Where is Troy located and what will replace the ancient city? The city of Troy - Where is it located and why is it famous Who are Troy

One fine sunny day, during my trip to Western Turkey, I crossed the famous Dardanelles on a cheerfully chugging car-passenger ferry and landed in the town of Canakkale, the center of the province of the same name, to the enthusiastic cries of seagulls. Although in itself it is a rather old city with its own history, containing an Ottoman fortress of the 15th century and some other attractions of later times - they were not the main purpose of my arrival on the mainland.

The place that had long interested and attracted me was located only 30 km south of Canakkale. I deliberately did not read anything “optional” and did not look at modern photographs of this place, so as not to depend on other people’s opinions and form my own judgment from the one-on-one meeting. After all, this was the legendary Troy, which we all know from ancient Greek myths, glorified by Homer in his immortal poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey”; a gray-haired fortress city, covered with the glorious exploits of ancient heroes and which became the scene of one of the most famous wars in world history...

Long 27 centuries and fast 27 kilometers to Troy

As mentioned above, from Çanakkale to the turn to Troy is approximately 27 km along the excellent highway E-87. If you know how and like to hitchhike along the ground, it will not be difficult for you to quickly cover such a small section of the road. In addition, at the exit from Çanakkale in the right direction there is a convenient stop position, a roundabout for cars and a traffic light - so most likely you will leave soon enough.

Road sign at the exit from Canakkale

So I reached the position, and a few minutes later, with squeaking brakes, a brand new Mercedes Axor stopped next to me, heading somewhere towards the southern coast. I didn’t even have time to properly talk about myself and my journey, and 25 kilometers flew by in an instant - and now I was landing at the turn towards Troy itself.

Only 5 km left to the legendary city

There were still five kilometers left to the finish line - and I already wanted to slowly get there “on my own”, but before I had time to walk even a kilometer, a passenger car with two cheerful Turks caught up with me, in which we reached the goal in 5 minutes. It was already evening, the sun's disk was slowly sloping towards the horizon; in an hour and a half the park was closing, and therefore there were almost no visitors - so I had the opportunity to stay face-to-face with History...

They were the first

Back in 1822, the Scotsman Charles MacLaren, editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica, pointed to Hisarlik Hill as the possible location of the mythical Troy. 25 years later, the English amateur archaeologist Frank Calvert (who served as the British consul in the Ottoman Empire at that time), who shared this assumption, decided to test McLaren’s guess in the area indicated. This became all the more possible because in 1847 Frank’s brother, Frederick, acquired a farm with an area of ​​8 km2, the territory of which included part of the Hissarlik hill.

Along with his diplomatic work, Frank Calvert spent a number of years conducting excavations on his site of the Hisarlik Hill, where, according to his calculations, Homeric Troy was supposed to be located. Unfortunately, no matter how much he dug, he was unable to find anything significant to confirm his theory. Nevertheless, Calvert continued to believe that traces of Homeric Troy were very close, and after the end of the Crimean War he shared his thoughts with his newly arrived colleague, who, ironically, was destined to discover the very famous Troy that we know to this day. Who had such luck?

Heinrich Schliemann. The man who turned a childhood dream into a grand discovery

There were very few desperate people in the world who, already at an advanced age, were able to turn their lives around and devote the rest of it to serving their dreams. There are even fewer who manage to achieve success in this field. Heinrich Schliemann was such a rare exception.

Even in early childhood, his father often retold various legends to his son, which is why Schliemann Jr. awakened a serious interest in history. The death of Pompeii during a volcanic eruption, the Trojan War and other striking events of the past excited the child’s imagination. And his entire subsequent turbulent life could be an excellent plot for an adventure novel.

Having started his working career at the age of 14 as a modest clerk in a grocery store in Prussia, five years later he becomes a representative of a large trading company, discovers excellent abilities for languages ​​(in less than three years he managed to master Dutch, English, French, Italian, Portuguese - and then Russian), after which the company decides to send a young and promising employee to St. Petersburg. In January 1846, 24-year-old Schliemann left for Russia.

It was here that Lady Luck was waiting for him, whom he managed to grab by the tail in time. The very next year, Schliemann founded his own trading company and quickly achieved commercial success. He grabbed every opportunity, traded in saltpeter, rare indigo dye, rubber, sugar and much more... Schliemann made a huge fortune selling gold dust during the famous Gold Rush in California, managed to earn millions both in the Crimean War in Russia and in Civil - in America. The ability to take advantage of these types of situations was in his blood.

