The time of oblivion passed. Troy, fabulous city of ancient Greek epic, acquires its true history.
...Why so sad
Listen to the story of the battle of Danaev, about Three dead?
It has sent down, and death, and destructive of the draw
Gods, that glorious song were they for posterity.

Odyssey, VIII, 577-580

First, there was the Wind. Without that, the story would have been different.

But wind, and over the sea, on a hill, six thousand years reigned city - arrogant, rich, ready to stand up for themselves. Again and again he was surrounded by siege, compared with the earth, but the other builders erected another fortress, and the flame war devoured her.

But the city was still gave rise to the myth, glorified him, and his heroes, who fought for it; gods who started for him conflict; fabulous wooden horse that appeared in the tenth year of the war, to bring hail death.

And time was a myth, that the hour had come, and here come the seekers of antiquities, hoping to find traces of the war memorabilia, and ignite a dispute that is not resolved until now: what was common between a Trojan myth and the real history of the city, standing on the hill? What do you know about the town, which the whole world calls today Troy? As he looked, how many there were people who rules, as he has changed for thousands of years?

First, there was the Wind. He was blowing from the northeast almost year round - months from the Dardanelles was not possible to swim in the Black sea. Because Basilevich courts of the bronze age have not been tacking into the wind. Ships stayed in a Bay near Troy. Merchants for months waiting for a fair wind, or by hiring Explorer, transported goods by land. In any case, the residents of Troy from it just won. Advantageous location of their city for hundreds of years brought Trojans wealth and power.

However, grew and the envy of your neighbors. Increasingly, they sought to attack the lucky ones. Not in vain for one Millennium width of the walls around the city has increased 15 times. Perhaps each generation of the inhabitants of Troy had to defend itself against enemies, in his "Trojan war", said some German archaeologist Manfred Korfmann. For the past two decades he directs the new excavations in Troy.
The journey from the Greeks to the Hittites

Excavation of Troy resumed in 1988, getting started, scientists have searched for the answer to a number of important issues.

Did Troy pirate Jack? Or the great prehistoric power? Or maybe Atlantis? Was the Trojan war? And if so, when it happened? Whether Troy the cradle of European civilization? What is the relationship of Troy was with its neighbors, and in particular with the Hittites?

It was planned that the excavations would last 15 years. Work is nearing completion. It's time to draw some preliminary results.

View of the excavation of Troy

The greatest resonance, as disputes caused the following opening. Perhaps in the bronze age Troy was ten times more than is known to us before the city. In 1992, South-West of the hill Hissarlik, where a hundred years ago led the excavations of Heinrich Schliemann, was discovered the moat encircling the city of Troy. He ran quite far from the city walls, bordering an area of 200 000 m2, while Troy took a total of 20 000 m2. Obviously, he was surrounded by the Lower city, said Curfman. In 1700 BC lived here for thousands of people. Appeared Lower town in the middle of the third Millennium BC, in the time of Troy II. Perhaps Troy was much more powerful city than thought before.

In 1994, were found two more artificial moat. The first ditch ran in four hundred meters from the fortress, and the second one in five hundred. They both were almost the same: depth - 1.5 m; width - 3 metres; both were part of a well-conceived system of the fortifications. To overcome such a ditch on fighting chariots - "tanks of the bronze age" - it was impossible. Over the moat, scientists believe, stood a wooden wall or stood in the ranks of sharpened stakes. Because of this fence was shot at enemies. However, the remains of the fence now not be detected, but in the Iliad described a similar structure:
The thought reckless - to drive across the ditch, with chariots and horses.
He is the transition was not easy: it continuously
Sharp stakes are, and behind them is the strength of Danaev.
Us to go down in the trench this, no one to fight not be,
Horse soldiers: the gorge there is terrible, all will perekryt.

(XII, 62-66).

By the way, already in 1992, German geologist Eberhard Zangger released the acclaimed book Atlantis - the secret legends". In its pages, he argued that Troy was the mythical power, which told Plato, and found ditch, of course, was one of the channels around Atlantis. In one of his interviews Zangger even assured the correspondent: "the Probability that Troy is Atlantis, equal to 99 percent, while the probability that the city on Hisarlaka hill there Troy, equal to only 98 per cent".

