This legendary city has been haunted by ancient seekers for centuries. More than a hundred years ago, Heinrich Schliemann excavated here. And in 1988 archaeologists returned to mysterious Troy again. By now, several cultural layers have already been discovered here. The oldest one dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. e.
Schliemann's discovery gave a powerful impetus to the development of the "Trojan" theme. What is common between the Trojan myth and the real history of the city it excavated? Was Troy really a great prehistoric power? Can Troy be considered the cradle of European civilization? Was the Trojan War? And if so, when did it happen?.. The questions are endless. In general, Homer not only gave food for the mind to inquisitive descendants, but also "provided work" for several generations of scientists. In the XX century. Troy gave the world many discoveries and, apparently, will surprise you more than once.
Each discovery causes a heated debate among scientists. We will tell you about the most intriguing ones.
Probably in the Bronze Age, Troy was ten times more than is commonly believed. In 1992, to the south-west of the Hisarlik hill, where Heinrich Schliemann was excavating more than a hundred years ago, a moat was discovered that encircled Troy. It ran quite far from the city walls, bordering an area of 200,000 m2, while Troy itself occupied only 20,000 m2. German archaeologist Manfred Korfman suggested that this moat surrounded the Lower City. Back in 1700 BC. e. thousands of people lived here. The Lower City arose in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e. Obviously, Troy was a much more powerful city than previously thought.
In 1994, another artificial moat was found. The first moat ran four hundred meters from the fortress, and the second - five hundred. Both of them turned out to be almost the same: depth - 1.5 m, width - 3 m; both were part of a well-designed fortification system. It was impossible to cross such a moat on war chariots. Behind the moat, scientists believe, was a wooden wall or rows of pointed stakes. Of? behind this fence the enemies were fired at. True, the remains of the palisade cannot be found today, but Homer's Iliad describes a similar structure:
A reckless thought - to drive horses across the moat with chariots.
It is by no means convenient for the transition: along it continuously
Sharp stakes stand, and behind them the stronghold of the Danes.
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We should not go down into this trench, nor should we fight in it, Equestrian fighters: the gorge there is terrible, they will cut everyone.
(XII, 62-66; translated by N. Gnedich)
Korfman believes that in the Bronze Age Troy was part of the Anatolian civilization, and not at all the Cretan-Mycenaean. Troy was an outpost in Asia, not the largest European city.
In 1995, a bronze seal with an inscription was found in Troy - the first written monument found here. The inscription is in Luwian hieroglyphs. For one and a half thousand years before the new era, the Luwian language was widespread in Asia Minor. The Hittites also used it. Did the Trojans speak this language? Of course, this cannot be confirmed from one find.
However, Korfman himself is sure that the inhabitants of Troy of the Bronze Age were Luwians by origin. The Luwians are one of the Indo-European peoples who, along with the Hittites around 2000 BC. e. moved to Anatolia. Many of the items found at Troy are of this Eastern Anatolian culture rather than Greek civilization.
The fortress walls of Troy resembled Anatolian fortifications, and not at all Mycenaean: the walls widened downward, but at the top they were probably jagged; towers-superstructures were located along their perimeter. The defensive moat also fits well into the general - "eastern" - appearance of Troy: it is in Central Anatolia and Northern Syria, and not in Mycenaean Greece, that such fortresses can be found with a well-fortified and closely built-up "Lower City". The appearance of the dwellings is typical of Anatolian architecture.
The cult objects found in Troy are also of Hittite-Luwian origin. So, in front of the southern gates of Troy, four steles are still visible today, installed on a powerful stone pedestal - among the Hittites they served as symbols of the god - the patron saint of the city. Finally, traces of cremation are visible in the cemetery near the city walls. This method of burial was characteristic of the Hittites, and not at all for the Western peoples of that era. Until the late Minoan period, i.e. before 1400 BC. e., the Greeks buried the bodies of the dead.
Based on the guesses of philologists, Korfman identified Ilion / Troy with the city or locality "Wilusa", which is repeatedly mentioned in Hittite cuneiform sources. "Vilusa" was located in the northwest of Asia Minor - about the same place where Troy was. "Now," notes Korfman, "we have the right to attribute Troy / Ilion and its inhabitants to the Hittite-Luwian world with an even greater probability."
If so, the implications of this discovery are very important. Researchers in Troy can use Hittite sources reporting about Vilus. Perhaps there were descriptions of the Trojan War in Luwian? Perhaps these sources were known to Homer too?