Heinrich Schliemann: successful millionaire adventurer and amateur archaeologist

Having achieved everything and fully satisfied his commercial ambitions, Schliemann, already at an advanced age, decided to return to his childhood dream and take up travel, history and archeology without interference. To begin with, he perfectly studied the very difficult ancient Greek language, adhering to a long-developed and proven method: he read a lot out loud and memorized it by heart. Naturally, he studied from the original texts of the Iliad and Odyssey. Having completed a two-year trip around the world, in July 1868 Schliemann moved to Greece and took his first steps in the archaeological field.

Newly minted archaeologist

He began excavations in Ithaca, located west of the Balkan Peninsula. Part of the events of Homer's Odyssey take place on this island - the main character's house was located there - and Schliemann began to look for evidence of the historicity of the poem. Yesterday's businessman's first archaeological experiment lasted two days. Of course, he didn’t find anything serious, but he managed to state that several artifacts found in the ground were directly related to the Odyssey. This hasty conclusions would later become a well-known feature of Schliemann, as well as the starting point for criticism of him.

One of the artifacts found

Then he went to the plain mentioned in the Iliad, located in the western part of Asia Minor near the Dardanelles. Schliemann compared his discoveries with the descriptions of the Iliad and began to lean towards the opinion that it was necessary to excavate the Hissarlik hill. Convincing arguments for this version for him were the very name of the place, which in Turkish meant “fortress,” as well as communication with the above-mentioned Frank Calvert, who had been excavating this hill for a long time before Schliemann.

Homer's world found?

Schliemann understood: the only way to prove he was right was to find Troy on his own. He began planning the excavations of Hisarlik. It took more than a year to obtain permission from the Turkish government. Finally, in October 1871, Heinrich Schliemann began to implement his plan.

Excavations of Troy during the First Expedition

The search was carried out from 1871 to 1873 and, contrary to the expectations of many skeptics, was crowned with stunning success. Schliemann excavated under the ruins of a Greek city of the classical era the remains of an older fortification and several cultural layers leading back to the Bronze Age. This is how the Mycenaean civilization was discovered, which preceded the archaic and classical eras.

However, Schiemann's method of conducting excavations deserved the strongest condemnation. His desire to find Troy at all costs and his reluctance to see everything else ultimately led to tragedy: Schliemann actually destroyed Troy as an archaeological site. He dug through the “uninteresting” ones - in his opinion! - layers and thoughtlessly destroyed everything “non-Meric”.

The new results of Schiemann's search for Troy caused a storm of criticism from professional archaeologists. The prominent scientist Ernst Curtius, the leader of another German group working on the territory of Olympia, spoke extremely disapprovingly of the sloppy method of Schiemann's excavations and his desire to prove his theory at all costs and declare everything that he extracted from the ground to be the remains of the Homeric world. The former entrepreneur pragmatically ignored much of what was not related to the supposed Trojan War, and even carelessly destroyed some of it. The cultural layers were severely damaged by it, and today professionals have to restore the painting by studying what remains after Schliemann’s excavations.

What can you see today on the site of the legendary city?
I invite you to take a photo tour of Troy

Sanctuary

In Greek and Roman times, Troy was an important religious center, as we know from ancient sources and from excavations.

The sanctuary before you may have been founded as early as the seventh century BC. These archaic ruins appear to have included altars, large sections of walls, and several buildings, possibly temples.

The outer walls of the sanctuary were almost four meters high, which suggests that this place was associated with some secret rites, for the performance of which the sacrifices made on the altars were fenced off from the uninitiated. The sanctuary was seriously damaged in the destruction of Ilium by the Roman governor Flavius ​​Fimbrias, in 85 BC.

Pithos Garden

Such vessels served primarily as a means of preserving olive oil, wine and bread, but were also excellent containers for transporting smaller, more expensive ceramics on seagoing trading ships. These amphora vats were often made human-sized and had very thick walls - they were usually dug into the ground and used in the household as a kind of refrigerator.

Water pipes

Even the ancient Roman author and architect Vitruvius, in his book "De Architectura", argued that at that time there were three main types of plumbing systems: stone channels, lead and terracotta pipes. He considered terracotta pipes to be the best choice because they were simpler and more economical than constructing stone channels and less harmful to health than lead pipes. These thick terracotta pipes found at Troy are consistent with Vitruvius' description, as well as other similar finds from numerous excavation sites throughout the Roman Empire.

Main entrance (The Ramp)

Here you can see the remains of the fortified walls of Troy II, and here, most likely, the main, Eastern gate of the citadel was located, for entry into which a special inclined ramp was paved from flat stones. It was here, to the left of the gate, that Schliemann found the legendary “Treasure of King Priam.”

The Schliemann Trench

During the first three years of excavations under the leadership of Schliemann, a huge trench was dug in the center of the mound, forty meters wide and 17 meters deep. It was conceived as a test trench; with its help, Schliemann hoped to find the answer to the question at what depth the “Citadel of Priam” was located.

