis
onhisback.
father
Anchises

faceto launch
Helen;butsurelyittookmorethanjusta pretty
Farfromthe
conflict!
a thousandshipsand sparkoffa ten-year
thecasusbelli,
Greekqueen providing
abductionofa beautiful
thewarmusthave been foughtoversomethingmuchmore
practical and sensible, like disputedfishingrightsin the
Hellespont.Butin factourevidenceshowsthata BronzeAge
did-go to warin response
kingcould-and indeedsometimes
to theabductionfromhis kingdomofanyofhissubjects,let
ofhisownfamily.
alonemembers
At all events,scholarly
opinionis stillmuchdividedon the
truthis embeddedin Homeric
historical
how
much
of
question
On theone hand,thereare thosewhohave a deep
tradition.

to a standardrepertoire
ofnarrative
artist's
formulae,
creativity,
fromotherplacesand othertimes,are
or to culturalborrowings
fact?What
we thenleftwitha coretradition
basedon historical
itis an
In itsbarestform,
is theactualessenceofthistradition?
conflict
betweenGreeksandTrojans,in
accountofa protracted
theperiodwe call the Late BronzeAge, whichended in the
destruction and abandonment of a city called Troy in
Anatolia.Do we have hardevidenceforsucha
northwestern
In attempting
to answerthisquestion,we mustbe sure
conflict?
ofthe
thatanyevidencewe do produceis entirely
independent
Homericepic itself-forwe cannotuse Homerto provethat
Homer'saccountoftheTrojanWaris basedon fact.
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183

has captured
The TrojanHorseinparticular
fromantiquity
until
the popularimagination
this
from
fresco
On
(first
today.
Pompeii
CE),the horseis shownbeforethe
century
wallsofTroy.Museo Archeologico
Nazionale,Naples. Photo? ErichLessing,
ofArtResource.
courtesy

a Physical
Setting
Establishing
fortheWar

we
whether
taskistoestablish
Ourfirst
identifiable
havea clearly
setting
physical
was
fortheconflict.That possibility
dismissedby manyskepticsin the
whosaw
andearlier,
nineteenth
century,
Even
theIliadas purely
literary
fantasy.
on the
thosewhoremained
open-minded
questioncouldnotagreeon a precise
locationforthe war.To be sure,the
wereinno
ClassicalGreeksandRomans
settlement
at
doubtthattheabandoned
HisarlikwasthesiteofHomericTroy.
CalledIlionbytheGreeksoflatertimes,
itreceived
andNewIliumbytheRomans,
homage froma numberof famous
persons-likethePersiankingXerxes,
oxenonthesite
a thousand
whosacrificed
forhisinvasionofthe
in preparation
and theMacedonian
Greekmainland,
kingAlexanderthe Greatwho after
landinghisforcesat Troymarkedthe
ofhisinvasionofthePersian
beginning
Empirebydedicatinghisarmorto the
goddessTrojanAthenaand placinga
tombintheTrojan
wreath
uponAchilles'
inwhich
Troylay
plain.Indeedtheregion
wascalledtheTroadbyGreekandRoman
inthebelief
thatithadoncebeen
writers
control.
ButBronze
toTroy's
Age
subject
thelater
bysomecenturies
Troypredated
millennium
settlement
at Hisarlik
first
(TroyVIII, foundedin themideighth
andtherecouldbe nocertainty
century),
theTroyoftheTrojanWar.There
Troy,
ofitwiththesiteofthe on thesiteisHomer's
Greeks'
identification
thattheClassical
are
nine
levels
eachofwhich
major
occupation onthemound,
IndeedHeinrich
Schliemann
himself,
TrojanWarwascorrect.
is
a
divided
into
number
of
sub-levels.
This
thejumble
explains
thepersonwhosenameis mostcloselyassociatedwiththe
of
walls
and
levels
who
those
visit
the
sitetoday.
confronting
favored
otherlocations
identification,
apparently
Hisarhk-Troy
What
not
realize
is
that
the
mound
that
resulted
from
may
they
oftheBritish
beforefixing
uponHisarlikat theprompting
the
numerous
did
once
rise
over
layers
occupation
loftily the
whohadbought
Frank
Calvert
partofthesite.
expatriate
In
his
to
find
the
"Homeric"
level,
surrounding
plains.
eagerness
Eventodaya numberofscholarsremainskeptical.But
which
he
believed
was
one
of
the
site's
Schliemann
had
earliest,
forTroy,
wecannotruleoutotherpossible
candidates
though
his
workmen
cut
an
enormous
trench
the
and
mound,
through
has beenseriously
no alternative
proposed,consistently
substantial
ofthesite'slaterlevels.Much
portions
orat leastgenerally
sinceSchliemann destroyed
maintained,
accepted,
beenwritten
aboutSchliemann's
archaeological
in 1871.Yetiftheidentificationhasalready
at Hisarlik
beganexcavations
and
conclusions.
Suffice
itheretosay
methods,
discoveries,
ofwhichoftheTroys
iscorrect,
thatstillleavesthequestion
ARCHAEOLOGY
184 NEAREASTERN
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as thatoftheTrojan
thatthelevelheidentified
War,
designated
Bronze
totheEarly
as levelII,belonged
years
Age-a thousand
War.
dateforHomer's
foranyconceivable
tooearly
Trojan This
associateWilhelmD6rpfeld
infactwaswhatSchliemann's
He proposed
concluded.
VI,sublevel
h,as themostlikely
Troy
himself
cameto
thatSchliemann
Itwasa conclusion
candidate.
his
death.
before
not
accept long
Professor
CarlBlegenarguedthatHomer's
Subsequently
of
was
the
first
majorlevelat TroyTroy
phase theseventh
ceramic
evidence
thatthis
now
know
from
we
But
TroyVlla.
witha majorGreekassaultinthe
wastoolatetobeassociated
ofsmaller,
LateBronzeAge.In anycase,theencroachment

humbler
on thecitadelat this
dwellings
timedoesnotfitwellwiththeimposing
imageofTroyin Homericdescription.
Thereis nowgeneralagreement
with
of
VIh
as
the
identification
city
Ddrpfeld's
ofPriam-ifHisarlikdoesin factmark
thesiteofTroyand therewasin facta
muchofwhatwas
TrojanWar.Although
leftofthesixthsettlement
wasdestroyed
inthecourseofSchliemann's
excavations,
of
it
survives
to
indicate
thatit
enough
the
most
flourishing
represents
phaseof
over
existence,
Troy's
extending a period
ofseveralhundredyearsin thesecond
The remainsofthegreat
millennium.
northeast
bastionfrom
thislevelcallsto
mindHomer's
The
watchtower.
imposing
in
distinctive
VI's
walls
lends
Troy
slope
to theaccountin theIliadof
credibility
Patroklos' attempts to scale the
fortifications
byrunning
simply
upthem.
Butwemustagainstress
thattheIliadis
neither archaeological manual nor
tourist'sguide-book.Indeeddetailed
betweentheHomeric
correspondences
of
description Troyandthesite'sactual
remains are very slight. Other
sitesmight
be showntobe
contemporary
no lessconsistent
withthisdescription.
ofHisarlik,
thelocation
the
Nonetheless,
of
its
and
the
surrounds,
topography
natureofthelastphaseofitssixthlevel
are sufficientto provideus with a
historicallyplausiblesettingforthe
conflict
described
byHomer.Butthisin
is notevidencethatsucha conflict
itself
actuallytookplace. We need to look
elsewhere
forsuchevidence.
on thesiteindicates
found
that
Pottery
VIh
came
to
an
end
some
time
Troy
thefirst
during
seventy
yearsorso ofthe
thirteenth
aroundthe
century,
probably
SinceTroyVIh is
middleofthecentury.
forHomer's
themostlikely
candidate
thenweshouldset
Troy,
oursightson a datearound1250fora possibleTrojanWar.
This wouldaccordverycloselywiththe date givenby
Herodotos(Histories
2.145),whowrotein themiddleofthe
fifth
and
informs
us thattheTrojanWartookplace
century
someeighthundred
before
histime.'GiventhatHomer
years
livedinthelateeighth
orearlyseventh
thenhe must
century,
havecomposed
theIliadhalfa millennium
ormoreafter
the
eventson whichitis allegedly
based.The intervening
period
spans the last decades ofthe Late BronzeAge and the
ofseveral
hundred
years
succeeding
commonly
(though
period
referred
toas theDarkAge.
less
increasingly appropriately)
NEAREASTERNARCHAEOLOGY65:3 (2002)

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185

Ufts

um

'Ip

'd
'

Ill

0to
I
II

aftb
---

Heinrich
ca. 1870,around
Schliemann
thetimeofhisfirst
seasonat Hisarlik.

thatdatefrom2900 BCEto 500 CE.

thejumbleofremains
nineexcavatedlevels,showing
PlanofTroy's

levelsat Troy.
EarlyBronzeAge stratified

Thetrench
cutbySchliemann's
workmen
themoundofHisarlik.
through
Relieffrom
Schliemann's
tombinAthens,
depictinghimself
and hiswife
Sophiaat Troy.

