What is now on the site of ancient Troy. ancient troy

Almost certainly everyone knows about this ancient ancient city that fell under the onslaught of the Greeks and became a legend in history. And many inhabitants are wondering - "where is Troy located, and is it possible to go to see the remains of this city" ?.

The city became famous thanks to the epics of the ancient Greek writer Homer described in the Iliad, and many legends and myths, and was found a century and a half ago by archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. For many centuries, this city and its history haunt archaeologists and ordinary adventurers. In 1988, the interest of scientists in this legendary city increased again. To date, many studies have been carried out here and several cultural layers have been discovered.

Where was ancient Troy

According to archaeologists ancient settlement of Troy located off the coast of the Aegean Sea in the territory of modern northern Turkey. Ancient Troy was one of the settlements of Vilusa, which was located on the territory of modern Turkey. In 1260 B.C. Troy fell as a result of the long-term Trojan War. Today, only the ruins of the settlement, found by archaeologists, remain.

Excavation site where Troy is believed to have been located

True, there is an opinion that the known location of Troy is not actually valid. In view of the fact that in our time information about many cities of the ancient world has been lost, information about Troy is quite controversial and many scientists do not consider the city found by Schliemann in Turkey to be the real ancient Troy.

Excursions to Troy

Having visited Turkey as a tourist, you may well go on an excursion to the excavation site of ancient Troy, which is located 30 kilometers from the small town of Canakkale, where a Trojan horse stands on the embankment, built for filming the famous film about the Trojan War.

Probably, wandering around the excavations of Troy without a guide will not be so interesting, since only a specialist can tell everything in detail and show the highlights of this legendary place. Having examined all 9 layers of the excavations, it becomes clear that over the past centuries the sea has gone far from those places, but the Greeks approached Troy on ships, studied the breach that the curious Trojans made in order to bring in an unprecedented horse, inside which Odysseus and his comrades hid.

At the entrance to the territory of the excavations there is a Museum, where the history of the excavations is quite clearly shown, a view of the city in different historical periods is presented. By the way, a large model of a Trojan horse stands at the entrance to the museum. Tourists are happy to climb into the inside of the horse, but the queue to inspect this miracle is rather big.

Troy is huge, the tour will take more than one hour if you have a good guide. Perhaps for children and people who cannot see history behind the ruins, this trip will not seem exciting, but believe me that the mere realization that you were where you lived, loved, fought Priam and Hector, Paris and the beautiful Helen, Achilles and Odysseus, very adorns life.

“Whatever it is, be afraid of the Danes, even those who bring gifts!” - this catchphrase-warning was heard even by those who are superficially familiar with the ancient Greek epic. The city of Troy was defeated through its own curiosity: the inhabitants themselves dragged the soldiers hiding in a wooden horse into its territory. Troy was captured and destroyed. Ruined to the ground? How do we know about this? And where is Troy?

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“Who, among the immortal gods, led them to a hostile dispute?”

The events of those distant days are described in Homer's poem "The Iliad" - the oldest ancient Greek work found. The poem is based on folklore stories about exploits dating back to the 9th-8th centuries BC. e. The capital of the Trojan kingdom then had the name of Ilion, and the last months of the ten-year siege of Troy by the Danaans are described in the songs. Even the gods of Olympus were involved in the conflict that arose because of the beautiful Helen stolen by Paris. Some supported the Danaans, others helped the Trojans. The war lasted 10 years, and it seemed that there would be no end to it. However, the cunning king of Ithaca, Odysseus, realized his insidious plan by building a hollow wooden horse, in which he hid the best Greek warriors. The naive inhabitants of Troy lost their vigilance and dragged the gift into the city. At night, the Danaans got out, opened the gates to their comrades and captured Troy. It would seem that this is another myth, where the truth is, where the fiction is - it is no longer possible to find out, but in the 19th century it turned out that the city actually existed!

