Where is Troy located and what will replace the ancient city? Ancient City of Troy (legendary Ilion) The territory of Troy on a modern map.

Excerpt describing Troy

It took the ancient Greek hero Odysseus 10 years to sail from Troy to Greece. She, this Troy, must be damn far away! At least that's what I always thought. And I was surprised once! My husband and I were traveling along the coast of Turkey, and suddenly we discovered that Troy - very close to Istanbul! That is, the homeland of Odysseus - the Greek island of Ithaca - is just a stone's throw away. Across the sea. And it took him 10 years. Miracles.

The Many Faces of Troy

First, let's define the concepts. Troy is an ancient city. It was once destroyed by the Greeks. The very first poem that has come down to us, “The Iliad,” was written about this. Homer wrote it. Even then it - this Troy - was destroyed. AND Now such a city does not exist. But we can see its ruins. So, in order not to get confused, you need to know that this city was called differently:

• Troy;
• Ilion(hence the name of Homer’s ancient poem “The Iliad”);
• Dardania;
• Scamander;
• Canakkale.

Now we have an idea of ​​where Troy was. We need to be grateful for this Heinrich Schliemann. True, he is not our compatriot (as someone said above), but a German.

About Schliemann is a completely different story. She always inspires me. He was not an archaeological scientist. He was a wealthy businessman and an upstart. In the world of science he was despised. But he was passionate about Ancient Greece and the history of the Trojan War. He poured all his energy into digging into the hills of the Greek and Ottoman coasts. Professional archaeologists laughed at him and looked down on him. And then one day this Schliemann, this passionate amateur... reallyfound the ruins of TroAnd!

Where Troy once stood

So, Troy was located on the territory of modern Turkey. This is the northwestern part of the country, strait coastDardanelles. The ruins are located north of Istanbul. By the way, there is a bus from here. The journey takes 5–6 hours.

Here, on the coast Asia Minor, and once flared up Trojan War. If you are coming from Istanbul, you should follow this route:

• Istanbul - Canakkale(regional center, from where you can move on);
• Canakkale - Tevfikiye(about 30 kilometers, this is a village next to the excavations);
• Tevfikiye - excavations.

So why did Odysseus swim for so long? Well, along the way, he lived for seven years with the beautiful nymph Calypso, then for another year with the sorceress Kirka, got stuck at a party for the wind god Aeolus, and took a walk out of interest into the kingdom of the dead. In general, the guy was in no hurry to go home. Otherwise I would have sailed in a couple of weeks.

In general, if you are going to Troy, do not be distracted from the indicated route. Otherwise you will get lost like Odysseus.

Troy (Turkish Truva), second name Ilion, is an ancient city in the north-west of Asia Minor, off the coast of the Aegean Sea. It was known thanks to the ancient Greek epics and was discovered in the 1870s. during G. Schliemann's excavations of the Hissarlik hill. The city gained particular fame thanks to the myths about the Trojan War and the events described in Homer’s poem “The Iliad,” according to which the 10-year war of the coalition of Achaean kings led by Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae, against Troy ended with the fall of the fortress city. The people who inhabited Troy are called Teucrians in ancient Greek sources.

Troy is a mythical city. For many centuries, the reality of Troy's existence was questioned - it existed like a city from legend. But there have always been people looking for a reflection of real history in the events of the Iliad. However, serious attempts to search for the ancient city were made only in the 19th century. In 1870, Heinrich Schliemann, while excavating the mountain village of Gissrlik on the Turkish coast, came across the ruins of an ancient city. Continuing excavations to a depth of 15 meters, he unearthed treasures that belonged to an ancient and highly developed civilization. These were the ruins of Homer's famous Troy. It is worth noting that Schliemann excavated a city that was built earlier (1000 years before the Trojan War); further research showed that he simply walked right through Troy, since it was built on the ruins of the ancient city he found.

Troy and Atlantis are one and the same. In 1992, Eberhard Zangger suggested that Troy and Atlantis are the same city. He based his theory on the similarity of the descriptions of cities in ancient legends. However, this assumption did not have a widespread and scientific basis. This hypothesis did not receive widespread support.

The Trojan War broke out because of a woman. According to Greek legend, the Trojan War broke out because one of the 50 sons of King Priam, Paris, kidnapped the beautiful Helen, the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. The Greeks sent troops precisely to take Helen away. However, according to some historians, this is most likely only the peak of the conflict, that is, the last straw that gave rise to the war. Before this, there were supposedly many trade wars between the Greeks and the Trojans, who controlled trade along the entire coast of the Dardanelles.

