The City of Troy - Fact and Fiction, Love, War and Tragedy.

The Fabulous Four visited Troy together in June, on the same trip that took us to Gallipoli. So that's a while ago. Athough we were at first reluctant to visit Troy - what a bunch of old makarky we/I thought - it turned out to be  a fascinating place. As we visited way back in May, I give you my account of some of the parts that I find intriguing, but it's certainly not a comprehensive account - you'd need a book the size of a trojan horse to cover that, 

We all know about the myth of the Trojan horse, beware Greeks bringing gifts and all that.  According to legends, notably The Iliad by Homer and Virgil's Aeneid, Helen, a very beautiful woman was married to the Greek King Menelaus of Sparta.  Over the sea, the goddess Aphrodite stirred up trouble and encouraged Paris, a prince and son of King Priam of Troy, to visit Sparta, and while he was there abduct to Helen, which he did and took her back to Troy. 

As an aside and there will be a few, as legends and history are retold by men, Helen is depicted as a floozy who betrayed her husband and ran away with Paris. Maybe Helen was not complicit but having been taken away, she could hardly catch a Pegusus Arline flight back, could she? After the war she reunited with Menelaus and they sailed away together. 

Anyway, Menelaus's brother was Agamemnon, the King of Mycenae and a throughly nasty warlike man. Menelaus sought his brother's help and Agamemnon was incensed, rallied the heros and soldiers from far and wide, and sailed away to start a war which lasted 10 years, as Troy was impregnable, and the troops were beset with disease and tragedy.

Aside number 2 - while waiting for favourable winds, Agamemnon sacrificed his own daughter, Iphigenia, to gain the attention of Artemis, goddess of the hunt. It worked and off he sailed. However, this thoroughly irked his wife, Clytemnestra. She started an affair with his cousin, Aegisthus, and she waited 10 years ... when Agememnon returned a hero (supposedly) after the war, with new mistress Cassandra, an abducted Trojan princess, Clytemnestra trapped him in a bath and killed him with an axe.

Good for her.

The killing of Agamemnon depicted on a mixing bowl, 460BC.

So, the war took years, and featured a few well known characters such as - Achilles of the heel, (killed by an arrow from Paris's bow), Odysseus, Ajax the Greater, and Ajax the Lesser (?!), Paris, his older brother Hector who was the Trojans' greatest fighter but was killed in a duel with Achilles after killing Achilles'  lover Patroclus,  Priam, Aeneas - more on him later. Confused yet?

So after 10 years, the Greeks decided to give up, as they hadn't found a way past the city walls. Unless..... ok, so they built a wooden horse, hid a few soliders inside, and seemingly sailed away. This was made to look like a homage to the Greek goddess,  I'm now confused who - but the Trojans, celebrating their victory, said stuff that, let's take the horse, bring it inside so we can use it to honour our god.  And we all know how that turned out.  A city that was thousands of years old destroyed and a complete civilisation slaughtered and dispersed. 

So what about the city. Surely the city of Troy was just a setting, a mythological place? For hundreds of years this was thought to be the case but the city has been referred to over the ages many times, under various names - Wilusa, Troia, Troja, Ilion and Ilium to name a few. It kept cropping up, with descriptions of where it might be in relation to to other landmarks or towns.

 It wasn't until 1860 that Englishman and amateur archeologist Charles McLaren began work on a mound called Hislarlik, about 5 kilometres from the southern entrance to the Dardenelles.  Although now silted up and is farmland as far as the eye can see, the area was once right next to the Agean sea. Other features of the area also matched the historical information about Troy. He eventually enrolled the help of a German with a similar interest, who had the money needed for this project, and as it turned out, a serious lack of morals: Mr Heinrich Schleimann, a complete scoundrel. Schleimann took credit for the all works and subsequent discoveries, which were revealed over 9 separate archeological digs between 1870 and 1890. 

This was once a view over the sea, now farmland. The Cannakkale Strait/Dardenells in the distance. Farmers still are encouraged to hand on any artefacts they might find on their land...

