Troy And The Trojan War

The search for Troy has been going on for quite some time. The seemingly magic and enigmatic stories surrounding Troy and the Trojan War like a mist certainly cause quite a bit of confusion for those studying the history of Troy. Since Troy and the Trojan War had such an impact on the people of ancient Greece, regardless of what was actual fact and what was fiction, it is most important to understand what it was that the Greeks were so proud of and so interested in. Yet, it is these oddities and ambiguities that create such a fascinating study for the scholars who intend to learn more about Troy through continued excavation. Through this continued search for information, scholars hope to find the real story of Troy, which, they hope, will be …show more content…
Although Homer’s story of Troy and the Trojan war is certainly not the only story from the Trojan War cycle, it is certainly one of the most influential telling of the story. Even though Heinrich Schliemann was the first earnest excavator on site, the city of Troy was a common place of visitation for the ancient Greeks who wished to see with their own eyes the setting of the story they all knew so well. Homer’s Iliad gives us a wonderful idea of the importance the ancient Greeks placed in the story to have kept the story as popular as it was throughout the years. Indeed, for it to have been popular enough to finally be written down after being an orally transmitted story shows that this was a story with great distinction to those people. With such fantastic history, it is hard to imagine a more interesting site to visit. To add to the interesting history of the location, there is a certain quality of mystery as there is still much that is unknown about Troy. Additionally, as with a great deal of the Ancient Greek history, it is hard to decipher what is actually part of the history of Ancient Greece and what is fictional. The elusive nature of the history of Troy has caused generations of men and women to search for Troy in an attempt to uncover more of the history in order to contribute to what we already know, for who would not be interested in such an inscrutable …show more content…
The first problem is that these scholars are not a hundred percent positive that the site where they are excavating is, in fact, Troy. The location where Troy is thought to be located is in the northwest region of Turkey (formerly known as Anatolia). While many scholars agree that this site is the historical landmark, Troy, it is certainly still open to debate. This is the first and most important problem that is encountered. With findings dating all the way back to the Bronze Age all the way to the Byzantine era, this site has a lot of history to study. Yet, it would be sad indeed to quit searching for proof that the site is, indeed, the site of the ancient city Troy. So, though it could be seen as a fool’s errand to continue uncovering the area, it would also be such a shame not to attempt to unearth more information and evidence about the area that could prove, beyond doubt, the historicity of the location. The more that is uncovered about the city seems to prove that, regardless of whether the site is actually Troy or not, there were numerous battles to defend the city. This certainly adds some plausibility to the idea that this site, if it is in fact Troy, was a place that other civilizations wanted to have for their