The Trojan War in the absence of Helen

Hector seated

The Trojan War, as recounted by Homer, is a beautiful love story of Paris and Helen set against the cruelty of war when Achilles dragged the dead body of Hector behind his chariot around the city. It is the kind of subject we can still recognize today. 

Recently, I had echoes of another version in which Helen never made it to Troy but stayed in Egypt instead. One of the sources was Herodotus’ book "Histories". 

At first, I dismissed the information, mostly because Homer’s account was so familiar. When Heinrich Schliemann discovered the walls of Troy and Priam’s gold treasury in the late 19^th century, the history of Troy and the Trojan War came back alive. 

Herodotus, a native of Halicarnassus, is described as ‘The Father of History’. He was an intrepid traveler, very inquisitive about foreign lands and customs. He journeyed widely around the Mediterranean, as far south as Elephantine on the first cataract of the River Nile and as far north as the Black Sea. He visited southern Italy and eventually settled in Thurii on the Gulf of Taranto. He may well have spent time in Cyrene and even in Babylon. 

Herodotus

This Greek historian lived in the 5^th century BC (he died in 425 BC), roughly three hundred years after Homer. Both men relied on the world around them and on the sources that were available to them.

During his stay in Egypt, Herodotus spoke to the priests of the Temple of the “Foreign Aphrodite”, meaning Astarte. They said that Helen arrived in Egypt with Paris after a severe storm had blown their ship off course. The couple was brought before the pharaoh in Memphis, who condemned Paris for taking Helen away from her husband, whether by force or not, and seizing treasures from Sparta. He granted Paris three days to leave the country to return to Troy,  but he kept Helen in Memphis. 

Questioning the priests further, Herodotus was informed about the Trojan War as told to them directly by Helen's husband, Menelaus. 

What happened was that after the abduction of Helen, the Greeks sent their forces to support Menelaus. The Spartan king and his delegation were received at Troy’s Palace, where they demanded the return of Helen and the stolen treasures. The Trojans responded that neither Helen nor the treasure was in their possession, but was held in Egypt instead. Obviously, the Greeks refused to believe them and laid siege to Troy. They fought each other for ten years, and all that while Helen waited in Egypt. 

When Troy fell, and there was still no trace of Helen, Menelaus sailed to Memphis. After giving the pharaoh a true account of what had happened, he was reunited with Helen, 'having suffered no evil’, and the stolen treasure was restored. 

This looks like a happy ending, but it was not. Menelaus got cross because contrary winds pinned him down in Egypt for a long time. As an offering to the gods, he took two Egyptian children, whom he offered in sacrifice. This act of disrespect turned the friendship of the Egyptians into hatred. Menelaus was pursued but managed to escape to Libya with Helen and his ships. What happened afterwards, the priests did not know. 

Herodotus was not the only one to suggest that Helen never went to Troy but stayed in Egypt during the Trojan War. 

Euripides

There was Euripides, who in 412 BC wrote his play "Helen", in which Helen is taken to Egypt by the gods. The Helen who accompanied Paris to Troy was an eidolon, a spirit-image or likeness, cursed for her infidelity by the Greeks and Trojans alike. Meanwhile, the real Helen spent the ten-year siege of Troy in Egypt! 

It is noteworthy that Euripides was born ca. 480 BC, meaning that he was 55 years old when Herodotus died in 425 BC. He definitely must have known Herodotus’ travel history and the details of his encounters. Euripides may well have given his own twist to Herodotus’ tale of Troy. 

A similar eidolon image is introduced in Stesichorus' account. This lyric poet, who lived from around 630 to 555 BC, antedates both Herodotus and Euripides. The story goes that Stesichorus was blinded because he slandered Helen, but recovered his eyesight after writing her praise. 

Helen’s eidolon image may have been introduced by Homer or Hesiod, who reached his peak in popularity around 700 BC. 

In his "Histories", Herodotus believes that Homer knew of this eidolon version keeping the real Helen in Egypt, but that he decided not to use it, preferring the more epic poetry. 

