On the territory of which modern country was Troy located? Where is Troy? Archaeological finds of Troy
Troy (Truva, Troy) is a city located in the northwestern part of Anatolia, near the Dardanelles and Mount Ida, and is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Troy is known mostly because of the Trojan War (and that same horse), described in many works of ancient epic, including the famous “Odyssey” and “Iliad” by Homer.
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. .jpg)
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.
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The early layers of Troy belong to the original Western Anatolian civilization. Gradually, Troy experienced increasing influence from central Anatolia (the Hutts, later the Hittites).
The name "Troy" appears in the Hittite cuneiform tablets of the Boğazköy Archive as Taruisha. An Egyptian stele from the time of Ramses III mentions his victory over the sea people "Tursha". This name is often compared with the Teresh people, mentioned a little earlier on the famous Merneptah stele. There is no consensus in the scientific world about whether these aliens were Trojans. Names with this root are found in Mycenaean texts, for example the commander of the detachment to-ro-o.
Previously, considerations were expressed that the terms “Troy” and “Ilion” could denote different cities of the same ancient state, or one of these terms could denote the capital, and the other the state itself, and “merged” into one term only in the Iliad "(according to Gindin and Tsymbursky, Troy is the designation of a country, and Ilion is a city). This point of view is not without foundation, since the Iliad, in turn, contains fragments with parallel plots, that is, perhaps going back to different retellings of the same plot; Moreover, the Iliad appeared many centuries after the events of the Trojan War, when many details could have been forgotten.
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Excavations of Troy
Among historians contemporary to Heinrich Schliemann, there was a widespread hypothesis that Troy was located on the site of the village of Bunarbashi. The identity of Hisarlik Hill with Homer's Troy was suggested in 1822 by Charles MacLaren. A supporter of his ideas was Frank Calvert, who began excavations in Hisarlik 7 years before Schliemann. Ironically, the site of Hisarlik Hill, which belonged to Calvert, turned out to be away from Homer's Troy. Heinrich Schliemann, who knew Calvert, began a focused study of the second half of the Hissarlik Hill at the end of the 19th century. Most of Schliemann's finds are now kept in the Pushkin Museum (Moscow), as well as in the State Hermitage. To date, archaeologists have discovered traces of nine fortress settlements that existed in different eras on the excavation site in Hisarlik.
The first settlement found in Hisarlik (the so-called Troy I) was a fortress less than 100 m in diameter and apparently existed for a long period. The seventh layer belongs to the era described in the Iliad. During this period, Troy was a vast settlement (with an area of over 200 thousand m²), surrounded by strong walls with nine-meter towers. Major excavations in 1988 showed that the population of the city in the Homeric era was between six and ten thousand inhabitants - a very impressive number for those times. According to the expedition of Manfred Korfman, the area of the lower city was approximately 170 thousand m², the citadel - 23 thousand m².
Nine main layers of ancient Troy
Troy I (3000-2600 BC): The first Trojan settlement, 100 m in diameter, was built with very primitive dwellings made of clay bricks. Judging by the remaining traces, it died in a fire. The pottery has similarities to the pottery of the Jezero culture in Bulgaria.
Troy II (2600-2300 BC): The next settlement appears to be more developed and rich. In 1873, the German archaeologist Schliemann discovered in this layer the famous Trojan treasure, which consisted of numerous weapons, copper trinkets, parts of precious jewelry, gold vessels, and gravestones from the prehistoric and early historical periods. In the 3rd millennium BC. e. this highly developed culture was also destroyed by fire.
Troy III-IV-V (2300-1900 BC): These layers indicate a period of decline in the history of the ancient city.
Troy VI (1900-1300 BC): The city increased in diameter to 200 meters. The settlement was the victim of a strong earthquake in 1300 BC. e.
Troy VII-A (1300-1200 BC): The famous Trojan War dates back to this period. The Athenians later sacked and destroyed the settlement.
Troy VII-B (1200-900 BC): Dilapidated Troy was captured by the Phrygians.
Troy VIII (900-350 BC): At this time, the city was inhabited by Alean Greeks. King Xerxes then visited Troy and sacrificed more than 1000 heads of cattle here.
Troy IX (350 BC - 400 AD): Quite a large center of the Hellenistic era.
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Where is. How to get to Troy
Troy is located 2 km from the Canakkale-Izmir highway (D550/E87), from which you need to turn off at the Troy or Truva sign.
The closest city to Troy, Canakkale, is located 30 km north of it. From there to Troy there are buses every hour, departing from a stop under the bridge over the Sari River. The journey by bus will take about half an hour. A taxi ride will cost 60-70 TRY. Prices on the page are for January 2017.
In summer, buses leave regularly, but at other times it is better to arrive early so as not to miss the last bus heading back.
Troy Hotels
Most of the hotels are located in Canakkale, so tourists most often stay there and come to Troy for one day. In Troy itself, you can stay at the Varol Pansiyon Hotel, located in the center of the neighboring village of Tevfikiye.
Opposite the entrance to Troy is the Hisarlik Hotel, owned by local guide Mustafa Askin.
Restaurants
There aren't many restaurants in Troy either. The above-mentioned Hisarlik Hotel has a cozy restaurant with home cooking, open from 8:00 to 23:00. If you decide on it, be sure to try guvec - meat stew in a pot.
In addition, you can dine at the Priamos or Wilusa eateries, also located in the village. Both restaurants serve Turkish cuisine, and the latter is well known for its meatballs and tomato salad.
Entertainment and attractions of Troy
Near the entrance to the city there is a wooden copy of the Trojan Horse, which you can go inside. But it is better to do this on weekdays, because on weekends it is filled with tourists and it will be quite difficult to climb up or look around inside. But, when visiting Troy in winter, it is quite possible to get a horse for your own use.
Next to it is the Museum of Excavations, which displays models and photographs telling what the city looked like in different periods. Opposite the museum is the Pithos garden with water pipes and clay pots from that time.
But the main attraction of Troy is undoubtedly the ruins. The city is open to visitors daily from 8:00 to 19:00 from May to September and from 8:00 to 17:00 from October to April.
Having a guide would have greatly helped in getting to know Troy, since the ruins of many buildings are quite difficult to identify on your own, and due to the different historical layers, they are all mixed up.
Troy was destroyed and rebuilt 9 times - and from each of the restorations something remains in the city to this day, although amateur excavations in the 19th century. turned out to be extremely destructive.
To explore the city, it is most convenient to use the road that encircles it in a circle. To the right of the entrance are visible walls and a tower from the period of Troy VII (that is, the city as it became after it was rebuilt 7 times), dating back to the period when the city most closely matched the descriptions of Homer in the Iliad. There you can go down the stairs and walk along the walls.
Then the road will lead to brick walls, partly restored and partly preserved in their original form. Above them is the ruined altar of the Temple of Athena, along which are the walls of the early and middle periods, and opposite are the houses of the rich inhabitants of the city.
The path then passes by trenches left over from Schliemann's excavations to a palace complex, also dating from the period most likely described in the Iliad. To the right of the palace are parts of the sanctuary of the ancient gods.
