ENG255 / HUM241

Homer's epics were composed orally, but were eventually written down and became almost a bible for later Greeks, because they were considered history as well as poetry, and because their language was so brilliant.

Without Homer's wonderful poems,  the story of Troy might have remained a Greek story; instead it endured and evolved over many centuries into a central story of the origins of western civilization.

ETEXTS

• The Cypria (fragments): translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White.
• Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica: Etexts of various ancient Greek poems, including fragments from the Epic Cycle.
• The History of the Peloponnesian War: By Thucydides. Written 431 BCE. Translated by Richard Crawley. Book 1 starts with intriguing estimates of the economics and strategies of the Trojan War by a fifth century BCE general.
• The History of the Peloponnesian War. By Thucydides. This is the Perseus site version; clear large font, nicely annotated.
• Homer in Performance: Not exactly an etext, but an oral presentation of part of the Iliad.
• The Iliad by Homer: Translated by Samuel Butler. From MIT. Includes reader comments page, search engine and links to buy books. A download version is available.
• The Iliad by Homer: a new, public domain translation by Ian Johnston.
• The Iliad Through the Eyes of Achilles: links to images and classical texts depicting Achilles.
• The Odyssey by Homer: Translated by Samuel Butler. From MIT. Includes reader comments page, search engine and links to buy books. A download version is available.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

• About Helen of Troy: An interesting essay by Robert E. Bell about the myth of Helen and how it changed over time. 
• Ancient Ships: images of Greek ships from the time of the Trojan War and later.
• Archaic Period: Includes sections on society, economy, politics and culture of the Greek Archaic period.
• Bureaucrats and Barbarians: The Greek Dark Ages; Homer; by Richard Hooker.
• Discovery Channel: all sorts of materials about ancient Greece.
• Homer: This interesting site, prepared by a scholar from Mexico and available in several languages, proposes that Troy was really in Croatia as well as other non-traditional theories. Some of the ideas here are really different from the majority opinions, but worth thinking about. 
• Homer Nodding: This page about Homer's poetry is part of a set of pages dealing with Homer. The index to the questions is at the bottom of this page. Topics include: The Discovery of Troy, The Great Homer Nodding, Mycenaean Culture, Odysseus the Stranger, The Decipherment of Linear B, and Homeric Geography.
• Introduction to the Trojan War: From the wonderful Perseus database. Includes a narrative of the Troy Cycle with hyperlinks for characters as well as links to various Troy-related images. 
• The Legend of the Trojan War: This summary, by Ian Johnston of Malaspina University-College, relates a number of old stories about the Trojan war.
• Overview of Archaic and Classical Greek History: by Thomas Martin. From Perseus.
• "The Trojan Horse Just Might Have Been an Earthquake": An article on the geology of Troy from the Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 1988. Includes a map of the region possibly affected.
• Trojan War: Various interesting background essays on Homer and Homeric Greece from About.com
• The Trojan War: Narratives of the Iliad and Odyssey and links to various scholarly topics of use to students, including maps and information about oral composition.  Not all links work, but there is interesting material on the site. From U. Penn.
• The Trojan War: A thorough summary of the main events with many lovely images.

IMAGES BASED ON HOMER AND THE TROY CYCLE

• Achilles and Ajax playing a board game: Some Greek legends claimed that board games were invented at Troy. At times, Troy itself seems like a board game played by the gods. 
• Classical Mythology: This is a wonderfully rich collection of images relating to the classics; a number of the sets of images deal with Trojan materials, and Chapters 17 and 18 are specifically about the Trojan War, while Chapter 20 is about Odysseus. The images are not labeled, but they are a pleasure to look at anyway.
• Images of the Trojan War: A set of links to images from the Perseus collection; not all are available, but many are, and they are certainly worth looking at.
• The Kleophrades Painter: Images of the Trojan War on kraters (large vases).

LITERARY MATTERS

• Achilles' Wrath and the Plan of Zeus: This essay on human-god interaction in the Iliad is adapted from my Dissertation, "Human Responsibility and the Fall of Troy" (CUNY, 1981).
• "The Conflicting Views of Helen": An essay by Katie Olesker about different presentations of Helen of Troy in antiquity . Some demonized her, some praised her, while others could not make up their minds about this beautiful woman who was the cause (or pretext) for the Trojan War.
• Homer and The Iliad: An excellent, useful  overview by Professor Mark Damen from his course: A Guide to Writing in History and Classics.
• How to Read an Oral Poem: This useful site supplements a book of the same title. 
• Trojan Wars: The Story: Told through passages from Homer's Iliad and the works of other classic poets.
• Wily Penelope: An essay on Penelope from About.com.

MAPS

• Attica: a map of Greece with stars to click on major sites, leading to images and bits of interesting information.
• The Late Aegean Bronze Age: Shows Greece, Crete, and western Anatolia (Turkey); indicates cities/palaces and extent of Mycenaean culture, 1250-1000 BCE.

MYTHOLOGY

• Bulfinch's Mythology: See especially Chapters 27 and 28 of Volume I. Chapter 27 narrates the events of the Trojan War. It is especially useful because the names of characters and places are linked to descriptions and other interesting information about them. This site also includes links to classical sources and other Trojan War information and visuals. Chapter 28 tells of the fall of Troy, the return of the Greeks and the stories of Agamemnon, Orestes and Electra.
• Classical Myth: The Ancient Sources: This site from the University of Victoria is a set of links to "ancient texts and images available on the Web concerning the major figures of Greek and Roman mythology." It contains links to many wonderful images of the gods.
• Classical Mythology: This is the table of contents for a splendid course from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Each section deals with a group of mythic characters and includes wonderful images of them from both classical and later art sources.
• Encyclopedia Mythica: an encyclopedia on mythology, folklore and legend; includes Greek myths as well as many others. 
• Greek Mythology: From the Iliad to the Fall of the Last Tyrant.
• Greek Mythology Link: A large, complex and slow-loading site, but with lots of searchable information about Greek myth matters. Based on articles from the Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology by Carlos Parada.
• Greek Names Vs. Roman Names: A useful list of corresponding names for the gods in Greek and Latin.
• Helen of Troy: Links to all sorts of interesting sites dealing with Helen.
• Human Women in Greek Myths: a comprehensive list with good explanations of each woman.
• An Introduction to Classical Mythology: An excellent, useful  overview by Professor Mark Damen from his course: A Guide to Writing in History and Classics.
• The Mythological Background of Homer's Iliad: by John Porter, University of Saskatchewan.
• Women in Greek Myths: An index to all sorts of materials from Amazons to minor goddesses and nymphs.

RESOURCE SITES

• The Classics Pages: An interesting, varied collection of materials on the classics, including interactive games for the Iliad and the Odyssey.
• The Homer Homepage: A lot of useful, interesting material, including links to etexts, course notes and various other information relating to Homer.