Trojan War Research Articles

Articulator Characteristics Of THE Cycles Of The Historical-Fantasy Romans Of David Gemmell" The Lion Of Macedon " and "Troy"

David Gemmell's historical fantasy novels, particularly those centered around the Trojan War and Alexander of Macedonia, masterfully intertwine historical authenticity with imaginative elements, creating narratives that both entertain and offer fresh perspectives on well-known historical events. This study delves into Gemmell's unique approach to historical fantasy, analyzing how he reimagines legendary episodes such as the siege of Troy and the life of Alexander the Great. Through a detailed examination of Gemmell's works, including The Lion of Macedon and the Troy trilogy, this research highlights his ability to blend historical accuracy with mythological creativity. The analysis reveals that Gemmell's characters, rooted in history yet enhanced by fantastical traits, resonate deeply with modern readers by addressing timeless themes such as heroism, fate, and the human condition. The study finds that Gemmell's integration of historical figures with mythological elements not only enriches the narrative complexity of his works but also engages readers in a more profound exploration of the ethical and philosophical dimensions of history. His portrayal of characters like Alexander and the heroes of Troy balances their legendary status with human vulnerabilities, making them relatable and compelling to a contemporary audience. Additionally, the research uncovers that Gemmell's approach to historical fantasy significantly influences the reader's perception of historical events, offering an alternative lens through which to understand and appreciate the past.

‘Who is afraid of fairenesse or wanton ladies appearing in their barenesse?’: laughing at female desire in early modern English reception of the myth of the Trojan War☆

AbstractIn early modern England, as part of a broader interrogation of exemplarity, full‐scale works on the Trojan War often subjected the myth's heroes to humorous scrutiny, whereas the heroines remained surprisingly untouched by comedy. Testifying to the war's calamities already in antiquity, in the early modern period, the myth's women acquired a further link to destruction: their sexuality was believed to ‘undo’ men. Embodying different types of suffering, the heroines came to be regarded as inherently tragic. Read against this context, one aspect of William Shakespeare's and Thomas Heywood's interventions into the myth appears remarkably defiant. Pursuing divergent aims – in Troilus and Cressida Shakespeare explores the annihilating power of laughter irrespective of gender, in Oenone and Paris and The Iron Age Heywood specifically sets out to rehabilitate female characters – both authors temporarily turn the heroines into objects of comedy. However, if Shakespeare creates a Troy in which mockery is universal, Heywood does not. Thus, although both maintain that laughter against the myth's heroines ultimately backfires, turning those laughing into comic figures, Heywood, by having the women never resort to mockery, makes them seem more sympathetic, even tragic, whereas their Shakespearean counterparts laugh and suffer laughter's consequences alongside men.

Lyssa: Goddess, Drug, Illness and Shield in Hellenic Antiquity.

The aim of this historical review is to present the beliefs of the ancient Greeks related to lyssa and how the mythology surrounding this disease was created. In Greek antiquity Lyssa was a secondary goddess, a personification of a zoonotic disease which could be transmitted after an animal bite. Also named hydrophobia, the illness lyssa presented with an acute loss of mental stability, offensive frenzy and madness, and fear of water in the patient, who was seen to be possessed by a daemon as a divine punishment. In the Trojan War, lyssa was seen as a drug to Greek warriors, to demonstrate unreal power during battle. Homer was the first to refer to the hound of Orion, who was the greatest ancient Greek hunter. The hound, named Sirius, as a carrier of lyssa, was used as a bio-weapon to inflict death among the Trojans. Soranus of Ephesus and Galen gave descriptions of the disease, and proposed a sponge soaked with various herbal drugs as a therapeutic measure. The Greco-Roman physician Caelius Aurelianus noted that ancient Greeks knew about lyssa, and was the first to suggest that this was a neuro-disease. Lyssa was a figure in Greek Tragedy, depicted as a young female with a dog-like crown, related to Erinyes and Maniae. CONCLUSION: Lyssa was noted as a disease in Hellenic literature more than 2500 years ago. It was used as a bio-weapon to inflict madness. This vignette reveals Lyssa within a historical framework for the reader to understand the disease's origins.