Finally, the path leads to the Odeon concert hall and the city council chambers, from where along a stone road you can return to the place from which the inspection began.
Neighborhood of Troy
30 km south of ancient Troy is the no less ancient Alexandria of Troy, a city founded by the commander of Alexander the Great, Antigonus, in 300 BC. e. However, this vast archaeological site, unlike the popular Troy, is almost unmarked. Accordingly, it is unlikely that you will be able to figure it out yourself, without deep knowledge of ancient history.
Notable are the outskirts of the village of Gulpinar, where the picturesque ruins of the Temple of Apollo, which was built in the 5th century, are located. BC e. colonists from Crete. The westernmost point of Asia, Cape Baba, is interesting for its fishing port Babakalekoy (Babakale, “Baba Fortress”), where there is a charming Ottoman castle of the 18th century. Here you can also freshen up by swimming either right among the boulders that frame the harbor on both sides, or by driving another 3 km north to a nice, well-equipped beach.
Another highlight of these places is the town of Ayvacik, 30 km east of Troy. At the end of the week, traders from all over the outskirts flock to the local market; the best souvenir from here is a colorful carpet. If you are lucky enough to get to Ayvadzhik at the end of April, you can catch the traditional annual gathering of nomadic peoples Paniyir. At this time, vibrant dance and musical performances and noisy bazaars are held throughout the city, where thoroughbred horses are exhibited. In addition, 25 km to the south lies ancient Assos, the name of which pleases the ears of more than one admirer of antiquity.
THE LORD ABOUT THE TROJAN HORSE
The war between the Trojans and the Danaans began because the Trojan prince Paris stole the beautiful Helen from Menelaus. Her husband, the king of Sparta, and his brother gathered the army of Achaea and went against Paris. During the war with Troy, the Achaeans, after a long and unsuccessful siege, resorted to cunning: they built a huge wooden horse, left it near the walls of Troy, and they themselves pretended to sail away from the shore of the Troas (the invention of this trick is attributed to Odysseus, the most cunning of the Danaan leaders , and the horse was made by Epeus). The horse was an offering to the goddess Athena of Ilium. On the side of the horse was written “This gift is brought to Athena the Warrior by the departing Danaans.” To build the horse, the Hellenes cut down the dogwood trees (cranei) growing in Apollo’s sacred grove, appeased Apollo with sacrifices and gave him the name Carnea (for the horse was made of maple).
The priest Laocoont, seeing this horse and knowing the tricks of the Danaans, exclaimed: “Whatever it is, be afraid of the Danaans, even those who bring gifts!” (Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes!) and threw his spear at the horse. However, at that moment, 2 huge snakes crawled out of the sea and killed Laocoont and his two sons, since the god Poseidon himself wanted the destruction of Troy. The Trojans, not listening to the warnings of Laocoon and the prophetess Cassandra, dragged the horse into the city. Virgil’s hemistich “Fear the Danaans, even those who bring gifts,” often quoted in Latin (“Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes”), has become a proverb. This is where the phraseological unit “Trojan horse” arose, used to mean: a secret, insidious plan disguised as a gift.
Inside the horse sat 50 of the best warriors (according to the Little Iliad, 3000). According to Stesichorus, 100 warriors, according to others - 20, according to Tsets - 23, or only 9 warriors: Menelaus, Odysseus, Diomedes, Thersander, Sfenel, Acamant, Foant, Machaon and Neoptolemus. The names of all were listed by the poet Sakad of Argos. Athena gave the heroes ambrosia.
At night, the Greeks, hiding inside the horse, got out of it, killed the guards, opened the city gates, let in their comrades who had returned on ships, and thus took possession of Troy (“Odyssey” by Homer, 8, 493 et seq.; “Aeneid” by Virgil, 2, 15 et seq. Sl.). .jpg)
Interpretations
According to Polybius, “almost all barbarian peoples, at least most of them, kill and sacrifice a horse either at the very beginning of a war, or before a decisive battle, in order to reveal a sign of the near future in the fall of the animal.”
According to the euhemeristic interpretation, in order to drag him in, the Trojans dismantled part of the wall, and the Hellenes took the city. According to the assumptions of some historians (found already with Pausanias), the Trojan Horse was actually a battering machine, used to destroy walls. According to Dareth, a horse’s head was simply sculptured on the Skeian Gate.
There was the tragedy of Jophon “The Destruction of Ilion”, the tragedy of an unknown author “The Departure”, the tragedies of Livius Andronicus and Naevius “The Trojan Horse”, as well as the poem of Nero “The Wreck of Troy”.
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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
Ivic O. Troy. Five thousand years of reality and myth. M., 2017.
Gindin L. A. Population of Homeric Troy, 1993.
Gindin L. A., Tsymbursky V. L. Homer and the history of the Eastern Mediterranean. M., 1996.
Blegen K. Troy and the Trojans. M., 2002.
Schliemann G. Ilion. City and country of the Trojans. M., 2009, vol. I-II.
Schliemann G. Troy. M., 2010.
Treasures of Troy. From the excavations of Heinrich Schliemann. M., 2007.
History of the Ancient East, part 2. M., 1988.
Virkhov R. The ruins of Troy // Historical Bulletin, 1880. - T. 1. - No. 2. - P. 415-430.
Stone Irving, Greek Treasure. Biographical novel about Heinrich and Sophia Schliemann, 1975
Dictionary of geographical names of foreign countries / resp. ed. A. M. Komkov. — 3rd ed., revised. and additional - M.: Nedra, 1986. - P. 350.
Sights of Turkey.
Frolova N. Ephesus and Troy. - LitRes, 2013. - ISBN 9785457217829.
Troy, otherwise called Ilion, Dardania and Scamander
- an ancient fortified settlement in Asia Minor, off the coast of the Aegean Sea, near the entrance to the Dardanelles Strait. This is the city glorified in the poem “Iliad”, the author of which is considered to be Homer. The events described by Homer, in the current understanding of historians, belong to the Cretan-Mycenaean era. The people who inhabited Troy are called Teucrians in ancient Greek sources.
History of the city of Troy
Türkiye is a country with many attractions. Among the world famous is the Ancient City Troy. This mythical city was located on the coast of the Aegean Sea, on the Hissarlik hill near the entrance to the Dardanelles Strait. The second name of the city of Troy is Ilion. There is a legend about the origin of the ancient city of Troy. The Phrygian king gave Ilu a cow and ordered to found a city in the place where the cow would lie down to rest. It happened on Ata Hill. Zeus himself approved of Il's action and threw down the statue of Triton's daughter to the ground.
The city has a centuries-old history, but its exact location was discovered just over a hundred years ago. Archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann Conducted excavations in the mountain village of Gissrlyk, and discovered the ruins of the ancient city of Troy, this was in 1870. His surprise was even greater when he discovered not just the ruins of one city, but nine, located in layers one under one. All of them date back to different centuries and were conventionally numbered from one to nine.
