Horizon

It's beyond improbable. The Achaeans of the 12th century BC almost certainly lacked the technology and resources to maintain an uninterrupted siege for ten years.

Even in medieval Europe it was rare for a siege to last more than a year.

That doesn't mean there isn't some truth behind the legend. Troy has been found and excavated. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times, and one of the destructions was about the right time.

I don't think the length of the siege (which can presumably be attributed to poetic license) is the bone of contention, however. What the writer is critiquing is the idea that Helen was so beautiful that people were prepared to wage war over her; perhaps an improbable idea in those terms, but then the real issue was one of pride, which is not an imaginary casus belli even today. Also, the key role of Agamemnon - who may have been using the outrage committed against his brother as an excuse for power-play - is ommitted.

The whole Iliad is about pride, isn't it?

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One way and another it may be worth revisiting Auden's "The Shield of Achilles."

Troy has been found and excavated. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times, and one of the destructions was about the right time.

Are they sure it's Troy? Last I heard I thought there was some controversy over that.

Alan says true.

http://www.varchive.org/nldag/idtroy.htm

There's a mostly favorable review of the film in the New Yorker.

Hope it keeps the section with the allies marching into the city and the poet telling us what kind of land and family each captain has left behind, so that later we feel the tragedy in their deaths. I was sad that Jackson cut out Tolkien's similar mustering scenes at Minas Tirith.

Sorry, the one time I don't click "Preview," something goes wrong with the formatting. [Fixed it: AA]. This is the New Yorker link.

A further Troy item from a site that seems worth reading.

Thx for fixing the link.

Via A&L Daily, the Telegraph calls the film "a disgrace."