Report On Troy

“Communication Skills” TROY (Date of Submission: 14th January, 2009)

Submitted to: Miss Fareena Iqbal

Submitted By: Ahmad Ali Ansari

INSTITUTE OF SPACE TECHNOLOGY, ISLAMABAD

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Abstract The whole book is based upon an incredible war which occurred between Trojans and Greeks which led to a furious duel between Achilles, renowned for his chivalry and Hector, known as a symbol of victory in Troy. Attaining power has been the main goal of human beings in every epoch. Struggle for power led to many horrible battles as it happened in Troy, when Agamemnon attacked on Troy for power. Love is the element of heart and has firm grip on human’s heart. Love can’t be restricted by any force. One can fall in love without any distinction of race, nation or language. “Troy” is depicting this aspect when Helen, Queen of Sparta, fled with prince of Troy, Paris, without taking care of their lives. Everyone is paralyzed within the system and is compelled to follow it. He is bound to follow the customs and traditions of his society. Natural selection is an automatic process. It is such a process in which every aspect of life follows the culture not the aspects to be followed by it. And those who deny the culture are expelled from society and left behind in the race of life.

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Contents Page N

Contents Page No.

Introduction to Nick MacCarty………………………………………… 5

Introduction to Book……………………………………………………. 6

Summary………………………………………………………………….. 7-9

Core Themes……………….……………………………………………...10-13 4

Critical Analysis…………………………………………………………. 14

Conclusion……………………………………………………………….. 15

Bibliography……………………………………………………………… 16

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Introduction to Nick MacCarty Nick MacCarty is one of the famous writers in English Literature. His works have left deep imprints upon the sands of time. He has been professional writer since the age of 22. He had written mostly for television for which he was recognized. His written includes “The Regiment” for BBC TV, “Spearhead” for STV, “The Six Wives of Henry VII” etc. In addition with working for TV, he also worked for Radio and adopted many classics for Radio. He did his best in Radio for such an extent that he won The Sony Best Radio Adoption Award for “The Tale of Two Cities”. His other honours include The Golden Rose New York Best Production Award for “The Canterville Ghost” and The Pye Award for Best Children’s Television Drama. His Book includes Troy and Alexander The Great’s favorite book, a retelling of the illiad. Married with two children, Nick MacCarty partly lived in France and partly in Kew England.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK

TROY is written by Nick McCarty. It was published in December 2004 in Dubai where it got an average response. Later it was published in States and UK and here it got a good response. The appearance of the book is remarkably eye catching and jazzy. The writer has frequently used artistic depictions to accolade the content.

The theme of the book is based upon a very famous book ILIAD which was written in Latin by a great poet of history, Homer.

Writer has progressively discussed all the incidents of Trojan War and besides this he also describes brief history of Greek Mythology. He unveiled all the minor details of the war. He has also discussed the causes and after affects of the war. The whole content of the book reflects the firm command of writer on language as well as on the subject matter of the book.

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SUMMARY It is 1250 B.C. during the late Bronze Age. Agamemnon of Mycenae and his army are in Thessaly, Greece, looking to expand his military might and empire. His army prepares to engage in combat against a host of soldiers under the Thessalonian king, Triopas. Rather than suffer great losses, Triopas agrees to Agamemnon's proposal to settle the matter in the traditional way, through a decisive match between the heroes of the opposing armies. Achilles is summoned by Agamemnon. He easily killed the greatest and most accomplished warrior of Thessaly. In Sparta, Prince Hector and his young brother Paris negotiate an end to the war between the outlying kingdom of Troy and Sparta. On the last day of a weeklong peace festival, Paris manages to smuggle his love Helen back to Troy with him. Menelaus, Helen's husband, vows revenge on Paris. Meanwhile, Agamemnon the brother of Menelaus, who had for year’s harbored plans for conquering Troy, decides to use his brother's situation as an excuse to invade. He is advised by his general Nestor, to call upon Achilles to fight for the Greeks. This is in order to ensure they can rally enough troops to the cause. Agamemnon knows that with Troy under his control, he would have complete control over the Aegean. So they set off with 1,000 ships holding 50,000 Greeks to Troy.