Looking for Troy

The German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann was fond of archeology and was literally obsessed with the idea of ​​finding an ancient city and giving a clear answer to the question, Where is Troy. He carefully studied the poem and, having comprehended the guesses of his predecessors, made the assumption that Troy was somewhere near the Dardanelles in Turkey. In 1870, during the excavations, the ruins of the city were discovered, which clearly had great importance for the unknown ancient inhabitants. Former towers, dilapidated walls of fortifications and the altar of the once luxurious temple of Aphrodite confirmed - "Troy has been excavated, and there is no second one."

Archaeologists managed to discover nine cultural layers - Troy was destroyed and rebuilt several times. Earthquakes and wars were so merciless that now it is difficult to guess whether it is a simple cobblestone or part of someone's home. Traces of a fire were noted, which Homer also mentioned. But Schliemann did not find any traces of Greek attacks - as well as a gift from the Danaans. So was there really a horse? According to modern calculations, the wooden giant should have exceeded seven meters in height and had a width of about three meters. To accommodate two dozen armed men - the minimum number of warriors mentioned in the epics - the horse had to weigh about two tons!

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This question remains relevant for researchers. It is possible that it was not even a deadly gift, but a ram recaptured from enemies. The Trojans brought him into the city as a trophy, but in the confusion they did not notice that armed opponents were hiding in the belly. But be that as it may, the phraseological unit, meaning an evil intent or an insidious plan, went to the people and is actively used. For example, this is where the name of computer viruses comes from - "Trojans".

Today, tourists from all over the world come to see the ruins of the legendary city. Troy is located far from popular holiday destinations and, but you can get here in several ways - by water and land. The closest and most convenient way is from the port city of Canakkale. To the delight of children and adults, at the entrance to the territory, guests are greeted by a huge wooden horse, inside which you can climb, feeling like a part of the legendary history.

Kaluga region, Borovsky district, Petrovo village

A cozy tea and coffee shop is a corner of calmness and pleasant rest next to the noisy, crowded and cheerful Peace Street. In the midst of a walk through the houses of different peoples of Australia, Asia, Africa and Latin America, look into the chamber. You will find small tables for two, a subdued atmosphere, traditional interior elements and, of course, first-class coffee prepared according to all the rules - in a Turk on a special titanium for sand! You will not only taste the drink, but also learn how to prepare it correctly: on Saturdays and Sundays at 12:00, a free master class is held in the cafe!

In addition, a large selection of fresh, delicious, most beloved oriental sweets is at your service: sweet Turkish delight, honey baklava, juicy dates, golden halva ...

Troy, like the Trojan War, are legendary places and events in world history and culture, but where is this Troy located? The city was destroyed by the Greeks in the XII century BC, and traces of its location were lost over time. But here it was found on the territory of modern Turkey ...

Another question that bothered scientists was the name of the main city in this state. Troy, most likely, was called precisely the region or state, and the capital, within the walls of which the Trojan horse was installed, most likely had a different name - Ilion. For its time, Troy was a fairly strong state and entered into relations with its neighbors, including the Hittites, possibly with the ancient Egyptians and other peoples. Other names of the country and city appeared from them - Scamander, Dardania, Vilusa, Taruisha, etc.

Horse statue in Canakkale city

The first to begin excavations at the site of the alleged Troy, which researchers were looking for almost all over the world, in 1871 was Heinrich Schliemann, an amateur archaeologist. After some time, he found the same Troy in the Hissarlik hill.

Today, Troy is worth looking for 7 kilometers from the Turkish Chinakkale - the narrowest point of the Dardanelles. It is about 5 hours drive from Istanbul. The city has its own airport, but usually tourists buy bus excursions there or travel by regular buses.

Strait view

Today, unfortunately, you can see little; on the site of Troy you will not see palaces, temples, giant theaters and other ancient objects. The walls are best preserved here, and the walls are from different eras, as well as individual objects and elements. Troy was round in its plan and consisted of the central part - the citadel, where the ruler's palace was. Outside the walls of the citadel were the houses of citizens simpler. They, in turn, were also behind the wall. The city was located on a hill and lay, as it were, in terraces.

Schliemann's excavations were quite superficial, the real results were given by later excavations, which revealed the whole history of ancient Troy. It turned out that Troy or Ilion is one of the most ancient cities in the world. On the site of the city, 9 layers of different eras were found, the last of which ended with the rule of Rome. However, the first people began to live in this place during the Neolithic, that is, about 10 thousand years ago.