The bottommost layer was named Troy I and dates back to 3000 - 2600 AD. BC e. It was a small settlement with a diameter of no more than 100 meters. It was a fortress with massive walls and gates, as well as defensive towers. Two of which were discovered during excavations. This settlement existed for quite a long time and, most likely, was destroyed by fire.
Troy II(2600-2300 BC) was erected on the ruins of a former fortress and occupied an area of 125 meters. In the center there was a palace surrounded by a courtyard with warehouses and residential buildings. It was in this layer that Schliemann found a treasure containing jewelry, weapons and various trinkets.
Troy III- IV -V - these are larger settlements that existed from 2300-1900. BC e. In these settlements there are already groups of houses separated by small streets.
Troy VI. Settlements 1900-1300 BC uh, testified to wealth, prosperity and power. It was about 200 meters in diameter, the wall thickness was 5 meters, and there were four gates and three towers along the perimeter. Large buildings, palaces, terraces. There is evidence of the presence of horses. A strong earthquake destroyed everything.
Troy VII. (1300-900 BC) After the earthquake, life began to emerge again at the site of the destroyed settlement; the remaining blocks and columns were used. Houses were built on a smaller scale than before, and stood closely together. It is this Troy that refers to the events mentioned by Homer in the Iliad and the Trojan War. After the war, the city of Troy was sacked and destroyed by the Greeks, and then captured by the Phrygians.
Troy VIII.(900-350 BC) The city already belonged to the Greeks and was considered quite comfortable. There was a temple to Athena on the premises, as well as a sanctuary for sacrifices. However, it had no political significance, and after part of the population left the city, it fell into decay.
Troy IX(350 BC - 400 AD). It was during this era that the city of Troy was called Illion. The Roman emperors from the Julio-Claudian dynasty did everything for the large-scale reconstruction of the city. The top of the hill was leveled, a sacred site was made near the temple of Athena, a theater was erected on the slope, and public buildings were erected on the level ground. Constantine the Great even wanted to make the city a capital, but this idea lost its significance with the rise of Constantinople. The city of Troy was captured by the Turks and destroyed. Now the ancient city of Troy is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 
Archeology of Troy
Among historians contemporary with Heinrich Schliemann, there was a widespread hypothesis that Troy was located on the site of the village of Bunarbashi. The identity of Hisarlik Hill with Homer's Troy was suggested in 1822 by Charles MacLaren. A supporter of his ideas was Frank Calvert, who began excavations in Hisarlik 7 years before Schliemann. The site of Hisarlik Hill, which belonged to Calvert, turned out to be away from Homer’s Troy. Heinrich Schliemann, who knew Calvert, began a focused study of the second half of the Hissarlik Hill at the end of the 19th century. Most of Schliemann's finds are now kept in the Pushkin Museum (Moscow), as well as in the State Hermitage. To date, archaeologists have discovered traces of nine fortress settlements that existed in different eras on the excavation site in Hisarlik. The first settlement found in Hisarlik (the so-called Troy IX) was a fortress less than 100 m in diameter and apparently existed for a long period. The seventh layer belongs to the Homeric era, which represents Troy in the form of a vast settlement, surrounded by strong walls with nine-meter towers. Major excavations in 1988 showed that the population of the city in the Homeric era was between six and ten thousand inhabitants - a very impressive number for those times. According to the Korfman expedition, the area of the lower city was approximately 170 thousand m², the citadel - 23 thousand m².
Language and writing
The question of the language of Hector and Priam has long occupied scientists. Some ancient Greek historians suggested that their speech could be close to Phrygian. Then it was suggested that the inhabitants of Homer's Troy were the ancestors of the Etruscans. In the mid-1980s. N. N. Kazansky published several fragments of clay vessels from Troy with incomprehensible signs that resembled Cretan writing - he called these signs Trojan writing. However, according to other experts, these could not be inscriptions, but only an imitation of writing. In 1995, a seal with Luwian hieroglyphs was discovered in the layers of Troy VII. Combined with recent evidence that the names of Priam and other Trojan heroes are most likely of Luwian origin, the scientific world is increasingly convinced that the ancients 
The Trojans spoke the Luwian dialect. In a 2004 Oxford University monograph, Joachim Latach concludes that Luwian was the official language of Homeric Troy. The question of the everyday language of the Trojans remains open. Troy was under strong Hellenic influence; many noble Trojans simultaneously bore local and Greek names. The fact that the Greek names of the Trojans are not an invention of Homer is confirmed by Hittite inscriptions mentioning the names of the rulers of Taruisa. Currently, most orientalists agree that the Trojan state was multinational. This is supported by the rather motley composition of the “sea peoples” who migrated, supposedly, as a result of the Trojan War.
Trojan War
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. According to some historians, this is only the peak of the conflict, that is, the last straw that gave rise to the war. Before this, there were many trade wars between the Greeks and the Trojans, who controlled trade along the entire coast in the Dardanelles area. 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.
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 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 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.
Excavations 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.
The search for the legendary Troy
Among archaeologists there are people who are ambitious and dedicated to their plans. And, perhaps, a wealthy German businessman who abandoned his prosperous business in adulthood to search for unfound stones - Heinrich Schliemann- belongs to the category of the most famous masters of the ancient profession. The whole life of this man, who was born in a poor village in 1822 and became one of the very rich scientists of his time, consists of secrets and contradictions. He visited many countries of the world, studied in Paris, at the age of 45 he unexpectedly began to study the Greek language and archeology, and a year later he began searching for the most mysterious city, the most famous from the stories of ancient authors - the legendary Troy. The Trojan War became one of the central events of Greek mythology. Ancient sources see its reason in the fact that the supreme god of the pantheon, Zeus, wanted to give numerous heroes the opportunity to become famous and leave a mark on themselves in history. A serious reason for the start of the war was the beauty of Zeus’s daughter, Helen. And the impetus for battles, cunning, betrayal and conquest was a purely female dispute between three goddesses: Hera, Athena and Aphrodite about who is the most beautiful of them. The apple of discord was presented by the young shepherd Paris to the goddess of love Aphrodite because she promised him the possession of the most beautiful woman. The beautiful Helen was the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus, and Paris, using the help of Aphrodite, sailed to Sparta on a ship and took the beauty to Troy, which brought the wrath and strength of the Greek army onto the city-state. The war became famous not so much because of fair retribution for the desecrated honor of the royal family, but because of the participation in it on the side of the Achaeans by Odysseus, Ajax, Philocletus, Agamemnon, and Achilles. Only 10 years after the abduction, as a result of many trials and adventures, a fleet of comrades arrived near Troy to demand justice from the old Trojan king Priam. Hector, at the head of the Trojan army, approached the Spartan ships, killed one of the brilliant warriors - Patroclus, but the latter's brother, Achilles, rushes into battle and kills Hector himself. The battles were merciless, filled with cruelty and heartlessness, and the gods watching from Olympus helped one side or the other. Achilles destroys many of the Trojans' assistants - the leader of the Amazons Penthesilia, the king of the Ethiopians Memnon and many defenders of the fortress city, surrounded by mighty walls that remained impregnable. 