The Greeks land at Troy and take control of the beach on the first day of the war. Achilles and the Myrmidons are able to kill many Trojans but also desecrate the Trojan’s temple “Apollo”, slaying the unarmed 8

priests that reside there. Briseis, a member of the Trojan royal family who has chosen to dedicate her life to service to the gods, is captured and taken as a prize by Achilles. However, he treats her with kindness, which makes her initially cautious. In the course of the battle within the temple, Achilles and Hector meet but do not fight. Hector is outnumbered but allowed to leave.

Achilles and his Myrmidons do not take part in the next day's open war, but watch the events from a distance, Achilles pacing back and forth in anger at Agamemnon's mistakes. With the Trojan army beneath the walls of Troy and the Greek army surrounding it, Paris, feeling guilt for having brought the threat of war upon Troy, challenges Menelaus to a duel to settle things. Menelaus agrees, knowing he is the better warrior. Agamemnon then decides he will attack afterwards anyway, regardless of the outcome. Paris, severely outmatched, is easily defeated. Terrified of dying, he crawls back to Hector's feet. Menelaus approaches and moves to finish Paris, but Hector steps in to protect his brother and kills Menelaus. A shocked and distraught, Agamemnon orders his army to charge on Trojans. The Greek army starts to lose, and at the pleas of Odysseus, Agamemnon withdraws the troops. The Trojans attack the Greek camp at dawn. As the Greeks appear to be on the verge of defeat, Achilles appears and the Myrmidons join the battle. He brings courage to the Greeks, and eventually fights man-toman against Hector, until his throat is cut. This energizes the Trojans and dismays the Greeks, until Hector pulls Achilles' helmet off and finds it is Patroclus, Achilles' cousin. A distraught Achilles leads the funeral ceremony, complete with funeral pyre, while a satisfied Agamemnon tells Odysseus "That boy just saved this war." The next day, Achilles approaches the gates of Troy and demands Hector come out and face him. Hector requests a pact that the loser be given proper funeral rights by the winner. They both fight bravely and arduously. Hector, though he is a great warrior in his own right, is outclassed by the enraged Achilles, who duly kills him. Achilles then ties Hector's body to the back of his chariot and drags it along the dirt. That 9

night, King Priam, aided by the dark, goes to the Greek army's camp to get Hector's body back. After an emotional and mortifying talk given to him by Priam, Achilles breaks down into tears near Hector's slain body. He lets Priam take Hector's body back, promising him that no Greek will attack them on the way back. Achilles lets Priam take Briseis back as well, and gives her the shell necklace Thetis made for him. During the 12 days that Troy mourns Hector's death, the Greeks plan to enter the city using a hollowed-out wooden horse, devised by Odysseus. The Greeks leave the horse at the location of their camp, then withdraw to the beach hiding in their ships behind a nearby island. Paris warns Priam about the horse and says they should burn it to the ground, but Priam neglects his warning, blinded by the priests' talk of the horse being a "peace offering by the Greeks" in order to appease the Sun-God Apollo for the desecration of his temple by Achilles earlier. Assuming victory, the Trojans take the horse into the city and celebrate. The Greeks attack while the Trojans celebrate, killing King Priam in the process. Achilles frantically searches for Briseis, who is at the shrine of Apollo being threatened by Agamemnon. She kills him with a concealed knife, and is saved by Achilles from being stabbed to death by Agamemnon's guards when he arrives. Paris manages to find Achilles and shoots an arrow that goes straight through Achilles’ heel. Crippled, he turns to face him but is hit in the chest by several more arrows, despite pleads from Briseis. Though he removes them, he is fatally wounded and unable to fight. As she cries, Achilles tells Briseis, "You gave me peace in a lifetime of war," and urges her to leave the city with Paris, though she initially refuses to. Tearfully, Briseis lets Paris pull her up and lead her up the steps as they run towards the secret passageway and leave Achilles there. After watching them leave, he collapses with the one arrow remaining in his heel. After a last disorganized and futile attempt by surviving Trojan soldiers to repel the invaders, the battle ends and the Greeks storm the inner palace only to find that Achilles has died just a few moments earlier. They perform the funeral rituals for him the next morning. Odysseus delivers the final words, "If they ever tell my story, let them say that I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die. Let them say that I lived in the time of Hector, tamer of horses. Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles...." 10

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Core Themes “War, Chivalry, Love, Compulsion in System” The whole book is based on war which occurred between Trojans and Greeks.

