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The Trojan War

Barry S. Strauss

3.77 · Rating details · 1,179 ratings · 157 reviews

Did the Trojan War really happen?

Spectacular new archaeological evidence suggests that it did. Recent excavations and newly translated Hittite texts reveal that Troy was a large, wealthy city allied with the Hittite Empire. Located at the strategic entrance to the Dardanelles, the link between the Aegean and Black Sea, it was a tempting target for marauding Greeks, the Vik ...more

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Paperback, 288 pages

Published January 3rd 2008 by Arrow (first published 2006)

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Feb 23, 2010 Alex rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: rth-lifetime, reading-through-history, 2009

Thought this would give me more historical info on the actual Trojan War. Turns out we don't know enough to fill a book, so a lot of this is padded out by a blow-by-blow retelling of the Iliad, which I definitely didn't need. Booooring.

Someone recently asked me for my least favorite nonfiction books of my whole Reading Through History project, and this was one of two books I named. (The other: Hannibal: Enemy Of Rome.)

We had a stoop sale last Sunday and someone tried to buy this book for a doll ...more

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Jan 29, 2021 Toria rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I've read two other books by Barry S. Strauss. One 3 stars and one 5 stars. I had hoped this would be at least 4 stars but sadly it disappointed me and is more of a 2.5. The Trojan war is a very interesting part of history yet this book made it boring and I couldn't get a clear grip on interesting facts probably because I was to in focused in learning and read more to finish it. ...more

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Dec 25, 2012 Nicky rated it really liked it

Shelves: greek-roman, non-fiction, history

I remember finding Barry Strauss' book on Spartacus entertaining and readable, which is probably why I asked for this for Christmas. I've always been interested in the Trojan War, and when it came to getting round to actually reading this I was a little hesitant -- I like my stories of cunning Odysseus and beautiful Helen, not the sordid truth. But so, apparently, does Barry Strauss -- and in fact he suggests that the work of Homer is a lot closer to the historical truth than modern scholars hav ...more

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Aug 27, 2019 Mike rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history, military, ancient, mid-east, non-fiction

A very readable and interesting introduction to the classic tale of war in the ancient world and the heroes of the age. Good preparation for reading The Iliad which I mean to do. Good maps too! 3 Stars ...more

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May 28, 2018 Joaco rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: cajonera

This was such a nice book to read. Even though it is short, the author shows his depth of knowledge and succeeds at grounding the Trojan War on archaeological evidence- not only from Greece but also comparing the Greek and Trojan armies to other Bronze Age civilizations from the Near East such as Egyptians, Assyrians, Hittites, and Babylonians-.

Anyone interested on what a real Trojan War might have looked like will have a solid starting point with this book.

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Jan 29, 2017 Nancy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history, ancient-world, non-fiction

Based on discoveries made in the last decade in archaeology and epigraphy, Strauss recounts, in his very distinctive voice and style, the story of the Trojan War and analyzes its historicity, connecting it to what we know about Bronze Age warfare, the cult of the warrior, and interstate conflicts and alliances. Strauss has a really compelling sense of narrative. One jarring note for me: when he quotes from The Iliad and The Odyssey, he uses poet Alexander Pope's translations, an interesting choi ...more

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Jun 02, 2012 Paul Pensom rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This book wasn't what I was expecting at all. I was looking for a detailed examination of the archaeological evidence for Troy and the Trojan War. What I got was a retelling – in often purple prose – of The Iliad. There were frequent references to near contemporary records, to be sure, but the hard nosed archaeology was scarce indeed, and far too often it took a back seat to the author's rhetorical flights of fancy. Maybe there isn't enough evidence to furnish a book, but considering this volume ...more

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Feb 14, 2019 Susan O rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history-ancient

A recounting of the Trojan War using Homer, other ancient texts, and what we know of the Bronze Age from archaeology. Well-written and enjoyable.

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Jan 11, 2013 Jerome rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A great, readable history of the Trojan War. Strauss avoids getting bogged down in the archaeological issues surrounding Schliemann’s discovery, and instead dives right into the Iliad’s narrative (as well as lesser-known works about the war). He treats Homer’s characters as real people and uses their story to tell the real story of ancient Greece.

