Troy (Turkish Truva), second name - Ilion, ancient city in the northwest of Asia Minor, off the coast 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 in the events of the Iliad real story. 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.
Trojan War flared up because of a woman. According to Greek legend, the Trojan War broke out because one of the 50 sons of King Priam, Paris, kidnapped the beautiful Helen, the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. The Greeks sent troops precisely to take Helen away. However, according to some historians, this is most likely only the peak of the conflict, that is, the last straw that gave rise to the war. Before this, there were supposedly many trade wars between the Greeks and the Trojans, who controlled trade along the entire coast of the Dardanelles.
Troy survived for 10 years thanks to outside help. According to available sources, Agamemnon's army camped in front of the city on the seashore, without besieging the fortress from all sides. King Priam of Troy took advantage of this, establishing close ties with Caria, Lydia and other regions of Asia Minor, which provided him with assistance during the war. As a result, the war turned out to be very protracted.
The Trojan horse actually existed. This is one of the few episodes of that war that has never found its archaeological and historical confirmation. Moreover, there is not a word about the horse in the Iliad, but Homer describes it in detail in his Odyssey. And all the events associated with the Trojan horse and their details were described by the Roman poet Virgil in the Aeneid, 1st century. BC, i.e. almost 1200 years later. Some historians suggest that the Trojan horse meant some kind of weapon, for example, a ram. Others claim that Homer called Greek sea vessels this way. It is possible that there was no horse at all, and Homer used it in his poem as a symbol of the death of the gullible Trojans.
The Trojan horse got into the city thanks to a cunning trick by the Greeks. According to legend, the Greeks spread a rumor that there was a prophecy that if a wooden horse stood within the walls of Troy, it could forever defend the city from Greek raids. Most of the city's residents were inclined to believe that the horse should be brought into the city. However, there were also opponents. The priest Laocoon suggested burning the horse or throwing it off a cliff. He even threw a spear at the horse, and everyone heard that the horse was empty inside. Soon a Greek named Sinon was captured and told Priam that the Greeks had built a horse in honor of the goddess Athena to atone for many years of bloodshed. Tragic events followed: during a sacrifice to the god of the sea Poseidon, two huge snakes swam out of the water and strangled the priest and his sons. Seeing this as an omen from above, the Trojans decided to roll the horse into the city. He was so huge that he couldn’t fit through the gate and part of the wall had to be dismantled.
The Trojan Horse caused the fall of Troy. According to legend, on the night after the horse entered the city, Sinon released the warriors hiding inside from its belly, who quickly killed the guards and opened the city gates. The city, which had fallen asleep after the riotous festivities, did not even offer strong resistance. Several Trojan soldiers led by Aeneas tried to save the palace and the king. According to ancient times 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. Passion to 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 became closely involved Greek. An inexorable thirst for travel appeared in him. In 1868, 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.
“Whatever it is, fear the Danaans, even those who bring gifts!” - even those who are superficially familiar with the ancient Greek epic have heard this catchphrase-warning. The city of Troy was defeated through their own curiosity: the inhabitants themselves dragged warriors hidden in a wooden horse into its territory. Troy was captured and destroyed. Destroyed to the ground? How do we know about this? AND where is Troy?
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“Who from the immortal gods moved them to a hostile dispute?”
The events of those distant days are described in Homer’s poem “The Iliad” - the oldest ancient Greek work found. The poem is based on folklore tales of exploits dating back to the 9th-8th centuries BC. e. The capital of the Trojan kingdom was then called Ilion, and the songs describe the last months of the ten-year siege of Troy by the Danaans. Even the gods of Olympus were involved in the conflict that arose because of the beautiful Helen stolen by Paris. Some supported the Danaans, others helped the Trojans. The war lasted 10 years, and it seemed there would be no end to it. However, the cunning king of Ithaca, Odysseus, realized his insidious plan by building a hollow wooden horse in which he hid the best Greek warriors. The naive residents of Troy lost their vigilance and dragged the gift into the city. At night, the Danaans got out, opened the gates to their comrades and captured Troy. It would seem that this is just another myth, where there is truth and where there is fiction - it is no longer possible to find out, but in the 19th century it turned out that the city actually existed!
