In Search of the Trojan War

Starring:Peter Connolly, Dr. John Chadwick, Jerome Sperling, Michael Wood, Michael Ventris, Colin Renfrew
Director: Bill Lyons
Studio: BBC Warner
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Originally broadcast in 1985, In Search of the Trojan War followed the successful formula established by his first historical detective series, In Search of the Dark Ages, and firmly established Michael Wood as the most personable of TV historians. Wood is not only a born TV presenter, he's got both the academic gravitas and the narrative skill to craft a compelling mystery from the archaeological, literary and mythological sources. Over six hour-long programs, Wood marshals the disparate strands of evidence to present as fully rounded a portrait as possible of both the historical and the legendary city of Troy, its central place in Western culture, and the Mycenaean Age itself. From Schliemann's initial cavalier bulldozing of the mound at Hisarlik, to Homer's epics, the Hittite Empire, and the role of slave women, Wood journeys back and forth across the Aegean and elsewhere, from a pre-unification Berlin to Liverpool, to illuminate the dawn of Western literature, myth, and history. Did the Trojan war ever happen, or was the city destroyed by natural causes? Wood doesn't claim to find a definitive answer, of course, but for the viewer it's rewarding enough simply to accompany him on this fascinating journey. The DVD includes a new 25-minute interview with Wood, who looks back affectionately on the making of the series. --Mark Walker
Description
The tale of the Trojan War has fascinated and intrigued people for thousands of years. But is there any truth in Homer's epic poem? Charismatic historian Michael Wood brings to life the heroes and the romance of the Bronze Age in this award-winning archaeological detective story filmed in Greece, Turkey, Ireland and Berlin.

In Search of the Trojan War
Average customer rating:

Love it!

Great Historical Documentary - Terrific Story Telling

A Masterpiece

Myth: fact or fiction?

The REAL Troy...it's about time!

In Search of the Trojan War
Starring: Peter Connolly , Dr. John Chadwick , Jerome Sperling , Michael Wood , and Michael Ventris
Director: Bill Lyons
Manufacturer: BBC Warner
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0001KL5BW
Release Date: 2004-04-27

Amazon.com

Originally broadcast in 1985, In Search of the Trojan War followed the successful formula established by his first historical detective series, In Search of the Dark Ages, and firmly established Michael Wood as the most personable of TV historians. Wood is not only a born TV presenter, he's got both the academic gravitas and the narrative skill to craft a compelling mystery from the archaeological, literary and mythological sources. Over six hour-long programs, Wood marshals the disparate strands of evidence to present as fully rounded a portrait as possible of both the historical and the legendary city of Troy, its central place in Western culture, and the Mycenaean Age itself. From Schliemann's initial cavalier bulldozing of the mound at Hisarlik, to Homer's epics, the Hittite Empire, and the role of slave women, Wood journeys back and forth across the Aegean and elsewhere, from a pre-unification Berlin to Liverpool, to illuminate the dawn of Western literature, myth, and history. Did the Trojan war ever happen, or was the city destroyed by natural causes? Wood doesn't claim to find a definitive answer, of course, but for the viewer it's rewarding enough simply to accompany him on this fascinating journey. The DVD includes a new 25-minute interview with Wood, who looks back affectionately on the making of the series. --Mark Walker

Description

The tale of the Trojan War has fascinated and intrigued people for thousands of years. But is there any truth in Homer's epic poem? Charismatic historian Michael Wood brings to life the heroes and the romance of the Bronze Age in this award-winning archaeological detective story filmed in Greece, Turkey, Ireland and Berlin.

Customer Reviews:

Love it!.......2007-02-03

The Trojan War is an historical fact...the Trojan Horse...I'm not sure about that but Michael Wood brings to life and validates Homer's account in the Illiad. A must-have for any Greek history buff! High quality DVD.