Troy survived for 10 years thanks to outside help. According to available sources, Agamemnon's army camped in front of the city on the seashore, without besieging the fortress from all sides. King Priam of Troy took advantage of this, establishing close ties with Caria, Lydia and other regions of Asia Minor, which provided him with assistance during the war. As a result, the war turned out to be very protracted.

The Trojan horse actually existed. This is one of the few episodes of that war that has never found its archaeological and historical confirmation. Moreover, there is not a word about the horse in the Iliad, but Homer describes it in detail in his Odyssey. And all the events associated with the Trojan horse and their details were described by the Roman poet Virgil in the Aeneid, 1st century. BC, i.e. almost 1200 years later. Some historians suggest that the Trojan horse meant some kind of weapon, for example, a ram. Others claim that Homer called Greek sea vessels this way. It is possible that there was no horse at all, and Homer used it in his poem as a symbol of the death of the gullible Trojans.

The Trojan horse got into the city thanks to a cunning trick by the Greeks. According to legend, the Greeks spread a rumor that there was a prophecy that if a wooden horse stood within the walls of Troy, it could forever defend the city from Greek raids. Most of the city's residents were inclined to believe that the horse should be brought into the city. However, there were also opponents. The priest Laocoon suggested burning the horse or throwing it off a cliff. He even threw a spear at the horse, and everyone heard that the horse was empty inside. Soon a Greek named Sinon was captured and told Priam that the Greeks had built a horse in honor of the goddess Athena to atone for many years of bloodshed. Tragic events followed: during a sacrifice to the god of the sea Poseidon, two huge snakes swam out of the water and strangled the priest and his sons. Seeing this as an omen from above, the Trojans decided to roll the horse into the city. He was so huge that he couldn’t fit through the gate and part of the wall had to be dismantled.

The Trojan Horse caused the fall of Troy. According to legend, on the night after the horse entered the city, Sinon released the warriors hiding inside from its belly, who quickly killed the guards and opened the city gates. The city, which had fallen asleep after the riotous festivities, did not even offer strong resistance. Several Trojan soldiers led by Aeneas tried to save the palace and the king. According to ancient Greek myths, the palace fell thanks to the giant Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, who smashed the front door with his ax and killed King Priam.

Heinrich Schliemann, who found Troy and amassed a huge fortune during his life, was born into a poor family. He was born in 1822 into the family of a rural pastor. His homeland is a small German village near the Polish border. His mother died when he was 9 years old. My father was a harsh, unpredictable and self-centered man who loved women very much (for which he lost his position). At the age of 14, Heinrich was separated from his first love, the girl Minna. When Heinrich was 25 years old and already becoming a famous businessman, he finally asked Minna's hand in marriage from her father in a letter. The answer said that Minna married a farmer. This message completely broke his heart. A passion for Ancient Greece appeared in the boy’s soul thanks to his father, who read the Iliad to the children in the evenings, and then gave his son a book on world history with illustrations. In 1840, after a long and grueling job in a grocery store that almost cost him his life, Henry boarded a ship bound for Venezuela. On December 12, 1841, the ship was caught in a storm and Schliemann was thrown into the icy sea; he was saved from death by a barrel, which he held on to until he was rescued. During his life, he learned 17 languages ​​and made a large fortune. However, the peak of his career was the excavations of the great Troy.

Heinrich Schliemann undertook the excavations of Troy due to unsettled personal life. This is not excluded. In 1852, Heinrich Schliemann, who had many affairs in St. Petersburg, married Ekaterina Lyzhina. This marriage lasted 17 years and turned out to be completely empty for him. Being a passionate man by nature, he married a sensible woman who was cold towards him. As a result, he almost found himself on the verge of madness. The unhappy couple had three children, but this did not bring happiness to Schliemann. Out of desperation, he made another fortune by selling indigo dye. In addition, he took up the Greek language closely. An inexorable thirst for travel appeared in him. In 1668, he decided to go to Ithaca and organize his first expedition. Then he went towards Constantinople, to the places where Troy was located according to the Iliad and began excavations on the Hissarlik hill. This was his first step on the path to the great Troy.

