A new theory about the Trojan era

A new theory about the Trojan era

by Tomáš Spevák

Most of us are familiar with Homer’s stories the Iliad and the Odyssey; the famous epic of mighty Achilles who was feared by the gods themselves; the pride and jealousy of High King Agamemnon; the beauty of Helen of Troy; the wisdom and cunning of the skillful Odyssey, etc.

A wonderful work of literature, but with all the research conducted for so many years and the enormous amount of funds invested in it, why hasn’t the question, “who were the Trojans” been answered? Since Heinrich Schliemann discovered Troy in 1870, no one has bothered to ask, “what was the ethnicity of the Trojans and who were the Achaeans”?

The assumption all along was that they were “Greek”, but were they? In literature and in the movies, they are represented as Greeks; using Greek weapons, Greek architecture, Greek art, etc. In history books we were told without a doubt that the “Achaeans were actually early Greeks”.

But, has anyone inquired as to how they arrived at this conclusion? Where is the proof that the Achaeans and Trojans actually shared a common heritage with the “Greeks”; language, culture, art, weapons or any other characteristic that would qualify them to be “Greek”?

I don’t believe that anyone can truly say what they really were. But we can, with some certainty, say that they were not Greek.

Allow me to elaborate.

Let us begin with a quote from Tiberius Claudius;

“Among these Celts, if the word is to have any significance, even the ‘Achaean’ Greeks, who had established themselves for some time in the Upper Danube Valley before pushing southward into Greece. Yes, the Greeks are comparative newcomers to Greece. They displaced the native Pelasgians ... This happened not long before the Trojan War; the Dorian Greeks came still later - eighty years after the Trojan War.”

The theory was, according to Herodotus and Homer, that “barbarian” tribes from the north, known as the Dorians, threatened the ancient Achaean cities even before the great (Trojan) war. They say that these tribes came from as far as the Danube River valley.

Modern scholars however have doubts. There is no archeological evidence to support this theory.

According to professor Eugene Borza:

"The theory of Dorian invasions is largely an invention of 19th century historiography, and is otherwise unsupported by either archaeological or linguistic evidence. Most archaeologists and many linguists have abandoned the belief that Greek speaking Dorians devastated Mycenaean centers at the end of the Bronze Age..."

It is my belief that the Achaeans and the Dorians have always lived in Thessaly or on the Ionian coast.

To which language group they belong I can’t say with certainty, but their language nonetheless created a large part of the classical Greek vocabulary. More about that later.

If the Trojan War indeed took place, taking Homer’s word who so eloquently described it, one can conclude that it left the Achaeans and their allies devastated and in a state of weakness. The Trojan War in fact could have been far more devastating than Homer described it. Some scholars believe, mythology aside, it was a war for economic dominance. Troy, the richest city in the known world, presented a threat to the Achaeans because it controlled most of the trade through the Dardanelle pass. Troy had many allies and could have easily taken full control of the pass. Control of the pass would have meant controlling the entire sea trade between the Mediterranean and Black Seas.

The prospect of Troy controlling the pass worried the Achaeans who tried by every means possible to find a solution. Unfortunately, Troy continued to ignore them. Unable to find a peaceful solution, the Achaeans declared war on Troy.

The Achaeans amassed a great army, a size never before seen, and set out for Troy. When they arrived, the Trojans met them before the great walls of their city. The armies clashed and fought endless battles. It was a war of the worlds as each side drew in on its allies. Each side used its genius to outdo the other and many men in great numbers on both sides were killed.

When it was over, the Achaeans returned home victorious. Unfortunately, it was a bitter sweet victory which left them devastated. Many kings and nobles died in the battlefields and many more died at home through sinister plots and intrigues. Even the High King Agamemnon was murdered.

Weakened, leaderless and with a population in decline, the war brought more suffering than it did prosperity. With new and inexperienced leadership, a shortage of men and material, defense from the savage invaders from the north became a serious challenge.

The Pelasgi (Belasci), the ancient settlers of the Balkans, called these new savages from the north, Xellenes (newcomers). They were later named Greeks by the Romans.

The Xellenic tribes of Dorians, arrived on the Peloponnesus eighty years after the Trojan War. They raided the countryside, destroying the rich Achaean culture, cities and enclaves along with the native Achaean population. Their arrival brought dramatic change to the region. They no longer had a High King to rule over all the tribes and cities. Art, architecture and science also changed, modified by the mixing of new cultures; Egyptians, Phoenicians, Xellenes, Pelasgians, Anatolians and others. All these people helped shape Greece to become what it was during the classical period.

