Trojan Battle Order - Historicity Question

Historicity Question

Structurally the Trojan Battle Order is evidently inserted to balance the preceding Catalogue of Ships. It is, however, much shorter. Denys Page summarizes the prevailing explanation that "the Catalogues are substantially Mycenaean compositions rather expanded than altered by the Ionians" (Page 1963, pp. 153–154). Noting that the Greek catalogue occupies 265 lines but the Trojan catalogue only 61, Page wonders why the Ionian authors know so little about their native land and concludes they are not describing it but are reforming poetry inherited in oral form from Mycenaean times (Page 1963, pp. 137–139).

Some examples of Mycenaean knowledge are (Page 1963, pp. 141–143):

• Alybe in the catalog is the birthplace of silver, yet Hecataeus, the Ionian geographer, does not know where it is.
• The catalog mentions Mount Phthires near Miletus and the Maeander. Hecataeus supposes it was the prior name of Latmus.

There is also some internal evidence that the Trojan catalogue was not part of the Iliad but was a distinct composition pre-dating the Trojan War and incorporated later into the Iliad (Page 1963, p. 140):

• Of the 26 Trojans in the catalog, only 5 appear among the 216 in the Iliad.
• The major Trojan leaders: Priam, Paris, Helenus and a few others do not appear in the catalog at all.
• At Il. 2.858 the Mysians are commanded by Chromis and Ennomos; at 14.511 ff. by Gyrtios.
• At 2.858 the Mysians live in Asia Minor; at 13.5, Thrace.
• At. 2.827 Apollo gives Pandaros his bow; at 4.105 ff it is made by a craftsman.

Page cites several more subtle instances of the disconnectedness of the Trojan catalog from the Iliad; neither is it connected to the catalog of Greek forces. Another like it appears in the Cypria (Burgess 2004, p. 138).