Schliemann tried on jewelry from Helen of Troy for his second wife. Heinrich was introduced to his second wife by his old friend, 17-year-old Greek Sofia Engastromenos. According to some sources, when Schliemann found the famous treasures of Troy (10,000 gold objects) in 1873, he moved them upstairs with the help of his second wife, whom he loved immensely. Among them were two luxurious tiaras. Having placed one of them on Sophia’s head, Henry said: “The jewel that Helen of Troy wore now adorns my wife.” One of the photographs actually shows her wearing magnificent antique jewelry.

The Trojan treasures were lost. There is a deal of truth in it. The Schliemanns donated 12,000 objects to the Berlin Museum. During World War II, this priceless treasure was moved to a bunker from which it disappeared in 1945. Part of the treasury unexpectedly appeared in 1993 in Moscow. There is still no answer to the question: “Was it really the gold of Troy?”

During excavations at Hisarlik, several layers of cities from different times were discovered. Archaeologists have identified 9 layers that belong to different years. Everyone calls them Troy.

Only two towers have survived from Troy I. Troy II was explored by Schliemann, considering it the true Troy of King Priam. Troy VI was the high point of the city's development, its inhabitants trading profitably with the Greeks, but the city appears to have been badly destroyed by an earthquake. Modern scientists believe that the found Troy VII is the true city of Homer's Iliad. According to historians, the city fell in 1184 BC, being burned by the Greeks. Troy VIII was restored by Greek colonists, who also built the temple of Athena here. Troy IX already belongs to the Roman Empire. I would like to note that excavations have shown that Homeric descriptions very accurately describe the city.

Popular myths.

Popular facts.

Troy, Turkey: description, photo, where it is on the map, how to get there

Troy- an ancient settlement in Turkey off the coast of the Aegean Sea. This landmark was sung by Homer in his Iliad. The Trojan War brought Troy its greatest fame. This ancient Greek city is included in the 1000 best places in the world according to our website.

Many tourists are interested in this archaeological site of modern Turkey. In order to get to Troy, you must first get to Canakalle. From there, buses leave hourly for Troy. The journey will take about half an hour. In turn, you can come to Canakalle by bus from Izmir or Istanbul. In both cases, the distance is about 320 km.

The German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann was the first to become interested in the excavations of Troy in the second half of the 19th century. It was under his leadership that the ruins of nine cities around the Hissarlik hill were found. Moreover, many ancient artifacts and one very ancient fortress were found. Schliemann's many years of work were continued by one of his colleagues, who excavated a vast area dating back to the Mycenaean era.

Excavations are still ongoing at this site.

Today there is little to attract the traveler's eye in Troy. However, the atmosphere of the world's greatest fairy tale invariably hovers in this city. At the moment, the restoration of the famous Trojan Horse has been completely completed. This attraction is located on a panoramic platform.

Photo attraction: Troy

Troy on the map:

Where is Troy? - monument on the map

Troy is located in modern Turkey, on the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea, southwest of Istanbul. In ancient times, Troy was apparently a powerful fortified city, whose inhabitants were most famous for allowing into their city a wooden horse left behind by the Greeks. According to legend, Greek soldiers were hiding inside the souvenir, who killed the Trojan guards and opened the city gates for the Greek army.

Coordinates:
39.9573326 northern latitude
26.2387447 east longitude

Troy on the interactive map, which can be controlled:

Troy is in the lists: cities, monuments

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Troy

Troy is an ancient Greek city on the western tip of Asia Minor. In the 8th century BC, Homer spoke about it in his poems. It was a blind wandering singer. He sang about the Trojan War, which took place in the 13th century BC. e. That is, this event occurred 500 years before Homer.

For a long time it was believed that both Troy and the Trojan War were invented by the singer. It is still not even known whether the ancient poet actually existed or whether he was a collective image. Therefore, many historians were skeptical about the events sung in the Iliad.

Troy on the map of Turkey, indicated by a blue circle

In 1865, the English archaeologist Frank Calvert began excavations on the Hisarlik hill, located 7 km from the Dardanelles Strait. In 1868, German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann also began excavations at the other end of the same hill, after a chance meeting with Calvert in Canakkale.

The German was lucky. He excavated several fortified cities that were built in different eras. To date, 9 main settlements have been excavated, located one above the other. They were built in a time period that spans 3.5 thousand years.