65:3 (2002)
ARCHAEOLOGY
186 NEAREASTERN

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as itwasinthe
metal,
BronzeAge;inother
itappearsto
passages
havebeenincommon
use, as it was in
Homer'sown time.
The muster-roll
of
Greek shipsin the
in its
Iliadpreserves
list of place names
some vestigesof a
BronzeAgepast.But
ofOral
TheProcess
most of the place
Transmission
oral
names
its
nature,
belong to a
very
By
later
is a dynamic
andreflect
transmission
period
more
a
the
actual
While
accurately
process.
thatis
ofa tradition
essence
pictureoftheGreek
worldas it was in
passedon in thismanner
in
The
walls
of
lends
to
the
account
the
distinctive
Iliad
VI
Homer's
ownday.
be
Troy
credibility
sloping
faithfully
may
preserved,
to scalethefortifications
attempts
simply
byrunning
up them.
All thiswe must
muchelsemaybe changed, ofPatroklos'
attribute to the
added to, or updatedby
So we mustaskwhatcan be dynamic
oforaltransmission,.a
thatextended
each succeedinggeneration.
process
process
in
fact
date
back
to
the
time
over
a
of
five
or
more
centuries.
What
that
does
does
inHomer's
found
period
bearing
epics
do thishaveon thequestion
ofthehistorical
ofthe
thatherecorded
whenthetraditions
authenticity
began.Towhatextent
A commonly
theend- TrojanWartradition?
heldviewis thatinspite
hispoems,
boththeIliadandtheOdyssey,
represent
tradition
that
had
been
of
the
historical
inconsistencies
andanachronisms
of
folklore
and
that
a
of
many
product body
in
arose
the
down
of
the
the
basis
of
the
centuries?
over
Iliad
tale,
handing
many
evolving
wasindeeda conflict
between
Greeks
andTrojans
someauthentic,
archaeologically-validated
Mycenaean
Undoubtedly
in northwest
Anatoliatowards
theendoftheLateBronze
relicsof a Mycenaeanpast do survivein the epics. A
ofa helmet
made Age.Episodesfrom
theconflict,
istheIliad'sdescription
alongwiththeexploitsof
noteworthy
example
werepreserved
inballadsand
fromsliversof boars' tusksfittedonto a feltcap. This individual
combatants,
initially
at
the
courts
of
with
a
relief
and
lays
Mycenaean
ivory
sung
Mycenaean
closely
kings noblemen.
corresponds
description
thesucceeding
Dark
headencasedin a helmetfeaturing
ofa warrior's
layersof Thesewereorallytransmitted
through
in thelate eighthcentury,
ofsuch Age until,probably
as wellas withtheactualremains
boars'tusks,
slivered
theywere
a helmetnowdisplayedin theNationalArchaeological wovenintoan extendednarrativepoem,withcoherent
andcharacterization.
Andthisweoweto
Museumin Athens.Protective
theme,
headgearofthiskindwas structure,
for
the
of
a
blind
in
own
or
indeed
called
Homer.
Homer's
unknown
time,
many
genius
poet
totally
Buthowsurecan webe thatthisgeniuswasinspired
beforehistime.In an architectural
centuries
context,the
bya
in
at
sites
like
event
that
took
The
war
is
set
a
of
Late
Bronze
Late
and
adornment
actually
Age
specific
palaces
place?
layout
anditistothiscontext
thatwe
context,
AgeAnatolian
Pylosand Mycenaebringto mindthesightthatgreeted Bronze
Alkinous'
must
direct
our
search
threshold
of
for
an
answer
to
our
the
brazen
he
crossed
as
King
question.
Odysseus
isgraphically
described
opulence
palace.Thepalace'sdazzling
initsAnatolian
inBookVII ofhisOdyssey.
Context
byHomer
Troy
WehavenotedthatHisarlik
isthemostlikely
oftheMycenaeanworldwere
candidate
for
Butwhilesomefeatures
in
or
no
the
the
citadel
of
and
that
the
citadel
the
with
little
Greeks
in
oral
tradition
Troy,
by
change
besieged
preserved
orwere inHomeric
tradition
canmostplausibly
beidentified
withlevel
others
before
centuries
Homer,
altogether,
disappeared
constant
more
on
the
mound.
This
level
the
almost
altered
modification
VI,
VIh,
through
precisely
beyond
recognition
represents
inconsistencies
and mostimpressive
of
and
the
of
This led to numerous
and updating.
existence;
phase Troy's
period its
societies
of
destruction
the
thirteenth
falls
within
therange
Thustheintensely
bureaucratic
anachronisms.
century
during
palace
in
the
Linear
B
tablets
have
no
of
dates
for
the
War
Classical
Greek
sources.
revealed
Greece
as
by
proposed
Trojan
Mycenaean
We
would
the
case
for
VIh
and
illiterate
in
the
largely
laissez-faire
kingdoms
greatly
strengthen
identifying
apparently
place
barn-like withHomer's
thatthislevelfell
The primitive
ruledbyHomer'sroyalwarlords.
Troyifwecoulddemonstrate
inaccordance
is victim
toenemy
served
as thepalaceofOdysseus
withHomeric
tradition.
thatintheOdyssey
structure
attack,
In
There
is
no
doubt
that
it
Butwe
than
Alkinous'
residence.
suffered
violent
destruction.
later
era
of
a
different,
royal
clearly
as a rareandprecious havenoclearindication
as towhether
thiswasduetohuman
inHomer,
ironistreated
somepassages

canwebethat
Howconfident
Homericepic providesus
withanauthentic
repository
thatdatesbackat
ofmaterial
least fivehundredyears
thepoet'sowntime
before
and could have been
onlybywordof
preserved
mouththroughat least
twenty
generations?