Staying in the shade!

All in all, over time there have been 24 excavations, revealing 9 different levels, referred to as Troy 1, Troy 2 up to Troy 9, with Troy 1 being the oldest level. When each settlement was destroyed, by fire or earthquake, the population started again, building on top of the previous settlement, often reusing the materials available. There is evidence of habitation going back 8000 years. There is suggestion that recent digs have revealed artefacts going back 11,000 years. UNESCO now considers Troy as one of the most important archeological sites in the world.

A quote from the UNESCO World Heritage website:

 "Throughout the centuries, Troy has acted as a cultural bridge between the Troas region and the Balkans, Anatolia, the Aegean and Black Sea regions through migration, occupation, trade and the transmission of knowledge.

24 excavation campaigns, spread over the past 140 years, have revealed many features from all the periods of occupation in the citadel and the lower town. These include 23 sections of the defensive walls around the citadel, eleven gates, a paved stone ramp, and the lower portions of five defensive bastions. Those archaeological remains date for the most part from Troy II and VI; however, a section of the earliest wall (Troy I) survives near the south gate of the first defences. In the last 15 years, it has become clear that a Lower City existed south of the mound in all prehistoric periods and extended to about 30 ha in the Late Bronze Age. Several monuments, including the temple of Athena and the recently excavated sanctuary, are part of the Greek and Roman city of Ilion, at the site of Troy. The Roman urban organization is reflected by two major public buildings on the edge of the agora (central market place), the odeion (concert hall) and the nearby bouleuterion (council house).

The surrounding landscape contains many important archaeological and historical sites, including prehistoric settlements and cemeteries, Hellenistic burial mounds, monumental tumuli, Greek and Roman settlements, Roman and Ottoman bridges and numerous monuments of the Battle of Gallipoli."

Main entrance/ramp from Roman times

Covers over a very early section of Troy, protecting mudbrick walls.

Walls of Troy. A wooden horse with soldiers inside would NOT fit in here

Two eras of wall construction, the left side demonstrates the evolution of stonemasonary over the centuries

For a professional, detailed explanation of the rise and fall and rise and fall of Troy through the ages, please click on this link. 

Troy - information from Britannica

As for Schleimann, his sins were many. Apart from taking all the credit, in 1873 he announced he had found a stash of gold and jewellery, and claimed it was from era of the fall of Troy, and called it Priam's Treasure. Before embarking on his excavations of the area, Schleimann signed an agreement with the Turkish authorities which stated he had to declare anything he found of value or significance, and these were to be retained by Turkey. Schleimann publicly greatly underestimated the real quantity and quality of Priams's Treasure, and later told how his wife hid the artefacts in her clothing and smuggled them out past the on-site overseers charged with protecting Turkey's cultural history. 

Priam's Treasure before it was broken up

Later, the collection was held in German musuems; most of this was subsequently appropriated by Russian troops at the end of WW2 and taken to Moscow, and it is kept in the Pushkin Museum. Turkey has made requests to Russia to return the collection, but the reply is no - the collection was taken from the Germans as compensation for the suffering of WW2 inflicted by the Nazis. Seriously.  Very little of Turkish anitiquities lie in the museums of Turkey.

Some of the collection on display in Russia

Schleimann also destroyed several parts of the site in his quest for gold - he was indeed, very fortunate to have found the treasure at all, given the size of the site. He broke up and  dumped 'soil' which was actually fortifications from the very early times, onto other areas, and the damage is irreparable. Oh, and Priam's Treasure, pre-dates the Homeric Troy, as it is referred, by several hundred years.

Aside - what about Aeneas? Legend has it he survived the Fall of Troy, and eventually ended up in Latinus, an area associated with Ancient Rome. Aeneas has his own myths and legends, including that his descendants included Romulus and Remus, the founders of the Roman civilisation. Pause for thought....