Model of the city of Troy on the eve of the Trojan War

The excavations are located in northwestern Anatolia at the southwestern end of the Dardanelles Strait (in ancient times the Hellespont) northwest of Mount Ida. It is about 30 km southwest of the city of Canakkale (the capital of the province of the same name).

Not far from the ruins is a small village that supports the tourism industry. This site was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998.. It should be noted that during the Roman Empire Troy was called Ilion. The city flourished until it was eclipsed by Constantinople. During the Byzantine era it fell into decay.

The famous Trojan horse. Hiding in such a horse,
the treacherous Achaeans entered the city

Main archaeological layers of Troy

1 layer- a settlement dating back to the Neolithic period. This is the 7th-5th centuries BC. e.

2 layer- covers the period 3-2.6 thousand years BC. e. It is from this settlement that Troy begins. It had a diameter of no more than 150 meters. The houses were built from clay bricks. All houses were destroyed by fire.

3 layer- covers the period 2.6-2.25 thousand years BC. e. More developed settlement. Precious jewelry, gold vessels, weapons, and gravestones were found on its territory. All this pointed to a highly developed culture. The settlement was destroyed as a result of a natural disaster.

4 and 5 layers- covers the period 2.25-1.95 thousand years BC. e. Characterized by the decline of culture and material wealth.

6 layer- 1.95-1.3 thousand years BC e. The city grew in size and wealth. It was destroyed around 1250 BC. e. strong earthquake. However, it was quickly restored.

7 layer- 1.3-1.2 thousand years BC e. This particular archaeological layer dates back to the period of the Trojan War. The area of ​​the city at that time occupied 200 thousand square meters. meters. At the same time, the area of ​​the fortress was 23 thousand square meters. meters. The urban population reached 10 thousand people. The city fortress was a powerful wall with towers. Their height reached 9 meters. The siege and destruction of the city occurs approximately in 1184 BC. e.

8 layer- 1.2-0.9 thousand years BC e. The settlement was captured by wild tribes. No cultural development was observed during this period.

9 layer- 900-350 BC e. Troy turned into the ancient Greek city-state - polis. This had a beneficial effect on the culture and well-being of citizens. The period is characterized by good relations with the Achaemenid power. Persian king Xerxes in 480 BC. e. visited the city and sacrificed 1000 bulls to the sanctuary of Athena.

10 layer- 350 BC e. - 400 AD e. characterized by the era of Hellenistic states and Roman rule. In 85 BC. e. Ilium was destroyed by the Roman general Fimbria.

Sulla then helped rebuild the settlement.

In 20 AD e. Emperor Augustus visited Troy and allocated money for the restoration of the sanctuary of Athena. The city flourished for a long time, but then, as already mentioned, fell into decline, thanks to the heyday of Constantinople.

Archaeological excavations

After Schliemann, excavations were carried out by Wilhelm Dörpfeld in 1893-1894, and then in 1932-1938 by Karl Blegen. These excavations showed that there were 9 cities, built one on top of the other. At the same time, 9 levels were divided into 46 sublevels.

Archaeological excavations resumed in 1988 under the leadership of professors Manfred Korfmann and Brian Rose. During this period, the ruins of late Greek and Roman cities were discovered. In 2006, Ernst Pernik led the excavations.

In March 2014, it was announced that further research would be sponsored by a private Turkish company, and the work would be led by Associate Professor Rustem Aslan. It was stated that Troy would boost tourism in Canakkale and perhaps become one of Turkey's most visited historical sites.

Troy (Truva, Troy) is a city located in the northwestern part of Anatolia, near the Dardanelles and Mount Ida, and is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Troy is known mostly because of the Trojan War (and that same horse), described in many works of ancient epic, including the famous “Odyssey” and “Iliad” by Homer.

The ancient world and the date of the formation of Troy
Before the appearance of the legendary Troy, the oldest permanent settlement of Kumtepe was located on the Troas peninsula. Its founding date is generally considered to be approximately 4800 BC. The inhabitants of the ancient settlement were mainly engaged in fishing. The settlers' diet also included oysters. In Kumtepe, the dead were interred, but without any funeral gifts.
The settlement was abandoned around 4500 BC, but was revived again around 3700 BC thanks to new colonists. The new population of Kumtepe was engaged in cattle breeding and agriculture, and also lived in large houses with several rooms. Goats and sheep were bred by the inhabitants of the settlement not only for meat, but also for milk and wool. The history of Troy dates back to 3000 BC. The fortified settlement was located in Asia Minor on the Troad Peninsula. The city was in fertile hilly country.
In the place where Troy was located, the Simois and Scamander rivers flowed from both sides of the city. There was also free access to the Aegean Sea. Thus, throughout its existence, Troy occupied a very advantageous geographical position not only in the economic sphere, but also in terms of defense in the event of a possible invasion by enemies. It is no coincidence that the city in the Ancient World, in the Bronze Age, became a key center of trade between East and West.


