But the broad pattern suggested by Homer — Greeks from the Aegean attacking a city on the Anatolian coast — is consistent with the general pattern of the Sea Peoples period.

The Mycenaean world was destabilized by the same forces that created the Sea Peoples phenomenon, and military adventures across the Aegean into Anatolia would have been consistent with the patterns of the period.

Some scholars have proposed that the Trojan War, or something like it, was part of the broader collapse — a conflict that contributed to the destabilization of both the Mycenaean and Anatolian worlds, weakening both sides and making the subsequent collapse worse.

This is speculative, but not implausible.