Celebrating Homer's Landscapes: Troy and Ithaca RevisitedIn this text, an authority on Homeric texts takes us on a tour of the main localities that Homer paints in his Iliad and Odyssey. Providing numerous photographs of the terrain and quoting liberally from the two epics, J.V. Luce argues that Homer's descriptions of the ancient landscape, far from being poetic fantasies, are accurate in every detail. Luce surveys what Homer tells us about the environs of Troy and Ithaca, applying the developing science of narratology to Homeric depiction of landscape. He also incorporates information about Troy that has been obtained in the past two decades, in particular geophysical information about the alluviation of the Trojan plain and archaeological data about Troy that reveals that the fortified area of the city was ten times as large as previously supposed. Tracing the ebb and flow of the battle as described in the Iliad, Luce shows how Homer's account is consistent with this picture of the plain. |
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Achaean Achilles ancient appears battle Bronze Age called camp Cape cave century citadel close coast comes Commentary course described detail earlier early east epithet evidence excavation extended fact feet final flank forces Gate given Greek ground harbour Hellespont hill Homer identified Iliad Imbros important indications island Italy Ithaca known land Late later Lefkas look lower mentioned miles Mount mountain Mycenaean narrative natural noted Odysseus palace particularly passage picture plain Polis present Priam refer remains ridge rises river road route runs says Scamander scene Schliemann seems seen ship shows side Sigeum slopes springs stands Strabo suggest summit Tepe tion tomb topographical town tradition trees Troad Troia Trojan Troy wall whole Zeus