ENG255 / HUM241

Stories are still being told about the Trojan War. There have been many fine poems, plays and novels written on Troy themes throughout the twentieth century, including  Ulysses, James Joyce's novel of Odysseus as a Jew wandering through Dublin, The Flies, Jean-Paul Sartre's update of the Orestes story, and Omeros,  Derek Walcott's Caribbean Odyssey epic. There are also wonderful films made on Trojan themes, including two based on plays by Euripides: The Trojan Women and Iphigenia.

Many of these books may be hard to find, so I suggest referring to the list of Online Booksellers if you can't find them locally.  I have bought many of these books online, and some of them used.

ETEXTS

• Agamemnon: a modernized version by Charles Mee.
• "Arms and the Boy": a poem by Wilfred Owen reflecting the opening of the Aeneid in a WWI setting.
• "Helen of Troy": a poem by Sara Teasdale
• Louise Glück Homepage: links to several of her poems, including some from Meadowlands, her modern poetic version of the Odyssey.
• Orestes: a modernized version by Charles Mee.
• "Menelaus and Helen": a poem by Rupert Brooke, imagining the aging royal couple back home after the Trojan War.
• The Shield of Achilles": a poem by W. H. Auden.  A modern vision of the famous shield, showing scenes of chaos and injustice (where the traditional shield had shown scenes of order and  justice).
• "Inheritors of the Shield: An Homeric Mise En Abyme." Paula James, Open University, presented at Classical Receptions in Drama and Poetry from c. 1970 to the Present, January Conference 1996. Full text of an article about modern interpretations of the Shield of Achilles.
• The Trojan Women: A Love Story: a modernized version by Charles Mee.
• Troy: The Movie: a poem by John M. Ford
• Ulysses by James Joyce: on Bibliomania; includes a full online text, summaries, study guides, message boards and more. An attractive, easy to use site. 

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ESSAYS

• Homer's Iliad: The poem of power; reflections on the modern relevance of the Iliad.
• Iphigenia and Other Daughters: a lively, detailed review of a modern play by Ellen McLaughlin that combines parts of the two Iphigenia plays with pieces from other Greek tragedies.
• Modern American Poetry: Louise Gluck. Includes a set of reviews of Meadowlands, her version of the Odyssey.
• Review of Achilles in Vietnam: The book being reviewed is by a psychiatrist who compares insights from Homer's Iliad to traumatic experiences of soldiers in Vietnam.
• Trojan Wars: This site uses poetry and prose from many authors to retell the story of Troy. Some images, too.  

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GAMES AND TROY

• Argonauts and Iphigenia Playing Cards
• Hector and Achilles: The Trojan War card game.
• History of the Troy Game. This is written by Sara Douglass, who wrote the four volume fantasy series The Troy Game. She includes basic historical information about Troy mazes ancient and modern.
• Nintendo's "Trojan": A game that includes Trojan Warriors as well as Killer Piranhas! 
• Odyssey: Walkthrough by Tally Ho: This is a detailed set of instructions for playing a game called Odyssey.
• Troia: A new board game about the archaeology of Troy.

• Trojan War: This site sells the rule book for Roleplaying in the Age of Homeric Adventure.

   

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LITERATURE AND TROY

• "24-Hour War: Is Christopher Logue a genius or a madman?" A review of All Day Permanent Red, Christopher Logue's  retelling of part of the story of the Iliad in contemporary idiom.  On Slate. Scroll down and/or wait a bit to see review.
• The Internet Ulysses: a detailed, hypertext analysis of the correspondences between Joyce's Ulysses and the Odyssey as well as all sorts of other interesting information about Ulysses.
• The Mourner's Song: War and Remembrance from the Iliad to Vietnam by James Tatum
• Ulysses and the Odyssey: a senior English Seminar at KSU prepared this list of correspondences between Joyce's Ulysses and Homer's Odyssey.

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MOVIES, THEATER, AND TROY

• Agamemnon: A film company that roots itself in Aristotle and Greek drama.
• "Boy Troy": a thorough, thoughtful, generally positive review by Shari Rosenblum of the film Troy (2004).
• Helen of Troy: The rather dated 1955 film is described on the Internet Movie Data Base.
• Hercules: Disney's 1998 animated film; made for TV, and now available as a video. The page reference is on the Internet Movie Data Base, a great place to find old Troy movies.
• Theodora Skipitares Brings Trojan War With Puppets to La MaMa
• Troy: May, 2004 blockbuster with Brad Pitt, described on IMDB.
• "Troy's Fallen": an essay (with images) about how the real Troy compares to various film and tv versions. Published in Archaeology, May 14, 2004.

