Wilkens' Troy in England and the archaeological evidence for Homer
Doug Weller
show why Wilkens is wrong about England I'll concentrate on his claim
that Homer was not writing about the Eastern Med. This doesn't require
reliance on Wilkens obviously.
As Wilkens also argues the Odyssey should not be thought of as in the
Eastern Med, but as in the Atlantic (in part a visit to Cuba) I'll
mention that at times.
For instance, Homer gives us the earliest description of boat building.
Long rejected as inaccurate, probably referring to ship building in
Homer's time, because it refers to mortise and tenon joints pegged
together with dowels and not planks fastened to a skeleton
However we now know that Greek ships were built that way at that time.
Casson L., Ships and Seamanship in the ancient world (Princeton, 1973)
Du Plat Taylor J., (ed) Marine Archaeology (London, 1965)
Michael Wood refers to several artefacts described by Homer:
1. The tower-shaped body shield associated with the character Ajax and
found on the Thera frescoes (and obsolete by the time of the Trojan War.
2. The figure-of-eight shield found on various 13th century frescoes, eg
at Knossos, Mycenae and Tiryns.
3. The silver-studded sword, known from 15th and 16th century finds.
4. Leg greaves found in Bronze age tombs, but not in Iron Age ones.
5. The boar's-tusk helmet - numerous representations and a full example
from Knossos -- Homer's description was very good, even telling how the
tusks are laid in rows with the curves alternating.
6. Nestor's cup. See
http://courses.washington.edu/bls393c/midtermimages/source/nestorcup.htm
for a picture!
7. Body armour made of bronze plates, found at Dendra.
Similar evidence from England? Conspicuously absent.
Other evidence.
Horse bones found at Troy VI (sorry, Wilkens).
The Trojan Horse. See:
http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jlynch/Gallucci.html
The tripods found on Ithaca similar to those given by the Phaeacians to
Odysseus.
More later. And still to come, linguistic evidence, geographical, etc,
to show that Wilkens denial of the Eastern Med doesn't hold water.
Doug
Doug Weller member of moderation panel sci.archaeology.moderated
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Eric Stevens
<dwe...@ramtops.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>For instance, Homer gives us the earliest description of boat building.
>Long rejected as inaccurate, probably referring to ship building in
>Homer's time, because it refers to mortise and tenon joints pegged
>together with dowels and not planks fastened to a skeleton
I can't see a refrence to this by Wilkens. Can you tell us the
specific claim and where Wilkens made it?
Eric Stevens
Doug Weller
wrote:
I am looking at archaeological links between Homer and the area in which
the Iliad is traditionally placed. If firm links can be made, Wilkens
speculations, inaccurate etymologies, etc. can be ignored surely? You
don't have to read Wilkens to show that the Iliad describes events in
the Eastern Mediterranean.