As for the Romans, who were yet another civilisation who called Troia/Ilium home. Troy was considered very important to Roman history, and was visited by Alexander the Great, and Emperors Hadrian and Augustus. Ah, Augustus... he was also known as Caracalla, one of the most bloody thirsty roman emperors of all time. Obsessed wih many things, he built the threatre which can be seen on the site. He was also fascinated by the love Achilles had for Patroclus, impressed by the depth of Achilles' grief when Hector killed Patroclus, which changed the direction of the war. So, wishing to emulate this, he had his own lover killed so he could see what it felt like. A little bit exreme me thinks.

Caracalla's contribution, the theatre

But back to the whole horse thing. Archeological work has shown that the gates to Troy would have been too narrow for a wooden horse as described in The Iliad. The legend also doesn't account for the physical impossibility of a bunch of smelly, weary soliders staying quiet inside a rickety horse, then sneaking out to open the gates to allow their comrades in, who were actually hiding in their boats behind an island approximately 3-4 hours sail away...

There are theories that an earthquake occurred at the end of the 10 year war, weakening the walls, also precipating tidal waves or a tsunami, allowing the Greeks to enter and overcome the city. Certainly earthquakes were responsible for destruction of the city previously. According to Greek mythology, Poseidon is the god of the sea, earthquakes ... and horses. In the evolution of the story, horses became more than a symbol of Poseidon's assistance in the defeat of the Trojans, and hence the creation of the legend of the Trojan horse. 

The God Poseidon

Istanbul Part 2 - Waterworks and The Harem

I sit here contemplating the time that it has taken to get back to this blog. It is beyond my comprehension how youtubers get episodes out at regular intervals; but you know, I'm retired now and not on a schedule. A schedule is the boaties' worst enemy, that's my excuse anyway...

One thing we all (The Fabulous Four - Lloyd, Karen, Mike and I) wanted to see, was the Basilica Cisterns. A little bit of research revealed the best way to see these and dodge queueing in the heat, was to book a skip-the-line-tour for a 9am start. The beauty of this was after gliding happily past the already growing queue, the pretty tour guide took us through, chatted for about 20 minutes, putting up with stupid questions* and then we were free to wander around the cisterns for as long as we wanted. It was relatively uncrowded, cool, and worth the visit - perfect!

*Mike's interest in the Basilica Cisterns was movie related.  The cisterns featured briefly in the 1963 James Bond classic 'From Russia with Love'.  James Bond meets with his Turkish counterpart, and together they punt through the waters of the underground cisterns, making their way to a periscope which allows them to observe the nefarious dealings within the Soviet Embassy.  Of course, this meant that Mike just had to ask the young early 20-something tour guide which way to the persicope.  He had to explain....  She was very sweet while she gritted her teeth and said she was unaware of that movie. She did however, mention the 2016 Tom Hanks movie Inferno... and then I realised That's Where I've seen the cisterns!  Bloody hell, I'm as bad as Mike. At least my movie was filmed in colour.  (I will say though, that it is worth seeing the 1963 film, as it shows an Istanbul that almost doesn't exist anymore....).

A brief history lesson - one of several cisterns, the Basilica Cisterns were created in 532 by Byzantine Emperor Justinian, he of Hagia Sofia fame, as a way to store water for the population of Istanbul, as there was very little fresh water in the area. The Basilica Cisterns are called that as they ran under a basilica, which no longer exist. They could hold 100,000 tons of water. To create such a strong storage facility there are 336 columns in 12 rows of 28  9m high columns. The cisterns were built quite quickly using recycled materials... thus many of the columns look different, as they have been taken from ancient temples and old sites around Turkey.

3 Columns are of particular interest: one is referred to as the Column of Tears, or Weeping Column, as it is the only one that always stays wet. It is also decorated with tear-shaped patterns down the it's length...  it is also thought to represent the tears of the 7000 slaves who built the cisterns.