Troy walls

Interpreting this ‘eidolon’ in today’s world is very difficult. We may think that Paris believed in ghosts since, according to this story, nobody in Troy had ‘seen’ Helen. It is clear that, in antiquity, the gods played an important role in daily life. Before the outbreak of the Trojan War, Paris had built a reputation for making fair decisions, away from outside influences. For that reason, he had been appointed by Zeus to choose which of the three goddesses was the most beautiful: Athena, Aphrodite, or Hera. He elected Aphrodite, the goddess of love. In return, Aphrodite brought Helen, the most beautiful mortal, into the life of Paris, and they fell in love. The fact that Helen was already married to Menelaus, king of Sparta, and had a daughter, Hermione, did not bother Aphrodite. To alleviate the pain of Paris being separated from his beloved Helen, the goddess introduced Helen's eidolon. 

That leaves me with Alexander cherishing the Iliad to the point of keeping it at his bedside. His copy had annotations made by Aristotle, which indicates that the Iliad was well studied and discussed by both men. It is unthinkable that Aristotle was not aware of  Helen’s eidolon substitute in Troy, and this goes for Alexander as well. However, I assume that Alexander’s fascination with the Iliad was mainly because of Achilles' heroics. 

A painted Graeco-Persian Sarcophagus

The existence of a Graeco-Persian sarcophagus seems quite unique. In any case, it is the first time I come across such an example. The find is not new and dates from 1998 when the grave was discovered inside a circular vaulted tomb in Çan, halfway between Troy and Dascylium in northwest Turkey. 

[Picture of hunting scene by Dan Diffendale from Wikipedia]

The sarcophagus fits tightly inside the chamber that has a diameter of 3.70 meters. It could be dated between 400 and 375 BC and attributed to an Anatolian dynast from Hellespontine Phrygia that belonged to Persia. 

Let us not forget that Asia Minor had been very much involved in the Graeco-Persian Wars that raged between the Achaemenid Empire and several Greek city-states from 499 to 449 BC. From then onwards, the Persians put trusted satraps at the head of these western provinces in order to rule in their name. This structure was still in place when Alexander the Great arrived in 334 BC and conquered Dascylium, the capital of Hellespontine Phrygia (see: Heading for Dascylium and Sardes). 

The alternating occupation of Hellespontine Phrygia by Persians and Greeks has obviously influenced local customs as well as the arts, as illustrated in the present tomb. 

The marble sarcophagus was damaged by illegal diggers who used a bulldozer to gain access to the tomb. Amazingly, most of the paint on the reliefs on the sarcophagus has survived. A wide range of colors have been identified: red, purple, ochre, blue, and green; also some black that was often mixed with red for shading. 

The reliefs have a lot to tell. The longest side is decorated with two hunting scenes separated by a leafless tree. To the left, we see a stag hunt on a blue background, and to the right a boar hunting scene on a green background suggesting a forest. The hunter wears pants, a long-sleeved red tunic, and a light ochre sleeved cloak. His chest is covered with a leather ochre-colored breastplate. The saddle blanket is also ochre with a thick red border. 

[Picture of combat scene by Dan Diffendale from Wikipedia]

The short side of the sarcophagus represents a battle scene with a warrior on horseback defined as an Anatolian dynast spearing a Greek soldier. As suggested by his armory the victim belongs to the light infantry. The cavalryman is accompanied by his henchman, probably a Greek mercenary in his service. Here, the rider wears pants, a long-sleeved pink tunic under his red cuirass with large shoulder pieces. His red helmet is probably made of leather. His cuirass has two rows of pteryges (a defensive skirt of leather strips attached to the waists to protect the hips and thighs). The upper row is white, and the lower row shows alternating red and white strips. The other two sides of the sarcophagus were not decorated. 

No Lycian tomb displays this type of armor and no other example of this kind of relief is known in Asia Minor. 

Further research has revealed that this iconography was customary in the Near East and Asia Minor in particular at that time. The owner of the tomb could very well be Pharnabazus, satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, who fought against the Greeks on several occasions. Best-known is his battle against Agesilaos who attacked Hellespontine Phrygia in 395 BC. 

