Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15990 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-05-10
• Rating: Exempt
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 344 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Originally broadcast in 1985, In Search of the Trojan War followed the successful formula established by his first historical detective series, In Search of the Dark Ages, and firmly established Michael Wood as the most personable of TV historians. Wood is not only a born TV presenter, he's got both academic gravitas and narrative skill to craft a compelling mystery from the archaeological, literary and mythological sources. Over six hour-long programmes, Wood marshals the disparate strands of evidence to present as fully rounded a portrait as possible of both historical and the legendary city of Troy, its central place in Western culture, and the Mycenaean Age itself. From Schliemann's initial cavalier bulldozing of the mound at Hisarlik, to Homer's epics, the Hittite Empire and the role of slave-women, Wood journeys back and forth across the Aegean and elsewhere, from a pre-unification Berlin to Liverpool, to illuminate the dawn of Western literature, myth and history. Did the Trojan War ever happen? Or was the city destroyed by natural causes? Wood doesn't claim to find a definitive answer, of course, but for the viewer it's rewarding enough simply to accompany him on this fascinating journey.

On the DVD: In Search of the Trojan War is presented on two discs in unremarkable 4:3 TV format. There's a new 25-minute interview with Wood, who looks back affectionately on the making of the series. --Mark Walker

DVD Description
Filmed in Greece, Turkey and Berlin, charismatic historian Michael Wood attempts to discover whether there was any truth in Homer's epic poems. Is Hissalik the site of the mighty Troy? Did Helen, Achilles and Agamemnon ever exist? What was the significance of the famous wooden horse? Prepare for dramatic new twists to the tale.

Special Features

• Interview with Michael Wood

DVD Technical Information:

• Total running time: 330 minutes approx.

Customer Reviews

History brought to life
Having only seen Michael Wood's more recent (and always excellent) TV films, I was curious to see how this 1985 6-part, 6 hour series would match up. It turns out to be just as good, if not better.

Wood is his usual amiable self and conveys a mix of fact and hypothesis with tremendous enthusiasm, carrying the audience along in the quest to find out the truth about the Trojan War. In doing so he travels all around the Aegean world, tracking down ruined cities in Greece and Turkey. There are also evocative sequences filmed in East Berlin where he seeks out the remnants of the treasure Schliemann found at Troy, smashed to bits by British bombs during World War 2. Throughout, Wood weaves a narrative that brings the Mediterranean Bronze Age world alive, delving into the layers of ruined cities at the site of Troy, visiting sites such as Knossos, Mycenae, Tiryns and Pylos, following the route of a Hittite dignatory across Anatolia etc. It is an enticing mix of history, travel, landscape and geography. There is also a certain youthful lack of restraint about Wood's approach in this series and there are some great scenes, such as where he arrives in a back-of-beyond town and asks locals if they know where the ruins of Homer's "Thisbe of the many pigeons" is (they do!) or where he is seen racing at break-neck speed around mountainous Greek hairpin bends in an awful bright yellow old banger.

Those obsessed with DVD picture quality will no doubt winge as the image does look a bit "old" and grainy at times, but it doesn't detract from the quality of the production and it is, after all, an early 80s TV programme. Bonuses consist of a decent picture gallery showing still images of various sites and artifacts, and a 25 minute interview with Michael Wood in which he talks about the making of the series and brings the story up to date with details of recent findings at Troy and elsewhere.

So, it is a gripping story well told and a worthy release on DVD. Please BBC can we now have all his other series on DVD too?

Dated but still one of the best on the subject
Although roughly twenty years old this series is still one of the best documentaries on the Trojan War that I have watched. Michael Wood presents the series in a brilliantly precise way and draws evidence from a variety of sources in order to discover weather the Trojan War happened as Homer tells in the Iliad. As well as this, Michael Wood actually visits many of the sights that he talks about, and interviews many of the people involved in the study of Troy. Also he does admit that many of the conclusions that he draws may be biased by his own views, something that many historians would do well to imitate. There are some more modern Trojan documentaries but there are few that are more all encompassing and accurate.

The greatest historical documentary of all time
Mancunian-born Michael Wood has been my inspiration as a historian ever since this series aired. INSOTTW blends legend, myth, history, travelogue, art, World War I and World War II history, and modern day politics. It was then and remains now the greatest historical documentary series ever.

Finally the series is out on DVD, with all episodes on one disc. A 30-minute interview is included with Wood as he looks back nearly 20 years at the making of the series and briefly reviews new archaeological discoveries at Troy.

Simply put, Homer's Illiad remains the greatest story in Western literature. The war, set sometime in the Bronze Age era of the 1200s BC, has fascinated the famous and not-so-famous for nearly 3000 years. But was the story based in fact?

In 1985, the scholarly consensus was that the Illiad was not fact. Wood, a historian, sets out on a journey that takes him to Berlin, Turkey, Greece, Ireland, and Britain to discover the truth.

In the first two episodes, Wood reviews the archaeologists who rediscovered the site at Hisarlik in Turkey near the Dardanelles where they believed to have uncovered the site of Troy itself.

In the the third episode, he examines Homer himself and how bards could have transmitted actual facts orally over five hundred years until the actual tale was written down by the Romans on papyrus. He examines the Illiad and looks for clues that remain in the modern day.

In episode four, he examines the life of women in the Bronze Age. In episode five, he discusses the Hittite Empire and how recently (in 1985) discovered clay tablets of the Hittite diplomatic empire make mention of names curiously similar to those mentioned in the Illiad. The evidence suggests Troy was a pawn between two superpowers: the Achaians (the "Greeks" did not call themselves that then) and the Hittites in Anatolia.

Finally in episode six, Wood makes his conclusions and discusses the fall of Mycenean Greece.

At the time, Wood's conclusions were attacked by Troy scholars but over 20 years, his opinions, especially about the Hittite tablets, have become accepted fact.

But whether you care or not about Bronze Age history, the story is riveting. Wood is charismatic and he makes you care. For the time you watch this series, the truth about Troy seems to be the most important historical question ever.

It is hard to create an epic that concerns an epic but Wood did just that. The miniseries in 1985 made his name and though he has done good work since then, nothing has topped this effort because he set the bar impossibly high.

A true masterpiece. ****** out of ******