ancient history

The Real Trojan War ~ When & Where Did it Happen? & How do we know?

The story itself is fiction, but is almost certainly loosely based on real conflicts in the Bronze Age (estimated date of Homer’s settings c 1300–1180 BCE).

Map of Mycenaean Greece c 1400–1200 BCE Public Domain

The version we know comes largely from Homer’s poem, The Iliad, composed around 760 BCE and written down about 100 years later.

Homer, as a wandering bard, likely in the Ionian region of the eastern Aegean (modern-day Turkish coast and nearby islands), wrote something dramatic and entertaining to perform for the archaic Greek theatre audience.

The 10-year Trojan War, as told, included a city-siege, a thousand Greek ships, and excessive interference by a plethora of gods. Some of the details in Homer’s account match the time he lived in, and not the distant earlier Bronze Age of 500 years or so earlier.

The Iliad is not a dramatised historical account of an actual event called the Trojan War. Nevertheless, it is likely the story is a retelling of a collection of older tales about a war or many separate battles. There may well be one or several real violent conflicts that inspired the story.

Who Was Involved in Homer’s Trojan War?

1. On the Greek side:

The Mycenaean civilization (c. 1750–1050 BC) occupied mainland Greece, and from 1450 BCE, their domain included Crete and the Aegean Islands. They spoke an early form of Greek and wrote using the Linear B script.

Mycenaean Greece was organized around multiple independent, regional palatial centers — not a single unified empire — each ruled by a Wanax (king). Key palace sites with their own Wanax included Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos, Thebes, and Knossos (in Crete), with others like Midea, Gla, and Orchomenos also acting as major hubs.

The Mycenaeans were seafaring traders, so it would not be surprising that they were able to pull together a massive navy, although 1,000 ships might be an exaggeration.

We can’t prove any of the named individuals in Homer’s poems on the Greek team were actual real people. However, there were rulers of Pylos, Sparta, and Mycenae, for example, but there is nothing to confirm or link them to named people in Homer’s work. No inscriptions found at the archaeological sites or references to them in Egyptian texts, for example.

In the Homeric epic, the character Nestor of Pylos may have been based on a real King who may have been called Nestor. We have the archaeological palace of Pylos, but no confirmation of any names.

Similarly, we are told about Idomeneus of Crete and grandson of King Minos. Minos may have existed (c 1300 BCE), though he is usually described as a mythical character. There is no definite proof these people existed, but great seafaring Kingdoms were based at Crete, even if we can’t confirm the names of their Kings.

2. On the Trojan side:

The action is supposed to have taken place at a Kingdom on the western Anatolian coast (modern Turkey) known to the Greeks as Troy/Ilium (or Ilion).

The archaeological site is known as Hisarlık is thought to be Troy/Ilium. There are many layers showing occupation, destruction and rebuilding through thousands of years.

But which layer of destruction would relate to the Trojan War? That is difficult to determine.

Some of the layers that correspond to a rough estimation of the Trojan War are:

• Troy VIh (c. 1300 BC): Marked by large walls and significant damage attributed to an earthquake.
• Troy VIIa (c. 1190–1180 BC): The generally accepted candidate for the Trojan War, this layer shows burned debris, scattered human bones, and evidence of a siege (e.g., overcrowding, stored food).
• Troy VIIb1/VIIb2 (c. 1180–950 BC): Further destruction/decline, featuring foreign Balkan-style pottery following the VIIa destruction.

A major destruction layer at Hisarlık/Troy, with arrow heads, points to a battle dated c 1200-1180 BCE, and this is most often associated with the Trojan War, though this is by no means settled. This was a time associated with major destruction and upheaval across the Mediteranian, called the Bronze Age Collapse.

It’s exciting that we have a site for Troy, but this still doesn’t mean a 10-year siege or war unfolded in any way as described.

Finding the site and evidence of a battle doesn’t confirm Homer’s account.

Something that I find most intriguing is the Hittite written documents that also connect Hisarlık to conflict with the Mycenaean Greeks.

The Hittite Writings:

The Hittites were a major Bronze Age power that controled central Anatolia and also kept incredible written records, which have been translated. Troy/Hisarlık was locally known as Wilusa in the Bronze Age.

Wilusa signed a vassal pact pledging loyalty to the Hittites, known as the Alaksandu Treaty, it was created around 1280 BCE between Muwatalli II and Alaksandu. It mentions earlier cordial relations, referencing a previous ruler, Kukkuni, and lists the deity Apaliunas (associated with Apollo) as a divine witness. So, Wilusa was not a Hittite Kingdom but had an agreement with the Hittites.

Notably, in Homer’s Iliad, Alexandros is the name more often used for the character known as Paris, prince of Troy, and instigator of the Trojan War. He was the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba and the younger brother of the hero Hector.

Alexandros = Alaksandu?

The name of a prince in Homer’s work matching a former King of Wilusa (Troy) could be a coincidence; it doesn’t mean Homer’s character is based on this King.

Other Hittite documents suggest the Trojan War story might be based on an actual conflict. The Tawagalawa letter (c 1250 BCE) and the Milawata Letter (c 1240 BCE) record conflicts and settlement agreements between Wilusa and the Ahhiyawa (Mycenaeans). This could date the conflicts as c 1300-1240 BCE.

There is a good possibility that more Hittite texts will be uncovered and translated to shed more light on this era from a contemporary source.

CONCLUSION

You can visit many of the sites that feature in Homer’s epics.

[embed]11 Real Places that Appear in Homer’s Odyssey It’s surprising to discover most places mentioned by Homer are identifiable as real locations.medium.com

We can be certain that he set the Trojan War at Hisarlık. We know he used real places in the Odyssey.

Paris may have been based on a real Prince of Wilusa, a prince who later became its King, Alaksandu. If this was genuinely the prince in the tale then the story must have been set closer to 1300 BCE.

Nestor King of Pylos may have been based on a real King of Pylos, however, the palace was destroyed by fire c 1250–1200 BCE, and yet it is visited in Homer’s Odyssey.

King Minos of Crete may have been a real person (I will write about him soon), but we do not know whether he had a grandson called Idomeneus who fought in the Trojan War. Nevertheless, we know Mycenaeans dominated Crete from c 1450; they would have been important in dominating the seas of the area.

I think it is a lot of fun to look for the connections between the stories and real places, events, and people.

While I am certain that Homer’s stories are works of fiction written to be enjoyed by the audience in his days, it still gives us a glimpse into the popular accounts in the 7th/8th century BCE that the Greeks had of their past. Though some of the places and peoples were long gone, they lived on in memory.

I suspect that, like many great storytellers, Homer took great liberty with the facts. He may have drawn upon scant details of names and places , along with folk tales, myths, and real history— all unrelated — that he skillfully threaded into exciting stories.