The Historical Proof of the Existence of Troy

The Iliad is an ancient Greek poem by the poet Homer, in this poem he describes the conflicts between Achilles and his leader Agamemnon and between the Greeks and the Trojans, following the abduction of Agamemnon’s sister-in-law, Helen of Sparta (Helen of Troy), by the Trojan prince Paris. Helen of Troy was said to have been the most beautiful women in the world, but was she the cause of the Trojan War? Was Troy a real place or one of legend? Did the Trojan War really happen? Were there other reasons for the conflict? These are only some of the questions that have been asked since Homers first mention of Troy. Archeologists have since tried to answer these questions, through excavation archeologists believe that the mound at Hisarlik near the mouth of the Dardanelles in Turkey, is that of ancient Troy.

For many centuries Homer’s Troy and the war between the Trojans and the Greeks was considered to be a myth by many scholars. However, during the 19th century two men took on the quest to prove that the legendary city actually existed. Frank Calvert was so convinced that the mound at Hisarlik was that of ancient Troy, that he bought as much land around Hisarlik as he could. He started excavations in 1863, however, he lacked the funds to be able to do a really thorough excavation of the land. What Calvert needed was someone to sponsor his excavations, in 1868 he found what he was looking for or so he thought. Heinrich Schliemann was a wealthy businessman, who was inspired as a child by the tales of Homer’s Troy and had the dream that when he had the means, he would set out to prove Troy was real.

When Calvert and Schliemann met up, the agreement was that Calvert was to contribute his archaeological expertise and allow Schliemann access to his land, while Schliemann would underwrite the costs of the excavation. (Sweeney, p. 18). In the first excavation season in 1970, he didn’t have a permit from the Turkish government, but he didn’t let that stop him. In the second year of excavations Schliemann hired workers and in the hurry of finding Troy, dug a huge trench, this trench was dug across most of the mound and down about forty-five feet. This trench can still be seen today as a huge gash in the middle of the site and is referred to as Schliemann’s Great Trench. (Cline, p. 28)

During the third year of excavations in 1873, Schliemann claimed to have found ‘Priam’s Treasure,’ this treasure included metal vessels, weapons, silver weights, and a good quantity of jewelry. It was later thought by some that the artifacts were uncovered at different places in the excavation and assembled by Schliemann into a single treasure. We also know now that the place where Schliemann said to have found this treasure, was too deep in the ground and also too old to be the Troy of Homer and the Iliad. ‘Priam’s Treasure’ was found at what we now know and refer to as Troy II, the time between c. 2600 and c. 2300 BC. During this time in history the Greeks had not yet moved into the south of the Balkan peninsula, they could not have launched the attack on Troy from strongholds in Greece as was described in the Iliad. A period in which such an attack could have happened, at the earliest, the peak of the first Greek high culture, between c. 1250-1150 BC. in Troy this corresponds with the end of Troy VI and the beginning of Troy VII (Latacz, p. 8)

The city of Troy was originally built on a natural hill, but rebuilding and occupation over many centuries meant that the hill eventually became a mound. Schliemann doubted whether Troy could have consisted of only the hilltop fortress, thinking that it was just too small. He thought that there must have been a bigger lower town. From archaeological investigations we have learned that Troy existed as a citadel, city and trading center from c. 3000 to c. 1000 B.C. it was occupied continuously and fortified. Mud dried brick was the main building material, this meant that they had a limited life and renovation of parts of the settlement was needed every so often, this was sometimes due to deterioration or destruction from natural disasters.

These old structures were leveled, and the new structures were built on top of the older layers. If vertical shafts are bored into the ground, a total of forty-one levels of building can be identified in the shaft walls. Population growth also required horizontal extensions of the areas that were occupied. Each of the expanded settlements was fortified again, and a new defensive wall was built. (Latacz, pgs. 7-8) The phase of Troy VI spanned over a period of several centuries, it covered the last years of the Middle Bronze Age and most of the Late Bronze Age. The largest of the Bronze Age citadels was that of Troy VI, the most famous remains are the fortification walls that surrounded the citadel. During the 1992 excavation season led by Manfred Korfmann, using a cesium magnetometer some workers discovered a burnt mud brick wall.

This wall was about 400 meters south of the Troy VI fortress wall and was at a depth of two to three meters beneath all the other structures. When they located this wall they found that it was up to 6 meters thick and that it could be followed for about 120 meters, which leads to the most southern point, and a gate which they suspected must have been the south gate of the settlement. With this discovery the workers had no doubts that they had found ‘the lost Bronze Age wall of Troy VI/VII’ the ‘Homeric city wall’. (Latacz, p. 24).

As well as the citadel walls, Troy was protected by fortifications that surrounded the lower city. A massive ditch was cut into the bedrock, this ditch measured almost 4 meters wide and 2 meters deep. It is estimated that the area within these fortification walls was 270,000m2 and the population is estimated to be between 5,000-10,000 depending on the amount of crowding and whether the houses were multistoried. After centuries of habitation Troy VI was destroyed in its final phase Troy VIh. It is thought that the destruction was caused by an earthquake. This is evident because walls had been knocked off alignment and whole towers within the citadel walls were toppled.

Not much remains of Troy VII, much of this part is missing due to Schliemann and his team having dug the Great Trench. If one were to stand at the bottom of this trench and look up, you will see a building made out of huge blocks of stone. This building dates to the period of Troy VI and was reused in Troy VII, it is all that remains of the palace that dates to the Late Bronze Age (Cline, p. 29). When Troy VI was ended by a powerful earthquake, that didn’t stop the people and the city was once again rebuilt. The walls of Troy VII were built reusing stones from the previous phase. The rebuilding that was needed after the earthquake was quite substantial.

Unfortunately, there will always be questions surrounding the legitimacy of Troy and the Trojan War. For many years Troy was not believed to have been a real place but through the excavations of Hisarlik in Turkey started by Schliemann, and then continued by others have proved that Troy is in fact real. Unfortunately Schliemann’s methods destroyed Troy VIIA, the one which is believed to be the Troy that was described in the Iliad. So much of the information on this level was lost, what is left however, does show some evidence of a long siege and destruction.