The Legend of the Origin of Troy
You can learn about the appearance of the legendary city from an ancient legend. Long before the construction of Troy, the Teucrian people lived on the territory of the Troas peninsula (the place where Troy was located). The character of ancient Greek mythology Tros called the country he ruled Troy. Consequently, all residents began to be called Trojans.
One legend tells about the emergence of the city of Troy. Tros's eldest son was Il, who after his father's death inherited part of his kingdom. One day he came to Phrygia, having successfully defeated all his rivals in a competition. The Phrygian king generously rewarded Ila, giving him 50 young men and the same number of maidens. Also, according to legend, the ruler of Phrygia gave the hero a motley cow and ordered to found a city in the place where she wanted to rest. On Ata Hill the animal began to want to lie down. It was there that Troy was founded, which was also called Ilion.
Before building the city, Ilus asked Zeus for a good sign. The next morning, a wooden image of Pallas Athena appeared in front of the tent of the founder of the legendary city. Thus, Zeus provided Ilu with a guarantee of divine help, a stronghold and protection for the inhabitants of Troy. Subsequently, a temple appeared on the site of the appearance of the wooden image of Pallas Athena, and the built Troy was reliably protected from enemies by high walls with loopholes. Ila's son, King Laomedont, continued his father's work, fortifying the lower part of the city with a wall.

The early layers of Troy belong to the original Western Anatolian civilization. Gradually, Troy experienced increasing influence from central Anatolia (the Hutts, later the Hittites).
The name "Troy" appears in the Hittite cuneiform tablets of the Boğazköy Archive as Taruisha. An Egyptian stele from the time of Ramses III mentions his victory over the sea people "Tursha". This name is often compared with the Teresh people, mentioned a little earlier on the famous Merneptah stele. There is no consensus in the scientific world about whether these aliens were Trojans. Names with this root are found in Mycenaean texts, for example the commander of the detachment to-ro-o.

Previously, considerations were expressed that the terms “Troy” and “Ilion” could denote different cities of the same ancient state, or one of these terms could denote the capital, and the other the state itself, and “merged” into one term only in the Iliad "(according to Gindin and Tsymbursky, Troy is the designation of a country, and Ilion is a city). This point of view is not without foundation, since the Iliad, in turn, contains fragments with parallel plots, that is, perhaps going back to different retellings of the same plot; Moreover, the Iliad appeared many centuries after the events of the Trojan War, when many details could have been forgotten.

Excavations of Troy
Among historians contemporary to Heinrich Schliemann, there was a widespread hypothesis that Troy was located on the site of the village of Bunarbashi. The identity of Hisarlik Hill with Homer's Troy was suggested in 1822 by Charles MacLaren. A supporter of his ideas was Frank Calvert, who began excavations in Hisarlik 7 years before Schliemann. Ironically, the site of Hisarlik Hill, which belonged to Calvert, turned out to be away from Homer's Troy. Heinrich Schliemann, who knew Calvert, began a focused study of the second half of the Hissarlik Hill at the end of the 19th century. Most of Schliemann's finds are now kept in the Pushkin Museum (Moscow), as well as in the State Hermitage. To date, archaeologists have discovered traces of nine fortress settlements that existed in different eras on the excavation site in Hisarlik.

The first settlement found in Hisarlik (the so-called Troy I) was a fortress less than 100 m in diameter and apparently existed for a long period. The seventh layer belongs to the era described in the Iliad. During this period, Troy was a vast settlement (with an area of ​​over 200 thousand m²), surrounded by strong walls with nine-meter towers. Major excavations in 1988 showed that the population of the city in the Homeric era was between six and ten thousand inhabitants - a very impressive number for those times. According to the expedition of Manfred Korfman, the area of ​​the lower city was approximately 170 thousand m², the citadel - 23 thousand m².