View from Hissarlik Hill to the “Schliemann Trench”, the plain lying behind it and the Aegean Sea, which carries its waves 6 km from here

Unfortunately, during this crude operation, many historically, architecturally and archaeologically important later layers and buildings were partially or completely destroyed by him. The disastrous result is before your eyes. :(

Eastern wall

You are now looking at the remains of an outer wall and fortifications from the Troy VIII - IX period (third century BC - c. 500 AD)

Beyond the wall lay the Lower City, which we know as Greek and Roman Ilion. Further to the north is the Dardanelles Strait, to the west is the plain and the river of the same name under the ancient name Scamander.

Odeon Theater

And now you are in front of the ancient Roman theater (Odeion), which, among other things, was intended for the presentation of musical performances. Behind it are the ruins of partially excavated baths, which were also built during the Roman Empire.

The Odeon, the baths, and the nearby Bouleuterion (the city council building) were located on the edge of the agora, the market square where Troy's social life was centered. The Odeon has a semicircular stage, with a special recess in which stood a lifetime statue of Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD), made in life-size.

Trojan horse

At the entrance to the open-air museum in the 90s, a model of the famous Trojan Horse was installed, with the help of which the cunning Odysseus came up with the idea of ​​getting inside Troy, and it was built by one of the most famous Achaean warriors, Epeus. According to various sources, from 30 to 50 of the bravest Greek warriors, led by Menelaus, Odysseus, Diomedes and Neoptolemus, hid inside it.

A still from the film "Troy" - joyful Trojans celebrating their imaginary victory over the Greeks. They don't yet know what awaits them the next night...

Numerous tourist children (and adults too), who come every day on excursions from Istanbul, Izmir and all over the world, happily climb into this same modern little humpbacked horse:). Apparently, it is very flattering for them to feel like ancient heroes, even for a few minutes, and thus get in touch with hoary antiquity. A similar horse (which took part in the filming of the film) was also installed in one of the squares in Canakkale.

The Trojan horse moves in an L shape and wins

Trojan layer cake

The end result of all the expeditions was the discovery in this territory of 46 cultural layers, divided into nine cities that existed here at different times: from Troy I to Troy IX.

Historical scheme of Troy: century by century, millennium by millennium...

Troy-I (circa 2920-2450 BC)
The first settlement, presumably dating back to the Cretan-Mycenaean, pre-Greek culture of the Mediterranean, is poorly preserved. The city was 90 meters in diameter and was surrounded by a low wall that followed the terrain. The wall had one gate with bastions.

Ancient artifacts

Troy II (circa 2600-2450 BC)
This settlement has been preserved much better than the previous one; it was precisely this that was mistakenly taken by Schliemann for Homer's Troy. The second city was 10 meters larger in diameter than its predecessor; the area of ​​Troy-II was 8800 square meters. m, and the wall surrounding the city in some places reached four meters in thickness. There were two gates in the wall with carefully paved passages - the Western (mistaken by Schliemann for the Szekely Gate, mentioned by Homer) and the Eastern. The cause of the death of Troy II was a very strong fire. The “burnt” layer reaches two meters thick!

Troy-VI (circa 1700-1250 BC)
Troy again achieved its lost greatness. This settlement already consisted of two cities: the Citadel and the Lower City, located behind the fortress walls. The fortress walls were made of carefully processed blocks and in some places reached five meters in thickness. Troy VI ceased to exist as a result of a powerful earthquake.

A very elegant jug made by ancient craftsmen

Troy-VII (circa 1250-1020 BC)
In fact, completely rebuilt after the earthquake, the city reached its greatest prosperity and power. The number of residents of the Citadel and the Lower City reached seven thousand people, which at that time was a very respectable figure. It is Troy VII that is most suitable for the role of the city from the Iliad. The reason for the death of the city this time, most likely, was a military invasion caused by economic rivalry between Troy and Mycenae, and not at all the desire of the Greeks to return Helen the Beautiful to her legal spouse.

Reconstruction: this is what Troy might have looked like in the era described by the great Homer

Troy VIII, aka Ilion (circa 800-85 BC)
Part of the population survived the fall of the city and continued to live in this territory even after the arrival of Greek colonists. For a long time, Troy was an inconspicuous Greek colony, but at the end of the 4th century BC. The situation changed and large-scale construction began in the city. A Temple of Athena, a meeting building and a theater with a capacity of six thousand spectators were built.

Silver tetradrachm from Troy, Hellenistic period (ca. 188-160 BC). The obverse depicts the goddess Pallas Athena, and the reverse depicts a female figure and an owl, a symbol of wisdom.

After Ilion became part of the Roman Empire, the city was granted new lands and tax exemptions, making Troy a prosperous city again. However, in 85 BC, due to contradictions with Rome, the city was again sacked and destroyed, this time by the troops of the Roman governor Flavius ​​Fimbria.

