Ilustraed manuscript of the Iliad from Middle Ages.
The question, whether the Trojan War mentioned in the Iliad really happened or not, has been discussed since the ancient times.
Some claimed that everything told is a fiction, while others claimed that the story has indeed a "historical background". But in the light of current archeological, historical and other new knowledge, it is generally accepted that there was after all a Trojan War between Achaeans and Trojans. Refusing the historical background of the epic with the claim that "the Iliad is not a history book" is not valid anymore. On the other hand, there is an increasing number of scientists who see the Iliad as a history book; for example: Uvo Hölscher, Rnald Hampe, Fritz Schachermeyer, Kurt Bittel Joachim Latacz, Manfred Korfmann. These scientists claim that such an event can not be fabricated by only a single person, and although it is not possible to prove exactly, that there must be a historical background. To sum up, though the Iliad is not a history book in our modern sense, it is a source book which contains the essence of history.
