Where is Troy? Troy. History of Troy location on the map

You can call it Troy. The city of Troy (in Turkish - Truva), became known throughout the world thanks to the epics of the ancient Greek writer Homer and many legends and myths. The city of Troy is famous for the fact that the Trojan War took place here around 1200 BC.

Trojan War and Trojan Horse

According to Homer's Iliad, the ruler of Troy, King Priam, waged war with the Greeks because of the kidnapped Helen. Helen was the wife of Menelaus, the ruler of the Greek city of Sparta, but she eloped with Paris, the prince of Troy. Since Paris refused to return Helen, a war ensued that lasted 10 years. In Homer's other poem, The Odyssey, he talks about how Troy was destroyed. The Trojan War took place between a coalition of Achaean tribes and the Trojans and is famous for the fact that the Achaeans (ancient Greeks) took Troy through military stratagem. The Greeks built a huge wooden horse and left it in front of the gates of Troy, while they sailed away. There were warriors hidden in the horse, and on the side of the horse there was the inscription “This gift was left to the goddess Athena.” 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. The expression “Trojan horse” now means a gift that causes harm. This is where the name of malicious computer programs came from – “Trojan horses” or simply “Trojans”.

Where is Troy today?

Sung by Homer and Virgil, Troy was discovered in the northwestern part of modern Turkey, at the entrance from the Aegean Sea to the strait Dardanelles(Hellespont). Today the village of Troya lies approximately 30 km south of the city Canakkale. And the distance from Troy is 430 km (5 hours by bus). Over the course of many millennia, through the lands where there was Troy, there were roads from west to east and from north to south, today, among fields planted with peppers, corn and tomatoes, Troy looks more than modest.

Excavations of Troy

For a long time Troy remained a legendary city until the ruins of an ancient settlement were discovered by a German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in 1870. During the excavations, it became clear that this city was of great importance for the ancient world. The main part of the excavations of Troy is located on the Hissarlik hill, where paths and roads were carefully arranged for tourists. The symbol of the city has become the famous Trojan Horse, a model of which is located at the entrance of the complex. The only thing that generally reminds us of the legendary city is the symbol of Troy - a wooden horse, located at the entrance to the territory of the National Park. Anyone can go inside and look at the unusual way of conquering the city, which Odysseus once came up with. Was there really a horse? This can be found in the excavation museum. At the entrance, not far from the horse, there is a museum of excavations, which shows the stages of the discovery of the city, the first artifacts found and a model of the city as it was during “life.” In addition to the model, there is a whole album with sketches of a functioning city. Local stalls sell copies of it as souvenirs.

What to see in Troy

Next to the small museum at the entrance there is a garden containing real clay pots "Pithos" from Troy, as well as water pipes and a picture of the city's water supply system. The most important attraction of the ancient city, of course, are the ruins. Many buildings have reached us in very poor condition, and to understand where everything is, you will need the help of a guide. In the ancient world, Troy was known as Ilion, and it was attacked and destroyed many times throughout the city's life. Now it is difficult to understand whether the cobblestone is in front of you or a piece of a residential building. There are few building fragments, but archaeologists and artists were able to recreate almost all the buildings on paper.

The most interesting buildings are the towers and wall fortifications near the altar of the Temple of Athena. Why? Because then it turns out that everything that Homer wrote about in the Iliad is true. Not far from the city there are new excavations, presumably the city of Alexandria, which is located near the residential village of Gulpinar. The remains of the Temple of Apollo have already been found in the city of Alexandria. Soon they plan to annex the city to the complex of the ruins of Troy and open a museum of Homer’s work. From the excavations of this city it will be clearer what Homer wrote, because many of the events of the Iliad took place here.

Myths and legends about the Trojan War

Judgment of Paris

Myths say that the goddess of discord Eris was not invited to the wedding of the nymph Thetis with Peleus. After which she decided to take revenge, appeared at the feast uninvited and threw a golden apple on the table, on which was written: “To the most beautiful.” Three goddesses - Aphrodite, Hera and Athena - immediately started a dispute about who should get it, and they invited the Trojan prince Paris to play the role of judge. Hera promised to make him the ruler of all Asia, Athena promised beauty, wisdom and victories in all battles, and Aphrodite - the love of the most beautiful woman - Helen, the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta. Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite. And then he kidnapped Helen and took her to Troy.

Elena's kidnapping

After the abduction of Helen, the Greek kings, allies of Menelaus, at his call, gathered an army of 10 thousand soldiers and a fleet of 1178 ships and marched on Troy. The commander-in-chief was King Agamemnon of Mycenae. The siege of Troy, which had many allies, lasted ten years. The Greek hero Achilles, the Trojan prince Hector and many others died in the battles. Finally, the cunning king of Ithaca, Odysseus, proposed a plan to capture the city. The Greeks built a hollow wooden horse and, leaving it on the shore, pretended to set sail. The Trojans rejoiced and dragged the horse in which the Greek soldiers hid. At night, the Greeks got out and opened the gates to their comrades, who were actually behind the nearest cape. Troy was destroyed and burned. Menelaus returned Helen and took her home.

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.

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 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.

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’ 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 varying degrees of success. 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, a city described by Homer in the poem “The Iliad,” is an ancient fortified settlement of Asia Minor, located off the coast of the Aegean Sea, near the entrance to the Dardanelles Strait. While vacationing in Turkey, you should not miss the chance to see this grandiose city and once again remember the events described by Homer. In the ruins of Troy, you can visit several archaeological zones belonging to certain cultural layers and learn the peculiarities of the life of the people who inhabited this land.

Excavations of the ancient city began in 1870 by the German amateur archaeologist and entrepreneur Heinrich Schliemann. Since childhood, he was fascinated by the story of Troy and was convinced of the existence of this settlement. Excavations began on a hillside, near the village of Hisarlik. The ruins of nine cities were discovered, one below the other. The archaeologist found a large number of objects made of bone, stone, copper and precious metals. Deep in the hill, Heinrich Schliemann came across a very ancient fortress, which he confidently called the city of Priam. After Schliemann's death in 1890, his work was continued by his colleague Wilhelm Dörpfeld. In 1893 and 1894 he excavated the more extensive perimeter of Troy VI. It is this city that dates back to the Mycenaean era and therefore it was recognized as Homeric Troy. The most intensive excavations are currently being carried out on the territory of this cultural layer, which bears obvious traces of fire.

In ancient times, Troy played a leading role in the region from both a military and economic point of view. She had a large fortress and a defensive fort on the seashore, which gave her the ability to control the movement of ships through the Hellespont and the roads connecting Asia and Europe by land. The city ruler imposed a tax on the transported goods or did not let them pass at all. This led to numerous conflicts in the region, which began as early as the Bronze Age. Economic and cultural ties connected Troy of that period not with the East, but with the West and the Aegean civilization. The city was inhabited almost continuously for three and a half millennia.

Thanks to archaeological excavations, it is known that most of the buildings of Troy were erected on low stone foundations, and their walls were built of mud brick. When structures were destroyed, their debris was not cleared, but only leveled for the construction of new buildings. In the ruins of Troy, there are 9 main layers, each with its own subdivisions. The features of settlements from different eras can be characterized as follows.

The first city was a small fortress, the diameter of which did not exceed 90 meters. The structure had a strong defensive wall with square towers and gates. Pottery from this period has a polished surface in gray and black and is sculpted without the use of a potter's wheel. There are tools made of copper.

A large citadel with a diameter of about 125 meters was erected on the ruins of the first fortress. It also had high thick walls, gates and protruding towers. There was a ramp leading to the south-eastern side of the fortress. The defensive wall was restored twice and expanded with the growth of the city's power and wealth. In the center of the fortress there are ruins of a palace with a beautiful portico and a huge main hall. The palace was surrounded by a courtyard with small living quarters and warehouses. The seven phases of Troy II formed overlapping architectural layers. At the last stage, the settlement was destroyed in a fire so intense that the heat caused the stone and brick to crumble and turn to dust. Judging by the large number of valuables and household items found, the fire was sudden and the inhabitants of the city did not have time to take anything with them.

The settlements of Troy III, IV and V consist of clusters of small houses separated from each other by narrow streets. Each of them is larger than the previous one. These periods are represented by vessels with molded images of a human face. Along with local products, imported goods characteristic of mainland Greece were also discovered.

The early stages of Settlement VI are marked by evidence of horses. At this time the city was extremely rich and powerful. The diameter of its fortress exceeded 180 m, and the width of the wall, made of cut stone, was about 5 meters. There were at least four gates and three towers along the perimeter of the citadel. Inside the settlement, large buildings and columned palaces were located in concentric circles, rising along terraces to the center of the hill. The end of this era was a very strong earthquake, which covered the walls with cracks and collapsed the buildings themselves. Throughout the subsequent stages of Troy VI, the main type of local pottery remained gray Minoan pottery, supplemented by a few amphorae brought from Greece and vessels imported during the Mycenaean era.

Later this area was repopulated. The remaining wall parts and building blocks were reused. Now the houses were built smaller in size, they were pressed against each other, so that many more people could fit in the fortress. Large jars of supplies were now stored in the floors of the houses in case of any disaster. The first period of Troy VII burned down, but part of the population returned and settled on the hill again. Later, another tribe joined the inhabitants, who brought with them ceramics made without a potter's wheel, which indicate Troy's connections with Europe. Now it has become a Greek city. Troy was quite comfortable in the early periods, but by the 6th century BC. part of the population left the city and it fell into decay. On the southwestern slope of the acropolis, the remains of the temple of Athena from that time have been preserved.

During the Hellenistic era, this place played no role, except for the memories of the heroic past associated with it. In 334 BC Alexander the Great made a pilgrimage to this city. His successors and the Roman emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty carried out a large-scale reconstruction of the city. The top of the hill was cut off and leveled, so that layers VI, VII and VIII of Troy were mixed. A temple of Athena with a sacred site was built here. A little to the south, on a level area, public buildings were erected and surrounded by a wall, and on the north-eastern slope a large theater was built. During the era of Constantine the Great, the city flourished and the ruler even intended to make it the capital, but the settlement again lost its importance with the rise of Constantinople.

These days, the area around Troy has changed beyond recognition. Silt deposits from local rivers flowing into the bay have moved the coastline several kilometers to the north. Now the ruins of the ancient city are located on a dry hill. A team of scientists dated fossils found in soil taken from two river valleys using radiocarbon dating techniques. Using these data, researchers were able to determine the topography of this area in the Homeric era.

Now the restoration of the famous Trojan horse has been completed on the excavation site, and tourists visiting Turkey have a unique opportunity to examine this wooden masterpiece, which exactly matches Homer’s description. The Trojan Horse, which once helped the cunning Achaeans capture the city, is now an original panoramic platform. Unfortunately, apart from the model of a horse, there is little here that can attract the traveler’s eye. It is believed that this place is one of the greatest fairy tales of the world, so it will be enough to at least just soak in this atmosphere.