Encyclopedia of Opinion
Question

Where is the City of Troy?

The City of Troy is known for being the location of the famous Trojan war between the Greeks and Trojans. This war is described in Homer's Iliad, an Ancient Greek epic poem. But was Troy just a literary or mythological location or does it really exist to this day? If so, where is it?

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The ruins of Troy are in Hisarlik, Turkey

This position holds that the ruins of Troy lie at Hisarlik in modern Turkey. It points to Heinrich Schliemann's 1870 excavations, which unearthed a citadel and the famed 'Priam's Treasure,' and argues the site matches Homer's description of the legendary city.

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Troy is a mythological city and does not exist

This position holds that Troy is a mythological city that never truly existed. It notes scholars long doubted its reality, argues the Iliad is steeped in myth, questions whether the Trojan horse ambush occurred, and observes Homer wrote centuries after the supposed war.

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The ruins of Troy are in the Ancient Greek city of Pergamon

This position holds that the ruins of Troy lie at the ancient city of Pergamon, not the conventional site. Drawing on John Crowe's 'The Troy Deception', it argues that Hisarlik does not match Homer's description while Pergamon fits the Plain of Troy, and that the Iliad was later altered.