Troy

Similarly Geoffrey of Monmouth traces the legendary kings of Britain to a supposed descendant of Aeneas called Brutus. Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, philosopher, politician, Enlightenment thinker. The most famous is undoubtedly that promulgated by Virgil in the Aeneid, tracing the ancestry of the founders of Rome, and more specifically the Julio-Claudian dynasty, to the Trojan prince Aeneas. Severo Ochoa, 1959 Nobel Prize winner for Medicine. Such was the fame of the Trojan story in Roman and medieval times that it was built upon to provide a starting point for various legends of national origin. Letizia, Princess of Asturias, a native of Oviedo and wife of Felipe, Prince of Asturias. For many years also the site was unguarded and was thoroughly looted. Fernando Alonso, Formula 1 racing driver, 2005 World Champion.

The archaeological site itself is, as a recent writer said, "a ruin of a ruin," because the site has been frequently excavated, and because Schliemann's archaeological methods were very destructive: in his conviction that the city of Priam would be found in the earliest layers, he demolished many interesting structures from later eras, including all of the house walls from Troy II. Leopoldo Alas, 19th century author of La Regenta, a seminal work in the Spanish literary canon. The visitor sees a highly commercialised site, with a large wooden horse built as a playground for children, then shops and a museum. There are also services to Barcelona, Salamanca, León, Valladolid, La Coruña, Bilbao, Seville, San Sebastián, Paris, Brussels or Nice, to name just a few. A large number of tourists visit the site each year, mostly coming from Istanbul by bus or by ferry via Çanakkale, the nearest major town about 50 km to the north-east. It links Avilés, Gijón, Oviedo and Mieres with Madrid, several times a day. The archaeological site is officially called Troy by the Turkish government and appears as such on many maps. There is also a bus service within and without the region, run by the ALSA company.

Today there is a Turkish town called Truva in the vicinity of the archaeological site, but this town has grown up recently to service the tourist trade. FEVE rail company links also the center of the region with Eastern and Western Asturias. Even though Homer was Ionian, the Iliad reflects the geography known to the Mycenaean Greeks, showing detailed knowledge of the mainland but not extending to the Ionian islands or Anatolia, which suggests that the Iliad reproduces an account of events handed down by tradition, to which the author did not add his own geographical knowledge. Major stops are the regional capital, Oviedo, and the main coastal city, Gijón. Linguistically, a few verses of the Iliad suggest great antiquity, because they only fit the meter if projected back into Mycenaean Greek, suggesting a poetic tradition spanning the Greek Dark Ages. Spain's national RENFE rail network also serves Asturias well; trains regularly depart to and from the Spanish interior. Such a historical background gives a credible explanation for the geographical knowledge of Troy (which could, however, also have been obtained in Homer's time by visiting the traditional site of the city) and otherwise unmotivated elements in the poem (in particular the detailed Catalogue of Ships). Eastern Asturias is now quite easily reached from Santander.

Much legendary material would have been added during this time, but in this view it is meaningful to ask for archaeological and textual evidence corresponding to events referred to in the Iliad. Internal Spanish carriers such as Iberia and Spanair also serve Asturias, direct from Madrid and Barcelona, Brussels, London, Paris, Seville and others. In this view, the poem's core could reflect a historical campaign that took place at the eve of the decline of the Mycenaean civilization. A UK-based international carrier, Easyjet, began daily flights to the airport in March 2005. Another view is that Homer was heir to an unbroken tradition of epic poetry reaching back some 500 years into Mycenaean times. Asturias is served by Ranon Airport (OVD), which is about an hour's road journey from Oviedo, near the northwest coast and the industrial town of Avilés. The identification of the hill at Hissarlik as Troy is, in this view, a late development, following the Greek colonisation of Asia Minor in the 8th century BC. These subsidies are lately in doubt, given the expansion of the Union in 2004 to include the poorer states of the former Communist bloc.