We cannot draw conclusions from studying the Achaeans and Trojan cultures alone, we need archeological evidence to corroborate our theories. Based on cultural evidence alone, we can equally assume the Trojans were a Slavic people. According to historian Alexander Donski, if one reads the description of the customs practiced by Trojans as per Homer’s Iliad, without knowing who the Trojans were, one would get the impression that they were the modern Balkan Slavic peoples.

On a side note, many contemporary scholars today believe that the ancient Pelasgi, the inhabitants of the Greek Peninsula, before the classical Greeks, were proto-Slavic. Other ancient Balkan peoples such as the Thracians, Paeonians, Dardanians, Veneti, Bryges, Illyrians, Minoans and people from Asia Minor such as the Lydians, Phrygians, Mysians and even Scythians and Sarmatians (Amazons) are also believed to be proto-Slavic speaking people. Several factors have led scholars this conclusion, art, customs, ancient relics with inscriptions of written languages, etc. Scholars Vasil Ilyov, Sergei V. Rjabchikov, Prof. V. A. Chudinov, Matej Bor, Anthony Ambrozic and others have deciphered many ancient scripts from Phrygian, Venetic, Etruscan, Linear A, ancient Macedonian, Vincha, ancient Russian and other sources with the use of contemporary Slavic languages. In fact a number of so-called undecipherable scripts have now been deciphered and translated by using the Slavic languages, something never seriously done before.

Why didn’t anyone think of using Slavic, the vast family of languages of one of the largest nations on Earth? I believe because of political reasons: communism and all the propaganda surrounding it, not to mention the isolation the Slavic states suffered.

What is also interesting is that contemporary scholar Odisej Belchevsky and others are now studying the language in which Homer wrote the Iliad & Odyssey and are finding that it was written in a proto-Slavic language, closely related to modern Macedonian dialects.

And now back to the Trojans and Achaeans.

It is my belief that the Achaeans did not speak a proto-Slavic language. If their vocabulary contained proto-Slavic words it is most likely they were borrowed from the Pelasgi or other Slavic-speaking tribes. I believe the Achaeans spoke a language that was more closely related to the language family of the later City States, but surely it wasn’t the same as that which was brought from Thessaly by the Dorians.

The Peloponnesus was settled by various peoples. Egyptians (Ethiopians as well), Phoenicians, Libyans (I believe the Sea People), Anatolians (Ionians) and Italics all contributed to the creation of the Mycenaean civilization and ethnicity.

The ancient Greek language (Attic) was less than 50% Indo-European and only 20% of Greek names and toponyms (aside the numerous Slavic ones) were Indo-European. Thus, it is no surprise that scholars classified linear B as Greek, because “Greek” encompasses elements of many languages including Egyptian, Phoenician, Anatolian and others, that don’t belong in the Balkans. In other words, all the languages spoken in the Peloponnesus before the arrival of the “Greek” Dorians.

Even the so-called “Greek gods” have roots in Egypt and elsewhere. I do not believe the inhabitants of ancient City States ever “founded” a god themselves.

It is interesting that some Spartan kings claimed relation to the lords from the Middle East, Egypt and the shrine: pyramid at Menelaion. It is also interesting that the Achaean architecture has a striking resemblance to the Egyptian.

As for the Trojans, we don’t have evidence of their written language (thus far), but we do know that most of their allies were proto-Slavic speaking peoples related to them (Trojans) whose customs are surprisingly very similar to those of the modern Balkan Slavs. According to Anthony Ambrozic and others, the Trojans were related to the Phrygians, whom we know were related to the proto-Slavic Veneti.

I believe more evidence is required to conclusively prove this, but finding it for the time being is beyond the scope of this article.

If my theory is correct, a new chapter in history will soon be written, a chapter that will include the Slav contribution to the world. As Homer puts it (describing the Slav barbarian tribes) in his epic:

“They are numerous like leafs in the forest… with chariots and weapons decorated with gleaming gold and silver… like gods.”

For more details on the subjects covered in this article, consult the works of:

Homer, Herodotus, Anthony Ambrozic, Eugene Borza, Mario Alinei, Vasil Ilyov, Valeriy A. Chudinov, and Sergei V. Rjabchikov.

For comments and inquiries contact the author Tomáš Spevák at brumi@neobee.net or Risto Stefov at rstefov@hotmail.com