en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_War
2 corrections found
Schliemann was the first man to locate Troy at the mound known as Hisarlık
This is incorrect. Hisarlık had been identified as Troy before Schliemann by earlier researchers, especially Charles Maclaren and Frank Calvert.
Full reasoning
Schliemann was not the first person to identify or locate Troy at Hisarlık.
Two earlier stages are well documented:
- Charles Maclaren proposed Hisarlık as Troy before Schliemann. Smithsonian Magazine summarizes that "the first person to suggest Hisarlik as the site of Troy was the Scottish polymath Charles Maclaren."
- Frank Calvert investigated and excavated Hisarlık before Schliemann. The British Museum's Troy exhibition text states that Calvert excavated at Hisarlık in 1863, was already convinced it was both Greek Ilion and ancient Troy, and only later, in 1868, shared that theory with Schliemann.
So the article's caption gives Schliemann priority he did not have. A more accurate formulation would be that Schliemann later excavated or popularized the site, not that he was the first to locate Troy there.
3 sources
- In Search of Troy
In the modern era, the first person to suggest Hisarlik as the site of Troy was the Scottish polymath Charles Maclaren... it would be nearly half a century before an amateur archaeologist named Frank Calvert began to explore the mound... When he met... Heinrich Schliemann... he encouraged Schliemann to pick up where he left off.
- Troy: Myth and Reality exhibition guide (British Museum)
The search for Troy: Charles Maclaren suggested in 1822 that Homer’s Troy lay beneath Greek Ilion... Frank Calvert... excavated there in 1863... In 1863 Calvert began excavating at Hisarlık, convinced it was both Greek Ilion and ancient Troy. In 1868, Calvert shared his theory with Heinrich Schliemann.
- Archaeological Site of Troy: Portion of the legendary walls of Troy (Level VII) | Marble
The Hisarlik tell... was identified as a possible site of ancient Troy by a number of amateur archaeologists in the early to mid 19th century. The most dedicated of these was Frank Calvert, whose early work was overshadowed by the now famous German amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in the 1870s.
Formerly under the Hittites, the Assuwa confederation defected after the battle of Kadesh between Egypt and the Hittites (c. 1274 BC). In 1230 BC Hittite king Tudhaliya IV (c. 1240–1210 BC) campaigned against this federation.
This dating is wrong. The Assuwa Confederacy is generally associated with a much earlier conflict under Tudhaliya I/II in the late 15th or early 14th century BCE, not a post-Kadesh campaign by Tudhaliya IV.
Full reasoning
This passage appears to conflate Assuwa with later western Anatolian conflicts.
Modern scholarship places the Assuwa Rebellion / Assuwan Confederacy much earlier than the article says:
- Oxford University Press summarizes the Hittite evidence as including an Assuwa Rebellion in the late 15th century BCE.
- A recent Society of Biblical Literature publication likewise identifies the relevant Tudhaliya as Tudhaliya I/II, an early New Kingdom ruler dated to the late 15th–early 14th century BCE, and notes that he is the king known for destroying the Assuwan Confederacy.
That directly contradicts the article's statement that Assuwa defected after the Battle of Kadesh (c. 1274 BCE) and was campaigned against by Tudhaliya IV in 1230 BCE. Those dates are roughly two centuries too late for the Assuwa Confederacy.
2 sources
- The Trojan War: fact or fiction? | OUPblog
According to the Hittite literary evidence, there were at least four Trojan Wars, ranging from the Assuwa Rebellion in the late 15th century BCE to the overthrow of Walmu, king of Wilusa in the late 13th century BCE.
- The Ahhiyawa Texts
Without doubt, the Tudhaliya in question was Tudhaliya I/II, an early New Kingdom ruler of Hatti (late-fifteenth–early-fourteenth century b.C.e.) well known for his destruction of a coalition of twenty-two countries, commonly referred to by scholars as the 'Assuwan Confederacy'.