Strauss is a pretty good writer, and he does a great job combining the dramatic narrative of the Iliad with what is actually known of this time period, ...more

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Dec 19, 2007 Reid rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Strauss crafts a great short book, replete with quick prose, great language and interesting scholarship, tying together Egyptian and Hittite records to show that many of the outlandish tales from the Iliad and the Odyssey are not nearly as surprising as we might think. Anyone who has seriously enjoyed the epics would love this book, a contemporary version of the classic The World of Odyseeus by M.I. Finley. I highly recommend this book for novices and serious scholars. The approachable length ma ...more

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Aug 15, 2011 max rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: homer

I grow weary of books on the Trojan War. Who was Homer? When did he live? Where did he come from? Did he compose in the Greek alphabet that was apparently adopted sometime around 750 B.C. or was he an oral poet who dictated his poems to a scribe? Were the Iliad and Odyssey composed by the same individual or by different authors? Was the author a man or a woman? If they were in fact oral compositions, how were poems of such extraordinary length recited -- piecemeal or in their entirety?

Is the cit I grow weary of books on the Trojan War. Who was Homer? When did he live? Where did he come from? Did he compose in the Greek alphabet that was apparently adopted sometime around 750 B.C. or was he an oral poet who dictated his poems to a scribe? Were the Iliad and Odyssey composed by the same individual or by different authors? Was the author a man or a woman? If they were in fact oral compositions, how were poems of such extraordinary length recited -- piecemeal or in their entirety?

Is the city Schliemann discovered the Troy which we read of in Homer's poems? Was the Trojan War actually fought? If so, when was it fought? Why was it fought? Were Achilles, Agamemnon, Nestor, Odysseus and other characters legendary figures with some basis in men who actually lived, or are they purely the creation of a poetic, mythic imagination?

And on and on and on... There are no answers, only intense speculation. And this very absence of firm answers about the composer of these poems we call the Iliad and Odyssey is one of the things that makes Homer and his Trojan War so interesting. Apart from the spellbinding artistry and transcendent power of his poetry, there is a mystery, a vast chasm of the unknown that separates the creation of these wonderful poems from our world. It is a gulf that is unlikely ever to be bridged.

Contemporary scholars who write about Homer are like ants crawling over the chariot tracks of antiquity. And yet these modern day Myrmidons remain undeterred in their quest, carrying back a grain here, a grain there, and occasionally taking up academic arms against one another. And so they publish books discussing Bronze Age archaeological findings, the meanings of Hittite inscriptions, theories of oral composition, military tactics, social and political organization, etc., etc. etc.

The inquiry into the Trojan War is not at all unimportant, of course. And, in fairness to the scholars, we must admit that their researches have been remarkably fruitful, albeit inconclusive. Still, reading their works is like poring over a book of baseball statistics when you could be watching an actual game. In the end, there is Homer, and only Homer. My advice is to read him (in Greek, of course) or re-read him before opening this book. Smell the salt air wafting over the wine dark sea; hear the rattling of Apollo's arrows as he speeds angrily from Mt. Olympus in response to the prayer of his priest, Chryses; watch the smoke rising from the pyres cremating the Greeks who have been killed by Apollo's plague; behold the manifold wonders of Homer's epic world rather than lie entombed in the frigid, gloomy mausoleum of what are called "Homeric studies." ...more

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Jan 26, 2015 Philipp rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, greek, greece

This feels like it started out as an annotated edition of the Iliad, and then ballooned into its own book, but it's still an entertaining read. The Trojan War goes through the Iliad (and later, a few other sources), treats the sack of Troy as if it was a historic event (including characters - they probably did not have these names, but similar people probably did exist - "Whether Helen’s face launched a thousand ships or none, queens of the Bronze Age wielded great power and kings made war over ...more

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Aug 29, 2011 Marcus rated it it was ok · review of another edition