Such sensations accompany any work of archaeologists. The same Atlantis was looking for, it seems, everywhere (and we have already told). It seems that the list of proposed sites of search of the lost island ever coincide with a list of all the place names on the planet. Already now it is possible to meet North America, Brazil, the Swedish town Uppsala, Siberia, the Canary Islands, the South China sea, the Northern Libya, Crete, Bermuda, Gibraltar, Ethiopia, Bolivia, Troy, Brittany, England, Ireland. Amazingly, every time the authors of the hypotheses are good reasons to suspect the presence of a lost civilization it is in their favorite spot on the map.

It seems more fruitful to dream of what could be a life in Three in the middle of the II Millennium BC - at Homer's Troy. Here is how could look Lower town, if to trust the opinion of Corfman.

...Streets so tight that he could hardly move forward. Every couple of steps are piled heaps of goods. Merchants and artisans tout their wealth: fresh vegetables, red wine, olive oil, bone combs, Mycenaean pottery, bronze weapons.

From this abundance dazzled, and you need to look at both. Or it will come on dog, pig, or even of a beast of those that are worn everywhere, smelling the smell of mud houses or on the ears of burrowing in the garbage. And garbage here in abundance. The city surrounds a putrid stench, barely seasoned with fragrant spices, coming from animal droppings, rotting fish, smoke of fires and raw clay.

But people seem at all uneasy. They indifferently, perhaps even arrogant, make their way through the crowd, as it should be residents of the big city. Sometimes they freeze to listen stray singer that sounds Lira recites one of those long, the favorite tales about the life and exploits of the heroes. In these minutes, you can get accustomed to the inhabitants of Troy - a couple of centuries later, them will I sing the same itinerant singers.

Local men wear short, colorful clothes, sometimes trimmed with the fringe. On the feet of the many leather sandals. Women dressed in Cretan fashion. Cheeks and lips slightly browned, eyes summed up. There is no shortage of jewelry - necklaces of carnelian and pottery, gold and silver, earrings and bracelets made of bronze. People see that their city is rich.

Suddenly all rush to the side. With a crash sweeps chariot, leaving aside the Top of the fortress city, lying on the hill. She fenced with thick walls made of stone, the same hewn blocks of stone. From here, below, visible only roof separate palaces, towering above the battlements, on the edge of which patrol pass the guards. There, in spacious, lavishly decorated palaces are the king and his nobles. An enemy army never get there.

...The heyday of this city, now called Troy VI, lasted 400 years. At that time, he does not succumb to such famous cultural centers of the late bronze age, as Mycenae and Tiryns. But was there Troy close to them?

Here's the next opening of Corfman, which caused no less fierce debate than the first. In the bronze age Troy was part of Anatolian civilizations, and not Mycenaean. Troy was an Outpost of Asia, looming over Europe, not the major European city.

Back in 1995, Three of them found a bronze seal with the inscription - the first written monument, met here. The inscription is made by the characters on the Luwian language. Fifteen hundred years before the new era Luwian language was widely spoken in the vastness of Asia Minor. It was used, and the Hittites. But did it the Trojans? One finding is not to determine.

However, Corfman sure that the inhabitants of Troy-VI origin were them - one of the Indo-European peoples, which, along with the Hittites around 2000 BC settled in Anatolia. Many of the artefacts discovered in the Three most likely belong to this Eastern Anatolian culture than Greek civilization.

Already the walls of Troy reminded Anatolian strengthening, and not Mycenaean: down the walls were expanded at the top of the same may have been gear; on the perimeter of them rose a tower add-ins. Defensive moat also fits well with the General - "Eastern" - appearance of Troy: it is in the Central Anatolia and Northern Syria, and not in the Mycenaean Greece can be found like a fortress with a well-fortified and closely built-up Lower town. The nature of dwellings also typical for Anatolian architecture.

Hittite-Luwian origin and ritual objects found in Three. So, in front of the southern gates of Troy yet today, shows four of a stele that are installed on the powerful stone pedestal - the Hittites they served as symbols of the God - protector of the city. Finally, in the cemetery situated near the city walls, there are traces of cremation. This method of burial characteristic of the Hittites, and not for Western Nations that era. Up from period, i.e. up to 1400 BC, the Greeks had delivered the bodies of the dead earth.