In this view, no historical city of Troy existed anywhere: the name derives from a people called the Troies, who probably lived in central Greece. Asturias has benefited extensively since 1986 from European Union investment in roads and other essential infrastructure, though there has also been some controversy regarding how these funds are spent, for example, on miners' pensions. In recent years scholars have suggested that the Homeric stories represented a synthesis of many old Greek stories of various Bronze Age sieges and expeditions, fused together in the Greek memory during the "dark ages" which followed the fall of the Mycenean civilization. Large out-of-town retail parks have opened near the region's largest cities (Gijón and Oviedo), whilst the ever-present Spanish construction industry appears to continue to thrive. Others accept that there may be a foundation of historical events in the Homeric stories, but say that in the absence of independent evidence it is not possible to separate fact from myth in the stories. Regional economic growth is below the broader Spanish rate, though in recent years growth in service industries has helped reduce Asturias's high rate of unemployment. Some archaeologists and historians maintain that none of the events in Homer are historical. The steel industry is now in decline, as is mining, as a result of competition from Eastern Europe, high costs of production, and declines in global steel demand.

It may be possible to establish connections between either story and real places and events, but these always risk to be subject to selection bias. The industry created many jobs which resulted in significant migration from other provinces in Spain, mainly Extremadura, Andalucía and Castilla y León. In both cases, an ancient writer's story is now seen by some to be true, by others to be mythology or fiction. The then state-owned ENSIDESA company is now part of the privatised ARCELOR Group. The ostensible historicity of Homer's Troy faces the same hurdles as with Plato's Atlantis. The main regional industry, though, is steel: in the times of Francisco Franco´s dictatorship, it was one of the most powerful in the world. No scholars assume that the individual events in the tale (many of which centrally involve divine intervention) are historical fact; on the other hand, no scholars claim that the scenery is entirely devoid of memories of Mycenaean times: it is rather a subjective question of whether the factual content is rather more or rather less than one would have expected. Production of milk and its derivatives has also been traditionally strong, with products from the Central Lechera Asturiana being exported all over Spain.

The story of the Iliad is not an account of the war, but a tale of the psychology, the wrath, vengeance and death of individual heroes that assumes common knowledge of the Trojan War to create a backdrop. For many centuries the backbone of the Asturian economy was coal mining, steel production and fishing. The more we know about Bronze Age history, the clearer it becomes that it is not a yes-or-no question but one of educated assessment of how much historical knowledge is present in Homer. Asturian cheeses, especially Cabrales, are also famous throughout Spain and beyond; Asturias is often called "the land of cheeses" (el pais de los quesos) due to the product's diversity and quality in this region. The dispute over the historicity of the Iliad was very heated at times. Apple groves foster the production of the traditional alcoholic drink, a natural cider (sidra). Historical Wilusa was one of the Arzawa lands, in loose alliance with the Hittite Empire, and written reference to the city is therefore to be expected in Hittite correspondence rather than in Mycenaean palace archives. The most famous regional dish is Fabada Asturiana, a rich stew made with large white beans (fabes), shoulder of pork (lacón), black sausage (morcilla), spicy sausage (chorizo) and saffron (azafrán).

The Mycenaean Greeks of the 13th century BC had colonized the Greek mainland and Crete, and were only beginning to make forays into Anatolia, establishing a bridgehead in Miletus (Millawanda). Asturias is especially known for its seafood. A name Wilion or Troia does not appear in any of the Greek written records from the Mycenean sites. VIRTUAL TOURS (with over 450 photographs) http://www.asturiasenimagenes.com/. But even if that is accepted, it is of course no positive proof of identity with Homeric (W)ilion. Best viewed at low tide. Our emerging understanding of the geography of the Hittite Empire makes it very likely that the site corresponds to the city of Wilusa. The unusual rock formation on the beach at Buelna village: east of Llanes.

