The Trojans in Turkey

This article is one in the Cultural History of Turkey series. For the description of any cultures or tribes please read that article.

It is generally accepted that the first dwellers of Troy came to this area in circa 3600 BC and Troy was inhabited by the Trojans since 1900 BC. The Trojan civilization existed for a relatively long time, a period known as the Late Bronze Age. Unfortunately though very little is known about the Trojans due to the lack of written sources. Possibly oral tradition was the means of passing historical knowledge from generation to generation in the Trojan lands. No tablet was found in Troy and any where else to give a clue in this matter so far, so the Trojans’ identity and language are not known yet. Although some linear B tablets were found in Hellas these tablets were basically inventories of slaves and other possessions. Some Archaeologists thought that the settlers of Troy were one of the tribes of the Mycenaeans, who created colonies in the east Mediterranean and in Asia Minor4 and developed the first Greek culture in Hellas. However this hypothesis is questionable with the known facts on the Trojans. Some of our knowledge about them come from their neighbors, notably the Hittites. The Troy was a city in the kingdom of [W]Ilios, later called Ilium and known as Wilusa, according to the tablets found in the Hittite capital archives.

Troy is located in the northwest of Asia Minor, near Hisarlık, Dardanelles, also known as Troad in the ancient times. It was the same city what the Hittites possibly call Taruisa8.

In Troia VI a-h9 between 1800-1275 BC the Trojans reached the peak of their civilization, architecturally and economically, attested by wide roads, tall walls and towers, large houses, megara, and beautiful stone works on the city walls.

Based on the unearthed Hittite tablets some archaeologists thought that the first Hellene tribe, known as Achaiwia, settled in Milawata or in a nearby area around 1600 BC and founded Mycenaean Kingdom, with part of the Mycenaean territory in Asia Minor including Miletus. Their influence spread towards the west and central Asia Minor cities, including Troia, Ephesus, and Halicarnassus. From the earthenware and ceramics discovered in many cities it can be concluded that western coasts of Asia Minor stayed under the influence of the Mycenaeans since 1600 BC. However, another view, which differs in the details, is that the Mycenaeans founded the kingdom of Mycenaean, in Mycenae in mainland what is now known as Greece and spread mostly eastward, created a sphere of influence in the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, interacted with other civilizations in the east Mediterranean.

One of the most contentious subjects in Archaeology revolves around the validation of the truthiness of Homer’s epic tale of the Iliad. This must be the result of the belief that the whole western civilization is originated and/or developed from the classical Greek culture, of which Homer and his epic poem Iliad and others are the pillars. So, it seems, there are believers and non-believers. According to the believers events in the Iliad happened as depicted by Homer. Skeptics dispute this idea. “How factual is the Iliad?”. The archaeologists who are in the camp of believers of the truth of Homer’s epic tale base their “proof” on some circumstantial evidences and plausibility and hypothesize that the Mycenaeans, who invaded Asia Minor and reached the Syrian coasts, wanted to take Troy also. So based on the Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad, it might be concluded that the Achaeans14, a Mycenaean Tribe, tried to take the city of Troy. The Achaeans initially failed and but tricked the Trojans to believe that they were lifting their siege and going back home. However, they left a wooden horse, the so called Trojan Horse, behind them. Although the epic poem is beautiful and very intriguing, factuality of it is not universally agreed upon. According to another view the story is different; The Troia was possibly partially destroyed by an earthquake some times between 1300 – 1275 BC and some of the tribes living around the city rebelled and further destroyed the city. The southeastern Europeans and some seafaring tribes were waiting for an opportunity, such as the weakness and/or some chaos, to invade Asia Minor. They came from the Balkans and burned and plundered most of the cities and left in their wake a total destruction and reached to the lands of the Assyrians. These southeastern European tribes lived as nomads moving from location to location in Asia Minor from 1200 to 800/700 BC without any trace.

The lands of the Trojans, like the rest of Asia Minor, entered into a dark period after these invasions and destruction. In this time there was no sign of civilization. This period for the Trojans extended from 1050 to 700 BC.