Based on the bones found inside the sarcophagus, archaeologists could determine that the body belonged to a strongly built man about 170-175 cm tall, who died when he was 25-28 years old. He probably fell from his horse during combat and broke many limbs. He survived the accident for several years although he was seriously crippled and in much pain, as the bones did not align properly. 

This rare sarcophagus is exhibited in the new Museum of Troy.

Updating the location of the Granicus Battlefield

We like to believe that archaeologists merely scratch the soil to expose some remains of times past and ideally discover some gold and silver treasure. That is a very idealistic picture, far from the truth. 

Many people forget that excavations can take up to a lifetime to yield some results. Famous examples are men like Heinrich Schliemann in Troy, Arthur Evans in Crete, and more recently Prof. Marc Waelkens in Sagalassos and Manolis Andronicos in Vergina. However, the historical picture they created has been revised since. Schliemann erroneously dated the layers of Troy, Evans partially fabricated Crete by wishful thinking, and the occupant of Vergina’s Tomb is still disputed. 

[Picture from Arkeonews]

The Granicus Battlefield is no exception. Based on excavations and observations since the 19th century, the site of the battle had been identified north of the village of Çınarköprü on the River Biga, which in antiquity was known as the Granicus. That was the site I visited in 2007 (see: The Battle of the Granicus). It lies about 100 kilometers east of Çanakkale on the river that empties into the Propontis, modern Sea of Marmara. 

For the past 20 years or so, Prof. Reyhan Korpe, historian from Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University (ÇOMÜ), led the team that shed new light on the location of the battlefield. It is obvious that I have to revise my standpoint. 

His recent excavations using modern techniques, including geomorphological surveys, exposed new evidence. For instance, the city of Hermaion, which Arrian calls Hermoton, was located on Alexander’s route to the Granicus. It could also be determined that the hitherto assumed site of the battle was a marsh in antiquity, making it unsuitable for an army to move, and that the course of the Granicus River had not changed much in the past two thousand years. Further investigation led to a hill to the east of the battlefield that has now been established near Gümüşçay, i.e., further south than previously reported. Said hill matches the spot where Greek mercenaries in Persian service were positioned, as documented in ancient sources. 

Now, 18 years after my last visit to the Granicus, the area of the battlefield has shifted further south. In my eyes, this new enlarged location makes more sense since there is more space on the wide plain for both armies to maneuver. I hope the river banks are not as steep as near Çınarköprü, where I wondered how the phalanx was able to stay in formation during the crossing. I may well have to return to the Granicus soon! 

                                                  [Picture from Arkeolojikhaber]

It is interesting to read Prof. Reyhan Korpe’s analysis of this part of the Troad region, where he has identified nine ancient cities. We tend to forget that this area was one of the richest in the Persian Empire – hence the numerous tumuli that dot the landscape. No wonder the Persians meant to stop Alexander’s advance immediately after he landed in Asia Minor.

It is worth mentioning that the overall landscape of the Granicus Battlefield has retained much of the appearance it would have had in Alexander’s days, as the agricultural activities have not led to any substantial destruction. 

The city of Alexandria Troas or Alexandria of the Troad

The name of Alexandria Troas has a most confusing name since it is generally thought that the city was founded by Alexander the Great, more so because of the king’s admiration for The Iliad in which Troy played such an important role. Nothing is further remote from the truth. 

[Votif relief of Psyche on a dromedary from Alexandria Troas, 

2nd century BC, Louvre Museum]

According to Strabo, the town of Sigeia was founded on this spot around 306 BC by Antigonus Monophthalmus. The name of Alexandria Troas was given to the city by Lysimachos in 301 BC, as a generous reference to Alexander. It was a double harbor in northwestern Asia Minor and the richest of the Troad and occupied a strategic position near the entrance of the Hellespont. It silted up over the centuries. 