The cover says 'New History', but it should really say 'Homer had it right from the start'. Barry Strauss basically narrates the classic work and throws into the mix referencesto whatever archeological finds that suit his interpretation. A nice read in some respects, but fast and loose play with scant factual evidence makes it as plausible as a Hollywood movie. ...more

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Apr 01, 2017 Adam Balshan rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: r-greco-roman, history

1.5 stars [History]

This is a decent book if you're not a historian. Historians will justifiably scoff at Strauss for presuming to put the word "history" in his subtitle. Basically, the author weaves several hundred generalizations (enriched by unending conjecture) into a somewhat systematic, somewhat chronological narrative. He tells what could have happened in the campaign for Troy, based upon Homer and broad historical data from the Hellene and Hittite cultures.

It was difficult for me to read ...more

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Sep 13, 2018 Hanna (lapetiteboleyn) rated it liked it

Shelves: 2018

A clear and concise primer to the Trojan War as a historical event rather than an epic poem. I enjoyed Strauss's sense of humour and his defense of Homer as a source, but there was also an awful lot of romantic imagining that got in the way of his evidence. ...more

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Sep 18, 2018 Kenneth rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The author's understanding of what "really" happened insofar as we can reconstruct the story from Homer and the archaeological discoveries of the last 200 years. ...more

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Sep 24, 2018 [redacted by S.H.I.E.L.D.] rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: history

There's about 30 pages of actual history in here, but I guess at least it's written well. Pity, I usually love Strauss. ...more

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Feb 24, 2019 DivyaRani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019

Did really Trojan war happened?
Barry Strauss gave more historical analysis and comparisons about the war.
A lot to know about the war. Nice book.

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Mar 23, 2020 Elvis rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Great book! Mr. Strauss does a fantastic job of taking historical facts about warfare and culture of Ancient Greece and Troy and then applying those facts to Homer’s Iliad. This integration shows us how the Iliad can be read, interpreted, and enjoyed for its accuracy and poetic license.

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Jul 08, 2019 K. A. MacKinnon rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This is not the book I wanted it to be. Unless you have a burning desire to have the sack of Troy retold by your high school English teacher (you know, the one who had delusions of being a novelist), it’s probably not the book you wanted it to be, either.

The biggest problem is the book has no idea whether it wants to be fact or fiction, so it tries to be both. It isn’t about examining the historical/archaeological evidence to establish whether Homer’s version of the tale could be true. It takes This is not the book I wanted it to be. Unless you have a burning desire to have the sack of Troy retold by your high school English teacher (you know, the one who had delusions of being a novelist), it’s probably not the book you wanted it to be, either.

The biggest problem is the book has no idea whether it wants to be fact or fiction, so it tries to be both. It isn’t about examining the historical/archaeological evidence to establish whether Homer’s version of the tale could be true. It takes Homer’s version as fact and uses other sources to embroider upon it. But it also seems to think it’s drawing conclusions along the way. Which, what?

When the author is discussing alternate historical sources, he couches his text in mights and maybes, but when he couldn’t possibly know, he states it as fact. “In all the Greek army no one could match Achilles for his looks or physique. He was tall and striking, and his handsome face was crowned with a mane of long, dirty-blonde hair.” Seriously? And maybe he knows that because Achillles is always depicted that way on vases or something, but if so, he’s certainly not citing any sources.

There are, in fact, 189 end notes, where some of his evidence is collected, but THERE ARE NO REFERENCES TO THEM IN THE ACTUAL TEXT. You have to flip back and forth and guess which line the note might be referring to.

The thing that finally drove me out was the accumulation of the author’s biases. The book is a hot mess to start with, but then it says ‘servant’ when it means ‘slave.’ And “later Greek writers made Achilles and Patroclus lovers, and perhaps they were, but Homer doesn’t say so.” (He’ll take the word of ‘later Greek writers’ on other subjects, though.) And beautiful equals dirty-blonde hair. And then this gem: “Each of the islands [sacked by Achilles] supplied a beautiful woman to one of the Greek heroes: in addition to Nestor’s Hecamede, there was Iphis, a Scyrian woman who slept with Patroclus, and Diomede daughter of Phorbas of Lesbos, who slept with Achilles”. Slept with? That’s how you’re choosing to phrase that? When even the popular expression calls it ‘to rape and pillage’?

