When reconstructing the past, the archaeologist needs to take into account all kinds of relevant information. Where no written sources are available, the natural sciences play an indispensable role. Troia is a remarkable site in this respect. The present excavation project at Troia, under the directorship of Manfred Korfmann, integrates various disciplines including geoarchaeology, archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, anthropology, geophysical prospection as well as chemical and technological studies of metal, stone and pottery. Hardly any other archaeological project is supported so intensely and on such a broad scale by archaeometric investigations as the international research group in Troia. In April 2001 an International Symposium was held in Heidelberg, Germany, with the aim of promoting scientific discussion and providing synopses of the various disciplines engaged in Troia. This volume contains most of the contributions presented at the symposium. Due to its broad natural scientific as well as its cultural-historic scope, not only will the specialist but also the interested layman find the book rewarding.

The Greek Bronze Age, roughly 3000 to 1000 BCE, witnessed the flourishing of the Minoan and Mycenean civilizations, the earliest expansion of trade in the Aegean and wider Mediterranean Sea, the development of artistic techniques in a variety of media, and the evolution of early Greek religious practices and mythology. The period also witnessed a violent conflict in Asia Minor between warring peoples in the region, a conflict commonly believed to be the historical basis for Homer's Trojan War. The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean provides a detailed survey of these fascinating aspects of the period, and many others, in sixty-six newly commissioned articles. Divided into four sections, the handbook begins with Background and Definitions, which contains articles establishing the discipline in its historical, geographical, and chronological settings and in its relation to other disciplines. The second section, Chronology and Geography, contains articles examining the Bronze Age Aegean by chronological period (Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age). Each of the periods are further subdivided geographically, so that individual articles are concerned with Mainland Greece during the Early Bronze Age, Crete during the Early Bronze Age, the Cycladic Islands during the Early Bronze Age, and the same for the Middle Bronze Age, followed by the Late Bronze Age. The third section, Thematic and Specific Topics, includes articles examining thematic topics that cannot be done justice in a strictly chronological/geographical treatment, including religion, state and society, trade, warfare, pottery, writing, and burial customs, as well as specific events, such as the eruption of Santorini and the Trojan War. The fourth section, Specific Sites and Areas, contains articles examining the most important regions and sites in the Bronze Age Aegean, including Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos, Knossos, Kommos, Rhodes, the northern Aegean, and the Uluburun shipwreck, as well as adjacent areas such as the Levant, Egypt, and the western Mediterranean. Containing new work by an international team of experts, The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean represents the most comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date single-volume survey of the field. It will be indispensable for scholars and advanced students alike.

An overview of all excavations that have been conducted at Troy, from the nineteenth century through the latest discoveries between 1988 and the present.

This title provides comprehensive overviews on archaeological philological, linguistic, and historical issues at the forefront of Anatolian scholarship in the 21st century.

It is my pleasure to welcome you here on the occasion of the International Symposium, "Landscape Troia between Earth History and Culture". The topic Troia has stimulated many scientists, historians and experts in the history of arts to interpret data and adjust concepts regarding the de velopment of early Troia. In the past two decades the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities has supported several research activities which are related to the Troia project. One of the aims of the archaeometry laboratory is to localize Aegean and Anatolian sources for the procurement of prehistoric metals such as gold, silver, lead, copper and tin. In particular in the Troad, numerous mining and smelting sites have been found and characterized, allowing one to investigate to which extent they might have been exploited by the acient Troians. When analytically comparing ores and slags with Troian metal artifacts, early trade connections can be traced. The landscape around Troia underwent rather fast and drastic changes.

In ancient times, the series of waterways now known as the Turkish Straits, comprising the Dardanelles (or Hellespont), Sea of Marmara and the Bosporus, formed both a divide and a bridge between Europe and Asia. Its western and eastern entrances were guarded, at different times, by two of the most fabled cities of all time: respectively Troy (in Asia) and Byzantion (or Byzantium, on the European coast). The narrow crossing points at the Hellespont and Bosporus were strategically important invasion routes while the waters themselves were vital routes of travel and commerce, particularly the supply of grain from the hinterland of the Black Sea to the Greek cities. This made them sought after prizes and sources of friction between successive empires, Persians, Macedonians and Romans among them, and ensured they were associated with some of the great names of history, from Odysseus to Xerxes, Alexander to Constantine the Great. John D Grainger relates the fascinating history of this pivotal region from the Trojan War to Byzantion’s refounding as the new capital of the Roman Empire. Renamed Constantinople it dominated the straits for a thousand years.

Carl Blegen is the most famous American archaeologist ever to work in Greece, and no American has ever had a greater impact on Greek archaeology. Yet Blegen, unlike several others of his generation, has found no biographer. In part, the explanation for this must lie in the fact that his life was so multifaceted: not only was he instrumental in creating the field of Aegean prehistory, but Blegen, his wife, and their best friends, the Hills ("the family"), were also significant forces in the social and intellectual community of Athens. Authors who have contributed to this book have each researched one aspect of Blegen's life, drawing on copious documentation in the United States, England, and Greece. The result is a biography that sets Blegen and his closest colleagues in the social and academic milieu that gave rise to the discipline of classical archaeology in Greece.

Homer the Preclassic considers the development of the Homeric poems-in particular the Iliad and Odyssey-during the time when they were still part of the oral tradition. Gregory Nagy traces the evolution of rival “Homers” and the different versions of Homeric poetry in this pretextual period, reconstructed over a time frame extending back from the sixth century BCE to the Bronze Age. Accurate in their linguistic detail and surprising in their implications, Nagy's insights conjure the Greeks' nostalgia for the imagined “epic space” of Troy and for the resonances and distortions this mythic past provided to the various Greek constituencies for whom the Homeric poems were so central and definitive.

High King Agamemnon lusts to conquer the wealthy city of Troy. He leads his army across the sea, fighting all the way. On the island of Tenedos, just off the coast of Troy, Achilles leads the attack. Spears fly and men die. When the dust settles, Achilles finds himself one step closer to his tragic fate. Meanwhile, the Trojans prepare their defenses and gather allies. Agamemnon's offer of a peace embassy to King Priam reassures few. War appears inevitable. Even Helen dreads to face what lies ahead for her and everyone she loves or once loved. Collects AGE OF BRONZE #20-26 the award-winning (Eisners 2001 and 2003, Gran Guinigi 2006) retelling of the Trojan War.