Troy-IX, aka Ilion/Ilium (c. 85 BC - 500 AD)
Soon after the destruction of the city, the famous Roman politician, dictator Sulla, ordered it to be rebuilt and populated. However, later, without the support of Rome, Troy gradually began to empty and sink into oblivion. In the 6th century AD. on Hissarlik Hill the last buildings were empty, and the city sank into oblivion...

Famous visitors to Troy

The glory of Troy attracted ancient monarchs to these places; in 480 BC the city was visited by the Persian king Xerxes, and in 334 BC. - Alexander the Great. He brought his weapon as a gift to the spirit of Priam, begged him not to be angry with Neoptolemus (the king of Troy Priam fell from the hand of this hero), from whom the great commander descended, and vowed to revive Troy. But his premature death prevented him from fulfilling his promise.

Julius Caesar And Octavian Augustus sympathized with the city; under Augustus, the theater, the meeting building, and the Temple of Athena were rebuilt in Ilion.

The interest of the rulers of Rome in Troy was probably explained by their belief in the myth about the origin of the Julian family. According to legend, the only Trojans who managed to escape after the Greek warriors captured the city and carried out a massacre there were Aeneas, the son of the goddess Aphrodite, his paralyzed father Anchises and his little son Ascanius. Aeneas carried them in his arms from the city engulfed in flames.

Federico Barocci, "The Flight of Aeneas from Troy"
(Federico Barocci, Aeneas" Flight from Troy, 1598)

Ascanius is considered the ancestor of the Roman patricians, and from his son, Yulus, the famous Julian family descended. Another Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, choosing a place for his future capital, also visited Troy, but found the city almost completely abandoned and made a choice in favor of Byzantium, which later became the center of the new empire. With the fall of the “great and mighty” Roman Empire, life disappeared in many corners of this superpower. Cities and roads were deserted, bridges and aqueducts collapsed...

Treasure of King Priam

On May 31, 1873, Schliemann managed to discover a rich collection of copper and gold jewelry, which, in support of his theory, he immediately called the “Treasure of King Priam.” Later, archaeologists came to the conclusion that the age of the find is about a thousand years older than the events described by Homer, which, of course, does not detract from its historical value.

The same Schliemann's "Treasure of King Priam"

The famous “Treasure of Priam” (24 necklaces, 6 bracelets, 870 rings, 4066 brooches, 2 magnificent tiaras, rings, chains and many small jewelry), items from which were mistakenly taken by Schliemann for the treasures of a mythical ruler, the archaeologist found only during his second expeditions. The further history of this treasure is similar to the plot of an adventure novel.

According to the excavation permit the archaeologist received from the Turkish authorities, he had to leave half of any valuable finds to Turkey. But Schliemann acted differently - he secretly, using smuggling methods, took the found treasures to Greece. The amateur archaeologist was not guided by a desire to enrich himself by selling the “Priam’s Treasure” (his fortune was already enormous); he believed that this treasure should belong to one of the European countries, and not the Ottoman Empire. Schliemann offered the treasure as a gift to the Greek king, but he, for obvious reasons, refused. The Louvre was also not interested in the offer to accept valuable exhibits as a gift.

Sophia Engastromenos, second wife of Heinrich Schliemann, wearing the necklace and diadem of the “queen” from the “Treasure of Priam”, found by her husband in Troy

The management of the British Museum certainly wanted to be sure that no laws were broken during the excavations. Then the treasure was offered to the Hermitage, but Schliemann also received a refusal from Russia, since his reputation here was somewhat tarnished (Schliemann at one time was engaged, to put it mildly, in bad faith, in supplying the Russian army, had a family and a wife in Russia, whom he divorced in spite of Russian laws). In the end, the unique find ended up in Berlin, in the Museum of Ancient and Ancient History, where it remained until the outbreak of World War II.

The treasures "disappeared" from the Berlin Museum in 1939, at the beginning of World War II. It is believed that it was hidden in underground bunkers to prevent it from being damaged by bombing. In 1945, during the surrender of Germany, museum director Wilhelm Unferzagt, fearing the plunder of the unique collection by looters, personally handed over three suitcases with Trojan treasures to representatives of the Soviet military command. The treasure was taken to Moscow (mainly gold and silver) and Leningrad (ceramics and bronze). Since 1949, the Trojan finds, on the personal orders of Stalin, were kept in the strictest secrecy.