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187

orto environmental
forces.BlegenbelievedthatVIh was representpeak periodsin the settlement'sexistence.
itscommercially
valuablestrategic
locationon
inthetower
andwall Undoubtedly
tocracks
destroyed
byearthquake,
referring
calledtheHellespont
offloor
subsidence.
Thisprompted whatlaterGreeks
ofthecitadelandevidence
Dardanelles)
(modern
theresult
foritsprosperity,
himtoargue
thatTroy
successor
ofVIh,was wastoa very
largeextent
responsible
VIIa,theimmediate
linksthatitenjoyed.
Accesstofishing
candidate
forHomer'sTroy.
themorelikely
trading
VIIa toosuffered ofthewidespread
withabundantsuppliesoftunaandothermarine
Butagainthecauseofitsdestruction
isfar grounds
violent
destruction.
as a contributing
factor
toits
hasalsobeensuggested
from
clear,andas wehavenoted,current
datingofthislevel animals
thatitlayamida largeexpanse
Fieldsurveys
indicate
makesittoolatetobe a candidate
forHomeric
Further, prosperity.
Troy.
inVIhmight ofricharable
a substantial
whilethecracks
andsubsidence
observed
soil,capableofsustaining
population.
byBlegen
live?Thecitadelitself
couldhave
wellhavebeenduetoseismic
wecannot
besurewhether Wheredidthepopulation
activity,
in
inthelastphaseofTroyVI orthefirst
nomorethana fewhundred
thishappened
peopleatmost,
phaseof accommodated
andwemustassumethatthespacious
tocausethedestruction
of itsflourishing
VII,orona scalelargeenough
Troy
periods,
has habitationson thecitadelduringtheseperiodswerethe
thewholesite(thusEaston1985:190-91).A compromise
whichallowsfordestruction
ofthesitebyboth exclusive
ofan eliteclass.Thebulkofthepopulation
beenproposed,
preserve
hasbeenputtothe
The proposalis thatthe musthavelivedoutside.
Thisassumption
humanandenvironmental
forces.
Excavations
conducted
onthesitesince1988
wereseriously
weakened
to test,andverified.
citadel's
fortifications
byearthquake
to
it havebrought
settlement
toenemy
tolighta substantial
thepointwhere
lying
adjacent
theybecamevulnerable
conquest;
tothesouth,theso-called"lower
aboutthe thecitadelandextending
wasa combination
ofbothfactorsthatbrought
intheareaknown
increase
tobe
Thishasledtoa tenfold
citadel's
destruction
city."
(e.g.,Easton1985:189).
Thisproposalhas alsobeenusedto explainthewooden coveredbythesite,from
20,000to 200,000squaremeters,
Thehorse during
theperiodoflevelsVI andVII (ca. 1700-1100BCE).
horse's
introduction
intotheTrojanWartradition.
oftheregionin
wasa well-known
ofthesea-godPoseidon.
capacity
Frequently Giventhesizeandfood-producing
symbol
a population
ofaround
Poseidon
dubbed"theEarthshaker,"
(thetheory
goes)inflicted whichitlay,Troycouldhavesupported
of
its sixthousand
a devastating
people.Wecanthusreviseourunderstanding
earthquake
uponthecitadel,demolishing
itfelleasypreytoitsbesiegers.
Itwas the famoussite-fromlittlemorethana smallcitadel
wallstothepointwhere
a populationofa fewhundredto a quite
thatprovided
theinspiration
for accommodating
thusPoseidon's
intervention
walledcity.4
Itsdominant
feature
was
a
andprobably
substantial
themotifoftheTrojanhorse.Rathermoreprosaically,
where
for
first
excavated
sawtheTrojanhorseas a reflection itsfortified
number
ofancient
writers
bySchliemann,
acropolis,
classresided.
ofa battering
ram,orsomeotherkindofsiegeengine(e.g., muchoftheBronze
Ageaneliteruling
To whatextentdo the newexcavationsenhanceour
Nat.Hist.VII 202,Pausanias
1.23.8).
Pliny,
within
theworld
addnothing
ofTroy's
roleandimportance
as suchspeculations
of understanding
are,they
really
Ingenious
andtheNearEastingeneral?
As
InfacttheTrojan
horseepisode, ofLateBronze
substance
toourinvestigation.
AgeAnatolia,
in sizeto thecityof
inthetradition,
a very
element
receives wenowknowit,Troywascomparable
undoubtedly
early
though
inHomer.
Thehorse's
ofthesamenameon
a couple
ofscant
mentions
kingdom
prominence Ugarit,
capitaloftheprosperous
only
thatlikeUgarit,
inthetradition
inmore
recent
times
isdueinlarge
measure
tothe theLevantine
coast.Meecomments
Troywas
a majorcenterandentrep6t
treatment
thatVirgil
accorded
itinBookII ofhisAeneid,
some evidently
(Mee 1998:144-45).
role
sevencenturiesaftertheHomericepicswerecomposed. ButUgaritmusthaveplayeda muchmoresignificant
as
thecomplex
ofNearEastern
ithasserved
as an almost
ofthe within
Henceforth
kingdoms,
politically
archetypal
symbol
toitsplaceinthe wellas commercially,
outofallproportion
War,ina manner
givenitspositionon thecoastin the
Trojan
ofinterest
of
theoverlapping
itwasoneofthemostpotent regionthatlaywithin
tradition.
spheres
Undoubtedly
original
oftheLateBronze
atthetimeSchliemann
first
at fouroftheGreatKingdoms
ofTroy
Age-Mitanni,
dugintothemound
images
theHomeric
attached
to Hatti,Egypt,and moreindirectly
Hisarlik.
Butmore
associations
Assyria.Apartfromits
generally,
excavations
haveensured
thatit abundantwealthin naturalresources,Ugarit'svaluable
Hisarlik
sinceSchliemann's

continuesto featureas one ofthebestknownand mostwidely

visitedofall ancientsites.To whatextentdoes thisattention
initscontemporary
reflect
itsactualimportance
context?
The discoveryand excavationofmanyBronzeAge sites
Schliemann's
Anatoliain the decades following
throughout
excavations,and theongoingexcavationson and aroundthe
mound of Hisarhlik
itself,have contributedmuch to our
understandingof Troy's role and importancewithinits
context.Therecan be no doubtthatformuchof
contemporary
its existencethroughalmosttwo millenniaof BronzeAge
history,coveringlevels I to VII, it was a prosperousand
The secondand sixthlevels
settlement.
sometimes
flourishing

strategiclocationgave it fargreaterimportancein theNear

situatedas the
ofTroy,
Easternworldthantheremotekingdom
ofthisworld.Evenso, ceramic
latterwason theveryperiphery
evidence fromvarioussitesindicatesthatTroyhad a wide
rangeoftradingcontactswithNear Easterncoastal areas,
though as we might expect, the preponderance of its
commercial
contactswerewiththeMycenaeanworld.

WasTrojan
Literate?
Society

betweenTroyand Ugaritis that

The mostmarkeddifference
the latterhas leftus a substantiallegacyofwrittenrecords.
The extensivearchivesoftheLevantinekingdomprovideus

188 NEAREASTERNARCHAEOLOGY65:3 (2002)

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ofinformation
onthe
sources
withsomeofourmostimportant
the
last
two
the
of
regionduring
history
Syro-Palestinian
this
has
to
contrast
oftheLateBronze
centuries
Troy
Age.By
millennium
entire
second
left
from
its
history,
just
point us,
one small,isolatedpiece of writtenmaterial,and the
certain.
Thatis
evenofthisitemisnotaltogether
provenance
oras
that
was
indication
means
an
no
unknown,
writing
by
like
the
in
the
On
as
contrary,
Troy all
city.
good unknown,
status
musthave
of
its
size
and
otherNearEastern
kingdoms
servedbyscribeseitheroflocaloriginor
hada chancellery
areofa highly
materials
elsewhere.
from
Writing
imported
when
tablet
archives
do survive
and
nature,
clay
perishable
this
is
often
oftheancient
from
otherregions
world,
(though
rooms
ofthearchive
duetothegoodfortune
notalways)
being
much
Whilereducing
inan intenseconflagration.
destroyed
madeof
firebakesorre-bakes
elsetoash,a hearty
anything
time.
them
for
all
and
thus
tablets,
preserves
clay,including
Howevertheremusthavebeenmanyancientcitieswith
whohave leftlittleorno traceoftheir
literatemembers
a caseinpoint.
is
almost
existence.
certainly
Troy
onitcametolight
herewithwriting
Theoneitemdiscovered
in
It
is
a biconvex
bronze
1995.
of
excavations
the
course
during
in
Itwas
Luwian
a brief
sealbearing
inscription
hieroglyphs.5
to
the
second
and
thus
dates
inthecontext
ofTroy
found
VIIb,
Thismakesitoneoftheverylast
halfofthetwelfth
century.
the
Bronze
oftheAnatolian
Age,anditpost-dates
inscriptions
We
cannot
be
several
decades.
Hittite
lastknown
by
inscription
in
or
whether
the
seal
certain
actually
originatedTroy
altogether
the
on
the
former
seems
more
wasimported
there,
likely,
though
sealandnotjustan
thatwehavetheactualoriginal
grounds
ofit.One sideofthesealgivesthenameofa man,
impression
as scribe,
theothersidegivesthenameofa
andhisprofession
isthatthe
Thelikelihood
Bothnamesareincomplete.
woman.
wife.
husband
and
are
pair
in Troy,
thentheLuwian
Iftheseal didin factoriginate
In thefirst
it
has
some
on
interesting
implications.
inscription
as
well
as the
was
a
that
the
seal-owner
the
fact
scribe,
place
indication
wouldprovide
ourfirst
factofthesealitself,
tangible
ofpossiblescribalactivityin thecityduringthesecond
endinthiscasenearthemillennium's
millennium-though
remained
doubtonanynotionthatTrojansociety
thuscasting
thisperiod.Andthelanguageofthe
illiterate
throughout
indication
uswithourfirst
would
tangible
inscription provide
oftheethnicgroupinhabiting
Troyat thistime.

Anatolia
ofWestern
Inhabitants
TheLuwian

The Luwianswereone ofthreegroupsofIndo-Europeansometimeduring

Anatoliaprobably
peopleswhoentered
speaking
Partsofcentralandeastern
thecourseofthethirdmillennium.
Anatoliawereoccupiedbyspeakersofa languagecalledNesite
knownas Hittite),whichsubsequently
(nowmorecommonly
becametheofficiallanguageoftheLate BronzeAge Hittite
Anatolia.A secondIndowhosehomeland
layincentral
kingdom
ofthe
werelocatedtothenorthwest
thePalaians,
European
group,
withintheregionlaterknownas Paphlagonia.
Hittitehomeland,

Drawingofa Luwianseal foundina houseinstratum

Vllb.Thefact
thattheseal ownerwas a scribeprovidesourfirst
tangibleindication
as
inthecityduringthesecondmillennium
ofpossiblescribalactivity
oftheinhabits
wellas ourfirst
tangibleclueas to theethnicidentity
ofTroy.FromHawkinsand Easton(1996: figs.1 and 2).

