Did Heinrich Schliemann actually discover the real Troy, or was it a misidentification?
A wealthy amateur archaeologist claimed he found Homer's legendary Troy. 150 years later, scholars are still arguing about whether he was right.
The answer
Heinrich Schliemann began excavating Hissarlik in northwestern Turkey in 1870, convinced it was Homer's Troy. He found multiple settlement layers dating from 3000 BCE to 500 CE. Schliemann identified Troy II's "Priam's Treasure" (gold artifacts) as proof, but this layer dates to around 2300 BCE - over 1,000 years too early for the Trojan War (traditionally placed around 1180 BCE). Modern archaeologists, led by Manfred Korfmann from 1988 to 2005, confirmed that Troy VIIa, destroyed around 1180 BCE, shows evidence of warfare including arrowheads, fire damage, and unburied bodies, making it the strongest candidate for Homer's Troy. The site, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, remains controversial because separating myth from archaeology is inherently difficult.
Source: Smithsonian Magazine
- Troy
- Schliemann
- Homer
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