A tale of death, honor, and betrayals, the Iliad by Homer is a story to inspire dreams. However, despite the grandeur of all the events in the epic poem, not all in the Iliad may be the stuff of legends. In fact, there are large amounts of evidence that suggests that Troy did indeed exist and that there may have even been a war on the same grand scale as that in the Iliad. For the past 16 years, more than 350 scholars, scientists, and technicians from around 20 different countries have spent their time and energy in a collaboration of excavations at the site of the real Troy in northwestern Turkey (Korfman). Nine different cities of Troy have been found; each built one on top of the other (Fischman 4). The tireless workers have found countless artifacts and new evidence to prove that what they have found is the real Troy and have spent hours of work in order to find out whether or not a Trojan War took place. Some pieces of evidence include Hittite records, signs that Troy was powerful enough to go to war, and proof that there was indeed a war.
The Iiad by Homer is an epic poem that depicts events that may or may not have been real. The Iliad tells about the Trojan War, a war fought over the most beautiful woman on Earth, Helen of Sparta. It starts with Paris of Troy stealing away Helen of Sparta and taking her to Troy (Homer). Her angered husband, Menelaus, with the help of his Mycenean king brother, Agamemnon, rouses Greek soldiers to cross the sea with the strength of one thousand ships in order to retrieve Helen (Homer). What takes place in the land of Troy is a war that builds heroes as well as kills them. The most central figure in The Iliad is Achilles, the son of the sea goddess Thetis and the mortal king Peleus. The Iliad mostly revolves around the actions of Achilles and how if affects the Trojan War. The epic poem is really a tale about betrayals, triumphs, and ultimately, humanity, but the backdrop of a grandiose war is hard to ignore, which is why there have been so many attempts to discover whether or not the Trojan War really took place.
The area that is now Turkey was once controlled by a powerful civilization called the Hittites (Fischman 3). The Hittites were fairly advanced and had already established control of the area as well as written language. That is where discoverers find their evidence for the real Troy. In The Iliad, the Greeks who attacked Troy were often called the Achlaioi, which in the Bronze Age were called the Achaiwoi, but during the time The Iliad was composed, which is estimated to be around eighth century B.C., there were no names like that for the Greeks, so they must be the Ahhiyawa people that the Hittites recorded having trouble with (Latacz). Manfred Korfman, the chief of an excavation trip at the site of the real Troy, states that, �according to Hittite records, there were political and military tensions around Troy precisely during the 13th and early 12th century - - the supposed time of Homer�s Trojan War�. Wilusa was recorded by the Hittites to have been located in Northwestern Turkey where the remains of Troy have been excavated (Fischman 1). Now, in Homer�s Iliad, Troy was often referred to as �Ilios�, which Bronze Age Greeks would have pronounced as �Wilios�, a great coincidence since the area where Troy has been excavated is the area called Wilusa by the Hittites (Fischman 3; Korfman). Not only is there that coincidence, but a water tunnel was excavated by the discoverer Manfred Korfmann and was dated to be around 2600 B.C., and Hittite texts also mention a water tunnel in Wilusa (�Troy�). Hittite texts also mention the name Alaksandus as a king of Wilusa, and the name Alaksandus is frighteningly similar to the name Prince Alexandros, or Paris of Troy (�Troy�). All the records left behind by the Hittites were important because they were the most advanced civilization in the area that is now modern-day Turkey. And because the Hittites were so advance, their records give the most accurate and probably the most dependable pieces of evidence that the Troy in The Iliad was the same as one of the discovered Troys.
Of the nine cities of Troy that were built one on top of the other in Wilusa, Troy I-V showed signs of being rich merchant cities because its location allowed it to control the passage through the Dardanelles, which every merchant ship would have to take in order to go from the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea (�Troy�). So, that meant that Troy was a very powerful and rich city since its creation. Situated in the middle of a trade route, Troy/Wilusa was an ideal place to make war with because whoever controlled that area controlled the trade in that region. In fact, according to Manfred Korfman, �Troy was evidently attacked repeatedly and had to defend itself again and again, as indicated by repairs undertaken to the citadel�s fortifications and efforts to enlarge and strengthen them�. New excavations show that the Troy VII was, by the standards of the region, large and unparalleled by any other city (Korfman). The citadel located in Wilusa on the coast was powerful enough to control trade, therefore it was a place of great value for others who had an eye on becoming rich. The Hittites, the most powerful civilization in the area were even cowed enough to make a treaty with Wilusa between the Hittite king Mutawali II and the ruler of Wilussa, Alaksandu (Hawkins), instead of making war with the place, an obvious sign that they were not sure they would win if they made war.
