German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated the site of the city of Troy in Turkey in 1870 and found several cities built on top of each other. The city called Troy 8 is believed to be the site of the famous Trojan War in Homer’s Iliad.
Troy is the name of an ancient city in present-day Turkey. Troy was a Greek immigrant residing in Anatolia. The surviving ancient Troy is the story of the Iliad in Turkey and is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Troy is a unique symbol of the cultural fusion of the inhabitants of Anatolia, the Balkans and the inhabitants of the Aegean Sea, where the history of human habitation dates back to the Bronze Age or 3000 BC.
The city of Troy was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt throughout its turbulent history. Also traces of another city were found on the site, which belonged to the Roman Empire, but gradually lost its importance and became uninhabited after the construction of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul).
History of the city of Troy
The main city of Troy was built in Turkey in 3000 BC as a small castle, and during historical texts, the beautiful decoration of the southern gate of the city was mentioned several times, but these works were destroyed in 2500 BC in a huge fire, until the new city was built on a spacious hill.
The homes of ordinary people in this city were made of mud and the wealthy had stone houses, but this city, known as the Second Trojan, was destroyed in 2300 BC in another fire.
Between 2300 and 1700 BC the fourth and fifth Trojans were built, with so little found around the third and fourth periods. Although the Romans conquered the seventh city of Troy in 85 BC, most of the archaeological finds in the region date back to this period.
The story of the Trojan War
The Trojan War (12th century BC) is one of the greatest wars in Greek mythology. It is an epic described by the Greek poet Homer in the book of Iliad in the twelfth and fourteenth centuries BC.
Troy fell after ten years of sterile battle, using a huge wooden horse as a hoax to open the impenetrable city gate.
According to ancient Greek myths, the son of the King of Troy stole Helen, the sister-in-law of the King of Greece (Agamemnon), after he fell in love with her and fled with her to his homeland, then the King of Greece started a war on Troy, but the city walls were so strong that nothing was done.
The city of Troy was under siege by the Greek forces for nine years, and was among the best soldiers of Greece, Achilles, who devised a plan to break through the walls of the city of Troy by building a huge wooden horse and hiding inside it.
Reconstruction of the city of Troy in Turkey
Reports issued by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism indicate that the ministry has a coordinated plan to present the city as a historical jewel in Turkey.
Turkey intends to take serious steps to boost the tourism industry, especially after the inclusion of the historic city of Troy on the World Heritage List by UNESCO.
It is worth noting that the city of Troy is located south of the Dardanelles strait in the northwestern province of Çanakkale. It overlooks the coastal plain of the Aegean Sea, and is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world with a history dating back 4000 years.
The new Turkish Museum in the legendary Trojan city
The Trojan Museum in Turkey opened its doors to the public in October 2018, after five years of construction, at a cost of $ 10 million, where tourists can travel through a 4000-year history.
The museum displays 2,000 historical artifacts, including 24 gold jewelry dating back to 2400 BC. These gold coins were previously preserved in the Pennsylvania Museum in the United States.
Exhibits at the 3000 square meter museum include a variety of works, where there is a small bronze ring (showing the relationship between the inhabitants of Troy and the Bronze Age in northern Central Anatolia) and a very large stone sarcophagus (which was inserted inside the museum building with the help of a crane before the museum building complete).
The museum also contains a section entitled “Lost Heritage” dedicated to relics brought to Turkey from other countries and not yet been returned.
Read more about Istanbul Archaeological Museum
How to get to the city of Troy in Turkey
You can reach Troy from Istanbul in an hour by car. You can also use public transportation like buses.
