Trojan War in popular culture

Trojan War

Achilles tending the wounded Patroclus (Attic red-figure kylix, ca. 500 BC)

The war Setting: Troy (modern Hisarlik, Turkey) Period: Bronze Age Traditional dating: ca. 1194–1184 BC Outcome: Greek victory, destruction of Troy See also: Historicity of the Iliad

Literary sources Iliad · Epic Cycle · Aeneid, Book 2 · Iphigenia in Aulis · Philoctetes · Ajax · The Trojan Women · Posthomerica See also: Trojan War in popular culture

Episodes Wedding of Peleus and Thetis · Judgement of Paris · Seduction of Helen · Trojan Horse · Sack of Troy · The Returns · Wanderings of Odysseus · Aeneas and the Founding of Rome

Greeks and allies Agamemnon · Achilles · Helen · Menelaus · Nestor · Odysseus · Ajax · Diomedes · Patroclus · Thersites · Achaeans · Myrmidons See also: Catalogue of Ships

Trojans and allies King Priam · Queen Hecuba · Hector · Paris · Cassandra · Andromache · Aeneas · Memnon  · Troilus · Penthesilea and the Amazons See also: Trojan Battle Order

Related topics Homeric question · Archaeology of Troy · Mycenae · Bronze Age warfare

There is a wide range of ways in which people have represented the Trojan War in popular culture.

Contents 1 Art 1.1 Painting 1.2 Pottery 1.3 Sculpture 2 Literature 2.1 Classical 2.1.1 Greek 2.1.2 Latin 2.2 Medieval 2.3 Modern 3 Music 4 Film 5 Opera 6 Television and Radio 7 Comics and graphic novels 8 Videogames

Art

Painting

The pre-war episodes of Leda and the Swan and the Judgement of Paris were frequent subjects in art from the Renaissance onwards.

• Laocoön, c.1610-1614, a painting by El Greco. from the The National Gallery of Art

• Helen of Troy by Evelyn de Morgan

Pottery

Innumerable ancient items, including:

• the Mykonos vase, pottery depiction of the Trojan war and horse
• certain bands of the François Vase

Sculpture

• the Medici Vase
• Laocoön and his Sons

Literature

Classical

Greek

• the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer
• the Epic Cycle:
  • the Kypria, attributed to Stasinos of Cyprus
  • the Aithiopis
  • the Little Iliad
  • the Iliou Persis ("Sack of Troy")
  • the Nostoi ("Returns")
• several poems by Stesichorus, Alcaeus, and Sappho
• numerous plays, mostly tragedies of which the extant ones are:
  • by Aeschylus:
    • Agamemnon
    • Libation Bearers
  • by Sophocles:
    • Ajax
    • Philoctetes
    • Electra
  • by Euripides:
    • Iphigenia at Aulis
    • Trojan Women
    • Hecuba
    • Andromache
    • Helen
    • Electra
    • Orestes
    • Iphigenia in Tauris
    • Cyclops
  • author unknown:
    • Rhesus
• the Capture of Troy by Triphiodorus
• the Posthomerica by Quintus of Smyrna (4th century AD)

Latin

• the Aeneid by Virgil (book 2)
• the Metamorphoses by Ovid (books 12-14)
• the Heroides By Ovid (I, III, V, VII)
• the Double Heroides By Ovid (XVI & XVII)
• the Ephemeris, purporting to be by Dictys of Crete
• the Fall of Troy, purporting to be by Dares of Phrygia
• the Achilleis by Statius

Medieval

• Roman de Troie by Benoît de Sainte-Maure (ca. 1160), derived from Dictys and Dares.
• De bello Troiano by Joseph of Exeter (1183-4)
• Historiae destructionis Troiae by Guido delle Colonne (1287), derived from Benoît.
• Il filostrato by Boccaccio, derived from Benoît and Colonne.
• "Troilus and Criseyde" by Geoffrey Chaucer, a poem in rhyme royal telling a tragic love story set during the war, derived from the above works.
• The Rawlinson Excidium Troie
• The Seege of Troye a Middle English poem based on "Dares" and Benoît.
• The Laud Troy Book another Middle English poem written about 1400.
• Troy Book by John Lydgate Middle English poem composed 1412-20.

In reality the Trojan War is little known except via Homer, and had little or no effect on the history of the Middle East (but Troy and Ilion are mentioned in passing in Hittite records and there is a theory connecting the aftermath of the Trojan War with the Sea people). But medieval European writers (for example Snorri Sturluson) trying to reconstruct world history sometimes treated Homer and the Aeneid as true records and the Trojan War as the great epoch-dividing battle of the age with widespread effects across Europe.