In Germany and Western Europe they knew nothing about Professor Unferzagt’s act, and the “treasure” was considered lost. And only almost half a century later - after the collapse of the USSR, in 1993, it became officially known that the “Treasure of Priam” was safe and sound - in the storerooms of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. Moreover, in 1996 in Moscow, at the exhibition “Treasures of Troy from the Excavations of Heinrich Schliemann,” the once secret exhibits were put on display to the general public. Naturally, there was an immediate uproar in the West: the Soviet (and at the same time its successor, the Russian) government was once again accused of all mortal sins in general and the theft of other people’s cultural property in particular. An international dispute arose over which country - Russia, Germany, Greece or Turkey - has the right to own them. Until now, consensus has not been reached, and most of the Trojan treasures are again hidden from human eyes in museum collections.

Troy after Schliemann

After Schliemann's death in 1890, the excavations were continued by his assistant Wilhelm Dörpfeld. During the lifetime of his senior colleague, Dörpfeld was the first to suggest that the layer where the “Priam’s treasure” was found was actually older than the time of the Trojan War. When he expressed his guess to Schliemann, he became gloomy, went to his tent and remained silent there for four days. Then he admitted that Dörpfeld was right. In subsequent years, he proved that the Troy of the time of Priam was three layers higher than the one that his predecessor idolized.

Thus, Schliemann's attempt to convince scientists that the events of Homer's epic are not a myth, but a historical fact, failed. Yes, he made amazing discoveries, but they had nothing to do with what he was looking for.

After Dörpfeld, archaeological research was stopped for almost 35 years. In the First World War, in the Battle of the Dardanelles, the English navy inflicted considerable damage on the Hisarlik hill with shells; Finds were picked up by the handful from the bottom of the craters.

The Second World War again interrupted the work of archaeologists for a long time; Excavations were resumed only in the 70s of the 20th century and continue to this day. Since the second half of the 20th century, Troy has become a place of pilgrimage for tourists. The Turkish village of a hundred houses, located very close to the open-air museum-reserve surrounded by a grid, and the adjacent tourist center are not the tenth or eleventh Troy. The connection between times was lost...

Troy and "Troy": Homer vs Hollywood

A new wave of interest in the history of “bygone days” swept across the world in 2004, when the epic film of the same name by Wolfgang Petersen was released, with a whole collection of stars starring: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Diane Kruger, Sean Bean, Rose Byrne, Peter O'Toole and others.

You can and should watch this film, but, of course, you should not expect that this is a literal adaptation of Homer. As comrade Alex Exler put it in his review, “this is just another blockbuster on a “historical” theme, which was conceived as a blockbuster, shot like a blockbuster and turned out to be an ordinary blockbuster, nothing more and nothing less. It was shot quite well - and, in general, it looks great. quite impressive."

Naturally, the film adaptation was not without inaccuracies and blunders, which would take too long to list, so I will limit myself to only my favorite number 7:

1. Achilles dies without saving his beloved Briseis during the assault inside Troy (as shown in the film), and during the battle, outside the walls of the city and even before its fall - angering the god Apollo, who directs Paris's arrow at Achilles' heel .
2. Hector’s wife Andromache was captured by Achilles’ son, Neoptolemus (by the way, also not shown in the film), and her child was killed. In the film, her name is not mentioned at all, but she and her child escape from Troy.
3. The first to land on the shores of Troy was not Achilles, but Odysseus. (In the original there was a legend that the first one to land on Trojan soil would be killed, so no one was in a hurry to jump from the ships, but Odysseus jumped onto his shield.)
4. According to myth, after the war Menelaus takes his wife Helen back to his homeland, and Paris dies. In the film, Hector kills Menelaus, and Paris remains with Helen (a classic American happy ending, who would doubt it).

Orlando Bloom as Paris and Diane Kruger as Helen the Beautiful

5. In the film, cavalry gallops across a field of lava. But during the Trojan War, the Greeks did not know horse riding, and horses were only harnessed to chariots. Helen is also shown stitching up Paris' wounds after her fight with Menelaus. In fact, suturing was unknown to ancient Greek medicine and did not come into practice until a thousand years later.
6. In the original, Achilles himself allows Patroclus to fight the Trojans in his place and gives him his armor. The film does not contain scenes of the battle between the Myrmidons and the Amazons and Aecheans, where Achilles performed the greatest feats. Also in the film there is no famous Cassandra - the things of Paris's sister, who predicted the death of Troy because of her unlucky brother.
7. And finally, the most important discrepancy between the film and the original is the absence of the ancient Greek gods, who played a prominent role in the Trojan War in the Iliad. Also, the film does not mention at all one of the bravest heroes - Diomedes, whose deeds play a key role in the plot of the Iliad: he was the only Greek who fought with the Olympian gods and even wounded Aphrodite and Ares, and the description of his exploits takes up almost the entire V book of the epic. Together with Odysseus, it was Diomedes who penetrated the besieged Troy and stole the Palladium (the statue of Athena), sealing the fate of Troy. In addition, in the original the war lasted ten years and the Iliad described the last year of the war. In the film, the war lasted a little more than two weeks.