There was also evidence of war from the excavated cities of Troy VI and Troy VII, both of which are the cities that are discussed as possible Troys from The Iliad. Troy VI, though showing signs of being destroyed by an earthquake, also has evidence of containing piles of slingshot stones ready for use (�Troy�; Fischman 3). However, it is really Troy VII that is most believed to be the Troy in Homer�s Iliad (�Troy� There were piles of rounded stones found in Troy VII that might have been used for ammunition in defense of a city since they were piled up for ready use (Fischman 3). In 1993, it was seen that the lower city of Troy in the thirteenth century B.C. had been surrounded by an impressive U-shaped ditch that was approximately 11 � feet wide and six feet deep, all hewn into the limestone bedrock (Korfman). However, despite the people in Wilusa�s best efforts, Troy VII showed signs of being destroyed by warfare (Latacz). There was evidence of a conflagration, skeletons where they should not have been, and heaps of sling bullets that were placed in a chaotic way that indicated being thrown in as an attack on the citadel (Korfman). All circumstantial evidence points to violent conflicts around 1300 B.C. to 1200 B.C. in the area called Wilusa during the time of the Hittite kingdom and the supposed time of Homer�s Trojan War.
The main argument against this excavated Troy being Homer�s Troy was that the excavated Troy was such an insignificant city in the late Bronze Age that no one would have bothered coming to blows over it (Korfman). Until recently, Troy was thought to be nothing more than a hillside fort (�Troy�). However, this argument was made before new excavations showed the real size of Troy VII. These recent excavations unearthed a city outside the first ruins of the citadel and are dated to be around 1300 B.C (Fischman 1). These excavations add up and so now Troy is fifteen times larger than it was thought to be, making the area large enough to control much of the trading in the region (Fischman 1; �Troy�). The population is also larger, estimated now to be around 10,000 (Fischman 1), which is large enough to have formidable armies and be a power to be reckoned with. The new excavations have discovered better fortifications, imported pottery, swords, and a seal that indicates there was trading done between the people in Wilusa and far away cities (Fischman). Another argument is that the name identifications such as Aleksandu and Prince Alexandros (Paris of Troy), and the Ahhwiya are the Achaiwoi (Greek Myceneans) are improbable and practically impossible to prove (�Troy�). However, this argument was shot down by Trevor Bryce in 1998 in Bryce�s book The Kingdom of the Hittites, that cited a piece of the Manapa-Tarhunda letter which discussed Wilusa and confirmed the names (�Troy�). But despite the sheer impossibility of something happening on the same grand scale as the Trojan War in The Iliad, scholars have come to believe that the Trojan War really did happen. The biggest counterargument against the Troy found in northwestern Turkey being the real Troy was the size of what was unearthed. But because of recent discoveries and excavations, those scholars who before objected must now stop and think that Troy really did exist.
Some scholars believe that descriptions of a real Trojan war were passed down by bards until it reached Homer and then gained fame with its many legends as the Iliad (�Troy�), while other scholars believe that the Iliad is nothing but legend. However, while the story of the Iliad is not a war account but a tale about vengeance, wrath, and the death of individual heroes, the war account plays a bigger part for some people which is why those people have been inspired to discover whether or not Troy really happened. They have discovered quite a bit of evidence to support the claim of a real Trojan war, such as indications in Hittite records, signs of a powerful Troy, and proof of some sort of war. Whether or not there really was a Trojan War over a beautiful woman that spanned a decade and killed thousands as well as made a few heroes, no one yet knows for sure, but the legends and dreams left behind by Homer�s The Iliad will continue to inspire many to look for the answer.
