The mythical Troy
Homer's Iliad, set in Troy, tells the story of the last year of the Trojan War sometime in the 3rd century BC/KLOC-0. The war was actually triggered by the king's ten-year-long joint siege of Mycenae in Agamemnon. The purpose of this expedition is to find Helen, the wife of Spartan king Menelaus and Agamemnon's brother. Helen was kidnapped by Paris, Prince of Troy, and chose Aphrodite as the most beautiful goddess in the competition with Athena and Hera. The Trojan War is also recorded in other sources, such as the epic cycle (only fragments survive), and is also briefly mentioned in Homer's Odyssey. Troy and the Trojan War later became the main myths of classical Greek and Roman literature.
Homer described Troy in the Iliad as "well-founded", "solid and durable" and "solid and durable".
Homer described Troy as "well-founded", "solid and durable" and "solid and durable". There are also several references to exquisite battlements, towers and "high" and "steep" walls. The city wall must be very strong to withstand a ten-year siege. In fact, Troy failed because of the trick of the Trojan horse, not the failure of defense. In fact, in Greek mythology, the city wall is impressive. It is said that it was built by Poseidon and Apollo. After their impiety, Zeus forced them to serve King Lameton of Troy for one year. However, when Hercules appeared, these fortifications did not help the king plunder the city with only six ships. This dismissal was Heracles' gratuitous service to the king in retaliation for killing the sea snake sent by Poseidon. This episode was traditionally placed in the generation before the Trojan War, because the only male survivor was Ramton's youngest son Priam, who was the king of Troy in the later conflict.
Troy in archaeology
From the early Bronze Age (3000 BC) to the 2nd century A.D./KLOC-0, the archaeological site now called Troy is 5 kilometers away from the coast, but it used to be adjacent to the sea. The site is located in the bay formed by the estuary of Scarman. By controlling Anatolia, the main entrance of the Black Sea, it occupies an important strategic position between the Aegean Sea and the eastern civilization, as well as the land and sea in the Balkans. In particular, it is difficult to find a favorable wind direction to enter the Da Daniil Strait, which is likely to cause ancient sailboats to dock near Troy. Therefore, the site became the most important bronze age city in the North Aegean Sea, and reached its peak of prosperity in the middle of the bronze age, contemporary with the Mycenae civilization in the Greek mainland and the Hittite Empire in the East.
1863, Frank calvert first discovered Troy, and heinrich schliemann visited him. He continued to dig from 1870 until 1890 died. In particular, he attacked the conspicuous 20-meter-high artificial mound, which has never been touched by anyone since ancient times. The preliminary identification of Sheriman's gold, silver, jewelry and utensils seems to prove his belief that the site is actually Homer's Troy. However, these have now been traced back to the possible date of the Trojan War more than 1000 years ago, and show that the history of this website is much more complicated than previously thought. In fact, perhaps unconsciously, Sheriman added the history of 2000 to western history, which can only be traced back to the first Olympic Games in 776 BC.
The excavation continued throughout the 20th century. Until today, they have discovered 9 different cities and residential areas with no less than 46 floors. After the original classification by Sherman (and his successor, Doepfeld), these were marked as Troy I to Troy IX. After that, it was slightly adjusted to include the radiocarbon dating results at the beginning of AD 2 1 century.
Troy I (about 3000-2550 BC) was a small village surrounded by stone walls. The discovery of pottery and metal is consistent with the discovery of Aegean Sea and Lesbos and Lemnos islands in northern Anatolia.
Troy II (about 2550-2300 BC) showed larger buildings (40 meters long), mud brick and stone fortifications and huge gates. Sheriman's "treasure" discoveries-gold, silver, gold and silver, bronze, agate and lapis lazuli-probably came from this period. This "treasure" includes 60 earrings, 6 bracelets, 2 gorgeous crowns and 8750 rings, all of which are pure gold. The discovery of foreign materials once again shows that there is trade with Asia.
Troy III-Troy V (2300- 1750 BC) is the most difficult period for reconstruction, because in the early excavation, these layers were hastily removed in order to reach a lower level. Generally speaking, this period did not seem to be very prosperous, but the existence of dome furnaces and Minoan pottery influenced by Anatolia further proved the external contact.
Archaeological site of troy has an impressive defensive wall, 5 meters thick and 8 meters high, made of huge limestone.
