Troy (Greek: Τροία, written in Roman letters as Troíā; Hittite: 𒆳𒌷𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭, written in Roman letters as Truwiša / Taruiša; Latin: Troia) or Ilion (Greek: Ἴλιον, written in Roman letters as Ī́lion; Hittite: 𒌷𒃾𒇻𒊭, written in Roman letters as Wiluša) was an ancient city located in present-day Çanakkale, Turkey. It is most famous for being the setting of the Greek myth about the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist attraction and was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1998.

Troy was destroyed and rebuilt many times over its 4,000 years of history. This has left nine layers of ruins at the site, each showing a city built on top of the ruins of the one before it. Scientists use Roman numerals to name these layers, with Troy I being the oldest and Troy IX the most recent.

Troy was first settled around 3600 BC and became a small, fortified city around 3000 BC (Troy I). One of the early layers, Troy II, is known for its wealth and large buildings. During the Late Bronze Age, Troy was called Wilusa and was under the control of the Hittite Empire. The final layers (Troy VIII–IX) were Greek and Roman cities that became tourist attractions and religious sites because of their connection to myths.

The site was first studied by Heinrich Schliemann and Frank Calvert starting in 1871. Under the ruins of the classical city, they found remains of earlier settlements. Some of these layers match descriptions from ancient stories, leading some scholars to believe that the myths may have some real events as their basis. Later studies by other scientists have helped improve understanding of the site, but the exact connection between the myths and real history is still unclear. There is no clear evidence that Greek forces attacked the city.

Name

In Classical Greek, the city was called Troia (Τροία) and Ilion (Ἴλιον) or Ilios (Ἴλιος). Evidence from the poems Iliad and Odyssey suggests that the name Ilios was originally pronounced Wilios. These names are believed to be from the Bronze Age, as shown by ancient Hittite writings that mention a city in northwest Anatolia called Wilusa (𒌷𒃾𒇻𒊭) or Truwisa (𒆳𒌷𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭). This city is now thought to be the same as the ancient site of Hisarlık, near Tevfikiye. In Greek myths, the names Troia and Ilion are said to come from the names of the city's founders, Tros and his son Ilus.

In Latin, the city was called Troia or Ilium. In Turkish, it is commonly known as Troya or Truva.

Archaeological site

The archaeological site of Troy includes the hill of Hisarlık and the fields to the south of it. The hill is a mound made up of layers that show the remains of human activity over more than three thousand years.

The layers are divided into main groups labeled with Roman numerals, with Troy I being the oldest and Troy IX the most recent. Sublayers are labeled with lowercase letters (like VIIa and VIIb), and further divisions use numbers (like VIIb1 and VIIb2). There is also an older layer called Troy 0, which existed before the layers labeled with Roman numerals.

Scientists estimate the dates of the layers by comparing items found there with those from other places. However, exact dates are not always clear because the method used to measure time, called radiocarbon dating, is not always very accurate.

Troy 0 is a layer from before the Bronze Age. It is known only from a few pieces of pottery and wooden beams. It is thought to be around 3600–3500 BC, but little else is known about it.

Troy I was built around 3000 BC on the eastern side of a shallow lagoon. It was much smaller than later cities at the site, with a citadel covering less than 1 hectare. However, it had strong limestone walls that were often repaired and made stronger. These walls were a key feature in later periods, showing that the city was always worried about safety.

People lived in houses made of stone and mudbrick that were connected to each other. Some had a megaron layout, where one room was much larger than the others. Although the city’s layout is not fully clear, the houses seem to have been lined up next to the southern walls. Artifacts from this time include dark pottery, copper objects, and a large stone stele with a carved image of a warrior.

Troy I was built as part of a larger group of settlements in the area. Its people came from nearby towns like Kumtepe and Gülpınar, which were connected to other places in the eastern Aegean and southeastern Europe. Troy itself shared similarities with sites in Thessaly, southeastern Europe, and places like Poliochni in Lemnos and Thermi in Lesbos. It also had some links to Anatolia, but not as strong as later connections to central Anatolia.

Troy I was destroyed by fire around 2550 BC.

Troy II was built around 2550 BC. Although there is no clear sign of a cultural change after the previous city, this new settlement was very different. It was twice as large as the earlier city, with a lower town and an expanded citadel divided into two areas. These areas, separated by rows of columns, suggest that Trojan society was becoming more socially and politically divided. At the center were large megaron-style buildings around a courtyard, likely used for public events. One of these buildings, Megaron IIA, was the largest of its kind in the Aegean-Anatolian region.