What is War & why was it occurred in Troy? War is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory. Gorges Clemenceau (1841 - 1929) The major causes of war are fame, wealth, woman and power. If we see the history, the most of wars were based on these factors. As Ulysses S. Grant (1822 - 1885) says:

The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.

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The war of Troy was based on the above mentioned factors. As the war of Troy began because of Helen, Queen of Sparta, who fled with prince of Troy Paris. Agamemnon’s brother Menelaus requested him for help in the war to get back his queen. Agamemnon agreed who wants power in Greece and see Troy as a stone in his way. As he said:

“Peace is for the women and the weak. Empires are forced by war”

In the meanwhile Achilles, a symbol of bravery and victory, also agreed to take part in War for fame and glory. So these were the factors of war on which the battle occurred between Troy and Sparta.

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War is a systematic mass killing. No one can get benefit in war. Everyone has to be subjected of stings and arrows of battle. The result of war is nothing but some charred bones are there in the battle fields.

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Chivalry and fame of Soldiers: Whenever war occurs, then the tales of gallant soldiers is written in golden words in history. In the same way, when the war occurred in Troy, the whole world saw the bravery of soldiers who laid down their lives for the sake of their nations. Among them Achilles and Hector were in the top of the list.

His life was gentle and the elements so mixed in him, That nature might stand up, and say to the entire world, “This was a man.” Shakespeare

Achilles: Achilles is the only mortal to experience consuming rage (menis). His anger is at some times wavering, at other times absolute. The humanization of Achilles by the events of the war is an important theme of the narrative.

Achilles was believed to be an embodiment of victory in Greece. Agamemnon, king of emerging Greece, hated him and considered him to be a threat for his government but he also wanted him in wars because of his gallantry and ability to win battles.

Cowards die many times before their deaths, The valiants never taste of death but once. Shakespeare 15

Achilles only fought for fame and glory and not for any emperor. As it is indicated in the book, when Agamemnon called him for a duel. It was an old custom that as an option, the fate of war can be decided by the duel of best warrior of the two conflicting armies. When Achilles won the duel and king of Thessaly wanted to give him Royal Scepter to give him his king, Achilles said:

“He is not my king.”

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His saying depicts that he only fought for himself or for the Greece. When his cousin Patroclus was killed by Hector by mistake, he went to fort of Troy alone to get his revenge. This act on his part reflects his gallantry.

Hector: Fame is vapour, popularity an accident, Riches take wings, one thing endures character

Hector, the prince of Troy, was an incarnation of chivalry. He was believed to be a symbol of victory for Troy. The most of the wars won by Trojans were just because of gallantry and wisdom of Hector.

Unlike Achilles he fought for his own nation. He had a deep vision in matter of wars and knew the tricks to be applied in war. He didn’t believe that their Gods were going to help them in battles but they had to fight themselves for their existence.

When Achilles came to the castle of Troy and challenged him to fight him, Hector went to fight him without any fear of death as Achilles was famous as death’s angel. This depicts his bravery.

Love, The element of heart: Love is a canvas furnished embroidered by imagination. 17

by

Nature

and

Love is the element of heart. It has firm grip on human’s heart. It is in the roots of human beings. It has no limits and no boundaries. Love can’t be restricted by any force. One can fall in love without any distinction of race, nation or language. It is such a passion that brings colour in human’s life.

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. “Robert Frost”

Paris and Helen: When Paris and Hector came in Sparta for a peace agreement, Paris fell in love with Queen Helen, regardless of the fact that a war can be occurred for this unpardonable act. Queen also fell in love with him as she doesn’t like Menelaus and she was compelled to marry him when she was only sixteen. When Paris met with Helen one day before his return to Troy, they decided to flee from Sparta. This was love which made them blind and they became the reason of war.

Achilles and Briseis: When war was going on, Princess of Troy Briseis was captured by Greeks at temple. They present her to Achilles to please him. No one knew that she was a princess. When Achilles saw her, he realized that she belongs to royal family because of her attitude. Inspite of the reality that she belongs to his rivals he fell in 18

love with her. Princess also began to love him. He gave protection and refuge to her during battle. And the reason of death of Achilles was also his love.

