TROY

OCT 23
Today we went to Troy...a highlight of our trip. I seem to remember when Troy was officially identified. I say "seem" because the dates don't match since Troy was found in 1870.

This picture should have been in the last post, but it is too much trouble to actually fix that post. When we ferried across the Dardanelles, there were a class of students who were more than encouraged to interact with us, as we had been encouraged to interact with them. They sang songs for us and we for them. They taught us a Turkish dance, too. We all laughed and smiled a lot.


Now on to Troy. There is no just one Troy, as told in the Iliad, but 9. The Iliad Troy was the 6th 1800-1250 BC. They kept builing city after city over the ruins of the older cities. The ruins we saw were from many of those Troys. When originally identified by German Heinrich Schliemann, he dug this trench where many levels have been identified. Today, archeologists would never do a trench like that.

This is the main gate to the city. It tuns sharply left for easier defense, just as the walls slope backwards toward the city for better views downward.

These are some ruins of a ceremonial cite where animal sacrofices were made.

This, of course, is an theatre.

This ramp is from the second city, 2500BC, so it "could" have been used to pull the horse into the city.

This horse is in the park, but....

this horse was used by Brad Pitt in the movie, so according to our guide, it is not only the real horse, but holy ground :)