Adaptations of masculinity: mapping the affective power of Achilles and Patroclus

Abstract The Greek myth of Achilles and Patroclus, two of the heroes of the Trojan War, has served various ideological purposes in adaptive revisions. The central question of this article is how the story lends itself to different interpretations and ideological projects across time. Building on concepts of affect, power, and cartographical reading, as described by Gilles Deleuze, the analyses highlight the potential of the myth to do different things. The examples analysed are Christa Wolf’s novel Kassandra, Madeline Miller’s novel The Song of Achilles, and a figure skating routine by French elite skater Kevin Aymoz. A comparison of these adaptations shows how the myth can be used to celebrate alternative notions of masculinity and challenge homophobic discourses. Furthermore, the comparison highlights figure skating as a mode of adaptation where a performer becomes a character, thus underlining the affirmative potential of the sport.

“A Woman Thought Up the Trojan War” by Oksana Lutsyshyna

“A Woman Thought Up the Trojan War” by Oksana Lutsyshyna

The Differences Between Wars in Ancient China and Ancient Greece--The Analysis Based on The Book of Songs and Ancient Greek Mythology

This paper aims to analyze the different views of war in ancient China and ancient Greece, based on The Book of Songs and Ancient Greek Mythology. The comparisons are divided into three parts: the distinction of background, views in The Book of Songs, and attitudes towards war in Ancient Greek Mythology, and finally conclusion will be drawn. In the first part, the geography factors will be given, and then the analyses of lifestyles, personalities and beliefs that are influenced or shaped by the natural environment follow, also including the comparisons. The second part is on the views of war in The Book of Songs where four typical examples are given which represent four genres that indicate four different attitudes towards war in ancient China, also with analyses. Part three is based on Ancient Greek Mythology, the Trojan War especially, which fully exemplifies the western view of war. The analyses of the culture of offensive war and individual heroism follow. Finally, in the last part, some suggestions for nowadays diplomacy will be given based on the analyses and comparisons above. Also, the culture of defensive war and patriotism, as the two most distinct and significant beliefs, are worth highlighting separately, for they still deeply affect nowadays Chinese.

Queer and/or Lesbian?: Amazons in Christa Wolf’s Cassandra

In Cassandra: A Novel and Four Essays (1984), Wolf retells the Trojan War story from the perspective of the seer Cassandra, taking the Trojan War as a parallel to issues of her day. She uses the Amazons as important secondary characters, representing them as both woman-loving women and warriors. Wolf believes their valor in battle is only a version of men’s militarism and thus provides no solution to the problem of war, her primary concern.

À la recherche de la paix. Des Anciens à Matéi Visniec


 
 
 This article discusses the still inexhaustible topic of war, and its consequences, with a special focus on the woman’s status amidst violent conflict. The man who goes out to fight stereotype finds its opposite in the cliché of the woman waiting for her husband/father/son to return from war, as she suffers, is wounded even killed, before falling victim to the enemies’ rapes and unimaginable aggressions. There is a significant number of women who transgress sociocultural clichés and engage in war, whatever its forms, as rebels, accomplices, militants, or redeemers. The following analysis foregrounds Hecuba, the mother torn apart by the Trojan War, after having witnessed the deaths of all her children and the ruin of her city, and Lysistrata, the woman who can put an end to the endless internecine murders of the ancient Greeks, both by ruse and by directly and courageously confronting her incurably bellicose spouse. Starting from Euripides and Aristophanes, through the medium of two particularly distinct genres, tragedy and comedy, respectively, the search for peace continues 2500 years later, this time bearing the contemporary mark of playwright Matei Vişniec – at the same time satirical, subtle, and unremitting in his denouncing both the atrocities of the warriors’ atavistic violence and the disarray of the present under the influence of various types of aggression. 
 
 

Qui volunt eos cognoscere, Argonautas legant

Abstract The late antique De excidio Troiae historia, supposedly written by a soldier in the Trojan War, Dares the Phrygian, encourages the reader to consult a work called Argonautae. This article discusses three possibilities of how to understand this reference—it could either be a comment by the real author of this pseudonymous work, or the supposed translator Nepos, or the ostensible author Dares. It argues that audiences in antiquity were familiar with the idea of literature written prior to the Trojan War, and debates the possibility that the Trojan Dares might refer to a poem about the Argonauts which was composed by the mythical Orpheus. It comes to the conclusion that the reference is intentionally ambiguous.