Johann Georg Trautmann, "The Fall of Troy"
(Johann Georg Trautmann (1713–1769): Blick auf das brennende Troja)

In conclusion - my IMHO

So if you, gentlemen readers, happen to visit the places I described, you can, if you wish, stop by Troy to, so to speak, “check in” - so, they say, I visited such a legendary place, following the ancient heroes and a string of kings and emperors. :) Because the most interesting artifacts and valuable treasures have long since spread to museums around the world, and Troy itself, after Schliemann’s “expeditions,” is now, as one of the scientists aptly put it, “ruins of ruins.” All hope lies in the future discoveries of archaeologists, who continue to dig in breadth and depth, and, as we know, often present very unexpected, and sometimes even sensational surprises...

Technical information

Historical and Cultural Park "Troy" is open from 8.30 to 19 hours; Entrance to the territory at the time of my visit cost 15 liras (now perhaps more expensive), for particularly sophisticated individuals with various solid skills - by agreement with the controllers, up to free :)

If you come there with a serious backpack (like me, for example, at one time :)), you can leave it (by agreement) in the care of the gatekeepers; I didn’t seem to notice any storage lockers there. Although perhaps she is.

How to get there:

1. If you have hitchhiking skills, then it will not be difficult for you to drive 30 km from the north - from Canakkale, or get to Troy, on the contrary, from the south of the country along the E-87 highway, also known as D-550/560. ;)

2. Well, if you still prefer more civilized types of transporting your own body, then minibuses depart from Canakkale hourly on a round-trip basis. You need to look for them at the local bus station, not far from the bridge over the river.
3. There are also reputable bus companies operating flights from Istanbul to Canakkale (and back). As you know, the distance between Istanbul and Canakkale is 310 km, and the journey will take about 5 and a half hours, including the ferry crossing. There are several bus companies in Ch.:
Project: Troy on the website of the German University of Tübingen
Joint Çanakkale-Tübingen site, with many photographs
Heinrich Schliemann and his Trojan Antiquities
"Troy was never a Greek city!" - an interesting topic on the History.ru forum

and, of course, Wikipedia (where would we be without it :)):

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 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.

Many powerful states and civilizations have sunk into oblivion. One of the prime examples of this is the ancient city of Troy, which is also known as Ilion. This legendary settlement is familiar to many people from the war of the same name. Homer's poem The Iliad details the epic confrontation between the inhabitants of Troy and the ancient Greeks. This famous city has always excited the minds of various scientists, from historians to archaeologists. During excavations in the 19th century, the legendary Troy was discovered on the territory of modern Turkey. Why did this ancient city deserve such close attention from contemporaries? There is an extremely interesting legend of its origin, existence and fall. Where was Troy? And what can be found in its place now? Read about all this in the article.

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 Troad 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.

Defensive structures of Troy

According to ancient Greek myths, the gods of Olympus themselves participated in the construction of the walls of the legendary city. One day Zeus sent Poseidon and Apollo to Troy to serve with Laomedon for a whole year. Both gods built a strong wall around Troy from large blocks of stone. Moreover, if Poseidon dug up stones from the bowels of the earth and brought them to the city, then to the sounds of Apollo’s lyre the construction of the stronghold was carried out by itself. Troy would not have been afraid of any external threat if the gods had not been helped by the man Eak. It was the part of the wall that the mortal was building that turned out to be vulnerable.

The deceived Hercules decided to get even with the king of Troy. On 18 ships, together with heroes and troops, he set out to take the impregnable city and take revenge on the treacherous Laomedon. Telamon, son of Eak, played an important role in the campaign. He was the first to enter the city wall in the exact place where his father worked. Troy was taken, and the treacherous king was killed by the arrow of Hercules. The young Priam, the son of Laomedon, began to restore the former power of the legendary city. Under the rule of the new ruler, Troy flourished again and became as powerful as before. However, in old age, Priam lived out his days in great sorrow.

Trojan War

The famous ten-year confrontation forever glorified the ancient city. Around the 8th century BC, several poems were composed about the legendary war. Only Homer's "Odyssey" and "Iliad" have survived to us. They describe the events that occurred in the 9th year of the confrontation between the inhabitants of besieged Troy and the Greeks, as well as the fall of the city.

The wife of the Spartan king, by the will of the goddess of love Aphrodite, fell in love with Paris. The Greeks perceived Helen's voluntary departure with Priam's son as a kidnapping. The Spartan king Menelaus and his brother gathered a huge army, after which they set off on their ships to conquer Troy.