In Search of Troy
The German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann was fond of archeology and was literally obsessed with the idea of finding an ancient city and giving a clear answer to the question: where is Troy. He carefully studied the poem and, having reflected on the guesses of his predecessors, made the assumption that Troy was located somewhere near the Dardanelles Strait in Turkey. In 1870, during excavations, the ruins of a city were discovered, which clearly had great importance for the unknown ancient inhabitants. Former towers, dilapidated walls of fortifications and the altar of the once luxurious temple of Aphrodite confirmed - “Troy has been excavated, and there is no second.”
Archaeologists were able to discover nine cultural layers - Troy was destroyed and rebuilt several times. Earthquakes and wars were so merciless that now it is difficult to guess whether it is a simple cobblestone or part of someone’s home. Traces of a fire were noted, which Homer also mentioned. But Schliemann found no traces of Greek attacks, nor a gift from the Danaans. So was there really a horse? According to modern calculations, the wooden giant should have exceeded seven meters in height and had a width of about three meters. In order to accommodate two dozen armed men - the minimum number of warriors mentioned in the epics - the horse had to weigh about two tons!
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This question remains relevant for researchers. It is possible that it was not even a deadly gift, but a ram captured from the enemies. The Trojans brought it into the city as a trophy, but in the confusion they did not notice that armed opponents were hiding in the belly. But be that as it may, the phraseological unit, meaning evil intent or an insidious plan, has become popular among the people and is actively used. For example, this is where the name of computer viruses – “Trojans” – comes from.
Today to the ruins legendary city Tourists from all over the world come to see it. Troy is located far from popular holiday destinations and, but you can get here in several ways - by water and land. The closest and most convenient place is from the port city of Canakkale. To the delight of children and adults, upon entering the territory, guests are greeted by a huge wooden horse, into which you can climb, feeling like you are part of the legendary history.
A cozy tea and coffee shop is a corner of calm and pleasant relaxation next to the noisy, crowded and cheerful Peace Street. In the midst of walking home different nations Australia, Asia, Africa and Latin America look into the chamber. Small tables for two, a subdued atmosphere await you, traditional elements interior and, of course, first-class coffee, prepared according to all the rules - in a Turk on a special titanium for sand! You will not only try the drink, but also learn how to prepare it correctly: on Saturdays and Sundays at 12:00 the cafe hosts a free master class!
In addition, at your service big choice fresh, tasty, most beloved oriental sweets: sweet Turkish delight, honey baklava, juicy dates, golden halva...
Schliemann should be sharing the treasures with the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. However, the archaeologist secretly takes the treasure to Greece. Unsuccessful attempts to sell the exhibits to one of the world's museums lead to Schliemann donating the treasures to Berlin in exchange for his honorary citizenship in the city. After the end of World War II, as a trophy, they end up in the USSR, stay in basements for a long time, and then in the 90s of the last century they are transported to the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin.
To date, research scientists have found traces of 9 fortress settlements from different eras on Hisarlik. So far, 9 layers of Troy have been discovered:
Troy 0 or Kumtepe - Neolithic settlement.
The settlement of Troy I occupied an area with a diameter of 100 m and existed from 3000 to 2600 AD. BC. There was a fortress with walls, gates, and towers made of rough stone. The fire destroyed everything, including buildings made of clay bricks.
In Troy II, which existed from 2600 to 2300 BC, Schliemann found the “Trojan Treasure” (“Priam’s Treasure,” although scientists have proven that Schliemann’s find is a thousand years older than the events described by Homer): weapons, parts jewelry, fragments of gold and copper items, as well as slab graves from prehistoric and early historical eras. The fire also carried away this part of Troy, whose inhabitants were actively engaged in trade.
The three subsequent layers, Troy III-IV-V, with their finds spoke about the decline of the city from 2300 to 1900. BC.
Sixth Troy, which existed from 1900 to 1300. BC, occupied an area with a diameter of 200 meters and was a royal palace-citadel. The fortress walls were 4-5 meters thick. An earthquake contributed to the destruction of the polis in 1300 BC.