Great Historical Documentary - Terrific Story Telling.......2007-01-12

I watched this back in the 80s on Australian public television (SBS) and was immediately hooked on it. Missed a couple of the episodes and have since been trying (waiting) to get the whole set on VHS, DVD, whatever.

I bought the book (in lieu of the DVD) but found that quite heavy going (book contains a lot more detail). The DVD will actually help with the reading.

It was good to see that the material still holds up even after some 20 years since it aired. I found the follow-up interview with Michael Woods quite interesting as he reflects on his past effort. However, I was aghast when he mention the movie Troy (Pitt, Bana, et al)! Michael Woods, your documentary is kilometres better than that hollywood rip-off. It would be great to see a follow up documentary given there have been new and more recent site findings.

I thoroughly enjoyed this back in the 80s and am enjoying it again now. Even my children are showing interest in this (quite amazing in this age of PCs, Playstation, Xbox, Wii, etc.). This is a must have for those interested in Homer or ancient history. I have friends lining up to borrow this (DVD) and the book from me.

This is a great DVD set, terrific infotainment and good value for money. You will not be disappointed.

A Masterpiece.......2006-12-24

Although somewhat dated this is the best documentary about the Trojan War and whether it occurred that I have seen. The topic is thoroughly examined from a number of different perspectives.

Myth: fact or fiction?.......2006-11-05

An unlikely, exuberant blend of history, myth, literature, politics and geography, this search is one of the few and one of the best of its kind.

The series presented by Michael Wood is as relevant and as entertaining as it was when first shown in 1985. It is a quest: far from compiling all known facts about the Trojan War (there are none, as we have no direct evidence) Wood shows convincingly that archaeologists and historians have often looked for, and selected, artifacts that bolster the interpretation they have previously held. Wood engagingly confesses to this himself. By surveying earlier interpretations of what may have happened in Bronze Age Greece to inspire the poem of Homer, and interviewing contemporary historians who give their interpretations, Wood invites us to evaluate these. This is a program for people who enjoy the thinking process.

There are few shortcomings to the series: these can be summarised briefly. Wood's objective to allow landscape to interpret history sounds much better in the study. In the field it can too easily become a mix of light journalism and travelogue. Quite a few of the landscapes must have had a more obvious connection with the subject to the makers of the series. The viewer probably needs to concentrate, review and reflect upon some sequences; at first viewing the effect is somewhat diffuse. But as this is a series viewers will almost certainly watch more than once, this is not a great flaw. And the landscape does shed light on the subject in many sequences.

There is some recapitulation, and a few sequences where pacing flags as we see Wood walking down a street approaching a museum, or climbing its steps. The summaries were necessary originally for viewers who joined the series late but could have been removed for the DVD release. But these, and the slow spots, are useful for the brain to catch its breath. This series covers a lot of ground.

The key to the subject is the poem of Homer: the Iliad. Wood tells us quite a bit about Homer. His name means the hostage, which brings many possibilities to mind, one of which is that he might have been a foreigner, not Greek. There seems to have been many who had a hand in the Iliad: Bronze Age bards who sang of the greatness of their patron's families, hymns celebrating founders and demi-gods, a seventh century poet who made a definitive version, scholars in the time of Pesistratos who collated differences in order to standardise the text and began the written tradition, and the scribes who passed down copies to the Renaissance period, when the text was first printed. How text can be preserved in an oral tradition is demonstrated by Wood in visits to Ireland and Turkey, where we see traditional tales of the length of the Iliad being performed. How reliable historical references are in such a tradition can of course not be demonstrated in Homer as there are no comparative sources. But Wood explains some of the techniques bards used to remember lengthy texts, epithets always associated with particular places and people, repeated phrases to describe, for instance, the sea or the dawn. Many scholars have commented on the exactness of scenic descriptions, as though Homer (or his sources) had been there at Troy. Wood interviews soldiers who argue that the portrait of the Greek soldiers is in accordance with their own experiences of men's behavior in war. He interviews a weapons specialist who has reconstructed the weapons Homer describes. Slowly and convincingly Wood builds a case that a war did take place at the traditional date, though as the whole purpose of the narrative tradition was to glorify the past and exaggerate the exploits of heroes, it is likely to have been on a smaller scale.

