TURKEY – TROY

DECEMBER 5, 2024

We all know the story from the Odyssey of the 10 year war between the Greeks and Trojans. The Greeks built a horse out of burnt ship planks and leave it at the gate of Troy. It is an offering to Athena, for destroying her temple. Then the Greeks pretend to sail away, leaving one man behind, as though abandoned.

Inside the horse were 30 of the best Greek soldiers, including Odysseus himself. The Trojans pull the horse inside the city walls, claiming it as a trophy in the defeat of the Greeks and begin celebrating. Once they are good and drunk, the abandoned soldier signals for the ships to return. In the meantime, the soldiers slip out of the horse and open the gates of the city. The ships soldiers come in, and take Troy.

Though miles from the sea now, at one time the sea came right to the city walls.

The actual, archeological, Troy was first settled around 3600 BC and grew into a small fortified city around 3000 BC. During its four thousand years of existence, Troy was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. It is divided into nine layers, with each city being built on the ruins of the previous.

In 1871 Heinrich Schliemann began excavating. He was not an archeologist, he was a treasure hunter so he excavated like a bull in a china shop. He may have had no regard for archeology, but it was because of him that we now know there were nine cities.

A present day archeologist will dig down; but when they discover something they don’t go down further. They would destroy what they just uncovered; like trying to take the cake out from under the icing.

Several of these layers resemble literary depictions of Troy, leading some scholars to conclude that there may be a kernel of truth to the legends, though the exact relationship between myth and reality remains unclear and there is no definitive evidence for a Greek attack on the city.

Our guide, Hasan, pointed out the notches in the stone that reinforced the walls on the corners. Despite the fact that the walls were 6 metres thick, the corners are still the weakest spot.

He also pointed out these strategically placed notches, every 10 metres, to create a bend in the wall.

The original bricks had sea shells mixed into the mud. The holes in the other bricks are made by bees.

Hasan was very knowledgeable about the history. We asked him how they made the marble columns so smooth and round.

He pointed to this piece of marble and said “How did they make this?!?” He said there is a theory that they used silk to polish the stone, but had no idea how they make them round in the first place.

Troy was not what I was expecting to see. I thought it would be more like Ephesus, old relics of buildings. But this was layer upon layer of rocks. I am glad we had a guide because none of this would have made sense had we gone on our own. It was all very interesting, with the right guidance.

We said goodbye to Nicole then headed to the Troy Museum. It is a mammoth building with 5 levels. Each level had artifacts from different time periods.

We waited on the road, with the dogs, for the bus back to town.