Where the troy was located. Where was Troy? What is on the site of Troy now? Ancient city of Troy

Despite the fact that Schliemann was looking for Troy, described by Homer, the real city turned out to be older than the one mentioned in the chronicles of the Greek author. In 1988, excavations were continued by Manred Kaufman. Then it turned out that the city occupied a larger territory than was initially assumed.

In total, nine different levels were discovered at the excavation site, that is, the city was rebuilt 9 times. When Schliemann discovered the ruins of Troy, he noticed that the settlement had been destroyed by fire. But whether this was the same city that, according to legend, was destroyed by the ancient Greeks during the Trojan War in 1200 BC, remained unclear. After some controversy, archaeologists came to the conclusion that two levels of excavation fit the description of Homer, which they called "Troy 6" and "Troy 7".

In the end, the remains of the legendary city began to be considered an archaeological site called "Troy 7". It was this city that was destroyed by fire in about 1250-1200 BC.

The Legend of Troy and the Trojan Horse

According to the literary source of that time, Homer's Iliad, the ruler of the city of Troy, King Priam, waged war with the Greeks because of the kidnapped Helen.

The woman was the wife of Agamemnon, ruler of the Greek city of Sparta, but she fled with Paris, prince of Troy. Since Paris refused to return Elena to her homeland, a war ensued that lasted 10 years.

In another poem called The Odyssey, Homer tells how Troy was destroyed. The Greeks won the war through cunning. They are a wooden horse, which they allegedly wanted to present as a gift. The inhabitants of the city allowed the huge statue to be brought inside the walls, and the Greek soldiers sitting in it went outside and captured the city.

Troy is also mentioned in Virgil's Aeneid.

Until now, there is a lot of controversy as to whether the city discovered by Schliemann is the same Troy, which is mentioned in the works of ancient authors. It is known that about 2,700 years ago, the Greeks colonized the northwestern coast of modern Turkey.

How old is Three

In his study Troy: The City, Homer and Turkey, the Dutch archaeologist Gert Jean Van Wijngaarden notes that at least 10 cities existed at the Hisarlik site. Presumably, the first settlers appeared in 3000 BC. When one city was destroyed for one reason or another, in its place arose new town... The ruins were covered by hand with earth, and another settlement was built on the hill.

The heyday of the ancient city came in 2550 BC, when the settlement grew, and a high wall was erected around. When Heinrich Schliemann excavated this settlement, he discovered hidden treasures, which, according to his assumption, belonged to King Priam: a collection of weapons, silver, copper and bronze vessels, gold jewelry. Schliemann believed that the treasures were in the royal palace.

Later it became known that the jewelry existed for a thousand years before the reign of King Priam.

Which Troy is Homer?

Modern archaeologists believe that Troy, by Homer, is the ruins of a city from the era of 1700-1190. BC. According to researcher Manfred Korfmann, the city covered an area of ​​about 30 hectares.

Unlike the poems of Homer, archaeologists claim that the city of this era did not die from the attack of the Greeks, but from an earthquake. In addition, at that time the Mycenaean civilization of the Greeks was already in decline. They simply could not attack the city of Priam.

The settlement was abandoned by the inhabitants in 1000 BC, and in the 8th century BC, that is, during the time of Homer, it was settled by the Greeks. They were sure that they lived in the place of ancient Troy, described in the Iliad and Odyssey, and named the city Ilion.

In the Dark Ages (XI-IX centuries BC), which came, wandering singers wandered along the roads of Greece. They were invited to houses and palaces, treated at the table next to the hosts, and after the meal, the guests gathered to listen to stories about gods and heroes. The singers recited verses-hexameters and played along with themselves on the lyre. The most famous of these was Homer. He is considered to be the author of two epic poems- "Iliad" (about the siege of Troy) and "Odyssey" (about the return from the campaign of the king of the Greek island Ithaca Odysseus), while many literary scholars agree that the poems themselves were created for more than one century and bear traces of different eras. Even in antiquity, almost nothing was known about Homer. It was said that he came from the island of Chios and was blind. argue for the right to be called his homeland. Scientists believe that Homer lived in about 850-750. BC NS. By this time, the poems had already taken shape as integral literary works.

