Foreword

The epic tale The Iliad is cloaked in uncertainty. Even the date of Homer's famous story is not certain. The best guess is 900-800BCE. The assumed date of the Trojan War is the 13th Century BCE, shortly before the fall of the Mycenaean city states which is approximately 1200 BCE. Because of this four and one half century gap, many professional historians have been ready to totally disregard the account, if only because of its use of the Greek Pantheon throughout the text, which they believe proves the piece fabricates a story of a siege of Troy separated from Homer's lifetime by a Dark Age in Greece that is currently the subject of some controversy. Whether the events described in The Iliad took place at Troy is outside the scope of this article'

Of one thing this writer is certain: Somewhere, at sometime,the Greeks fought in the manner described in The Iliad and it is with this that the following article is concerned. For the sake of clarity, the opponents of the Greeks will be referred to as Trojans, although equipment and tactics are based on the Greek military system.

The Sources

The majority of material in this text is drawn from the Penguin Classics version by E.V. Rieu and the Internet Classics Archive translation by Buckley. It has proved necessary to use two translations as some verse interpretations differ significantly in various editions.

Both translations fail to clearly index the verses of The Iliad. Therefore some verse numbers are only as close to the correct number as possible. Use is made of some archaeological finds and the Linear B texts, but a deliberate effort has been made to eschew the use of modern authors as far as possible.

The Narrative

The story begins in the tenth year of the siege of Troy with the falling out between the Greek's best fighting man, Achilles, and the leader of the expedition, Agamemnon, over a slave girl and concludes after their reconciliation following the death of the best Trojan leader, Hector. There is no doubt that the Greek expedition was a large one, which is carefully - almost painstakingly - described on several occasions by Homer. The abbreviated list of ships, surprisingly like those unearthed from the Linear B texts given in an abbreviated form below:

"Fifty ships, and in each there were a hundred and twenty young men of the Boetians. The people that dwelt in Aspledon and Orchomemiswith these came thirty ships- The Phoceans with their chieftains came forty ships. Of the Locrians who dwell beyond Euboea, of these there came fifty ships. The strong city of Athens fifty ships. Twelve ships from Salamis. The men of Ar os, Aegina and Mases; eighty ships. Those who held the strong city of Mycenae, rich Corinth and Cleonae; Omeae, Araethyrea, and Licyon, Hyperesia, high Gonoessa,and Pellene; Aegium and all the coast-land round about Helice; these sent a hundred ships Lacedaemon, Pharis, Sparta, with Messe Bryseae, Augeae, Amyclae, and Helos upon the sea; Laas, moreover, and Oetylus; sixty ships. Pylos and Arene, and Thryum where is the ford of the river Alpheus; strong Aipy, Cyparisseis, and Amphigenea; Pteleum, Helos, and Dorium. ninety ships. Arcadia of Rbipae, Stratie, and bleak Enispe; of Tegea and fair Mantinea; of Stymphelus and Parrhasia; sixty ships. The men, moreover, of Buprasium and of Elis, so much of it as is enclosed between Hyrmine, Myrsinusupon the seashore, the rock Olene and Alesium, forty ships. Dulichium with the sacred Echinean islands, who dwelt beyond the sea off Elis; forty ships. Ithaca, Neritum with its forests, Crocylea, rugged Aegilips, Samos and Zacynthus, with the mainland also that was over against the islands, twelve ships. Aetolians, who dwelt in Pleuron, Olerms, Pylene, Chalcis by the sea, and rocky Calydon, forty ships- The Cretans, who held Knossus, and the well-walled city of Gortys; Lyctus also, Miletus and Lycastus that lies upon the chalk; the populous towns of Phaestus and Rbytium, with the other peoples that dwelt in the hundred cities of Crete, eighty ships. Rhodes, nine ships. Three ships from Syme- Nisyrus, Crapatbus, and Casus, with Cos, the city of Eurypylus, and the Calydnian islands, thirty ships. Pelasgic Argos, Alos, Alope, and Tracbis; and those of Phthia and Hellas fifty ships, Phylace and Pyrasus forty ships. Pherae by the Boebean lake, with Boebe, Glaphyrae, and the populous city of lolcus, eleven ships. Methone and Thaumacia, with Meliboea and rugged Olizon, thirty ships. Ormenius, and by the fountain ofHypereia, with those that held Asterius, and the white crests of Titanus forty ships. Argissa and Gyrtone, Orthe, Elone, and the white city, forty ships. Cyphus, Dodona, twenty two ships. Magnetes forty ships." [Iliad, Book 11 - 526]

Each of these squadrons sailed and fought under a warrior leader and in many cases came as battle groups with their own chariots, spear men and supporting troops. There were exceptions to this rule in particular with one contingent: "From Methone and Tbaumacia, with Meliboea and rugged Olizon, these were led by the skilful archer Pbiloctetes, and they had seven ships, each with fifty oarsmen all of them good archers." [Iliad Book 2 - 687]

These 350 archers proved useful to the Greeks, but put their leader in danger since he could not rely on their protection in battle.

The number of men in each ship is not made clear although the Boetians brought 50 ships with 120 men in each or 6,000 men. If we consider the ships to contain 50 men on average we arrive at a total of 40,500 for the Greek array. This does not seem an unreasonable number for a Greek army supplied by sea. Non-combatants such as charioteers, grooms, and farriers would significantly reduce the number of fighting men. As a better example, the steersman on each ship was traditionally the ships guard and the steward of the ships stores and did not take part in a battle. Considering other stories of about the same period eg, Jason and his pirate ship Argos, a much larger number of the crew were fighting men than would be the case than during the later wars of the Classical Greek period.

Even if a proportion of 60% fighting me is allowed a quite reasonable figure of 24,300 fighting men is generated. Certainly this was no minor raiding party as is sometimes contemporary authors surmise.

"But the rest marched on, and the whole plain seemed to tremble beneath them as it does for Zeus the Thunderer in his anger..." [Iliad Book 11 - 640]

It was not a tradition to fortify landing sites unless the enemy was in strength, or the invading force had suffered setbacks. When they did so, the fortifications, though straightforward in construction, varied in effectiveness as shown in The Iliad. The construction of a camp is clearly attested. " Before the following dawn, when the night still struggled with the day, a detachment of Achaean troops gathered by the pyre and set to work. Over the pyre they made a single barrow with such material as the plain provided. Then starting from this They built a wall with high ramparts to protect the ships and themselves, fitting it with strong gates, so that chariots could pass in or out. Outside and parallel to the wall they dug a deep trench, and along this broad and ample ditch they planted a row of stakes." [Iliad Book VII - 460]

This text describes a fairly standard fortified camp. However, seems to have done little to hold off the Trojans as the story clearly points out later.

More Homer's Greeks in Battle

Foreword, Sources, and Narrative
The Infantry
The Chariots
The Equipment
Reconstructing the Battle Tactics
Wargaming with Homer's Greeks