Before the Iliad: Ten Years of Trojan War You Never Hear About

Before the Iliad: Ten Years of Trojan War You Never Hear About

The Iliad covers only a few weeks in the tenth year of the Trojan War. This episode explores the first nine years: the Greek beachhead, the raids that kept the army fed and paid, the cities sacked along the Anatolian coast, and the slow grinding attrition that wore both sides down. Lucas and Luna walk through the historical and archaeological evidence for the early war: what Homer's Catalogue of Ships implies about Greek strategy, what Hittite letters say about a land called Wilusa under pressure, and how the coastline of the Troad might have looked to a Mycenaean soldier in 1250 BCE. They discuss why the Greeks never stormed Troy's walls, the role of local allies like the Leleges and Cilicians, and the brutal logic of ancient siege warfare where hunger decided more battles than heroics. The episode ends with a question: did the war really last ten years, or did later poets compress a longer conflict into a neat number? #TrojanWar #Troas #Wilusa #Hittites #Mycenaean #Ahhiyawa #Iliad #Homer #BronzeAge #SiegeWarfare #Anatolia #Leleges #Cilicians #Tenedos #Hellespont #Hisarlik #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

Laocoön's Warning: The Trojan Horse's Unheeded Prophecy

In this episode, Lucas and Luna delve into the story of Laocoön, the Trojan priest whose warning against the wooden horse sealed his tragic fate. They explore the origins of the Laocoön myth in Virgil's Aeneid, its connections to earlier Greek traditions, and the archaeological and linguistic evidence for the snake motif in Anatolian and Aegean art. The conversation covers the Vatican Laocoön sculpture, its rediscovery and influence on Renaissance art, and the possible Hittite and Luwian parallels involving serpentine deities like Illuyanka. They also discuss the historical accuracy of the Trojan Horse siege tactic and how the story of Laocoön reflects ancient anxieties about divine punishment and the limits of prophecy. Tune in for a deep dive into one of the most haunting episodes of the Trojan War cycle. #Laocoön #TrojanHorse #Aeneid #Virgil #VaticanLaocoön #Illuyanka #Luwian #Hittite #TrojanWar #SnakeMotif #AncientAnatolia #Hisarlik #Prophet #DivinePunishment #RenaissanceArt #GreekMythology #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Trojan War: What the Luwian Inscriptions Really Say

In episode 170 of The Trojan War: Myth, Reality, or Both?, Lucas and Luna dive into the Luwian language inscriptions that have revolutionized our understanding of Troy. They explore the Alaksandu Treaty, the Tawagalawa Letter, and the Manapa-Tarhunta Letter, which mention a place called Wilusa that most scholars identify as Homer's Ilios. They discuss the controversial reading of the Luwian word 'Tarwiza' as a possible cognate for 'Troia', and the evidence for a historical king named Alaksandu who may have been Alexander (Paris). The hosts also examine the Luwian curse formulas on seals found at Hisarlik, and the implications of a Luwian-speaking population in the Troad during the Late Bronze Age. They consider the careful arguments of linguists like Calvert Watkins and Ilya Yakubovich, and the ongoing debate over whether the Trojan War as Homer described it could have any basis in historical events. This episode offers a deep look at the philological detective work that connects the Homeric epics to Hittite archives. #Luwian #Wilusa #Alaksandu #TawagalawaLetter #ManapaTarhuntaLetter #Hittite #Hisarlik #Troia #Tarwiza #CalvertWatkins #IlyaYakubovich #BronzeAge #Philology #TrojanWar #Homer #Iliad #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Trojan Horse: Did the Greeks Really Build It?

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into the enduring mystery of the Trojan Horse — the legendary wooden construct that supposedly ended the Trojan War. They explore the earliest literary references in Homer's Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid, and weigh archaeological evidence from Hisarlik, including seismic activity and postern gates. The conversation examines the horse's potential symbolic meaning as a siege engine or a religious offering to Poseidon, and considers Hittite texts that hint at a historical siege of Wilusa. They also discuss the intriguing theory that the horse was actually a ship, based on the Greek word 'hippos' being used for both horse and ship in some contexts. No definitive answer emerges, but the episode shows how myth and history intertwine at Troy. #TrojanHorse #Homer #Odyssey #Aeneid #Virgil #Hisarlik #Wilusa #Hittites #Poseidon #SiegeEngine #GreekMythology #TrojanWar #Archaeology #AncientHistory #Mediterranean #Podcast #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

Penthesilea and the Amazons: Women Warriors at Troy

Lucas and Luna explore the story of Penthesilea, the Amazon queen who led a contingent of female warriors to fight for Troy in the final year of the war. They discuss the Homeric and post-Homeric sources, including the lost epic Aethiopis and later vase paintings. The hosts examine the historical and archaeological evidence for Amazon-like warrior women in the ancient steppes and Anatolia, referencing Scythian burials, Luwian inscriptions, and Hittite texts. They consider how the Greek myth of the Amazons may have been shaped by contact with nomadic cultures, and what the story of Penthesilea reveals about ancient views of gender, warfare, and the heroic code. The conversation also touches on the death of Penthesilea at the hands of Achilles and the controversy over whether Homer originally included her in the Iliad. #Penthesilea #Amazons #TrojanWar #Aethiopis #Achilles #Scythians #Steppe #AncientWarfare #Gender #HomericEpic #GreekMythology #Anatolia #Hittites #Luwian #Hisarlik #History #FexingoHistory #Podcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]