History and archaeology fascinate me, though I have no professional background in either field. Most recently, I have been reading the works of Homer and learning more about ancient Greece. This week, I encountered some speculation that I had never heard before and it seemed to be a worthy subject for a post. However, it wasn’t enough for a full post, so I decided to write about three separate things I've learned lately about the ancient world. These brief snippets take us from Ancient Greece to Ancient Rome to pre-colonial Mexico.
No Trojan Horse?
The Trojan horse is such an important myth and metaphor that I was surprised to learn it may never have existed. The popular story is that the Greeks built a giant wooden horse and left it for the Trojans to take into their city after the Greeks had abandoned the battlefield where it sat. Hidden inside the wooden horse were elite soldiers. So once it was taken into the city (as an offering for a goddess, perhaps), the soldiers crept out at night and opened the gates so the Greek army could take Troy, a walled city which had been impenetrable to them.
Wooden horse. Creative Commons via Wikimedia by Tevfik Teker.
History relies on people recording their observations. It turns out that some accounts of a Trojan horse filled with soldiers came later from oral historians, while the earlier accounts (which should be more reliable) used words that could be interpreted to describe a different wooden structure. It may have been a siege tower, which was used to make a breach in the walls of the city of Troy after the Greeks had battled outside it for years.
A siege tower would have brought the Greeks closer to the top of the walls, making it easier to clear defenders from the fighting platform. A battering ram could have been used on the gate. The term “hippos” (meaning horse) also had other potential applications and symbolic meanings. One interpretation suggests the Trojan horse could have been a ship or a galley used to pay tribute.
Siege towers were temporary (sometimes mobile) structures that raised the level of the attackers so that they could assault at the same level as the soldiers defending a fort or walled city. Sometimes, a battering ram was used also to knock down the gate, once the attackers' archers could neutralize any defense from the walls above. Public domain.
The Greek geographer Pausanias, in the Second Century A.D., wrote “That (the Trojan horse) was a contrivance to make a breach in the Trojan wall was known to everybody who does not attribute utter silliness” to the Trojans.
The idea of the Trojan horse has become a metaphor for the stealthy entrance of something that’s often dangerous to the larger host. For instance, malicious computer programs that are let into computers and opened by their users under benign pretenses are called Trojans. Wouldn’t it be funny if the horse never existed and this wooden structure was simply a wooden siege tower or ship?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Horse
Scientists Find Amazing Explanation for One of the Roman Empire’s “Gates of Hell”
In ancient Roman times, the “Gates of Hell” were thought to be portals to another realm. There were a number of them scattered around the Mediterranean region. Some were used to make sacrifices (animal and perhaps human ones) to the Gods. Often, the animals (such as cattle) were killed instantly as they were led into these gates, but the priests walked out again without any injury.
How was this possible?
Divine geothermal intervention may be the answer. At the ancient city of Heirapolis in modern-day Turkey (then within the Roman Empire), archaeologists discovered one of these “Gates of Hell” in the form of a stone doorway leading to “a small cavelike grotto”. There was a theater with stone seating and the “gate” was built into the rock face.
The necropolis at the ruins of Hierapolis. Creative Commons via Wikimedia by Dezidor.
Geothermal springs at Hierapolis. Public domain from Pixabay.
Underneath that rock? Hell itself. There are thermal springs in the area. Directly beneath the stone “gate”, a fissure emits pure carbon dioxide. Even today, the carbon dioxide emitted from the earth is so strong that it looks like a small cloud of mist. It can kill birds which come too close to it.
Scientists determined that if a human walked into it, they could breathe above the cloud. But if that human priest was leading an animal such as a bull for sacrifice, that animal might breathe the CO2 cloud and be killed instantly. And so, the Gods accepted the sacrifice and the priests escaped unscathed.
Furthermore, the scientists believe there may be more of these geothermal features in other parts of the former Roman Empire, where there were several portals known as the “Gates of Hell”.
An old Purepecha city (top, from michoacan.travel) and artwork (below, from cultura10.org).
Ancient City in Mexico Had as Many Buildings as Manhattan
LiDAR certainly is changing our understanding of some ancient civilizations. It is a laser mapping tool; the name stands for light detection and mapping. In what would have taken archaeologists a lifetime to discover, a few passes over the area with laser imaging provides maps of ancient structures in stunning detail. It even works in the jungle, where vegetation reclaimed and obscured many ancient Mesoamerican structures centuries ago.