Be that as it may, it must be admitted that in the Bronze Age Asia Minor played an outstanding role in world history. Here the West and the East were connected, European innovations merged with innovations brought here from Mesopotamia and the Middle East. Local residents absorbed new ideas, developed, improved them, exchanged them with residents of neighboring countries. From here, through Troy and other cities on the Aegean coast, innovative ideas entered Greece.
However, this position was not only beneficial, but also fatal. Troy was doomed to stay between two often hostile forces: the Mycenaean Greeks and the Hittites. Again and again enemies rushed to its walls. Of? wars broke out for Ilion. Archaeologists find confirmation of this in numerous traces of fires. Finally, around 1180 BC. e. Troy experienced some kind of catastrophe, after which the "dark ages" came. The city fell into decay. However, decline and desolation reigned throughout the then world.
The Greeks of the Bronze Age - the Achaeans, who created the Mycenaean civilization - maintained close relations with Troy since the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. This is convinced by the analysis of ceramics - the most important commodity of antiquity.
Greek pottery of the Mycenaean era - that is, "Mycenaean" or "Achaean" pottery - appeared on the western coast of Asia Minor around 1500 BC. e. Soon, local artisans began to forge "overseas tricks" - Greek utensils.
The latest finds from archaeologists indicate that the Mycenaean influence is most noticeable in Miletus, Ephesus, Klazomenes - and also in Troy. It could not have been expected otherwise. At this time, Troy became an important trade center in the Eastern Mediterranean.
So, from the middle of the II millennium BC. e. the Mycenaean Greeks maintained a close relationship with Troy. True, one can only imagine in general terms how these relations developed before the famous "Homeric War". Archaeologists have not yet found the city archives of Mycenae. We know much better the official documents of the Hittites. So it turns out that the history of Mycenaean Greece - Akhiyava, as it is called in the Hittite messages - we have to study only from the artifacts found in Mycenae, as well as from the letters that were sent from the offices of Hattusa, the Hittite capital, to Mycenae.
The reason lies in the different levels of development of the written culture. If the Hittites have long used convenient cuneiform writing, the Mycenaean Greeks mastered writing - Linear B, at the earliest, only in the 15th century. BC e. They adopted it from the Cretans after the conquest of Knossos and adapted it to their language. However, their letter was considered "too vulgar" for correspondence with the kings of neighboring countries. Therefore, all their diplomatic correspondence, obviously, was carried out using the cuneiform script then generally accepted.
In one of the letters to the king of Ahiyava, the Hittite king Hattusili II complains that he could not resolutely resist the intrigues of a certain Pijamaradu. It is about the grandson of King Arzawa, a small state on the western coast of Asia Minor with its capital in Apas (Ephesus). His country was constantly at war with the Hittites, and, in the end, the king fled to Ahiyava, fleeing the Hittite threat. His grandson, as it is clear from the letter, plotted the Hittites along the entire coast of Asia Minor - from Vilusa (Vilios / Ilion / Troy) and Lazba (Lesbos) to Millavanda (Miletus). The warriors of Piyamarada attacked Vilusa and Lazba, took their inhabitants into slavery and brought them to Millavanda - this city was a kind of outpost of the Mycenaean Greeks in Asia Minor. Hattusili would like to deal with his enemy, but he could not grab him, because he always sailed away on a ship to Akhiyava. From the letter you can seethat the ruler of the Mycenaean Greeks is well aware of the raids of Piyamarada in Asia Minor.
Nevertheless, in this letter, full of complaints and lamentations, the Hittite king Hattusili invariably calls King Ahiyawa “his brother,” even if this appeal sounds formal every time. Such a title puts the ruler of Ahiyava - "the friend of my enemy" - on a par with the Egyptian pharaoh and the king of the Hittites himself. According to this letter, the Hittites and Mycenaeans have long been in correspondence. There were tense moments in their relationship, there were also happier times. However, this relationship has always been maintained.
Unfortunately, the letters of the Mycenaean rulers themselves, addressed to the "Hittite brother", have not yet been found in the archives of Hattusa. Therefore, we can only reconstruct the relations between the two countries based on indirect facts.
Of all the possible facts, let us dwell on one - geographical names. In Mycenae and other cities of Greece, a number of clay tablets were found with inscriptions made in Linear B, where immigrants from Asia Minor are mentioned in one way or another. Information about them is given by the German historian Joachim Latach in the book "Troy and Homer" published in 2001. These names are:
"1) Tros and Troia =" Trojan "and" Trojan ". These words were met three times: once at Knossos, in Crete; twice - in Pylos, in the Peloponnese. In addition, the inhabitants of Troy are mentioned in a large archive of clay tablets, found in 1994-1995. during excavations in Thebes.