Prince Paris, with the help of the god Apollo, kills Achilles with a magic arrow, and the war is suspended. But those who came for the beautiful Helen and the treasures stolen from Sparta cannot retreat and come up with an insidious trap for the Trojans - a wooden horse, in the belly of which several warriors are hiding. Accepted as a conciliatory gift, the horse released spies at night, who opened the gates for the Spartan army. Troy was defeated and burned, and historians and archaeologists for many years searched for either the real or the mythical city of Troy on the land of ancient Turkey. Heinrich Schliemann ignored all local stories and suggestions. For the site of his excavations, he chose a hill an hour's walk from the sea, called Hisarlik. And the choice of the newly minted archaeologist was made on the basis of studying ancient reports about the sources and bed of the Skamandros River, which were designated quite clearly. Mythical events took place in his imagination, ancient warriors performed, famous beauties and, of course, treasures appeared.
In this rich city there were many artistic products for which the Greek world was famous; here, to King Priam, the shepherd prince Paris, together with Helen, brought part of the Spartan treasures that were never found by the victors during the storming and burning of the city of Troy. Schliemann addresses European art patrons with a proposal to invest in future excavations of ancient Troy. No one believed in the newly minted researcher, and Schliemann invested his own capital in the excavations organized in 1870.
Schliemann's workers went deeper into the ground. Schliemann skipped layer after layer, completely disregarding the classical methods of excavation. The shovels reached the rocky ground, and there the remains of a certain city-settlement, conventionally called “Troy I,” were discovered. The researcher was completely disappointed, having discovered poor buildings, a pitiful layout and, most importantly, the almost complete absence of artistic products characteristic of Homer's era. It was then that the aspiring archaeologist remembered that, together with the workers, he had dug several more layers, which means that other time periods of Troy’s existence may be closer to the surface, that is, above the exposed remains of the settlement. And yet Schliemann doubted that “Troy II” was the city of the times of King Priam, Hector and Paris, the prison of the beautiful Helen. And then, among the architectural ruins, traces of a gigantic fire began to appear, which destroyed ancient buildings. The fire apparently burned here for more than one day and destroyed everything that remained undestroyed by the hands and weapons of the attacking Spartans. 
Homer left Schliemann accurate descriptions of the disaster, traces of which were preserved by the land of Hisarlik. Three years of grueling searches, resistance to rumors, envy of the capital's archaeologists, refusals of funding - everything was redeemed by the discovery made. The stones did not deceive the scientist, who proved his perseverance and luck to the whole world. It was possible to finish the season by sketching everything found and describing the findings for a future book, but something delayed Schliemann and his young Greek wife. This happened on June 15, 1873, when a cache was discovered among the massive walls and ancient debris of Troy II, which occupied a significant space near the western gate of the fortress city. Schliemann, under an insignificant pretext, sent all the workers from the excavation territory to their homes, and he himself began to open up some empty space. The only witness to the finds in the cache was the Greek woman Sofia, who later helped the archaeologist remove what was found. The discovered antique treasure contained two golden tiaras with 2,271 gold rings, 4,066 heart-shaped plates and 16 images of gods made of pure gold. Next to these unprecedented items were 24 gold necklaces, earrings, buttons, needles, bracelets, a gold bowl weighing 601 grams, and many dishes made of gold and silver, electron and copper.
Schliemann had only a few hours of free time at his disposal before he left the excavations. A delay in the plans would have led to suspicion, and the archaeologist’s only thought at that moment was the idea of hiding the discovery from the Turkish authorities. He was sure that in his hands were the treasures of King Priam, hidden in distant times from prying eyes and the hard times of war. The treasure consisted of 8,700 gold items, and the couple simply needed to take it to Germany, avoiding all obstacles. It was decided that the treasures, disguised as cabbage and vegetables, would be transported in large baskets across the Hellespont to Athens, and from there a route would be paved to Germany. Turkish officials were surprised, but did not protest when they saw off the young and rich European capricious Mrs. Schliemann, who was bringing vegetables with her to Athens from Hisarlik... And these same baskets and Mrs. Sophia herself have since entered the history of world discoveries.
Schliemann's book "Trojan Antiquities" was published in 1873., which described the powerful walls of the Troy fortress, towers erected on heavy stone foundations. Stories about palace buildings were interspersed with descriptions of the fire, which played a terrible role in the fate of defeated Troy. The most striking pages were devoted to the gold of King Priam, which, with its materiality, confirmed the authenticity of the find of the “young” successful historian. The book brought Schliemann great fame and divided the entire scientific world into his supporters and opponents. Some accused him of amateurism and barbaric excavations, of outright theft of valuable exhibits. Others recognized the former businessman's luck, his intuition and, most importantly, his desire to implement his plan by any means necessary.
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Excerpt describing Troy“I didn’t even know!” exclaimed Stella. “I was just thinking yesterday about those dead people you helped, and asked my grandmother how they could come back.” It turned out that it is possible, you just need to know how to do it! So I came. Aren't you glad?..- Oh, well, of course, I’m glad! - I immediately assured, and I myself was panickingly trying to come up with something so that it would be possible to simultaneously communicate with her and with all my other guests, without giving anything away to her or myself. But then an even bigger surprise suddenly occurred, which completely knocked me out of an already quite complicated rut.... “Oh, how many lights!... And how cool,aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatly, squealed in complete delight, with a lisp, a three year old child squeaked, spinning like a top on his mother’s lap. . - And the barefoot boots!... And the barefoot boots are so big! I stared at him, dumbfounded, and sat there for a while, unable to utter a word. And the baby, as if nothing had happened, happily continued to babble and break free from his mother’s tightly holding hands in order to “feel” all these “beauties” that had suddenly fallen from somewhere, and were also so bright and so multi-colored.... Stella, realizing that someone else had seen her, out of joy began to show him various funny fairy-tale pictures, which completely enchanted the baby, and he, with a happy squeal, jumped on his mother’s lap from the wild delight that flowed “over the edge”... - Girl, girl, who are you girl?! Oh, ba-a-tyuski, what a big mi-i-ska!!! And completely lame! Mom, mom, maybe I can take him home?.. Oh, and how shiny the little ones are!... And the golden fangs!.. His wide-open blue eyes delightedly caught every new appearance of the “bright and unusual”, and his happy face beamed with joy - the baby accepted everything that was happening childishly naturally, as if this was exactly the way it was supposed to be... The situation was completely out of control, but I didn’t notice anything around, thinking at that moment only about one thing - the boy saw!!! He saw the same way I saw!.. So, after all, it was true that such people exist somewhere else?.. And that means - I was completely normal and not at all alone, as I thought at first!. So, this really was a Gift?.. Apparently, I was too stunned and looked at him closely, because the confused mother blushed very red and immediately rushed to “calm down” her son so that no one could hear what he was talking about... and She immediately began to prove to me that “he’s just making everything up, and that the doctor says (!!!) that he has a very wild imagination... and you don’t need to pay attention to him!..”