Hi, everyone!
So I just read "The Trojan War: A Very Short Introduction" by Eric H. Cline and enjoyed it very much. But I'm still unclear on one thing: How do we know that Hisarlik is really Troy?
I understand that Greek references to (W)ilios and Hittite references to Wilusa are probably talking about the same place. But how do we know that Hisarlik is that place? If I understand correctly, the only piece of writing found at Hisarlik is a little seal with two names on it. There's certainly not a sign that says "Welcome to Ilios!" or anything.
So how do we know? Do we know? Or is it just a good educated guess?
There's a number of reasons, actually.
Firstly, it matches the location given in The Iliad pretty much perfectly. Secondly, the layer considered to be the closest match to the Homeric Troy (Troy VII) has massive walls similar to how he described them. Thirdly, the location was written about and occupied in historical times. The Greeks and Romans (and others) had settlements there and these settlements are in the archaeological record. If you go to Troy (as I have), you'll see the ruins of the Greek and Roman temples that were built there which match the descriptions of those we know to have been there. There could be more that I'm not thinking of at the moment, but
It's pretty fair to say that this place is Troy, though it's also fair to dispute it. Homer's Iliad is far from history, and it's possible the later Greeks and Romans simply built their own settlements on top of the ruins of a big city they believed was Troy based on the coincidence of the description Homer gave. But isn't that pretty much the same thing? The Trojan war almost certainly didn't occur as written in Homer, so does it matter if the ruins Schliemann found were an actual city once called Troy? As far as the people who considered that story a part of their cosmology are concerned, that is Troy. So, doesn't that make it Troy?
Follow-up question. The destruction of Troy VII is dated within the period 1200-1150 BC, which is the period of the late bronze age collapse when about 20 other cities in a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Fertile Crescent are also destroyed or abandoned. Is there evidence that points to Troy being destroyed by the Greek instead of being destroyed by whatever caused the destruction of the majority of the cities in that large area?