The citadel was protected by thick stone walls and towers with mudbrick tops. It had two ramps leading to it, one of which is still well preserved and visited by tourists today. Because the city was not large enough to need two gates for practical use, some archaeologists think one gate may have been used for ceremonies. The lower city was protected by a wooden fence unlike any other from that time. It was a complex structure nearly 3 meters wide, with supports and beams fixed into the bedrock.

For the first time, pottery made on a wheel was found at the site, along with treasures that show Troy was part of a network of aristocratic competition. These items included amber from the Baltic region, carnelian from India, and lapis from Afghanistan. Some of these items are similar to those found at sites like Poliochni and Ur, leading some scholars to believe they were made by traveling craftsmen who worked across the Ancient Near East.

Troy II was destroyed twice. After the first destruction, the citadel was rebuilt with many small houses arranged in an irregular pattern. The final destruction happened around 2300 BC. Some experts think this was part of a larger crisis affecting other Near Eastern sites, but there is no clear proof the city was attacked.

Troy II was mistakenly thought to be the Homeric Troy during early excavations because of its large buildings, treasure hoards, and destruction. In particular, Schliemann believed Homer’s description of Troy’s Scaean Gate matched the western gate of Troy II. However, later findings showed that Troy II was about a thousand years older than the time of the Mycenaean Greeks.

Troy was occupied from around 2300 BC to 1750 BC. However, little is known about these layers because of Schliemann’s improper digging methods. To fully uncover the citadel of Troy II, he destroyed most remains from this period without recording them. These settlements may have been smaller and less wealthy than earlier ones, but this could also be due to missing evidence. The settlements included a dense neighborhood in the citadel, and walls from Troy II may have been reused in Troy III (c. 2350/2300 to 2200/2150 BC).

Troy IV (c. 2000–1820 BC) saw the introduction of domed ovens, and for the first time, houses were built using mudbrick without stone foundations.

By the time of Troy V (c. 1820–1750 BC), the city had grown again, expanding west of the citadel. Artifacts from this period include Anatolian-style "red-cross bowls" and imported Minoan objects. The city traded with nearby places. Earthquakes in the 18th century damaged parts of Troy V, including the ruined houses.

Troy VI–VII was a major city during the Late Bronze Age, with a steep, fortified citadel and a large lower town. It was a busy coastal city with a large population, similar in size to second-tier Hittite settlements. It had its own culture and many foreign connections, including with Mycenaean Greece. Its location at the mouth of the Dardanelles may have made it a regional capital, protected by treaties. Some parts of its architecture match the Iliad’s description of myth

Excavation history

Early modern travelers in the 16th and 17th centuries, such as Pierre Belon and Pietro Della Valle, incorrectly believed that Troy was located at Alexandria Troas, a ruined ancient Greek town about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Hisarlık. In the late 18th century, Jean Baptiste LeChevalier identified a location near the village of Pınarbaşı, Ezine. This site was a mound about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) south of the currently accepted location. His findings, published in Voyage de la Troade, were the most common suggestion for nearly a century.

In 1822, Charles Maclaren, a Scottish journalist, was the first to confidently identify the city’s location as it is known today. The first excavations at the site were trenches dug by John Brunton, a British civil engineer, in 1855.

The next excavation at Hisarlık took place in 1865, led by Frank Calvert, a Turkish Levantine man of English descent who lived nearby. Calvert studied the site and correctly identified it as classical-era Ilion. This discovery convinced Heinrich Schliemann, a German businessman, that Homeric Troy might be buried beneath the classical remains. This led to their partnership.

In 1868, Schliemann visited Calvert and received permission to excavate Hisarlık. At that time, the mound was about 200 meters long and less than 150 meters wide. It rose 31.2 meters above the plain and 38.5 meters above sea level.

Like Calvert and others, Schliemann began by digging a trench across the mound in April 1870, reaching the settlements now called "Schliemann’s Trench." Between 1871–1873 and 1878–1879, and again in 1882 and 1890 (with Wilhelm Dörpfeld), Schliemann uncovered ruins of ancient cities dating from the Bronze Age to the Roman period. Schliemann planned another excavation in 1891 but died in December 1890. He believed the second layer, Troy II, was the legendary city, though later research showed it was older than the Mycenaean era. Important finds included "owl-headed idols" and stone axes from lower levels.

One of Schliemann’s most famous discoveries was "Priam’s Treasure," named after the legendary Trojan king. Many of these items are now in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. Most of the precious metal objects sent to Berlin were taken by the Soviet Union in 1945 and are now in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. Schliemann’s methods were controversial because he removed features without first studying or documenting them.

Wilhelm Dörpfeld worked with Schliemann from 1893–1894 and later took over the excavation. He studied Troy VI and VII, which Schliemann had ignored. Dörpfeld’s work helped close a gap in the timeline of the site’s history. He found a weak section of the Troy VI wall, which he believed matched the weak section of the mythic city’s walls. Schliemann privately agreed that Troy VI might be the Homeric city but never published this.