Iliados komentaras kaip priešprieša karui. Simone Weil ir graikai

The article focuses on some of Simone Weil’s philosophical writings against war, which she published in the context of the Second World War. Her translations and commentaries on Greek myths, philosophy, and poetry were at the core of her political thought and action. One of the main purposes of this article is to study Weil’s idea of the Trojan war as paradigmatic in human history. The philosopher’s interest in ancient authors was determined by her philosophical, pedagogical, as well as social activities. Weil’s translations and commentaries on Homer’s Iliad were deeply influenced by her reflexions on the origins of Hitlerism. Weil’s philosophical gloss on the Iliad was based on a radical cultural and political confrontation between Greek philosophy, which she associated with spirituality, and ideology of violence, which she attributed to Roman imperialism. Within the broader context of Weil’s philosophy, the article focuses on the key concepts that the philosopher introduced in her commentaries on the Iliad, such as hero, misfortune, thing, and force. Weil’s philosophy seems to be very timely in wartime because it underscores the demand for a pure inner and courageous view of war by philosophers – just like Homer’s view of the Trojan war.

Targeted modulation and enhancement of macrophages via sonodynamic therapy-driven cupferroptosis-like stress for implant-associated biofilm infections

As the vanguard against implant-associated infections (IAIs), macrophages facilitate the phagocytosis and pro-inflammatory polarization of planktonic and biofilm infections, but indirectly serve as a “Trojan horse” for intracellular bacterial infections. Effective drug delivery and macrophage immunomodulation to eliminate intracellular infections will contribute to the treatment of refractory IAIs and prevention of relapse. Herein, we developed an ultrasound-responsive copper-based nanoparticle targeting macrophages by encapsulating copper in a porphyrin metal-organic framework and surface-grafting D-Mannosamine to synthesize CuTCPP@MOF nanodots@ Mannosamine (CTMM) with macrophage-targeting functionality. Concurrent generation of hydroxyl radicals and singlet oxygen in biofilm microenvironment mediated by ultrasound disrupts the biofilm structure, achieving CTMM overload and interfering with bacterial biofilm growth and metabolism. By regulating macrophage oxidative stress metabolism, CTMM induced a cupferroptosis-like stress, characterized by concurrent cuproptosis and ferroptosis, to eliminate intracellular infections. Transcriptomic analysis verified that the cupferroptosis-like stress based on GPX4 axis modulation further promotes macrophage inflammatory activation. This CTMM+US-mediated bacterial clearance in biofilms and macrophage immunomodulation informs the "Trojan War" strategy to combat IAIs clinically.

Teaching Greek mythology through a scenario-based game

AbstractIn this article, we showcase the pilot scenario of The Trojan War, an educational self-directed game that combines text inspired by ancient Greek (as well as Roman) literature with graphics based on the ‘Geometric style’, an authentic Greek style of painting contemporary with the composition of the Homeric epics. Our game uses interactive scenarios to support active learning strategies of students interested in Classical Studies in both tertiary and secondary education. Players can take on the role of key characters, making choices that can prevent, start, or stop the Trojan War, as well as determine their own personal outcomes. The learners are thus presented with the opportunity to explore alternative pathways to rewrite the history of the War. In the process, they can apply their subject knowledge and develop their intellectual and critical skills. They also become familiar with a distinctive and expressive early Greek artistic style, the so-called Geometric. Rather than focusing on winning, the game aims to give students the opportunity to engage with important ideas and values of ancient Greek culture by exploring multiple perspectives on the topic. It also provides a valuable lesson on the potentially wide-ranging consequences of individual choices, which is a core element of responsible citizenship.

Trojański palimpsest. Odniesienia intertekstualne w zakończeniu III księgi „Dziejów” Tacyta

The Trojan War or, more precisely, the sacking of Troy, plays an important role in the Roman cultural imagination and the crucial text dealing with these events, Vergil’s Aeneid II, has been used by various authors in various literary genres in order to build associations between their own subject matter and the fates of Priam, Hecuba, Aeneas etc. Thus, for example, the death of Agamemnon in Seneca’s tragedy of the same title bears a similarity to the death of Priam in the Aeneid; the two narratives are examined in the first part of the paper. In the main part of the paper, we move from Seneca to Tacitus; here, after a brief consideration of a passage from the account of the death of Galba (Hist. I 41, 3), there is a detailed discussion of one chapter from the end of Book III of the Histories (84). The chapter describes the Vitellian soldiers’ last stand against the Flavian army in Rome on December 20, AD 69 and Emperor Vitellius’ pathetic demise. The paper’s particular focus is on intertextual references which, so it seems, are introduced by Tacitus into his narrative to make his account of the last stage of the Roman Civil War of AD 68/69 more graphic and memorable; importantly, most of these references evoke the Trojan War and its aftermath. In particular, the following passages are analysed: (1) Tac. Hist. III 84, 2 ~ Verg. Aen. II 501–502; (2) Tac. Hist. III 84, 3 ~ Sall. Cat. 52, 3 + Eur. Hec. 568–570 (cf. Ov. Met. XIII 879–880; Fast. II 833–834); (3) Tac. Hist. III 84, 4 ~ Verg. Aen. II 755; (4) Tac. Hist. III 84, 5 ~ Verg. Aen. II 57–59.

