What Do I Read Next?
- The Odyssey, another epic poem attributed to Homer, was likely written after the Iliad. It recounts the 10-year journey of Odysseus as he attempts to return home following the Trojan War, detailing the events in his absence from Ithaca.
- Edith Hamilton’s Mythology (Mentor, 1942) serves as an excellent and enjoyable introduction to Greek and Roman mythology, including a section on the Trojan War. Although her coverage of Norse myths is somewhat brief, it remains interesting and engaging.
- The Aeneid by Vergil (70-19 BC) is a Latin epic poem that narrates the travels of Aeneas and his group of Trojan and allied refugees after the fall of Troy. Their journey includes many stops (including a visit to the underworld) before they finally settle in Italy, near the future site of Rome.
- The Oresteia is a trilogy of tragic plays (Agamemnon, Choephori (The Libation-Bearers), and Eumenides) by Aeschylus (525-456 BC), first performed in Athens in 458 BC. The plays depict the events surrounding Agamemnon's return home after the Trojan War and the ensuing turmoil in his household.
- Both Sophocles (496-406 BC) and Euripides (ca. 480-406 BC) wrote tragedies based on Trojan War myths. Excellent translations are available in The Complete Greek Tragedies, edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore for the University of Chicago Press. Sophocles' relevant plays, Ajax and Philoctetes (produced in 409 BC), can be found in the second volume of his works in the Grene/Lattimore series.
- Euripides wrote at least seven plays featuring characters or events from the Trojan War. Volume II of his plays in the Grene/Lattimore series includes Helen (412 BC) and the undated Iphigeneia in Tauris. Volume III contains The Trojan Women (415 BC) and two undated plays, Andromache and Hecuba. Volume IV features Orestes (408 BC) and the posthumously produced Iphigeneia at Aulis (405 BC), which may include contributions from Euripides’s son.
- For modern fictional takes on the Trojan War, consider Marion Zimmer Bradley’s 1987 novel Firebrand, which tells the story from Cassandra's perspective, Priam’s ill-fated prophetic daughter. Additionally, British author Rex Warner’s 1996 book Greeks and Trojans is primarily based on the Iliad.
- Michael Wood’s In Search of the Trojan War (1986), a companion to the 1985 BBC television series, provides an excellent overview of the history and controversies surrounding the Trojan War as depicted in Homer’s work and other sources.
- David A. Traill’s Schliemann of Troy: Treasure and Deceit (1995) is a recent critical biography of the German businessman and archaeologist who discovered and excavated the sites of Troy, Mycenae, and Tiryns, among others.
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