Troy VI: A Trading Center and Commercial City?

Abstract

Fascination with Homer's Iliad has led scholars, even before Schliemann, to postulate that Ilios/Troia was not only a real place but also that Homer gave an essentially realistic account of the topographical features and the historical importance of Priam's splendid city. The present * This article is a revised and expanded version of a paper given at the Tübingen Troy Conference "Die Bedeutung Troias in der späten Bronzezeit", 15-16 February, 2002. I am deeply obliged to Judith Binder (Athens) for intensive discussion and her careful revision of the English text. R.A. Bridges, B. Hänsel, J.D. Muhly and J.P. Sickinger gave me valuable advice. The author visited the Troy excavation in 1989 and in 1997, when he spent one whole day with the excavator M. Korfmann in the excavation area, thoroughly discussing the archaeological evidence. At that time, the discoveries that the excavator considers as being of prime importance had already been made: the alleged settlement wall, the so-called defensive ditches, and the majority of the house remains in the so-called lower city. Since 1998 the excavation activities have been systematically reduced year by year and no significant discoveries have been made.

Late Bronze Age Oxhide and oxhide‐like ingots from areas other than the Mediterranean: problems and challenges

“…Consequently, they are also of relevance to the debate about contacts between the Aegean and the Black Sea (e.g. Doncheva ) and seem to provide support for the hypothesis (Kolb , 592–3) according to which it might actually have been more profitable to use the land routes offered by the south‐eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula than to sail through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles to reach the Black Sea.…”

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“…A disgusted Thomas Gordon would quit Greece after these barbaric actions against innocent people, women and children. 37 The War of Independence became a war of income and wealth distribution between Ottomans and Greeks. However, this income 34.…”

“…Only in one instance was a quadrangular masonry building, discovered during an investigation, interpreted as the masonry foundation of the bell tower of the Orthodox Church of St Nicholas. 36 Although the influence of Orthodox Christians is more noticeable in everyday life, it must have been felt to a greater or lesser degree in the city's public life, especially during the period prior to the official Catholic baptism 37 when Lithuania was still hesitating over the choice of the Eastern and Western 35. Jonaitis, ‚Orthodox,‛ 126.…”

“…In 1988, the archaeologist Manfred Korfmann carried out excavations at Hisarlik and claimed to have found evidence Hisarlik's lower plateau was once surrounded by an outer wall and contained a large number of buildings (he dated these layers to VI, VIh and VIIa c. 1700 -1180 BCE). Korfmann's claims have been challenged (mainly on the grounds ‚excavations have not proven the existence of a lower city wall‛ 37 and the number of buildings in the lower plateau are likely much lower than estimated by Korfmann in his controversial reconstruction). It is now known Korfmann was mistaken about the purpose of a ditch on the periphery of the lower plateau; the hole instead of a trench to defend Hisarlik was ‚an attempt at draining the area below the hill in the south.‛ 38 The latter three hypotheses are far too distant from the Hellespont to be taken serious and are best categorised as pseudoarchaeology.…”

How many cities of antiquity are located in today’s urban areas?

“…Yet people do not abandon cities easily, and often return to rebuild them, unless, of course, there are underlying reasons for not doing so, either overt or covert. For instance, a city may be left abandoned, if the natural resources that had sustained its economy before the destruction were already depleted 1 , or if the place had lost its strategic importance as a stronghold or a seat of power [8][9][10] . In these cases, people might not return to the city, opting instead to build homes elsewhere, thus leaving the original city in ruins.…”