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The Hollywood movie Troy is a great action drama, but the historic accuracy could be questioned. This essay will assess how much of Troy and its source is factual. It will be suggested that Troy and the Iliad was part legend and part historical. This essay will examine the source of Troy, the Iliad and the facts behind the story. A variety of evidence from archaeologists will be presented to support this essay. To begin, this essay will examine the story of Troy and the Iliad.

In the movie Troy and in its source, the Iliad written and portrayed by homer, there are three powerful states, Troy Greece and Sparta. The story begins with the Prince of Troy, Paris seducing the Queen of Sparta, Helena, and the King of Sparta, Menelous becomes enraged, so he asks his brother, the King of Greece, Agememnon to help him. The Agememnon sees this as an opportunity to control Troy and obliges. They gather their allies and send thousands of fleets to Troy. The Trojan War in the movie lasts several weeks in the movie and a decade in the book. The Trojans are defeated when the Greeks send a horse filled with men and Troy accepts it in its gates, and the Greeks successfully invade Troy, burning it down in flames. The story of the Iliad takes place in 1194 B.C – 1184 B.C and was written in 760B.C – 710B.C.

The Troy of which all of this was based on, did exist. It is located in the northwestern corner of Turkey, and was excavated by an archaeologist named Heinrich Scliemann in 1868. Troy is separated into 9 layers, with each one going further back in time, and layer 7 is the one depicted in the movie and the books. The walls that were built around Troy were shown to be strong, so it could have withstood siege for a long time. During later excav...

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...roy's walls and weakened their

defense. Around 1200 B.C, a string of massive earthquakes struck the Eastern Mediterranean striking cities down one by own over 50 years. Another explanation of the Trojan Horse were the siege machines that were named after animals. However the possibility of a wooden horse with men in it being accepted as a gift are extremely low.

To conclude, Troy and the Iliad was part factual and was part myth and legend. The evidence presented did prove that story did have some historical basis. Firstly, it was established that the city of Troy was real and located in the northwestern corner of Turkey. Next, it was identified that the city of Troy was large and had good defense. Thirdly, it is shown that there was a conflict between the Mycenaeans, a powerful state in Greece. Lastly, it is proven that Troy did lose and was burnt down in flames.

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