Homer told how the city of Troy was destroyed by the Achaeans after years of siege. The cause of the war was the kidnapping of the wife of the Spartan king Minelai Helen by the Trojan prince Paris. It so happened that three goddesses - Hera, Athena and Aphrodite - asked the young man who was the most beautiful of them. Aphrodite promised the prince the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, if he calls 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 marry her. Helen chose Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. On the advice of Odysseus, all of Elena's former suitors vowed to help Menelaus if anyone tried to take his wife away from him. After a while, Paris went to Sparta on business. There he met Elena and burst into passion, and Aphrodite helped him take possession of the queen's heart. The lovers fled to Troy under the protection of Paris' 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, and did not achieve 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 the belly of which the soldiers hid. The horse was left 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 soldiers, hiding inside the horse, got out, opened the city gates and let their comrades into Troy, who, as it turned out, imperceptibly returned to the city walls. Troy fell. The Achaeans destroyed almost all men, and took women and children into slavery.

Modern scholars believe that the Trojan War took place in 1240-1230. BC NS. Its real reason could be the trade rivalry between Troy and the union of the Mycenaean kings. In ancient times, the Greeks believed in the truthfulness of the myths about the Trojan War. Indeed, if the deeds of the gods are removed from the Iliad and the Odyssey, the poems look like detailed historical chronicles.

Homer even recounts a long list of ships that went on a campaign against Troy. Historians of the 18th-19th centuries looked at the case differently, for them the Iliad and Odyssey were literary works, the plot of which is fictional from start to finish.

Only the excavations of the German amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann could turn this preconceived opinion. 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 northwest of the peninsula Asia Minor, to the area, which in ancient times was called Troada, where, according to Homer's instructions, Troy was located. The Greeks also called it Ilion, hence the name of the poem - "Iliad". In the XIX century. these lands belonged to the Ottoman Empire. Having agreed with the Turkish government, Schliemann began excavations on the Hisarlik hill, geographical position which matched Homer's description. Luck smiled at him. The hill hid the ruins of not one, but nine cities, replacing each other over twenty centuries.

Schliemann conducted several expeditions to Hisarlik. The fourth was decisive. Homeric Troy, the archaeologist considered the 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, which kept many valuable finds. In the second layer, Schliemann discovered the Skean Gate, the tower on which Helen showed Priam the Greek generals.

Schliemann's discoveries shocked the scientific world. There was no doubt that Homer had told about the actual war going on. However, the continuation of excavations by professional researchers gave an unexpected result: the city, which Schliemann mistook for Troy, is older Trojan War for a thousand years. The very same Troy, if, of course, it was she, Schliemann "threw" along with the seven upper layers. The assertion of an amateur archaeologist that he was "looking Agamemnon in the face" was also wrong. People who lived several centuries before the Trojan War were buried in the graves.

But the most important thing is that the finds showed that it is far from the well-known Greek archaic from the Iliad and Odyssey. It is older, much higher in development and much richer. Homer wrote his poems five to six centuries after the death 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 Dorian barbarians.

Homer's kings live little better than ordinary people. Their wooden houses, surrounded by a palisade, have an earthen floor, the ceiling is covered with soot. At the doorstep of Odysseus's palace there is a fragrant dung heap on which his beloved dog Argus lies. Penelope's grooms themselves slaughter and fresh animals during feasts. The king of the fabulously rich people of the Faeakians, Alkina, has "fifty involuntary needlewomen" who grind flour, and fifty weavers. His daughter Navsekaya and her friends do the laundry by herself on the seashore. Penelope weaves and weaves with the maids. The life of Homeric heroes is patriarchal and simple. Odysseus's father Laertes himself worked the land with a hoe, and Tsarevich Paris grazed herds in the mountains, where he met three arguing goddesses ...

Controversy is still ongoing around the excavations in Troy. Did Schliemann find that city? Thanks to the discovery and reading of documents from the archives of the Hittite kings, it is known that these people traded with Troy and Ilion. knew them as two different cities in Asia Minor and called Truis and Vilus. Be that as it may, as a result of the excavations of a hasty and not too attentive amateur, the world first became acquainted with the Mycenaean culture. This civilization overshadowed with its splendor and wealth everything that was previously known about early history Greece.

