Introduction

In the introduction of Barry Strauss' book on the Trojan War, he points to the archaeological evidence supporting Schliemann. Troy was an Anatolian city, not a Greek one, with a language related to Troy's allies' language, Hittite. The Greeks were like Vikings or pirates. The Trojans, horsemen, were like used-car salesmen. Their rise to prominence was based on the geographic location of windy Troy at the entrance of the Dardanelles and its amenities like animal-filled woods, grain, pastures, abundant fresh water, and fish. The Trojan War was fought between Troy and its allies against a coalition of Greeks. There may have been as many as 100,000 men in each army and more than a thousand ships. Strauss sets out to show that much of what we knew is wrong: The war was not decided by a series of duels -- it was more like the war on terror, Troy actually could have withstood the assault -- "the Greeks were underdogs," and the Trojan Horse could have been real -- or at any rate, all it could have taken to win in the end was a trick.