Ancient city of Troy rebranded itself after war

New Scientist ^ | Tuesday, December 18, 2012 | derived from Journal of Archaeological Sciences

[SunkenCiv]

Even ancient cities knew about rebranding. Troy was destroyed by war about 3200 years ago -- an event that may have inspired Homer to write the Iliad, 400 years later. But the famous city rose again, reinventing itself to fit a new political landscape.

Troy lies in north-west Turkey and has been studied for decades. Pottery made before the war has a distinct Trojan style but after the war its style is typical of the Balkans. This led archaeologists to believe that the locals had been forced out and replaced by populations from overseas.

But when Peter Grave at the University of New England in Armidale, Australia, and his colleagues examined the chemical make-up of the pottery, they realised that both pre and post-war objects contained clay from exactly the same local sources, suggesting the same people were making the pots.

"There is substantial evidence for cultural continuity," says Grave. So if the Trojans never left the city, why did their pottery style change?

Before the sack of Troy, the city looked east towards the powerful Hittite Empire. But this political powerhouse collapsed around the time that Troy was destroyed. Grave says the post-war pottery is Balkan in style because the Trojans were keen to align themselves with the people there, who had become the new political elite in the region.

[GeronL]

Was it “compassionate conservatism”?

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, that’s an excellent point — there’s nothing in this article to justify that conclusion.

[SunkenCiv]

The Aeneid was commissioned as a work of political propaganda, an origin myth superimposed on the native origin myth of the twin brothers, Romulus and Remus. My guess is that the Etruscan origins in the eastern Med, like so many other things, seeped into Roman society and were adopted as Roman. IOW, there’s no truth to it per se.

http://www.varchive.org/nldag/carthage.htm

[gleeaikin]

Here is an interesting video about a Mayan cave for your GGG ping list. At least I think it’s interesting my audio doesn’t work, going to force my sweetheart to play it for a Christmas present.

http://www.aol.com/video/ancient-aliens-mayan-underground/517570315/?ncid=webmail6

[chesley]

Seems thin to me, with minimal evidence.

Why shouldn't the new population use the exact same sources of clay? It's not like THEY were forced out, and the workings should be easy to spot.

Great leaps of logic with small propulsion from facts is the hallmark of all the social sciences, although I do love archaelogy and anthropology

[Yollopoliuhqui]

Whatever you do, don’t read “Where Troy Once Stood” by Iman Wilkens and “The Baltic Origins of Homer’s Epic Tales” by Felice Vinci, both available on Amazon.

[SunkenCiv]

There is or was a set of pages by Edo Nyland which explored something similar, attributing the Odyssey to preRoman British sources, with the islands of Scotland the setting. But whatever you do, don't read "The Authoress of the Odyssey" by Samuel Butler. :')

The Trojan War keyword to now:

• Recent Finds Prove That Homer's Stories Were More Than Myth
• Was Troy a Metropolis? Homer Isn't Talking
• Geologists Show Homer Got It Right
• Geologists investigate Trojan battlefield
• Victor Davis Hanson: The Ancient Greeks -- Were they like us at all?
• Troy the Movie
• Was There a Trojan War?
• Amazon Warrior Women
• Arzawa
• In Search of the Real Troy
• Russian Culture Official Suggests Legendary Gold Collection From Troy Unlikely be Returned Germany
• Archeologists make historic discovery (Tomb of Odysseus)
• Search Locates Homer's Ithaca
• Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore
• Palace Of Homer's Hero Rises Out Of Myths
• Odyssey's End? The Search for Ancient Ithaca
• Virgil's Demi-God City 'Found'
• Archaeologists Seek Hints On 4,000-Year-Old (Thracian) Civilization In Tekirdag
• Schliemann's search for the 'first city'
• Drill hole begins Homeric quest
• Lessons Of 'The 300'
• Classical Treasures, Bathed in a New Light [ Met Museum, NYC, Roman and Greek classics ]
• Mycenaean and Hittite Diplomatic Correspondence: Fact and Fiction [ PDF file ]
• 2,700-Year-Old Fabric Found in Greece
• Troy Story [The Straight Dope]
• Sick Rams Used As Ancient Bioweapons
• Defences at Troy reveal larger town [ news finally reaches UK ]
• 'The Odyssey' and 'The Iliad' are giving up new secrets about the ancient world
• Trojan arrows and unique seals from Perperikon stand out in archaeological summer '08
• Archaeology meets mythology in Mycenean Pylos (King Nestor)
• Archaeologists find suspected Trojan war-era couple
• 5,000-year-old Venus figure found in Canakkale
• Could museum's gold be from ancient Troy?
• Diggers discover Phoenician army complex in Cyprus [ Trojan War connection ]
• Ancient Chronography, Eratosthenes and the Dating of the Fall of Troy [abstract]
• Has the Sarcophagus of Paris, Prince of Troy, Been Found?
• Ancient Greek town from where ships were launched for Troy unearthed
• Greek Archaeologists Claim They Discovered Odysseus' Palace
• Project Troia -- Bronze Age Troy Just Keeps on Growing
• The War that Killed Achilles by Caroline Alexander [reviews]
• Bulgarian Archaeology Finds Said to Rewrite History of Black Sea Sailing
• Lost city found in Turkey: It is older than Troy
• Rare Cuneiform Script Found on Island of Malta

[SunkenCiv]

I don’t have that Babylon-5 hairdo sufficient to go view that one.