In 188 BC, the Romans declared it a free and autonomous city that counted about 100,000 inhabitants. Emperor Augustus settled a colony of soldiers within its walls and renamed it Colonnia Alexandria Augusta Troas, in short, Troas. He lavishly embellished the city, as did the emperors Trajan and Hadrian a century later. 

Herodes Atticus, best known for his theater at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, was appointed by Hadrian as prefect of the free cities of Asia in 125 AD, including Alexandria Troas. He may have built the aqueduct that carried water from Mount Ida, although other sources attribute the construction to Trajan. 

Alexandria Troas was surrounded by a 10-kilometer-long city wall, including fortified towers placed at regular intervals. Some parts are still visible today, together with remains of the Roman Baths and the Gymnasium, a Necropolis, a Nymphaeum, the Odeon, the Theater, and a recently discovered Stadium dating approximately from 100 BC. 

The Baths and the Gymnasium were built by Herodes Atticus in 135 AD. They were surrounded by vaulted corridors with marble walls, and water was delivered thanks to the aqueducts on the northeast side of town. The large Baths measured an impressive 123 x 84 meters. Most of the building remained intact until it was destroyed by the severe earthquake in the winter of 1809-1810. The whole project was greatly supported by Emperor Hadrian, as revealed in an inscription found in Hadrian’s Gymnasium in Athens mentioning the emperor as the sponsor of the city in 132 AD. Three more inscriptions unearthed at Alexandria Troas during excavations in 2006 confirm the emperor’s interest and the appreciation of the citizens. 

The Hellenistic theater stood at the highest point of the city, treating the spectators to a sweeping view over the city and the Aegean Sea with the island of Bozcaada.

Macedonia’s influence in Pelagonia

The exact location of the Kingdom of Pelagonia is still eluding archaeologists and historians, but they agree that it is somewhere in the region of Bonče in Northern Macedonia, close to the Greek border. 

Based on historical sources, Pelagon was established in the early 4^th century BC as the capital of the Pelagonian tribe. In the Iliad, however, Homer mentions that Asteropaius, who fought against Achilles in Troy, is the son of King Pelagon. Many other historical and mythological figures go by the name Pelagon, which does not help to define who is who. 

The kingdom was known to be adjacent to Paeonia, and early in his kingship, Philip II of Macedonia campaigned in those countries north of Macedonia. Paeonia was led by Parmenion, who decided to rally to the side of the new king. What exactly happened elsewhere remains rather obscure. 

Between the villages of Bonče and Podme, a necropolis with several tumuli has been located. These tombs date from between the 4^th and the 2^nd centuries BC and are all in the Macedonian style. 

A larger grave site was surrounded by a circular stone wall, not unlike the Kasta Hill tomb of Amphipolis. Because of its impressive 30 meters in diameter, the tumulus has been attributed to a king of Pelagonia. A particularly long vaulted corridor of 20 meters, 2.95 meters high and 2.15 meters wide, led to the antechamber and the burial chamber proper. This room was rectangular and measured 8 x 6.6 meters with a height of 5.60 meters. Like the corridor, the main section of the tomb was cut into the rock surface and lined with large stone blocks that reached up to a length of three meters. 

All tombs had been thoroughly plundered well before WW1. The roofs of the burial chambers have been dismantled, and the stones reused in more recent local constructions. Although nothing of any historical value has been found inside the graves, the remains confirm that the 4^th century BC was a period of exceptional wealth.

In the fields of Bonče, not far from these grave sites, bits of three partially preserved royal shields have been discovered with a close link to Macedonia. They display a central sun with 12 rays surrounded by three concentric circles. Around these, a series of smaller suns with 8 rays are represented. 

One of the shields carried the inscription ΒΑΣΙΛ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟ (King Demetrios). It is generally accepted that it belonged to Demetrios II of the Antigonid dynasty, whose ancestral capital Antigona was located not far from Bonče, but this is not certain. 

[Reconstruction picture from the Macedonian Times]

The symbolic meaning of each and every detail remains problematic, as so many variations have been found over the years. A handful of examples have been discussed in my earlier blog post, How Macedonian is a Macedonian shield?

