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Recommend a good book on the Trojan war

Posted on 9/20/20 at 8:19 pm
Posted by choppadocta
Louisiana
Member since May 2014
1840 posts
Posted on 9/20/20 at 8:19 pm
I've read the Illiad and the semi related Odyssey. Looking for a comprehensive work. Thanks.
Posted by Philzilla2k
Member since Oct 2017
11055 posts
Posted on 9/21/20 at 6:50 am to
Michael Woods “In Search of the Trojan War”, good companion documentary as well.
Posted by sertorius
Third Plebeian
Member since Oct 2008
1507 posts
Posted on 9/21/20 at 6:53 am to
Since The Iliad only covers a portion of the war, this author covers all the event surrounding the war. It's not very well written, but the facts are there.

LINK
Posted by Marciano1
Marksville, LA
Member since Jun 2009
18409 posts
Posted on 9/21/20 at 4:35 pm to
quote:

Trojan war
quote:

facts
Posted by sertorius
Third Plebeian
Member since Oct 2008
1507 posts
Posted on 9/22/20 at 7:02 am to
Oh no! The Semantic Police have arrived!


Posted by thatguy45
Your alter's mom's basement
Member since Sep 2017
18879 posts
Posted on 9/23/20 at 11:04 pm to
quote:

Comprehensive work on thd Trojan war

I can't really recommend one book, but there's several that give pieces of it I can recommend

Tough thing about this is that the Iliad and Odyssey (as you likely know) are just 2 epics within the epic cycle recounting the Trojan war, and the other epics survive as fragments, which can be purchased together but they are fragments

You have some options if you want whole stories, but they are (mainly) Roman Fan Fiction
If you want from after the Iliad to the Greeks leaving Troy, check out Posthomerica by Quintus of Smyrnaea

If you want to find out what happened to Aeneas and other Trojans, read the Aeneid by Virgil

Further complicating things of course is the fact that there is different versions of the Trojan war. Herodotus in his Histories discusses a version from Egypt in which helen never actually made it to Troy and also talks about Menelaus' trip home

If you want more detail in what happened to Agamemnon when he got home (outside of what's mentioned in the odyssey) check out the Orestia trilogy

Thucydides discusses the war a little too but not on the level Herodotus does. He tries to tear the story back from its embellishment by the poets to the truth of the event through theorizing, but dies so briefly before moving on to other things

A couple that I haven't read yet: there's a reconstructed Cypria (one of the epics taking place before the iliad) that someone has made based on stuff like Ovids metamorphosis

Also there is a journal entitled "the chronicles of Dictys of Crete" that may or may not be a surviving first hand account from the war (a Roman claimed he found it written on wood in a tomb in Crete) or may again be Roman Fan Fiction (most think it's a fake)

Also, the BBC did a documentary years ago entitled "in search of troy" that is in parts (for free) on YouTube that I thought was pretty good.

You can probably Wikipedia alot of these if you want a shorter account. I know it's a big list (probably excessive) but the epic cycle interests me and I wish we had all the poems so this pastiche stuff wasn't necessary.
Posted by sertorius
Third Plebeian
Member since Oct 2008
1507 posts
Posted on 9/29/20 at 10:42 am to
I stumbled upon this today.

LINK

This updates Quintus of Smyrna and fills in the details as cited in the sources listed by thatguy45. It aspires to fill in the gaps of the events surrounding the Trojan War.

This post was edited on 9/29/20 at 11:05 am
Posted by lsugorilla
PNW
Member since Sep 2009
5522 posts
Posted on 10/15/20 at 1:06 pm to
For fiction on Trojan war there is
THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS BY PAT BARKER
Or
SONG OF ACHILLES BY MADELINE MILLER

I have not read either yet
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