Troy and its legendary war against the Achaeans have fascinated people since Homer. This fascination led early Greek writers to transform mere literacy into poetic art and sparked the imagination of Attic vase painters. The memory of Troy made Xerxes sacrifice a thousand cattle and led Alexander the Great to drive his stake into Asion ground near Ilion. It prompted historiographers to trace genealogies of Roman emperors and medieval royalty back to Trojan heroes, because in consciousness of succeeding generations Troy came to mean a noble, if sometimes a tragic, past.
The narrow straits, the Dardanelles (ancient Hellespont) dividing Europe from Asia mark an intersection of trade routes and naval traffic between the Mediterranean and Pontic seas. Travelers and scholars claim (rightly) that the ruins of Hissarlik are those of the Hellenistic/Roman city of Ilion -- that of Troy itself.
The successors of Alexander started major building activities here with the construction of a temple dedicated to Athena, a Demeter/Cybele sanctuary, and a sizable lower city on the southern plateau. This Hellenistic city, called Ilion, was destroyed in 85 BC, during the First Mithraditic War.
During the late Roman Republic, and especially under Augustus, whose legendary forefather was the Trojan Aeneas, the Romans made great efforts to rebuild the city. Numerous public buildings such as a large portico for the Athena temple area, a small odeion, a palaestra, and a large theater were built. A wall surrounded the whole plateau with its large city. The outlines of these structures are visible today, because this city was abandoned before Rome fell.
There has been covenants located here in the past, but each ahs fallen due to strange circumstances and the area is generally avoided by most magi.
Last modified: Tues Jan 5, 1999 / Jeremiah Genest