In 2007, the city of Angamuco was discovered in the province of Michoacan in western Mexico, dating back to about 900 A.D. But researchers had no idea how large it was or how many structures it contained. Thanks to the LiDAR scans, they pinpointed some 40,000 structures over an area of 10 square miles. Of course, these were not as big as the buildings in Manhattan. At its peak, the city may have been home to 100,000 people of the Purepecha (also known as Tarascan) civilization, which once rivaled that of the Aztecs.
Here is a video showing the LiDAR results. It has had similarly spectacular results discovering ancient structures beneath the jungles of Guatemala and the sands of Egypt. Amazing.
Sources:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/laser-mapping-reveals-ancient-mexican-city-once-had-many-buildings-manhattan-180968202/
http://www.natureasia.com/en/nmiddleeast/article/10.1038/nmiddleeast.2017.132
Top image: Vase picture shows Odysseus lashed to the ship's mast to escape the lure of the Sirens. Public domain.
I'm also a non-academic with interest in the ancient world, especially Greece. First, it wouldn't surprise if there was never in fact a "Trojan horse". A lot of mythology fails to correlate with fact.
The possibility that it was instead a siege tower, and later changed to a wooden horse, is an interesting idea, but I'm not sure it holds up to scrutiny.
Most historians place the Trojan War into the Mycenaean Period of Greece - which lasted from about 1600 BCE to 1100 BCE - and the battle with Troy was probably the later part of that period. Let's say 1200 BCE. But according to Wikipedia, the earliest siege towers weren't being used until around 900 BCE. So I'd say it's unlikely.
A Trojan horse just makes one helluva story, so the oral and written traditions had no problem passing it down through the years. :)
By the way - I happen to be writing/producing a graphic novel about ancient Greece - the end of the Golden Age/5th century BCE - where we'll see the events in Athens which led to Socrates' trial and execution. Working with an artist to create the pages - take a look if you have any interest! Polis: The Trial of Socrates, lates page. I'd love to know what you think.
That post is great! You're very talented. Regarding siege towers, something like a covered battering ram may have been possible, even if it were not as high as the top of the walls. I love the Trojan horse story, though, and since we may never know, I'd rather believe it happened.
Surely it's more fun if Trojan horse story is true! But if a Trojan horse actually had warriors inside of it that kind of feels like people would have noticed. And even if they would have been elite how many would you be able to put inside a Trojan horse and keep it quiet. Maybe they didn't need that many if they would just open the gates for the Greek army. I also consider that if they took in the Trojan horse inside the city that it would not be close to the gates since they probably would take it to their best location away from the gates so it would be very hard to exit the Trojan horse and navigate to the gates without being noticed. Since clearly there would be guards out even at night time. A battering ram with a wooden horse head at the front seems very likely.
On the other hand I think you may be right that they may have pulled this off since the longer back we go in history the smarter people seems to have been. Considering the amazing pyramids that was built with amazing precision. As well as all the amazing knowledge written in various books. For example The Bible is very interesting how we still don't know the full detail what people who wrote it and how they put it together. But clearly people were extremely smart.
Probably easier to think deeper with less humans around in terms of distraction! These days with billions of humans on earth there is so much more distraction so it becomes less deep thinking for majority. Unless they isolate themselves of course! Something that Goethe said was the highest artistic thing you could do. And focus yourself in 1 area and avoid distraction. Also when they put down words on paper it was harder to erase so I guess that made people think even deeper on trying to put down only their best ideas.
If they built a giant horse in wood then they would have to make sure that there was no holes where you could see the interior. Seems like amazing gifts was a major thing back in those days to try to impress other emperors. I guess people lived more in the moment and knew their life may be short so when they did something they truly wanted it to be glorious.
Curious what you think of the writings of Aristotle I downloaded his complete works on my Amazon Kindle and it's truly amazing the depth the Greeks went into explaining daily life. And how deep especially Aristotle went to even explain words in precise detail. Very artistic. Really amazing stuff to read when you got some free time. Since it's so original and thought provoking.
Just for some perspective: the (likely) difference in time from the Trojan War to Aristotle was about 900 years. That's the difference between our time and the Crusades.
