Troy

This article is about the ancient city. For other uses, seeTroy (disambiguation).

Archaeological Site of Troy, Inner Court Wall トロイ di tích - panoramio

The main phases of construction of Troy

Map of Homeric Greece.

Troywas a city in north-westAsia Minor.It was the center of theTrojan War,as told in eight long epic poems, six from theEpicCycle,and two written byHomer,theIliadand theOdyssey.

Today it is the name of an archaeological site, the location of Homeric Troy, inHisarlikinAnatolia,close to the seacoast in what is nowÇanakkaleprovince in northwestTurkey,southwest of theDardanelles.

UNESCOhas listed the archaeological site of Troy as aWorld Heritage Site.

"The archaeological site of Troy is of immense significance in the understanding of the development of European civilization at a critical stage in its early development. It is, moreover, of exceptional cultural importance because of the profound influence of Homer’s Iliad on the creative arts over more than two millennia". UNESCO citation.

Homer's Troy

Troy as seen inHomer's account is probably true in part. However, it is wrong to think his account is historically exact. With that warning, this is a summary of events leading up to theTrojan war,mostly derived from theIliad.

Troy was a powerful kingdom in theMediterraneansea, and thrived under the long rule of KingPriam.His many sons, including the valiant, strong, unbeatableHector,andParis,a creative character who was not a strong fighter but a passionate man, are the best known in the Troy myth.

In Greece lay a Kingdom called Mycene, owned byMycenaeanor Mykene people, ruled by KingAgamemnon.He started a campaign to pressure the Greece cities or kingdoms and to join him and attack Troy, to capture its many riches. The King ofIthaca,Odysseus(orUlysses,as he was also known), along with King Idomenous of Crete, with up to 22 more Kingdoms and Kings, spent ten years attacking Troy. Eventually, Troy fell after a coup that Odysseus had thought up, using a wooden trojan horse to hide soldiers within in order to get soldiers behind the Trojan line of defence.

Before the fall of Troy, during the dawn of the War, King Priam sought to create an alliance with the strong Kingdom ofSpartain Northern Greece, to defend Troy when the war had begun. KingAeneas,or Helikaon as he was said to be known, King of Dardanos, was a good friend of Hektor and King Priam, and sided with the Trojans in the war. Unfortunately, on the journey back, after Hektor and Paris had forged an alliance in Sparta, Paris took the wife of the King of Sparta, PrincessHelen,without his consent, as they had fallen in love. This ended the alliance,and Sparta eventually joined the fighting cause of King Agammenon.

Other websites

General

• Troy on the InternetArchived2008-05-14 at theWayback MachineEducational website, University of Cincinnati
• The Identification of Troyby Jan Sammer
• Troy-Citizendium
• "Troy, archaeology and the Old Testament".Is there a God?. 7 March 2017.

Archaeology

• Hisarlık TroyArchived2008-05-16 at theWayback Machine
• Project Troia - The new excavations at TroyArchived2005-05-19 at theWayback Machine
• digital reconstructions of the cityArchived2007-03-11 at theWayback Machine
• Greek, Roman and Byzantine Pottery at Ilion (Troia)Archived2011-06-07 at theWayback Machine
• Troy VII and the Historicity of the Trojan WarArchived2006-04-11 at theWayback Machine

Photos

• Photos from Troy
• Troy picturesArchived2007-02-20 at theWayback Machine
• Livius.org: Troy and plain of TroyArchived2009-02-27 at theWayback Machine

Geography

• the TroadArchived2001-11-30 at theWayback Machine(with an image of a model of Troy II)
• Geology corresponds with Homer’s description of ancient Troy,article by Neil Thomas on the University of Delaware site.