Nine main layers of ancient Troy
Troy I (3000-2600 BC): The first Trojan settlement, 100 m in diameter, was built with very primitive dwellings made of clay bricks. Judging by the remaining traces, it died in a fire. The pottery has similarities to the pottery of the Jezero culture in Bulgaria.
Troy II (2600-2300 BC): The next settlement appears to be more developed and rich. In 1873, the German archaeologist Schliemann discovered in this layer the famous Trojan treasure, which consisted of numerous weapons, copper trinkets, parts of precious jewelry, gold vessels, and gravestones from the prehistoric and early historical periods. In the 3rd millennium BC. e. this highly developed culture was also destroyed by fire.
Troy III-IV-V (2300-1900 BC): These layers indicate a period of decline in the history of the ancient city.
Troy VI (1900-1300 BC): The city increased in diameter to 200 meters. The settlement was the victim of a strong earthquake in 1300 BC. e.
Troy VII-A (1300-1200 BC): The famous Trojan War dates back to this period. The Athenians later sacked and destroyed the settlement.
Troy VII-B (1200-900 BC): Dilapidated Troy was captured by the Phrygians.
Troy VIII (900-350 BC): At this time, the city was inhabited by Alean Greeks. King Xerxes then visited Troy and sacrificed more than 1000 heads of cattle here.
Troy IX (350 BC - 400 AD): Quite a large center of the Hellenistic era.

Where is. How to get to Troy
Troy is located 2 km from the Canakkale-Izmir highway (D550/E87), from which you need to turn off at the Troy or Truva sign.
The closest city to Troy, Canakkale, is located 30 km north of it. From there to Troy there are buses every hour, departing from a stop under the bridge over the Sari River. The journey by bus will take about half an hour. A taxi ride will cost 60-70 TRY. Prices on the page are for January 2017.
In summer, buses leave regularly, but at other times it is better to arrive early so as not to miss the last bus heading back.

Troy Hotels
Most of the hotels are located in Canakkale, so tourists most often stay there and come to Troy for one day. In Troy itself, you can stay at the Varol Pansiyon Hotel, located in the center of the neighboring village of Tevfikiye.
Opposite the entrance to Troy is the Hisarlik Hotel, owned by local guide Mustafa Askin.

Restaurants
There aren't many restaurants in Troy either. The above-mentioned Hisarlik Hotel has a cozy restaurant with home cooking, open from 8:00 to 23:00. If you decide on it, be sure to try guvec - meat stew in a pot.
In addition, you can dine at the Priamos or Wilusa eateries, also located in the village. Both restaurants serve Turkish cuisine, and the latter is well known for its meatballs and tomato salad.

Entertainment and attractions of Troy
Near the entrance to the city there is a wooden copy of the Trojan Horse, which you can go inside. But it is better to do this on weekdays, because on weekends it is filled with tourists and it will be quite difficult to climb up or look around inside. But, when visiting Troy in winter, it is quite possible to get a horse for your own use.
Next to it is the Museum of Excavations, which displays models and photographs telling what the city looked like in different periods. Opposite the museum is the Pithos garden with water pipes and clay pots from that time.
But the main attraction of Troy is undoubtedly the ruins. The city is open to visitors daily from 8:00 to 19:00 from May to September and from 8:00 to 17:00 from October to April.

Having a guide would have greatly helped in getting to know Troy, since the ruins of many buildings are quite difficult to identify on your own, and due to the different historical layers, they are all mixed up.
Troy was destroyed and rebuilt 9 times - and from each of the restorations something remains in the city to this day, although amateur excavations in the 19th century. turned out to be extremely destructive.
To explore the city, it is most convenient to use the road that encircles it in a circle. To the right of the entrance are visible walls and a tower from the period of Troy VII (that is, the city as it became after it was rebuilt 7 times), dating back to the period when the city most closely matched the descriptions of Homer in the Iliad. There you can go down the stairs and walk along the walls.

Then the road will lead to brick walls, partly restored and partly preserved in their original form. Above them is the ruined altar of the Temple of Athena, along which are the walls of the early and middle periods, and opposite are the houses of the rich inhabitants of the city.
The path then passes by trenches left over from Schliemann's excavations to a palace complex, also dating from the period most likely described in the Iliad. To the right of the palace are parts of the sanctuary of the ancient gods.
Finally, the path leads to the Odeon concert hall and the city council chambers, from where along a stone road you can return to the place from which the inspection began.