About this city the most ancient civilization the Greeks know more from the legends of Homer. He mentions this policy in his Illiad. However, and archaeological excavations confirm the existence of a once powerful city-state in Greece. However, some sources refute these claims. It is officially known that Troy (Ilion) was a small settlement in Asia Minor. It lies on the coast of the Aegean Sea, on the Troada Peninsula. It was a stone's throw from the Strait of Dardanelles. Nowadays it is the Turkish province of Canakkale.

How did Troy start?

Historians have studied well the descriptions and life of this city by Homer, and concluded that Troy existed in the era of the Cretan-Mycenaeans. The people who inhabited the policy were called "tevkras". Comparing the data given by Homer with other sources, scientists came to the conclusion that the Trojans bravely fought against any conquerors and made campaigns themselves. Troy is mentioned in the Egyptian chronicles. Allegedly, some tereshes came to the land of the pyramids to enslave the most prosperous territories. But some historians are not sure if these were Trojans.
Historians also argue about the name. It is believed that the state was called Troy, and its capital was Ilion. But there are scientists who believe that everything was the other way around. It is known that Homer wrote "Iliad", decades later, many sources testifying about Troy could have been lost, and people who knew something about Troy went to another world. Therefore, the data given by Homer have been disputed for a long time. Because the same plot is described in different ways in "Iliad" and other sources.
Historians also find a connection between the Trojans and mythical plots and heroes. Featured here:

1. Aphrodite.
2. Hera.
3. Athena.
4. Zeus.
5. Odysseus.
6. Paris.

Everyone knows the myths about Troy and her fall. But the reasons for this decline are not known for certain, whether there was a Trojan horse, whether there was a war. According to legend, Paris and Elena came to Troy, taking significant wealth. Her husband organized the pursuit, gathering a sizable army. It is believed that this conflict was the start of the Trojan War.

Significant battles

The skirmishes lasted for a decade, and not once during this period was Troy taken. The Greeks brought the best ships under its walls, using advanced weapons. Many great generals perished during a series of fierce battles. But the walls of the city were still impregnable.
It is known that Odysseus participated in the skirmishes. The idea to build a huge wooden horse belonged to him. The warriors, together with their leader Odysseus, hid inside the horse. At this time, the naval commanders withdrew the ships from Troy, which could indicate a retreat. This is exactly what the Trojans thought when they saw the ships go far out to sea.
The Trojans rolled their horse through the once impregnable gates and set off to celebrate their victory. At the same time, the Greeks waited until night fell, got out of their refuge and opened the gates to the rest of the representatives of Odysseus's army. The soldiers who entered the city killed most of the Trojans and began to celebrate the victory. The deceived husband Menelaus was about to put Elena to death, but again fell under her spell and pardoned.

Romans and Greeks - about Troy

Homer was not the only one who spoke about the legendary city and its inhabitants in his works. The Romans spoke at least in detail about Troy. Virgil and Ovid especially succeeded.
Scientists Ancient Greece were fully convinced that the Trojan War was not a myth, it took place. Herodotus and Thucydides said that there is historical evidence of the war with Troy. They said that Troy was quite majestic. She stood on a small hill. Below is the Dardanelles Strait. Troy was known not only as a militant city, but also as an important strategic site in terms of trade and crafts. After all, past her along the strait connecting the Aegean and Black Sea, passed the most important trade routes. The ships came here from different countries, some of whom were very rich.

The area where Troy was located was called "Troada". Historians have studied these territories for many years. They now belong to Turkey. Heinrich Schliemann, a popular businessman from Germany, was the first to show the world the place where Troy was located a long time ago. It is known that Henry very thoroughly studied the "Iliad", which allowed him to assert about a place located near the Dardanelles. The hill was called Hisarlik in ancient times. It was on it that Troy towered.
Excavations began at the end of the 19th century. They lasted for 20 years. During this period, the researcher discovered the remains of not one, but several once settlements at once. They all existed until the late Roman period. Believing that Troy existed much earlier than these times and even before the 3rd millennium BC, Schliemann dug deeper. At the same time, he destroyed a lot of important historical monuments, without even knowing about it.
Many objects of gold fell into the hands of Schliemann. He called them "Priamskie treasures". At the same time, he told everyone that it was here in Antiquity that Troy was located. Not all learned world took it at face value. The researchers argued that the place on Mount Hisarlik was first found not by Schliemann, but by Briton Frank Calvert. This archaeologist allegedly carried out excavations earlier than Schliemann and even helped the German at the initial stage. Calvert, too, was convinced that Troy was located near the Dardanelles.
However, Schliemann, having gained worldwide fame thanks to 20 years of excavation, claimed that Calvert never helped him. Now the descendants of Calvert, living in America and England, are fighting for part of the treasures found by Schliemann. And some researchers claim that Schliemann himself brought gold jewelry and utensils to Mount Hisarlik in order to pass them off as the treasures of Troy.
Modern scientists were quick to calm Schliemann in his guesses, saying that the city he had found existed about 1000 years before Troy and the events associated with the war. Schliemann's excavations can be dated at times to 2000 BC.

It is worth believing that Schliemann brought the world very useful discoveries. Despite the fact that he did not open Troy, and completely ruined priceless sources cultural heritage, he drew the world's attention to the Hisarlik hill. After Schliemann lost interest in excavations, other researchers came to Mount Hisarlik. Among them: Karl Blegen, Wilhelm Dörpfeld, scientists from different universities of the world. Excavations continued into the 20th century.
The result of these studies was the statement that at least 9 settlements existed in this place in different years and centuries. The first of them were here in the Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC). Life in Troy dates back to the 3rd century. BC. The one that was described by Homer, archaeologists designated "Troy-8". It existed in the 1100s. BC. Finds that testify to the rampage of the fire element in the settlement are attributed to this period. So, there was a war, scientists concluded.
In Troy, not only military affairs developed, but also handicrafts. Potters' handicrafts were found. But, perhaps, they were not produced here, but were imported and purchased from merchants. The bronze arrowheads seem to have been forged right in the fortress.
"Troy-8" is considered the most developed and big city, in comparison with the rest of the settlements that were on the hill. There is a lot of evidence that there were three in Hisarlik and remained in the ground. The hypothesis about the destruction of the city during the war was confirmed.
And how do contemporaries imagine that very Trojan horse? This is not at all a sculpture of an animal carved from wood, as they draw in books about the legends of Ancient Greece for children. This horse was more like a battering ram, like a horse. This is evidenced by British archaeologists.
The Trojan horse is the prototype of the earthquake in mythology, another legend says. But scientists during excavations did not find traces of the riot of the forces of nature, therefore they are inclined to believe in the version of hostilities in Troy. Turkish sources also speak about this. Today Troy is the territory of Turkey. Scientists of this country have found written sources about the pre-Greek tribes living in the regions of the Dardanelles. It is said about the people and state of Akhiyav, which also took place in Homer.
Troy is undoubtedly a once real state or city in which the tribes that once inhabited Greece lived. A huge number of scientists have spent years of their work trying to find out exactly where Troy was located, whether there was a Trojan War, and what the Trojan Horse looked like. Historians compared archaeological evidence with the stories of Homer, who embodied them in the "Iliad". So modern world I am almost 100% sure that Troy was located on the territory of the Hisarlik hill, near the Dardanelles.

Wedding in Greece

Greek coast and its features

Most of all tourists in Greece are attracted by the sea. This is a real natural heritage of the country, which creates comfortable conditions for living and recreation. Almost all of Greece is comfortably located on the coast, and is washed from different sides by three seas, each of which is shrouded in legends and myths. According to an ancient legend, Hellas was born from the sea, which from ancient times determined the employment of the population of the entire coast. Frear ton Inusson is the deepest depression in the Mediterranean Sea, with a depth of 4850 meters, due to which elevation differences of about 7 km are observed in the country's relief. taking into account the highest point in Greece - Mount Olympus, whose height is 2917 m.

Drinking etiquette of the Greeks

Greek table etiquette is a little different from what we are used to. The Greeks, with their expressive character, transfer their emotions to the meal, making it colorful and original. If you are invited to visit, then do not start eating until the host or hostess of the house invites you to taste their dishes. It is customary among the Greeks to hold a knife in their right hand and a fork in their left. When you're done eating, flip your knife and fork onto your plate.

Greek actors

Storage in olive oil.

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. This is the city, sung in the poem "Iliad", the author of which is believed to be Homer. The events described by Homer, in the present view of historians, belong to the Cretan-Mycenaean era. The people inhabiting Troy are called Teukras in ancient Greek sources.
History of the city of Troy
Turkey is a country with a lot of attractions. Among the world famous are Ancient cityTroy... This mythical city was located on the coast of the Aegean Sea, on the Hisarlik hill near the entrance to the Dardanelles. The second name of the city of Troy is Ilion... There is such a legend about the origin of the ancient city of Troy. The Phrygian king gave Ilu a cow and ordered to found a city on the place where the cow would lie down to rest. It happened on the Ata hill. Zeus himself approved the deed of Ila and threw the statue of Triton's daughter to the ground.
The city has a century-old history, but its exact location was discovered just over a hundred years ago. Archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated 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 found 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 conditionally numbered from one to nine.
The lowest layer was named Troy I and dates back to 3000 - 2600. BC NS. 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 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 was a palace surrounded by a courtyard with warehouses and residential buildings. It was in this layer that Schliemann found a treasure, with jewelry, weapons and various trinkets.
Troy III- IV -V - these are already larger settlements that existed from 2300-1900. BC NS. Groups of houses, separated by small streets, are already observed in these settlements.
Troy VI... Settlements 1900-1300 BC e, testified to wealth, prosperity and power. It was about 200 meters in diameter, the wall was 5 meters thick, there were four gates and three towers around the perimeter. Large buildings, palaces, terraces. There is evidence of the presence of horses. Strongest earthquake everything destroyed.
Troy VII... (1300-900 BC) After the earthquake, life began to emerge on the site of the destroyed settlement, the remaining blocks and columns were used. The houses were built on a smaller scale than before, and stood tightly to each other. 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 plundered 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. On the territory there was a temple of Athena, 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. Roman emperors from the Julian-Claudian dynasty did their best for a 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 level ground. Constantine the Great even wanted to make the city the 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 contemporary historians of Heinrich Schliemann, the hypothesis was widespread that Troy was located on the site of the village of Bunarbashi. The identity of the Hissarlik hill with Homer's Troy was suggested in 1822 by Charles McLaren. A supporter of his ideas was Frank Calvert, who began excavations in Hisarlik 7 years before Schliemann. Calvert's site of the Hisarlik hill was located outside of Homer's Troy. Heinrich Schliemann, who was familiar with Calvert, began a targeted exploration of the second half of the Hissarlik Hill in late XIX century. Most of Schliemann's finds are now kept in the Pushkin Museum (Moscow), as well as in State Hermitage... To date, archaeologists have found traces of nine fortress-settlements that existed in different eras on the territory of excavations in Hisarlik. The first of the settlements found in Hisarlik (the so-called Troy IX) was a fortress with a diameter of less than 100 m and, apparently, existed for 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 from six to ten thousand inhabitants - at that time, a very impressive number. According to the data of the Korfman expedition, the area of ​​the lower city was approximately 170 thousand square meters, the citadel - 23 thousand square meters.
Language and writing
The question of the language of Hector and Priam has long occupied scholars. Some ancient Greek historians suggested that their speech could be close to Phrygian. Then the opinion was expressed that the inhabitants of Homeric Troy were the ancestors of the Etruscans. In the mid-1980s. N. N. Kazansky published several fragments of earthen vessels from Troy with incomprehensible signs, reminiscent of the Cretan letter - he called these signs the Trojan letter. 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 the latest evidence that the names of Priam and other Trojan heroes are likely to be of Luwian origin, it is increasingly believed in the scientific world that the ancients
the Trojans spoke the Luwian dialect. In a monograph published in 2004 by the University of Oxford, Joachim Latach concludes that the Luwian language was official language Homeric Troy. The question of the everyday language of the Trojans is still open. Troy was under strong Hellenic influence; many noble Trojans bore local and Greek names in parallel. The fact that the Greek names of the Trojans are not Homer's inventions 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, as it is assumed, as a result of the Trojan War.
Trojan War
The Trojan War broke out over a woman. According to Greek legend, the Trojan War broke out due to the fact that 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. According to some historians, this is only the peak of the conflict, that is, the last straw that gave rise to the war. Prior to this, there were many trade wars between the Greeks and Trojans, who controlled trade along the entire coast in the Dardanelles Strait. Troy lasted 10 years thanks to outside help. According to available sources, the army of Agamemnon camped in front of the city on the seashore, without laying siege to the fortress from all sides. This was taken advantage of by the king of Troy Priam, who established close ties with Caria, Lydia and other regions of Asia Minor, which during the war provided him with assistance. As a result, the war turned out to be very protracted.
Trojan horse really existed. This is one of the few episodes of that war that 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 this is what Homer called the Greek sea ​​vessels... It is possible that there was no horse at all, and Homer used it in his poem as a symbol of the death of gullible Trojans. The Trojan horse got into the city thanks to a trick of 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 would be able to defend the city from Greek raids forever. Most of the inhabitants of the city were inclined to believe that the horse should be brought into the city.

However, there were also opponents. Priest Laocoon offered to burn the horse or throw it off the 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, who told Priam that the Greeks built a horse in honor of the goddess Athena to atone for years of bloodshed. This was followed by tragic events: during the sacrifice to the sea god Poseidon, two huge snakes emerged from the water, which strangled the priest and his sons. Seeing this as an omen from above, the Trojans decided to roll their horse into the city. It was so huge that it couldn’t fit through the gate and part of the wall had to be taken apart. Trojan horse caused the fall of Troy... According to legend, on the night after the horse entered the city, Sinon released from his womb the soldiers hiding inside, who quickly interrupted the guards and opened the city gates. The city, which fell asleep after violent celebrations, did not even put up 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, the son of Achilles, who broke the front door with his ax and killed King Priam.
Excavation of Troy... During the excavations at Hisarlik, several layers-cities of different times were discovered. Archaeologists have identified 9 layers that belong to different years. They are all called Troy. Only two towers have survived from Troy I. Schliemann investigated Troy II, considering it the true Troy of King Priam. Troy VI was the highest point in the development of the city, its inhabitants traded profitably with the Greeks, but this city seems to have been badly destroyed by an earthquake. Modern scholars 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 the Greek colonists, who also erected the temple of Athena here. Troy IX already belongs to the Roman Empire. It should be noted that excavations have shown that the Homeric descriptions very accurately describe the city.
The search for the legendary Troy

Among archaeologists, there are people who are ambitious and devoted to their designs. And, perhaps, a wealthy German merchant who abandoned his prosperous business in adulthood to search for unidentified 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, is full of secrets and contradictions. He visited many countries of the world, studied in Paris, at the age of 45 he suddenly began to study Greek language and archeology, and a year later he began to search for the most mysterious, the most famous city according to 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 wished to give the opportunity to numerous heroes to become famous and leave their mark on history. A serious reason for the start of the war was the beauty of Zeus' daughter, Elena. And the impetus for battles, cunning, betrayal and conquest was a purely feminine 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 for promising him the possession of herself beautiful woman... The beautiful Elena was the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus, and Paris, who took advantage of Aphrodite's help, sailed to Sparta on a ship and took the beauty to Troy, which brought the anger and strength of the Greek army to the city-state. The war became famous not so much because of just retribution for the outraged honor of the royal family, but thanks to the participation in it on the side of the Achaeans of Odysseus, Ajax, Philokletos, Agamemnon, Achilles. Only 10 years after the abduction, as a result of many trials and adventures, the fleet of companions arrived at Troy to demand justice from the old Trojan king Priam. Hector, at the head of the Trojan army, approached the ships of the Spartans, killed one of the brilliant warriors - Patroclus, but the brother of the latter, 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 or the other side. Achilles destroys many Trojan assistants - the leader of the Amazons, Penfesilia, the Ethiopian king 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 lovely Elena and the treasures stolen from Sparta cannot retreat and they 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 at night the scouts who opened the gates for the Spartan army. Troy was destroyed and burned, and historians and archaeologists have been looking for either the real or the mythical city of Troy on the land of ancient Turkey for many years. Heinrich Schliemann ignored all local stories and suggestions. The place of his excavations, he chose a hill in an hour's walk from the sea, called Hisarlik. And the choice of the newly-minted archaeologist was made on the basis of the study of ancient reports about the sources and channel of the Scamandros River, indicated quite definitely. In his imagination, mythical events took place, ancient warriors performed, famous beauties and, of course, treasures appeared.
In this rich city, there were many art products for which the Greek world was famous; here, to King Priam, the shepherd-prince Paris, along with Elena, brought part of the Spartan treasures that were never found by the victors during the storming and burning of the city of Troy. Schliemann speaks to European art patrons with a proposal to invest in future excavations of ancient Troy. No one believed in the newly-minted researcher, and Schliemann invests his own capital in the excavations organized in 1870.
Schliemann's workers dug into the ground. Schliemann skipped layer by layer, completely disregarding classical excavation methods. The shovels reached the rocky ground, and the remains of a certain city-settlement, tentatively named "Troy I", were discovered there. The researcher was completely disappointed, revealing the squalid buildings, the miserable layout and, most importantly, the almost complete absence of artwork characteristic of the Homeric era. It was then that the novice archaeologist remembered that, together with the workers, he dug several more layers, which means that other time periods of the existence of Troy may be closer to the surface, that is, above the disclosed 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 Helena. And then, among the architectural ruins, traces of a giant fire began to appear, which destroyed the ancient buildings. The fire, apparently, blazed here for more than one day and destroyed everything that remained intact with the hands and weapons of the attacking Spartans.

Homer left Schliemann accurate descriptions disaster, traces of which have been preserved by the land of Hisarlik. Three years of exhausting searches, resistance to rumors, envy of archaeologists in the capital, refusals of funding - everything was redeemed by the find. The stones did not deceive the scientist, who proved to the whole world his perseverance and luck. It was possible, by sketching everything that was found and describing the finds for a future book, to complete the season, but something delayed Schliemann with his young Greek wife. This happened on June 15, 1873, when a cache was found among the massive walls and ancient breaks of Troy II, which occupied a significant space near the western gate of the fortified city. Schliemann sent, under a minor pretext, all the workers from the excavation site to their homes, and he himself proceeded to open a certain empty space. The only witness of the finds in the cache was the Greek woman Sofia, who later helped the archaeologist to take out what was found. The discovered antique treasure contained two gold diadems with 2271 gold rings, 4066 heart-shaped plates and 16 images of gods made of pure gold. Alongside these unprecedented items were 24 gold necklaces, earrings, buttons, needles, bracelets, a 601 gram gold bowl, a lot of 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 excavation site. The delay in the planned plans would have led to suspicion, and the only thought of the archaeologist at that moment was the idea of ​​concealing the discovery from the Turkish authorities. He was sure that in his hands was the treasures of King Priam, hidden in ancient times from prying eyes and war years. The treasure consisted of 8,700 items of gold, and the spouses just needed to take it to Germany, bypassing 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 the path would be paved to Germany. Turkish officials were surprised, but did not protest when they saw off the young and wealthy European capricious Mrs. Schliemann, who was bringing vegetables with her to Athens from Hisarlik ... And these very baskets and Mrs. Sofia herself have since gone down in the history of world discoveries.
In 1873, Schliemann's book "Trojan Antiquities" was published, describing the powerful walls of the Troy fortress, towers erected on heavy stone foundations. The stories about palace buildings were interspersed with descriptions of the fire, which played a terrible role in the fate of the defeated Troy. The brightest pages were dedicated to the gold of King Priam, which by its materiality confirmed the authenticity of the find of the "young" successful historian. The book brought Schliemann great fame, 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 carry out the plan by any means.

The city of Ilion, or Troy, with whose name the events of the Trojan War were associated, was once the most famous and powerful city of Western Asia. According to Hellenic legends, he, along with the highly strong fortress of his Pergamum, stood in a fertile, hilly country, between the spurs of Ida and the Hellespont. On both sides Troy was irrigated by two rivers: Simois and Scamander; both of them flowed along a wide valley and emptied into the nearest bay of the sea. In immemorial ancient times, long before the construction of Troy, the Tevkr people lived on the slopes of Ida, ruled by King Tevkr, the son of the god of the river Scamandra and the nymph Idea. Teucrus amiably sheltered Dardanus, the son of Zeus and the Pleiades of Electra: after fleeing during a famine from his homeland, from Arcadia, Dardanus first settled on the island of Samothrace, and from here moved to the Phrygian coast of Asia, in the region of King Teukra. All this was before the building of Troy.

King Tevkr received him cordially, gave him his daughter Bateia for marriage and gave him a strip of land; on that land Dardan built the city of Dardan. The Trojan tribe that settled this city and its surroundings became known as the Dardans. Dardanus had a son, Erichphonius: he conquered the entire Trojan land under his rule and was revered by his contemporaries as the richest of mortals. Three thousand silk-maned mares grazed in his meadows. Twelve of them possessed such lightness and speed that the Phrygians called them the offspring of the turbulent Boreas: they rushed through the agitated fields and did not knock down ears of corn with their hooves, rushed along the seaside filled with waves and did not touch the waves, did not wet their fast feet in their foam.

Erichphonius was succeeded by his son Tros, by whose name the people began to be called Trojans. Tros had three sons: Il, Assarak and Ganymede. There was no man on earth who could compare with Ganymede's beauty; the father of gods and people, the world leader Zeus ordered his eagle to kidnap the youth to Olympus: here he lived between the immortal gods and served Zeus - he filled his cup at a meal. In exchange for the kidnapped son, Zeus gave the Tsar Tros the harness of divine horses. Upon the death of their father, Il and Assarak divided his kingdom among themselves. Assarak became the ancestor of the Dardanian kings; he had a grandson Anchises - a young man of such beauty that Aphrodite herself was captivated by him. From the marriage of Anchises with the goddess, the hero Aeneas was born, who was king over the Dardans during the Trojan War. Il, the eldest son of Tros, was the ancestor of the Trojan kings. Once Il came to Phrygia and won the competition of all the fighters; As a reward for the victory, the Phrygian king gave him fifty youths and fifty virgins, gave him another, at the behest of the oracle, a motley cow and commanded: where the cow stops, let him build a city there. Il followed her and walked as far as the hill called the Phrygian Ate hill - here the cow stopped. The goddess Ate, the destroyer of people, the darker of the mind, once dared to confuse the mind of Zeus himself, for which she was overthrown by him from Olympus; she fell to the ground in Phrygia, near a hill later named after her. It was on this hill that Il built the famous city of Troy (Ilion). Starting to build Troy, he asked Zeus for a good omen and, waking up in the morning, saw a palladium thrown from heaven to earth by Zeus in front of his tent - a wooden image of Pallas Athena, three cubits high. The goddess was represented with a spear in her right hand, and in her left with a spindle and yarn. The image of Athena was supposed to serve as a guarantee of divine help, a stronghold and protection for the citizens of the emerging city. Joyful, then Il began to build Troy and erected a temple to store the palladium. Having built Troy, he surrounded it with high walls with loopholes. The lower part of the city of Troy was fenced off with a wall later - under the son of Ila, Laomedon.

Excavations of ancient Troy

Once Poseidon and Apollo came to Laomedont: for some fault Zeus sent them to earth and ordered them to spend a year in the service of a mortal. The gods, without revealing their divinity, offered Laomedont - for a certain reward - to encircle his city of Troy with a wall. As Zeta and Amphion once erected the walls of Thebes, so did Apollo and Poseidon work on building the Trojan walls. The powerful Poseidon put in a lot of effort; he dug boulders from the bowels of the earth, dragged them to Troy and made a wall out of them; Apollo, on the other hand, set the stones in motion with the sounds of the strings of his lyre: stones formed by themselves, and a wall was erected by itself. The stronghold built by the gods would be indestructible - the enemies of Troy would never have destroyed it, but along with the gods, a mortal participated in the construction of fortifications - Eak, the ancestor of the strong Aeacids, to whose family Telamon and Ajax, Peleus and Achilles belonged; part of the wall of Troy, erected by Eacus, was destroyed.