In westernandsouthern
Anatolia,a thirdgroupofIndoWe
callthemtheLuwians.Bythe
settled.
peoples
European
the
Late
Bronze
of
groups
Age,Luwian-speaking
beginning
halfofAnatolia.
areasinthewestern
hadoccupiedextensive
toin
referred
theregion
theseareasconstituted
Collectively
an
as
Hittite
records
Luwiya, ethno-geographical
early
designationcoveringa largepartofwesternAnatolia.
outof
seemssoontohavedropped
thenameLuwiya
However,
the
was
and
in
Hittite
at
least
texts,
use,
replacedby name
ofterritories
a
to
cover
term
used
a
Arzawa, general
complex
In
sense
Lands.
its
broadest
the
Arzawa
as
known
collectively
Arzawaprobablyextendedovermuchof the territory
andincorporated
calledLuwiya,
manyofthesame
previously
of
wide
Given
the
spread Luwian-speaking
groups.
population
thatthe
itis a distinct
Anatolia,
possibility
peoplesinwestern
levels
of
and
seventh
of
the
sixth
Troywas
population
Indeed
it
of
Luwian
a
maywellbe
origin.
group
predominantly
or
levelsofthecityalsohada Luwianpopulation,
thatearlier
its
atleastLuwian-speakers
amongst population.
Ithas
afield?
havespreadevenfurther
CouldLuwiangroups
in
beensuggestedthatat thetimeofLuwiansettlement
went
further
some
western
west,entering
Anatolia,
groups
mainland
andislandGreeceviaThraceortheAegeanSea-a
theendofthethird
around
thearrival,
thatmarked
migration
thattheClassical
in
the
land
of
millennium,"proto-Greeks"
GreekscalledHellas(seee.g.,Macqueen1986:33). Thisin
tobelievethattherewereethnic
turnhasledsomescholars
of
linksbetweentheIndo-European-speaking
populations
HelladicGreece.But
Anatoliaandcontemporary
western
is thatHomer'sGreeksand
thepossibility
though
intriguing
were
closelyrelated,theycan at besthavebeenno
Trojans
cousins.The factthattheTrojansin
morethanverydistant
an epicconvention;
HomerspokeGreekis ofcoursepurely
too much
and bythesametokenwe shouldnotattribute
social
Greek
a
number
of
fact
that
the
to
significance
1986:
Watkins
alsooccurina Trojancontext
institutions
(see
the
view
that
held
the
widely
50-51). Nonetheless, fairly
or
settlements
and
seventh
the
sixth
of
were, included,
Trojans
ofIndo-European
a Luwian-speaking
gains
origin,
population
NEAREASTERNARCHAEOLOGY65:3 (2002)

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189

and(W)iliosweretwonamesforthesameplace.
tradition,
Troy
Wilioswasan earlyform
ofthenameIliosbefore
theinitial
w,
thearchaicGreekdigamma,
wasdropped.
The
representing
ofbothpairsofnamesseemedtooclosetobemerely
similarity
coincidental.
Andthefactthatin theHittitelistthenames
inHittite
DoesTroy
Texts?
Appear
nowritten
records
from
thewestern appeared
lastwouldbeconsistent
witha northwestern
location
Asyetwehavealmost
to forthemif,as seemslikely,thelistproceededin a rough
Howeverwehavemanyreferences
Luwiansthemselves.
from
southtonorth.
moreparticularly
tothekingdoms
thattheyformed,
in geographical
them,
progression
One slight
withForrer's
conclusion
wasthatwhile
the archivesof the GreatKingdomthatbecame their
problem
ofHatti,thelandoftheHittites.
The inHomeric
tradition
overlord-the
(W)iliosandTroiawereinterchangeable
kingdom
Arzawanstateswerethemostimportant names,in theHittitetextWilusiyaandTaruisaappearas
Luwian-speaking
inwestern
Anatoliaforat countries
sidebyside.Is itpossible
oftheHittites
thatthenamesdidinfact
vassalpossessions
totwoseparate
butthatsubsequently
leastthelasthalfoftheLateBronze
countries,
Age.Sinceitisnowclear refer
originally
western onecountry
absorbed
theother?
whatwehave
at least,Troywasa notinsignificant
that,materially
Alternatively,
a conflationoftwo
kingdom,
comparablewithcitieslikeUgarit,sinceit is in Homerictraditionmayrepresent
and countries
wasofLuwian
thatwereproximately
locatedandclosely
associated
thatitspopulation
origin,
likely
increasingly
in Hittitetextsto the ina conflict
inthenorthwestern
references
withGreekinvaders
of
sincethereareextensive
region
thosewithLuwian AnatolialatercalledtheTroad.Thefirst
Anatolian
western
maygain
kingdoms,
particularly
possibility
from
thefactthatthenameTaruisamakesno
is veryhighthatTroyfigures
theprobability
in somesupport
populations,
Ifso,theserecords
mustgiveusthe further
records.
historical
Hittite
appearancein theHittitetexts,withone possible
information
wehaveso faraboutthe exception.
on theotherhand,appearsseveralmore
historical
Wilusiya
onlygenuine
initsshorter
inHittite
texts
thustakes times,
form
Thesearch
forTroy
anditmaybe thatitsterritory
ofTroy.
Wilusa,
kingdom
wasexpanded
toinclude
theformer
landofTaruisa,
withboth
considerable
onvery
significance.
inlaterClassical
overeighty
the namesbeingpreserved
Greektradition.
undertaken
Itwasfirst
years
ago,notlongafter
reference
toTaruisa
hadbeendeciphered,
notina
Hittite
bya Swissphilologist Theonefurther
language
possible
appears
combedthrough
textbutona silver
bowlofunknown
Hittite Hittite
Forrer
andnowin
calledEmilForrer.
carefully
origin,
andwhiledoingso he theMuseumofAnatolian
inAnkara.Thebowl
references
toTroy,
Civilizations
forpossible
sources
inwestern
Anatoliathathad bearstwoLuwian
oneofwhich
refers
to
cameacrossa listofcountries
hieroglyphic
inscriptions,
around
ofa placecalledTarwiza
calledTudhaliya,
a Hittite
rebelled
1400BCE. theconquest
(see
king
bya kingTudhaliya
against
whichapparently Hawkins
nofurther
details
itisvery
aregiven,
The list,comprising
countries,
1997).Although
twenty-two
and tempting
to linkthisinscription
endedwiththenamesWilusiya
withtherebellion
a confederacy,'
formed
against
ifthelink
weretheHittite
thatwehavereferred
toabove.Incidentally,
Taruisa.
believed,
These,Forrer
wayofwriting Tudhaliya
and(W)ilios(Ilios).InHomeric iscorrect,
theinscription
wouldthenbebyfartheearliest
ofall
theGreeknamesTroia(Troy)
known
Luwian
hieroglyphic
inscriptions,
apart
from
thoseappearing
onsealimpressions.'
linktheHittite
Forrer's
to
names
proposal
BLACK
SEA
Taruisa
andWilus(iy)a
withHomeric
met
Troy
witha gooddealofskepticism.
Yethe had
madea prima
faciecasefortheidentification
andother
ofevidence
havesubsequently
pieces
ifnotconclusive
additional
provided
support
In thefirst
forhisproposal.
place,Wilusais
ATTI A
inoneHittite
listed
textaspartofthecomplex
Hattuw
L
"[
ofArzawalands.Wehavenotedthatthese
lands were inhabited largely,if not
byLuwian-speaking
predominantly,
peoples.
isitself
a Luwianformation.'
And
I1 I
Wilus(iy)a
TARHUNTA99A
lyalanda
in
the
seal
found
the
recently
inscription
ta
,
seventhlevelofTroymayprovideourfirst
TI
A
MITANNI
IT--A
hard(though
stillveryslight)
evidencethat
- sA
theinhabitants
ofTroy
spokeLuwian.
- MEDITERRANEAN
0 100
Yetifweareto showbeyondreasonable
200 km
0
UIrit
NU20km
doubtthatTroy/Ilios
andWilusaareoneand
thesame,weneedtodemonstrate
thatthe
Anatolia inthe Late Bronze Age.
WilusaofHittitetextsdid in factlie in
somefurther
supportfromtherecentlydiscoveredseal
Thisleadsustothenext
inscribed
withLuwianhieroglyphs.6
stageofourinvestigation.

