2016/03/10 by Mary R. Bachvarova · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Ancient Near East History #Ancient history #Archaeology #Art #Bronze Age #Classical Antiquity Studies #Classics #EPIC #Genealogy #Greeks #Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies #Historicity (philosophy) #History #Hittite language #Law #Legend #Literature #Narrative #Political science #Politics #Prehistory #Trojan
paper · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139048736
openalex publication_date 2016/03/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
This book provides a groundbreaking reassessment of the prehistory of Homeric epic. It argues that in the Early Iron Age bilingual poets transmitted to the Greeks a set of narrative traditions closely related to the one found at Bronze-Age Hattusa, the Hittite capital. Key drivers for Near Eastern influence on the developing Homeric tradition were the shared practices of supralocal festivals and venerating divinized ancestors, and a shared interest in creating narratives about a legendary past using a few specific storylines: theogonies, genealogies connecting local polities, long-distance travel, destruction of a famous city because it refuses to release captives, and trying to overcome death when confronted with the loss of a dear companion. Professor Bachvarova concludes by providing a fresh explanation of the origins and significance of the Greco-Anatolian legend of Troy, thereby offering a new solution to the long-debated question of the historicity of the Trojan War