Asking who attacked Troy, similar to the original question, will provide different answers depending on who you talk to. Professor Blegen’s suggest in his book Troy and the Trojans that there is irrefutable evidence regarding who attacked troy, and that Homers Accounts of The War can be taken as almost a transcript of the battle. Belgen’s views can be seen from an excerpt from his book “It can no longer be doubted, when one surveys the state of our knowledge today, that there really was an actual historical Trojan War in which a coalition of Achaeans, or Mycenaeans, under a king whose overlordship was recognised, fought against the people of Troy and their allies.” (Ch 1, pg 20). What Belgen is saying in his book that there was most certainly …show more content…
I. Finley in his paper The Trojan War chstizes Blengen’s claims that an organized king or power was the rival the brought Troy to its knees and states that the edidence to make such a definitive exist not. The difference in analasis comes about due to differences in interpretation of the data. Blengen sees the different weapons, and bodies in the street along with other evidence and concludes that barbarions wouldn’t have been able to destroy such a powerful state as quickly as the remains suggest and conclude that a military power was the source of Troy’s defete. Finley on the other hand does not attempt to discredit the remains found, but sees Bengen’s conclusion as being based more so on inference rather than in refutable facts. “Professor Blegen's 'the tradition of the expedition against Troy must have a basis of historical fact' are acts of faith not binding on the historian;” (The Journal of Hellenic Studies, pg 4). Such conclusions may seem plasuable but may be completely wrong when factors change such as the introduction of additional evidence. “However, they have found nothing, not a scrap, which points to an Achaean coalition or to a 'king whose overlordship was recognised' or to Trojan allies; nothing which hints at who destroyed Troy” (The Journal of Hellenic Studies, pg