The Archaeological studies in the Trojan and Hittite lands indicate that there were some similarities in the architecture of these civilizations. In addition to the architecture, the unearthed artifacts, mostly earthenware, belonging to the period 3000 – 2000 BC showed similar characteristics. The commonality in the style of these artifacts was assumed to be due to the common heritage between the Trojans and the Hittites. The Trojans though probably mostly interacted with and influenced by the Mycenaeans and seafaring tribes, such as the Cyclades, Cretans, and Cypriots, where as the Hittites interacted mostly with eastern civilizations, such as the Hurrians, Assyrians, and Egyptians.

Until 3000 BC Asia Minor was clearly under the influence of the eastern cultures, notably Mesopotamia, however around 1200 BC this status quo started changing. Asia Minor moved away from the eastern influence and oriented itself towards the west with the cultural and political changes. According to the experts, it can be claimed that western civilizations owe their birth and existence, in part, to the developments in Asia Minor between 600 – 545 BC. The western character of Asia Minor continued until the end of the Roman Empire. Although the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks reversed this process (1071-1923 AD) Mustafa Kemal Atatürk put Asia Minor back into the influence of western hemisphere by founding the secular Turkish Republic. Interestingly enough though the eastern and western cultural forces are still competing for domination in Asia Minor today.

Sources

  1. “The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations,” Prepared by the members of staff at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara, Turkey.
  2. Akurgal, Ekrem, “Anadolu Kültür Tarihi,” TÜBİTAK Popüler Bilim Kitaplari, April 2008, ISBN 978-975-403-107-2
  3. Wood, Michael, “In Search of the Trojan War,” Facts On File Publications, New York, New York, Oxford, England, 1085, ISBN 0-8160-1355-1.

Further Reading

  1. Schliemann, Heinrich, “Ilios: The City and Country or the Trojans: the Results of Researches and Discoveries on the Site of Troy and Throughout the Troad in the Years 1871-72-78-79) including an autobiography of the author. British Architects, London, 1880.
  2. Dörpfeld, Wilhelm, “Troj und Ilion,” Athens, 1902.
  3. Brown, Ann, “Arthur Evans and the palace of Minos,”, ISBN 0900090928, Ashmolean Museum.
  4. Blegen, Carl William, “The Mycenaean Age; the Trojan war, the Dorian invasion, and other problems,” Cincinnati] University of Cincinnati, 1962.
  5. Leaf, Walter and Lang, Andrew, Litt.D., And Myers, Ernest, M.A. “The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Iliad of Homer”, Done into English Prose.
  6. Leaf, Walter, “Homer and History”, London, Macmillan and Co., limited, 1915.
  7. Kinglake, Alexander and Morris, Jan, “Eothen: Traces of Travel Brought Home from the East,” ISBN: 0192813617, Oxford University Press, September 1991.
  8. Page, Denys, “History and the Homeric Iliad,” Cambridge University Press, 1959.
  9. Mee, C, “Aegean Trade and Settlement in Anatolia in the Second Millennium BC,” Anatolian Studies, Vol. XXVIII, pp 121 – 155.
  10. Sanders, Nancy, “The Sea Peoples: Warriors of the Ancient Mediterranean 1250 – 1150 BC,” Thames and Hudson, 1978.
  11. Homer, “The Iliad,” Translated by Robert Fagles, Introduction and Notes by Bernard Knox, Penguin Classics, 1990, ISBN: 0-670-83510-2, ISBN 0 14 04.4592 7.
  12. Homer, “The Odyssey of Homer,” A New Verse Translation by Allen Mandelbaum, Bantam Books, ISBN 0-553-21399-7.
  13. Fields, Nic (Author), Spedaliere, Donato (Illustrator), “Troy C. 1700-1250 BC (Fortress, 17)”, ISBN 1 84176 703 4, Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2004
  14. Thomas, Carol, G, Conant, Craig, “The Trojan War,”, ISBN 978-0-8061-3874-9, University of Oklahoma Press. Breenwood Publishing Group, 2005
  15. Saggs, H.W.F., “Civilization Before Greece and Rome,” Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-04440-2, 1989.
  16. Blegen, Carl William, “Troy and the Trojans,” Published by Barnes & Noble, Inc., ISBN 1-56619-823-2, 1995.

This article is one in the Cultural History of Turkey series. For the description of any cultures or tribes please read that article.