as
goun
ftw,
tic
>O0m
KASKA
0
Try
LUSA
SEHA
RIVER
LAND

O
cp

AA
yaahmys
Yasshkay.
Bogask6y
te

dd

Acemhayok

*urus
+'
Carchemish
AHUR
Mountains
LUKKA
MeIn
,
""laun,
SEA CuYPRUS
o2;
AMURRU1

65:3 (2002)
190 NEAREASTERNARCHAEOLOGY

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northwestern
Anatolia.The
Butthisstillfallsfarshort
Late BronzeAge political
ofproofforan actualTrojan
ofwesternAnTheconclusion,
geography
first
enunciated War.Whichbringsus to the
nextstageofoursearch.
atolia has long proved a
nowseemsinescapable:
veryelusiveandfrustrating byEmilForrer,
The countries
fieldofstudy.
in
Appear
Troyhas indeedbeen foundin the DoGreeks
of western Anatolia in
Hittite
Texts?
havebeenshifted textsoftheHittites.
particular
It wastheroyal This questionForreralso
aroundbyvariousscholars
He
seat ofthekingofWilusa,vassalof sought to answer.
But
withbewildering
rapidity.
if
that
Troy
hypothesized
new discoveriesare concould be foundin Hittite
the
Great
of
I
the
Hittites.
King
ustofillsome
stantly
helping
texts,thereoughtalso tobe
longstanding
gapsandresolve
toGreeksinthese
references
somelongstanding
controtexts.In attempting
to track
versies.Wilusais a case in
down thesereferences,
he
hadnodoubtthatitlaysomewhere
in
point.Thoughscholars
at this
beganbyaskingwhattheGreekscalledthemselves
western
where. time.He notedthatintheIliadand
Anatolia,theycouldnotagreeon precisely
Homerregularly
Odyssey,
a text-join
in the1980shasputthe used theterm"Achaian"oftheGreeksas a whole.
discovered
Fortunately,
(The
matter
beyonddoubt.A text-joinoccurswhentwolong- ClassicalGreeksreferred
as "Hellenes";the
to themselves
ofa tabletare finallymatchedup. word"Greek"
separatedfragments
is adaptedfrom
theRomannamefor
"Graeci,"
linksbetween
oftabletis an ongoing the
Establishing
fragments
thatthe
peoplesoftheGreekworld.)On theassumption
theskillsofspecialist
andmade Homerictermhad a
task,requiring
epigraphers
genuineBronzeAgepedigree,Forrer
necessary
verylargely
bythehaphazard
wayinwhichmany searched
textsfora namethatmight
have
theHittite
through
tablets
wereunearthed
andcollected
thecourseofthe beentheHittite
during
to "Achaia."GiventhatHittite
equivalent
in theHittitecapitala century
first
excavations
ago.More powerextendedtoAnatolia'swestern
coast,and thatLate
thanonce,thediscovery
ofa text-join
hasproved
as valuable, Bronze
Age orMycenaeanGreekshad extensivetrading
in termsofthe information
thatit has supplied,as the contactswiththiscoast,itwouldbe extremely
if
surprising
ofan entirely
newtext.
discovery
noreferences
at alltotheseGreeksHittite
textscontained
Inthiscase,anadditional
wasfound
toa well-know quiteapartfrom
fragment
their
inHomeric
tradition.
appearance
written
totheHittite
letter
by
kingMuwatalli
II a mancalled
claimedsuccessinhissearch.He notedthat
AgainForrer
ruleroftheSehaRiverLand,a kingdom theHittitetextsreferred
oftimestoa placecalled
a number
Manapa.Tarhunda,
to theArzawacomplex.Fromotherpiecesof Ahhiyawa,
belonging
orAhhiya
ina shorter,
earlier
form.
In thishe saw
weknowthatthisparticular
extended
over theHittitewayofrepresenting
inforation,
kingdom
theGreeknameAchaia.As
north
oneoftheriver
ofthecitycalledMiletosin might
valleys
lying
considerable
be expected,
Forrer's
proposal
provoked
namewasMilawata,
Classical
times.
ItsHittite
orMillawanda. debate,someofitquiteheatedandpersonal.Itsstrongest
inquestion
wasalmost
the(Classical) criticwastheGerman
Theriver
either
certainly
Sommer
scholarFerdinand
whoin the
ifnotthefamous
river
CaicosortheHermos,
Maeander
(see,e.g., 1930sledtheranksofskeptics
whodismissed
theAhhiyawawelearnthata Hittite Achaiaequationas no morethan"kling-klang
1992:220-21).From
thetext-join
Gurney
etymology."
force
on
its
to
Wilusa
had
the Sincethenthedebatehascontinued.
topassthrough
way
expeditionary
Somescholars
argued
Landinorder
route
SehaRiver
toreachit.Giventhelikely
taken thatAhhiyawa
wasnomorethana localAnatolian
kingdom,
ares intheir
towestern
Wilusa othersthatitwasan islandkingdom
Anatolia,
byHittite
expeditions
lyingofftheAnatolian
havelainnorth
oftheSehaRiver
must
therefore
Land-thatisto mainland,
likeCyprus
orRhodes.
Othersagaindeclared
thatit
calledtheTroadinClassicaltimes.
Welearn musthavebeena Mycenaean
sayintheregion
of
mainland
Greece.
kingdom
a place
thatclosebyWilusawasoneofitsdependencies,
further
We cannot debate here all the prosand cons of the
calledLazpa.Therecannowbe littledoubtthatthiswasthe Ahhiyawa-Achaia
Thathasbeendonemany
identification.
thattheGreeks
calledLesbos,
asfirst
in
the
1920s
island
in
the
of
Suffice
it
times
to
proposed
past.
saythatthegreatmajority
Emil
off
coast.
Anatolia's
northwest
Forrer,
indeed
scholars
now
believe
must
refer
to
the
that
by
just
ying
Ahhiyawa
Wecanthussaywithconfidence
thatWilusalayinthesame worldofLateBronzeAgeGreece,morepopularly
knownas
as
our
for
most
favored
candidate
Homer's
cannot
be
Hisarlik,
the
The
identification
region
world.
Mycenaean
regarded
Theconclusion,
first
enunciated
now as iron-clad,
cautionthatitis still
andsomeofitssupporters
Troy/Ilios.
byEmilForrer,
seemsinescapable:
offaith.
Butthecircumstantial
evidence
Troyhasindeedbeenfoundinthetextsof nomorethana matter
theHittites.
ItwastheroyalseatofthekingofWilusa,vassal insupport
madein recentyears,
ofit,including
discoveries
oftheGreatKingoftheHittites.We thushavenotonlya
In somecontexts
the
mustnowbe considered
overwhelming.
forthegreatcityoftheIliad,butalsoactual termAhhiyawa
is usedto refer
to theMycenaeanworldin
physical
setting
toitincontemporary
references
inother
a particular
where
historical
records.
contexts,
kingofAhhiyawa
general;

''