This kind of weird squeamishness about the hard truths of the era are visible throughout. He even hedges about admitting that women were considered property at the time. Heavens forbid his heroes not be perfect, I guess. But when you consider that he’s taking the license about stating artistic choices as fact, and/or not citing sources/evidence a large part of the time, AND making his sources hard to find when he does cite them, his biases are definitely an issue.

I made it to page 90 of 189 and officially decided that life is too short. DNF ...more

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Sep 21, 2011 Rick Davis rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: greece-and-rome-history, nonfiction, ane-and-egypt-history, archaeology

It’s a bold move to write a sober history of a mostly legendary war like the Trojan War, but Barry Strauss succeeds in doing just that. The Trojan War is made up of two strands of narrative interwoven throughout the book. One strand is a history of the practices of warfare in the Late Bronze Age in both Anatolia and Mycenaean Greece. Strauss pulls from recent archaeological discoveries, ancient records and letters, and ancient poetry and literature in order to reconstruct the politics and paraph
It’s a bold move to write a sober history of a mostly legendary war like the Trojan War, but Barry Strauss succeeds in doing just that. The Trojan War is made up of two strands of narrative interwoven throughout the book. One strand is a history of the practices of warfare in the Late Bronze Age in both Anatolia and Mycenaean Greece. Strauss pulls from recent archaeological discoveries, ancient records and letters, and ancient poetry and literature in order to reconstruct the politics and paraphernalia of war. I especially appreciated this aspect of the book. The other strand of narrative that runs through the book is a retelling of the Trojan War story, primarily that presented by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey, in light of the real methods of war at the time period. This was also interesting in a “What could it have really been like?” sort of way.

The book is well written, fun, and easily accessible for any reader. It has timelines, maps, a glossary and some great resources in the back. I only have two quibbles with the book as a whole. First of all, he’s interpreting the Iliad primarily from a military history perspective rather than from a literary perspective. Because of this I think he misinterprets many character points in the Iliad; I especially thing he doesn’t “get” the character of Achilles as Homer presents him. The other problem is that because he is intertwining the two threads (the historical information and the imaginative “historical” reconstruction of the Iliad), it would be easy for readers to make the mistake of considering Agamemnon, Menelaus, Helen, Priam, et al as actual historical persons. There was a war at Troy and the city was burnt sometime between 1250 and 1180ish BC, but Strauss is not intending to say that the story of the Iliad is absolutely historically true. The way he writes can give this impression at times, though.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to any person interested in classical literature or history. From teachers, to students, to the merely curious, The Trojan War is an engaging and lively read.
...more

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Sep 09, 2017 NanoCyborg rated it liked it · review of another edition

Pretty decent book.
I read this before I read the Illiad (not finished yet, but I already read a primer on the Illiad/other myths so I knew what was going on) and it explained everything nicely.

This book's goal is to basically legitimize the Trojan War into something that really happened using both old and new evidence. It's very interesting because the way the author puts it at the very minimum, it genuinely looks like something did happen.

One of the best thing in this book was the description ...more

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Mar 12, 2008 Will Jeffrey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I loved this book so much I immediately lent it out to my mother, and I hope it has made the rounds of the family. Ever since I was a kid with my children's Goldenbook version of both of Homer's epics I have been fascinated with the stories. As an adult I have come to appreciate the storys' plot, dialog, reflection of Bronze age life and culture. Yet always I loved the heroes, the adventure,and of course the percentages of fact and fiction to the legend.
For years, I followed the latest archeolo ...more

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Jul 24, 2014 Rindis rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, history

I was expecting Strauss' The Trojan War: A New History to be a scholarly study of every detail we have about the Trojan world; basically an updated version of In Search of the Trojan War . Instead, it is a more scholarly Age of Bronze Volume 1: A Thousand Ships . The book is structured around the story of the Trojan War, which is then clothed in modern archaeology, and decorated with Homer.

