civilization
Troy is a city which existed over 4,000 years ago and was known as the center of
ancient civilizations. For many years, people believed that it was the city in
tales and never existed until it was first found. At this time it was known as
Ilium or New Ilium. Today Troy or New Ilium
places in Hisarlik at Canakkale. The remains of the city - the remains from the
thieves and destructors - can be visited in modern-day Canakkale in Turkey. Most
of what was left behind is the remains of the destruction of Schliemann, the
famous archaeologist. Today an international team of scientists has brought the
Troy of the Bronze Age back to life under international cooperation to recover
stolen Trojan treasures.
At first, Troy appeared in Greek and Latin literature. Homer first mentioned
story of Troy in Iliad and Odyssey. Later it became most popular subject in
Greek drama and told its story elaborately to the next generations. The book of
Virgil's Aeneid contains the best known account of the sack of Troy. In
addition, there are untrue stories under the names of Dictys Cretensis and Dares
Phrygius.
Ancient Troy commanded a strategic point at the southern entrance to the
Dardanelles (Hellespont), a narrow strait linking the Black Sea with the Aegean
Sea via the Sea of Marmara. The city also commanded a land route that ran north
along the west Anatolian coast and crossed the narrowest point of the
Dardanelles to the European shore. Troy probably used its site astride these two
lines of communication to exact tolls from trading vessels and other travelers
using them. This practice probably accounted for the wealth of ancient Troy; it
may also have been the Greeks' actual motive in waging war against the city,
which chronically interfered with their trade through the Dardanelles.
The Troad (Greek Troias; "Land of Troy") is the district formed by the
northwestern projection of Asia Minor into the Aegean Sea. The present-day ruins
of Troy itself occupy the western end of a low descending ridge in the extreme
northwest corner of the Troad. Less than 4 miles (6 km) to the west, across the
plain of the Scamander River, is the Aegean Sea, and toward the north are the
narrows of the Dardanelles.
In the Bronze age, Troy had a great power because of its strategic position
between Europe and Asia. In the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, Troy was a cultural
centre. After the Trojan War, the site was apparently abandoned from 1100 to 700
BC. About 700 BC Greek settlers began to occupy the Troas. Troy was resettled
and was eventually named Ilion. Alexander the Great ruled over the area
successively from the late 6th century BC. After Roman captured Troy in 85 BC.,
it was restored partially by the Roman general Sulla. After the occupation of
Constantinople (Istanbul), Troy lost its importance.
'Ilium was for a considerable period to the Heathen world, what Jerusalem is now
to the Christian, a 'sacred' city which attracted pilgrims by the fame of its
wars and its woes, and by the shadow of ancient sanctity reposing upon it.
Without abusing language, we may say that a voice speaking from this hill, three
thousand years ago sent its utterances over the whole ancient world, as its
echoes still reverberate over the modern', says Charles Maclaren, The Plain of
Troy Described (1863). [From the book 'In Search of Trojan War', written by
Michael Wood].
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