The Mycenean era - which is when the Trojan War would have occurred - is separated by several centuries of "dark age" before the ancient Greeks that most of us are familiar with began to develop.
Dark ages sounds kinda fascinating. Also very curious how ancient people could start to develop magically! The genepool I'm very curious on since there are major difference between various people.
Thanks for that 900 year range yes that is a lot of years. Very hard for us to grasp who can barely remember 50 years in our head. That we are just at the beginning of knowledge sharing on a global scale! Clearly we may get hit with a dark age again if we produce deep intelligence that perhaps see humans as obsolete.
Either our society gets dumber because smarter people get a major advantage by latest technology and use it on the rest. Or everyone gets empowered and we all work together towards a better future! Clearly we now empower humans with very smart machines. But how will people use them that's an interesting question. Especially now with the Blockchain technology!
When I say "began to develop" I meant the culture, rather than the people. One of my points is that the culture of the ancient Greeks was very different from the Mycenaeans - though much of their mythology was built on stories from that age.
Right. That makes much more sense.
Me too.
nice history...!!
@riad420
Awesome !!
Great and educational article of Trojan Horse, Gates of Hell, and Angamuco.
Now, thanks to your post I have an idea what this Trojan Horse was actually used for. I found it very interesting. I also like the way the scientists had reasonable explanation why the animals died, but priest walked out without any injury. However, how did the priest walked out without the animal, wasn’t that the reason he was higher above the ground while riding the animal? Anyway the ancient city of Angamuco was as big as Manhattan with buildings all over and as many as 40K structure, which is unbelievable since it was centuries ago, I guess humans were an excellent builders afterall.
My father was telling me about the use of LiDAR to 'unearth' ancient Mayan ruins just yesterday. He is currently using this technology here, in South Africa, at a site where people called the Kgatla used to live (in the 1700s).
What's cool about the LiDAR is that they can see other ruins underneath these old cities, from a completely different group of people. Without excavating they can tell whether this civilization might have conquered another, and settled on their ruins. I'm keen to see the results of this. I used to join him on archaeological excavations as a boy using shovels and picks, never heard of LiDAR until he told me.
I find it interesting that the Roman's crafted these 'gates to hell'. In their debaucherous society, one would imagine you'd try to deny any ideas of realm which entails eternal damnation and suffering.
Thanks for the post.
That's amazing. Thanks for sharing that story. As I understand it, they can image the various layers and essentially peel off the ones that cover the ruins they want to see. It's groundbreaking (perhaps literally!).
Great and educational article of Trojan Horse, Gates of Hell, and Angamuco.
Now, thanks to your post I have an idea what this Trojan Horse was actually used for. I found it very interesting. I also like the way the scientists had reasonable explanation why the animals died, but priest walked out without any injury. However, how did the priest walked out without the animal, wasn’t that the reason he was higher above the ground while riding the animal? Anyway the ancient city of Angamuco was as big as Manhattan with buildings all over and as many as 40K structure, which is unbelievable since it was centuries ago, I guess humans were an excellent builders afterall.
This is the first time i visited your blog . Your blog is amazing man .
" The popular story is that the Greeks built a giant wooden horse and left it for the Trojans to take into their city after the Greeks had abandoned the battlefield where it sat. " That's a brilliant idea . It's remarkable that wars were fought with strategies and intelligence too at those time instead of just firepower .
I find this very interesting and insightful cos history is something I find very enthralling. I still recall how the movie "Troy" helped with the visual understanding of the story and it was quite fascinating. I really can't help but connect this to the computing world. The adoption of Trojan Horse as the name of a malicious computer program which is designed to disguise as a legitimate program, tricks the unsuspecting user to load and execute it on his/her PC. Once loaded, it create a backdoor and paves the way for the cyber thief to creep in, spy on the user, steal data and most of all disrupt the performance of the system. Great Post, Very well penned!
I loved reading Homer's Odyssey. So much weeping and rubbing with olive oil :D
many saw troy and brad pitt but few know the true epic history of homero
If the movie provides a gateway for people to become interested and learn more, at least that's something.
It's interesting to find out that the Trojan horse might not be real. It's such a part of our culture! We're taught about it in schools and it's even used as a sort of cautionary tale to warn us... don't take candy from strangers! That sort of thing.
