Monday, May 17, 2004
Troy and other issues!!!
I saw Troy. It was OK but I didn't think that it was a great movie. Certainly not so good that I buy it. I am upset with all these directors in Hollywood! I liked the story of the Iliad (from which Troy is taken)and the Odyssey very much ever since I was 10-11. I remember that in my 5th grade of elemenry school, I received a book for my birthday present. The book was called "History of the world for little children". This roughly 500-page book had very nice illustrations and was one of the most amazing books I ever read in my life. It certainly was my inspiration to go and learn more about history ever after in my life.
So it is how I learned about Homer the great Greek poet that lived (?)800 B.C. It is not known whether the Trojan war really took place or not but the greatness of this war all comes from the great work of Homer. Now obviously I have not read the Greek version of the book. I have only read story versions of it (the original form is a poem).
Who is Homer? No one knows. Even the ancient Greeks were not able to agree about when and where Homer lived. One popular account was that he was born some time in the 8th century BC in Smyrna in Asia Minor, lived on the island of Chios, and died on the small island of Ios. Greek writers also claimed that he was blind, that his real name was Melesigines, and that his father was the river Meles and his mother a nymph named Kretheis.
Though they could not agree about the details of his life, ancient Greeks did not doubt that there was a poet named Homer who had written the Iliad, the Odyssey, and possibly a number of other poems. Many modern scholars dispute even this. Scholars in the last two hundred years have established that the Iliad and Odyssey are products of a long oral tradition which became fixed sometime in the eighth century BC. How exactly the poems took their final shape (Was it the work of one person or several? Did the process involve writing?) is still a matter of speculation.
The story is like this:
The young prince of Troy visits Menaleus, the King of Sparta, and falls in love with his wife Helena who is supposed to be the most beautiful woman in the world. They run away together to Troy. (you can check it out on the map below!!!)
It takes two years for Menaleus to go to Troy and ask for his wife back. He gathers an army of 10000 ships and 100000 soldiers. Many of the kings of Greece helped him including Agamemnon his brother who was "the king of the kings" and had conquered a number of the Greek states to make one big country.
They go to Troy. Troy was prepared for the war as they anticipated it happen. Agamemnon surrounds the city for 9 years. But Troy had very high walls arround it and enough food so they could survive for a long time. Meanwhile Achilles, the greatest warrior of all times, was asked to join the Greek in the war on Troy. He refuses because of some dispute over a slave girl that Agamemnon took from him in the war. However, his best friend gets killed in the war by Hector the elder prince of Troy who was a very wise and powerful warrior. Achilles kills hector in the battel for revenge and drags his body along the walls of Troy.
To pass through the walls of Troy the Greek make a big horse (I think it was Achilles' idea, I am not sure though) and 100 of the best greek warriors hide in the horse. The rest of the army evacuate the city surroundings and hide somewhere close. The Trojans think that he enemy has fled and take the horse inside as the treasure of the was and for their God Apolo. At night the Greek soldiers come out and open the gates. In the morning all the Trojans were killed and the whole city was ruined. Achilles died of a poisonous arrow in his anlke and Helena returned to her husband.
Now the way Holliwood has made this great epic story happen, is to mix love affairs with the story every 10 minutes!!! The love affairs do not fit in the context of the story. Achilles is depicted like a terrorist who is just thinking of killing people. The was seems to take place only in 13 days as oppose to the nine years in reality. And in the end, Menaleus (the husband) gets killed and Helena is free to go with his lover, prince Paris.
I think it was an OK movie but I don't like to see an epic story of my country being filmed this way!!!
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So it is how I learned about Homer the great Greek poet that lived (?)800 B.C. It is not known whether the Trojan war really took place or not but the greatness of this war all comes from the great work of Homer. Now obviously I have not read the Greek version of the book. I have only read story versions of it (the original form is a poem).
Who is Homer? No one knows. Even the ancient Greeks were not able to agree about when and where Homer lived. One popular account was that he was born some time in the 8th century BC in Smyrna in Asia Minor, lived on the island of Chios, and died on the small island of Ios. Greek writers also claimed that he was blind, that his real name was Melesigines, and that his father was the river Meles and his mother a nymph named Kretheis.
Though they could not agree about the details of his life, ancient Greeks did not doubt that there was a poet named Homer who had written the Iliad, the Odyssey, and possibly a number of other poems. Many modern scholars dispute even this. Scholars in the last two hundred years have established that the Iliad and Odyssey are products of a long oral tradition which became fixed sometime in the eighth century BC. How exactly the poems took their final shape (Was it the work of one person or several? Did the process involve writing?) is still a matter of speculation.
The story is like this:
The young prince of Troy visits Menaleus, the King of Sparta, and falls in love with his wife Helena who is supposed to be the most beautiful woman in the world. They run away together to Troy. (you can check it out on the map below!!!)
It takes two years for Menaleus to go to Troy and ask for his wife back. He gathers an army of 10000 ships and 100000 soldiers. Many of the kings of Greece helped him including Agamemnon his brother who was "the king of the kings" and had conquered a number of the Greek states to make one big country.
They go to Troy. Troy was prepared for the war as they anticipated it happen. Agamemnon surrounds the city for 9 years. But Troy had very high walls arround it and enough food so they could survive for a long time. Meanwhile Achilles, the greatest warrior of all times, was asked to join the Greek in the war on Troy. He refuses because of some dispute over a slave girl that Agamemnon took from him in the war. However, his best friend gets killed in the war by Hector the elder prince of Troy who was a very wise and powerful warrior. Achilles kills hector in the battel for revenge and drags his body along the walls of Troy.
To pass through the walls of Troy the Greek make a big horse (I think it was Achilles' idea, I am not sure though) and 100 of the best greek warriors hide in the horse. The rest of the army evacuate the city surroundings and hide somewhere close. The Trojans think that he enemy has fled and take the horse inside as the treasure of the was and for their God Apolo. At night the Greek soldiers come out and open the gates. In the morning all the Trojans were killed and the whole city was ruined. Achilles died of a poisonous arrow in his anlke and Helena returned to her husband.
Now the way Holliwood has made this great epic story happen, is to mix love affairs with the story every 10 minutes!!! The love affairs do not fit in the context of the story. Achilles is depicted like a terrorist who is just thinking of killing people. The was seems to take place only in 13 days as oppose to the nine years in reality. And in the end, Menaleus (the husband) gets killed and Helena is free to go with his lover, prince Paris.
I think it was an OK movie but I don't like to see an epic story of my country being filmed this way!!!
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