Sarum U3a
The monthly Coffee Morning of Sarum U3A was held in our usual venue of St Francis Church Hall on Wednesday 18 April. Information about various of the group activities was given out, including:- the U3A Choir, Town and Country Inns, Croquet, Outings, Summer Garden Visits, Trips on Local Buses and Digital Imaging. The National Trust Mompesson lecture on the 21st of May was also publicised.
The morning’s speaker, Dr Denise Allen, a popular speaker on previous historical/archaeological topics spoke to a packed hall. Her topic was “The Trouble with Troy” and her initial task was to match what is now taken to be the location of Troy (near the northwestern coast of Turkey near Canakkale) with evidence from literature and archaeology.
A super web site on this area is seen HERE
Dr Allen looked at what was contained in Homer’s Iliad posing questions such as why should a blind itinerant bard write down this story? Did one person or more than one write it? How come the world depicted seemed to be more like that of the late Bronze Age rather than the C8 BC? Why did many of the artifacts came from the C13 BC? These and many other tricky questions were effectively answered.
It is quite difficult to understand the archaeology on site at Troy because as many as 9 cities have been built, at different times, on top of each other. The history of digs on the site vary from the work of Frank Calvert who bought land in order to excavate and the involvement of Theo Schliemann who in 1871 financed a trench which went indiscriminately through many of the different layers of the settlements. Added to that the finding in 1873 of a gold jewel treasure, which was removed in great secrecy to Germany, we seemed to have got involved in a story of possible duplicity and treachery.
It did not stop there – the jewels seemed to be from a date different from that of the Trojan Wars, then they disappeared during WW2 reappearing more recently in the Pushkin Museum with possession being claimed by the Russians, the Germans, the Turks and also Calvert’s descendents. Dr Allen’s mystery tour round the authenticity of Troy was wonderfully illustrated with maps, pictures of artifacts not to mention stills from the recent film “Troy”. See HERE for lots of information about the film.
Phyll Babb gave the vote of thanks for a thoroughly enjoyable morning.
Also see a good description and photographs about Troy on Wikipedia site HERE
The next meeting is on Wednesday 16 May at our usual venue when the speaker will be Rex Sawyer on “Collett’s Farthing Newspaper”.