For almost 10 years, the Greeks tried unsuccessfully to break the resistance of the impregnable city. And only Odysseus’s cunning plan made it possible to capture Troy. The story contains information that the Greeks built a large wooden horse and left it to the Trojans as a gift, while they themselves boarded ships and allegedly sailed home. In fact, there was a group of the best warriors hidden inside the statue. At night, during the rejoicing of the Trojans, they got out of their horse and opened the gates to their comrades. As a result, the Greeks won thanks to cunning, and the city itself was destroyed and burned. Thus, the famous expression “Trojan horse” appeared.

The final fall of Troy

From 350 BC until 900 BC, the legendary city was under Greek rule. Subsequently, it passed from hand to hand to various rulers. First, the Persians captured Troy during the war with the Greeks, and later the city already belonged to Alexander the Great.

When the Roman Empire took possession of Troy, the city was reborn again. The Romans were very proud of their descent from Aeneas and his companions. In 190 BC, Troy was generally freed from any taxes and was expanded.

In 400 AD, Troy was captured by the Turks and finally destroyed. In the 6th century AD, the last human settlements disappeared in the place where the legendary city had once been exalted. The years of Troy's existence begin around 3000 BC and end around 400 AD.

Excavations of the ancient city

For many centuries, the existence of the legendary city has been questioned. Most people were very skeptical about Troy itself. Thanks to the poem “The Iliad,” most scientists were inclined to believe that the ruins of an ancient city could be discovered somewhere in the region of northwestern Asia Minor, that is, in the location of modern Turkey.

Now many people know on the territory of which modern state Troy was located. Thanks to Heinrich Schliemann, the ruins of an ancient city were discovered in Turkey, 30 km from the village of Canakkale, near the village of Tevfikiye.

Heinrich Schliemann, after receiving permission from the Ottoman authorities in 1870, began excavating Troy in the northwestern part of the Hissarlik hill. The self-taught archaeologist achieved success on May 31, 1873, by discovering the treasure. Heinrich Schliemann quickly called his find “Priam’s Treasure.”

Contrary to the agreement concluded with the Ottoman authorities, according to which it was necessary to transfer half of everything found to the Archaeological Museum in Istanbul, Schliemann smuggled the treasures to Greece. After unsuccessful attempts to sell the find to the largest museums around the world, the archaeologist donated them to Berlin. Subsequently, Heinrich Schliemann became an honorary citizen of this city. After the end of World War II, the found Trojan treasures began to be stored in Moscow at the Pushkin Museum. A. S. Pushkin.

What is located on the site of Troy?

Let's find out what is in the place of Troy now. In our time, modern Troy is significantly different from the place that Homer described in his poems. Over the course of many centuries, the coastline gradually moved away, resulting in the excavated city being located on a completely dry hill.

Every year, the museum city is visited by many tourists from all over the world from May to September. The ruins of Troy from different historical times have a magnificent appearance. If you want to get acquainted with all the exhibits in detail, it is recommended to hire a guide.

The most popular among tourists at the site where Troy was located is a wooden copy of the famous horse. Each person has the opportunity to find himself inside a large statue, feeling for a while in the role of a cunning Greek hero. You can also be one of these lucky ones who will have an unforgettable experience. But you need to choose the time for your trip, taking into account special factors. Indeed, on some days there are so many people at the place where Troy was located around the Trojan horse that most do not manage to get even closer than 100 meters to it.

The Museum of Excavations is no less popular in the ancient city. Its visitors have the opportunity to view a bunch of photographs, models and other exhibits that will allow them to become familiar with the process of discovering Troy. Also, during the excursion, curious tourists can look into the huge temple of Pallas Athena, visit the gloomy sanctuary of the ancient Greek gods and appreciate the Odeon concert hall.

Other attractions of Turkey near Troy

To the south of the ancient city of Troy you can find the ruins of Alexandria of Troas. This ancient city was founded in the 4th century BC by the ancient Greeks. During its existence it passed into the hands of the Romans. Subsequently, the city received its final name in honor of Alexander the Great.

It is worth noting that Alexandria of Troas is mentioned in the New Testament. According to the Holy Scriptures, in this city the Lord commanded the Apostle Paul to go preach in the land of Macedonia. Nowadays, the ruins of the city are called Eski Istanbul.

Near Alexandria of Troas, on a hill surrounded by dilapidated walls, is the ancient city of Ass or Behramkale. During the life of the great thinkers Plato and Aristotle, a famous philosophical school functioned here, where many minds of those times visited. Among the attractions of Ass are the Murad Mosque, many tombs and caravanserais, which have been transformed into hotels for tourists.

How to get to Troy on your own

Visiting the place where Troy was located is like touching a legend. It is no coincidence that many tourists every year decide to see the amazing sights of the famous Troy in Turkey.

