Troy, also known as Ilion, was a Hellenized Anatolian city-state in northwestern Asia Minor which existed from 3000 BC to 1183 BC. The city's limestone walls were erected between 3000 and 2600 BC, and it was a flourishing mercantile city during the Bronze Age due to its complete control of the Hellespont, through which every merchant ship en route from the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea had to pass. In 1900 BC, Troy experienced a change of culture during the Bronze Age collapse, and it came to be inhabited by Luwian speakers. According to the Iliad, the Trojans shared a common language, religion, and customs with the Ancient Greeks, hinting that the Trojans were either Greeks or Hellenized Anatolians. In 1243 BC, Heracles sacked Troy and put a young Priam on the throne; this event coincides with the destruction of Troy VII.
In 1193 BC, after the Trojan prince Paris absconded with Menelaus of Sparta's wife Helen, King Menelaus of Sparta assembled a coalition of Greek city-states (many of whom also sought uninterrupted access to the Black Sea trade routes) and besieged Troy, starting the Trojan War of 1193-1183 BC. After a ten-year stalemate in which the Greeks and Trojans lost many heroes, the Greek general Odysseus devised the "Trojan Horse" strategy, which ultimately led to the Greeks infiltrating the walls and massacring almost all of the men while enslaving the women and children; King Priam and Prince Paris were among the dead. Aeneas, one of the Trojan princes, escaped with some surviving Trojans and settled in Italy, where his descendants later became the Romans. The city of Troy (Troy VIIa) was razed by the Achaean Greek invaders, but parts of the city survived, and Alexander the Great made sacrifices at the tombs of Achilles and Patroclus at Ilion. The site of Troy was re-occupied during the Roman era and named "Ilium", and it is now known as Hisarlik.
Gallery[]