A single seal of a Luwian scribe has been found in one of the houses, proving the presence of written correspondence in the city, but not a single text. The coastal way (senda costera) between Pendueles and Llanes: This partly-paved nature route takes in some of Asturias' most spectacular coastal scenery, such as the noisy bufones (large water spouts created naturally by the erosion of the sea) and the Playa de Ballota. This is probably due to the planification of the former hillfort during the construction of Hellenistic Ilium (Troy IX), destroying the parts that most likely contained the city archives. La Mesa (The Table): an unusually-shaped peak above the village of Tuiza de Arriba, high in the Ubiñas mountain range south of Oviedo. No text or artifact has been found on site itself which clearly identifies the Bronze Age site. The Dobra River: south of Cangas de Onís, famous for its unusual colour and natural beauty. The events described in Homer's Iliad, even if based on historical events that preceded its composition by some 450 years, will never be completely identifiable with historical or archaeological facts, even if there was a Bronze Age city on the site now called Troy, and even if that city was destroyed by fire or war at about the same time as the time postulated for the Trojan War. Of particular interest in this exemplary settlement are the traditional horreo grain silos, raised on stilts so as to keep field mice from getting at the grain.

The identifications of Wilusa with archaeological Troy and of the Achaeans with the Ahhiyawa remain controversial, but gained enough popularity during the 1990s to be considered a majority opinion. Ceceda village: east of Oviedo along the N634 road. Hittite texts mention a water tunnel at Wilusa, and a water tunnel excavated by Korfmann, previously thought to be Roman, has been dated to around 2600 BC. Other places of interest are.... Recent evidence adds weight to the theory that Wilusa is identical to archaeological Troy. The Asturian coast: especially the beaches in and around the summer resort of Llanes, and the Playa del Silencio near Cudillero fishing village. Trevor Bryce in 1998 championed them in his book The Kingdom of the Hittites, citing a recovered piece of the so-called Manapa-Tarhunda letter, which refers to the kingdom of Wilusa as beyond the land of the Seha (known in classical times as the Caicus) river, and near the land of Lazpa (the Isle of Lesbos). The Reconquista and eventual unification of all Spain is therefore said to have started in this very location.

These identifications were rejected by many scholars as being improbable or at least unprovable. The shrine to the Virgin Mary of Covadonga and the mountain lakes (los lagos), near Cangas de Onís: Legend has it that in the 8th century, the Virgin blessed Asturian Christian forces with a well-timed signal to attack Spain's Moorish conquerors, thereby taking the invaders by surprise. This people have been identified with the Homeric Greeks (Achaeans). Weather permitting, it can be viewed clearly from Camarmeña village, near Las Arenas de Cabrales. 1320 BC wrote a letter to the king of the Ahhiyawa, treating him as an equal and implying that Miletus (Millawanda) was controlled by the Ahhiyawa, and also referring to an earlier "Wilusa episode" involving hostility on the part of the Ahhiyawa. The Picos de Europa National park, and other parts of the Asturian mountain range: The most famous peak in the park is the Picu Urriellu, also known as Naranjo de Bulnes (2519 m), a molar-shaped mountain which glows orange in the evening sun, hence its name. The Hittite king Mursili II in ca. Santa María del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo, a prerromanic church and a prerromanic castle build by the first Asturian kings are held in the Naranco mountain.

He further noted that the name of Alaksandus, king of Wilusa, mentioned in one of the Hittite texts is quite similar to the name of Prince Alexandros or Paris of Troy. Oviedo, the capital city of Asturias: Nowadays is a cosmopolite city where art, culture and tradition are found in the town center. In the 1920s the Swiss scholar Emil Forrer claimed that placenames found in Hittite texts — Wilusa and Taruisa — should be identified with Ilium and Troia respectively. Major attractions include.... Korfmann died on 11 August 2005, and since the digging permit was tied to his person, it is uncertain how and when the excavations will continue. Annual rainfall is above 900 mm in all the region (Gijón-Xixón, 971 mm), increasing as we move from the coast to the interior, and reaching its peak in Picos de Europa ( Amieva, 1800 mm). Possible evidence of a battle was also found in the form of arrowheads found in layers dated to the early 12th century BC. Both rain and sunshine are regular weather features of Asturian winters.