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191

makeshisappearance,
toa specific
within
thisworld. in-lawofa mancalledAtpa,whogoverned
Milawataas the
kingdom
Theidentification
hasa number
ofimportant
implications. Ahhiyawan
king'svassal.As wehavenoted,theletterwas
Oneoftheseistheadditional
dimension
itgivestoMycenaean written
byHattusiliIII" to hisAhhiyawancounterpart.
studies.
Scholars
hadlongbelievedthatMycenaean
overseas Unfortunately,
It would
thelatter'snameis notpreserved.
wereconfined
ofthefirst
ofthethreetablets
totrading
activities
atthebeginning
enterprises
essentially
along haveappeared
Butwe
thecoastlands
oftheMediterranean,
withoccasional
enclaves constituting
theletter.
tabletsurvives.
Onlythethird
intheseregions, knowfrom
ofMycenaean
maintopicswasHittite
settler-traders
thisthatoneoftheletter's
beingestablished
he
ofPiyamaradu,
andthesupport
overtheactivities
mostnotablyon thewesternAnatoliancoast.So we may concern
The letter
refers
to
from
thekingofAhhiyawa.
concludefromthematerialevidence,especiallypottery. wasreceiving
and
between
Hattusili
theAhhiyawan-Mycenaean
takesusa step Wilusa.Ithadbeena causeofconflict
However,
equation
hadbeenpeacefully
information-the theAhhiyawan
uswithwritten
this,foritprovides
king,buttheconflict
beyond
onWilusa
"Nowas wehavecometoan agreement
ofthe resolved:
we have-about thehistory
onlysuchinformation
Hittitetextsthatcertain overwhichwe wentto war...." Even so, Hattusiliwas
world.Weknowfrom
Mycenaean
andmilitarily concernedthatPiyamaradu
mighttryto provokea fresh
MycenaeanGreekkingsbecamepolitically
to keepthe
brother
andhe urgedhisAhhiyawan
IndeedHattusili
inwestern
affairs.
involved
Anatolian
III,who conflict,
theAhhiyawan
undercontrol;
wrotetoone trouble-maker
worldinthethirteenth
ruledtheHittite
kingshouldtell
century,
ofWilusaoverwhichwe,
thematter
of Piyamaradu:
a form
himbothas "mybrother,"
ofthesekings,
"Regarding
addressing
he (theKingof
forone'speers,andas a "Great theKingofHattiandI, hadbecomehostile,
addressreserved
exclusively
... itwould
usedonlyoftheelitegroupofNear Hatti)haswonmeoverandwehavemadefriends
King,"a titleotherwise
forustomakewar."
ofBabylon,
EasternGreatKings-therulers
Egypt, notberight
Assyria,
Thisis as faras wecango in oursearchforevidenceofa
knownas the
andHatti.Fromthesameletter,
commonly
IfTroyandWilusa
WilusaandAhhiyawa.
of conflict
wasoverlord
welearnthatitsaddressee
involving
Letter,'
Tawagalawa
stateof
a subject
wasclearly
ontheAnatolian
ofMilawata
theterritory
coast,andthatvery wereoneandthesame,thenTroy
itwaslikely
andanyaggression
atthetime,
of theHittites
as a basefortheextension
hewasusingthisterritory
against
likely
retaliationfromHatti.That is what
influenceelsewherein western to provokemilitary
Ahhiyawan/Mycenaean
to Piyamaradu
His references
inhisletter.
wouldhave Hattusili
hisenterprises
Anatolia.Ifso, theninevitably
implies
as an agent,
Hittite makeclearthathe sawthislocalwarrior
andmorespecifically
perhaps
Hittiteinterests,
threatened
forthe
the
used
the
king
in
the
Ahhiyawan
by
agent,
principal
territories,
region.
subject
Indeed
in westernAnatolia.
the extensionofhis authority
whether
Does thisbringus anyclosertodetermining
on
havebeenactinginthiscapacity
Warisbasedonfact?
ofa Trojan
tradition
mayalready
Piyamaradu
theearlieroccasionwhenfora timehe actuallyoccupied
Wilusa.
War
for
a
Evidence
Historical
the
Trojan
Assessing
Hattusili'sletterwasin
We do notknowhoweffective
for
a generalscenario
wehaveestablished
In broadterms,
Wilusaagainstenemyaction.Butwe learnfrom
betweenMycenaeanGreeksand Hittite securing
possibleconflict
Wenow anotherletterthatin thereignofhissonTudhaliya(IV)
Anatolia.
inwestern
orHittite-backed
forces,
forces,
On thisoccasionitsking,a man
thatWilusais Wilusawasagainattacked.
ourfocus.On theassumption
needtonarrow
offhisthroneandfledintoexile.
sources
do ourHittite
nameforTroy/Ilios,
theHittite
provide calledWalmu,wasforced
a very
issupplied
text-join-to
bya another
evidencefora specificconflictinvolvingAhhiyawan/ Thisinformation
Milawata
as
the
known
document
ofWilusa?It is clear fragmentary
commonly
forces
againstthekingdom
Mycenaean
toeventsthathadrecently
so-calledbecauseitrefers
troubled
thesesourcesthatWilusahada fairly
from
history, Letter,
evenwith
Milawata.
Unfortunately,
theperiodinwhichthe takenplaceinandaround
inthethirteenth
century,
particularly
But
the
from
is stillfar
surviving
complete.
tohavetakenplace.Welearnthat thejointheletter
TrojanWarwasmostlikely
thejoin
and
about
a
contains
fitting
Wilusa,
by
and
attacked
was
passage
its
in
the
portion
by
occupied
territory
century
early
was
Wilusa
that
deduce
can
we
theoriginal
fragment,
against
a notorious local freebooter called Piyamaradu. This
informationis providedby the letterwe have referredto
kingoftheSeha River
above,written
byManapa-Tarhunda,
On thisoccasion
Muwatalli.
overlord
Hittite
his
to
Land,
Wilusa
from
driven
bya Hittite
was
Piyamaradu apparently
to
and
continued
at
remained
but
large
force,
expeditionary
in theregion.
Hittiteinterests
threaten
is made to Ahhiyawain thiscontext,butwe
No reference
knowfromanotherletter,the so-called TawagalawaLetter,
thatPiyamaraduwas a prot6g6oftheAhhiyawanking(who
affordedhimprotectionin his own land whenthe Hittites
up theheaton him),and thathe wasthefatherbeganturning
192

once againrestoredto Hittitecontrol,and thatpreparations

itskingbackon histhrone.
forputting
wereunderway
we have about
This episodeis thelastpiece ofinformation
ofWilusa.IfWilusawasin factthe
thenorthwestern
kingdom
Late BronzeAge kingdomofTroy,thenwe can startbuilding
were
in thisperiod.Itsinhabitants
up a pictureofTroy'shistory
almost certainlyone of the Luwian-speakingpeoples of
complex
westernAnatolia.It belongedto theethno-political
of
theLate
centuries
two
last
the
least
at
For
ofArzawalands.
ofthe
one
but
kingdom
BronzeAge,itwasnotan independent
attacks
several
suffered
It
by
Hittite
the
of
vassalstates
Empire.

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forces
thethirteenth
attacks
inwhicha
enemy
during
century,
Greekkingmaywellhavebeenimplicated.
Mycenaean
During
theenemy
oneoftheseattacks,
invaded
andoccupied
itsland.
On another
occasionitskingwasdeposed.On bothoccasions
thecountrywasliberatedbytheHittites.The so-called
whichassociatesthekingofAhhiyawa
TawagalawaLetter,
witha warinvolving
datestoaroundthemiddle
ofthe
Wilusa,
thirteenth
Thisis themostwidely
century.
accepteddatefor
ofTroyVIh.Wedonotknowthenameofthe
thedestruction
letter's
in thefirst
whichmaywellhaveappeared
addressee,
tabletoftheletter,
nowlostto us. Buttherearethosewho
wouldlike to see in thisaddressee,a GreatKingofthe
theprototype
ofHomer's
world,
Ahhiyawan
Agamemnon.
to Homer,
leda confederation
of
According
Agamemnon
GreeksintowaragainsttheTrojans.
The essenceofthiswar
inthebesieged
wasa ten-year
siegeofTroy,
culminating
city's
andabandonment.
Thesearethecore
destruction,
conquest,
eventsoftheHomeric
Howclosearewetoproving
tradition.
thattheyactuallytookplace?Let us reviewtheevidence
tous.
available
currently
1.Wecanwitha highdegreeofprobability
thesite
identify
withthe
nowknownas Hisarlikin northwestern
Turkey
ancientcitadelofTroy,
madefamousbytheepicpoemsof
Homer.LevelVIh ofthissitebestfitsHomer'sdescription
of
Troy.This level was destroyedsome timeduringthe
thirteenth
century,
probablyaroundthemiddleofthe
theperiodtowhichtheTrojanWaris dated
within
century,
inClassicalGreeksources.
2. Unfortunately
we haveno clearevidenceto indicate
whatcausedTroy'sdestruction-human
agency,natural
forces,or a combinationof both. Admittedlyrecent
in thelowercityhaveproduced
excavations
signsofmilitary
in theform
ofarrow-heads
But
conflict
andhumanskeletons.
ofsuchremains
as yetthequantity
is toosmalltoconstitute
overa periodofmanyyears
evidencefora sustained
conflict
andinvolving
a largeinvading
force.
3. Itishighly
thatTroyorIlioswasthekingdom
called
likely
ofthe
WilusainHittitetexts.Wilusawasa vassalkingdom
inthe
Hittite
locatedinthefarnorthwest
ofAnatolia,
empire
thattheGreeks
oflatertimes
calledtheTroad.
region
whoselandis called
4. WeknowthatMycenaean
Greeks,
in thepolitical
in Hittitetexts,becameinvolved
Ahhiyawa
and military
affairs
ofwestern
Anatolia,fromat leastthe

