Troy between Greece and Rome - Book Report/Review Example

Troy between Greece and Rome “Troy between Greece and Rome” is a piece of exquisite literature that embarks on breaking down of events- in art, culture and imperial power- that is the result of the Greek and Romans we see today. Trojan is a city situated in between Rome and Greece that cropped up in the abyss of events between the latter cities. Trojan has over the many years been mostly mentioned in the same breath with Rome, a super city in the Mediterranean. Andrew Erskine successfully gives Troy a Greek perspective with connotations on literature, art and more than anyone else, local traditions (Erskine 38). He also indulges into the Greek mythical narrative of the Trojan War-a war for Troy between the Greeks and Romans- that holds a great significance to Greek culture. Andrew Erskine partitions his book into subtitles relevant to the major events around Troy. Troy had been the subject of brutal war from the Greeks in the Trojan War classical myth. Andrew, in the subtitle” Homer and Archaic Age” outlines the turn of events, their unraveling and the aftermath. He outlines the onset of the Trojan War as the result of Paris, the son of King Priam of Troy, eloping with Helen, wife of Menelaus, the king of Sparta (Erskine 68). The Greeks attempted to besiege Troy but they were withstood since the Trojans were getting assistance from Asia Minor and Thrace allies. But the Greeks only needed some wits to get through the gate of Troy, which they succeeded on a later day, before they could mount their siege. Andrew narrates that Greeks built a wooden horse chariot that hid their warriors and pretended to retreat after a botched siege. One Greek feigned desertion, persuaded that a horse chariot be accommodated within the walls of Troy (Troy then, due to the numerous siege attempts by the Greeks, had built a high security wall around the city). Priams sons were later slayed by the infiltrated warriors and the women were turned to slaves. The Aeneas was fortunate to survive the onslaught and they fled to Rome in Italy and according to Erskine, their descendants are the founders of Rome and they’ve been ruling the Trojans since (Lewis 33). In “Recovery of Trojan Rome” subtitle, Andrew describes the journey of the modern Romans to finding Troy that they lost centuries ago. A man called Schliemann (1870-1890), as Erskine puts it, suggested that Troy, with which people believed only existed in myths, rebutted that notion and went over to substantiate his claims by excavating a mound in which he believed lied Troy city (Erskine 78). To the marvel of many, the German archeologist exposed its remains that dated to the Early Bronze Age. When Schliemann died before fully exploiting his discovery, the University of Cincinnati headed by Carl W. Blegen, continued the expedition. They unearthed a huge amount of debris distinctively layered into strata of different colors. They discovered that the Trojans each time their settlements were obliterated by siege, earthquakes or fire, they were not shoving out the debris to the ground; they otherwise leveled up the ground and built up houses on top of it (Erskine 98). The ancient Troy was then named into several Troy’s in reference to the strata with the bottom most being the oldest settlement. They were named as Troy I to IX. Andrew with respect to the different layers of the excavated Troy helps paint a storyline about how the city evolves and metamorphoses with every calamity that was set upon it and he describes it as the city that tells its own story (Jewsbury). Troy I was similar to Troy II, only smaller. They were surrounded by massive walls and flanked with tall towers that watched over the village. The king’s residences and those of his family were fortified contrary to those of the neighboring farmers abode (Erskine 105). The archeologist’s insights were that the city was destroyed by fire and a fortune of a trove of gold, jewelry and ornaments was stumbled upon. In the subsequent Troy’s III to V, they conjured up that the walls were serially bigger but the houses inside were smaller and more crowded. They were assigned to the Middle and Late Bronze Ages (1900-1100bc). Troy’s VI and VII had houses constructed in ascending circular terraces and their walls were created of limestone. Troy VI was apparently destroyed by an earthquake in which Troy VII were built over the ruins. The houses were too crowded and most of the village supplies were hoarded up in within homes especially water that was contained in large storage jars sunk under the ground. This most likely indicated a measure to defend against an imminent siege that actually did come to happen. For the next centuries, the site was virtually desolate (Erskine 138). The Persian war later sprang up and denigrated the Trojan War and Andrew Erskine outlines that in the subtitle “the Persian war and Denigration of Trojan War” (Erskine). Persia was a metropolis compared to the city of Greek and so it was a dominant city along the Mediterranean coast. The Persian army was advancing colonizing cities adjoining Persia including Greece cities that lay along the border of Turkey. The Greeks were unhappy and resolved to counter the advance. The Greeks, whose army was the Spartacus, had lost several battles against the Persians an outstanding one being the Ionian revolt- Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis. The Persians were complacent such that even though they had heard information of Spartacus rearming themselves they shrugged that under carpets and never took drastic measures. This time round king Xerxes wanted to not only win against the Greeks but to vanquish them (Erskine 168). He had ordered a golden throne be perched at the harbor overlooking Greece so he would see his army obliterate the Spartacus. To Xerxes astonishment, Spartacus laid a clever ambush of tactics enhanced by their smaller but faster ships to those of Persians, and turned the tables this time round razing any Persian ship that lay in their way and decapitating the fleeing Persians who were not lucky to slip from the Spartans (Erskine 178). Xerxes on seeing this took to his heels and vanished like mist. Greeks created a Delian League to help them quickly prepare for any retaliatory attacks from the Persians. Andrew then compares between Greek and Rome before and past Trojan in “Trojan Past and Present”. After its discovery by Schliemann, it later named Truva by the Turkish government. An enormous fortune of ancient art, architecture and culture has been unveiled to the modern era for reflection into the past. Some are majestic artfully adorned temples like the Erechtheum, built by the Acropolis of Athens between 421 and 405 BC. Others include the temple of Apolo by Didyma (about 300 BC) and temple of Athena Parthenos (5th century BC) (Philip Martin). “Troy Between Greece and Rome “ by Andrew Ernsike is literature that crosses boundaries of literature scopes by expounding beyond art and culture of Greeks and tackles most major aspects of the events leading to the current modern cities of Rome and Athens (Erskine 197). The author is successful in covering his subject and presenting his materials articulately. This book is definitely recommended to any person who enjoys reading historical books entwisted with some light classical myths in trying to demystify them. Work Cited Erskine, Andrew. Troy between Greece and Rome: Local Tradition and Imperial Power. Oxford University Press. 2003. Print. Read More