. She was very nervous, and I saw that she really wanted to leave here right now, just to avoid possible questions... – Please, just don’t worry! – I said quietly pleadingly. – Your son doesn’t invent – he sees! Same as me. You must help him! Please don't take him to the doctor again, your boy is special! And the doctors will kill all this! Talk to my grandmother - she will explain a lot to you... Just don’t take him to the doctor again, please!.. - I couldn’t stop, because my heart ached for this little, gifted boy, and I wildly wanted what it would be It’s not worth it to “save” it!.. “Look, now I’ll show him something and he’ll see - but you won’t, because he has a gift and you don’t,” and I quickly recreated Stella’s red dragon. “Oh-oh, whoa-oh is this?!..” the boy clapped his hands in delight. - This is a dakonsik, right? As in a cap - dlakonsik?.. Oh, how red he is!.. Mommy, look - dlakonsik! “I had a gift too, Svetlana...” the neighbor whispered quietly. “But I won’t allow my son to suffer the same way because of this.” I have already suffered for both of them... He should have a different life!.. I even jumped in surprise!.. So she saw?! And she knew?!.. – here I just burst out with indignation... “Haven’t you thought that he might have the right to choose for himself?” This is his life! And if you couldn’t cope with it, that doesn’t mean he can’t either! You have no right to take away his gift from him even before he realizes that he has it!.. It’s like murder - you want to kill a part of him that he hasn’t even heard of yet!.. - he hissed indignantly it’s me, but inside me everything just “stood on end” from such terrible injustice! I wanted to convince this stubborn woman at all costs to leave her wonderful baby alone! But I clearly saw from her sad, but very confident look that it was unlikely that at the moment I would be able to convince her of anything at all, and I decided to leave my attempts for today, and later talk to my grandmother, and perhaps, together, come up with what could such a thing be done here... I just looked sadly at the woman and asked again: – Please don’t take him to the doctor, you know he’s not sick!.. She just smiled tensely in response, and quickly took the baby with her and went out onto the porch, apparently to get some fresh air, which (I was sure) she really needed at the moment... I knew this neighbor very well. She was quite a nice woman, but what struck me most once was that she was one of those people who tried to completely “isolate” their children from me and poisoned me after the unfortunate incident with “lighting the fire”! .. (Although her eldest son, we must give him his due, never betrayed me and, despite any prohibitions, still continued to be friends with me). She, who, as it now turned out, knew better than anyone else that I was a completely normal and harmless girl! And that I, just like she once did, was simply looking for the right way out of that “incomprehensible and unknown” into which fate so unexpectedly threw me... Without a doubt, fear must be a very strong factor in our lives if a person can so easily betray and so simply turn away from someone who so badly needs help, and whom he could easily help if not for the same fear settled so deeply and reliably in him... Of course, we can say that I don’t know what once happened to her, and what an evil and merciless fate forced her to endure... But, if I knew that someone at the very beginning of life had the same gift , who made me suffer so much, I would do everything in my power to somehow help or guide this other gifted person on the right path, so that he would not have to “wander in the dark” just as blindly and suffer greatly... And she, instead of helping, on the contrary, tried to “punish” me, as others punished me, but at least these others did not know what it was and tried to honestly protect their children from what they could not explain or understand. And so, as if nothing had happened, she came to visit us today with her little son, who turned out to be exactly the same “gifted” as me, and whom she was wildly afraid to show to someone, so that God forbid, someone... then I didn’t see that her sweet baby was exactly the same “curse” that, according to her “ostentatious” concept, I was... Now I was sure that it didn’t give her much pleasure to come to us, but she wouldn’t refuse either she very much could, for the simple reason that her eldest son, Algis, was invited to my birthday, and on her part there was no serious reason not to let him in, and it would have been too rude and “not appropriate.” -neighborly” if she would go for it. And we invited her for the simple reason that they lived three streets away from us, and her son would have to return home in the evening alone, so, naturally realizing that the mother would worry, we decided that it would be more correct to invite her along with her for my little son to spend the evening at our festive table. And she, “poor,” as I now understood, was just suffering here, waiting for the opportunity to leave us as soon as possible, and, if possible, without any incidents, to return home as soon as possible... -Are you okay, honey? – Mom’s affectionate voice sounded nearby. I immediately smiled at her as confidently as possible and said that, of course, I was completely fine. And I myself, from everything that was happening, felt dizzy, and my soul was already beginning to sink into my heels, as I saw that the guys were gradually starting to turn around at me and, like it or not, I had to quickly pull myself together and “establish “Iron control” over my raging emotions... I was thoroughly “knocked out” of my usual state and, to great shame, completely forgot about Stella... But the baby immediately tried to remind herself. “But you said that you don’t have friends, and how many of them are there?!..” Stella asked, surprised and even a little upset. - These are not the real friends. These are just guys I live next to or study with. They are not like you. But you are real. Stella immediately began to shine... And I, “disconnectedly” smiling at her, feverishly tried to find some way out, absolutely not knowing how to get out of this “slippery” situation, and was already starting to get nervous, because I didn’t want to to offend my best friend, but I probably knew that soon they would definitely start to notice my “strange” behavior... And again stupid questions would start pouring in, which I didn’t have the slightest desire to answer today. – Wow, how delicious you have here!!! – Stella jabbered, looking at the festive table in delight. - What a pity, I can’t try anymore!.. What did they give you today? Can I have a look?.. – as usual, questions rained down from her. – They gave me my favorite horse!.. And a lot more, I haven’t even looked at it yet. But I will definitely show you everything! Stella simply sparkled with happiness to be with me here on Earth, and I became more and more lost, unable to find a solution to this delicate situation. – How beautiful it all is!.. And how delicious it must be!.. – How lucky you are to have something like this! “The Discovery of Troy In the public consciousness, the discovery of the legendary city is associated with the name of the archaeologist-enthusiast Heinrich Schliemann. He was able, contrary to the opinion of skeptics, to prove the historicity of Homer’s Iliad.” Although in modern times stories about Trojan War considered legends, scientists and amateurs tried to find the legendary city. In the 16th and 17th centuries Troad visited by two explorers and travelers - Pierre Belon And Pietro della Valle. Each of them concluded that the legendary Troy is the ruins of the city of Alexandria of Troy, which were located 20 kilometers from Hisarlik. At the end of the 18th century, another traveler and archaeologist Jean-Baptiste Lechevalier visited these places and wrote the work “Notes on a Journey to Troas.” Lechevalier argued that the ancient city was located near the town of Pinarbazi, five kilometers from Hisarlik. For a long time this theory was dominant. In 1822, a Scottish journalist Charles McLaren published the work “Dissertation on the Topography of the Trojan Plain” in Edinburgh. A hundred years later, Karl Blegen wrote that this work