The Plan of Troy Today

The first settlement with clay houses appeared here about 5000 years ago, this is the so-called Troy I. It is believed that she died during a fire. Troy II replaced Troy I during the time of the pyramids - a much more developed settlement with powerful defensive walls. But this period in the history of the city ended in a fire. After him for 400 years until 1900 BC. were one after another Troy III-IV-V, but they were not of particular interest. At the site of Troy, there are now a lot of objects of this particular period.

What did Troy look like?

Remains of the walls of Troy I

This is what the walls of the citadel of Troy II looked like, at the base of which there was sandstone, and then clay bricks

Reconstruction of the walls, right there the main entrance to the city

The center of the citadel, there were two large houses

In some areas, signs - III and IV are visible

Restored one of the entrances to Troy II, which was also used at a later time - the southwestern gate

Then, for almost 600 years, the newly rich and developed Troy VI existed. But the earthquake swallowed the city. From this period, powerful walls remained, of which there are many well-preserved sections.

Another gate to the city (in the east)

It is difficult to understand, but here was Megaron - a large rectangular house with a hearth in the center of Troy VI

Somewhere here was the temple of Athena Troy IX

Another gate

South gate to Troy VI, to the left of the entrance "house with pillars"

Walls of Troy VI with objects from Troy VIII and IX

After the earthquake on the site of Troy VI, the time came for that same Homeric Troy, which we know from the immortal "Iliad" of Homer - Troy VII. It was in the same place as before, and the walls of Troy VI can be considered its walls. You will not find any isolated objects for this period on the hill

Looks like a sewer

In the 12th century, the Greeks won the war and destroyed the city. And subsequently, all that was left was captured by the Phrygians. In the 10th century, the time of Troy VIII, inhabited by the Greeks, came. It is known that during its existence, King Xerxes himself came here, slaughtering a large number of cattle in honor of the heroes of Troy. In the middle of the 4th century, the city was occupied by the Balkan Greeks, and then by the Romans, who considered themselves descendants of the Trojans. This became the VIII layer of the history of Troy. The history of Troy ended in the 4th century, when the sea receded and the city lost its strategic importance as a city that protected the entrance to the Sea of ​​Marmara, and then the Black. This role passed to Byzantium, which later became Constantinople.

Troy VIII period buildings

Roman baths

Odeon

Buleuterium - administrative building

Remains of the Temple of Athena Troy IX

The well of Roman times, which went 37.5 meters deep, was built in the 4th century BC

Beyond the city walls

The sanctuary of Troy IX consisted of several temples and appeared here in the middle of the 7th century BC

The shells in the ground show that once there was a sea

In fact, on the hill we see a huge mixture of a large number of eras and cities, which for 3 thousand years were built on top of each other and often used old fortifications. The only thing you can see is that the city is constantly growing. However, almost nothing remained in the city from the period of the Trojan War, most of the buildings appeared here much earlier and a few appeared almost a thousand years later.

Not far from the hill, about 300 meters from the city, there is a water tunnel connected to the lower city and partially pierced by hand in the III millennium BC, that is, during Troy I or Troy II. The length of the cave is 160 meters. Over time, this place became sacred, the inhabitants of the city believed that the cave leads to the underground god.

The tunnel was used throughout the existence of Troy

At the entrance to the territory there is another Trojan horse that you can climb into

The entrance to the excavation site of Troy is open from 8 to 20.00 daily. In 2015, the ticket price was 20 Turkish liras, now, I think, from 30 to 40.

Troy - the city described by Homer in the poem "Iliad", is an ancient fortified settlement of Asia Minor, located off the coast of the Aegean Sea, near the entrance to the Dardanelles. Resting in Turkey, do not miss the chance to see this grandiose city and once again recall the events described by Homer. In the ruins of Troy, you can visit several archaeological zones belonging to certain cultural layers and learn about the life of the people who inhabited this land.

