Where is the City of Troy?

The excavations at Hisarlik unearthed a citadel

Question: Where is the City of Troy?
Position1 of 3›: The ruins of Troy are in Hisarlik, Turkey
Argument1 of 3›: The excavations at Hisarlik unearthed a citadel

Schliemann discovered 10 layers of archaeological sites that represented Troy over time. The large citadel was found in Troy VI, which existed during the Late Bronze Age.

The argument

When Heinrich Schliemann looked to Homer's Iliad as a reference to find Troy, it was clear that he needed to find the famous Trojan citadel, the most distinguishable feature of the city. Finding the wall would really make the epic poem come to life, as one could imagine Hector being dragged around the walls of Troy, or Andromache watching over the city from the walls. Homer describes a large citadel surrounding Troy, including vast wooden gates at the entrance to the city. He describes the walls as 'well-founded’ and ‘strong-built’, and these claims are proven by the walls ability to withstand a ten-year siege. In fact, the walls never did fail or crumble; instead, the Trojans were tricked by the Greeks with an ambush using a wooden horse, allowing them to sneak into the city. Schliemann discovered city walls on the 6th level of excavations, Troy VI, which provided evidence that Hisarlik was the site of Troy. Initially, scholars were skeptical because the site of Hisarlik seemed too small to be the commercial or trading centre that Homer described, but later excavations by Manfred Korfmann demonstrated that as many as 6,000 people may have lived there. This showed scholars that the citadel unearthed by Schliemann could have held enough people to be the lively city of Troy. Altogether, excavations have uncovered 23 sections of the defensive walls around the citadel, eleven gates, a paved stone ramp, and the lower portions of five defensive bastions.

Context

In Homer's Iliad, Troy is described as having a large citadel, with walls that the Greek army couldn't penetrate for ten years. A rich source of imagination for many ancient history enthusiasts and Homer fans, the Trojan walls were found at level Troy VI during excavations in Hisarlik.

Premises

[P1]Homer describes Troy's defining feature as a large, strong-built citadel with vast wooden gates and walls that withstood a ten-year siege, so finding such walls would confirm the site. [P2] Schliemann uncovered city walls at the Troy VI level of Hisarlik, and later excavations by Korfmann showed as many as 6,000 people could have lived there—large enough to be Homer's city—with digs revealing 23 wall sections, eleven gates, a stone ramp and five bastions. [C] Because the excavations at Hisarlik unearthed exactly the citadel Homer described, the ruins of Troy are in Hisarlik, Turkey.

Counter-arguments

Finding remains of a walled city at Hisarlik has been one of the biggest reasons why it's been hailed as the site of Troy, but this evidence is not enough. The walls found at Hisarlik may have belonged to some other ancient citadel. Additionally, parts of the walls at Hisarlik were already destroyed when found, probably by an earthquake thousands of years ago. This means the evidence is incomplete.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Homer's description is a poetic account composed centuries after the period in question, so treating strong walls and great gates as a specification to be matched sets a test that many fortified Bronze Age sites in the region would pass. [Rejecting P2] The archaeology also does not line up as cleanly as the premise suggests: Hisarlik has multiple superimposed settlements, and which of them — Troy VI or the destruction level of Troy VIIa — corresponds to any historical event behind the poem is unsettled, while a population estimate of a few thousand and a count of walls, gates and bastions identifies a substantial citadel without identifying it as Troy.