2) Lamniai = "women (islands) of Lemnos"; they were mentioned many times in Pylos.
3) Aswiai = "Asian"; this word was found many times in Knossos, Pylos and Mycenae. Obviously, they are referring to women from the region called Assuwa by the Hittites and related to Assu in Troas (the city of Asa lay south of Troy, opposite the island of Lesvos).
4) (Possibly) Kswiai = "women from (the island of) Chios"; met many times in Pylos.
5) Milatiai = "women of Miletus" and Knidiai = "women of Cnidus"; they were mentioned many times in Pylos and Knossos.
6) Imrios = "inhabitant (of the island) Imbros (Imroz)"; this word is encountered once in Knossos.
What about the context of these words? Every time we are talking about foreigners who got to Akhiyava. Where women are mentioned, these are female workers brought from Asia Minor. All the names indicate that the life of the Mycenaean Greeks, long before the Trojan War, was closely connected with Asia Minor, the islands located off its coast, and Troy. Obviously, the Greeks often made raids on the coast of Asia Minor and neighboring islands and took out their booty - prisoners.
An indirect proof of this can be considered the complaint of one of the injured kings to the mighty ruler of the Hittites Muwatalli II, dating back to about 1300 BC. e. He writes that Piyamarada attacked Lazba and took the artisans from there to Millawanda.
However, another thing is also clear. The Hittites also carried out robber campaigns. This was a common practice at the time. The Mycenaean Greeks were no exception. However, one moment attracts attention. According to Hittite documents, these bandit campaigns were limited only to the territory of Asia Minor. So far, no mention has been found of women taken into slavery from Akhiabah, for example, from Pylos, Mycenae, or the "seven-fold Thebes." One-sided expansion is observed: from west to east, from Akhiyava to Asia Minor, but not vice versa.
In the XIII century. BC e. this expansion became commonplace, reminiscent of the Norman onslaught on France, Britain and Ireland in the 9th century. n. e. This can be seen, for example, from the treaty between the Hittite king Tudhaliya IV and his "vassal" Sausgamuwa of Amurru, concluded in 1220 BC. e. In this treaty, the Hittite king not only demands a trade blockade of Ahiyawa, but also decisively excludes its ruler from the traditional “kings formula”, which referred to “the kings of Hatti, Egypt, Babylon, Assyria and Ahiyawa”. This gesture undoubtedly means not only cooling off and dissatisfaction with the policy of the Greeks, but also the very real enmity with them. She started the war.
The famous Hittologist Trevor Bruce, in his book Kingdom of the Hittites, published in 1998, analyzes the historical basis of the Iliad - the Trojan War:
The Mycenaean Greeks were involved in the political and military upheavals that played out in the 13th century. BC e. in Western Anatolia. In the XIII century. BC e. The state of Vilusa, which was in vassal dependence on the Hittites, became the object of incessant attacks from the Mycenaean Greeks or their allies. Vilusa was located in the north-west of Asia Minor - in the same place where was Troy, sung by Homer. From a linguistic point of view, the name Wilusa (Vilusa) can be correlated with the Greek toponym (W) Ilios (Ilion).
However, Bruce continues, the Trojan War itself, perhaps, did not happen. There were only a number of predatory raids, predatory campaigns or military expeditions. In the memory of descendants, these events merged into one long war, which lasted - why not? - ten years in a row. Perhaps, instead of one big war, there were a dozen campaigns, one of which was crowned with the capture and destruction of Vilusa-Ilion. Perhaps some of these campaigns were led by tribal leaders named Odysseus, Achilles, Ajax, Menelaus, Agamemnon. Bruce himself believes that the Homeric epic describes events that have taken place for more than a hundred years.
In the memory of the Rhapsodes and Aedi, who carried tales of the glorious past throughout the towns and villages, these events merged into one whole. And the Iliad, perhaps, began with scattered songs, a kind of "sagas" that glorified the campaigns of individual Greek leaders to the shores of Asia Minor. The poem, obviously, was preceded by a cycle of heroic songs like epics about the Kiev heroes.
It can be added that returning home after a successful hike was also fraught with risk. The Achaeans, wandering all over the Mediterranean Sea, encountered wild tribes that inhabited individual islands and coasts. From these adventures crystallized the historical core of The Odyssey, another great poem by Homer, still mistaken for a fabulous fiction.
Bruce's conclusions draw on numerous facts and premises. However, sometimes they look very speculative, which the author himself is aware of. It is difficult to overcome this speculation, far-fetchedness to this day, despite the constant research of archaeologists.