Excavations of the ancient city began in 1870 by a German amateur archaeologist and businessman Heinrich Schliemann. From childhood he was fascinated by the story of Troy and was convinced of the existence of this settlement. The excavations began on a hillside, near the village of Hisarlik. The ruins of nine cities were discovered, one below the other. The archaeologist found a large number of objects made of bone, stone, copper and precious metals. In the depths of the hill, Heinrich Schliemann stumbled upon a very ancient fortress, which he called with full confidence the city of Priam. After Schliemann's death in 1890, the work was continued by his colleague Wilhelm Dörpfeld. In 1893 and 1894 he excavated the more extensive perimeter of Troy VI. It is this city that belongs to the Mycenaean era and therefore it was recognized as Homeric Troy. On the territory of this cultural layer, which bears obvious traces of a fire, the most intensive excavations are now being carried out.

In ancient times, Troy played a leading role in the region, both militarily and economically. She had a large fortress and a defensive fort on the seashore, which gave her the ability to control the movement of ships through the Hellespont and the roads that connected Asia and Europe on land. The ruler of the city taxed the imported goods or did not let them through at all. This led to numerous conflicts in the region, which began in the Bronze Age. Economic and cultural ties connected Troy of that period not with the East, but with the West and the Aegean civilization. The city has been inhabited almost continuously for three and a half millennia.

Thanks to archaeological excavations, it is known that most of the buildings of Troy were erected on low stone foundations, and their walls were built of mud bricks. When buildings collapsed, their debris was not cleared, but only leveled the place for the construction of new buildings. In the ruins of Troy, 9 main layers are distinguished, which have their own subdivisions. The features of the settlements of different eras can be characterized as follows.

The first city was a small fortress, the diameter of which did not exceed 90 meters. The structure had a strong defensive wall with square towers and gates. Pottery from this period has a polished surface in gray and black and is sculpted without the use of a potter's wheel. There are tools made of copper.

A large citadel with a diameter of about 125 meters was erected on the ruins of the first fortress. It also had high thick walls, gates and protruding towers. A ramp led to the southeastern side of the fortress. The defensive wall was twice restored and expanded with the growth of the power and wealth of the city. In the center of the fortress, the ruins of a palace with a beautiful portico and a huge main hall have been preserved. The palace was surrounded by a courtyard with small living quarters and warehouses. The seven stages of the existence of Troy II formed overlapping architectural layers. At the last stage, the settlement perished in such a strong fire that, from its heat, stone and brick crumbled and turned to dust. Judging by the large number of valuables and household items found, the fire was sudden and the inhabitants of the city did not have time to take anything with them.

The settlements of Troy III, IV and V consist of clusters of small houses separated from each other by narrow streets. Each of them is larger than the previous one. These periods are represented by vessels with stucco images of a human face. Along with local products, imported goods typical of mainland Greece were also found.

The first stages of Settlement VI are marked by evidence of horses. At that time the city was exceptionally rich and powerful. The diameter of its fortress exceeded 180 m, and the width of the wall, built of hewn stone, was about 5 meters. There were at least four gates and three towers around the perimeter of the citadel. Inside the settlement, large buildings and palaces with columns were arranged in concentric circles, rising along the terraces to the center of the hill. The end of this era was a very strong earthquake, which covered the walls with cracks and collapsed the buildings themselves. At all subsequent stages of Troy VI, the main type of local pottery production remained gray Minoan ceramics, which is complemented by several amphorae brought from Greece and vessels imported in the Mycenaean era.

Later this area was repopulated. Again, the remaining parts of the walls and building blocks were used. Now the houses were already being built smaller in size, they pressed against each other so that many more people could fit in the fortress. Large jugs were now stored in the floors of the houses for supplies in case of any disaster. The first period of Troy VII burned down, but part of the population returned and settled again on the hill. Later, another tribe joined the inhabitants, who brought with them ceramics made without a potter's wheel, which indicates Troy's connections with Europe. Now it has become a Greek city. Troy was quite comfortable in the early periods, but by the 6th century BC. part of the population left the city and it fell into decay. On the southwestern slope of the acropolis, the remains of the temple of Athena of that time have been preserved.