[Two top pictures are from Wikipedia]

Confusion about the name of Dardanus

As a general rule, the tribes living north of ancient Macedonia were known as Illyrians (see: A closer look at Illyria) and more to the east as Thracians (see: Thracian treasures at Alexander’s northern border). Some of those tribes are mentioned by name in Alexander’s conquest of Asia. 

I previously wrote about the Paeonians (see: About the Paeonians), and I want to concentrate on the Dardanians this time. 

[Damastion coin 380-360 BC - Picture from Military Wiki-Fandom]

King Bardylis I was the founder of the Dardanian Kingdom, which corresponds to modern Kosovo. In 393 BC, he dethroned King Amyntas III of Macedonia to place one of his henchmen in his place. Macedonia’s king Perdiccas III decided to take the Dardanian-occupied territory back, but he was defeated and killed. As the newly elected king, Philip II, his brother, married Bardylis’ granddaughter, Audata (see: Start of Philip's reign - Macedonia forged by Philip II). He killed old Bardylis on the battlefield in 358 BC. 

On his return home from the Danube campaign, Alexander faced the Illyrian revolt led by Bardylis’ son, Cleitus. The king defeated Cleitus at Pelium (see: Alexander’s psychological warfare), and the Dardanians were generally absorbed by the Illyrians and are no longer mentioned in history. 

However, a very different Dardanus is known as the son of Zeus. He was the mythical founder of Dardanus or Dardania on the Hellespont. Dardanus’ grandson Tros gave his name to the Trojans, and his son Ilus founded the city of Ilium, modern Troy. King Priam, the last king of Troy, would trace his lineage back to Dardanus. A pedigree worthy of any king!

Location of Gordion confirmed

Excavations in Central Anatolia near Ankara at the presumed site of Gordion started in 1950. However, there was no actual confirmation that this assumption was correct – till now, that is. 

In a previous blog (see” Gordion, a name with resonance), I mentioned how Strabo described Gordion as being close to a river. Over the centuries, however, the nearby rivers have shifted, and today’s level is about eleven meters higher. Despite these alterations, today’s excavation site is located southeast of the confluence of the Sakarya and Prosuk Rivers, proving Strabo was right after all. 

When I visited this spot in 2007, I was told that the site might be Gordion – if not, evidently another important Phrygian settlement. There was a big outer city here, something in the style of Troy. The entrance gate had timber walls inside, which should help date it. The ramparts were built of two parallel stone walls, and the space in-between was filled with wood. 

The Cimmerians destroyed Gordion in 696 BC, and the ensuing fires preserved these walls to be covered later with alluvial mud up to four meters deep. Then the Lydians arrived and rebuilt the city, but it was again destroyed by the invading army of Cyrus the Great in 547-546 BC. 

As a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire, the Persians installed a garrison at Gordion, which was eventually overthrown by Parmenion when he spent the winter of 333/334 BC here. We’ll remember that Alexander marched through Lycia in the south to regroup with Parmenion the following spring. In 278 BC, however, the city was destroyed by the Gauls and totally abandoned by 200 AD. 

Today Gordion is in the news because archaeologists have unearthed a stone with an inscription in the Phrygian language. It has been dated to the reign of Antiochus I, who reigned from 281 to 261 BC. For the first time, the name Gordion is mentioned. The stone was found in what is called the ancient city. 

The text is the longest inscription ever found in Gordion and written in Phrygian. It probably was part of a tumulus burial site. Currently, archaeologists and philologists are studying the inscription to present an understandable text to the public. [For a picture of the inscription, please click on this Arkeonews link]

The earliest Phrygian writing goes back to the 8th century BC, and they based their alphabet on the Phoenician. Later on, they used a version of the Greek alphabet. So far, eleven inscriptions on stone have been discovered and 245 graffiti, mostly on vases. Remarkably, despite this small number, Gordion is the richest source of early Phrygian writing.

Trojan Horse found. Really?