Based on guesswork philologists, Corfman - that's the third opening - identified Ilion-Troy with city or locality Wilusa, which is not often mentioned in Hittite cuneiform sources. "Wilusa" was located in Northwest Asia Minor - about where was Troy. "Now, " said Curfman, - we may more likely be attributed Troy-Ilion and its inhabitants to Hittite-Luwian the world."

If so, the consequences of this discovery is very important. Researchers Troy can use the Hittite sources reporting Vilusi. Perhaps, Luwian language was the description of the Trojan war? Perhaps they were known and Homer?

Be that as it may, one must admit that in the bronze age Asia Minor had played an outstanding role in the history of the world. Here was connected West and East, European innovation merged with the novelties brought here from Mesopotamia and the Near East. Local residents absorbing new ideas, developed, improved them exchanged them with the residents of the neighbouring countries. From here, by way of Troas and other cities on the Aegean coast innovative ideas into Greece.

However, this situation was not only profitable, but also fatal. Troy was doomed to remain between the two often hostile forces: Mycenaean Greeks and Hittites. Again and again to its walls rushed enemies. Because of Trojans flashed the war. Evidence archeologists discover in numerous traces of fires. Finally, about 1180 BC Troy suffered some disaster, after which came the "dark ages". The town fell into decay. However, decay and desolation reigned all over the world that day.
Between the hammer and the anvil

The Greeks of the bronze age - the Achaeans, who created the Mycenaean civilization,- has maintained a close relationship with Troy from the middle of the II Millennium BC. This convinces the analysis of ceramics is the most important product of antiquity.

Greek ceramics Mycenaean era, that is Mycenaean or Achaean ceramics, appears on the West coast of Asia Minor, about 1500 B.C. Shortly local artisans in a large number of fake "overseas stuff ' - the Greek utensils.

The latest archeological finds show that the Mycenaean is most influential in milete, Ephesus, Klazomenai, and in Three of them. Other and could not be expected. During this time Troy becomes an important trade centre of the Eastern Mediterranean is a major port and a major transit point for trade with the peoples of Prichernomor'ya.

So, from the middle of the II Millennium BC Mycenaean Greeks maintained close relations with Troy. However, you can only in General terms to imagine how they evolved to the famous "Homer's war". Archaeologists have not yet found the archives in the city of Mycenae. Much better known to us the official documents of the Hittites. It turns out that the history of Mycenaean Greece - Achieve, as it is called in the Hittite messages, we have to study only the artifacts found in Mykonos, and the letters that were sent from the offices of Hattusa, the Hittite capital, Mycenae.

The reason lies in the different level of development of written culture. If the Hittites long used comfortable cuneiform, the Mycenaean Greeks captured writing - linear B script, is the earliest in the FIFTEENTH century B.C. They adopted it from the Cretans after the conquest of Knossos and adapted them to their language. However Cretan diploma was considered to be too vulgar for correspondence with the kings of the neighboring countries. Therefore, all of their diplomatic correspondence, obviously, was conducted in a generally accepted then cuneiform. At least, the rulers of Mycenae, communicating with the Hittites, resorted to using the cuneiform, as you can see from some of the references in the text of the letters sent by the kings of the Hittites.

In one of these letters the Hittite king Hattusili II very carefully, hoping for understanding, complains the king of Aheavy that he could not give a rebuff to the machinations of some Pumarada. We are talking about grandson of king Arsava, a small state on the Western coast of Asia Minor, with its capital in APAS (Ephesus). His country was constantly at war with the Hittites, and in the end the king fled to Achieve, fleeing from the Hittite threats. His grandson, as is clear from the letter, he built the Hittites plots on the coast of Asia Minor from Vilusi (Vilis-Ilion-Troy) and Lasby (Lesbos) to Millibanda (Miletus). The soldiers Pumarada attacked Vilus and Lesbo, withdrew their citizens into slavery and transported to Milliband - city, which was a kind of an Outpost of the Mycenaean Greeks in Asia Minor. Hattusili would like to deal with your enemy, but could not catch him, for he was always away on a ship in Achievo. The letter shows that the ruler of the Mycenaean Greeks are well aware of the raids Pumarada in Asia Minor.