In the Hellenistic era, this place did not play any role, except for the memories of the heroic past associated with it. In 334 BC Alexander the Great made a pilgrimage to this city. His successors and the Roman emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty carried out a large-scale reconstruction of the city. The top of the hill was cut and leveled, so that the VI, VII and VIII layers of Troy were mixed. A temple of Athena with a sacred site was built here. A little to the south, on a level ground, public buildings were erected and walled, and a large theater was built on the northeastern slope. In the era of Constantine the Great, the city prospered and the ruler was even going to make it the capital, but the settlement again lost its significance with the rise of Constantinople.

Today, the area around Troy has changed beyond recognition. The silty sediments of local rivers flowing into the bay have moved the coastline several kilometers to the north. Now the ruins of the ancient city are on a dry hill. A team of scientists dated fossils found in soil taken from the valley of two rivers using radiocarbon dating methods. Based on these data, researchers were able to determine the topography of this area in the era of Homer.

Now, the restoration of the famous Trojan horse has been completed on the excavation site, and tourists visiting Turkey have a unique opportunity to view this wooden masterpiece, which exactly matches the description of Homer. The Trojan horse, which once helped the cunning Achaeans capture the city, is now an original panoramic platform. Unfortunately, apart from the layout of the horse, there is little here that can attract the traveler's eye. It is believed that this place is one of the greatest fairy tales in the world, so it will be enough just to soak in this atmosphere.

Many powerful states and civilizations have sunk into oblivion. One notable example of this is the ancient city of Troy, which is also known as Ilion. This legendary settlement is familiar to many people from the war of the same name. The Homeric poem The Iliad describes in detail the epic confrontation between the inhabitants of Troy and the ancient Greeks. This famous city at all times excited the minds of various scientists, from historians to archaeologists. During the excavations of the 19th century, the legendary Troy was discovered on the territory of modern Turkey. Why did this ancient city deserve such close attention of contemporaries? There is an extremely interesting legend of its origin, existence and fall. Where was Troy? And what can be found in its place now? Read about all this in the article.

The ancient world and the date of the formation of Troy

Before the advent of the legendary Troy, the ancient permanent settlement of Kumtepe was located on the Troad peninsula. Its founding date is generally considered to be around 4800 BC. The inhabitants of the ancient settlement were mainly engaged in fishing. Oysters were also included in the diet of the settlers. In Kumtepe, the dead were interred, but without any funeral gifts.

In the region of 4500 BC, the settlement was abandoned, but around 3700 BC it was revived again thanks to new colonists. The new population of Kumtepe was engaged in cattle breeding and agriculture, and also lived in large houses with several rooms. Goats and sheep were bred by the inhabitants of the settlement not only for meat, but also for milk and wool.

The history of Troy dates back to 3000 BC. The fortified settlement was located in Asia Minor on the Troad peninsula. The city was located in a fertile hilly country. In the place where Troy was located, the rivers Simois and Scamander flowed on both sides of the city. There was also free access to the Aegean Sea. Thus, throughout its existence, Troy occupied a very advantageous geographical position, not only in the economic sphere, but also in terms of defense in the event of a possible invasion of enemies. It is no coincidence that the city in the Ancient World, in the Bronze Age, for this reason became a key center of trade between East and West.

The legend of the origin of Troy

You can learn about the appearance of the legendary city from an old legend. Long before the construction of Troy, the Tevkrian people lived on the territory of the Troad peninsula (the place where Troy was located). The character of ancient Greek mythology, Tros, called the country he ruled Troy. Consequently, all the inhabitants began to be called Trojans.

One legend tells about the origin of the city of Troy. The eldest son of Tros was Il, who, after the death of his father, inherited part of his kingdom. One day he came to Phrygia, having managed to successfully defeat all rivals in the competition. The Phrygian king generously rewarded Il by giving him 50 young men and the same number of maidens. Also, according to legend, the ruler of Phrygia gave the hero a motley cow and ordered to found a city in the place where she wants to rest. On Ata Hill, the animal had a desire to lie down. It was there that Troy was founded, which was also called Ilion.

