트로이 전쟁－전승과 증거 사이

Abstract

Most of the scholars regard the Trojan War of Homeric poems was originated from the war(s) really happened sometime in the late Bronze Age. In this article I examined which city of Troy was related with the Trojan War tradition, and attempted to find out the possible clues to support the historicity of the War. By this time, no evidence of the Trojan War Homer tells in his epic was found, in spite of the thorough excavations by Schliemann, Dörpfeld, Blegen and recently Korfmann. Now it would be more rewarding to approach to the historicity of the Trojan War in a different way. than to ask whether Homeric epic reflect the real war(s) or not. We can ascertain some basic geo-political informations from the Homeric tradition as facts through the Hittite texts. Troy was Wilus(iy)a in the Bronze Age, indeed it is modern Turkish Hisarlik. Ahhiyawa was Hittite way of writing of Achaia that is Homeric term for the Bronze Age Greece which we call Mycenae. Homeric tradition on Trojan War conveys truth in its basic setting. However, the difference between literary evidence and tradition is far greater than their accordance. For example, Hittite do not appear in the Homeric poems. The Catalogue of Trojan Allies(Iliad, book 2) does not reflect the geo-political situation of western Anatolia in Late Bronze Age. Though many of the Homeric descriptions on the topographical features and certain place such as aqueduct around the citadel wall were turned to be true or seem to be real, such a cases do not prove that the Trojan War was evolved from the real war(s) in the Late Bronze Age. Can we identify the historicity of the Trojan War through the analysis of both archaeological data and the Hittite tablets? The answer for this question is not be positive at all. Either way of answer is liable to invite an objection. We can infer the frequent hostilities between Hittite and Ahhiyawa from the Hittite texts, but no indication of long-time war and eventual capture of Troy by Ahhiyawa. The date of VIh’s destruction(in the middle of the 13th century BC) and the geo-political situation in general may well support the possibility of the attack on the Troy by Ahhiyawa, but most of the scholars accept the idea that Troy VIh was destroyed by strong earthquake, not attack from outside. One theory which combine two possible causes of destruction, that is, Ahhiyawa, who is waiting for a chance, attacked the well-built citadel fatally weakened by the earthquake is probable scenario but without any definite evidence. There is no mention in Homer about neither earthquake nor Hittite. And the archaeological evidence that the people came back into the citadel soon after the destruction to rebuild the city is not consistent with the poet’s story that the city was burned and deserted. Troy VIIa seems definitely to be destroyed by an enemy attack. Archaeologists found out evidence of the man-made destruction accompanied by the great conflagration. But the date of the event falls in the period of the confusion and collapse of the major Mycenaean centers. It seems unlikely that the palace-centers which undergo general destruction and desertion could organize large expeditionary forces for Troy. However, refuges escaped from the collapse of Mycenaean centers might well form groups of attackers and plundered the Troy which was well known for its wealth. They need not cope with the Hittite which was already collapsed or under way of disintegration. Those attackers might have been related with the “Sea Peoples”, and Troy was not the only city sacked by them. In that case there is no point if only Troy and not others should become the setting of the legend. As for the attacks by the plunders of various origin, Troy VIIb2 may have fallen victim to them and it accords better with the epic tradition of Trojan War. It was destroyed by an enemy attack and deserted as told in the poem. Each of the destruction of Troy VI, VIIa, VIIb2 might have contributed to the evolution of epic tradition. Memories of those events were filtered down into a story of the Trojan War. If the epic traditions go back to the Mycenaean Bronze Age as some scholars argue, the tradition of Trojan War might have originated not one war but several wars which are suggested in Hittite texts.