View across the Agora, looking up to the city's ancient citadel atop Panos Hill, now Kadifekale.
Troy
Türkiye
September 27, 2023
Where Carla finally gets to visit the legendary city of Troy, home of Priam and Paris, Hector and Cassandra.
Timucin, who had kindly let me couchsurf in his place, said we should go in the early afternoon, which made sense as the morning skies were scarred by thunderous dark clouds. The easiest way to get to Troy from Çanakkale is a minibus shuttle service. We walked to the informal minibus terminal, set in the arches of a bridge that spans a small canalized inlet, the home of many small fishing boats. For a moment it looked like we had missed the minibus that would leave for Troy, but all was OK – we had simply read the wrong timetable.
Over the high ridge south of Çanakkale we went, descending slowly to the broad and fertile plain of Troas, home to the horses for which Troy was famous. Once off the main road, we wound through a number of villages celebrating Troy through displays of pottery, statues and murals painted on the walls of many a building.
A few moments later we approached the main entrance to Troy, a broad avenue marked by a massive cube of rust red iron, sliced open at several layers by long window slits, on the left hand side of the road.
“That’s the Museum”, Timucin told me. “What do you think of it?”
“Totally out of place”, I replied. “Like a block out of Star Wars, lost in time”.
The minibus pulled into the entrance plaza, we jumped out and I queued to buy the entry ticket. Just as we were leaving we met up with two young ladies from New Zealand, backpacking their way around the world for a year. Timucin offered to include them in our own tour of Troy, which made for excellent company – not only for the tour, but for the rest of the day and evening back in Çanakkale.
Troy, City of Horses
Timucin, Alice and Mary (not their real names) happily strolled along the excellent wooden pathway that guides visitors while I shot photos between the other visitors and their taking of selfies.
You might have read that many settlements were built over the hill and plain that is Troy. The one that we all have in mind, the time of the Trojan War, is Troy 6a. You can see traces of that, jumbled between earlier and later incarnations. Mostly the site is a tangle of walls; the only ‘architecture’ standing dates from a much later time. Findings (pots, rings, statues etc) are either in the museum here, or in Istanbul (read about this here).
What you are left with are views and emotions. For me, immersed in the legend and familiar with Troy’s history, I could cast my eyes across one plain, seeing it as it once was in the beginning, a shallow sea gulf that almost touched the walls of Troy.
“You see that small conical hill in the distance?” Timucin asked me as we looked across broad farmland from another vantage point.
“Yes” I replied.
“That is the island of Tenedos, just off the coast. In the Iliad that was where the Greeks sailed to, to hide behind as the Trojans were left to discover the Horse on the beach abandoned by the Greeks. In fact the land before us was where the Greeks camped by the far shoreline, and the plain below us is where Greeks and Trojans fought, with the Scamander river running through, as it still does.” Timucin continued.
“So this is where Achilles and Hector fought? From here the Trojans dragged the Horse into the city?”
“Yes, and the gateway of the time is just along the path there.”
We all walked over to the Roman era ruins, set around the ancient gateway in the middle, leading up the hill towards where temples once stood. Just near the theater I reached up and pulled an acorn from the overhanging branch of an oak tree. When I return to my home I will plant it. An oak tree from Troy would be memorable.
The Museum
The tour of Troy done, we walked down the main avenue to visit the iron box of a museum. It is surprisingly light on the inside, those gunslits of windows providing more illumination that I thought possible.
“Come here” called Timucin. Standing in front of a large and beautifully decorated sarcophagus. “This is my favorite piece in the museum. Do you know what the sculptures represent?”
“No I don’t”, I replied, marvelling at the quality of the work.
“This is the story of Polyxena, Priam’s youngest daughter. As Troy fell, the Greeks sought out King Priam’s surviving family, to kill them all or take them into captivity and slavery. The Greeks sought revenge for Achilles’, death, killed by Paris. They seized Polyxena, dragged her to Achilles’ grave, stripped her naked, stretched her out over the the grave and slit her throat as if she were a sacrificed lamb. All of this done under the eyes of her mother Queen Hecuba, who you can see on this panel, crouched in the corner, distraught with grief.”
So the departure of the Greeks to Troy begins with King Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia, and it ends with the Greeks slaughtering King Priam’s daughter. Violence towards women is bone deep ancient.
The Museum also holds a few strands of the golden treasure Schliemann dug up when he cut his deep trench right through the hill. Once discovered and recovered, Schliemann sent all of this treasure to Berlin, to sit in one of its imperial musea. Hidden away during World War II, it somehow landed up in Russian hands, turning up in one of its once imperial musea forty years later. Today some exquisite items have been returned to Türkiye; some pieces here, the rest in Istanbul.
Evening in Çanakkale
We all jumped on the minibus to take us back to Çanakkale.
“Let me take you all this way!” suggested Timucin, as he chose a shop lined street.
We all followed, chatting along the way. Quick stops to buy some figs, some grapes and some apples, and before long we were in the alleys full of eateries and bars that lead to the seafront.
Within a few moments we were in front of the most welcoming bar Timucin and his friend took me to see the previous night. We all happily chatted about everything under the sun: about places to see further south in Türkiye, where Alice and Mary are heading in a few days; about the studies they will begin in university; the challenges of the world today – and how good the beer and snacks are in the bar. Well into the evening Alice and Mary left for their hotel, while Timucin and I went back to his place.
I have stood in the heart of Troy, I have seen some of its treasures and I will look for more when I visit Istanbul.
One gentleman taking in the late afternoon sun as he sits on the sea breakers fronting Izmir's long promenade.