By
Brian Freeman
“This war will never be forgotten, nor will the heroes who fight in it.” Odysseus
ª The Troy is home to one of the most legendary stories of warfare of all time the Trojan War.
ª The Trojan War was the epic battle between the Greeks lead by Agamemnon and Troy for nine years.
ª The epic tale first written by the blind poet Homer in his work the Iliad.
ª Homer’s Iliad has fascinated and inspired Western Literature writers for centuries. (See Homer left)
¨ The Roman poet Virgil’s who lived much later after Homer created the Trojan Horse story which is told in his work the Aeneid.
¨ The Trojans accepted the horse as a gift and brought it inside the walls of the Troy. When night fell and the Trojans were vulnerable, some of Greek warriors emerged from the wooden horse and opened the gates of Troy for the other Greek soldiers. The Greeks slaughtered the Trojans and burnt down the entire city. Artist depication of Virgil’s tale left.
The city of Troy was lost for centuries until 1871 when a young German businessman and adventurer Heinrich Schliemann began excavating the Hisarlik hill in Turkey.
Heinrich Schliemann, using Homer’s book The Iliad as a guide book, claimed the discovery of Troy.
¨ Eventual archeology digs at Hisarlik hill in Turkey uncovered multiple layers of a vast ancient city which had re-built on top of itself. The most intriguing of the, nine major archaeological layers discovered at Troy is the layer known as Troy VII and VIIA which has been most closely identified with Homer’s Troy.
¨ Troy I (3000-2500) was a small fortification, probably believed to be occupied by a community that made its living from fishing. Destroyed by conflagration.
¨ Troy II(2500-2200) Schliemann discovery of the treasure of Priam comes from this period. Troy II was destroyed by fire, assumed as the result of an attack by Indo-European invaders.
Sources
Brandau, Birgit . “Homer & Troy: Can Archaeology Discover Homer’s Troy?” Archaeology Odyssey 1:01, Winter (1998): Biblical Archaeology Society. [http://www.basarchive.org/bswbBrowse.asp?PubID=BSAO&Volume=1&Issue=1&ArticleID=5&UserID=2322]; accessed November 30, 2008.
McDonagh, Bernard. Blue Guide Turkey The Aegean and Mediterranean Coasts. New York:Penguin Books, 1989.
Schuchhardt, Carl. Schliemann's Discoveries of the Ancient World. New York: Avenel Books, 1979.
People have been seeking Troy for three thousand years.Should be said immediatly,ancient Greeks misplaced it,thus they do not know where to locate it;later on the Macedonian king Alexander the great locates it ,incorrectlly in the Asia minor peninsula.It's a fact that Greece has appeared after the dark age,five hundart years after the Trojan war,so it shouldn't be a surprise that Greeks couldn't locate the city.So,the question is if there are any correllations between the newly formed Greece and the ancient word of Homer at all.Schliemann represents a generation that started this research with passion,and did a huge job with lots of excavations revealing cities from the late bronze age,throughout the Mediterranean ;but what was exactly discovered is highly questionable.Today is time for changes.Homer's Iliad has inspirated Croatian historian Vedran Sinožić who finds Troy in Croatia in the city of Motovun, which appears a new cognitions on the Adriatic coast.
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