The Attack on Troy by Rodney Castleden
TITLE: The Attack on Troy
AUTHOR: Rodney Castleden
DATE PUBLISHED: 2006
FORMAT: ebook
ISBN-13: 9781781596890
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DESCRIPTION:
3300 years ago Agamemnon, king of Mycenae in Greece, attacked the city of Troy in western Anatolia. The bloody siege that followed gave rise to one of the most famous legends of the ancient world, and the search for the truth behind the legend has intrigued scholars ever since. In this fascinating new investigation Rodney Castleden reconsiders all the evidence in order to establish the facts and give a historical basis to the most potent myth of ancient warfare.
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REVIEW:
This book is a little bit different to Michael Wood's In Search of the Trojan War, which reads like an archaeological detective story. Both books provide similar information but in a different "format". Castleden attempts to recreate what the Trojan War by comparing what is known from archeology of Bronze Age Mycenaean and Ancient Near Eastern civilization (Hittites, Luwians, Egyptians etc) to the information provided in various incomplete and lost epics such as the The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Kypria, and The Little Iliad. Castleden works through the ancient epics and explains what is plausible in terms of cultural and military factors and what is probably poetic license. The writing style is clear and easy to read, with the layperson rather than academic in mind. A nicely written introduction to the archaeology and mythology of the Trojan War.
PS: Another nonfiction book on the Trojan Was is Barry Strauss's The Trojan War, but I never did manage to read more than 2 chapters as the author had a tendency to novelize whole sections of the Iliad that did not appeal to me.
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