Carl Blegen, a professor at the University of Cincinnati, managed the site from 1932–1938. He and Dörpfeld followed Schliemann’s work but used more professional methods. Blegen found evidence of at least nine cities and divided Troy’s levels into 46 sublevels. His pottery analysis showed a 100-year gap between Troy III and Troy IV. This, along with other studies, suggested that the city’s population shrank during the late Early Bronze Age.

From 1988 to 2005, excavations were led by Professor Manfred Korfmann of the University of Tübingen and the University of Cincinnati. Professor Brian Rose studied later periods, such as Greek, Roman, and Byzantine times, along the Aegean Sea. Evidence of a battle, including bronze arrowheads and fire-damaged human remains, was found in layers dated to the early 12th century BC. A debate between Korfmann and historian Frank Kolb in 2001–2002 discussed the role of Troy VI in the Bronze Age.

A major discovery was the Troy VI–VII lower city, which had a wide defensive ditch and wooden palisade. This addition to the citadel would have made Troy cover about 200,000 square meters. This finding changed how the site was understood, showing it was a major settlement, not just a small aristocratic home.

Radiocarbon dating of charcoal samples from the Troy I level provided dates for different phases of the site.

From 2006 to 2012, excavations continued under Ernst Pernicka, a colleague of Korfmann. In 2013, an international team led by William Aylward planned new excavations using "molecular archaeology," but the Turkish government canceled permits, including theirs.

Since 2014, excavations have been led by Rüstem Aslan of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University. His team claims to have found a "Level 0" near the entrance of Troy II, which would push the city’s history back 600 years. Since 2016, the University of Amsterdam has studied the 150-year history of excavations at the site.

Historical Troy

Troy I–V existed before writing was invented, so we know about them only from what archaeologists have found. However, written records about the city begin with Troy VI during the Late Bronze Age and continue through the Greek and Roman periods of Troy VIII–IX.

Troy VI–VII is believed to be the city called Wilusa and Taruisa in Hittite records. This idea was first suggested in 1924 by E. Forrer because the names "Taruisa" and "Wilusa" seem similar to the Greek names "Troia" and "Wilios" (later "Ilion"). Later research has made these connections more certain, though some scholars still debate them. Texts about Wilusa are important because they show that Wilusa was near Mycenaean Greece, which the Hittites called Ahhiyawa.

Wilusa first appears in Hittite records around 1400 BC as one of 22 states in the Assuwa Confederation, which tried to fight the Hittite Empire but failed. Evidence suggests that the rebellion might have been supported by Ahhiyawa. By the late 1300s BC, Wilusa was allied with the Hittites. Texts from this time mention two kings, Kukkunni and Alaksandu, who had peaceful relations with the Hittites while other nearby states did not. Wilusan soldiers may have fought for the Hittites during the Battle of Kadesh. Later, Wilusa faced political problems, as shown in the Manapa-Tarhunta and Tawagalawa letters. These suggest that a Wilusan king either rebelled or was removed from power. This turmoil may have been linked to Piyamaradu, a warlord who opposed pro-Hittite rulers on behalf of Ahhiyawa. However, Piyamaradu is never directly named as the cause. The last mention of Wilusa in records is in the Milawata letter, where the Hittite king Tudhaliya IV says he plans to restore a deposed Wilusan king named Walmu.

In popular stories, these events have been linked to the Trojan War myths. However, scholars have not found proof of any specific event from the legends, and Hittite records do not mention Wilusa being attacked by Greeks. Hittiteologist Trevor Bryce notes that without more evidence, it is easy to misinterpret Wilusa’s history to fit certain ideas.

According to Herodotus, the Persian king Xerxes sacrificed 1,000 cows at the temple of Athena Ilias while marching to Greece. After the Persians lost the war in 480–479 BC, Ilion and its area became part of Mytilene’s territory and stayed under Mytilene’s control until the Mytilenean revolt in 428–427 BC. Athens later freed the Actaean cities, including Ilion, and added them to the Delian League. Athenian influence in the Hellespont weakened after the oligarchic coup of 411 BC. That year, the Spartan general Mindaros copied Xerxes by sacrificing to Athena Ilias. From about 410–399 BC, Ilion was controlled by local leaders at Lampsacus, who ruled on behalf of the Persian governor Pharnabazus.