It is claimed by Korfmann that the ditch may have once have marked the outer defences of a much larger city than had previously been suspected. The cold is especially felt in the mountains, where snow is present from November till May. Remains found in the ditch were dated to the late Bronze Age, the alleged time of Homeric Troy. Winters are fairly mild but with some very cold snaps. In August 2003 following a magnetic imaging survey of the fields below the fort, a deep ditch was located and excavated among the ruins of a later Greek and Roman city. Summers are generally humid and warm, with considerable sunshine, but also some rain. The question of Troy's status in the Bronze Age world has been the subject of a sometimes acerbic debate between Korfmann and the Tübingen historian Frank Kolb in 2001/2002. The climate of Asturias, as with the rest of northwest Spain, is more varied than that of southern parts of the country.

In 1988 excavations were resumed by a team of the University of Tübingen and the University of Cincinnati under the direction of Professor Manfred Korfmann. Most of Asturias' beaches are sandy, clean and bordered by steep cliffs, on top of which it is not unusual to see grazing livestock. These excavations have shown that were at least nine cities built one on top of each other at this site. Notable examples include the Playa del Silencio (Beach of Silence) near the fishing village of Cudillero (west of Gijón), as well as the many beaches surrounding the summer resort of Llanes, such as the Barro, Ballota and Torimbia (the latter a predominantly nudist beach). After Schliemann, the site was further excavated under the direction of Wilhelm Dörpfeld (1893/4) and later Carl Blegen (1932-8). The Asturian coastline is extensive, with hundreds of beaches, coves and natural sea caves. Schliemann declared one of these cities—at first Troy I, later Troy II—to be the city of Troy, and this identification was widely accepted at that time. Perhaps surprisingly, climate change appears to have benefited the ski stations in recent times: relatively heavy snowfalls sustained the stations in the winters of 2003/2004 and 2004/2005.

Here he discovered the ruins of a series of ancient cities, dating from the Bronze Age to the Roman period. In this era of climate change snow fall is unpredictable, but the skiing season generally runs from December to April inclusive. In the 1870s (in two campaigns, 1871-73 and 1878/9), however, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated a hill, called Hissarlik by the Turks, near the town of Chanak (Çanakkale) in north-western Anatolia. Asturias has two impressive ski stations, San Isidro and Pajares, both of which are easily accessed by road from the capital, Oviedo. With the rise of modern critical history, Troy and the Trojan War were consigned to the realms of legend. The Cantabrian mountains offer opportunities for activities such as climbing, walking, skiing and caving, and extend some 200 kilometres in total, as far as Galicia province to the west of Asturias, and Cantabria province to the east. In Byzantine times the city declined gradually, and eventually disappeared. Other notable features of this predominantly-limestone range are the Parque Natural de Redes in the central east, the central Ubiñas south of Oviedo, and the Parque Natural de Somiedo in the west.

The last city on this site, Hellenistic Ilium, was founded by Romans during the reign of the emperor Augustus and was an important trading city until the establishment of Constantinople in the fourth century as the eastern capital of the Roman Empire. The Picos de Europa National Park forms the eastern range and contains the highest and arguably most spectacular mountains, rising to 2648 metres at the Torrecerredo peak. 1020 BC) appear to have been destroyed by fires. The Cantabrian mountain range (Cordillera Cantábrica) is Asturias' natural border with León province to the south. 1120 BC) and Troy VIIb₂ (ca. The key features of Asturian geography are its rugged cliffy coast and its mountainous interior. Troy VIIb₁ (ca. Since 1999 the President of the Government of Asturias has been Vicente Álvarez Areces, of the Spanish Socialist Worker's Party (PSOE).