However, in his letter, full of complaints and complaints, the Hittite king Hattusili invariably calls the king of Aheavy "his brother", though this appeal and sound every time formally. This title aims of the ruler of Achieve - "friend of my enemy" - in line with the Pharaoh of Egypt and the king of the Hittites. According to this letter, the Hittites and the Mycenaeans had been in correspondence with each other. Were in their relationship and tense moments, and were more than happy times, but they always supported.

Unfortunately, the letters themselves Mycenaean rulers addressed to "the Hittite brother", still have not been found in the archives of Hattusa. Therefore, we can only by indirect facts to reconstruct relations between the two countries.

Of all possible facts will focus on one - geographical names. In Mykonos town and other cities of Greece found a number of clay tablets with inscriptions made by the linear B script, where somehow mentioned natives of Asia Minor. Information about them leads German historian Joachim Latch on pages published in 2001 book "Troy and Homer". Let us write these names and discuss them.

1) Tros and Troia = "Trojan" and "troianka". These words were met three times: once in Knossos, Crete; twice - in Pylos, in the Peloponnese. In addition, residents of Troy mentioned in the large archive of clay tablets found in 1994-1995 during excavations in Thebes.

2) Imrios = "resident (of the island) Imbros"; it's the word met once in Knossos.

3) Lamniai = "women (Islands) Lemnos"; mention of them met many times in Pylos.

4) Aswiai = "Asian"; the word many times met at Knossos, Pylos and Mycenae. Obviously, refers to women from the region, called the Hittites Assuwa and relevant to Assu at Troas (city ACC lying to the South of Troy opposite the island of Lesbos).

5) Kswiai = "women with (Islands) Chios"; met many times in Pylos.

6) Milatiai = "women Miletus and Knidiai = "women Kniga"; mention of them met many times in Pylos and Knossos.

What can you say about the context of these words? From it you can understand that every time it comes to strangers trapped in Achievo. Where mentioned women - workers brought from the Asia Minor. All names indicate that the life of the Mycenaean Greeks long before the Trojan war was closely connected with Asia Minor, the Islands lying off the coast, and Troy. Obviously, the Greeks were often made predatory campaigns, including attacks on the Asia Minor coast and the neighbouring Islands and taking out production - prisoners.

Indirect evidence can be considered a complaint of one of the victims Tsarkov mighty ruler of the Hittites Awatali II, Dating from about 1300 BC He writes that Pumarada attacked Lezbo and led away artisans in Milliband.

However, clear. In the predatory campaigns for production of slaves were allowed and the Hittites. It was a common practice of that time. Mycenaean Greeks is not of it, no exceptions. However, draws attention to one point.

According to Hittite documents - we have a much greater quantities than the documents written by the linear B script, such predatory campaigns were limited to the territory of Asia Minor. Yet not found any mention of the women taken into slavery from Aheavy - for example from Pylos, Mycenae or of Thebes". So there is a unilateral expansion: from West to East, from Aheavy in Asia Minor, but not Vice versa.

In the XIII century B.C. this expansion, or, in the ancient language, predatory raids, has become an ordinary phenomenon, reminiscent of the onslaught of the Normans in France, great Britain and Ireland in the IX century ad This is evident, for example, of the agreement between the Hittite king Tudhaliya IV and his vassal by Cowsgomoo of Amurru concluded in 1220 BC it Hittite king requires not only a trade blockade of Aheavy but decisively excludes its ruler of the traditional formula of kings", which was mentioned "the kings of the heavens, Egypt, Babylon, Assyria and Achieve". Such a gesture, no doubt, meant not only cooling and discontent with the policy of the Greeks, but the real enmity with them, marked the beginning of the war.

Was the Trojan war?

Famous getcolor Trevor Bruce, issued in 1998 book "the Kingdom of the Hittites", introduces a number of arguments that show that the historical basis of the "Iliad" - a poem about the Trojan war - causes no longer any doubt.

* Mycenaean Greeks were closely involved in political and military events, happening in the THIRTEENTH century B.C. in Western Anatolia.

* In the THIRTEENTH century B.C. the state of Wilusa was a vassal of the Hittites, became the object of incessant attacks from the Mycenaean Greeks or their allies.

* Wilusa was located in Northwest Asia Minor - where was Troy, sung by Homer.