The other 2, the Gorgon columns, each feature a head of Medusa.  Famously, the heads have been placed at the bottom of the column, one upside down and one on its side. The theory is that by placing them this way, the builders avoided the problem of being turned into stone by looking directly into Medusa's eyes. Personally, I would have left those heads right out of the whole thing, but luckily they weren't, as they look fantastic.

Don't worry, she can't hurt you..... I hope

The quality of the water was constantly monitored, partly because these cisterns provided water to the Royal Family. Fish were the aqua-version of canaries in the coal mine - if the fish that were living there were healthy, so was the water. The cisterns ceased to be used once the Ottomans arrived. The Quran states that only running water can be drunk, and therefore the still water stored in the cisterns was not acceptable. Instead, fountains were built around the city and the water that used to feed the cisterns was re-directed to these fountains. However, there is still water at the bottom of the cisterns; our guide explained that no-one is really sure where it comes from (as it dripped on us) and it is pumped out occasionally.

Restoration of the cisterns commenced in the 1980s, and again in 2017. The latter saw the introduction of clearer walkways, lights and artworks throughout the chamber, making it a visual feast.  I hope you enjoy this video which I hope does it justice.

The Imperial Harem

After Karen and Lloyd departed, we had a few hours up our sleeve. I wished to see the Topkapi Palace, but Mike was not in the mood to walk around another ancient building (!). So I compromised - Jess and I visited the palace in 2010, but not The Harem which is part of the complex ( it was hot, and she'd had enough... I'm sensing a theme here). So we confined ourselves to The Harem, splitting up early so I could dawdle in peace and Mike could head to the nearest cafe for a coffee, or anything that allowed him to sit and relax.

The Harem entrance with the Topkapi Palace

Ceiling of the rooms for the Queen Mum

And I did take a while....   The harem wasn't the den of iniquity we westerners like to believe. Harem means 'sacred and inviolable space', and was the private apartments of 400 rooms  housing the sultan and his family, including the all important Queen Mother, royal princes, thousands of women (concubines and consorts), the black eunuchs (slaves captured the Nile region, and responsible for the female population of the harem),  the white eunuchs (reponsible for palace bureacracy).

Recreation of the Black Enuchs

The Courtyard of the  Zuluflu Baltacilar, soldiers who supported the harem by doing all the hard (heavy) work

The Eunuch's dormitory and living areas

Detai from the Courtyard of the Black Eunuchs

Leaving the Eunuch's quarters and heading to the royal aprtments

Two of the most important people in the Harem were the Chief Black Eunuch and The Queen Mother. The Chief Eunuch was as important as a prime minister; The Queen Mother, or Valide Saltan, was the mother of the son who ascended the throne, and she ruled The Harem. She was a very powerful woman while her son was Sultan, and even more so when the Sultan was still a boy, as often happened in the 17th century, effectively ruling the empire.

The Imperial (Throne) Room

The Imperial Harem was contructed in the 16th century, and was the home and centre of power for over 30 Sultans over 400 years. It included its own mosque, school, hospital, baths and kitchens. It is sumptuoulsy decorated in tiles, with beautifully carved doors, lavish furnishings and decor and is a fascinating place.

Courtyard of the Favourites

One of many, many beautiful doors

Detail from the Sultan's Room

The Sultans bathroom... part of it...

I could be wrong... but sections of the rooms of the Valide Sultan, the most beautiful part of the Harem

The Harem Mosque, place of worship for the women, carpet now covering where intricate tiles once decorated the floor

The Golden Road, the path women chosen by the Sultan, or mor likely the Valide Sultan, would take to his rooms.

I wandered and explored sunny courtyards, stone hallways, and many private chambers with lattice windows throwing patterns on the cool floors, that whispered of times gone by.  However, after a while and despite the stunningly beautiful tiles and designs,  I started to to feel just a little claustrophobic, grateful that I didn't need the permission of the Valide Sultan to leave The Harem. So I made my escape and appreciated the beauiful gardens outside, before finding Mike with his coffee in the modern world again.