However, only small portions of the city have been excavated, and the finds are too scarce to clearly favour destruction by war over a natural disaster. The Asturian regional government holds comprehensive competencies in important areas such as health, education and protection of the environment. Three bronze arrowheads were found, two in the fort and one in the city. In 1982 Asturias became an Autonomous Community within the decentralized territorial structure established by the Constitution of 1978. Partial human remains were found in houses and in the streets, and near the north-western ramparts a human skeleton with skull injuries and a broken jawbone. The province's name was restored fully after the return of democracy to Spain, in 1977. Until the 1988 excavations, the problem was that Troy VII seemed to be a hill-top fort, and not a city of the size described by Homer, but later identification of parts of the city ramparts suggests a city of considerable size. With Franco eventually gaining control of all Spain, Asturias - traditionally linked to the Spanish crown - was known merely as the 'Province of Oviedo' from 1936 until Franco's death in 1975.

It appears to have been destroyed by a war, and there are traces of a fire. As a result, Asturias remained loyal to the democratic republican government during the war, and was the scene of an extraordinary defence in extreme terrain, the Battle of El Mazuco. The archaeological layer known as Troy VIIa, which has been dated on the basis of pottery styles to the mid- to late-13th century BC, is the most often-cited candidate for the Troy of Homer. Troops under the command of Francisco Franco were brought from the North African colonies to put down the rebellion and a ferocious oppression followed. Only a single arrowhead was found in this layer, and no bodily remains. In 1934, the left-wing workers' movement fought the right-wing government of the Second Spanish Republic in the so-called 'Revolution of Asturias'. Troy VI was destroyed around 1300 BC, probably by an earthquake. Like all Spain, Asturias played its part in the events that led up to and include the Spanish Civil War.

During the Bronze Age, the site seems to have been a flourishing mercantile city, since its location allowed for complete control of the Dardanelles, through which every merchant ship from the Aegean Sea heading for the Black Sea had to pass. The heritage of these wealthy families can still be seen in Asturias today: many large 'modernista' villas are dotted across the region, as well as cultural institutions such as free schools and public libraries. The first city was founded in the 3rd millennium BC. These entrepreneurs were known collectively as 'Indianos', for having visited and made their fortunes in the West Indies and beyond. The layers of ruins on the site are numbered Troy I – Troy IX, with various subdivisions:. At the same time there was significant migration to the Americas; those who succeeded overseas often returned to their native land much wealthier. Once Troy fell, the Trojans on the European shore fled northward and ended up as the Etruscans in Italy. The Industrial Revolution came to Asturias with the discovery and systematic exploitation of coal and iron resources.

During the Trojan War, the Greeks used a naval blockade to prevent Trojans on the European shore and on Lemnos from coming to the aid of Troy. Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, a polimath and prominent reformer and politician of the late 18th century, was born in the seaside town of Gijón (Xixón in the Asturian language). After attacking and destroying the Hittite Empire, they came to control the Straits. The renowned thinker Benito de Feijoo settled in the Benedictine Monastery of San Vicente, Oviedo. Dillon argues [7] that the Trojans were originally a steppe people related to the Magyars. During the 18th Century, Asturias was one of the centres of the Spanish Enlightenment. Historian Kenneth J. After the fading of the 'Regnum Astorum' (Kingdom of Asturias), this historic land survived as a marginal territory in the north of Spain, although it provided the Spanish court with high-ranking aristocrats and played an important role in the colonisation of the Americas.

Immanuel Velikovsky, while accepting the traditional geography of the Trojan War, argued [6] that the Greek Dark Ages never happened, and that the Trojan War was fought several centuries later than is now generally believed. For this reason since the 14th century the heir to the Spanish throne automatically takes the title Prince of Asturias, much as the heir to the British throne is the Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. Dr. Due to its situation and difficult terrain, the territories along the north coast of Spain were never part of Islamic Spain; the north served as the nucleus of a small Christian enclave, the Kingdom of Asturias, which was linked to Spain's visigoth kingdom. Neither theory is generally accepted by classicists. . Iman Wilkins has located Troy in England [4], while Felipe Vinci places it in southern Finland [5]. Asturias is bordered to the east by Cantabria, to the south by Castilla y León, to the west by Galicia, and to the north by the Cantabrian Sea.