tocomeupwitha specific
historical
conflict
that
attempting
occupieda relatively
longperiodoftime-tenyearsinGreek
Farfrom
tradition.
material
orwritten
evidence
for
providing
sucha conflict,
infactcastconsiderable
ourAnatolian
sources
inwhichitappears
doubton itshistoricity,
atleastintheform
inHomer.Forexample,
featured
whilesiege-warfare
certainly
ina number
ofBronze
andsometimes
Agemilitary
operations,
extendedoverseveralmonths,
thenotionofa siegelasting
manyyearsis quiteoutofthequestion.Andtheclaimthat
theGreekforcesarrivedat Troyin a fleetofmorethana
thousand
ships(1,186tobe precise)wouldmaketheGreek
thanthelargestknownfleetin
armadamanytimesgreater
anyperiodof the ancientworld.As faras thereis any
historical
basisforHomeric
itistobefound
notina
tradition,
thatoccupieda relatively
singleconflict
longperiodoftime,
ina seriesofconflicts
butrather
thattookplaceovera very
muchgreater
sources
periodoftime.OurAnatolianwritten
extendedattackby
provideno evidencefora single,major,
thatled to the
invadingGreekson an Anatoliankingdom
ofthatkingdom.
is
eventualdestruction
Ratherthepattern
one ofa number
oflimited
attackscarriedoutoverseveral
andperhaps
an occasional
of
centuries,
temporary
occupation
a beleaguered
have
Anyoneoftheseattacksmight
kingdom.
providedthe originalcore of the Homerictradition,a
tradition
thatwashundreds
ofyearsinthemaking.

ATradition
Evolves

The genesisoftheepic maygo back 150 yearsormore

thegenerally
dateoftheTrojanWar.Already
before
accepted
inthelatefifteenth
a
orearly
welearnfrom
fourteenth
century
well-knownHittitetext(the so-called "Indictmentof
on the
Madduwatta")ofAhhiyawanmilitary
enterprises
Anatolian
andsubsequently
on theislandofCyprus
mainland,
was
texts).The leaderoftheseenterprises
(Alasiyain Hittite
"a manofAhhiya"calledAttarsiya.
CouldtheTrojanWar
traditionhave begunwitha militaryconflictbetween
or
Greeks
andAnatolians
intheearlyfourteenth,
Mycenaean
eventhefifteenth
Professor
Vermeule
hasargued
that
century?
therearelinguistic
as wellas otherelements
intheIliadthat
couldwelldateto thisperiod.Froma studyofa number
of
passagesin the Iliad, she concludesthatthe deathsof
andPatroklos
"Homeric"
heroes
likeHektor
werealready
sung
in thefifteenth
orfourteenth
Andthemilitary
centuries."
in the thirteenth
inAnatoliaofan earlyMycenaean
Greekwarrior
fifteenth
centuryand particularly
century adventures

whenthelandofMilawataon thewestern
Anatoliancoastwas
king.
subjectto an Ahhiyawan/Mycenaean
5. DuringthisperiodWilusasuffered
a numberofattacksin
orindirectly
whichMycenaeanGreeksmayhave beendirectly
involved.On one occasion,itsterritory
was occupiedbythe
enemy;on anotheroccasionitskingwas deposedand driven
intoexile. Homertellsus thatthecityofTroywas attacked,
occupied,and destroyedbythe Greeks,and its royalfamily
killedordrivenintoexile.,
takeus towards
How far,then,does thisinformation
proofof
a TrojanWar?The answerhas to be notveryfarat all,ifwe are

like Attarsiyaare preciselythe stuffout ofwhichlegendis

created.Indeedit is justpossiblethatAttarsiya(Attarissiya)
was theHittitewayofwriting
theGreeknameAtreus,a name
bornein Greektradition
rulersofMycenae.
byone ofthefirst
It was perhapsin the earliestdaysof Mycenaeancontact
ofa Greek-Anatolian
withwestern
Anatoliathatthetradition
conflictbeganitsjourney.In the courseofthisjourney,the
traditionconstantlyacquirednew elements,manyofwhich
maywell have been based on actual historicalepisodes or
incidents.By the thirteenthcenturyit had also acquired a
Anatoliankingdom
specificphysicalsetting,a northwestern
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193

thecourseofthe
thatduring
unfold.
Fromthevastbodyof
suffered
a number
of
thatsuch
century
legendandfolklore
attackseitherbytheGreeks
events
all
over
his
undoubtedly
generated,
towering
predecessors,
themselves
orbytheirallies
a smallnumberofepisodes
there
was
in
fact
a
greatpoetofthe
and proteges.Enemyoccuwere selected, and those
lateeighthorearlyseventhcentury
andthe
selectedwerewovenintoa
pationofitsterritory
overthrow
ofitskingbecame
continuous
which
whose creativegeniusbroughta
narrative,
wovenintothefabricofthe
was
into
a
compressed
period
tradition
to its
long-evolvingnarrative
tradition.
of ten years.But the poet
ongoing
excellence.
peakofartistic
Thetradition
itself
waskept
wentfurther.
Hisstory
hadto
alive bystory-tellers,
wanbe peopled with colorful
characters.And so we are
deringbardsand minstrels
thecourtsofMycenaean presented
withthelordlyAgamemnon,
thebraveAjax of
who,Homertellsus,entertained
Stories
oftheexploits
ofgreatheroesof massive
thenobleHektor,
thesulking
Achilles,
kingsandnoblemen.
proportions,
thedistant
withthedeedsofGreek thewilyOdysseus.
wereaddedfrom
Otherelements
thestock
pastbecameintermingled
ofmorerecenttimes.Fororaltradition
ofepic tradition-intervention
kingsandwarriors
by repertoire
bygods and
itsverynatureenablesalmostlimitless
ofand goddesses,
ofstrange
encounters
with
rituals,
adaptations
performance
additionsto an existing
andmonsters,
andconsultations
withthedead
bodyoffolklore.
Verylikelyat the enchantresses
wereobligedtoadd ortheimmortal.
oftheirpatrons,
thestory-tellers
Wasthistheachievement
ofa singleperson?
request
new materialconstantly,
as theyforeverupdatedtheir Andifso,wasittheachievement
ofan eighth
century
poet?
oftales.Evenafter
thegreatBronze
ofpoetsextending
backthrough
Agekingdoms Or weretherea succession
repertoire
thetradition
ofa greatwarcontinued.
hadfallen,
Anditwas theDarkAgemists?
WasHomermerely
thelastofa series?
Or
inthislater,
perhaps
post-Bronze
periodthatthefinalessential was he himselfan invention-not a person,but the
oftheHomerictradition
cameintobeing-the personification
ofa processthatbeganlongbeforethelate
component
totaldestruction
andabandonment
ofthecitadelofTroy.
TheremayhavebeenoneormoreDarkAge
eighth
century?
Wemustemphasize
thatno suchdramatic
endofTroyis poetstowhomthebard'smantle
shouldbeassigned,
oratleast
attested duringthe Late Bronze Age in either the withwhomitshould
thelikelihood
beshared.Yet
remains
that,
orthewritten
record.In thearchaeological towering
overall hispredecessors,
therewasinfacta great
archaeological
orearlyseventh
whosecreative
record,
Troy
TroyVIh,andwasoccupied poetofthelateeighth
replaced
century
VIIa quickly
thedwellings
within
the geniusbrought
a long-evolving
narrative
tradition
toitspeak
bythesamepopulation
though
group,
citadelwerenowhumbler,
andtheconditions
morecrowded. ofartistic
excellence.
Inthewritten
Wilusawasliberated
itsinvaders
from
on
debateonwhether
ornotHomer'saccountof
record,
Undoubtedly
inthethirteenth
at leasttwooccasions
andthelocal theTrojanWarisbasedonfactwillcontinue,
as scholars,
film
century,
rulerhadhisauthority
restored
tohim.Buttheredidcomea
and anyoneelse interested
in thetaleofTroy
producers,
timewhenTroy
wasdestroyed
andapparently
abandoned
toprobeforthetruth
behindthelegend.Whyhave
byits continue
Thisoccurred
at theendoflevelVIIb,sometime so manybeenobsessed
withsucha searchforso long?Partof
population.
between1100 and 1000, in the aftermath
of the great thereasonmaybe thebeliefthatthepoet'sreputation
would
theNearEastandGreeceat theendof be allthegreater
ifwecouldprovebeyond
doubtthathistale
throughout
upheavals
the BronzeAge. Its destructionwas verylikelydue to ofTroyis basedon historical
fact.Butsurely
theoppositeis
marauders
whofeatured
intheseupheavals
andaboutwhom true.Homerwasa creative
nota historian,
andthatis
artist,
wehearfrom
records-theso-calledSea Peoples. howhe wouldwanttobe judged.His epiccomposition
has
Egyptian
Almost
from
the
last
remnants
of
the
of
one
of
listeners
and
population
groups
imagination
generation
certainly
captured
wereincluded
theMycenaean
world
themarauders. readers
after
anda countless
succession
ofvisualand
another,
amongst
Around1000BCE newwavesofGreekscametosettlein literary
artists.
Yetthisisnotall.So powerfully
hashe toldhis
western
Anatolia.Theyknewofthegreatstoriesoftheir story
thathehasconvinced
almost
allhislisteners
andreaders,
ancestors
whodidbattle
withthelocalAnatolian
In including
someofthemostastutescholars,
thathischaracters
kingdoms.
ofa kingdom
calledTroy are based on real people, and that these people were
theyknewoftheconquest
particular
orIliosinGreektradition.
inevents
thatreally
didhappen.
Manymaywellhavevisitedthe participants
occurred.
Whatinfactdidtheysee
Let us fora momentsupposethatthe Iliad was from
placewherethisconquest
there?
Theremains
ofa oncegreat
to enda workoffiction,
thatHomermadethe
citythathadbeendestroyed beginning
and wasnowtotallyabandoned.This providedthefinal wholethingup.Whatthenwouldbe thegreatest
favorwe
elementin thetradition-theclosingepisodeto a taleof coulddo thepoet?Assuredly
toprovetothesatisfaction
of
and
destruction.
his
of
no
that
has
historical
foundation
conflict,
everyone
story
Troy
conquest,
All thisprovided
therawmaterial
forthecreative
elsewouldmakeclearto
whatsoever.
Thatmorethananything
poet-a
oftheblindlonian's
creative
sequenceofeventsthattookat leastfivehundred
yearsto allthefullextent
genius.