It's fascinating that something that has become to mean so much to us may just be a figment of the world's collective imagination. There's not a soul on the planet over 10 years old who doesn't know about that story and the lesson from it. Weird stuff.
@donkeypong, Absolutely brilliant historical topic indeed conversation shared. I appreciate all your effort. You lot of times posted ancient and historicaol myth story. I really like to study ancient Greece myth history. This time more details provided from you. The Trojan Horse is a symbol of Greek wiliness, that in the face of overwhelming odds, they managed to outsmart the enemy. The enemy being Troy, a powerful city on the banks of NW Asia Minor, which was an existential threat to the early Greeks who banded together and set out ships and soldiers to sack the city and eliminate the threat. I have found something of this history. Don't know lot. For the record, for those not well enough versed on these historical times, there were no Turks anywhere near Asia minor until centuries later, having migrated from the Asian steppes of Turkmenistan. Troy was another City State in the Mycenaean world. Thank you for sharing valuable post to steemians. Also amazing video provided.
What an awesome post; I love that you've just taken on the idea of teaching yourself all of this history. I taught high school English and History for years, and the ancient history I always found so fascinating...I don't think most people give the ancients enough credit for their ingenuity. In ancient Greece and Rome, when things couldn't be explained (like the geothermal springs), they created myths to help understand all the unexplained natural phenomenon surrounding them. Pretty cool that you're reading Homer too. Again thank you, I love this! Cheers:)
Thank you. Learning is a lifelong obsession. :)
It really is...keeps the mind young! :)
I really geek out over stuff like this. This is the first time I'd ever heard anyone questioning the Trojan Horse story, and the first time I'd ever heard about to the "Gates of Hell" during the Roman Empire. I'll have to check into that some more.
The early history of the Mesoamericans fascinates me. I live in North America where there is a connection between the Mesoamerican culture with the native North American culture. I've actually visited several North American pyramids, but there is so much more to learn. I hope the LiDAR imagery will enable archaeologists to get in and poke around in specific areas. I'd really be interested in comparing artwork from there to the artwork of other civilizations that built pyramids.
Well, I don't think that the Trojan horse existed but can be part of the legendary history of Greek empire. Do you remember the hericulus story, where by some people where half human and half animals. Some of them were granted with Devine power and fight against the evil spirit.
I got amazed when you talk about Mexico ancient by relating it with manathan . Actually, those people had wonderful structure and some of them were tall just made by a combination of stones, sand and some few wooden materials. These structures were durable though not as manathan to day.
About the Roman empire and their religion belief. I always say that the only countries which have rich spiritual historical background are Israel and Roman. I got amazed when you talked about Gates of hell and how the priest could bring their sacrifices to the gods. This place looks terrific and I believe if animals could die on a way, then how come priests couldn't? I think they could make sure sure they are clean before entering and the unclean ones could die.
Thanks for the great knowledge and your contribution towards enhancing and instructing us about the ancient historical insights.
Greetings from Uganda/
@jona12
I agree. It's much more fun to believe in the horse. :)
After watching the movie "Troy" i came to know many historic facts including Trojan Horse and after reading your blog i also learnt many new things. Thank you so so very much for the valueable information the beautiful soul @donkeypong
It really means lot to me being a student of Cultural Studies :-)
Have always love archeology and history, though to think the Trojan horse might not have been is still very hard. The geothermal spring is a familiar thing to me, i read about it some time ago. I guess those priest knew there was nothing special about them, they just fooled people with it
I've always loved how the Trojan horse was used in movies. This technique in fighting would make it hard for the enemy to read what was coming from he's counter part. And now am getting to know more about it following the Greek background of it. It seems real to me. The ancient people always had wars and winning these wars took more than having a bigger army.
History is great.. It beats my mind how the priests escaped the gates of hell without any injury. A lot of science involved. Upto today, the carbondioxide emitted from the earth is so strong looking like a small cloud of mist!!! This here sounds as though the sacrifices done there just happened recently. Killing close birds alone shows how smart these priests could have been to always get way with risking their lives.
These snippets are a great reflecion of how the ancient people lived.
Thanks for a great comment.