The Trojan War took place in Troy VII-A. It is this city, dating back to 1300 - 1200. BC, plundered and destroyed by the Athenians.
Dilapidated Troy VII-B, which existed from 1200 to 900. BC e., was occupied by the Phrygians.
The Alean Greeks inhabited Troy VIII, (900 - 350 BC). King Xerxes sacrifices over a thousand head of cattle here.
Troy IX has been a major city since 350 BC. to 400 AD The temple of Athena, a sanctuary for sacrifices, is being built. Julius Caesar after arriving in Troy in 48 BC. orders the expansion of the temple of Athena. Under Augustus, a council hall (bouleuterion), an odeon for musical performances, was erected.
The question of the language of the Trojans caused a lot of controversy and controversy among scientists: among others, the speech of the Phrygians, the language of the Etruscans, and the Cretan letter were mentioned. Already in the 21st century, scientists are inclined to argue that official language in Troy there was a Luwian language, this is confirmed by the discovery in the layer of the seventh Troy in 1995 of a seal with Luwian hieroglyphs.
The Trojan state was multinational: the Trojan War contributed to population migration.
The ruins of Troy are located on 165 square meters, which is 10 times less, according to scientists, than the city itself.
The historical park is still under excavation today: on the territory you can see “homeless” marble columns and other fragments of ancient buildings.
An archaeological reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Turkey, on the Asia Minor peninsula (its ancient Greek name is Anatolia), recognized as the very Troy that Homer described in his poems “The Iliad” and partly “The Odyssey”. Troy was discovered in 1873 by amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. But in the scientific archaeological community, Schliemann’s conclusion that this is the same Troy is not considered indisputable.
Ruins of an ancient city on Tissarlik hill. Regardless of whether it is genuine Troy, the city was undoubtedly the center of civilization on the Asia Minor peninsula.
FROM MYTHS TO REALITIES
Today Troy is an archaeological complex in Turkey, historical monument, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. This is what we will proceed from.
Until the 1870s Troy remained in the status of a myth, saturated with a mass of events that cannot be verified, which is an organic property of all legends that have gone through numerous oral interpretations. The main source of knowledge about Troy was the poem “Iliad” and partly “Odyssey” by the great Greek poet of antiquity Homer, who supposedly lived in the 8th century. BC e., although there are other hypotheses regarding it life path, even to such an extravagant suggestion that he could well be contemporary with the Trojan War between 1220 and 1180. BC e. (these dates are also controversial for many historians). One thing is certain - Homer, talentedly and with the passion of a Greek patriot, poeticized the events of that war in which the Achaean Greeks, under the leadership of the Mycenaean king Agamemnon, besieged Troy for nine years and won. Homer adhered to the information known at his time about the Trojan battles, both recorded on papyri and retold in myths and legends, not only Greek ones. And there was a man who unconditionally believed in the outline of events that Homer presented in the Iliad, and proved that his confidence was not unfounded.
His name was Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890), he was a merchant by occupation, an amateur archaeologist by hobby, and an adventurer by nature. In 1846-1864. Schliemann lived in Russia, took Russian citizenship, married a Russian woman and earned a considerable fortune, including from supplies during Crimean War 1853-1856, but mainly in the gold mines of California. He planned to spend almost all of this money on proving that the Iliad was a historically accurate document. In 1870, Schliemann received from Ottoman Empire permission to conduct excavations on the Gis-sarlyk hill on the Asia Minor peninsula: there was already indirect evidence that there, under a multi-meter layer of earth, there was a fortress of ancient times. Schliemann began by digging a ditch 15 m deep through the entire hill, without stopping for upper layers excavation Having reached the ruins of buildings, he suggested that one of them was the palace of the king of Troy, Priam. And finally, on May 31, 1873, Schliemann discovered treasures that he called “Priam’s treasure.” Among his finds (a total of more than 10,000), in addition to magnificent jewelry, there were many gold beads different forms. According to Schliemann himself, he found the entire “treasure of Priam” in one place, but whether this is true or whether he collected them in different layers is unknown. A photograph of Schliemann’s second wife, a Greek woman, wearing a golden headdress from the “Priam’s treasure” is widely known. It appeared after Schliemann secretly took his finds to Germany, and here he showed himself to be a merchant; a real scientist would hardly have acted like that. Even during Schliemann’s lifetime, it was established that the “Priam’s treasure” could not belong to this king; it dates back to approximately 2400-2300. BC e.
The archaeological site of Troy today represents 46 cultural layers, divided into 9 conventional eras (also called layers and dated in different sources with some differences). Kumtepe, or Troy 0, is a Neolithic settlement; Troy I (3000-2600 BC) - a city of pre-Greek culture, had a fortress wall with bastions; Troy II (2600-2450 BC) - Big City Minoan culture; Troy III-IV-V (2450-1700 BC) - small cities; Troy VI (1700-1250 BC) was destroyed by an earthquake; Troy VII-A (1250-1200 BC): period of the Trojan War; Troy VII-B (1200-900 BC): capture of the dilapidated city by the Phrygians; Troy VIII (900-350 BC): the city is owned by the Alean Greeks; Troy IX (350 BC - 400 AD): a significant center of the Hellenistic era.
According to the description of Homer and ancient historians, the area called Troy (Ilion, etc.) was located in Anatolia, more precisely in the west of the Asia Minor peninsula, near the coast of the Aegean Sea and the entrance to the Hellespont, this ancient name The Dardanelles Strait connects the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean Sea. It is believed that the ships of the Achaeans who besieged Troy were located between the mouths of the Scalamander and Simoent rivers. Judging by the historical map, there was a small bay there, but no more than a kilometer long, and it is unlikely that 1185 ships would fit there (according to Homer). The diagram shows the main layers of the Troy archaeological reserve.
TROY: “YES”, “NO” AND “YES” AGAIN
From the very first news of Schliemann's discovery, debates have not subsided about whether this is Troy or not Troy. Hundreds have been written on this topic. scientific works, books, articles, and every new archaeological discovery related to Troy immediately becomes a resonant event in the scientific world.
“I am not illustrating Homer” - this is what the head of the largest excavations of our time on Hisarlik, professor at the University of Tübingen (Germany) Manfred Korfmann (1942-2005), head of the German archaeological school, often stated. The findings of his expedition made it possible to prove that during the Trojan War it was not the Greeks who lived on the hill, but the Hittites. His colleague, opponent and compatriot Eberhard Zanger wrote a book in 1992 in which he tried to prove that the concentric ditches of Troy are similar to the fortifications of... Atlantis (according to Plato). Korfman just laughed about this. But in the main, the conclusions of both scientists coincided: Troy did not arise on the sites of Greek settlements, although Korfman only dug “the old fashioned way,” but Zanger did. a young man, he also used satellite images of the terrain and radar scans taken from a height of 3000 m above the ground. Until 1995, not a single artifact with Greek linear writing had been found in Troy, and now, finally, a find has been found, and on it are Luwian pictographs. The Luwians are a people related to the Hittites, who, along with the Hurrians and Urartians, played an important role in the ethnogenesis of the Armenians. Even such an expression arose - “Armenian Troy”. It has also been suggested that the pottery found in Troy by Korfman is not Mycenaean, but Luwian replicas. Privatdozent at the University of Tübingen Frank Starke, as a result of his own research, came to the conclusion that Troy is the Hittite city of Wilusa. In 1997, another important discovery was made on the outskirts of Troy. It was a grotto hewn out of the rock and identified by scientists as the sanctuary of the god Ka-skala Kur mentioned in the Luwian texts. Many researchers, however, believe that the Greek Cretan-Mycenaean and Luwian cultures in Troy penetrated each other, and it is wrong to separate them, much less oppose them.
In 1993, the Turkish archaeological expedition of Professor Hayat Erkanal found, 300 km south of Troy, under a five-meter layer of sediment, an ancient city similar to Troy, Liman Tepe (“harbor on a hill” in Turkish). But there was also a difference - the walls of Liman Tepe are more powerful, and the city itself is larger. It had an artificial harbor protected by a high wall. From the harbor, Greek and other traders moved into Anatolia along the river. And the Luwians built the city and the harbor. Erkanal found the remains of 12 more ancient settlements. In his opinion, many more ruins are hidden at the bottom of the sea, near the shores of Asia Minor and in river deltas. But it is difficult to excavate there due to the thickness of the sediment. On the Greek islands of Lemnos, Lesvos, Melos, Samos, and Chios, fortresses were excavated that were structurally reminiscent of both Troy and Limantepe. German archaeologists even called the ruins of the fortress on Samos “new Troy”.
At one time, Troy was called Dardani, after Dardan, the king of Upper Moesia (modern Serbia), who married the daughter of Teucer, the first king of Troy. But there was also Dardania in Upper Moesia, and there is a hypothesis that the real Troy was located there. Etruscan myths about Aeneas, the hero of the Trojan War (according to Homer), have been preserved. According to Titus Livy, Aeneas and his companions landed on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, and the landing place was called Troy. But, according to Greek myths, Aeneas did not sail anywhere after the Trojan War, but remained in Troy and ruled it. Place names associated with Troy exist in France, Spain, as well as Sardinia and Sicily. Some of them definitely predate the Trojan War. Although, most likely, these are some kind of linguistic parallels, the analysis of all “Trojan” toponyms, coupled with excavations and historical research, is still waiting in the wings.
FUN FACTS
■ In his diary, Schliemann described how his wife Sophia carried the most valuable items from “Priam’s treasure” in a basket of vegetables. But many scientists consider Schliemann a falsifier. What arouses their greatest suspicion is the fact that Schliemann found the most valuable gold objects... on the last day of his stay in Turkey, however, he changed the dates of this discovery several times. It has been suggested that these are generally products of Parisian jewelers, because there are traces of modern instruments. However, later examinations proved that no one in Schliemann’s time could have had examples of such things to create copies.
■ “Trojans” - malicious computer programs that launch viruses have general meaning with the concept of “Trojan horse”, meaning “cunning trap”. According to Homer’s “Odyssey” and Virgil’s “Aeneid,” after an unsuccessful siege, the Achaeans (Danaans), on the advice of the cunning Odysseus, built a huge wooden horse, on the side of which they wrote: “This gift is brought to Athena the Warrior by the departing Danaans.” At night, the warriors hiding inside the horse got out of it, killed the Trojan guards, opened the city gates, and Achaean troops poured into the city. This is where the catchphrase “Fear the Danaans who bring gifts” comes from.
■ Emperor Constantine the Great (272-337) had the intention of making Troy the new capital of the Roman Empire, but, having visited there and seen that the sea had receded quite far from the city, he made the Byzantine city (Constantinople, Istanbul) standing on the shores of the Bosphorus the capital.
■ According to one of the legends about Troy, its founder was called Il (hence Ilion). Under his son Laomedon, Troy took possession of all of Asia Minor and the Hellespont, built irrigation canals, and the gods Apollo and Poseidon took part in the construction - under the guise ordinary people. Laomedont promised Hercules a good horse for something, but deceived him, and the hero in anger destroyed the city (obviously, this is how the earthquake is described), killed the king, and gave his daughter Hesione to his comrade-in-arms Telamon, king of the island of Salamis. Hesione paid a ransom for her little brother Gift, who after that began to be called Priam (“Redeemed”). When Priam grew up, he rebuilt the city. Hesion gave birth to Teucr, the future king, from whom the Teucrian people descended. Aeschylus and Virgil called the Trojans Teucrians in their works, and Troy was called Troas.
■ The first to suggest that Troy could be on the Hissarlik hill was the British archaeologist Charles MacLaren (1782-1866), he was supported by Frank Calvert (1828-1908) - the British and American consul in the Ottoman lands of the eastern Mediterranean, an amateur archaeologist, who began excavations on the hill seven years before Schliemann. He did not have enough funds for large-scale work. From him, in fact, Schliemann learned about Hisarlik.
ATTRACTIONS
■ Ruins of Troy, an altar in the temple of Athena and wall fortifications with towers. Museum of Excavations.
■ “Trojan Horse” (you can visit inside this modern wooden sculpture).
■ Pithos Garden with irrigation system and ceramic vessels from the ancient era.
■ Nearby: ruins of the Temple of Apollo (5th century BC), archaeological reserve of Alexandria of Troy (3rd century BC), Ottoman castle of the 18th century. near the port of Babalekoy, the town of Ayvacik (handicraft market).
Atlas. The whole world is in your hands #238
The Trojan Horse is a symbol of Troy (located at the entrance to the Troy National Historical Park)
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 promised love herself. beautiful woman- Helen, wife of the Spartan king Menelaus.
Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite. And then he kidnapped Helen and took her to Troy.
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 were hiding into the city. 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. It happened in beginning of XII V. BC e.
Already in ancient times, among the peoples of Hellas, tales were known about the Trojan War, its heroes and the gods who helped them - the cunning Odysseus, the brave Achilles, the brave Hector, the powerful Poseidon, the beautiful Aphrodite and others.
Troy- this is a city-museum under open air and one of the most famous historical ones. Historians generally believe that it is he who is described in his famous works"Odyssey" and "Iliad" by the Greek poet Homer.
Troy was located in the north of the Asia Minor peninsula, not far from the Dardanelles Strait, which in ancient times was called the Hellespont. The area where this city stood was called Troas. In the Hittite archives, Troy appears as Taruisha.
But in the seventies of the nineteenth century, the famous archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, while conducting excavations on the Hissarlik hill, came across the ruins of nine cities located in different historical layers of the earth, one after another. After a thorough analysis, it was found that this is the place Homer describes, and this is where the legendary Troy is located.
The exact time of Homer's life is not known. It is believed that he lived between the 12th and 6th centuries. BC e. The right to be called his homeland was disputed by seven cities: Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Solomon, Rhodes, Argos and Athens.
Since then, this city has been one of the most popular, famous and visited attractions in Turkey. This museum city is included in the list world heritage UNESCO.
Troy— there are probably few people in the world who have not heard the name of this legendary city at least once in their lives, who have not heard of the famous Trojan horse, which abruptly changed course Trojan War. Starting from Homer's Iliad, where fifty-one days are described last year Trojan War, O Three a lot has been said and written. Troy has always interested and continues to interest a variety of scientists: archaeologists, historians, writers and local historians.
Troy on the map of Turkey
Tales of the Trojan War have been widely known in Greece since ancient times. Aed singers sang songs about this event everywhere. Around the 8th century. BC e. several poems were composed.
Two of them have reached us - the Iliad and the Odyssey, the author of which is considered to be the blind poet Homer. The Iliad tells about the events that occurred in the ninth year of the war, and the Odyssey is the story of the long, ten-year return home of the Ithacan king, who recalls some episodes of the siege and death of Troy, including the Trojan Horse.
In ancient times, everyone knew the Iliad and the Odyssey. All literate people had lists of them in their homes; many rich people even kept slaves who recited these poems by heart. Roman literature began with the translation of the Iliad into Latin. And everyone in antiquity was convinced that this was a story about real events in which the deeds of gods and heroes were mixed.
« Troy" And " Ilion" two different names the same mighty city in Asia Minor, at the entrance from the Aegean Sea to the strait.
The city was located on an ancient maritime trade route that connected the Aegean Sea with the Marmara and Black Seas.
Troy occupied a dominant position over the strait and this allowed the city to become a key center of trade between East and West during the Bronze Age.
According to Homer, the Scamander and Simois rivers flowed near the city. The Scamander River (Turkish: Karamenderes) originates on the slopes of the Ida Mountains, which are now called Kaz-Dag.
When Troy was first founded, it was located on the shores of the bay of the same name. But what we see today is no longer a bay, but a large plain because the alluvial sediments of the Scamander and Simoes rivers gradually accumulated and over the course of many centuries these river sediments practically filled the bay.
Nowadays, the ruins of the ancient Troy are located in Turkey, 30 km from the city of Canakkale, near the village of Tevfikiye.
Around 700 BC e. the Greek colony of New Ilion was founded in those places. Alexander the Great made sacrifices there before his victorious campaign in Asia; Constantine the Great at one time thought to establish his capital there, but chose Byzantium.
