Site of the most renowned battle in ancient literature. To classical readers of Homer, llios, Ilium, or Troy the focus of the poet\u2019s Iliad was a real place, still part of the ancient world 7,000 years after its fall. Herodotus the historian asked Egyptian priests for sources that might supplement Homers account. Thucydides, historian of the Pelopponesian War, writing in the 5th century B.C.E., offered a plausible account of how the Trojan War might have happened. Alexander the Great, before beginning his campaign to conquer Asia, sacrificed to the spirits of Homer\u2019s dead warriors. In early Roman times, a town named New Ilion was founded on what was popularly believed to be the former site of Troy. Even the Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate made a special pilgrimage there in 354 to discuss the history of the site with the local Christian bishop.<\/p>\n
By the 18th century, however, many believed that the story of Troy was the product of Homer\u2019s imagination. Scholars like Jacob Bryant argued that the Trojan War had never occurred and that Troy itself never existed. Others, including the French researcher Jean-Baptiste Lechevalier and the English poet Byron, argued just as vehemently that both the city and the war were historical. Their arguments bred the imaginations of later thinkers, including a German-born American businessman named Heinrich Schliemann.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Site of the most renowned battle in ancient literature. To classical readers of Homer, llios, Ilium, or Troy the focus of the poet\u2019s Iliad was a real place, still part of the ancient world 7,000 years after its fall. Herodotus the historian asked Egyptian priests for sources that might supplement Homers account. Thucydides, historian of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a"],"yoast_head":"\n