The easiest way to get to the legendary city is from Canakkale, which is located 30 km from Troy. Every hour, a regular intercity bus leaves from this Turkish administrative center. About half an hour's journey separates each tourist from the famous historical site. It is also possible to get to Troy from Istanbul, Bursa or Izmir thanks to minibuses.

Visiting the legendary city is not financially expensive. A tourist should spend virtually nothing more than an entrance ticket and travel.

Movie "Troy"

In 2004, a filmed story about the legendary city was published. The historical drama was based on the poem "The Iliad". The main roles in the film went to such Hollywood stars as Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean, Brendan Gleeson and other famous personalities. Wolfgang Petersen was appointed director of the film, and David Benioff was responsible for the script.

In the 13th century BC, the Trojan prince Paris kidnapped Helen the Beautiful, which outraged the Greek rulers to the core. The Spartan king Menelaus gathered a huge army and set off on numerous ships to the shores of Troy.

During the fierce confrontation, both the Greeks and the Trojans had alternate successes. And only the cunning idea of ​​Odysseus made it possible to break the resistance of Troy. By rolling a large wooden horse into the city, the Trojans doomed themselves to death. At night, the Greeks dealt with the residents of Troy without any problems.

Thus, only ruins of the legendary city have survived to this day. A visit to modern Troy will allow everyone to touch the legend and visit inside a large wooden horse.

Troy is the setting for the legendary Trojan War, which is reflected in ancient Greek oral and literary traditions.

Historians are still debating the existence of Troy. Most are inclined to believe that Troy really existed, as this is confirmed by archaeological finds found on the site: some of them fit the description of Troy by Homer in the Iliad.

Troy is also called Hisarlika (Turkish name), Ilios or Ilia, as well as Ilium (as Homer called the city).

Mythological Troy

Troy is the main setting of Homer's Iliad; Let us recall that the work is dedicated to the last year of the Trojan War, which occurred in the 13th century BC. The war lasted 10 years: King Agamemnon of Mycenae, together with his allies, Greek troops, literally besieged the city. The purpose of the capture was to return Helen the Beautiful, wife of Menelaus, king of Argos and brother of Agamemnon.

The girl was kidnapped by the Trojan prince Paris, because at a beauty contest she was awarded the mercy of herself, who recognized Helen as the most beautiful woman living on earth.

Mentions of the Trojan War are also found in other literary sources: for example, in poems by several authors, as well as in Homer's Odyssey. Troy and later became one of the most popular stories in mythology and classical literature.

Homer describes Troy as a city surrounded by a strong, invincible wall. The Iliad also contains references to the fact that the city was fortified with high and steep walls with battlements at the ends.

The walls must have been unusually strong, since Troy was able to withstand a 10-year siege by the Greeks. The city could have been saved if the cunning Greeks had not come up with a horse move - and in the literal sense: the Danaans built a huge horse, which they seemed to give as a gift to the Trojans, but in fact the soldiers hid in it, and later were able to break into the city, defeating enemy forces.

It was known from Greek myths that the walls of Troy were so impressive that people believed that they were built by Poseidon and Apollo.

Archaeological finds of Troy

Existing from the Early Bronze Age (3000 BC) to the 12th century AD. the city, which is commonly called Troy, is located 5 km from the coast, but once it was located next to the sea.

The territory of Troy was limited by the bay created by the mouth of the Scamanda River, and the city occupied a strategically important position between the Aegean and Eastern civilizations, and also controlled access to the Black Sea, Anatolia and the Balkans - both on land and at sea.

The remains of the city of Troy were first discovered by Frank Calvert in 1863 AD, then the study of archaeological artifacts was continued by Heinrich Schliemann in 1870.

The scientist studied Troy for 20 years, until his death in 1890. Thus, Schliemann managed to discover an artificial hill 20 m high, which had remained untouched since antiquity. Schliemann's finds contained jewelry and vessels made of gold and silver, which were described as similar to those described by Homer in the Iliad.

However, all the artifacts were dated earlier and probably belonged to the period of Greek life before the Trojan War.

Excavations continued throughout the 20th century AD. and continue to this day.

According to the latest data, nine different cities could be located on the territory of the supposed city of Troy. Scientists have created a special classification, designating these cities with Roman numerals: from Troy I to Troy IX.

The history of Troy, according to historians, began with a small village. Then large buildings and fortification walls made of stone and brick appeared in it, later steep walls 8 meters high and 5 meters thick appeared (apparently, Homer mentioned them in the Iliad), the city occupied an area of ​​270,000 square meters.

The further fate of Troy is connected with fires and some major destruction - this is confirmed by archaeological finds.

The centuries-old existence of Troy influenced the development of arts and various crafts in neighboring cities: archaeologists often find replicas of jewelry, ceramics and military accessories created by craftsmen from other cities in the image and likeness of those that the Trojans once created.