A Quest to Uncover the Lost City of the Iliad

For centuries, the mythical city of Troy from Homer’s Iliad was pure myth. However, by the 19th century, archaeologists and explorers began to wonder whether those legends had some archaeological truth. It remained speculation until one man, Heinrich Schliemann, decided to test his luck. In a mound in Western Turkiye, near the modern city of Çanakkale, he began excavations in the 1870s. What he found shocked the world. Fortifications with evidence of destruction, golden artifacts, and signs of an invasion around the time the Trojan War may have taken place. Was this the Troy?

While scholars continue to debate whether the events of the Iliad are factual, the city itself has been accepted as found. The archaeological site is fascinating—layers upon layers from different centuries, each holding stories of conquest, invasion, and rebuilding efforts.

The Ancient City that Inspired Legend

Beyond the story of the Trojan horse and the fall of the city in Homer’s epic, the ancient city was inhabited for thousands of years. Beginning in the early Bronze Age (around 3000-2000 BCE), it was continuously inhabited until an earthquake destroyed it in 1300 CE. Named Hisarlik in Turkish, it is located in the Dardanelles, the strait connecting the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea, making it a strategic location for trade.

What is so intriguing about this archaeological site is that it is not just one culture or time period, but rather a layering of nine cities and 46 levels of occupation! This means that Troy was a succession of different civilizations, peoples, and cultures that occupied the same space.

If the Trojan War did take place, it would have happened around the Late Bronze Age (c. 1700-1000 BCE), meaning the city would have existed at the time and been connected to other mainland Greek cities through trade.

Archaeologist or Treasure Hunter?

The man credited with the archaeological excavations that put Troy on the map was Heinrich Schliemann. A German businessman and pioneer archaeologist, he was determined to uncover the truth about the Iliad’s famed city. Before arriving at the site, his life was a wild ride. From surviving a shipwreck in South America as a boy to traveling to California during the Gold Rush, he eventually began excavating after connecting with the family who owned the land on which the Hisarlik mound sat.

Schliemann’s excavation tactics were notoriously poor, making him more of a treasure hunter than an archaeologist. In his attempts to find the city, he also uncovered numerous golden artifacts and “treasures”, the most famous being the Priam treasure, which he believed to be the treasure quoted in the Iliad. This hoard of artifacts, including gold, jewels, and a diadem, sparked controversy. It is still speculated that Schliemann may have found them in different areas from various time periods, or they were complete fakes!

The late 1800s were a time before archeological standards and treaties between nations, so much of the loot he found was smuggled out of the Ottoman Empire and brought to Berlin. Some of the artifacts went on their own wild journeys, including being taken by the Soviets during WWII, and remain in Russia to this day. (The diadem was later dated from around 2200 BCE, making it a thousand years older than the Trojan War would have been.)

The Turkish government attempted to sue Schliemann, who fled the country and landed in Greece, where he began excavating the site of Mycanae, also connected to the Iliad and the Odyssey. There, he claimed to have discovered the “Mask of Agamemnon”, the famed king who led the Greek army to Troy.

Despite his questionable methods and potentially forged artifacts—which are still renowned around the globe today—Schliemann’s obsession with proving the existence of the Trojan War brought the site of Troy to international acclaim.

My Journey to the Archaeological Site of Troy

Today, this destination is an incredible place to experience the thousands of years of layers and history that make up this region. The entire site has wooden planks to get up close and personal without damaging the ruins, especially since most are deep trenches with no flat surface. This is a testament, in part, to the layers and the mound they created, and in part to Schliemann's destructive techniques, who dug straight down rather than recording or analyzing.

Throughout the mound, the various layers were marked to showcase the different civilizations. While many archaeological sites do not provide context beyond signs or longer explanations in adjacent museums, the individual layers here are clearly marked in situ. This was an excellent way to imagine the continuous building projects that happened over the centuries as people came and went.

And of course, regardless of fact or fiction, the city prides itself on being the location where the Trojan Horse was built - evident by the full-size replica horse at the entrance to the site!

Whether or not the Trojan War happened as described by Homer, we know the city existed. To learn more about the fascinating and turbulent story of Schilemnann’s discoveries, check out this article: The Discovery of Troy.