And it works. Taking the view that the Trojan War is based on something that happened, the book gives ...more

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Aug 06, 2014 B. Rule rated it liked it · review of another edition

This book is touted as a reexamination of the Trojan War through new archaeological and/or historical research. In fact, I'd say only a third of the book, at best, conforms to that description. There are occasional references to new archaeological discoveries, and a fair number of comparisons to other Bronze Age cultures, together with basically baseless extrapolations to what may have been true for the Greeks and Trojans. In fact, a great deal of this book is sort of pipe-puffing "what ifs" wit ...more

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Jul 30, 2014 Sean rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: abandoned-for-now

I've read a few chapters of this and I think I know why I'm not sold on it -- it's written by a Classics professor. While the book purports to include a story bolstered by archaeological evidence, this basically boils down to "Well, Homer describes similar stuff to that which has been discovered in Anatolia, so let's assume that Helen was a real person." There's a logical leap here that I find troubling; rather than being *based* on archaeological evidence, Strauss's book (while entertaining) us ...more

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Sep 23, 2014 Hachado rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: history, ancient-greece

Summarised in one word, Speculative. An entertaining read lively and vibrantly written it is however very short on history it alternates between a blow by blow retelling of the Iliad akin to a spark notes summary and imaginative speculation based on very scant evidence that at times borders on historical fiction. Anyone unfamiliar with the Torjan war or who has not read the Iliad might get some value of this as an entertaining and concise summary of both but to anyone already familiar with eithe ...more

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Nov 17, 2013 Owen O'Neill rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A fascinating book, very well researched. I had the pleasure of discussing this book personally with Prof. Strauss, and my only complaint is that his publisher did not allow him to go into greater depth. His work clearly shows the sophisticated nature of the conflict behind legend. Highly recommended!

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Nov 27, 2018 Nathan Albright rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: challenge-2018

This is actually the second time I have read this book. In fact, although I got this particular volume that I read this time from the library, I own (or at least owned) a copy of this before from my earlier military history reading during the age before I blogged all of my book reviews. Is this work reading twice? It's an enjoyable and easy to read book by a contemporary classicist and military historian who views Homer as a generally reliable source when it comes to Bronze Age warfare when r This is actually the second time I have read this book. In fact, although I got this particular volume that I read this time from the library, I own (or at least owned) a copy of this before from my earlier military history reading during the age before I blogged all of my book reviews. Is this work reading twice? It's an enjoyable and easy to read book by a contemporary classicist and military historian who views Homer as a generally reliable source when it comes to Bronze Age warfare when read carefully, so if you have an interest in Bronze Age warfare [1], this work is certainly one that is worth reading at least once. In general, this book is revisionist history done right, one that takes ancient sources seriously and comes at the subject with a large degree of context both in archaeology as well as textual history, and which is appropriately careful in not exaggerating evidence and in presenting consistency between textual and material evidence rather than seeing archaeology merely with a confirmation bias. All in all, this book is a good book to read about the Trojan War for those who combine a love of ancient history with an interest in texts and archaeology.

This book, at a bit more than 200 pages of core material, is not filled with fluff, but rather focuses on a close reading of texts, a sound knowledge of geography and material remains, and a shrewd interest in understanding human behavior. After some initial notes and chronological material, the author begins by introducing the Trojan War. After that there is a discussion of Helen (and her theft of Menelaus' gold bars) as a classic causis belli (1), and the pressure that Agamemnon faced as a wanax to respond to this by mobilizing the strength of Greece against Troy (2). The author examines the struggle the Greeks faced to ensure a beachhead, aided by their naval superiority (3), and looks at the initial failed assault on the walls that they did to try to keep the conflict short (4). The author looks at the dirty war of attacking the logistical basis of Trojan strength (5) and the trouble faced by the army in light of the rivalry between Achilles and Agamemnon (6). There are discussions of the killing fields in the Trojan Plain (7), the night moves that led to the desperate fight at the ships (8), and Hector's fatal charge that prompted Achilles to fight him and kill him (9). After that the author discusses the remainder of the war (10) and its successful conclusion by a ruse (11), after which the author concludes.

