City of Troy
Another surprise while traveling to Cesme for another house sit was discovering that the Ancient City of Troy was on our route. I learnt about Troy in my history classes at school and it was also made into a movie with Brad Pitt as Achilles, also stared Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom. You can watch it on Netflix, great movie, if you like blood and guts type. The wooden horse used in the movie is our featured image. it can be seen in the town of Canakkale a city in northwestern Turkey in the Marmara region, on the Dardanelles Strait. Canakkale is also the gateway to the WW1 battlefields. See our post on Anzac Cove.
Troy, True or Myth
They say that the trojan war was a myth but then there are those that believe in really happened. Troy or Tpola (Greek word) is situated 30kms south west of Canakkale. So when we arrived in the coastal city of Canakkale it was a bit of a surprise to see this great big wooden horse in the middle of town. This horse was the one built for the movie and gifted to the town after it was completed. After our rest up in Canakkale it was off to visit the ancient city of Troy on our way to Cesme.
How the story goes is that Troy was a powerful kingdom that ruled Troad (Northern Turkey) until the Trojan war lead to its complete destruction. It was ruled by King Priam and his sons Princes Hector and Paris. Its destruction is one of the cornerstones of Greek Mythology and told in the Iliad (Poem) written by Homer. Another of this poems, Odysseus tells the story of the Greek King of Ithaca and his journey home after the Trojan War. As with Iliad the poem is divided into 24 books and still read today. What a long poem.
Helen of Troy
The war started over Paris and Hector visiting the King of Sparta (Menelaus) were they met his wife Helen of Sparta (Helen of Troy). It was said that she was the most beautiful woman in the world. During this visit Paris seduced Helen and carried her back to Troy. Hence the start of the Trojan War. Menelaus wanted her back of course. What the movie didn’t accurately tell is that the war lasted ten years. When Helen was abducted Menelaus calls upon his suitors (allies) to honor their oaths and try to retrieve her. These allies included Odysseus King of lthaca (covering most of Greece) and Achilles.
Original Walls 
Original Walls 
Original Walls 
Main entrance to the old city
Achilles
Achilles, hero of the Trojan war and greatest of the Greek warriors. He is best know during the war for his slaying of Prince Hector son of the King of Priam outside the palace gates. It is said that Achilles was killed near the end of the war by Paris, who shot him with an arrow in the heel, ouch. And did you know that his mother dipped Achilles in the River Styx when he was a child holding only one heel. Achilles was invulnerable within his whole body except for that one heel which wasn’t dipped in the river. So we have “Achilles Heel” still having a weakness in the heel. The term “Achilles Tendon” is also named after him in the legend.
Some of the jewelry of that Time 
Ramp into the Palace 
The old Walls
Numbers of Rebuilds
Troy was rebuilt or reinvented some ten times from 3000 BC to 85 BC. Thats some 5000 years ago from today. The original Troy was a small village close to the coast. It wasn’t until many years later that Troy 2 emerged, around 2550 BC, getting bigger. After many more rebuilds, wars and earthquakes, Troy 6 sprung up. That was around 1750 to 1300 BC and said to be the time of the Trojan war. it was rebuilt again and again and again and existed right through the Roman times coming up to the death of Christ. The Roman influence is clearly seen in the ruins.
Roman baths Ruins 
Roman Theater 
The Horse
We all know from history that the Trojan Horse was used by the Greeks, during the Trojan War. The war ran on and on for 10 years and towards the end of that time the Greeks at the request of Odysseus built a wooden horse. Odysseus along with a select force hid inside. The rest of the Greek force pretended to sail away and the Trojans pulled the horse into the city as a victory trophy. That night the Greek force climbed out of the horse and opened the gates to the main Greek army outside, which had sailed back under cover of darkness. The Greeks entered the city ending the war.
Not the real one but you can walk through it. 
For the Tourists only
