Troy: myth and reality (British Museum): myth and reality : the BP exhibition

Something I've not done before - bought an exhibition catalogue before going to an exhibition. And this one is full of excellent illustrations and has a highly informative and readable text. Next move is to visit the exhibition!

Well assembled, printed and good souvenir from the exhibition and if you did not see the exhibition you have everything you need about it here.

Wonderful for those who couldn’t read all the descriptions of the objects in the British Museum exhibition

A really good summary of everything you need to know about Troy

This book was prepared for an exhibition held at the British Museum. The four authors who collaborated on this curated the exhibition. Their knowledge of the subject and skill in public presentation make this a fantastic read. It is beautifully illustrated and attractively designed.A central chapter is dedicated to the archaeology of Troy, the reality if you will. We meet the early investigators before an exhilarating account of the excavations by Schliemann. His limitations and extravagant claims are set against the much that he got right. Equal space is given to the poet, Homer. Who was he or even she? How was the Iliad written? Where does it stand as literature?Irrespective of the historical record the legends or myths of the Trojan wars have powerfully influenced culture since the Bronze Age. Each generation looks afresh at Achilles and Helen, Cassandra and Odysseus. The discussion sweeps through Virgil to Dryden, to Shakespeare to Pope to Byron to Tennyson to Auden and to modern feminists Margaret Atwood and Madeline Miller. There are numerous paths signposted for the interested reader. An epilogue suggests what is eternal about Troy.I attended the exhibition but it was busy and there just was not the time. I am so glad I bought this when I left.

Troy, the book, has just been published by Thames & Hudson in collaboration with the British Museum, to tie in with the latter’s extravagant new exhibition, Troy: myth and reality. Having been a fan of The Iliad since I first read it as a teenager, I was keen to visit both book and exhibition. Re-reading The Iliad as an adult, and finding even deeper understanding and pleasure in the present merely added to my keen anticipation of both. All human life is in there. Neither book nor exhibition disappoint.So, to this book. For anyone with even a passing interest in Troy, The Iliad and classical Greece this weighty tome is a ‘must have’. The hardback is in itself a work of art containing a myriad of other works of art relating to fact and fiction about Troy. It is, quite simply, a thing of beauty; open randomly at any page and it will contain a lavish image or eye-catching artwork. The text fascinates and deepens our understanding too.So, ancient drinking vessels with Greek gods and heros depicted, rub shoulders with contemporary artworks such as the stunning, Judgement of Paris (after Rubens) by Eleanor Antin (2007). The pioneering archaeology of Heinrich Schliemann (I especially like the image of Sophia Schliemann wearing the ‘jewels of Helen’) beside maps showing where the Greek factions emanated from. Helen as imagined through the centuries complementing a bust of Homer, again a fantasy. Did one man really write it all? We will never know. Myth morphs into reality and reality back in to myth. It’s all dazzling and a sensory overload. I simply couldn’t put the book down.About the authors, Alexandra Villing is a Curator of the Greek collections in the Department of Greece and Rome at the British Museum. Dr Lesley Fitton is Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Greece and Rome at the British Museum. Victoria Donnellan is Project Curator for the Troy exhibition. Andrew Shapland is Curator of the Aegean World and Classical Greek collections at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. They know their stuff and I can’t recommend highly enough both book and exhibition.

Paid full price for this book, but it was still cheaper than buying it at the British Museum. This book really puts Troy into context with lots of artefacts from the period.

Interesting story withphotos of antique artwork from the British Museum that helped illustrate the text.