Many travelers specifically went to Troas to look at the places where these events took place. However, centuries passed, New Ilion fell into decay, and gradually the Trojan War began to be considered a fairy tale, a myth, especially since gods participated in the events.
Some researchers saw in the Iliad an allegory for other events, for example, the Hellenic colonization of Asia Minor. This seems plausible, because ancient legends say that the Greeks who besieged Troy sowed grain every spring and also constantly plundered the coast.
Such events are really not like punitive campaign, but for expansion, slow and heavy.
Today, the area where the modern Troy, is strikingly different from the one Homer describes. The silt deposits of the Kara Menderes and Dumrek-Su rivers moved the coastline back year after year, day after day, and now the city lies on a completely dry hill.
In the city-museum " Troy“There is certainly something to see; the ruins alone, dating back to different historical periods, are worth it. Tourist visits here are allowed from May to September from 8.00 to 19.00, and from September to April from 8.00 to 17.00. Price entrance ticket is 15 liras. The optimal solution for a more complete acquaintance with all the exhibits would be to hire a guide.
One of the most popular and favorite places in the city is the famous Trojan Horse, or to be precise, its wooden copy. Everyone can climb inside the horse and feel like cunning and dexterous supporters of Odysseus.
True, most often there are so many tourists that the majority not only cannot stand in line to get inside the Trojan horse, they simply cannot even get closer than a few hundred meters to it.
It may also be interesting to visit the Museum of Excavations, with numerous photographs, models and many other exhibits describing the stages of work to discover the city.
Numerous inquisitive tourists can visit the temple of Athena, impressive in its size and majesty, the mysterious and gloomy sanctuary of the ancient gods, the Odeon concert hall, and the houses of celebrities and the rich of Troy that have survived to this day.
For a long time the very existence Troy considered a myth or invention of Homer and the exact location Troy No one knew. Geographical descriptions, data in Homer's Iliad, led some scientists to suggest that the ruins Troy may be in the north-west of Asia Minor, somewhere at the entrance to (in the territory of modern Turkey).
In 1870, the famous self-taught archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, having received permission from the then Ottoman authorities, began excavations in the northwestern part of the Hissarlik hill (near the city of Canakkale). On May 31, 1873, Schliemann discovered a treasure, which he hastily named the “Treasure of Priam.”
Later it turned out that this was not the “Treasure of Priam”, because the age of the treasure was a thousand years older than the times described by the blind poet Homer. According to the Ottoman government's permission to excavate Hissarlik, Schliemann was obliged to transfer half of the finds to the Archaeological Museum in Istanbul. But he hid the treasures from the Turkish authorities and smuggled them to Greece.
In 1881, after unsuccessful attempts to sell the treasures in largest museums peace, Schliemann donated them to the city of Berlin, and this allowed him to become an honorary citizen of Berlin. Since 1945, the Trojan Treasure, taken as a trophy during the Second World War, has been located in Moscow in the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin.
Many still doubt that Schliemann discovered the very Troy, but one way or another, most scientists today are inclined to believe that Schliemann was still right, “Troy has been excavated, and there is no second.”
To the south of Troy are the ruins of another city, Alexandrea-Troas, which was founded in the 4th century BC. It was later captured by Alexander the Great and renamed in his honor. Near Alexandrea Troas is the ancient city of Ass or Behramkale. It is picturesquely located on a hill surrounded by dilapidated walls. In Assa, during the times of Plato and Aristotle, a fairly well-known for those times was founded philosophical school, many have visited it famous philosophers. The attractions of Assa include the Murad Mosque, which was built on the remains of a Byzantine church, numerous tombs, and caravanserais, which today have been rebuilt as hotels.
If you are coming from the small town closest to Troy, Canakkale, which is 30 km away, then getting to Troy is very easy. A regular intercity bus leaves this city regularly once an hour. His ring is located under the bridge near the Sari River. Travel time to your destination is usually half an hour. You will have to pay a small amount for a bus ticket - only three Turkish lira.
Be sure to check what time the last return bus to Canakkale leaves. You can get from Istanbul to Canakkale if you use intercity buses. The flight to Canakkale departs three times a day from the bus station near the Otogar metro station. True, you will have to spend about seven hours on the road.