would have deserved more attention than it received. McLaren collected all the information from the Iliad that had topographical significance and compared it with maps of his time. Then the Scot tried to restore the appearance of the landscape as it was in ancient times. Some English scholars and several German Homer scholars agreed with McLaren's conclusions. The last of Schliemann's predecessors was Frank Calvert, Englishman, British Consul in Turkey. He was an amateur archaeologist and all his life he was fascinated by the history of Troy. Frank, like Schliemann, believed that Troy was a real city, despite the skepticism of many contemporaries. In the 1860s Heinrich Schliemann had already explored Ithaca, where he discovered, as it seemed to him, monuments associated with the names of Laertes and Odysseus. In 1868, the archaeologist decided to conduct excavations in Turkey. It took Schliemann and his friends in Constantinople three years to obtain permission from the Turkish government to excavate. Firman (permission) was awarded to Schliemann with the condition that half of the finds be transferred to a Turkish museum. October 11, 1871 Heinrich Schliemann with his wife Sofia and several workers arrived at Hisarlik Hill and immediately began excavations. The workers were Asia Minor Greeks from the surrounding villages, sometimes joined by Turks. Schliemann carried out excavations on the hill until June 1873. During this time, the archaeologist was able to excavate seven archaeological layers of the city. He himself believed that Troy Priam- This is the Troy-II layer. Towards the end of the excavations, Schliemann discovered a large treasure trove of gold objects, which he called "Priam's treasure". After leaving Turkey, Schliemann continued researching the monuments in Orkhomenes and Mycenae, and published the work “Troy and Its Ruins.” In 1878, Heinrich returned to Troad and continued excavations. After them, he returned twice more for excavations to the Hissarlik Hill, and now he was accompanied by professional archaeologists. In 1882 he joined Schliemann in Troy Wilhelm Dörpfeld, Second Secretary of the German Archaeological Institute in Athens. Schliemann died in 1890, and Dörpfeld continued the excavations. The archaeologist discovered the fortifications of Troy VI in 1893-1894. The German archaeologist considered them the city of Priam. For forty years after Dörpfeld's work, excavations ceased. From 1932 to 1938, the Hissarlik hill was explored by an archaeologist Karl Blegen, director of the University of Cincinnati. The American proved that there were nine settlements in this place, replacing one after another. He divided these nine levels of Troy into 46 more sublevels. The next stage of research into the archaeological site was associated with an expedition Manfred Korfman. His excavations clarified the data of his predecessors and made it possible to create a modern chronology of Troy. Early Bronze Age (Troy-I – Troy-V) The first five archaeological layers of the settlement show the continuous history of the city, which lasted until the 17th century. BC. Troy II arose on the ruins of the previous city. Presumably Troy I died from a strong fire. This settlement was the successor to the previous one in terms of culture. The city had a mighty fortress wall with a diameter of about 110 meters. The fortification was a citadel from where its lords exercised authority over the territory of Troas. The standard of living of the Trojans became higher: the houses became more spacious and more comfortable. The fortress housed a majestic megaron. The Trojans of this time were engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. Archaeologists have found many terracotta whorls. Weaving also developed. Trade contacts with the Cyclades archipelago continued to develop. The Trojans supplied their neighbors with grain and ceramics. Troy-II again destroyed by fire, but the settlement was soon occupied by the same people around 2250 BC. The ceramics of the third city were practically no different from the ceramics of the previous era. The reasons that destroyed Troy-III unclear. It seems that there was no fire that destroyed the entire settlement, but the houses were destroyed. Troy-IV existed in the period 2100 - 1950 BC. The territory of this city occupied about 17 thousand kilometers. The new settlement had strong fortifications. The houses of this Troy were built close to one another, forming complexes that were separated by narrow streets. Ceramics from this time continue the traditions of past settlement eras. But the number of products created using the pottery wheel has increased. Period Troy-V began with the remodeling of the entire settlement. Residents built a new wall for protection. The city existed until the 18th century BC. The reason for its destruction is unclear. Again, no traces of the disastrous fire remained. But the city builders Troy-VI created a completely different city, which did not take into account the location of the predecessor buildings. The city of Troy VI is believed to have perished around 1300 BC. as a result of an earthquake. It was replaced by a settlement Troy-VII. It had four periods of existence until the middle of the 10th century BC. King Alaxandus and the Hittites During Troy-VII the inhabitants of this city were in close contact with neighboring states - the Hittite power, the kingdoms of Asia Minor and the Greeks of Akhhiyawa. It is believed that the Hittites knew Troy under the name Wilusa State. In the 17th century BC. The Hittite king Labarna subjugated Arzawa and Wilusa. The latter became independent after a certain period of time, but maintained neutral relations with Hittite kingdom. In the 14th century BC. the state of Wilusa came to the attention of the rulers of the Hittite state. Ally of the Hatti kings of the 14th century. BC. Suppiluliuma I and Mursilisa was the king of Wilusa Kukunnis. It is known that he helped Mursilis during his campaign against Arzawa. Kukunnis, under the changed name "Kyknos", entered the cycle of legends about the Trojan War. Legends made him a representative of a side branch of the royal house, which ruled one of the cities of Troas. He was the first to meet the landing Greeks and died by hand Achilles. The treaty states that Kukunnis adopted Alaxandus and made him heir. The population of Wilusa grumbled against the new king. They said that the people of the country would not accept the son of Alaxandus as the new sovereign. There is also talk about the “children of the king” who laid claim to the throne that went to Alaxandus. Muwattalis promised the ruler of Wilusa and his heirs protection. In exchange, Alaxandus became a dependent king. He was supposed to inform the overlord about possible rebellions in the west of Asia Minor. In the event of a war between Hatti and the states of Asia Minor, Alaxandus had to personally come to the rescue with his army. For wars with Mitanni, Egypt or Assyria, the king of Wilusa had to send his troops. According to one point, Alaxandus was obliged to fight against an enemy who might invade the country of Hatti through Wilusa. This enemy is assumed to be the Achaean Greeks, who at that time were trying to gain a foothold in Asia Minor. Soon after the subjugation of the kingdoms of Asia Minor to the Hittite power, the famous Battle of Kadesh in Syria. The Egyptian text dedicated to this battle lists the detachments of the Hittite army. Among others, the Drdnj people are mentioned there (the supposed decoding is Dar-d-an-ja). These people are identified with the Dardans, who lived within the boundaries of Wilusa. The Hittite monarchs' reign over Wilusa did not last long. Already a letter from the king of the Hittites to the king of Ahkhiyava, dating from the turn of the 14th – 13th centuries BC. shows a changed situation. It follows from the document that a conflict occurred between Hatti and Ahhiyawa, as a result of which the Hittites lost control over Wilusa, and the Achaeans strengthened their influence in this country. In the 13th century BC. The country of Hatti was ruled by the warlike Tudhalias IV. He fought with a coalition of small Asia Minor states, united in Hittite documents under the common name Assuwa. Among them was Wilusa. Tudhalias IV was victorious and Wilusa again became a dependent state. From the letter of the Hittite king to the ruler of Milavanda it follows that Tudhalias made his protege Valma the ruler of Wilusa. For some reason he fled, and