Who Discovered The Ruins Of Troy
Troy was an ancient city located in modern day Turkey. It was once thought to be a fictional city based on stories from Greek mythology. The city is probably best known as the setting of the Trojan War, which is one of the most important events in Greek mythology. However, some people believed that the city actually existed and many attempted to find the location and prove that the legendary city of Troy was real.
Who discovered the ancient city of Troy?
In 1822 Charles Maclaren, a Scottish journalist, reviewed all of the available evidence and was the first to identify the position of the ancient city of Troy as Hisarlik (the modern name for the hill near the Turkish city of Çanakkale). In 1866 the English archaeologist Frank Calvert purchased a field from a local farmer and began to make test excavations of the area. He published his findings and concluded that the hill was the site of Troy.
In 1868 a German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann gained permission from Calvert to excavate Hisarl?k. He was initially sceptical, but Calvert convinced him to pursue the site and during excavation he discovered two ancient cities (now known as Troy I and Troy II). He declared that one of these cities was the ancient Troy. However, neither of these cities were the true city.
The site continued to be excavated for many years and it was discovered that there were at least 9 cities built at this site and some of the remains have been dated to the 12th century BC. This means that it is very likely that Hisarlik was the location of the ancient city of Troy.
Did you know?
A roman city, called Ilium, was founded on the same site as Troy during the reign of Augustus. Ilium was a very important city until the founding of Constantinople in 330 AD.
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