''

194 NEAR EASTERNARCHAEOLOGY65:3 (2002)

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Notes

S.
Hiller,
1991

TwoTrojanWars?On theDestructions
ofTroyVIh andVIIa.
StudiaTroica1: 145-54.
M.
Korfmann,
1995 A Residentialand TradingCityat the Dardanelles.Pp.
andStateintheAegeanBronze
173-83in Politeia.
Society
Age.
ofthe5thInternational
AegeanConference,
(Proceedings
10-13 April
UnivofHeidelberg,
Institut,
Archdiologisches
1994), edited by R. Laffineurand W.-D. Niemeier.
ofTexas.
ofLiege/University
University
Liege/Austin:
J.G.
Macqueen,
inAsiaMinor.
andtheir
London:
1986 TheHittites
Contemporaries
ThamesandHudson.
Mee,C.
1998 Anatolia and the Aegean in the Late BronzeAge: The
Aegean and theOrientin the Second Millennium.Pp.
137-48 in Proceedings
ofthe50thAnniversary
Symposium
18-20
1997.
Cincinnati, April
Aegaeum18. Liege:University
ofLiege.
H. C.
Melchert,
2003 Prehistory.
Pp. 11-12 in The Luwians,edited byH. C.
Leiden:Brill.
Melchert,
J.D.
Muhly
World:Transition
or
1992 The CrisisYearsin theMediterranean
CulturalDisintegration?
Pp. 10-26in TheCrisisYears:the
12thCentury
B.C.,editedbyW.A. WardandM. S. Joukowsky,
Dubuque:Kendall/Hunt.
E
Starke,
desHistorisch-Politischen
undSprachlichen
1997 TroiaimKontext
StudiaTroica7:
UmfeldesKleinasiensim2. Jahrtausend.
447-87.
E.
Vermeule,
andtheTrojan
CastleBlazing.Pp. 77-92in Troy
1986 Priam's
War,
editedbyM. J.Mellink.
BrynMawr:BrynMawrCollege.
vonTrojaundseineBedeutung
Das Hieroglyphensiegel
C.
fiir Watkins,
Westanatolien.Pp. 27-31 in AktenIV. Internationalen
oftheTrojans.
andtheTrojan
1986 The Language
Pp.45-62inTroy
4.-8. Oktober1999,
Kongresses
fiirHethitologie.
Wiirzburg,
War,editedbyM.J.Mellink.
BrynMawr:BrynMawrCollege.
editedbyG. Wilhelm.Studienzu denBogazk6y-Texten
45.
Harrassowitz.
Wiesbaden:

1. In facttherewasone (at leastin Virgil's

Aeneid)-thearmysurgeon
Machaon,sonofAsklepios.
is usedtodayas a termofconvenience
forthe
2. The name"Mycenaean"
ofmainland
wholeoftheLateBronzeAge (orLateHelladic)civilization
withinthiscivilization,
in the
Greece.It reflects
Mycenae'sprominence
recordas wellas inGreekliterary
tradition.
archaeological
fromthe
3. OtherancientGreekwriters
givedatesforthewarranging
tothesecondhalfofthetwelfth
centuries.
secondhalfofthefourteenth
ofrecentexcavations,
seeKorfmann
4. Fora concisedescription
(1995).
discussedby
5. See Hawkinsand Easton (1996). The seal is further
Starke(1997),Alp (2001).
cautiouson thismatter,
6. Melchert(2003: 12) remains
notingalsothe
thattheinhabitantsofWilusa/Troy
spokea related,but
possibility
distinct
Indo-European
language.
to as theAssuwanConfederacyon the
7. Now commonlyreferred
inwhich
thatAssuwafigures
in thetextapparently
as theregion
grounds
werelocated.
mostofthecountries
a kingofsouth8. The earliestofthese,foundin Tarsusandfeaturing
western
AnatoliacalledIsputashu,
datesbackto thelastdecadesofthe
sixteenth
century.
9. According
toMelchert
(2003:11-12).
10. Tawagalawawas thebrother
oftheAhhiyawan
king.He had been
oflargenumbersof
sentto Milawatato arrangethe transportation
Hittite subjects back to the Greek mainland. The commontag
receives
no
Letter"
is quiteinappropriate
sinceTawagalawa
"Tawagalawa
inthedocument,
orrather
whatsurvives
ofit.
mention
morethana brief
11. The brother
ofMuwatalliandhissecondsuccessoron theHittite
throne.
the
12.Vermeule(1986: 85-86). See also Hiller(1991: 145) regarding
traditionof an earlierTrojan War,and Muhly(1992: 16), Cline
(1997: 197-98).

References

Alp,S.
2001

C.
Blegen,
andtheTrojans.
London:ThamesandHudson.
1963 Troy
Cline,E. H.
1997 Achilles in Anatolia: Myth,History,and the Assuwa
Boundaries
andLinking
Rebellion.Pp. 189-210in Crossing
Horizons:Studiesin HonorofMichaelAstouron his80th
editedbyG. D. Young,M. W.Chavalas,andR. E.
Birthday,
CDL.
Bethesda:
Averbeck,
Easton,D. E
1985 Has theTrojanWarBeenFound?(reviewofM. Wood,In
SearchoftheTrojanWar,London: BritishBroadcasting
59: 188-96.
1985).Antiquity
Corporation,
Gurney,
O. R.
YearsOn. Pp. 213-21 in Hittite
1992 HittiteGeography:
Thirty
andOtherAnatolian
andNearEasternStudiesinHonourof
H. Ertem,
andA.
SedatAlp,editedbyH. Otten,E. Akurgal,
Basimevi.
Siiel.Ankara:TiirkTarihKurumu
LuwianInscription
on a SilverBowlin the
1997 A Hieroglyphic
Museumof Anatolian Civilizations,Ankara.Anadolu
Ankara,1996Yilligi:7-24.
Medeniyetleri
Miisezi,
Hawkins,
J.D. andEaston,D. E
Seal from
StudiaTroica
6: 111-18.
1996 A Hieroglyphic
Troy.

AUTAT

asa classicist,
trained
Trevor
Originally
Ancient
has
lectured
in
Classics
and
Bryce
attheUniversity
ofQueensland,
History
attheUniversity
andsubsequently
ofNew
where
he
was
(Australia),
England
and
the
Chair
Classics
to
of
appointed
heserved
Ancient
Morerecently
History.
as Deputy
Vice-Chancellor
ofLincoln

inNewZealand
andcurrently
University

Bryce
isa Fellow
of Trevor
oftheAustralian
Academy
attheUniversity
Humanities
andHonorary
Research
Consultant
the
Australia.
Hisrecent
include
The
ofQueensland,
publications
LifeandSociety
intheHittite
World
oftheHittites,
Kingdom
NearEast.
oftheAncient
andLetters
oftheGreat
Kings

NEAREASTERNARCHAEOLOGY65:3 (2002)

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195