Troy was a city situated in the far northwest of the region known in late Classical antiquity as Asia Minor, now known as Anatolia in modern Turkey, near the southwest mouth of the Dardanelles strait and northwest of Mount Ida. The present-day location is known as Hisarlik. It was the setting of the Trojan War described in the Greek Epic Cycle, in particular in the Iliad, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer. Metrical evidence from the Iliad and the Odyssey suggests that the name Ἴλιον (Ilion) formerly began with a digamma: Ϝίλιον (Wilion); this is also supported by the Hittite name for what is thought to be the same city, Wilusa. A new capital called Ilium was founded on the site in the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus. It flourished until the establishment of Constantinople, became a bishopric and declined gradually in the Byzantine era, but is now a Latin Catholic titular see. In 1865, English archaeologist Frank Calvert excavated trial trenches in a field he had bought from a local farmer at Hisarlik, and in 1868, Heinrich Schliemann, a wealthy German businessman and archaeologist, also began excavating in the area after a chance meeting with Calvert in Çanakkale. These excavations revealed several cities built in succession. Schliemann was at first skeptical about the identification of Hisarlik with Troy, but was persuaded by Calvert and took over Calvert's excavations on the eastern half of the Hisarlik site, which was on Calvert's property. Troy VII has been identified with the city called Wilusa by the Hittites, the probable origin of the Greek Ἴλιον, and is generally identified with Homeric Troy. Today, the hill at Hisarlik has given its name to a small village near the ruins, which supports the tourist trade visiting the Troia archaeological site. It lies within the province of Çanakkale, some 30 km south-west of the provincial capital, also called Çanakkale. The nearest village is Tevfikiye. The map here shows the adapted Scamander estuary with Ilium a little way inland across the Homeric plain. Due to Troy's location near the Aegean Sea, the Sea of Marmara, and the Black Sea, it was a central hub for the military and trade. Troy was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1998. The walls of Troy, first erected in the Bronze Age between 3000 and 2600 BC, are its main defense. The remains of the walls have been studied through the aforementioned excavations that shed light onto the historical city itself and the mythological implications as the walls protected the citadel during the Trojan War. The fortifications display the importance of defense to the Trojans and how warfare is a prominent issue for ancient cities. The walls surround the city, lasting for several hundred meters and at the time they were built, they were over 17 feet tall. They were made of limestone with watchtowers and brick ramparts, or elevated mounds that serve as protective barriers. Throughout all of the phases, the walls served as the largest fortification for the city of Troy to protect the Trojans against any enemies. Defense mechanisms like the Walls of Troy shed light onto the larger topic of warfare in ancient times. Warfare was a large issue in not only Ancient Greece, but locations nearby, such as Asia Minor.

• published: 15 Mar 2018
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