A City with Many Contributions

A City with Many Contributions

Fairytales, fables, and folktales are all stories that are handed down throughout time. Most were merely created for entertainment purposes, while some have been shown to shed some light on life as well as truth to the stories themselves. In the case of Troy many scholars have argued among each other not only if there is truth to the stories of the city, but also the mere existence of the city itself. Many of these scholars have used the Homeric stories themselves as a map uncovering the cities secrets, while others argue that the stories are not a reliable source and only a legend. Archeologists though have been known to use and accept Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey as a key to uncover this once lost city, and shed truth to the legacy of Troy. As ruins are being excavated on the hilltop of northwestern Turkey, it is being discovered that Troy was more than a city known for its Trojan horse demise. The evidence uncovered, argues that Troy influenced the civilizations around it, as well as the world by its prime location for trade, its production of bronze, and its legendary war stories that made it a city sought after by its enemies.

Troy existed in a prime location where it had the ability to be a dominating factor in the trading of goods between the western Greek empire, and Asia Minor. This location is found in what is now called Turkey, and was inhabited during the early Bronze Age. The city is 5 kilometers from the coast, but at one point was next to the sea . Troy was laid at the mouth of the Skamanda River, an important position between Aegean and eastern civilizations; thus controlling access to the Black Sea, Anatolia, and Balkans from both land and sea. The Black Sea was a huge focal point for trading not only now but in the Bonze era, the time when Troy would have dominated. The city sat on a hilltop that the natives call Hisarlik, south of Dardanelles, and west of Mount Ida. The winds were not favorable for traveling into Dardanelles, so ships had to wait at the port of Troy for favorable winds, consequently making Troy a very favorable city in the Bronze Age. This importance was first described by a German archaeologist, Manfred Korfmann, who began excavating Troy in 1989. Korfmann argues that “Troy was a major trading center from the third millennium B.C. because of its georgraphic location; it commanded the sea route between the Aegean and the Black sea, and the land route between Asia and Europe.” Korfmann thus realized that any merchant that would have done trading needed to stop or at least pass through the ports or routes of the Trojans; either to wait for favorable winds going north to the Black Sea, or south to the Mediterranean Sea, or as a passing from a long journey. The city was, by sea or land, an important trading post for those who traveled these routes.

On top of Troy’s fundamental location, the city was also known for its undeniably important production of goods. Troy’s in-flux of profit from trade was turning the city into a powerful metropolis, and also a heavily armed military force. It has been claimed Troy was the first place in the Aegean where bronze is found in large amounts, this could be due to tin and other critical ingredient being brought in from Central Asia through the Black Sea and the Dardanelles. By 2500 B.C. Korfmann reported that Troy turned into a mass-production site for pottery and transportation, due to the Early Bronze Age wheel. Along with pottery Trojans were able to make molds for bronze weaponry, thus mass producing bronze daggers, swords, and shields for military enhancement. Troy turned into a commercial city, with vast resources, and important connections with both the east and west. Being such a valuable city with its grand metals and enhanced armory put a large target on Troy by the cities enemies.

Now the most important mark Troy has left on civilization is by the infamous Trojan War Homer wrote about. Through the stories of the Iliad and Odyssey, there have been movies, television shows, and tales of heroes such as Achilles and Hector that have come from it; but many scholars question if this is based on true events or was an actual war story. The greatest evidence

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