Deciphered under the direction of Michele Bianconi of Oxford University and recently published as “Keilfischurkunden aus Boghazköi 24.1,” this tablet presents one of the most compelling written links between Bronze Age Anatolia and the epic tradition culminating in Homer’s Iliad. It not only reinforces the geopolitical dynamics of the Late Bronze Age but also offers an unprecedented literary fragment, hinting at a local Luwian poetic tradition about the fall of Troy, predating Homer by centuries. Given that Troy was an Anatolian city and the region hosted a bilingual (or multilingual) population, including Hittites, Luwians, and other Indo-European groups, the existence of a local narrative tradition about Troy’s fall is both plausible and now tentatively evidenced.
Author: Oguz Büyükyıldırım
Published at: 2025-04-12 19:33:22
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