the king of Hatti was going to restore him to power. Probably, the expulsion of Valmu happened before Assuwa’s speech against the Hittites, and the restoration after the victory of Tudhalias, when “the gods gave him” these lands. Troy VII and the Legend of the Trojan War Already in Antiquity, different dates for the Trojan War were expressed. Duris of Samos dates it to 1334 BC, Eratosthenes - 1183, Ephoros - 1136. Herodotus wrote that it was 800 years before he began work on the History, that is, in the last third of the 13th century BC. The city of Troy VII died at the turn of the 13th and 12th centuries BC. There are different points of view on the time of his fall. L.A. Gindin and V.L. Tsymbursky attribute the fall of the city to 1230-1220 BC. This was the beginning of the so-called campaign period. "Sea Peoples" The campaign of the Greek states against Troy was often associated with the era of prosperity Mycenaean civilization. According to the reconstruction of the researchers, the campaign took place after the beginning of the decline of the Mycenaean civilization. Greece suffered one invasion from the north, which led to the destruction of parts of the palace centers. The danger of new attacks from the north pushed the Achaeans to overseas enterprises. The flourishing of Rhodes due to settlers also dates back to this time. Speaking about the population of Troy in period VII, the deep connections of its population with the Thracians are noted. The top of the city in this era probably adopted the culture of Mycenaean Greece, which is confirmed by the name Alaxandus, consonant with “Alexander”. The forms of the pottery of Troy VII-a were reminiscent of the pottery of the Northern Balkans, inhabited by Thracian tribes. The Teucrians (inhabitants of Priam's Troy) were presumably dominated by early Thracian elements. After the destruction of Troy by the Achaeans, the city was reborn. Now it was a sparsely populated settlement, which is identified with the layer Troy VII-b I. The surviving Teucrians themselves, for the most part, did not remain in their previous places, but joined the campaigns of the Sea Peoples. These campaigns destroyed the Hittite kingdom and a number of small states in Asia Minor, and were also a threat to Egypt. The depopulation of the Troas made it possible for the Thracians to move here, who repopulated Troy. The period is associated with settlers Troy VII-b II. But, taking into account previous contacts, the inhabitants of the city and the Thracians, their settlement of this place was peaceful. Troy after the Trojans: another Greek city Around 950 BC the settlement on Hisarlik ceased to exist. During the Archaic era (VIII-VI centuries BC), life resumed on the hill. In 480 BC. Xerxes At the beginning of the campaign against Greece I visited this place. The king examined the ancient acropolis and sacrificed one hundred bulls to Athena of Ilium. Its magicians poured libations in honor of the heroes who died here. In 411 BC. The Spartan navarch Mindar visited this place and made sacrifices to Athena of Ilium. Ilium had almost no political significance and was controlled by more influential neighbors. In 360 BC. the city was captured by the mercenary adventurer Charidemus of Oreos, and again the horse played a fatal role in the fall of the city. Haridemus persuaded a slave of one of the influential citizens to help them get into the city. This slave went outside the walls for prey and returned at night. The mercenary persuaded him to return at night on horseback. The guards opened the gates for him, and a group of mercenaries burst into Ilion. The story of this event was preserved by Charidemus’ contemporary Aeneas Tacticus. He was interested in military stratagems, so he did not write anything about the fate of the settlement after its capture by Charidemus. Probably the mercenary commander began to rule here as a tyrant - a typical case for the 4th century BC. In 334 BC. visited the ruins of Troy Alexander the Great. As they write in the works about his campaign, he made sacrifices here in honor of the ancient heroes. At the end of his life, the ruler decided to build a new temple here. These works were completed during the reigns of his diadochi: Antigonus, Lysimachus and Seleucus. Epigraphic sources report that during the years of the existence of the state of Antigonus One-Eyed, one of the Greek intercity associations in his lands was Ilion Union. The founding date of this interpolicy association is unknown. Both Alexander and Antigone are called the founder of the Ilion League. The messages of the union to Antigonus are known. The Ilium League had a Sanhedrin (council of allied cities), whose representatives met on the territory of the sacred site of Athena of Ilium. Among other members of this association, two cities are known - Gargara and Lampsak. Troy again became a significant city: temples, bouleuterium (meeting place of the city council), and theaters appeared there. At the same time, the ancient burial mounds were restored. The revived city had about 8 thousand inhabitants. Around 250 BC The walls of Troy were restored. The city was visited by famous people of that time: the king of Syria Antiochus III, the Roman senator Marcus Livius Salinator, the commander Lucius Cornelius Scipio. In 85 BC. the city was destroyed again. The first war was coming to an end this year. Rome with Mithridates VI. In Greece and Asia Minor it was led independently by two generals: Sulla and the protege of his enemies, Fimbria. The latter crossed over to Asia Minor and began to punish the Greek cities that had previously gone over to the side of the Pontic king. Among others, Fimbria besieged Ilium. The inhabitants of the city sent for help to Sulla. He promised them help and told them to tell Fimbria that the Ilioneans had already surrendered to Sulla. Fimbria convinced the people of Ilium to let him in as proof of his surrender. Entering the city, the Roman commander carried out a massacre and subjected the ambassadors to his enemy Sulla to a particularly cruel execution. Fimbria ordered the temple of Athena of Ilium to be set on fire, where many residents fled. The next day, the Roman examined the city, making sure that not a single intact altar remained there. The destruction of Ilion by Fimbria made an impression on contemporaries, because the Romans considered themselves to come from ancient Troy. The destruction of the city was compared with that carried out by Agamemnon, and the time that separated the destruction of the cities was calculated. Appian of Alexandria, citing other authors, wrote that the destruction of the city by Fimbria occurred 1050 years after the end of the Trojan War. After defeating his rival, Sulla helped rebuild the city as a reward for his loyalty to him. The Ilioneans responded by introducing a new calendar, where counting began from 85 BC. The following years were difficult for Ilion. Five years after Fimbria, the city suffered from an attack by pirates. When did the third war begin? Kingdom of Pontus, Ilion remained faithful to the alliance with Rome. Plutarch relates the legend that when a storm destroyed the Pontic siege engines at Cyzicus, many Ilionians saw Athena in a dream. The goddess was in a torn robe and said that she came from Cyzicus, where she fought for its inhabitants. After this, the Ilionians helped the Roman commander Lucullus, who fought against the Pontic people in Troas. At the end of the war, the Roman general Pompey, who ended the war, arrived in Ilion. He was hailed as a benefactor of the city and patron of the Temple of Athena of Ilium. After fifteen years of good deeds, Ilion was also shown Julius Caesar. He emphasized the city's loyalty to Rome during the war with Mithridates. In 42 BC. After the victory over the assassins of Caesar, Octavian and Antony settled the veterans of the sixteenth legion in Ilion. 