A small minority of contemporary scholars dispute the Anatolian location of Homer's Troy. See also List of municipalities in Asturias, Comarcas of Asturias.. Their conclusion was that there is regularly a consistency between the location of Troy as identified by Schliemann (and other locations such as the Greek camp), the geological evidence, and descriptions of the topology and accounts of the battle in the Iliad. Other towns include Mieres, Langreo, Pola de Siero, Cangas de Onís, Cangas del Narcea, Grado, Pola de Lena, Pola de Laviana, El Entrego, Villaviciosa, and Llanes. The geologists compared the present geology with the landscapes and coastal features described in the Iliad and other classical sources, notably Strabo's Geographia. The capital is Oviedo, and other noteworthy cities are the major seaport Gijón, the largest city in Asturias, and the industrial town of Avilés. Luce from Trinity College, Dublin presented the results (see [1], [2], & [3]) of investigations into the geology of the region that had started in 1977. It is situated on the north coast facing the Cantabrian Sea (Mar Cantábrico, the Spanish name for the Bay of Biscay).

Kraft from the University of Delaware and John V. The Principality of Asturias (Asturian: Principau d'Asturies or Asturies) has an extensive history and is an autonomous community within the country of Spain. In November 2001, geologists John C. Ancient Greek historians placed the Trojan War variously in the 12th, 13th or 14th century BC: Eratosthenes to 1184 BC, Herodotus to 1250 BC, Douris to 1334 BC. Alexander the Great, for example, visited the site in 334 BC and made sacrifices at the alleged tombs of the Homeric heroes Achilles and Patroclus.

The Greeks and Romans took for a fact the historicity of the Trojan War, and in the identity of Homeric Troy with the site in Anatolia. The Homeric legend of Troy was elaborated by the Roman poet Virgil in his work the Aeneid. Besides the Iliad, there are references to Troy in the other major work attributed to Homer, the Odyssey, as well as in other ancient Greek writings. The site of the ancient city today is some 15 kilometers from the coast, but the ancient mouths of Scamander, some 3,000 years ago, were some 5 kilometers further inland, pouring into a bay that has since been filled with alluvial material.

The city of Troy itself stood on a hill, across the plain of Scamander, where the battles of the Trojan War took place. In the Iliad, the Achaeans set up their camp near the mouth of the river Scamander (modern Karamenderes), where they had beached their ships. Aeneas landed there and Helenus foretold his future. Buthrotos (or Buthrotum) was a city in Epirus where Helenus, the Trojan seer, built a replica of Troy.

The altar of Panomphaean (‘source of all oracles’) was dedicated to Jupiter the Thunderer (Tonatus) near Troy. Mount Ida ("Mount of the Goddess") in Asia Minor, is where Ganymede was abducted by Zeus, where Anchises was seduced by Aphrodite, where Aphrodite gave birth to Aeneas, where Paris lived as a shepherd, where the nymphs lived, where the "Judgement of Paris" took place, where the Greek gods watched the Trojan War, where Hera distracted Zeus with her seductions long enough to permit the taking of Troy, and where Aeneas and his followers rested and waited until the Greeks set out for Greece. This law was adopted by King Dunvallo Molmutius (from Brutus) in his code and is still in effect today in Britain. Gordon allowed queens as well as kings.

A Trojan law mentioned by E.O. Pegsis was the naiad of the River Grenikos near Troy. The Aisepid nymphs were the naiads of the Trojan River Aisepos. Some of the Trojan allies were the Hittites and the Amazons.

