The legendary city of Troy
Some great, ancient legends shine with such a bright and intense light that they remain alive for thousands of years. The sack of Troy on the northwest coast of Turkey is one of them. Despite the lack of real evidence, and, until recently, even a real place to set the facts, the belief that the Trojan War was actually fought has never wavered.
When the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann rediscovered Troy, he re-established a link with the past in the eyes of the whole world. In fact, he gave concrete reality to a Bronze Age event with themes and passions no less complex and moving than those of Shakespeare's dramas, but referring to a people considered until then to be little less than savage. In the case of the Trojan War, the legend owes its grandeur, if not its fortune over the centuries, to one of the most famous epic poems ever written: the Iliad.
The history of the ancient city of Troy
It is believed today that the narration of the long war fought between the Greeks and the Trojans arose from the fusion of disparate verses, handed down by oral tradition and inspired by a real event. The poet Homer, if he actually lived, was probably born on one of the Ionian islands, perhaps Chios, or in Smyrna, in the 8th century BC. His fame lasted beyond his death, given that, at the end of each song, the bard who he recited the verses and always concluded with the words 'as sung by Homer'.
The story of the fall of Troy begins when Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy, had the dangerous and dubious honor of pronouncing himself in the beauty contest between the goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite.
These did not scruple to try to bribe him.
Paris was therefore forced to make his choice not only on the basis of his natural inclination or the fear of the revenge of the excluded ones, but he also had to choose, in order, between the wealth and dominion of all Asia, the wisdom and the 'invincibility' or the love of Helen of Sparta, wife of King Menelaus and considered the most beautiful woman in the world.
By opting for Elena, the young man began a tragedy that lasted for ten years, caused the ruin of his hometown and claimed the lives of countless men, women and children.
The difficult identification of Troy
Since classical times, the precise location of Priam's Troy has been the subject of uncertainty and controversy.
When the Greek inhabitants of llion in northwestern Turkey claimed that their city was the true heiress of Troy, Homer's scholars accused them of presumptuousness.
In fact, didn't the Roman geographer Strabo (ca. 60 BC - 21 AD) claim that the site was 5.6 km closer to the mountains, in the 'Village of the Trojans'?
The Iliad places Troy near two springs that feed the Scamander river, one always hot and steaming, the other always cold and frozen.
In 1791 the French traveler Lechevalier established, starting from this data, that the ancient seat of the city should be sought in the village of Bunarbashi, which means 'spring'.
Above the village there is a rocky hill, similar to a citadel, from which various springs flow.
More than two generations of scholars ignored that the waters of those springs have the same temperature, and therefore Heinrich Schliemann made his first attempt to discover Troy right here. Having found no trace of the legendary city, he confidently moved with his spade to Hissarlik Hill.
This modest hill is almost 4.8 km from the seashore and rises between two important rivers of the Trojan plain, identified by the Iliad as the Simoenta and the Scamander.
The inhabitants of llion had not been presumptuous, since, not far from the ruins of their city, the German archaeologist unearthed Troy.
The nine cities of Troy
Heinrich Schliemann, a true adventurer of archeology, was a man gifted with extraordinary determination: as a boy, his dream had been to discover Homer's lost city. In 1870 he started excavations at Hissarlik and continued them for twenty years.
With a somewhat hasty attitude, Schliemann dug an enormous trench in the hill of Hissarlik, unfortunately destroying part of the layer that most interested him, Homer's Troy.
He was understandably baffled by the more stratified nature of the hill he was penetrating.
However, he came to recognize four separate and overlapping cities under the classical Roman settlement of Illium and decided that the Troy he sought was second from the bottom.
This conclusion met with little favor among archaeologists, which infuriated Schliemann and made him even more proud when, in 1873, he unearthed the Treasure of Priam, as he described it.
Schliemann reported that as he mined the gold, he handed it to his beautiful young Greek wife, Sofia, who tucked it under her shawl, hiding it from the sight of Turkish officials and workers.
There is a photograph of the woman beautifully adorned with the 'Jewels of Elena'.
Along with the hoard were cups, spearheads and earrings all of which probably came from Troy II or Troy III (2200 BC) a very different period from that of Homer's Troy, Troy VI, probably destroyed in 1260 BC.
Unfortunately, all the finds, except for a pair of earrings and a few other objects, disappeared from Berlin in 1945: they would probably have been invaluable for the study of those very ancient cities.
What remains today of the city of Troy?
Many visitors find the remains of Troy modest and uninteresting. And undoubtedly the city is very small compared to the classic dream of Priam's mighty turreted citadel. It measures only 137m by 183m and there is space for a few dozen houses, inhabited by perhaps a thousand people. But the small size of Troy is precisely one of its most moving characteristics, because they highlight all its vulnerability.
The shore where the Greeks beached their ships is now 15 km back from the time when Achilles dragged Hector 's mangled body around the walls of Troy in a rage.
Of the city described by Homer, only two details remain today: the wind that blows incessantly through the tall grass (nowhere else in the area does it blow with such intensity) and the tiny stunted oaks that seem to exist only here.
The English writer Rose Macaulay, in her book The Towers of Trebizond, perhaps had the last word on the magic of Troy:
"I thought that the world was already rich enough in cities, and that it was better not to go and disturb the vanished ones, but let them rest under the grass, and the daffodils, and the brambles, under the moaning wind, and in the distance the sea, on whose waters the Greek ships rocked, waiting, for ten years...".