22 years later, Emperor Augustus visited this city again. Descent from the Trojan hero Aeneas played an important role in his propaganda. On his orders, repair work was carried out in Ilion. On the site of the former bouleuterium, by order of the princeps, an odeon (a building for musical performances) was erected. During his visit to Ilion, Augustus lived in the house of a wealthy citizen, Melanippus, son of Euthydippus. Eight years later, when the theater was completed, Melanippus erected a statue of the emperor there. In the era Roman Empire Ilion lived at the expense of travelers who were interested in ancient history. Another component of its economy was the mining and export of stone. In 124 AD. Ilion was visited by the famous philhellenic emperor Hadrian. He ordered a new reconstruction of the city. After the visit Adriana Ilion began to flourish as a Roman city: baths, a fountain, and an aqueduct were built there. New renovations to the odeon were made by order of Emperor Caracalla, who visited Ilion in 214 AD. In 267 AD. Asia Minor The Goths devastated it, and Ilion was again destroyed. But the city continued to exist in the 4th century. Constantine the Great even considered it as a possible capital of the empire until he chose Byzantium. By 500 AD, Ilion ceased to exist. During the Dark Ages (XI-IX centuries BC), which began, wandering singers wandered along the roads of Greece. They were invited to houses and palaces, treated to a table next to the owners, and after the meal, the guests gathered to listen to stories about gods and heroes. The singers recited hexameters and played along with themselves on the lyre. The most famous of them was Homer. He is considered to be the author of two epic poems - “The Iliad” (about the siege of Troy) and “The Odyssey” (about the return of the king of the Greek island of Ithaca Odysseus from the campaign), while many literary scholars agree that the poems themselves were created for more than one century and bear on traces of different eras. Even in ancient times, almost nothing was known about Homer. They said that he came from the island of Chios and was blind. they argue for the right to be called his homeland. Scientists believe that Homer lived around 850-750. BC e. By this time, the poems had already developed as integral literary works. Homer told how the city of Troy was destroyed by the Achaeans after many years of siege. The cause of the war was the abduction of the wife of the Spartan king Minelaus Helen by the Trojan prince Paris. It so happened that three goddesses - Hera, Athena and Aphrodite - turned to the young man with the question of which of them was the most beautiful. Aphrodite promised the prince the love of the most beautiful woman in the world if he named her. Paris recognized Aphrodite as the most beautiful, and Hera and Athena harbored a grudge against him. The most beautiful woman lived in Sparta. She was so beautiful that all the Greek kings wanted to take her as their wife. Helen chose Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. On the advice of Odysseus, all of Helen's previous suitors vowed to help Menelaus if anyone tried to take his wife away from him. After some time, Paris went to Sparta on trade matters. There he met Helen and became passionate, and Aphrodite helped him capture the queen’s heart. The lovers fled to Troy under the protection of Paris's father, King Priam. Remembering the oath, the Mycenaean kings, led by Agamemnon, gathered on a campaign. Among them was the bravest Achilles and the most cunning Odysseus. Troy was a powerful fortress, and it was not easy to storm it. For ten years the Achaean army stood under the walls of the city without achieving victory. The defense was led by Priam's eldest son Hector, a brave warrior who enjoyed the love of his fellow citizens.
Finally, Odysseus came up with a trick. They built a huge wooden horse, in whose belly the warriors hid. They left the horse at the walls of the city, and they themselves defiantly sailed home on ships. The Trojans believed that the enemy had left and dragged the horse into the city, rejoicing at such an unusual trophy. At night, the warriors hiding inside the horse got out, opened the city gates and let their comrades into Troy, who, as it turned out, quietly returned to the city walls. Troy has fallen. The Achaeans destroyed almost all the men, and took the women and children into slavery. Modern scholars believe that the Trojan War occurred in 1240-1230. BC e. Its real reason could have been trade rivalry between Troy and the alliance of Mycenaean kings. In ancient times, the Greeks believed in the truth of the myths about the Trojan War. And indeed, if we remove the deeds of the gods from the Iliad and Odyssey, the poems look like detailed historical chronicles. Homer even gives a long list of ships that went on a campaign against Troy. Historians of the 18th-19th centuries looked at the matter differently; for them, the Iliad and the Odyssey were literary works, the plot of which was fictional from beginning to end. This preconceived opinion was only able to be overturned by the excavations of the German amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. He was convinced that Homer's characters were real historical figures. Since childhood, Schliemann deeply experienced the tragedy of Troy and dreamed of finding this mysterious city. The son of a pastor, he was engaged in business for many years, until one day he saved enough money to start excavations. In 1871, Schliemann went to the north-west of the Asia Minor peninsula, to an area that in ancient times was called Troas, where, according to Homer’s instructions, Troy was located. The Greeks also called it Ilion, which is where the name of the poem came from - “The Iliad”. In the 19th century these lands belonged to the Ottoman Empire. Having agreed with the Turkish government, Schliemann began excavations on the Hissarlik hill, the geographical location of which corresponded to the description of Homer. Luck smiled on him. The hill hid the ruins of not one, but nine cities that succeeded each other over twenty centuries. Schliemann led several expeditions to Hisarlik. The fourth was decisive. The archaeologist considered Homer's Troy to be a settlement located in the second layer from the bottom. In order to get to it, Schliemann had to “demolish” the remains of at least seven more cities that stored many valuable finds. In the second layer, Schliemann discovered the Scaean Gate, the tower on which Helen, sitting, showed Priam the Greek generals. Schliemann's discoveries shocked the scientific world. There was no doubt that Homer told about the war that actually took place. However, continued excavations by professional researchers yielded an unexpected result: the city that Schliemann mistook for Troy is a thousand years older than the Trojan War. Troy itself, if, of course, it was it, Schliemann “threw away” along with the seven upper layers. The amateur archaeologist’s assertion that he “looked into the face of Agamemnon” also turned out to be erroneous. The graves contained people who lived several centuries before the Trojan War. But most importantly, the finds showed that it is far from the Greek archaism well known from the Iliad and Odyssey. It is older, much higher in level of development and much richer. Homer wrote his poems five or six centuries after the destruction of the Mycenaean world. He could not even imagine palaces with water pipes and frescoes in which thousands of slaves worked. He shows the life of people as it became in his time, after the invasion of the barbarian Dorians. Homer's kings live little better than ordinary people. Their wooden houses, surrounded by a palisade, have an earthen floor and a soot-covered ceiling. At the threshold of Odysseus's palace there is a fragrant dung heap on which his beloved dog Argus lies. During feasts, Penelope's suitors themselves slaughter and skin the animals. The king of the fabulously rich people of the Phaeacians, Alcinous, has “fifty involuntary needlewomen” who grind flour, and fifty weavers. His daughter Navsekaya and her friends wash their clothes on the seashore. Penelope spins and weaves with her maids. The life of Homer's heroes is patriarchal and simple. Odysseus's father Laertes himself worked the land with a hoe, and Prince Paris tended his flocks in the mountains, where he met three arguing goddesses... There is still controversy surrounding the excavations of Troy. Did Schliemann find the right city? Thanks to the discovery and reading of documents from the archives of the Hittite kings, it is known that this people traded with Troy and Ilion. they knew them as two different cities in Asia Minor and called them Truisa and Wilusa. Be that as it may, as a result of the excavations of a hasty and not very attentive amateur, the world first became acquainted with the Mycenaean culture. This civilization eclipsed with its brilliance and wealth everything that was previously known about the early history of Greece. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
