In Search of the Trojan War

A really brilliant series from Michael Wood. If you ever had any doubt about the power and romance of archaeology then you won't have by the time you finish this. In this we uncover the history of the search for Troy, we follow him analysis the origin's of Homer's poems and question their authorship and likely composition. What makes this series so fascinating is the complexity and difficulty of the elements we are left to work with, there is just so much we can't possibly know and we cannot go back in time and find out. Yet the series never dumbs down or relies on flashy edits or over the top music. Wood is always quiet, understated yet consumed with a passion for his subject. The series too is a wonderful reminder of the uniquely wonderful tale itself, the trojan horse, the face that launched a thousand ships. The series contains 6 episodes, the first two dealing with the archaeological digs over about 100 years, what they uncovered and more crucially what they didn't. It's a reminder too that archaeologists are people not robot, full of their own passions and theories they would no doubt love to prove right. By looking for Troy we uncover so much else too about this area of the world at the time. After 6 episodes though we are still no closer to ever knowing if such a war ever took place. In fact Wood argues even destroyed walls may be as much a result of earthquakes as conquest. Wood is finally able and willing to give his own theory, that Troy was a real city, that some conflict did occur, and later legends and characters ended up being incorporated into it to finally give us the version we have now.