Indeed, you will not immediately think about the fact that there was the First World War and the Second World War. Is this in the entire history of civilization? What is World War? World wars are wars that have affected most of the world's states, including all major states and have covered several continents.
And here scientists from Switzerland announced that in ancient times there was a real battle of civilizations. A group of scientists led by Eberhard Zangger put forward the hypothesis that the First and Second World Wars were preceded by another one - the Zero.
The Trojan War entered the history of world culture as a truly epic event, because this is how the blind ancient Greek singer Homer described it in the poem The Iliad. Today, millennia after the alleged Trojan War, a group of Swiss historians have come up with the theory that the famous battle between the Achaeans and the Trojans could have been one of the decisive ones in World War Zero. According to Eberhard Zangger, head of the international non-profit organization Luwian Studies, which is located in Zurich, the battle destroyed an entire Mediterranean civilization 3.2 thousand years ago.
According to scientists, the Trojan War was started not by the ancient gods and not by a beautiful woman (this is how Homer represents the beginning of military events in the Iliad), but the Luwians, a Hittite related people who lived on the western and southwestern coasts of Asia Minor. According to the Swiss geoarchaeologist Eberhard Zangger, he was able to find the missing piece of the mosaic, thanks to which it is possible to recreate a panoramic historical canvas. He repeatedly tried to prove the truth of the events of the Trojan War, about which he wrote in his scientific works. According to Zangger, the beginning of the battle between the Greeks and the Trojans was preceded by the fall of the mysterious Luwian civilization.
Having arisen in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, already by the 2nd millennium BC. The Luwian people asserted their influence throughout the eastern Mediterranean. The territory in which the Luwians lived was especially rich in minerals and metal ores, which probably allowed them to strengthen their power in ancient times. After studying a large number of images taken by satellites, Zangger concluded that the specified area of Asia Minor was densely populated during the late Bronze Age. He found approximately 340 large urban settlements, of which only a few have been excavated to date. “Some of these cities are so large that they can be seen from space,” says the scientist.
In ancient Hittite texts, there are references to several small kingdoms in western Anatolia speaking different variants of the common Luwian language. Small states united in a union, after which, according to Tsangger, the Luwian civilization began to take shape. At first, the Luwians lived quite amicably with their neighbors: the ancient Egyptians, the inhabitants of the New Kingdom, with the Hittites from central Anatolia and the Mycenaeans, who settled on mainland Greece. However, peaceful coexistence soon bored the Luwians. Judging by the surviving records, the people themselves considered themselves so powerful that one day they decided to go to war against the Hittite empire.
It must be admitted that the self-conceit of the Luwians was not without foundation: soon after the first attacks, the Hittites fell under the pressure of the Luwian army.
Promotional video:
Ancient Egyptian scribes, who also testified about the collapse of the Hittite empire, repeatedly mention the "Sea Peoples", which, according to Tsangger, were the Luwians. Having conquered the Hittites and tasted the taste of power and wealth, the Luwians chose a new victim and continued their military campaigns, now against the Egyptian New Kingdom.
The Luwian army won one victory after another, but this did not help it save its own state from collapse: in just a few decades, civilization fell into decay. For a long time, historians and archaeologists racked their brains trying to discover the reasons for the disappearance of a powerful civilization. Scientists blamed climate change, natural disasters, and social instability. According to Zangger, the cause must be sought among the Mycenaeans. Hearing about the plight of the Egyptians, the inhabitants of Greece seemed to have a presentiment that the next blow from the Luwians would fall on them, and quickly united into their own coalition. Following the rule that the best defense is offense, the Mycenaeans crossed the Aegean and attacked the mighty Luwians themselves. Having crushed their restless neighbors, the Mycenaeans also undermined their state: realizing that nothing more threatened them,the people started a quarrel among themselves and unleashed a civil war. Subsequently, the famous Troy was among the destroyed cities.
Eberhard Zangger argues that only this sequence of events is consistent with the records of surviving ancient texts from all over the eastern Mediterranean.
In dispute, truth will be born
Zangger's colleagues reacted more than skeptically to a seemingly coherent theory. “For Zangger's claim of a truly powerful civilization to be undeniable, archaeologists must find examples of monumental art and architecture throughout western Anatolia, as well as texts from the same places,” said Christoph Bachhuber, an Orientalist at Oxford University. The scientist considers Zangger's theory to be simply a "pathetic story." Bachhuber also reminded that historians should question the ancient epics, including Homer's work. According to scientists, they hardly contain even a small fraction of the historical truth.
In response to a colleague from Oxford, Zangger cited several other ancient texts about the Trojan War as examples, which coincide with the story told by Homer.
However, one of them, created in the first century of our era, refers to the now lost Egyptian monuments and remains only a mention in other sources.
Our compatriot, linguist Ilya Yakubovich, who now teaches at the Philip University of Marburg, has also entered the controversy. The texts that have come down to us are mainly from the late Bronze Age and create a slightly confusing picture that can be interpreted both in support and in refutation of Zangger's theory, he said.
Objections to Zangger from other scholars are well founded. Firstly, it is not completely clear whether the Trojan War, the fall of the Hittite state, the end of the Mycenaean civilization are the cause or consequence of the invasion of the "Sea Peoples". Secondly, not one tribe, but many tribes belong to the "peoples of the sea": Sherdans, Tirsen, Tursha, Philistines and Chakkal, Danuns, Phrygians, Shakalesha, Akayvasha (Achaeans), Garamants, Luke, Tevkra.
Despite the criticism and controversy of judgments, it should be recognized that Zangger's theory contributed to the growth of interest in the era of the late Bronze Age. Massive archaeological research in the long-abandoned western Anatolia will only benefit science. Even Bachhuber admitted this: “In fact, I am very glad that he was able to draw attention to this region,” said the scientist.
However, this is just a hypothesis that needs additional proof.
This video illustrates our theme very well: