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 warriors, 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, Türkiye: 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 in Troy there is little to attract the traveler's eye. 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. Ilion 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, like the Trojan War, are legendary places and events in world history and culture, but where is this Troy located? The city was destroyed by the Greeks back in the 12th century BC, and traces of its location were lost over time. But then she was found on the territory of modern Turkey...
Another question that worried scientists was what was the name of the main city in this state. Troy, most likely, was the name of the region or state, and the capital, within whose walls the Trojan horse was installed, most likely had a different name - Ilion. For its time, Troy was a fairly strong state and entered into relations with its neighbors, including the Hittites, possibly with the ancient Egyptians and other peoples. From them other names of the country and city appeared - Scamander, Dardania, Wilusa, Taruisha, etc.
Horse statue in Canakkale city
The first to begin excavations at the site of the supposed Troy, which researchers were looking for almost all over the world, was Heinrich Schliemann, an amateur archaeologist, in 1871. After some time, he found the same Troy in the Hissarlik hill.
Nowadays, Troy should be looked for 7 kilometers from the Turkish Chinakkale - the narrowest point of the Dardanelles Strait. It is approximately 5 hours drive from Istanbul. The city has its own airport, but usually tourists buy bus excursions there or travel by regular buses.
View of the strait
Unfortunately, you can see little these days; on the site of Troy you will not see palaces, temples, giant theaters and other ancient objects. The best preserved walls here are walls from different eras, as well as individual objects and elements. Troy was round in plan and consisted of a central part - the citadel, where the ruler's palace was located. Outside the walls of the citadel there were simpler houses of citizens. They, in turn, were also behind the wall. The city was located on a hill and lay, as it were, in terraces.
Schliemann's excavations were quite superficial; the real results were given by later excavations, which revealed the entire history of ancient Troy. It turned out that Troy or Ilion is one of the most ancient cities in the world. At the site of the city, 9 layers of different eras were found, the last of which ended with the rule of Rome. However, the first people began to live in this place during the Neolithic, that is, about 10 thousand years ago.
Plan of Troy today
The first settlement with houses made of clay appeared here about 5,000 years ago, this is the so-called Troy I. It is believed that it died in a fire. Troy I was replaced at the time of the pyramids by Troy II - a much more developed settlement with powerful defensive walls. But this period in the history of the city also ended in fire. After him, for 400 years until 1900 BC. Troy III-IV-V were one after the other, but they were not of particular interest. On the site of Troy there are now quite a lot of objects from this particular period.
What Troy II looked like
Remains of the walls of Troy I
This is what the walls of the citadel of Troy II looked like, at the base of which there was sandstone, and then clay bricks
Reconstruction of the walls, the main entrance to the city is right there
The center of the citadel, there were two large houses here
In some areas you can see signs - III and IV
Restored one of the entrances to Troy II, which was also used at a later time - the southwestern gate
Then, for almost 600 years, the newly rich and developed Troy VI existed. But an earthquake engulfed the city. From this period, powerful walls remain, of which there are many well-preserved sections here.
Another gate to the city (in the east)
It's hard to understand, but here was Megaron - a large rectangular house with a fireplace in the center of Troy VI
Somewhere here was the temple of Athena Troy IX
Another gate
Southern gate to Troy VI, to the left of the "house with pillars" entrance
Walls of Troy VI with objects of Troy VIII and IX
After the earthquake on the site of Troy VI, the time came for that same Homeric Troy, which we know from Homer’s immortal “Illiad” - Troy VII. It was in the same place as before, and the walls of Troy VI can be considered its walls. You will not find any isolated objects on the hill during this period.
Looks like a sewer
In the 12th century, the Greeks won the war and destroyed the city. And subsequently, everything that remained was captured by the Phrygians. In the 10th century the time came for Troy VIII, inhabited by the Greeks. It is known that during its existence, King Xerxes himself came here and slaughtered a large number of cattle in honor of the heroes of Troy. In the middle of the 4th century, the city was occupied by the Balkan Greeks, and then by the Romans, who considered themselves descendants of the Trojans. This became the VIII layer of the history of Troy. The history of Troy ended in the 4th century, when the sea receded and the city lost its strategic importance as a city that protected the entrance to the Sea of Marmara, and then the Black Sea. This role passed to Byzantium, which later became Constantinople.
Buildings from the Troy VIII period
Roman baths
Odeon
Bouleuterium - administrative building
Remains of the Temple of Athena of Troy IX
The Roman well, which went 37.5 meters deep, was built in the 4th century BC
Behind the city walls
The Sanctuary of Troy IX consisted of several temples and appeared here in the middle of the 7th century BC
The shells in the ground show that there was once a sea here
In fact, on the hill we see a huge mixture of a large number of eras and cities, which over the course of 3 thousand years were built on top of each other and often used old fortifications. The only thing you can notice is that the city was constantly growing. However, almost nothing remains in the city from the period of the Trojan War; most of the buildings appeared here much earlier and several appeared almost a thousand years later.
Not far from the hill, about 300 meters from the city, there is a water tunnel connected to the lower city and partially dug by hand in the 3rd millennium BC, that is, during Troy I or Troy II. The length of the cave is 160 meters. Over time, this place became sacred; city residents believed that the cave led to an underground god.
The tunnel was used throughout the existence of Troy
At the entrance to the territory there is another Trojan horse that you can climb into
Entrance to the Troy excavation site is open from 8 to 20.00 daily. In 2015, the ticket price was 20 Turkish lira, now I think it’s from 30 to 40.
Ruins of Troy
Many of us have heard at least once in our lives the name of the ancient city of Troy, or Ilion. The city was located on the territory of Asia Minor on the coast of the Aegean Sea. Today, lovers of travel and old cities are looking for information about where Troy was and where its ruins can now be seen.
Troy in the past
The oldest archaeological traces of Troy date back to 2900-2500 BC. The ancient state of Troy was located near the Dardanelles Strait (Hellespont) in the Aegean Sea; it was founded at the mouth of the bay of the same name. The ancient sea route connecting the Marmara, Black and Aegean seas was under the control of the Trojan state in those days. Troy was one of the important trading states.
For a long time it was believed that Troy was just a mythical state that was invented in ancient times. But everything changed after in 1870, the famous self-taught archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann found a treasure in the northwestern part of Hisarlik Hill (near the city of Canakkale in modern Turkey). During further excavations, the Ancient City was found.
Troy today
The ruins of Troy are located in Turkey, near the city of Canakkale, about 30 km. The closest settlement is the village of Tevfikiye. You can quickly get to the museum from the city of Canakkale; buses make regular trips, the minimum cost of a ticket is 3 liras.
The ruins of the city are of particular interest. They consist of 10 main layers. This is due to the fact that the city was destroyed and rebuilt several times during various military invasions.
It is worth noting that the city-museum of Troy is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
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 a 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 the king of Sparta Menelaus. 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.