Wood has impressive success following Homer's epithets about places. He demonstrates that windy Troy is still very windy, that Thisbe of the pigeons still has many pigeons, that many of the lesser contingents in the war came from sites unoccupied since Bronze Age times and which today bear traces of Mycenean architecture.

Two of the most unlikely details of Homer's war Wood is not as successful in explaining. The first, that the war lasted ten years, he does not mention. Long wars, as distinct from a state of hostility between two powers with seasonal raiding parties and occasional battles, were beyond ancient logistics and economies. The Peloponnesian War, which was a long war, destroyed the entire Greek culture. A ten year siege in territory controlled by the Hittites, far more powerful than any Greek state, would definitely not be possible. The second unlikely detail is the wooden horse, which nobody has ever believed in. Wood speculates it was a metaphor for Poseidon, lord of earthquake, who often took the form of a herd of thundering horses. There is evidence that one city at Troy could have been destroyed by an earthquake (although in a later episode Wood questions this theory).

Wood traces the rise and fall of ancient Bronze Age powers: Minoan, Mycenean, Egyptian, Hittite, Assyrian, Babylon, and tries to make a case for Greece in the period being united under a loose federation. Famously in pre-classical and classical times Greece was not united: there was no 'Greece', and Wood doesn't get very far with the idea of a united Greece led by the overlord Agamemnon.

Troy and its war are not just the province of Homer. For us they are the creation as well of visionaries, pioneers of the science of archaeology, who dug on or near the site which today is recognised as the site of Troy: men such as Heinrich Schliemann, spade in one hand and a copy of Homer in the other. Wood surveys these archaeologists and their theories and discoveries. Wood also looks at the career of Sir Arthur Evans, though refraining from any examination of Minoan civilisation, merely commenting on later Mycenean occupation of Minoan sites.

Helen? Was she the lovliest woman who ever lived? The cause of the Trojan War? Love, Wood admits, leaves no trace in the archaeological record.

Wood's other series are well worth investigating. Almost as good as the Trojan War series is the one on Legacy, a survey of key civilisations east and west (though at six times the market price of Wood's other programs it is unlikely to find many buyers). In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great is a stunning journey through several war zones which gives a vivid impression of Alexander's great achievement. In search of Shakespeare is just about the best discussion available on Shakespeare in this form.

The REAL Troy...it's about time!.......2006-07-12

I remember this series on PBS in the mid-80's. Because of
the way PBS scheduled its programing, there were episodes
I viewed 3 or 4 time, and at least one I know I never saw.
That has now been corrected!

The one impression that I remember above all at the time
was that "Gee, could the Greeks really be the 'Baddies' in
this story?" Did Agamemnon really use the abduction of
Hellen as just an excuse to plunder Troy and deliberatly
infuriate the king of the Hittite Empire? After all, as we
have been taught in our Greco-Roman culture, weren't the
Greeks supposed to be the "Good Guys"...?!?

And what about the one facet that is only briefly touched
on during all of this...those piratical Sea Peoples. During
this very period, they were in jepordy of losing one of
their most valued holdings to the west, the land of Canaan,
to an upstart band of nomad tribes known as Israelites, and
their "Desert" God, Yahweh...hmmmm, what role did all this
have on the "dark age" soon to befall this region?

While at the time thought provocing, it is good to see that
many of Michael Wood's speculations and findings have been
proven correct over the past 20 years.

This series is well done by BBC standards, and has stood up
well to the test of time. And having it on DVD is perfect
for those (like me) who wish go back and recheck some point
that has been made.

If this series is NOT part of your collection...what ARE you
waiting for?!?!?

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