Troy VI (about 1750- 1300 BC) is the most obvious period in this place today, and it is also the most likely candidate period to become Homer's besieged city in the Trojan War. The impressive defensive wall, 5 meters thick and 8 meters high, is made of large limestone blocks, including several towers (rectangular planes with Hittite fortifications), which shows the prosperity of this period, but also pays attention to defense. The top of the wall used to be a superstructure of mud brick and wood structure, and there were also close-fitting stone products inclined inward; As the city walls rise, they must conform to Homer's "solid Troy". In addition, the wall part is slightly offset every 10 m or so, so as to bend around the site without corner defense. This function is unique to Troy, showing its independence from Mycenae and Hittites. The city wall includes five entrances, allowing access to large buildings, two floors at a time, and similar contemporary Mycenae cities, such as the Central Court and the collonaded Hall, the inner cities of Tirins, Pailos and Mycenae itself. Outside the solid castle, the lower city covers an area of 270,000 square meters and is protected by surrounding rock trenches. The scale of the site is now much larger than what Sheriman first imagined when he excavated it, and it shows that the population is as high as 65,438+00,000, which is more in line with Homer's metropolis.
The discovery of this site shows that there is a prosperous wool industry and the first use of horses, which reminds people of the word "Trojan horse" that Homer often uses. Pottery very similar to mainland Greece was found, mainly gray folk pottery imitating metal utensils. There are also ceramics imported from Crete, Cyprus and the Levant. In sharp contrast to Mycenae Palace, there are no sculptures or murals here.
Troy VI was partially destroyed, but the exact reason is not clear except for some fire evidence. Interestingly, bronze arrows, spear points and slingshots were found on the site, and some of them were even embedded in fortifications, suggesting some kind of conflict. These dates (about 1250 BC) and the destruction of the site are related to the date of Herodotus' Trojan War. The centuries-long conflict between Mycenae and Hittites may be the origin of the epic Trojan War in Greek mythology. There is hardly any evidence of large-scale war, but the possibility of small-scale conflict is proved in Hittite literature, in which "Ahhiyawa" is considered to refer to Mycenae Greeks and "Wilusa" is considered to be the capital of ilios. These documents describe the local unrest in Troy and Mycenae's support for the local rebellion controlled by the Hittites, and put forward the possible motives for the regional competition between the two civilizations. Interestingly, a bronze Mycenae sword was also found as a trophy in Hattusa, the Hittite capital.
Troy VIIa (BC 1300-65438+ BC 0 180) and Troy VII (about BC180-950 BC) not only showed the increase of town size and the reconstruction of some fortifications, but also compared with Troy VI, the architectural and artistic quality was also higher. For example, after making goods on wheels for centuries, hand-made pottery is back. Once again, this is very in line with the Greek tradition, that is, the city was abandoned after the Trojan War, at least for a while. Troy VIIa and Troy VII were both destroyed by fire.
Troy VIII and Troy IX (950 BC-550 AD) are the remains of Ilion in Greece and Ilion in Rome respectively. There is evidence that the site was inhabited throughout the so-called dark ages, but it was not until the eighth century BC that the settlement recovered to a remarkable level of development. Nevertheless, the ancient Troy has never been forgotten. Herodotus said that Xue Xisi, king of Persia, sacrificed more than 1000 cattle in this place before invading Greece, and Alexander the Great had also visited this place to conquer Asia before going on an expedition in the opposite direction.
Athena's Dorian Temple was built in the early 3rd century BC, and new fortifications were built under Lismarcos (30 1-280 BC). The Romans also attached great importance to Troy, and even called it the "Holy City". In the tradition of Rome, Aeneas, the son of Venus, a Trojan hero, fled Troy and settled in Italy, thus giving the Romans sacred blood. In 48 BC, Julius Caesar and Emperor Augustus (reigned from 27 BC to 14 BC) rebuilt most cities, and Hadrian (reigned from 1 17- 138 AD) added buildings including carols, gyms and bathrooms. Constantine the Great (reigned from 324 to 337 AD) even planned to build his new capital in Troy and started some construction work until Constantinople was selected. With the passage of time, the ruins gradually declined, probably because the port had been silted up, and the once great Troy was finally abandoned, and it was 1500 years before it was rediscovered.