Troy

Troy was a Phrygian city on the Troad. Troy was often called Ilium. See Houses of Troy for more details.

Geographically, Troy controlled the Hellespont (Dardanelles), the narrow strait that is the entrance from the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara, followed by another strait through the Bosporus to the Black Sea. Strategically, controlling this strait controlled the maritime trade route of the Aegean to the Black Sea, letting them extract tolls on ships.

Troy was located on the hill or mound called Hisarlik today, which in myth was built on top of the hill called Ate. Separating the city from the Aegean shore line, where the Agamemnon's fleet supposedly beached, was a plain, and the Scamander River (now called Canakkale).

Ilus, son of Tros, founded Troy and named the city after himself, Ilium or Ilion (Ἰλιον), but it was better known as Troy. He left his brother Assaracus to rule Dardania, a much older city than Troy. When his son Laomedon succeeded him, Troy became more powerful and the dominant of the two cities, since it could control the trade route of the Hellepont.

The gods Poseidon and Apollo built the walls of Troy, with the aid of a mortal named Aeacus, son of Zeus and Aegina, and the king of the island of Aegina. The city had two main gates: the Scaean Gates and the Dardan Gates (or Dardanian Gates). The main centre of the city was the citadel called Pergamum.

However, Troy was captured by Heracles (and Telamon) when Laomedon refused to honour his bargain with the hero. Laomedon and all his sons except Priam (Podarces) were killed. Priam succeeded his father. Priam was the last king of Troy, after a ten years war against the Greeks. See the Trojan War for the full story of the war.

See the family tree of the House of Troy and Dardania.

Archaeologically, the city ruins were rediscovered in the second half of the 19th century by a German archaeologist named Heinrich Schliemann, who excavated Hisarlik. What he discovered was that there were successive levels where the city was rebuilt nine times, on top of one another, as early as the Early Bronze Age. Each level of the city was designated with a Roman numeral by archaeologists, eg. Troy I, Troy II, Troy III, etc.

Troy VI was built during the Middle Bronze Age and Troy VII in the Late Bronze Age. Schliemann believed that Troy VI was Homer's Troy, but this city was destroyed by an earthquake around 1300 BC, not by war. Troy VI was richer than its next successors, Troy VIIa and then Troy VIIb. Troy VIIa was destroyed by fire, and possibly by violence.