In Search of Historical Troy

The real story of the discovery of what some archaeologists believe may be Homer's Troy is like an adventure story itself.

As a boy, Heinrich Schliemann became fascinated by his father's reading of the Iliad, so as soon as he was old enough, he set out to discover the lost city of Troy. Despite no formal archaeological training himself (he had only been on one dig before), he managed to excavate the site Hissarlik that some believe today could be the ancient city of Troy. To some archaeologists, he was huckster who was more interested in proving he had found Troy than assessing whether he had; nevertheless, he made some of the greatest finds from Antiquity, and today Hissarlik is the site of Troy VI, the best known candidate site for Troy. Of note, Schliemann would also find remarkable relics at Mycenae including the "Agamemnon's mask" at right. To Schliemann's credit, his documentation and logging of archaeological finds improved over the twenty years of his life's work.

Some archeologists believe Troy VI is too well fortified to be the Troy of Homer's Iliad, but dating suggests that Troy VI was at least be a city contemporary to the time of Homer's writing.

If you are tempted to see whether any recent Hollywood treatment of the Trojan War is worthwhile, check out Troy's Fallen! for the Archeology Magazine's mournful description of what that reviewer calls a "chronological train wreck." I think we're better off reading a Classic Comic of The Iliad.

This past week we got a board game called Hector and Achilles and it's really fun. We kept getting confused about the names, cities, and events in the Iliad, so this could both help with the people and places, and kick our regular card games up a notch. It's amazing how quickly I got used to cringing when I saw Achilles appear for the Achaens!


In Search of the Trojan War: Greek Art and Archeology
Virtual Reconstructions of Troy
Evidence from Homer about the Site of Troy
Heinrich Schliemann: The "Father" of Modern Archeology
Mask of Agamemnon
Reconstruction of Troy

Ancient Greece: The Iliad

We've haven't started Koine Greek, but as our son was asked to memorize the opening stanza of the Iliad, we've been talking about translations. If you know Greek, the opening stanza is this:



But look at the dramatic differences in translation.

From Lattimore, assigned by his teacher:

Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus' son Achilleus
and its devastation, which put pains thousand-fold upon the
Achaians,
hurled in their multitudes to the house of Hades strong souls
of heroes, but gave their bodies to be the delicate feasting
of dogs, of all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished...

And from Fagles:

Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,
great fighters' souls, but made their bodies carrion,
feasts for the dogs and birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.

Good translators need to have a deep understanding of both languages, the importance of word order, the associations of particular words in the language and culture, a good understanding of the rhythm and music of different languages (especially for literary and poetical works), as well as over-arching themes.

For interesting practice, check out the first link below which addresses the two translations side-by-side, including worksheet-type practice at word choice and ideas for writing assignments.

The second link shows how high tech is allowing more people to access antiquity - The oldest most complete Iliad (645 page parchment manuscript), only photographed in 1901 because of its delicate condition, is now being scanned in at high resolution in digital form.



The Iliad in Translation - What Difference Does It Make?
Robot Arm Scans Ancient Iliad Manuscript
The Iliad at Wikipedia

Classical Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land

Ok, this is knowledge-light, but it was recommended by our kids to post on this Classical School Blog. Watch the Youtube.com video Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land. I still vividly remember watching this in my math class with Mr. Timmons in the 7th grade.

There are a few classic math jokes (e.g. square roots) and math tidbits from antiquity (like the secret Pythagorean society).

C.S. Lewis and Fairy Tales

As a family, we're re-reading our way through the Narnia stories, and I am struck by how many wonderful new discoveries I am making - not just details I hadn't noticed before, but deeper realizations and assents, sometimes at profound levels. I think maybe I had stopped reading fairytales all too soon.

Some Christians (and non-Christians, for that matter) are embarrassed by fairy tales or feel they should be put away for more realistic tales by the time a child reaches the age of school. But, I like Lewis' response to the challenge that fantasy is mere escapism - causing children to retreat into a world of wish-fulfillment.

"The other longing, for fairy land, is very different. In a sense a child does not long for fairy land as a boy longs to be the her of the first eleven. Does anyone suppose that he really and prosaically longs for all the dangers and discomforts of a fairy tale?...It would be much truer to say that fairy land arouses a longing for he knows not what. It stirs and troubles him (to his life-long enrichment) with the dim sense of something beyond his reach and, far from dulling or emptying the actual world, gives it a new dimension of depth. He does not despise real woods because he has read of enchanted woods; the reading makes all real woods a little enchanted..."

Lewis also makes this additional worthy point: "And I think it possible that by confining your child to blameless stories of child life in which nothing at all alarming ever happens, you would fail to banish the terrors, and would succeed in banishing all that can ennoble them or make them endurable. For in fairy tales, side by side with the terrible figures, we find the immemorial comforters and protectors, the radiant ones; and the terrible figures are not merely terrible, but sublime. It would be nice if no little boy in bed, hearing, or thinking he hears, a sound, were ever at all frightened. But if he is going to be frightened, I think it better that he should think of giants and dragons than merely of burglars. And I think St. George, or any bright champion in armour , is a better comfort than the idea of the police."


C.S. Lewis: On Stories
Tolkien: On Fairy Stories

Learning in Wartime - Our Homeschooling Year

As our school year begins in the midst of our family's medical crisis, I was encouraged by reading C.S. Lewis' Learning in Wartime from his Weight of Glory essays. Lewis was reflecting on how the seemingly mundane activities of university life could continue when it looked as if all Europe would fall:

"...how can we--continue to take an interest in these placid occupations when the lives of our friends and the liberties of Europe are in the balance?..."

But the answer is in seeing our true situation in all its perspective: "The war creates no absolutely new situation; it siply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it. Human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice. Human culture has always had to exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure, the search would never have begun. We are mistaken when we compare war with "normal life." Life has never been normal..."

"The work of a Beethoven and the work of a charwoman bcome spiritual on precisely the same condition, that of being offered to God, of being done humbly "as to the Lord."...

As we begin this school year, I realize it's our most ambitious one yet in terms of workload for our 12 year old son. We are encouraging him to be more independent with managing his workload and time management, and he will be taking 4 online courses, two at the high school level.

Two resources that might be helpful for saving money on books and curricula:



Paperbackswap.com allows you to swap already read (or outgrown) paperbacks for free with other members. You only pay postage when you mail it to another member, and in return they pay postage when they send it to you. We use Paypal to print mailing labels and just mail the books by putting them in our mailbox (no trips to the post office).

Another resource we've found helpful is Homeschool Buyer's Co-op. Membership is free. They block together to obtain discounts for curriculum. Discovery's United Streaming membership is now $70 cheaper ($129 per year) because 200 people have signed up.

Homeschooling 2007-8

Latin 1 - Schola Tutorials
Intro to Great Books - Schola Tutorials
Logic - Biola Logic
Etymology / Vocabulary - CTD Northwestern
Chemistry - - CyberEd and Apologia Chemistry
Writing - - Progymnasmata through WritingAssessment.com
Math - - SkillsTutor.com, Saxon, Mathematics: A Human Endeavor
Music - : Enjoyment of Music and Norton Online Listening Lab
Art - Teaching Company A History of European Art