Modern

• Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, published in 1474, the first printed book to be published in English, containing Caxton's translation of Raoul le Fevre's work, in turn derived from Guido and, ultimately, Benoît.
• Troilus and Cressida, William Shakespeare's dark interpretation of Chaucer's story, derived from Caxton's Recuyell.
• Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, written circa 1590, features Helen of Troy.
• Penthesilea play by Heinrich von Kleist, 1808.
• Faust, Part 2 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published in 1832 features Helen of Troy.
• The Trojan War Will Not Take Place, play by Jean Giraudoux, written in 1935.
• Paris of Troy by George Baker, published in 1947.
• Kassandra by Christa Wolf, published in 1983.
• The Greek Generals Talk (1986) and The Trojan Generals Talk collections of short stories by Phillip Parotti.
• Cassandra: Princess of Troy by Hilary Bailey published in 1993.
• Women of Destiny: A Story of the Trojan War by Clemence McLaren published in 1996.
• The Song of Troy by Colleen McCullough published in 1998.
• Achilles by Elizabeth Cook published in 2002.
• The Siege of Troy by Greg Tobin published in 2004.
• The Talisman of Troy: A Novel by Valerio Massimo Manfredi published in 2004.
• Lindsay Clarke's Troy series:
  • The War at Troy, published in 2004.
  • Return from Troy, published in 2005.
• David Gemmell's Troy Series:
  • Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow, published in 2005.
  • Troy: Shield of Thunder, published in 2006.
  • Troy: Fall of Kings, unpublished at the time of his death - due September 2007
• Gene by Stel Pavlou, published in 2005, is the story of a soldier from the Trojan War reincarnated seven times through history.
• The Memoirs of Helen of Troy by Amanda Elyot published in 2005.
• Ilium by Dan Simmons, published in 2003, gives the story of Troy a science fiction twist.
• Several poems by William Butler Yeats make reference to the Trojan War or Troy in the context of the Trojan War.
  • No Second Troy, published in 1910
  • A Man Young and Old VI, published in 1928
  • Leda and the swan, published in 1928
• Helen of Troy by Margaret George, published in 2006.

Music

• "And Then There Was Silence" by Blind Guardian, an epic 14 minute song picturing the last part of the Trojan War through Cassandra's eyes.
• "I Stole a Bride" by Hefner

Film

• Helen of Troy (1956), featuring Stanley Baker as Achilles.
• La Guerra di Troia (1961), by Giorgio Ferroni.
• Doctor Faustus (1967 film), by Richard Burton and Nevill Coghill, stars Elizabeth Taylor as Helen of Troy and Richard Burton as Doctor Faustus.
• Troy, by Wolfgang Petersen, starring Brad Pitt as Achilles, Sean Bean as Odysseus, Eric Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris, and Diane Kruger as Helen; released in 2004.

Opera

• Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria by Claudio Monteverdi, composed in 1641, after Homer.
• Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell, composed 1688, after Virgil.
• Les Troyens by Hector Berlioz, composed 1856-8 after Virgil.
• Achilles by John Gay, composed in 1733
• La belle Hélène by Jacques Offenbach composed in 1864
• Troilus and Cressida by William Walton composed 1947-1954 after Chaucer.
• King Priam by Michael Tippett, composed 1958-61 after Homer.

Television and Radio

• "The Myth Makers", a 1965 Doctor Who serial, depicted the last days of the war satirically.
• Time Commanders, a BBC television programme about ancient battle strategy, fought out the battle of Troy in one episode.
• Troy a trilogy of radio plays, starring Paul Scofield, first broadcast in 1998
• Helen of Troy (2003), a miniseries starring Rufus Sewell as Agamemnon and Sienna Guillory as Helen.

Comics and graphic novels

• Age of Bronze an ongoing series by writer and artist Eric Shanower, published by Image Comics.
  • Age of Bronze volume 1: A Thousand Ships (2001), in collecting issues #1 - 9. ISBN 978-1582402000.
  • Age of Bronze volume 2: Sacrifice (2005), collecting issues #10 - 19. ISBN 978-1582403991.
  • Age of Bronze volume 3: Betrayal, Part One (2007). ISBN 978-1582407555.

• Marvel Illustrated
  • The Iliad (2008) (Hardcover), ISBN 978-0785123835, collecting issues #1 - 8, adapted by Roy Thomas and Miguel Angel Sepulveda from the epic poem.
  • The Odyssey (2009) (Hardcover), ISBN 978-0785119081, collecting issues #1 - 8, adapted by Roy Thomas and Greg Tocchini from the epic poem.
  • The Trojan War (2009) (Hardcover), ISBN 978-0785138624, collecting issues #1 - 5, adapted by Roy Thomas and Miguel Angel Sepulveda based on Epic Cycle and other ancient sources.

Videogames

• Battle for Troy a 3D strategy game by ValuSoft and Zono Inc. released in 2004.
• Gates of Troy a turn based strategy expansion for the game Spartan, by Matrix Games and Slitherine Soft, released in 2004.
• The Trojan War appears a scenario in the Greek campaign for the RTS computer game Empire Earth.
• Age of Mythology, an RTS game by Ensemble Studios and Microsoft released in 2002, in which several missions deal with the capture of Troy.
• "Troy: Total War", a modification for Rome: Total War that takes place in the Trojan War.