Neighborhood of Troy
30 km south of ancient Troy is the no less ancient Alexandria of Troy, a city founded by the commander of Alexander the Great, Antigonus, in 300 BC. e. However, this vast archaeological site, unlike the popular Troy, is almost unmarked. Accordingly, it is unlikely that you will be able to figure it out yourself, without deep knowledge of ancient history.

Notable are the outskirts of the village of Gulpinar, where the picturesque ruins of the Temple of Apollo, which was built in the 5th century, are located. BC e. colonists from Crete. The westernmost point of Asia, Cape Baba, is interesting for its fishing port Babakalekoy (Babakale, “Baba Fortress”), where there is a charming Ottoman castle of the 18th century. Here you can also freshen up by swimming either right among the boulders that frame the harbor on both sides, or by driving another 3 km north to a nice, well-equipped beach.

Another highlight of these places is the town of Ayvacik, 30 km east of Troy. At the end of the week, traders from all over the outskirts flock to the local market; the best souvenir from here is a colorful carpet. If you are lucky enough to get to Ayvadzhik at the end of April, you can catch the traditional annual gathering of nomadic peoples Paniyir. At this time, vibrant dance and musical performances and noisy bazaars are held throughout the city, where thoroughbred horses are exhibited. In addition, 25 km to the south lies ancient Assos, the name of which pleases the ears of more than one admirer of antiquity.

THE LORD ABOUT THE TROJAN HORSE
The war between the Trojans and the Danaans began because the Trojan prince Paris stole the beautiful Helen from Menelaus. Her husband, the king of Sparta, and his brother gathered the army of Achaea and went against Paris. During the war with Troy, the Achaeans, after a long and unsuccessful siege, resorted to cunning: they built a huge wooden horse, left it near the walls of Troy, and they themselves pretended to sail away from the shore of the Troas (the invention of this trick is attributed to Odysseus, the most cunning of the Danaan leaders , and the horse was made by Epeus). The horse was an offering to the goddess Athena of Ilium. On the side of the horse was written “This gift is brought to Athena the Warrior by the departing Danaans.” To build the horse, the Hellenes cut down the dogwood trees (cranei) growing in Apollo’s sacred grove, appeased Apollo with sacrifices and gave him the name Carnea (for the horse was made of maple).
The priest Laocoont, seeing this horse and knowing the tricks of the Danaans, exclaimed: “Whatever it is, be afraid of the Danaans, even those who bring gifts!” (Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes!) and threw his spear at the horse. However, at that moment, 2 huge snakes crawled out of the sea and killed Laocoont and his two sons, since the god Poseidon himself wanted the destruction of Troy. The Trojans, not listening to the warnings of Laocoon and the prophetess Cassandra, dragged the horse into the city. Virgil’s hemistich “Fear the Danaans, even those who bring gifts,” often quoted in Latin (“Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes”), has become a proverb. This is where the phraseological unit “Trojan horse” arose, used to mean: a secret, insidious plan disguised as a gift.

Inside the horse sat 50 of the best warriors (according to the Little Iliad, 3000). According to Stesichorus, 100 warriors, according to others - 20, according to Tsets - 23, or only 9 warriors: Menelaus, Odysseus, Diomedes, Thersander, Sfenel, Acamant, Foant, Machaon and Neoptolemus. The names of all were listed by the poet Sakad of Argos. Athena gave the heroes ambrosia.
At night, the Greeks, hiding inside the horse, got out of it, killed the guards, opened the city gates, let in their comrades who had returned on ships, and thus took possession of Troy (“Odyssey” by Homer, 8, 493 et ​​seq.; “Aeneid” by Virgil, 2, 15 et seq. Sl.).


Interpretations
According to Polybius, “almost all barbarian peoples, at least most of them, kill and sacrifice a horse either at the very beginning of a war, or before a decisive battle, in order to reveal a sign of the near future in the fall of the animal.”

According to the euhemeristic interpretation, in order to drag him in, the Trojans dismantled part of the wall, and the Hellenes took the city. According to the assumptions of some historians (found already with Pausanias), the Trojan Horse was actually a battering machine, used to destroy walls. According to Dareth, a horse’s head was simply sculptured on the Skeian Gate.
There was the tragedy of Jophon “The Destruction of Ilion”, the tragedy of an unknown author “The Departure”, the tragedies of Livius Andronicus and Naevius “The Trojan Horse”, as well as the poem of Nero “The Wreck of Troy”.