MUSIC AND TROY

• "Achilles Last Stand": Lyrics to a Led Zeppelin song.
• Eleni Karaindrou: Background on this contemporary Greek composer who has written music for film (Ulysses' Gaze) and modern productions of Greek plays. This  page focuses on her work for the production of Euripides' Trojan Women. CDs are available.
• The Fall of Troy: Homepage for a band.
• "Helen and Cassandra": A popular song by by Al Stewart. This page also links to guitar chords or tablature for the song. The Trojan legend goes on and on and on....
• Artemis Aria: lyrics from an operetta by Rebecca Kincaid, 1996
• "Iphigenia in Hades--The House of Atreus": Lyrics from Virgin Steele
• "Iphigenia in Hades--The House of Atreus": another site for these lyrics
• "Temporary Like Achilles": Lyrics to a Bob Dylan song.

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TRAVEL, PLACES, AND TROY

• Cities of Troy: Robert J. Huskey has prepared a list of places with Troy-related names in the United States, including a map.
• Troy Towns: these are labyrinths scattered all over Europe and elsewhere.
• Troy Travel Guide: lots of useful information about visiting Troy.
• World's Largest Roadside Attraction: Yes, it is a gigantic Trojan Horse in Lake Delton Wisconsin.

TROY FOR CHILDREN

• Agamemnon: part of a site on history for kids
• The Baldwin Project: The Story of the Greeks by H. A. Guerber; an out of copyright e-book full of stories from Greek myth aimed at children from 6-9. Many of the stories deal with Troy legends. The print is large and clear and the tone is great for kids.
• Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site: This page includes an interesting review of Paul Fleischman's Dateline: Troy, a retelling of the Troy story juxtaposed with modern news collages. She also reviews several other Troy books for children, and makes suggestions for teaching this material.
• Kentucky Classics: Children's Books on the Ancient World: A Selective Bibliography. Lots of Troy stories are listed here.
• Mythman: Greek Mythology Today and the Myth of the Month. Cute, updated narratives of ancient Greek myths, including a long retelling of the Trojan War with great illustrations (and some silly graphics). Includes "homework help," cartoon figures, etc. Worth a quick look at the Troy material.
• Tales of Troy: by Andrew Lang. A treasure of beautifully retold Troy stories for children from the 1912 edition.
• The Trojan War: by Ruth Plumly Thompson. A prose version for young people with some cute illustrations.

TROY IN POPULAR CULTURE

• Achilles at the Gates!: This is a lively interview with Eric Shanower, creator of the wonderful Age of Bronze comics(see below).
• Achilles' Heel: A radical men's magazine.
• Age of Bronze: The home page for a series of meticulously researched and beautifully drawn comics about the Trojan War by Eric Shanower.
• The Athena Statue: The city of Nashville Tennessee has built a Parthenon and inside it is a huge statue of the goddess Athena, which is currently being gilded. Images and text. 
• Dr. Who and The Trojan War: A Radio Times article from 1965 with a couple of pictures.
• Greek Hoplon Construction: How to make a Greek shield. Detailed instructions and illustrations.
• Iliad Quiz: By Triviaman. Test yourself.
• Ilios: A Japanese "Manga" or comic book of the Trojan War (in English).
• Medieval Times: these web pages are actually about a group of restaurants that feature jousting along with supper!
• Ships' Names from the Classical World: The Lurker's Guide to Bablylon 5.
• Soldiers Take on Trojan Warrior: This report describes a military land and water exercise done by the 10th Special Forces (Airborne).
• Trojan Odyssey: by Clive Cussler, reviewed by his fan club. This ponderous and disorganized novel bases its hero's adventures on a theory (see TROY in England) that Troy was really located in England and Odysseus had his adventures sailing in the Caribbean. 
• Trojan War Live Journal: this site is a kind of public journal with all of the entries related to Troy. It includes links to graphics as well as text.
• Trojan Women: A review of a modernized version by Charles Mee that has the feel of MTV.
• Troy: An Empire in Siege:104 complex line drawings telling the story of the Trojan War.
• Xena and Achilles: Whoosh! online edition, issue 35, August 1999. Long narrative text, but few pictures.
• Xena, Warrior Princess: a long review of Xena and other characters in the program, as well a response essay about the theology of Xena. The site also includes pictures of the main characters in "Xena." And what does Xena have to do with Troy? She has one adventure involving Helen of Troy, and another involving Ulysses (Odysseus).

TROY AND VISUAL ARTS

• Andromache and Hector: a wonderful sculpture by de Chirico (1940)
• Iphigenia: granite abstract carving by Thomas Glendon
• Iphigenia Lover of Achilles: a nifty modern semi-comic image by Peter Town
• Polish Poster: of film Iphigenia
• Trojan War Art Museum: This site is a gem; it includes wonderful images from the Bronze Age up to the Twentieth Century. A must-see
• A Wooden Trojan Horse: from an antique store in Pennsylvania
• You Tube on Troy: all sorts of short videos about Trojan themes are linked to this page; as you select one, the list changes to other links that have more to do with the title of the one you select. Fascinating stuff; some good, some terrible.  The first ones here are about Achilles.