Before building the city, Il asked Zeus for a good sign. The next morning, a wooden image of Pallas Athena appeared in front of the tent of the founder of the legendary city. Thus, Zeus provided Ilu with a pledge of divine help, a stronghold and protection for the people of Troy. Subsequently, a temple appeared on the site of the appearance of the wooden image of Pallas Athena, and the built Troy was reliably protected from enemies by high walls with loopholes. Il's son, King Laomedont, continued his father's work, fortifying the lower part of the city with a wall.

The defenses of Troy

According to ancient Greek myths, the gods of Olympus themselves participated in the construction of the walls of the legendary city. Once Zeus sent Poseidon and Apollo to Troy for a whole year to serve at Laomedont. Both gods built a solid wall around Troy from large stone blocks. Moreover, if Poseidon dug up stones from the bowels of the earth and brought them to the city, then to the sounds of the lyre of Apollo, the construction of the stronghold was carried out by itself. Not a single external threat was terrible for Troy, if the man Eak had not helped the gods. It was the part of the wall that the mortal had erected that was vulnerable.

The deceived Hercules decided to get even with the king of Troy. On 18 ships, together with the heroes and the army, he set out to take the impregnable city and take revenge on the treacherous Laomedont. An important role in the campaign was played by Telamon, the son of Aeacus. He was the first to enter the city wall in the very place where his father worked. Troy was taken, and the treacherous king was killed by the arrow of Hercules. The young Priam, the son of Laomedont, began to restore the former power of the legendary city. Under the rule of a new ruler, Troy flourished again and became powerful, as before. However, in extreme old age, Priam lived out his days in great sorrow.

Trojan War

The famous ten-year confrontation forever glorified the ancient city. In the region of the 8th century BC, several poems were composed about the legendary war. Only the Odyssey and the Iliad by Homer have survived to this day. They describe the events that took place in the 9th year of the confrontation between the inhabitants of the besieged Troy and the Greeks, as well as the fall of the city.

The wife of the Spartan king, by the will of the goddess of love Aphrodite, fell in love with Paris. The Greeks took Helen's voluntary departure with Priam's son as a kidnapping. The Spartan king Menelaus, together with his brother, gathered a huge army, after which they set off on their ships to conquer Troy.

For almost 10 years, the Greeks unsuccessfully tried to break the resistance of the impregnable city. And only the cunning plan of Odysseus allowed to capture Troy. The story contains information that the Greeks built a large wooden horse and left it to the Trojans as a gift, while they themselves boarded ships and allegedly sailed home. In fact, a group of the best warriors lurked inside the statue. At night, during the jubilation of the Trojans, they got out of the horse and opened the gates to their associates. In the end, the Greeks won the victory thanks to cunning, and the city itself was destroyed and burned. Thus, the famous expression "Trojan horse" appeared.

The final fall of Troy

From 350 BC until 900 BC, the legendary city was ruled by the Greeks. Subsequently, it passed from hand to hand to various rulers. First, the Persians captured Troy during the war with the Greeks, and later the city already belonged to Alexander the Great.

When Troy was captured by the Roman Empire, the city was reborn again. The Romans were very proud of their descent from Aeneas and his companions. In 190 BC, Troy was generally freed from any taxes and was expanded.

In 400 AD, Troy was captured by the Turks and completely destroyed. In the 6th century AD, the last human settlements disappeared in the place where the legendary city used to be exalted. The years of Troy's existence begin around 3000 BC and end around 400 AD.

Excavations of the ancient city

For many centuries, the existence of the legendary city was questioned. Most people were very skeptical of Troy itself. Thanks to the poem "Iliad", most scholars were inclined to think that the ruins of the ancient city could be found somewhere in the north-west of Asia Minor, that is, in the location of modern Turkey.

Now many people know on the territory of which modern state Troy was located. Thanks to Heinrich Schliemann, the ruins of the ancient city were discovered in Turkey, 30 km from the village of Canakkale, near the village of Tevfikiye.

Heinrich Schliemann, after receiving permission from the Ottoman authorities in 1870, began to excavate Troy in the northwestern part of the Hissarlik hill. On May 31, 1873, a self-taught archaeologist succeeded in discovering the treasure. Heinrich Schliemann hastily named his find "Priam's Treasure".

