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Troy I to V
Unless otherwise indicated, pictures on this page © Marco Prins and Jona Lendering. Photos can be downloaded and used for non-commercial purposes, but you have to acknowledge Livius.

Back to part one.
Steep Troy. Photo Jona Lendering. "Steepy Troy", as Homer calls the legendary settlement near the Hellespont. The Hittite sources say the same about Wiluša, which is one of the argumets that make the identification Troy/Ilios with Wiluša likely. It is so steep because Troy consists of nine main levels of occupation on top of each other. When a city was destroyed, a new one was built on top of it. This makes the site extremely complex.
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One of the small towers that Schliemann left unexcavated. Photo Marco Prins. The first excavator, Heinrich Schliemann, therefore left several small "towers" unexcavated, so that later generations of archaeologists would be able to control his interpretations. After all, archaeology was a science in its infancy and Schliemann understood that he would inevitably make mistakes. This is one of these pinacles.
Schliemann's first trench, straight into the hill. At the bottom of the trench, the remains of houses of Troy I are visible. They are dated to 2920-2350 BCE - contemporary to Stonehenge and the pyramids of Egypt. You can see the trench on this satellite photo too. 
The wall of Troy I. Photo Marco Prins. The wall of Troy I.
A model of the hill. The outer walls are Troy VI and VIIa; the inner structure represents Troy II.
The southwest gate of Troy II. Photo Marco Prins. The southwest gate of Troy II, which is usually dated to 2350-2250.
The southwest gate of Troy II. Photo Marco Prins. The southwest gate of Troy II.
The southwest gate of Troy II. Photo Marco Prins. The southwest gate of Troy II.
The western wall of Troy II. Photo Marco Prins. The western wall of Troy II. Here, Schliemann found what he called the "Treasure of Priam". In his newspaper publication, he invented a romantic story about it, which has been used against him, as if modern archaeologists do not use newspapers to make bold claims that invariably are dropped before the final publication.
Walls of Troy III, IV and V. Photo Marco Prins. Walls of Troy III, IV and V, which can be dated to 2250-1700.
to part three


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