Compulsion in System: Everyone is paralyzed within the system and is compelled to follow it. He is bound to follow the customs and traditions of his society. Natural selection is an automatic process. It is such a process in which every aspect of life follows the culture not the aspects to be followed by it. And those who deny the culture are expelled from society and left behind in the race of life.

Sometimes a person has to do such involuntary actions in his life for the sake of his culture. As in Troy, Achilles and Hector fought with each other involuntarily. When Hector killed Patroclus, Achilles became furious and next day he challenged Hector. It was Hector’s choice to fight with him or not and he could also killed Achilles via his army but his culture compelled him to fight alone for the sake of his nation’s glory and his bravery.

Culture is recognition of a country. Everyone has to follow it. It has its own merits and demerits. It is culture which makes a nation prosperous but sometimes because of it nations fell in to the ebb of forfeitness.

Critical Analysis Before concluding we must take into account possible issues with the Trojan War topic. It is by far one of the most controversial events of our planet’s history made evident in the varying of information of each source. There exists an overload of opinion as everyone has a different perception, the facts are in the artifacts but the perspectives are created by the individual. 19

War due to the amount of veracity the recently investigated artifacts create. In conclusion taking into account all of the analysed sources and their credibility, the existence of a Trojan War seems very convincing. Perhaps in the early stages controversy would be understood but the evidence derived from the Hittite letters and Korfmann show that it is certain there was military tension in 1200 BC Turkey and this is what we know as the Trojan War. There is no question that a Trojan War took place, the real question that should be asked to those in disbelief is ‘why wouldn’t there have been?’

By Karlos Ishac

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CONCLUSION Love, urge for gaining fame and power were the basic reasons of war which occurred between Trojans and Greeks. Achilles plunged into war to earn distinction. Agamemnon showed aggression towards Trojans to achieve power. Hector fought for the sake of his nation and his glory and Menelaus to get back his queen. But the history in general and Trojan War in particular has proved that excessive use of power and weapons is not the criterion of winning in the battle fields. Because:

“Force is not a remedy” (John Bright) Significance of man power can’t be denied but brain power has its own importance.

“The best way of using force is to show it in order not to have to use it.” (Kofi Annan) And strategies are only effective if they are commanded by such sort of leader who is entirely fearless like Achilles or Hector. If we see around we will find many Achilles’, ambitious for seeking fame, Hectors’, who fights for others, Agamemnons’, who wants power and many more. But the matter of thinking is how we can polish them so that their abilities may result into the prosperous of humanity instead of destruction of nations.

“Despite those titles, power and pelf, The wretch concentrated all in self, 21

Living shall forfeit fair renown, And doubly dying shall go down, To the vile dust from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonour’d and unsung.”

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books: McCarty, Nick, Troy the myth and reality behind the epic legend, Lisa Moore, Carlton Publishing Group 2004

Homer, The Iliad, Peter Jones, Penguin Classics 2004

Article: Korfmann, Manfred, Was There a Trojan War? , 2004 by the Archaeological Institute of America, Volume 57 Number 3, May/June 2004

Internet Sources Archaeology.org, Is The Mask a Hoax? , http://www.archaeology.org/9907/etc/calder.html

Home.att.net, Warrior 2: Excavations at Troy, http://home.att.net/~a.a.major/troy.htm

mythindex.com, Agamemnon, Greek myth Index, http://www.mythindex.com/greek-mythology/A/Agamemnon.html ild.edu, Troy: 4000 year old Ancient City, http://www.iit.edu/~agunsal/truva/truva/truva.html uni-tuebingen.de, Project Troia, http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/troia/eng/info.html sitchin.com, Troy, http://www.sitchin.com/troy.htm

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geocities.com, Homer’s Iliad, and the city of Troy, http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/2471/Troy.html#Remains

nationalgeographic.com, Is Troy True? The evidence behind movie myth, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/05/0514_040514_troy.html

earthobservatory.nasa.gov, EO Newsroom: Ancient Troy, http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=4032

Stanford.edu, History of the Trojan War, http://www.stanford.edu/~plomio/history.html

mnsu.edu, Heinrich Schliemann- , http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/pqrst/schliemann_heinrich.html

hometown.aol.com, History- Epic History, http://hometown.aol.com/dynamisimmortal/history7.html

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