* Llingvisticheskii point of view, the name of Wilusa (Wilusa) can be correlated with the Greek name (W) Ilios (illion).

However, continues Bruce, the Trojan war, perhaps, was not. There was only a number of predatory raids, predatory campaigns or military expeditions. In the memory of descendants of these events are merged into one long war, which lasted - why not? - 10 years in a row. Perhaps one of these attacks culminated in the capture and destruction of Vilusi-Ilium. Perhaps some of the hikes led the tribal chiefs, called Odyssey, Achilles, Ajax, Menelaus, Agamemnon. Himself Bruce believes that Homer's epic describes the events occurring over a hundred years.

In memory of rhapsodos and Ahadov, Krasnoselskikh in the cities and villages stories about the glorious past, these events are merged together. And the Iliad, perhaps, began with disparate songs, sort of SAG, sang the campaigns of individual leaders of the Greeks to the shores of Asia Minor. The poem is, obviously, was preceded by a cycle of heroic songs like sagas of Charles the Great or epic of Kiev heroes.

You can add that to return home after a successful campaign was also not without risk. The Achaeans - these Normans antiquity - sometimes wandered around the Mediterranean sea, when confronted with a wild tribes inhabiting the individual Islands and the coast. From the descriptions of their adventures, and has grown historical nucleus of "the Odyssey" - another great poems of Homer, still accept the tale of fiction.

The conclusions Bruce, based on the facts and parcels. However, sometimes they look very speculative, that is aware of and the author himself. To overcome this speculatively, contrived difficult to this day, despite the constant researches of archeologists.

On the other hand, not less likely that over the colourful canvas "Iliad" lies not many "pin pricks", and one of the great trek. Their arguments in defense of Homer leads German archaeologist wolf-Dietrich Niemeyer, a participant of dig Miletus.

Archaeological finds prove that in the second half of the XIII century B.C. in milete was a change of power: supporters of the Achaeans pressed the minions of the Hittites. The Niemeyer writes: "Milliband, or Miletus was an Outpost of Aheavy in the South-Western coast of Asia Minor. It was here that the Achaeans intervened in the political events that took place in Asia Minor, supported enemies and rebellious vassals of the Hittite Empire, although rarely undertook military campaigns. Unfortunately, we don't know how in the second half of the XIII century the Achaeans were expelled from Asia Minor and as Milliband was under Hittite rule. Most likely, Tudhaliya IV decided to eradicate this constant source of danger, which was almost on the border with Hittite power."

The recent discovery appears to confirm the change of government occurred in milete. In June 2000 archaeologist Annelise Pellow found Hittite inscription in Latkoski mountains, in the district of Miletus, on the pass that led from the depths of Anatolia in this city. While such a rock drawings - certainly with the image of the Hittite king served as a signal to all neighbouring countries: "it is ruled by the Hittites". Found the inscription is yet to be precisely dated. However, it is already clear that the Hittites claimed power over Miletos.

So, the second possible historical scenario "Iliad" is developing at a more normal rate. In the second half of the II Millennium BC Achieve stepped up the pressure on the Eastern part of the Mediterranean. In the FIFTEENTH century Mycenaean Greeks attack on Crete. The Minoans lose their leading position in the Aegean region and losing the status of " the great Maritime power. Under the influence of the Greeks fall and allies of the Cretans in Asia Minor. Since that time, the Achaeans securely settled in milete. Hence they are trying to expand its area of influence. Greeks strike blows on the outskirts of the Hittite Empire, because at that time depending on the Hittite remains not only a large part of Asia Minor, but also of the island, lies at its coast. However, the onslaught of the Greeks Hittites parried. As a result Achieve lost its Outpost in Asia Minor - Miletus. The Governor of Aheavy hardly moved his failure - because for centuries the Achaeans extremely interested "granary of Asia Minor.

Himself Miletus from a strategic point of view was quite vulnerable. Therefore, the Greeks tried to gain a foothold in another part of the Peninsula, and it is in Three. This rich, prosperous city has long attracted the attention of the Greeks. And they rushed into the campaign...

