Troy

Troy, also known as Ilion, was an ancient city located in present-day Çanakkale, Turkey.

It is most famous as the setting for the Greek myth of the Trojan War. This legend describes a great conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans. While the myths are stories, the physical site of Troy tells a real history. For 4,000 years, people lived on this site, building and rebuilding. This constant cycle of settlement and destruction created a unique archaeological site. Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site that helps us study the ancient world.

The site is a tell, which is a hill made of layers of human occupation.

As one city was destroyed, a new one was built directly on top of the ruins. Archaeologists use Roman numerals to label these nine distinct layers. Troy I represents the earliest city, while Troy IX represents the most recent. There is even a layer called Troy 0 that predates the others. By studying these strata, or layers, researchers can see how the city changed over millennia.

The earliest settlement, Troy I, began around 3000 BC.

It was a small fortified city covering less than 1 hectare. The people built massive limestone fortifications to protect themselves. They lived in houses made of stone and mudbrick. Some of these houses used a megaron layout. A megaron is a building with one room that is much larger than the others. This early city was destroyed by fire around 2550 BC.

Around 2550 BC, the people built Troy II. This city was twice the size of the first one. It featured a citadel and a lower town. The citadel had large megaron-style buildings around a central courtyard. These courtyards were likely used for public events. Troy II was a very wealthy place. Archaeologists found treasures made of amber from the Baltic and lapis from Afghanistan.

These items prove that Troy was part of a large international trade network. However, Troy II was destroyed twice, with the final destruction occurring around 2300 BC.

Between 2300 BC and 1750 BC, the site saw several smaller settlements, known as Troy III through Troy V. During this time, the city was less wealthy than it had been during the Troy II period. In Troy IV, people began using domed ovens. By the time of Troy V, the city expanded to the west. This period shows that the people of Troy were active traders. They used Anatolian-style red-cross bowls and traded with people from the island of Crete.

The Late Bronze Age brought the major cities of Troy VI and Troy VII.

Troy VI was a thriving coastal city with a large population. It had a steep, fortified citadel and a sprawling lower town. During this era, Troy was known as Wilusa. It was a vassal, or a subordinate state, of the powerful Hittite Empire. Some parts of the Troy VII layers show signs of violent destruction. Because of these details, many scholars believe these layers might be the real setting for the Trojan War myths.

In 1871, Heinrich Schliemann and Frank Calvert began excavating the site.

Schliemann was looking for the city from the legends. He found many earlier settlements hidden beneath the classical Greek and Roman ruins. He even discovered treasures that he believed belonged to a legendary king.

Although Schliemann's methods were sometimes careless, his work opened the door to modern archaeology. Today, researchers continue to study the site to understand the link between myth and history. They look for evidence of how these ancient people lived, traded, and fought.