That Homer sure was brite...D'OH!

While it is fun to read about the alleged historical 'truth' of the Homeric epic, it is a known fact that the narrative was transmitted orally by multiple narrators over a long period of time before it was actually written down. Therefore, I think we are dealing with a piece of literature as opposed to historiography here and reading the epic for 'historical' clues only does not really do justice to it ...

1178? Does that jive with the ruins of what we believe to Troy (or ratter Troy VIIa or thereabouts)?
Was Troy destroyed (again) between 1198-1188.

While I certainly beleive Homer was reciting actual historical events handed down generations of the doings of the Myceneans, things like solar eclipses could have been easily inserted for dramatic effect for the sake of his listening audiences.

That's pretty dope right there.

Now if only they could find out where Circe's island is so we could end the massacre of innocent sailors on the ocean!

While I don't believe any of this, it's still a damn cool story. I'd love to believe that everything in the Iliad and the Odyssey was true!

i'd rather be " a pagan suckled in a creed outworn" ( wordsworth ) than have to be subjected to the sickening , viral infestation which is judeo-x-anity . i'll go with Homer over the bible any-day .

Oh wow, the history of this man, Muse, is filled with twists and turns!

Now we need to find out if Aeneas is the ancestor of Rome. Go Trojans.

Fact: Dude Where's My Car, is based on the Iliad.

The amount of information and true knowledge to be learned from the ancient Greeks, and their work, is very underestimated.

"The winner writes history", doesn't make him right, just means his "version of the truth" was the one that survived to be recorded.

Menelous would of course be of the mentality (like the Busheney gang and Israeli government) to justify destroying things and murdering people to get their way. They have tiny little (unhealthy) egos which seek every and any means possible to tear down others to 'eliminate' the competition.

Who could justify destroying the beautiful and peaceful people of Troy over one woman - who left town but a mental moron!?

Jealously is an ugly thing that drives man-childs to do even uglier things.

What if this dude, Homer, was writing down what this other dude, that came from the war, wanted him to? I mean here he comes and kills everyone that tried doing his wife, so what makes people think he didn't control homer by fear?

i dont know, maybe i got my facts wrong
just what if

I believe Homer got important facts wrong about Paris and Helen.

Paris did not forcefully take Helen. Menelous wasn't worthy and Helen was unhappy, and quite naturally Helen was drawn to someone of comparable beauty, inside and out. Menelous was ugly, inside and out. An egotistical pea brained jerk off. (Does it sound like I'm taking this personally?)

Why did the story turnout as it had? Because men being men, pea brained as they are, couldn't bare the thought another man was thought superior to themselves in the eyes of the woman they obsessed - and so sought, like all monsters do, to destroy that which she (Helen) loved 'forcing' her return to him.

This is how it works, and repeats itself over and over again. Just look in the mirror and take a close look.

Why is the Busheney gang and Israeli government hell-bent on attacking and controlling the middle east? Because they know they are ugly inside and out, and can't stand what they see in the "as yet" uncorrupted psyche of the Arab world. Deep down, this is the motivating force - nothing else.

Hold your pants on, I'm not saying what you wish to think, or project. Civilizations rise and fall - as history attests. Western society had the dark ages, the Arab world prospered. It cycles, and for a reason.

We don't have to cycle, we could transcend this fateful destiny, but not with the worst of us leading the way. That will only hasten our plunge into another dark age of sorts.

That's the long 'The long-perspective"

We had the opportunity to learn from the American Indians about respecting the land, mother nature and all that stuff. Instead, we murdered or starved most of them. We constantly make that same mistake, over and over again because we have cold hearts leading the charge, because they are the "control freaks". Not a good reason to be a politician.

We have so much to learn from Eastern philosophy about the nature of our existence. Peace.

Actually ren its more because for the longest time people thought troy was like atlantis and didnt actually exist, and then they discovered it did, and as of right now homer is the only insight we have into what happened there so anything to bring us closer to bringing it as fact brings us closer to learning about the past.

Good lord, is this what people are spending research money on? Literature specialists point out that the themes and motifs in historical writing make the piece applicable to readers today. Why should we care if Beowulf or Gilgamesh were REAL people; it's their stories that bring inspiration. This idea can also be applied to the Bible; don't take things literally; know the morals, know the ethics being taught.

People should learn from the past instead of thinking those that lived back then just didn't know things. =P

Weird how the ancients had such a working knowledge of the stars that it took us forever to reach the same level with more advanced technology.