Hmmm. Honestly, the story is the Trojan horse is very hard to debunk. I have grown up all my life listening to it and it sound plausible especially with it's acceptance into modern day English language. So, it comes as a surprise to hear about this. But I'll take more study on it. Whatever I find out, I know that the idea of a Trojan horse will always live with us at all times.
And we'll probably never know. I'd rather believe in the horse also. :)
That's very interesting to read most amazing goes back ancient Greece title @donkepong. I love your historical topics every-ways because I known much information through your post. I never heard about Trojan horse. But now I'm fully knowledge. Thanks a a lot.
Hello @donkeypong
The refutation of the Trojan horse could be true. Sometimes historians like to add a bit of sweetner (sugar as my people call it to their tales). I'll read more on it and maybe edit this comment.
Gates of Hell? Ancient people could be quite funny sometimes. It's funny how hell was just hot carbon dioxide.
The Aztec and Mayan history has always fascinated me. Part of my bucket list is it visit Mexico and Peru. But to think of it, I read in an history book that those big buildings were built by aliens. I can't remember the name or author, I'll have to dig it up.
This is a good read. It's time to go do some more reading on them.
@learnandteach01
Thanks for the comment. There are various theories of alien intervention having stimulated the rise of some of the great ancient civilizations. There's even a Mayan or Aztec image that looks like an alien sitting in a spaceship, plus some odd looking figures from Iraq, I think, but all of it subject to other reasonable explanations as well.
Thanks for sharing some history with us, interesting post!
I saw a film tells about this legend, which is one of the myths that have not forgotten history, no matter how much time "myth of a Trojan Horse" and perhaps many ignorant of this legend, first what is Trojan ?? TROY TROY is a city located in Asia Minor.
It is said that the city of Troy was built by the sea god and Apollo poetry and arts and this is why it made it difficult to enter the city difficult to enter
Trojan horse is the most important part of this legend is the cause of the defeat of Trojans fortified after a siege of 10 years, the Greeks came up with a trick "huge wood horse" hiding inside the Greek warriors and their leader Odysseus. And the other part of the army appears Balayas, and in the morning Trojans found soldiers on the ground as if they were the curse of Apollo or the plague, leaving a horse very large wood that the soldiers and their captors and soldiers and already before the Trojans horse as a peace offer and those who said It was a gift from the god Apollo. The Greek spy Cyon convinced the Trojans that the horse was a gift. Conon, Cassandra, Helen and Devobos were not convinced that this horse had been introduced to Trojans. The Trojans celebrated the defeat of the Greeks and the huge wooden horse. They brought him into the center of the city and the night the armies came out and destroyed the Trojans and burned it after they opened their doors to the Greek warriors who demonstrated for the departure and ended the Trojan and fell into the hands of the Greeks. They destroyed it and burned it. , Was the end of the Trojan
Another question may have been that Homer used words as metaphors and the modern world has taken these to the letter.
The horse, in the Greek world was the symbol of Poseidon, the god of the sea and earthquakes, so that the great wooden figure that ravaged the city could have been simply a metaphor for a seismic movement that destroyed the city.
great history. that's pretty cool to know. thank for sharing.
You given most wondering anaciant civilization @donkeypong. I've studied about greece history and archaeology before. But only theory and not a practical, I've never been Greece.I have feel like that the Trojan horse is a classic tale set during the Trojan war. In the story the Greeks build a large wooden horse and hide inside it, the Trojans accept the horse as a victory trophy and pull it into the city. When night falls the Greeks climbs out of the horse and open the gates of the city. The remaining Greek army pour in and destroy the city of Troy, ending the war. But there's has long history more than my knowledge.I'll check more about this. Thanks a lot.
What a nice post! Great Pictures.
Follow me @thunderland
Wow, very nice post.You are really a good writer.Such an interesting post,keep it up.
WOOOW this is a great Historical heritage that reflects a big culture and hoe people before us lived.
Keep it up
Wow Lidar has done some great jobs lately in helping us to understand ancient civilizations, knowing the past makes is better prepared for the future.
Legends..... @donkeypong
Ceudah rupawan 👍
Human civilization in the past, has left history for us now, so we can study the history of the past to take as a valuable lesson..