Archaeologists, Turkish and others, believe they have unearthed the remains of the Trojan Horse within the walls of ancient Troy (see: Alexander sets out to cross to Asia). 

Their explanation, however, sounds rather vague as they mention dozens of fir planks and beams 15 meters long that were assembled in “a strange form.” Carbon dating, on the other hand, has “suggested” (not “confirmed”) that the wood, as well as other excavated artifacts, date from the 12th/11th century BC. This time frame matches that of the Trojan War. 

I wonder whether I am too demanding to expect that Carbon dating is precise. It either matches or it doesn’t. The argument used by archaeologists is that the structure of the wooden parts corresponds to the description of the horse as made by Virgil and Quintus of Smyrna (a Greek epic poet who continues the story of the Trojan War where Homer left off). In my eyes, that argument is entirely independent of chemical analysis and Carbon dating. 

Although this may be wishful thinking, archaeologists now consider that the wooden planks are indeed the remains of the Greek strategy to construct a horse to trick the Trojans. 

Two leading archaeologists, professors at the University of Boston, are stating they have a “high level of confidence” that the wooden finds are “linked” to the Trojan Horse. Once again, I am skeptical because “linked to” does not exactly mean “belong to.” 

The only substantiating fact appears to be the inscription on a damaged bronze plate discovered on the site, reading, “For their return home, the Greeks dedicate this offering to Athena.” Quintus of Smyrna refers to this plate in his epic poem Posthomerica. 

The myth around the Trojan Horse remains whole for the time being. Still, there is hope that the abovementioned excavations may shed more light on its mystery. 

[Article widely based on the Greek Reporter]

Greek statues in blasting colors

We still find it difficult to imagine the buildings and statues in Greek and Roman cities in full blasting colors. In an earlier blog, Ancient Greece in full Technicolor, I marveled about the results achieved through sparse reconstructions.  

In recent years, in-depth reconstruction work has been done by the team of Prof. Vinzenz Brinkman. For more than 15 years, they analyzed the pigmentation of antique sculptures using digital methods, whereby the originals were left untouched. New technical photographic techniques using UV-light and –reflectography enabled them to disclose the painted parts of the statues. The chemical and mechanical transformations on the surface, which happened over the centuries, left areas where no pigment had survived. They applied the matching colors on copies of existing statues based on those discoveries. The results are absolutely mind-blowing. 

The earliest results were on display at the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt some 15 years ago, and the collection has traveled around the world ever since. Today, however, the artifacts have returned to Frankfurt, presented in a larger expanded exhibition.  

Since the first exhibition Bunte Götter in 2008, the number of colorized reconstructions has doubled and includes some antique bronzes in colored versions. Over 100 objects from international museum collections can be admired in their “original” colored version. Besides, another sixty artifacts from recent years have been added to the collection, including some pieces from the 19th century. A selection of 22 graphics completes the exhibition. It is a genuine and unique opportunity to submerge oneself in antiquity from an entirely different point of view.  

It is noteworthy that rather than merely coloring their sculptures, the Greeks and Romans managed to expand the formal and narrative structure of the objects.  

The exhibition Bunte Götter – Golden Edition. Die Farben der Antike will run until 30 August 2020 at the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt.

[Pictures from Liebieghaus Museum in Frankfurt]

The new Archaeological Museum of Troy

Despite the many centuries of excavations in Troy, the time has come (at last!) to build its own museum on the site. It is located some 800 meters outside the ancient city, and from the pictures, it looks very promising.

[Picture from dezeen]

Beyond Troy, about 40,000 artifacts have been transferred from the Archaeology Museum in Istanbul, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara, and the Archaeological Museum of Çanakkale. It is nice to have the finds concentrated in one single building.

Besides Troy, artifacts from the greater area are being exhibited here also. Those archaeological remains include finds from cities like Assos, Tenedos, Parium, Alexandria Troas, Smintheion, Lampsacus, Thymbra, Tavolia, and Imbros.

It is a wonderful idea to have this collection together in one place, more so since that corner of Northwestern Turkey is often overlooked by tourists.