The Lost City - Troy

The Lost City of Troy, Turkey

Myth and Legend - The City of troy featured in Homers Iliad, from which Dr. Schliemann was originally inspired, and is said to have used in his determination of the location of the lost city. Homer mentions that Troy had been destroyed by Hercules long before the Greeks under Agamemnon, and this legend may refer to the destruction of the first city.

Ilus, the son of Tros founded Troy in 3000 BC, and the name Troy was derived from him.

Immortalised by the writings of Virgil and Homer, the ruins of Troy were first found by Charles McLaren in 1822 (2), and excavated by Dr. Heinrich Schliemann, in 1870. The city of Troy was re-discovered after a lifelong quest which led Dr. Schliemann to the plain of Troad, on the north-west coast of Turkey. Until its discovery, it was considered a fictional city in the 'Illiad', by Homer. The discovery is one of several 'mythological' places that have unearthed in the last two hundred years.

The ruin of Troy 

Dr. Schliemann discovered four settlements or cities beneath Illium, one below the other at Hissarlik, of which he determined the third deepest to have been Troy proper, where he found the so called 'Priam treasures'. 'These four cities were separated from each other by layers of ash and other marks of conflagration. The German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated Troy from 1870 to 1890. His theft of treasure from Troy and his damage to the site will be always remembered in Turkish archaeological history. Wilhelm Dorpfeld followed to excavate Troy after Schliemann. Today, a new German team is still working to rebuild Troy ruins by using new advanced technologies since 1988.