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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
Ivic O. Troy. Five thousand years of reality and myth. M., 2017.
Gindin L. A. Population of Homeric Troy, 1993.
Gindin L. A., Tsymbursky V. L. Homer and the history of the Eastern Mediterranean. M., 1996.
Blegen K. Troy and the Trojans. M., 2002.
Schliemann G. Ilion. City and country of the Trojans. M., 2009, vol. I-II.
Schliemann G. Troy. M., 2010.
Treasures of Troy. From the excavations of Heinrich Schliemann. M., 2007.
History of the Ancient East, part 2. M., 1988.
Virkhov R. The ruins of Troy // Historical Bulletin, 1880. - T. 1. - No. 2. - P. 415-430.
Stone Irving, Greek Treasure. Biographical novel about Heinrich and Sophia Schliemann, 1975
Dictionary of geographical names of foreign countries / resp. ed. A. M. Komkov. — 3rd ed., revised. and additional - M.: Nedra, 1986. - P. 350.
Sights of Turkey.
Frolova N. Ephesus and Troy. - LitRes, 2013. - ISBN 9785457217829.

Despite the fact that Schliemann was looking for the Troy described by Homer, the real city turned out to be older than the one mentioned in the chronicles of the Greek author. In 1988, excavations were continued by Manred Kaufman. Then it turned out that the city occupied a larger territory than originally thought.

In total, nine different levels were discovered at the excavation site, that is, the city was rebuilt 9 times. When Schliemann discovered the ruins of Troy, he noticed that the settlement had been destroyed by fire. But whether this was the same city that, according to legend, was destroyed by the ancient Greeks during the Trojan War in 1200 BC remained unclear. After some disagreement, archaeologists came to the conclusion that two levels of excavations fit Homer's description, which they called "Troy 6" and "Troy 7".

In the end, the remains of the legendary city began to be considered an archaeological excavation called “Troy 7”. It was this city that was destroyed by fire around 1250–1200 BC.

The Legend of Troy and the Trojan Horse

According to the literary source of that time, Homer's Iliad, the ruler of the city of Troy, King Priam, waged a war with the Greeks because of the kidnapped Helen.

The woman was the wife of Agamemnon, the ruler of the Greek city of Sparta, but she ran away with Paris, the prince of Troy. Since Paris refused to return Helen to her homeland, a war broke out that lasted 10 years.

In another poem called The Odyssey, Homer talks about how Troy was destroyed. The Greeks won the war thanks to cunning. They are a wooden horse, which they allegedly wanted to present as a gift. The inhabitants of the city allowed the huge statue to be brought inside the walls, and the Greek soldiers sitting in it went out and captured the city.

Troy is also mentioned in Virgil's Aeneid.

There is still a lot of debate as to whether the city discovered by Schliemann is the same Troy that is mentioned in the works of ancient authors. It is known that about 2,700 years ago the Greeks colonized the northwestern coast of modern Turkey.

How old is Troy?

In his study Troy: City, Homer and Turkey, Dutch archaeologist Geert Jean Van Wijngaarden notes that at least 10 cities existed at the Hisarlik hill excavation site. Presumably the first settlers appeared in 3000 BC. When one city was destroyed for one reason or another, a new city arose in its place. The ruins were manually covered with earth, and another settlement was built on the hill.

The heyday of the ancient city came in 2550 BC, when the settlement grew and a high wall was built around it. When Heinrich Schliemann excavated this settlement, he discovered hidden treasures that he assumed belonged to King Priam: a collection of weapons, silver, copper and bronze vessels, and gold jewelry. Schliemann believed that the treasures were in the royal palace.

It later became known that jewelry existed a thousand years before the reign of King Priam.

Which Troy is Homer?

Modern archaeologists believe that Troy, according to Homer, is the ruins of a city from the era of 1700–1190. BC. According to researcher Manfred Korfmann, the city covered an area of ​​about 30 hectares.

Unlike the poems of Homer, archaeologists claim that the city of this era died not from an attack by the Greeks, but from an earthquake. Moreover, at that time the Mycenaean civilization of the Greeks was already in decline. They simply could not attack Priam's city.

The settlement was abandoned by its inhabitants in 1000 BC, and in the 8th century BC, that is, during the time of Homer, it was inhabited by the Greeks. They were sure that they lived on the site of ancient Troy, described in the Iliad and Odyssey, and named the city Ilion.