Classical Wisdom Litterae - Sep 2019

We may never be sure if the war ever really happened. I mean, we do know a war happened , and in fact it most likely occurred at the supposed site and at roughly the time of the supposed dates of THE war, but we've no idea if this actually featured the Achilleses, Hectors and Helens of myth... Nonetheless, The War can only be adequately compared in impact and scale to The Tanakh, The New Testament or The Koran. Though it obviously didn't have any proscriptive or dogmatic teachings, it permeated all levels of society and was heavily influential in art and culture. Indeed, I don’t think it’s even possible - even if one wanted to try for some odd reason - to overstate the importance of the Trojan War on the ancient world. While today we might call someone a Judas, or say they have all the parental skill of Herod, similar comparisons could be made in day-to-day ancient life. 'He's a good man - a real Hector', or 'she's even more beautiful than Helen', etc. And there certainly was no one (and one might argue that this is still the case), that didn’t know the reference 'Achilles heel’ or ‘Trojan Horse.’ While obviously images from the heroic age are rife in vases and architectural sculpture, strewn about in poetry and referenced in all forms of art, there are perhaps two biggest pieces of evidence (or, at the very least, the most vivid) that the Trojan War was a durable and important event. The first is that Alexander the Great purportedly slept with a copy of the Iliad under his pillow. The second is Virgil thinking it necessary to hijack the myth and circle it round to Rome by making the Aeneid - a tale of the only surviving Trojan hero from the war - a Roman creation myth. Indeed, having once more established the absolute essential influence this war had on the ancient world, it seems only proper to dedicate a CWL Magazine to such an event. So please enjoy the myth, the characters and the truth of the Trojan War. Anya Leonard Co-Founder and Project Director Classical Wisdom II