Trojan War and Epic Cycle: The Historical and Literary Version Where, How, When and Why The Trojan War Myth was invented

There are two aspects about the Trojan War, the historical and the literary. For 1200 BC, the Late Bronze Age there are two epigraphical testimonies, the Hettite inscriptions and the Linear B tablets. Due to the fact that the latter do not contain historical information, only the Hettitic inscriptions remain, which provide us with very important historical information about the relationships between the Hittite empire, the kingdom of Troy and the kingdom of Ahhijawa. An important contribution to the historical reality is also offered by the excavations of the professor Manfred Korfmann (University of Tübingen) that brought to light the lower city with a moat. So the city is a typical Eastern city with Appaliuna (=Apollo) as one of the main gods. The Treaty of Alaksandu, king of Troy, and Muwatalli, king of Hattussa, and other Hittite documents confirm that Troy was a vassal of the Hittite empire and thus under its protection. Therefore, in the 13th century BC the Trojan War could not have taken place, as the Achaeans would have faced the powerful Hittite force. In the 12th century the Achaeans were not in a position to campaign, because the Mycenaean centres had collapsed. So, the Trojan War is a literary and not a historical event. Thus, the Epic Cycle is examined with the various works and more specifically the Iliad and the Odyssey, their grammar, their structure, the editing of the text during the Alexandrian age and the famous Homeric question.

Trojan War and epic cycle: the historical and literary version where, how, when and why the Trojan War myth was invented

There are two aspects about the Trojan War, the historical and the literary. For 1200 BC, the Late Bronze Age there are two epigraphical testimonies, the Hettite inscriptions and the Linear B tablets. Due to the fact that the latter do not contain historical information, only the Hettitic inscriptions remain, which provide us with very important historical information about the relationships between the Hittite empire, the kingdom of Troy and the kingdom of Ahhijawa. An important contribution to the historical reality is also offered by the excavations of the professor Manfred Korfmann (University of Tübingen) that brought to light the lower city with a moat. So the city is a typical Eastern city with Appaliuna (=Apollo) as one of the main gods. The Treaty of Alaksandu, king of Troy, and Muwatalli, king of Hattussa, and other Hittite documents confirm that Troy was a vassal of the Hittite empire and thus under its protection. Therefore, in the 13th century BC the Trojan War could not have taken place, as the Achaeans would have faced the powerful Hittite force. In the 12th century the Achaeans were not in a position to campaign, because the Mycenaean centres had collapsed. So, the Trojan War is a literary and not a historical event. Thus, the Epic Cycle is examined with the various works and more specifically the Iliad and the Odyssey, their grammar, their structure, the editing of the text during the Alexandrian age and the famous Homeric question.

"This is and is not Cressid": Seeing Double in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida

Abstract: This article offers a new interpretation of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida in the context of "that terrible Poetomachia " at the turn of the seventeenth century. It argues that Shakespeare stages a microcosm of the poets' war between the recently revived children's companies and the professional theater. Shakespeare appropriates conventions from the boy company repertories to defend against their caricatures of professional playing and its system of apprenticeship. Reading the play as a whole, and the character of Cressida in particular, as perspectival double images, it shows how Shakespeare uses the indeterminate body of the boy actor playing Cressida to create a visual analogy between the two and to foreground their shared dramatic situations. Through the figure of Cressida, Shakespeare metatheatrically dramatizes the vulnerability and exploitation of Elizabethan boy actors caught between warring theaters, and in doing so weaves the War of the Theaters into the Trojan War to reflect on his own contemporary theatrical market.

Virchow and Troy.