In 399 BC, the Spartan general Dercylidas drove out the Greek forces controlling Ilion, reducing Persian influence in the Troad. Ilion remained under Persian control until the Peace of Antalcidas in 387–386 BC. During this time, a statue of Ariobarzanes, the Persian governor of Hellespontine Phrygia, was placed near the temple of Athena Ilias. In 360–359 BC, the city was briefly controlled by Charidemus of Oreus, a mercenary leader who sometimes worked for Athens. In 359 BC, he was expelled by Menelaos of Arrabaios, whom the people of Ilion honored with a grant of proxeny. This is the earliest known civic decree from Ilion. In May 334 BC, Alexander the Great crossed the Hellespont, visited the temple of Athena Ilias, sacrificed at the tombs of Homeric heroes, and declared Ilion free and tax-exempt. After Alexander’s death in 323 BC, plans were found showing he intended to rebuild the temple of Athena Ilias on an unprecedented scale.

Antigonus Monophthalmus took control of the Troad in 311 BC and founded the city of Antigoneia Troas by combining several nearby cities. Around 311–306 BC, the koinon of Athena Ilias was established, uniting remaining cities in the Troad and along the Dardanelles. The koinon secured Antigonus’s promise to respect their independence, which he had not honored for the cities merged into Antigoneia. The koinon continued to operate until at least the 1st century AD and included cities from the Troad, as well as Myrlea and Chalcedon from the eastern Propontis for part of the 3rd century. The koinon’s governing body, the synedrion, had two delegates from each city, while five agonothetai managed daily affairs. This system ensured no single city could dominate the koinon. The koinon’s main purpose was to organize the annual Panathenaia festival at the temple of Athena Ilias, which attracted many visitors and traders. The koinon also funded projects like a new theater (c. 306 BC) and expanded the sanctuary of Athena Ilias in the 3rd century to prepare for the festival.

Between 302–281 BC, Ilion and the Troad were part of Lysimachus’s kingdom. He helped Ilion unite nearby communities, growing the city’s population and territory. Lysimachus was defeated at the Battle of Corupedium in 281 BC by Seleucus I Nikator, giving the Seleucid Empire

Troy in legend

The main literary work set at Troy is the Iliad, an epic poem from the Archaic period that describes the final year of the Trojan War. The Iliad shows Troy as the capital of a wealthy and powerful kingdom. In the poem, the city is shown as a major regional power that could gather many allies to defend it. The city is located on a steep hill, protected by large sloping stone walls, rectangular towers, and massive gates with wooden doors that can be locked tightly. According to Dares Phrygius, there were six such gates: the Antenorean, the Dardanian, the Ilian, the Scaean, the Thymbraean, and the Trojan. The city's streets are wide and well-planned. At the top of the hill, there is the Temple of Athena and King Priam's palace, a large building with many rooms surrounding a central courtyard.

In the Iliad, the Achaeans set up their camp near the mouth of the Scamander River, where they landed their ships. The city was located on a hill across the plain of Scamander, where most of the battles happened.

In addition to the Iliad, Troy is mentioned in Homer's other major work, the Odyssey, and in other ancient Greek writings, such as Aeschylus's Oresteia. The Homeric legend of Troy was expanded upon by the Roman poet Virgil in his Aeneid. The fall of Troy, including the story of the Trojan Horse and the sacrifice of Polyxena, Priam's youngest daughter, is covered in a later Greek epic by Quintus Smyrnaeus, also known as Quintus of Smyrna.

The Greeks and Romans believed the Trojan War was real and that the Troy in Homer's stories was located in Anatolia on a peninsula called the Troad (Biga Peninsula). For example, Alexander the Great visited the site in 334 BC and made sacrifices at tombs linked to the Homeric heroes Achilles and Patroclus.

Current status

The Turkish government established the Historical National Park at Troy on September 30, 1996. The park covers an area of 136 square kilometers (53 square miles) and includes the ancient city of Troy and its surrounding area. Its main goal is to protect historical sites, monuments, and the natural environment in the region. In 1998, the park was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Visitors can reach the ancient site by traveling along a road from the museum in Tevfikiye village to the eastern side of Hisarlık. A large wooden horse monument stands in the square near the entrance. The monument includes a ladder and internal chambers for public use. A gate leads to the site, where visitors pass through turnstiles. Entry to the site usually requires a fee. Inside, visitors walk on dirt roads or use railed boardwalks to explore steeper areas. Many viewing areas have signs in multiple languages that describe the sights. Most of these are outdoors, but a permanent roof covers the remains of an early megaron and wall.

In 2018, the Troy Museum (Turkish: Troya Müzesi) opened in Tevfikiye village, 800 meters (870 yards) east of the excavation site. A design contest for the museum was won by Yalin Mimarlik in 2011. The museum is a cube-shaped building with many underground rooms. It holds more than 40,000 portable artifacts, with 2,000 displayed for visitors. These items were moved from other museums in the region. The collection includes artifacts from all prehistoric times in the Troad area.