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Book Review of Ancient Cities: The History of Troy

Ancient Cities: The History of Troy
jjares avatar reviewed on + 3294 more book reviews


This book starts by explaining the Homeric tales of the infamous city of Troy. Until Heimlich Schliemann, historians thought THE ILLIAD and THE ODYSSEY were Greek myths. But Schliemann, a self-made man, set out to use the Homeric poems to find ancient Troy in 1870.

The story about all the findings of Troy (one city was built atop the last) is very interesting. However, the early archaeologists were more treasure hunters than explorers of our past and destroyed as much as they found.

The last portion of the book shows how various people and cultures have tried to tie themselves to the Greek past. This shows that the stories of Troy and the Greeks are still relevant.