Troy: The Site Of The Legendary Trojan War
Wikimedia CommonsThe ruins of Troy in modern-day Turkey.
Troy was an ancient city in northwestern Anatolia that once occupied a key position on trade routes between Europe and Asia.
The city’s prominent role in Homer’s Iliad had incidentally relegated its existence to pure myth for quite some time, up until the 19th century. According to the British Museum, most people believed it to be similar to Atlantis — an ancient fiction, likely used metaphorically in Homer’s work.
That changed, however, after it was rediscovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1871 in modern-day Turkey.
Schliemann carried out multiple excavations between then and 1890, followed by Wilhelm Dörpfeld and later Carl W. Blegen from the University of Cincinnati, with excavations resuming in 1988 under Manfred Korfmann after a 50-year hiatus.
Now, the ten layers visible at Troy reveal more than 3,000 years of continuous habitation from the Early Bronze Age (3000-2500 B.C.E.) through Roman times (85 B.C.E. to 500 C.E.) and later Byzantine settlement.
Wikimedia CommonsMore recent evidence suggests the Trojan War may have also been real.
Ancient Troy commanded a strategic point at the southern entrance to the Dardanelles, a narrow strait linking the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea. As a port city, Troy developed rapidly due to its role in maritime trade throughout history, becoming a strategic settlement controlling passage from the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea.
During its peak in the Middle and Late Bronze Age, Troy VI — a designation to help differentiate iterations of the city over time — featured magnificent cut limestone walls 15 feet thick at the base, rising over 17 feet high with brick ramparts and watchtowers, protecting a citadel about 650 feet long.
Troy VI was destroyed by a violent earthquake around 1300 B.C.E., and the rebuilt Troy VIIa was destroyed by devastating fire between 1260 and 1240 B.C.E., with evidence suggesting it was captured, looted, and burned by enemies. The Cincinnati expedition concluded that Troy VIIa was very likely the capital of King Priam described in Homer’s Iliad, which was destroyed by the Greek armies of Agamemnon.
The city lost its importance in the historical process and was even forgotten.
The ruins of Troy were enrolled as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998 and declared a Historical National Park in 1996.