Contrary to an agreement concluded with the Ottoman authorities, according to which it was necessary to transfer half of everything found to the Archaeological Museum in Istanbul, Schliemann smuggled the treasures to Greece. After unsuccessful attempts to sell the find to the largest museums around the world, the archaeologist presented them to Berlin. Subsequently, Heinrich Schliemann became an honorary citizen of this city. After the end of World War II, the found Trojan treasures began to be stored in Moscow at the Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin.

What is located on the site of Troy?

Let's find out what is in the place of Troy now. In our time, modern Troy is significantly different from the place that Homer described in his poems. Over the course of many centuries, the coastline gradually receded, as a result of which the excavated city was located on a completely dry hill.

Every year, the museum city is visited by many tourists from all over the world from May to September. The ruins of Troy from different historical times have a magnificent appearance. If you want to get acquainted with all the exhibits in detail, it is recommended to hire a guide.

The most popular place where Troy was located, among tourists, is a wooden copy of the famous horse. Each person has the opportunity to be inside a large statue, feeling for a while in the role of a cunning Greek hero. You can also be one of those lucky ones who have an unforgettable experience. But it is necessary to choose the time for the trip, taking into account special factors. After all, on some days there are so many people around the Trojan horse in the place where Troy was located that most people cannot even get closer than 100 meters to it.

No less popular in the ancient city is the Museum of Excavations. Its visitors have the opportunity to view a bunch of photographs, models and other other exhibits that will allow them to get acquainted with the process of discovering Troy. Also, inquisitive tourists during the tour can look into the huge temple of Pallas Athena, visit inside the gloomy sanctuary of the ancient Greek gods and appreciate the Odeon concert hall.

Other sights of Turkey near Troy

South of the ancient city of Troy, you can find the ruins of Alexandria of Troas. This ancient city was founded in the 4th century BC by the ancient Greeks. During its existence passed into the hands of the Romans. Subsequently, in honor of Alexander the Great, the city received its final name.

It is worth noting that Alexandria of Troas is mentioned in the New Testament. According to the Holy Scriptures, in this city the Lord commanded the Apostle Paul to go and preach in the lands of Macedonia. Nowadays, the ruins of the city are called Eski-Istanbul.

Near Alexandria Troadskaya on a hill surrounded by dilapidated walls is the ancient city of Ass or Behramkale. During the life of the great thinkers Plato and Aristotle, a famous philosophical school functioned here, where many minds of those times visited. Among the sights of Ass, it is worth mentioning the Murad Mosque, many tombs and caravanserais, which have been transformed into hotels for tourists.

How to get to Troy on your own

To visit the place where Troy was located is like touching a legend. It is no coincidence that many tourists annually decide to see the amazing sights of the famous Troy in Turkey.

The easiest way to get to the legendary city is from Canakkale, which is located 30 km from Troy. Every hour, a regular intercity bus departs from this Turkish administrative center. Approximately half an hour of travel separates each tourist from the famous historical site. It is also possible to get to Troy from Istanbul, Bursa or Izmir thanks to fixed-route taxis.

Visiting the legendary city is not expensive financially. A tourist should actually spend money only for an entrance ticket and travel.

Film "Troy"

In 2004, a filmed story about the legendary city was released. The historical drama was based on the poem "Iliad". The main roles in the film went to such Hollywood stars as Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean, Brendan Gleeson and other famous personalities. The film was directed by Wolfgang Petersen and written by David Benioff.

In the XIII century BC, the Trojan prince Paris kidnapped Helen the Beautiful, which angered the Greek rulers to the core. The Spartan king Menelaus gathered a huge army and set off on numerous ships to the shores of Troy.

During the fierce confrontation, both the Greeks and the Trojans had alternate success. And only the cunning idea of ​​​​Odysseus made it possible to break the resistance of Troy. Rolling a large wooden horse into the city, the Trojans doomed themselves to death. At night, the Greeks dealt with the inhabitants of Troy without any problems.

Thus, only the ruins of the legendary city have survived to our times. A visit to modern Troy will allow everyone to touch the legend and be inside a large wooden horse.