en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_War
3 corrections found
came with his host to help his stepbrother Priam
Memnon was not Priam's stepbrother. In the usual genealogy, Memnon is Priam's nephew because Memnon's father Tithonus is Priam's brother.
Full reasoning
This is a genealogy error.
In Greek myth, Memnon is the son of Tithonus and Eos. Tithonus is a Trojan prince and brother of Priam. That makes Memnon Priam's nephew, not his stepbrother.
Multiple standard reference works describe Memnon as coming to Troy to aid his uncle Priam. So the relationship given here is wrong.
3 sources
- Memnon (1), mythical king of Ethiopia | Oxford Classical Dictionary
Memnon ... was the son of Eos and Tithonus ... He went with a large force to Troy to assist Priam, his uncle.
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 13 | Theoi Classical Texts Library
I come bereaved, of my son Memnon, who in vain bore arms to aid his uncle ...
- Memnone | Treccani
figlio dell'Aurora e di Titono, dunque per parte di padre nipote di Priamo.
Schliemann was the first man to locate Troy at the mound known as Hisarlık
Heinrich Schliemann was not the first person to identify or investigate Hisarlık as Troy. Frank Calvert had already identified and excavated the site before Schliemann, and earlier writers had suggested Hisarlık as Troy as well.
Full reasoning
This statement is contradicted by standard histories of Troy's rediscovery.
- The British Museum says that Charles Maclaren and Frank Calvert were the first in the 19th century to connect the hill at Hisarlık with ancient Troy.
- The American Journal of Archaeology explicitly states that Heinrich Schliemann was not the first to conduct excavations at Hisarlık.
- Other scholarly summaries note that Calvert persuaded Schliemann to dig there.
So Schliemann was important in publicizing and excavating the site, but calling him "the first man to locate Troy" at Hisarlık is incorrect.
3 sources
- The search for the lost city of Troy | British Museum
In the 19th century, a Scotsman and an Englishman, Charles Maclaren and Frank Calvert, were the first to link a hill containing ancient remains with the site of ancient Troy.
- "Finding the Walls of Troy": Frank Calvert, Excavator | American Journal of Archaeology
Heinrich Schliemann was not the first to conduct excavations at the mound of Hisarlik, now known as Troy.
- In Search of Troy | Smithsonian Magazine
In the modern era, the first person to suggest Hisarlik as the site of Troy was the Scottish polymath Charles Maclaren... Frank Calvert began to explore the mound ...
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.
Assuwa does not belong to the post-Kadesh, Tudhaliya IV period. Standard chronologies place the Assuwa confederation and its defeat under Tudhaliya I/II around 1400–1430 BC, centuries earlier.
Full reasoning
This passage misdates the Assuwa confederation by roughly two centuries and assigns it to the wrong Hittite king.
Standard Bronze Age chronologies place Assuwa in the late 15th/early 14th century BC, not after the Battle of Kadesh (1274 BC). Cambridge's chronology for Anatolia lists "Assuwa Confederation" alongside Tudhaliya I/II (1400–1350 BC), while Tudhaliya IV belongs to a much later period (1237–1209 BC).
Other historical summaries likewise describe the Hittite conflict with Assuwa as occurring around 1400 BC. So it is incorrect to say Assuwa defected after Kadesh and that Tudhaliya IV campaigned against that federation in 1230 BC.
3 sources
- From Hittite to Homer: The Anatolian Background of Ancient Greek Epic (Cambridge University Press, chronology table)
The chronology table places "Assuwa Confederation" with "Tudhaliya I/II 1400–1350", while later on the table "Tudhaliya IV" appears separately at "1237–1209".
- Troy VI-VII | Livius
The first reference is from the reign of king Tudhaliya I (r.1420-1400), who has a conflict with Assuwa, a kingdom with several vassal states in the west.
- The Chariots of Ahhiyawa | Dacia / Revue d’archéologie et d’histoire ancienne
The Hittites subdued Assuwa around 1400 BC.