Posted on 10/21/2002 10:13:37 PM PDT by LostTribe
Was Troy a Metropolis? Homer Isn't Talking
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
new Trojan War has broken out. In the warrior roles of Achilles and Hector are two respected professors on the same German university faculty who could not differ more fully and vehemently over what to make of the ruins at the presumed site in western Turkey of the legendary siege in the 13th century B.C. immortalized by Homer.
One adversary, an archaeologist who has directed excavations there since 1988, contends that he has found telling evidence of Troy as a much larger and more important city than previously thought. Surveys and excavations, he says, disclose the outlines of a densely settled town reaching 1,300 feet south of the hilltop citadel.
This greater Troy, with an estimated population of up to 10,000, sizable for the time, is now being portrayed as a thriving center of Late Bronze Age commerce at a strategic point in shipping between the Aegean and Black Seas. It seemed to have been a place worth fighting over (if indeed there is any historical basis to Homer's "Iliad").
Where is the proof, the other combatant, an ancient historian, demands to know. Accusing the Troy archaeologist of "willful deceit," he argues that excavations have turned up no firm evidence of such a large town outside the acropolis. At best, he insists, Troy in that period was only a princely seat, a castle and little else of consequence.
The argument between the two professors at the University of Tübingen, Dr. Manfred Korfmann, the archaeologist, and Dr. Frank Kolb, the historian of ancient times, may have little direct bearing on some of the more hoary questions about Troy. Was Homer's Trojan War part history or all poetry? Was there ever a woman like Helen, whose face, however beautiful, could have launched a thousand ships?
The dispute is an unsettling reminder to archaeologists that lapses sometimes occur in the proper practice of their field, where evidence can be ambiguous and the temptation can be great to overinterpret piecemeal findings to burnish their significance. Whether that has occurred now is the issue.
Controversy, though, is nothing new in Troy research.
Heinrich Schliemann, the gifted amateur who was the first to conduct extensive excavations there, in the 1870's, had a habit of mixing fantasy with reality in his reports. Finding a lode of gold and jewelry, he announced it to be the treasure of Priam, king of Homer's Troy. Later, it was proved to be from a much earlier period.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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Schliemann’s house in Athens was seen a bit in Michael Wood’s Trojan War documentary years ago; apparently since that time it has been transformed into a numismatic museum (stamp collectors take note).
https://www.bestofathens.gr/guide/place/museum/numismatic-museum
https://www.athenskey.com/numismatic-museum.html
https://www.mysteriousgreece.com/2016/04/numismatic-museum-athens/
https://www.mysteriousgreece.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Numismatic-Museum.jpg
https://www.museeum.com/the-old-palace-of-troy-in-athens/
https://www.museeum.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/photo-25-3.jpg
https://europeupclose.com/article/heinrich-schliemanns-house-in-athens/
https://149359143.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Mosaic-Floor-Schleimann-House.jpg
https://www.smarksthespots.com/numismatic-museum-cafe-athens/
https://www.smarksthespots.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/numismatic_museum_cafe_athens_01.png
https://149359143.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/interior-hallway-Schliemann-House.jpg
https://www.greece-is.com/athens-neoclassical-gems/
https://www.greece-is.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/ATH_NEOCLASSICAL_GEMS_08.jpg
https://www.greece-is.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/ATH_NEOCLASSICAL_GEMS_09.jpg
https://www.greece-is.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/ATH_NEOCLASSICAL_GEMS_01.jpg
http://www.my-favourite-planet.de/english/europe/greece/attica/athens/acropolis/acropolis-photos-01-011.html
http://www.my-favourite-planet.de/images/europe/greece/attica/acropolis-01/athens_dj-13052011-1-0193c_schliemann-grave.jpg
https://www.tripadvisor.co.nz/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g189400-d3635765-i306004603-The_Tomb_of_Heinrich_Schliemann_First_Cemetry-Athens_Attica.html
https://www.athenskey.com/uploads/1/8/0/9/18093069/published/1421510.jpg?1612351773
https://www.athenskey.com/uploads/1/8/0/9/18093069/published/3139728.jpg?1612351761
This topic was posted , thanks LostTribe.
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