The Trojan war occupies an important place in Greek mythology. Homer describes this in detail in his epic works of "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey." The ancient town of Troy is located south of the Dardanelles Strait in Turkey. Until the late nineteenth century, scientists thought that the Trojan War was a legend. German businessman and amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) began excavations in Troy. The Turkish Empire (Ottoman Empire) granted excavation permission in 1871 on the condition that the artifacts discovered would be preserved and exhibited. Schliemann found "the treasure of the Trojan king Priam" in 1873. He smuggled the treasure to Athens. In 1874, the Ottoman government discovered this and went after the treasure. They sued Schliemann in Athens. According to archaeologists, the treasure dates back to 2600-2400 BC. The horde that Schliemann found could not have belonged to the Trojan King Priam. It was during this time that Schliemann met Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902). Virchow was interested in anthropology and prehistory. The Turkish state granted Schliemann new permission to conduct excavations. Virchow stayed in Troy for a month in 1879 as an excavation site physician. He provided health care services to the excavation workers and local people and made observations. Virchow came to Troy once again in March 1890 to attend the second Trojan conference organized by Schliemann. Virchow was also an influential politician in Berlin. He was a member of the Berlin City Council. Thanks to the relations established with Chancellor Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm, Virchow ensured that the Treasure of Priam would be permanently transferred to Berlin from London (it is currently at the Victoria and Albert Museum), where it was temporarily exhibited. Trojan treasures were exhibited in the Ethnological Museum (Völkerkundemuseum) and in the Martin-Gropius Bau (formerly Kunstgewerbemuseum -The Decorative Arts Museum) until 1945. After the Soviet Army entered Berlin following the Second World War, the treasure was lost. It was discovered in 1994 that the treasure was at the Pushkin Museum.

Memnon in the Middle Ages: The Reception of a Homeric Hero

AbstractMemnon, the mythic king of Ethiopia killed by Achilles during the Trojan War, had a double or fused identity in classical antiquity: both Asian and African for Greek and Roman writers because of his parentage and because of the geographical indeterminacy of ‘Aithiopia’ and of ‘India’, but definitely black-skinned for Roman writers. How was this figure received in medieval texts and images? This paper tracks Memnon through three textual genres from the twelfth to the fifteenth century – commentaries on Ovid, catalogues of famous men, histories of the Trojan War – and charts the ways in which his classical identity was overlaid and transformed by pro-Trojan sentiment, chivalric heroization and Christian sacrificial thinking.

The Role of Religion in Peaceful Relations and the Trojan War Between Ancient Greece and Asia Minor

The study is entitled “The role of religion in peaceful relations and the Trojan War between ancient Greece and Asia Minor” highlights the peaceful relations between Greece and Asia Minor from ancient times until the arrival of Alexander the Great, their un peaceful relations in the Battle of Trojan, the role and influence of religion in the formation of these relations the similarity of the gods and create colony and trading, Participating in the party and festivals, and The Battle of Trojan is also cited as an example of their non-peaceful relationship.
 The study consists of an introduction and summary in both Kurdish and English, conclusions, list of sources and three discussions. The first topic is a historical brief about ancient Greece and Asia Minor and an introduction to religion, The second topic deals with the role of religion in the peaceful relations between ancient Greece and Asia Minor, The third topic account for the role of religion in the War of Trojan. This is in addition to presenting the findings of the study.

Philosophy of Greek Myth from a Historical Perspective (1300-1100 BC)

This research intends to provide an academic viewpoint on the value of studying "Greek Mythology" in a historical context by tracing its roots as a primary philosophy. Myths are complex because they contain historical information. The study subject focuses on the success of the Greek epics poet "Homer," who mixed mythology with history in a philosophical and literary framework. Both epics incorporated rhetorical visuals, graphic arts, supernatural, and philosophical elements. The research relies on a historical, descriptive technique, examining important documents, books, papers, and research. According to the study, the Iliad and the Odyssey reveal the influence of myth on Greek thinking and ideology. The Iliad reveals "Trojan War" mysteries and facts. Homer's descriptions of events and episodes are consistent with those of Greek historians, especially Thucydides. The research made several important recommendations, including the need to include in university curricula topics on the philosophy of history that provides for eastern and western mythological symbols because of their importance as part of the cultural heritage of peoples that must be revived in all countries, and the need to hold seminars and scientific conferences to shed light on the importance of the symbols.