Oh yes, these historical facts from antiquity will always be of interest to scientists and
minds of ordinary people, because so many mysterious and incredible give us these findings and events. For example, the ruins of the city of Angamuko were found in 2007. At first, archaeologists investigated them using traditional methods, but four years later they started using lidar. As a result, it turned out that Angamuko occupied twice as large a square as the official capital of the Tarascan, Tsintsuntsan. Scientists managed to identify seven thousand buildings in an area of four square kilometers. Among them are pyramids, temples, road systems, gardens and playgrounds for ball games. Feature of Angamuko was his unusual layout. In particular, the pyramids and squares were concentrated in eight zones on the outskirts of the city instead of the traditional location in the center. This mysterious place shows us that already in those ancient times, tsivilizatsiya was developed and viable! Thank you @donkeypong
I had a misconception about Trojans and ancient Greece. I benefited from this publication, I love reading these little stories. I will wait for your new @donkeypong ♡
These are great history and mistery that are left behind with the....I have heard of Trojam horse which was used to taken army inside the castle bcoz that was the only way for king get inside and save his wife from the captured from anothet kindom...The Trojan horse was so huge that it holded enough soldier...This way they succeed to win battle.
Hell gate sound interesting and I never heard of it...Greek civilization is very rich when it comes to belief and tradition that existed at that time...Animal sacrificing and some time human sacrificing was normal in order to keep Kingdom safe and sound.They had several celestial God snd most importantly Zeus.
Your post was wonderful to read as it gave me knowledge on history and things I didn't new ...Thanks @donkeypong
The prominent story is that the Greeks constructed a monster wooden steed and left it for the Trojans to take into their city after the Greeks had relinquished the war zone where it sat. " That's a splendid thought . It's momentous that wars were battled with methodologies and knowledge too at those time rather than just capability .
excellent your post dear @donkeypong.
I love archaeology @donkeypong . This was a really good read on the history of Trojan Horse, Gates of Hell, and Angamuco . 40,000 structures over an area of 10 square miles. !! I wonder what happened to them . Maybe an apocalypse ? Trojan Horse sounds like a surprising death trap .Thank you for posting such a detailed well written post . I will be following your future posts .
The mighty Romans also had many periods of turmoil where, when one leader came to power, it was common place to kill your politcal enemies. This was to help secure their positions and also to raise money by confiscating the "traitors" wealth. Normally these leaders didn't last long and the process repeated with many prominent families dying out.
the ancient world is quite fascinating considering the absolute difference that occurs in the way things are, it wouldn't make any difference to me actually if the trojan horse had existed or not, but the lessons that live with the story is what actually matters to me. there's really so much that we need to know in history, i particularly find unparalleled love for topics like Egyptology, hierroglyphics, rosetta stone, the aztecs, and particularly the ancient powers, principalities and their civilizations. say mesopotamians, persians, babylonians. i wouldn't mind getting my hand on an awesome text on the above mentioned.
The horse was built by Epeius, a master carpenter and pugilist. The Greeks, pretending to desert the war, sailed to the nearby island of Tenedos, leaving behind Sinon, who persuaded the Trojans that the horse was an offering to Athena (goddess of war) that would make Troy impregnable.
There is nothing new about your writing. You always give us great gifts of great content. Just used in such a horror Troy movie. However, these archaeological patterns are really beautiful. thanks for sharing @donkeypong
wow..thant's really wonderful history @donkeypong . i like your post to much. thanks for share the post.
History and archaeology also facinate me. Your writing really impressed me. Your creating is enjoyable also. Thank you very much for sharing it with us.
Your post about historical...Awasome historical place .....historys are also very nice...thanks for sharing...
Wow! This one is very informative sir! I can barely see posts which tackle about history here in steemit that's why this is very essential! Thank you sir and keep safe 😊
Fascinating @donkeypong and recently a pyramid was discovered here in indonesia, that pre-dates the Egyptian ones. Slowly but surely, our true history is being revealed - thanks for helping with this process!!
history is a human civilization and history can take some interest. It is taking or remembering the important history of the ancients
Last night I made history about life in Aceh that is about warlord
https://steemit.com/utopian-o/@syakiran.balya/aceh-has-a-history-history-of-pang-hab-keumire-warlord-of-three-ages
@donkeypong
Wow..the 'gates of hell' really got me..thanks for this piece
Wow! It would really be weird if this is true! I have used the story so much that my first instinct is denial...it can't be untrue...but who knows? It just might be!