Kapys, Boukolion, Aisakos, and Paris were Trojan princes who had naias wives. Some famous Trojans are: Dardanus (founder of Troy), Laomedon, Ganymede, Priam, Paris, Hector, Teucer, Aesacus, Oenone, Telamon, Tithonus, Antigone, Memnon, Corythus, Aeneas, Brutus, and Elymus. The Persians invaded in 546 BC. The Ionians, Cimmerians, Phrygians, Milesians of Sinope, and Lydians moved into Asia Minor.

Trojan rule in Asia Minor was replaced by the "sons of Herakles" dynasty in Sardis that ruled for 505 years until the time of Candaules. The Trojan ships transformed into naiads, who rejoiced to see the wreckage of Odysseus' ship. The Maxyans were a west Libyan tribe who said that they were descended from the men of Troy, according to Herodotus. During his reign, the Mycenaean Greeks invaded and captured Troy in the Trojan War (traditionally dated to 1193 BC-1183 BC).

Priam later became king. One generation before the Trojan War, Heracles captured Troy and killed Laomedon and his sons, except for young Priam. Pestilence came and the sea monster snatched away the people of the plain. When Laomedon refused to pay, Poseidon flooded the land and demanded the sacrifice of Hesione to a sea monster.

Poseidon and Apollo built the walls and fortifications around Troy for Laomedon, son of Ilus the younger. Zeus gave Ilus the Palladium. Ilus, son of Tros, founded the city of Ilium (Troy) that he called after himself. Upon Dardanus' death, the Kingdom was passed to his grandson Tros, who called the people Trojans and the land Troad, after himself.

Eventually Dardanus married Teucer's daughters, and founded Dardania (later ruled by Aeneas). Teucer was himself also a coloniser from Attica, and treated Dardanus with respect. Dardanus, the legendary founder of Troy, crossed over to Asia Minor from the insland of Samothrace, where he met Teucer. The Trojan royal family was started by Electra and Zeus, the parents of Dardanus.

Troy was known for its riches, gained from port trade with east and west, fancy clothes, iron production, and massive defensive walls. According to Greek mythology, the Trojans were the ancient citizens of the city of Troy in the Troad area, in the land of Asia Minor (or Little Asia, now Turkey). The story of the Trojans first began in myth and legend. .

While such an identity is disputed, the site has been successfully identified with the city called Wilusa in Hittite texts; Ilion (which goes back to earlier Wilion with a digamma) is thought to be the Greek rendition of that name. One of the earlier cities (Troy VII) is often identified with Homeric Troy. Later excavations revealed several cities built in succession to one another. In the 1870s the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated the area.

The Roman city of Celeia (now Celje in Slovenia) has been referred to by some writers as Troia secunda ("the second Troy"). It flourished until the establishment of Constantinople, and declined gradually during Byzantine times. A new city of Ilium was founded on the site that many believed to be the location of the legendary Ilion in the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus. Troy (Truva, Hissarlik 39°58′N 26°13′E) is also the name of an archaeological site, the traditional location of Homeric Troy, in Asia Minor or Anatolia, close to the seacoast in what is now northwest Turkey, southwest of the Dardanelles under Mount Ida.

Troy (Turkish: Truva, Greek Τροία Troia also Ἰλιον; Latin: Troia, Ilium) is a legendary city, scene of the Trojan War, part of which is described in Homer's Iliad, an epic poem in Ancient Greek, composed in the 8th or 7th century BC, but containing older material (Iliad means "epic of Ilion"). Troy IX: Hellenistic Ilium, 1st century BC. Troy VIII: around 700 BC. 950 BC.

Troy VIIb₃: until ca. Troy VIIb₂: 11th century BC. Troy VIIb₁: 12th century BC. 1300 – 1190 BC, most likely candidate for Homeric Troy.

Troy VIIa: ca. Troy VIh: late Bronze Age, 14th century BC. Troy VI: 17th – 15th centuries BC. Troy V: 20th – 18th centuries BC.

Troy I – Troy IV: early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC).