Trojan War

Did the Trojan War really happen?

Spectacular new archaeological evidence suggests that it did. Recent excavations and newly translated Hittite texts reveal that Troy was a large, wealthy city allied with the Hittite Empire. Located at the strategic entrance to the Dardanelles, the link between the Aegean and Black Sea, it was a tempting target for marauding Greeks, the Vikings of the Bronze Age. The Trojan War may have been the inevitable consequence of expanding Greek maritime commerce.

Written by a leading expert on ancient military history, the true story of the most famous battle in history is every bit as compelling as Homer's epic account - and confirms many of its details. In The Trojan War, master storyteller Barry Strauss puts legend into its historical context, without losing its poetry and grandeur.



Imaginative, sympathetic and plausible -- Bettany Hughes

An exciting tale written in a lively style that brings Homer's heroes and the world in which they lived to vibrant and colourful life -- Donald Kagan

Strauss's brilliant interweaving of the mythic and the modern archaeological records makes for exhilarating [...] reading ― The Scotsman

Consumed in one of those burning-the-midnight-oil situations... I really enjoyed it -- Michael Wood

A military epic of the first order, weaving together fact and fiction in a beguiling tapestry of blood, guts, gore - and terrible feminine beauty -- Paul Cartledge, professor of Greek History, Cambridge University