For centuries it was believed that Troy was nothing but a legendary city , which existed only in the epic poem the Iliad. However, in the second half of the 19th century, a German archaeologist named Heinrich Schliemann succeeded in proving that Troy had actually been a city.
The Iliad , by the Greek poet Homer, is the story of the Trojan War, which took place between the Greeks and the Trojans. After the defeat of the Trojans, the city disappeared without a trace and in the 19th century most historians believed that it only existed as an ancient myth. However, Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) proved them wrong.
When he was only seven years old, Schiliemann saw in a history book an artistic recreation of what Troy could have been like; It was then that he was convinced of the real existence of the city and that its ruins must be found somewhere. Years later, Schliemann's studies of Homer's poem led him to the Aegean coast of western Anatolia, to a hill called Hissarlik, in present-day Turkey. Some archaeologists had already suggested that it was a possible site for Troy, and as soon as he got there, Schliemann was sure it was the right place.
In 1870 Schliemann began excavating Hissarlik and soon found, 4.5 meters below the surface, an ancient wall of gigantic stones. A year later he returned to continue the excavation and made more discoveries. By 1872, Schliemann had more than 100 local workers helping him. He found the remains of not just one ancient city, but of several cities built on top of each other. It was clear that each city had been destroyed and then rebuilt on its ruins. Excavations continued and walls, urns and pottery fragments were found. But was it really Troy? In June 1873, Schliemann thought that he had found the answer to the question.
At the base of a wall that he was excavating, Schliemann saw a shiny piece of gold. When he picked it up, he realized it was a diadem. Shortly afterward he found yet another diadem, gold bracelets, a gold cup, and a large silver container with thousands of small gold rings. Schliemann was elated and convinced that he had found the treasure of Priam, the legendary last king of Troy.
After Schliemann's death, his colleague Wilhem Dörpfel and later other archaeologists from the University of Cincinnati continued the excavation. They realized that the gold that Schliemann had called the Priam's Treasure It was from a time about 1,000 years before this king and the Trojan War. It came from the second of the nine cities that lie one on top of the other.
Archaeologists believe that Troy was founded in the early Bronze Age, which in Anatolia began around 3,000 BC. Over the following centuries, Troy became an extremely important commercial center, mainly thanks to its location. It was not only on one of the main land routes between Asia and Europe, but also on a sea route between the Aegean and the Black Sea. As a result, Troy became extremely wealthy, and historians believe it served as the capital of the surrounding region, an area now known as Troas.
Archaeologists divide the history of Troy into different periods. The first Troy was a fortified citadel to which neighboring farmers moved in times of danger. The second Troy built on the first and called Troy II by archaeologists, it was a larger and wealthier city, actively trading with the Mycenaeans of Greece. This city ended abruptly due to a fire, leading Schliemann to confuse it with Homer's Troy. Each of the next three citadels was larger than the previous one.
Troy VI had many new inhabitants and was much more influenced by the Mycenaeans than its predecessors. It was destroyed by an earthquake around 1300 BC. The next city, called Troy VIIa, was sacked and burned around 1250 BC. about. Archaeologists arrived at this date because the pottery found at the site can be dated fairly accurately. Most historians believe that Troy VIIa was the city of King Priam that appears in the history of the Trojan War. Its successor, Troy VIIb, did not last long, being abandoned around 1100 BC. and remained unoccupied for several centuries.
A new chapter in the history of Troy began with the 7th century BC, when the Greeks from the nearby island of Lemnos reoccupied it. The city was known thereafter as Ilium and prospered for many years. Finally, the Romans sacked it in 85 B.C., following which they built Troy IX, the final version of the city, which was abandoned around A.D. 400.
The Trojan War
According to Homer, the Trojan War began when Paris, son of King Priam of Troy, kidnapped Helen, the wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. Agamemnon, the brother of Menelaus, sailed to Troy with a huge army carried by a fleet of 1,000 ships to bring Helen back. He laid siege to the city for ten years, but was unable to conquer it. Then. Odysseus, one of the Greek commanders, drew up a plan. The Greeks built a gigantic wooden horse, placed it before the walls of Troy, and then left with their ships. The Trojans believed the horse to be a sacred offering and brought it into the city. But the wooden horse was actually packed with Greek warriors who emerged from it under the cover of night and opened the city gates to the rest of the army, who had returned in ships from a nearby island. The Greeks took Helen, killed King Priam and the Trojans, seized their women, and burned Troy to the ground.