Troy

Between 1870 and 1890, Heinrich Schliemann excavated Hisarlik. Beneath a worn-down hill, he discovered square-built structures, charred fortress walls, weapons, jewelry, pottery, and gold. He donated the "Trojan findings" to the Berlin Museum.

Since time immemorial, every power has sought to enhance its prestige by claiming either bloodline or intellectual ancestors. Legendary forebears serve as the most illustrious legal foundations, often portrayed as demigods, heroes, or founders of nations and cities on an imagined family tree. The Persians, Latins, and English (who referred to London in medieval poetry as Troynovant, "New Troy") all claimed Trojan descent. The Greeks styled themselves as descendants of the brave and cunning besiegers. Before Xerxes marched against them to avenge his supposed ancestors, he made offerings at the legendary tomb of Hector in Troy and then burned Athens. Similarly, before Alexander the Great set out against the Persians to avenge the desecration of Athens' sacred Acropolis, he sacrificed at the tomb of Achilles and later burned Persepolis.

No one (at least not in Homer's account) considered the notion that Greeks were killing Greeks. Even the gods bore witness to the war: some sided with the Greeks, others with Troy, but all were from Olympus, with no foreign deities among them. The combatants shared the same style of warfare, weaponry, military customs, and even spoke challenges without the need for interpreters. Interestingly, Hector's name is of Greek origin, from Mycenae, whereas Odysseus and Achilles bear non-Greek names!

But did the Trojan War actually occur? Theoretically, it should have. Whoever controlled the straits acted as either ruthless toll collectors or was doomed to be crushed. Troy held a key position at the narrowing outlet of the Sea of Marmara, at the end of the Dardanelles. This was the sole route through which ships could penetrate the Black Sea via the Bosphorus. Given the strong outward current in the Dardanelles, ancient sailors likely found it difficult to navigate upstream. They probably unloaded their cargo near Troy, on the plain near the estuary, transported goods a short distance overland, and then resumed sailing on the calmer waters of the Sea of Marmara. Such a strategically dominant gatekeeper would inevitably attract a grand military campaign to disarm it.

For a time, historians believed that under the leadership of the mighty pirate king and ruler of Mycenae, several lords joined forces for a military expedition to acquire grain, raw materials, and slaves from the Black Sea coasts. Nevertheless, scholars strongly doubt the war Homer sang of. Beginning in 1870, Schliemann excavated Troy with obsessive fervor and ruthless determination, achieving worldwide success but causing significant damage. Order in the disturbed layers was only restored in the 1930s by archaeologist Carl Blegen. He uncovered nine city layers spanning from 3000 BCE to 400 CE, with the VII/a layer identified as the potential seat of King Priam.

Blegen's major discovery revealed that the largest of the nine cities, the sixth, which Schliemann believed to be Troy, was destroyed not by warfare but by an earthquake, long before the presumed Trojan War. Its ruins were later replaced by a crowded and impoverished settlement. This VII/a city did indeed burn and was destroyed by fire, coinciding with the supposed timeframe of the Trojan War. However, it was unlikely to have withstood a prolonged siege, let alone one lasting six months, making such a costly campaign improbable. Furthermore, during this time, the attackers' own strongholds and cities were also destroyed.

During the presumed Trojan War period (1194–1184 BCE?), the Hittite Empire still existed. Although their archives mention the Greeks, they contain no reference to a neighboring Trojan War. Around 1200 BCE, a wave of migration likely swept south from northern regions into the Mediterranean, destroying much of its civilization. Athens, Mycenae, Pylos, and even Troy, the insignificant seventh city, burned. The attackers, known as the "Sea Peoples" in Egyptian chronicles, were eventually halted at the Nile Delta. The Old Testament also testifies to this upheaval, as the Philistines, identified as the Sea Peoples, settled near Gaza after defeating the Israelites.

This historical event likely left an indelible, traumatic memory in the collective subconscious of the affected peoples. If a Trojan War did occur, it was not fought over the city unearthed near modern Hisarlik. Homer lived five centuries later—a significant temporal gap. He lived near the legendary battlefield, and during his wanderings, he likely used poetic license to assign his narrative to the picturesque ruins.

Cs. Szabó László "Görögökről", Európa könyvkiadó, Budapest, 1986