On the other hand, it is no less likely that behind the flowery canvas of the Iliad is not a multitude of “pin pricks”, but one great campaign. German archaeologist Wolf-Dietrich Niemeyer, a participant in the excavations of Miletus, gives his arguments in defense of Homer.
Archaeological finds prove that in the second half of the XIII century. BC e. in Miletus, a change of power took place: supporters of the Achaeans were ousted by proteges of the Hittites. Niemeyer writes: “Millavanda, or Miletus, was Akhiyawa's outpost on the southwestern coast of Asia Minor. It was from here that the Achaeans intervened in political events in Asia Minor, supported the enemies and rebellious vassals of the Hittite state, although they rarely undertook military campaigns. Unfortunately, we do not know how in the second half of the XIII century. BC e. the Achaeans were expelled from Asia Minor and how Millavanda came under Hittite rule. Most likely, Tudhaliya IV decided to eradicate this constant hotbed of danger, which was located almost on the border with the Hittite state.
A recent discovery seems to confirm this change of power in Miletus. In June 2000, the archaeologist Annelize Peshlov discovered a Hittite inscription in the Latmos mountains, in the Miletus region, on a pass that led from the depths of Anatolia to this city. At that time, such rock inscriptions - certainly with the image of the Hittite king - served as a signal to all neighboring countries: "The Hittites rule here." The found inscription has yet to be accurately dated. However, it is already clear that the Hittites claimed power over Miletus.
So, the second version of the historical scenario of the Iliad is developing in a more familiar way. In the second half of the II millennium BC. e. Akhiyava stepped up the onslaught on the eastern Mediterranean. In the XV century. BC e. Mycenaean Greeks attack Crete. The Minoans are losing their leading position in the Aegean region and are losing their status as a great maritime power. Allies of the Cretans in Asia Minor also fell under the influence of the Greeks. Since that time, the Achaeans have securely settled in Miletus. From here they try to expand their area of influence. The Greeks strike at the outskirts of the Hittite state, because at that time, depending on the Hittites, not only most of Asia Minor, but also the islands lying off its coast, resided. However, this onslaught ended with a retaliatory blow from the Hittites. Akhiyava lost her outpost in Asia Minor - Miletus. For several centuries the Achaeans have been interested in the "granary of Asia Minor".
Miletus himself - from a strategic point of view - was quite vulnerable. Therefore, the Greeks tried to conquer a bridgehead in another part of the peninsula, namely in Troy. This rich, flourishing city has long attracted the attention of the Greeks. They rushed to the campaign …
There are other scenarios as well. According to Korfman, there was an earthquake. This natural disaster sealed the fate of Troy. So, the most important role in the ancient legend is played by the "Trojan horse". The Greeks dedicated it to Poseidon. In Greek mythology, Poseidon was considered the "earth shaker". It is this god who shakes the earth, plunging the peoples into terror. But did not Homer portray, under the guise of a mysterious horse, eventually destroying Troy, a terrible natural disaster - an earthquake that crushed the walls of the fortress?
Birgit Brandau, author of the book Troy: City and Myth, believes that “all the troubles began with the fact that a small enemy army attacked the city or an earthquake struck. The royal palace was destroyed, and then the townspeople, whose life was not sweet, took the opportunity to revolt. Such social unrest and coups were by no means uncommon in those days, as reported by numerous sources."
The very position of Troy was fatal. She was between a rock and a hard place.
“But your last day is approaching! We will not be guilty, sovereign, but God is omnipotent and autocratic fate (Iliad, XIX) - the sentence pronounced to Achilles was fulfilled for Troy.
After the fall of Troy and the collapse of the Hittite empire (about 1175 BC), the onslaught of the Greeks intensified. Around 1100 BC e. Greek colonization begins. From now on, for several centuries, it flows in the same direction. “Forward to the promised land! To Asia Minor! So, we can formulate the final conclusion. The results of recent archaeological expeditions do not yet allow us to conclusively reconstruct the scenario of the Trojan War. However, the results of the same expeditions do not deny that behind the Trojan epic lies the history of Greek expansion against a major power located on the western coast of Asia Minor and preventing the Greeks from gaining power over this region.
On the contrary, the latest archaeological research only convinces that the war for Troy - the most important strategic point of that time - was. More and more new findings strengthen scientists in this opinion. It is necessary to understand how it proceeded.
Ancient Troy is now in the center of attention of archaeologists, Hittologists, linguists, Anatolists, Hellenists and many others. The true history of the Trojan War may be written in the coming years. In any case, the solution to the mystery is closer than ever. No doubts remain. Homer must be read seriously - as a historical document.
From the book: "The greatest mysteries of history", Nikolai Nepomniachtchi