When Homer’s Iliad was first written
down in the 8th century BCE, the story of the Trojan war
was already an old one. From existing oral tradition, audiences knew the tales
of the long siege, the epic duels outside the city walls, and the cunning trick
that finally won the war. In the end, the magnificent
city was burned to the ground, never to rise again. But had it ever existed? By the time the field of archaeology
began to take shape in the 19th century, many were skeptical,
considering the epic to be pure fiction, a founding myth imagining
a bygone heroic era. But some scholars believed that behind the superhuman feats
and divine miracles there must have been a grain
of historical truth - a war that was really fought, and a place where it happened. Frank Calvert was one such believer. He had spent his youth traveling
and learning about ancient civilizations before accompanying his brother Frederick on a diplomatic mission to the northwest
Anatolian region of Çanakkale. It was here that Homer described
the Greek encampment at the mouth of the Scamander river. And it was here that fate brought Frank
into contact with a journalist and geologist
named Charles Maclaren. Locals and travelers had long speculated that Troy might’ve stood on one
of the surrounding hilltops. But Maclaren had been one of the first to publish a detailed topographical
study of the area. He believed he had found the site – a 32-meter mound known
by the name Hisarlık, derived from the Turkish word
for “fortress.” Soon after meeting with him in 1847, the Calverts bought
2,000 acres of farmland that included part of the hill. Before they could explore any further, the Crimean War broke out and forestalled their archaeological
ambitions for several years. After the war’s end, Frank Calvert began to survey the site, but lacked the funds
for a full excavation. This was where the wealthy
German businessman and amateur archaeologist
Heinrich Schliemann came in. At Calvert’s invitation, Schliemann visited the grounds in 1868,
and decided to excavate. Eager to find the ancient city, Schliemann tore massive trenches
all the way to the base of the hill. There, he uncovered a hoard
of precious artifacts, jewelry, and metalwork, including two diadems
and a copper shield. Schliemann took full credit
for the discovery, announcing that he had found Troy and the treasure of its king Priam. But the real treasure was elsewhere. When later archaeologists
studied the site, they realized that the mound consisted
of no less than nine cities, each built atop the ruins of the last. The layer Schliemann had uncovered
dated back to the Mycenaean Age, more than 1,000 years too early
for Homer. But inside the mound was indeed evidence for a city that had thrived
during the Bronze Age, with charred stone, broken arrowheads, and damaged human skeletons
suggesting a violent end. It was Troy VII,
contained in the middle layers and now ravaged for a second time
by Schliemann’s careless excavation. The settlement,
spanning some 200,000 square meters and home to as many as 10,000 people, thrived until around 1180 BCE. Its position at the southern entrance
of the Dardanelles strait would’ve made a formidable strategic
location for both defense and trade. Most importantly, there are the remains
of a massive fortification wall – perhaps the very same one from which Priam and Hector
once watched the Greeks approach. Of course, it’s difficult to be certain that these ruins are the true remains
of ancient Troy, and scholars still dispute whether the Trojan War
as described by Homer ever happened. Yet the evidence is strong enough that UNESCO has labelled Hisarlık
the archeological site of Troy. Regardless of its identity, thanks to persistence, a bit of faith, and a lot of research, archaeologists are bringing
the long-buried secrets of an ancient, lost city to light.