There is a great deal of interest in this book, and the author's style and approach are winsome enough that even if one does not think that all of the author's speculations and interpretations are correct that the general picture is at least a plausible and reasonable one. Moreover, the author's general interpretation is one that values shrewdness and cleverness and that denigrates a meat-headed approach that focuses only on straightforward attacks and glory. By giving praise to moderate and savvy figures (Odysseus and Aeneas come off well here, as does Patrocles), and subtly denigrating those who lack such nuance, like Hector and Achilles and Menaleus and Ajax, the author points to some of the ways in which classic literature can help to inform contemporary approaches to war and conflict by cultivating both mind and body and not neglecting a shrewd understanding of issues of psychology or logistics. As someone who values irregular warfare and also pays attention to matters of psychology and logistics, the author's approach is definitely one that plays to my own interests in history, in this or any age.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018... ...more

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Oct 01, 2020 Daniel Greear rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I had grand hopes for the number of books I wanted to read in 2020, but as we all know, 2020 has been a different year. To my surprise and anguish, this is only the fifteenth book I've read since January. But hey, there are still a few months left in the year and I'm hoping for a strong finish.

The Trojan War, the Iliad, Homer, et al, sit in the conscious of any person raised or studied in Western Civilization. Most of us have known the story since we were young and if you're like me, you probab I had grand hopes for the number of books I wanted to read in 2020, but as we all know, 2020 has been a different year. To my surprise and anguish, this is only the fifteenth book I've read since January. But hey, there are still a few months left in the year and I'm hoping for a strong finish.

The Trojan War, the Iliad, Homer, et al, sit in the conscious of any person raised or studied in Western Civilization. Most of us have known the story since we were young and if you're like me, you probably read all or part of either the Iliad or the Odyssey at some point in your formal education.

This book manages to successfully retell the story of the Trojan War in a very concise fashion. The author does an excellent job of referencing archaeology, Homer, and other Bronze Age sources to present his thesis. In short, we can establish through the above that Troy did exist, that it was destroyed sometime around 1200-1100 B.C.E., and that Homer, whoever he was, if he was even a singular person, by and large tells a factual tale at its core, despite the Iliad being an epic poem.

Of course, the invocations to the Gods, the superhuman feats and powers of heroes such as Achilles and Ajax, the size of the armies, and the length of the war are all mythical. But archaeology shows us that Troy existed in western Asia minor and that many of the characters in the Iliad could have been real people.

Two interesting points the author makes in this book are that the Trojans were not Greeks and that the Trojan Horse was probably a metaphor. The author presents the reader with plausible reasoning that the Trojans were in fact an Anatolian people, probably related to and clients of the Hittites, who ruled much of what is now Turkey. The Trojan Horse, one of literature's most well-known instances, was probably more or less a simple and more mundane trick that the Greeks used to get within Troy's walls, later to be embellished by Homer.

I found the references to archaeology to be interesting. Archaeology has shown us that Troy was rebuilt and destroyed many times, and that it was at times a wealthy city. The references to Hittite, Egyptian, and Assyrian rulers and battles help us understand the actions of the characters in the Trojan War.

Of course, much of the Trojan War remains a mystery, and will remain so for eternity. With the Bronze Age Collapse and the sands of time, we will never know true fact from fiction. It is remarkable that we know what we know however, as all of this occurred somewhere around 3000 years ago.

Much of this book was filler and a retelling of the Iliad, but it does paint a compelling picture of a world which we can hardly comprehend. One has to give a nod to the author and the work of archaeologists, linguists, and historians. ...more

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About Barry S. Strauss

Barry S. Strauss

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Barry Strauss, professor of history and classics at Cornell University, is a leading expert on ancient military history. He has written or edited several books, including The Battle of Salamis, The Trojan War, The Spartacus War, Masters of Command, The Death of Caesar, and Ten Caesars.

Books by Barry S. Strauss

The Death of Caesar: The Story of History's Most Famous Assassination

Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine

The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter that Saved Greece—and Western Civilization

Masters of Command: Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, and the Genius of Leadership

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