There are other scenarios. In the opinion of Corfman, an earthquake occurred. It is a natural disaster and decided the fate of Troy. So, the most important role in ancient legend plays a Trojan horse. The Greeks dedicated it Poseidon. In Greek mythology, Poseidon was considered as "the bends of the earth" (the Odyssey, V, 366), which shakes the ground, plunging the Nations into horror.

Not depicted whether Homer under the guise of a mysterious horse, in the end, Rushan Troy, a terrible disaster - earthquake that toppled walls of the fortress? Birgit Brandao, author of "Troy: the city and the myth", believes that "all the troubles began with the fact that the city was attacked by enemy small army or an earthquake struck. The Royal Palace was destroyed, and then townspeople, who lived a difficult life, taking the opportunity, revolted. Such social unrest and upheaval was by no means rare in those days, as reported by numerous sources".

The position of Troy was fatal. She was between a rock and a hard place.

After the fall of Troy and the collapse of the Hittite Empire (about 1175 BC) the onslaught of the Greeks has increased. About 1100 BC starts Greek colonization. From now on for several centuries it flows in the same direction. "Forward to the promised land! In Asia Minor!"

So, we can arrive at a final conclusion. The results of recent archeological expeditions not yet allow convincingly to restore script Trojan war. However, they did not deny that for a Trojan epic hidden history of the Greek expansion against the major powers, lying on the Western coast of Asia Minor and interfered with the Greeks in the struggle for power over the region.

On the contrary, recent archaeological surveys convince that the war of Troy - the most important strategic point of that time really was. New findings strengthen scientists in this opinion. However we still need to understand how it was spent.

Ancient Troy is now the center of attention of archeologists, chattooga, linguists, anatoliev, the Hellenists, and many others. Former ignorance disappears. The true story of the Trojan war, may be written in the coming years. Anyway, the answer to the mystery as ever close. No question remains: Homer need to read seriously as a historical document.
The Trojan war is still going on

So, in the late 1980s Manfred Korfmann started a new excavation of Troy. The money for the expedition has allocated to the Daimler Chrysler. Over the past years has been surveyed area of around 300 000 m2.

In the spring of 2001, Corfman organized a grandiose exhibition "Troy: dream and reality". It was successfully shown in a number of German cities. In Stuttgart was visited by 250 000 people.

However, a number of colleagues of Corfman has acted with sharp criticism. Archaeologist same cold parries these attacks, calling them "unworthy of a new war for Troy".

There are also quite a strong case. For example, in late July 2001, a historian from Cologne University Karl-Joachim Helgeson rightly noted that "all these computer models of Troy, displayed at the exhibition, giving the audience some stereotypes, while the scientists do not yet agreed on these issues".

So, in the opinion of Corfman, in XIII-XII centuries BC, on the eve of the "Homeric war, Troy was the largest metropolis and an important commercial centre, home to over ten thousand people. "However, published while the findings do not prove that surround the citadel of Troy existed Lower city", says Helgeson. The dense rows of houses at the foot of the mountain, in his words, pure fiction. Corfman allegedly fooled the public, giving their imagination for scientifically proven data.

Another historian, Justus Kobe, notes that Corfman until he found no temples, no shops or warehouses, without which it would have been unthinkable life of ancient metropolis. According to him, at the turn of the XIII-XII centuries BC Troy was not surrounded by a large blocks inhabited by artisans and commoners. On the territory of the fictional Lower city was located only a private garden houses Yes stables. "Of the three pits dug under piles, computer scientists, mocks Kobe, is erected the whole quarter.

Thus, the opponents of Corfman, like him, believe that in the II Millennium B.C. in Three was the local Governor's Palace, surrounded by strong walls. However, in their opinion, Troy was a kind of city-state. Her power was applied only to the surrounding areas. No important historical and political significance, it was not.

As for Corfman, he considers his opponents Cabinet scientists. They have no right to judge the significance of the discoveries made, staying away from them. "Enough to sit down in the plane and come here to see the Lower city and enjoy the discovered stone houses," he notes.

"Looking at the bare walls, never sees the past, argues with him Frank Kolb, historian of Tubingen. - It is impossible to interpret the results of the excavations without reading ceramics and small utensils. Corfman also avoids any public discussions, as the devil is consecrated water."

However, to understand the psychology of Corfman also necessary. "If from year to year not to please her sponsors sensations, sums up the war of words Cobet, you can be in a terrible position.