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(3) ILIAD & ODYSSEY (TROY & TROJAN WAR):
BARRY STRAUSS – THE TROJAN WAR (2006)
“Sing, Muse, of the wrath of Achilles” – or really just anything about the Iliad and the Odyssey, or the Troy and the Trojan war in general.
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are of course my primary books of classical mythology, ranking in second spot in my Top 10 Mythology Books. So of course, I have a special mention just for the subject of the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as the Troy and Trojan War in general
Other books on the subject of the Iliad and the Odyssey, other than, well, the Iliad and the Odyssey, in my Top 10 Mythology Books or special mentions include those works on classical mythology in general – Bulfinch’s Mythology with its first volume predominantly on classical mythology and Robert Graves’ The Greek Myths, as well as Bettany Hughes on Helen of Troy. Barbara Walker’s Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets has numerous entries on subjects from the Iliad or Odyssey.
My keynote book for this special mention is The Trojan War by historian Barry Strauss.
“In The Trojan War historian and classicist Barry Strauss explores the myth and the reality behind the war, from Homer’s accounts in The Iliad and The Odyssey to Heinrich Schliemann’s discovery of ancient Troy in the late nineteenth century to more recent excavations that have yielded intriguing clues to the story behind the fabled city.”
Essentially, Strauss is able to reconstruct the Trojan War from the Iliad, even if it did not happen quite as Homer described it, although Homer got more right than people give him credit – hence the reconstruction. (I’d love to see someone argue that all the mythological gods stuff was true, but the historical war stuff is false).
And Hector? Thou art avenged! I like how history matches mythology in more often than not showing the Trojans as the civilized society, originating from the Hittites, besieged by the rowdy Greeks as the sea-roving barbarians, or dare I say it, the Sea Peoples – the Vikings of the Aegean.
RATING: 5 STARS*****
S-TIER (GOD TIER)