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Troy   A map of Turkey. This article is about the ancient city of Ilion as described in the works of Homer, and the location of an ancient city associated with it. For other uses see Troy (disambiguation) and Ilion (disambiguation). For the asteroid family, see Trojan asteroids Troy (Ancient Greek ????a Troia, also ????? Ilion; Latin: Troia Walls of the excavated city of Troy , Ilium) is a legendary city and center of the Trojan War, as described in the Trojan War cycle, especially in the Iliad, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer. Today it is the name of an archaeological site (39°57'26.8?N, 26°14'19.9?E), the traditional location of Homeric Troy, Turkish Truva, in Hisarlik in Anatolia, close to the seacoast in what is now Çanakkale province in northwest Turkey, southwest of the Dardanelles under Mount Ida. A new city of Ilium was founded on the site in the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus. It flourished until the establishment of Constantinople, and declined gradually during Byzantine times it was known as the mother city of the Roman's. In the 1870s the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated the area. Later excavations revealed several cities built in succession to each other. One of the earlier cities (Troy VII) is often identified with Homeric Troy. While such an identity is disputed, the site has been successfully identified with the city called Wilusa in Hittite texts; Ilion (which goes back to earlier Wilion with a digamma) is thought to be the Greek rendition of that name.  Legendary Troy   Map of the Troas The story of the Trojans first began in myth and legend. According to Greek mythology, the Trojans were the ancient citizens of the city of Troy in the Troad area, in the land of Asia Minor (now Turkey). (Although part of Asia, Troy is presented in the legend as part of the Greek culture of City states.) Troy was known for its riches, gained from port trade with east and west, fancy clothes, iron production, and massive defensive walls. The Trojan royal family was started by Electra and Zeus, the parents of Dardanus. Dardanus, who according to Greek myths was originally from Arcadia but according to Roman myths was originally from Italy, crossed over to Asia Minor from the island of Samothrace, where he met Teucer. Teucer was himself also a coloniser from Attica, and treated Dardanus with respect. Eventually Dardanus married Teucer's daughters, and founded Dardania (later ruled by Aeneas). Upon Dardanus' death, the Kingdom was passed to his grandson Tros, who called the people Trojans and the land Troad, after himself. Ilus, son of Tros, founded the city of Ilium (Troy) that he called after himself. Zeus gave Ilus the Palladium. Poseidon and Apollo built the walls and fortifications around Troy for Laomedon, son of Ilus the younger. When Laomedon refused to pay, Poseidon flooded the land and demanded the sacrifice of Hesione to a sea monster. Pestilence came and the sea monster snatched away the people of the plain. One generation before the Trojan War, Heracles captured Troy and killed Laomedon and his sons, except for young Priam. Priam later became king. During his reign, the Mycenaean Greeks invaded and captured Troy in the Trojan War (traditionally dated to 1193–1183 BC). The Maxyans were a west Libyan tribe who said that they were descended from the men of Troy, according to Herodotus. The Trojan ships transformed into naiads, who rejoiced to see the wreckage of Odysseus' ship. Trojan rule in Asia Minor was replaced by the Herakleid dynasty in Sardis that ruled for 505 years until the time of Candaules. The Ionians, Cimmerians, Phrygians, Milesians of Sinope, and Lydians moved into Asia Minor. The Persians invaded in 546 BC. Some famous Trojans are: Dardanus (founder of Troy), Laomedon, Ganymede, Priam, Paris, Hector, Teucer, Aesacus, Oenone, Tithonus, Antigone, Memnon, Corythus, Aeneas, Brutus, and Elymus. Kapys, Boukolion and Aisakos were Trojan princes who had naiad wives. Some of the Trojan allies were the Lycians and the Amazons. The Aisepid nymphs were the naiads of the Trojan River Aisepos. Pegsis was the naiad of the River Grenikos near Troy. Mount Ida in Asia Minor is where Ganymede was abducted by Zeus, where Anchises was seduced by Aphrodite, where Aphrodite gave birth to Aeneas, where Paris lived as a shepherd, where the nymphs lived, where the "Judgement of Paris" took place, where the Greek gods watched the Trojan War, where Hera distracted Zeus with her seductions long enough to permit the Achaeans, aided by Poseidon, to hold the Trojans off their ships, and where Aeneas and his followers rested and waited until the Greeks set out for Greece. The altar of Panomphaean (‘source of all oracles’) was dedicated to Jupiter the Thunderer (Tonatus) near Troy. Buthrotos (or Buthrotum) was a city in Epirus where Helenus, the Trojan seer, built a replica of Troy. Aeneas landed there and Helenus foretold his future.  Homeric Troy In the Iliad, the Achaeans set up their camp near the mouth of the river Scamander (presumably modern Karamenderes), where they had beached their ships. The city of Troy itself stood on a hill, across the plain of Scamander, where the battles of the Trojan War took place. The site of the ancient city today is some 15 kilometers from the coast, but the ancient mouths of alleged Scamander, some 3,000 years ago, were some 5 kilometers further inland[1][2], pouring into a bay that has since been filled with alluvial material. Besides the Iliad, there are references to Troy in the other major work attributed to Homer, the Odyssey, as well as in other ancient Greek literature. The Homeric legend of Troy was elaborated by the Roman poet Virgil in his work the Aeneid. The Greeks and Romans took for a fact the historicity of the Trojan War, and in the identity of Homeric Troy with the site in Anatolia. Alexander the Great, for example, visited the site in 334 BC and made sacrifices at the alleged tombs of the Homeric heroes Achilles and Patroclus. Ancient Greek historians placed the Trojan War variously in the 12th, 13th or 14th century BC: Eratosthenes to 1184 BC, Herodotus to 1250 BC, Douris to 1334 BC. In November 2001, geologists John C. Kraft from the University of Delaware and John V. Luce from Trinity College, Dublin presented the results (see [1], [2], & [3]) of investigations into the geology of the region that had started in 1977. The geologists compared the present geology with the landscapes and coastal features described in the Iliad and other classical sources, notably Strabo's Geographia. Their conclusion was that there is regularly a consistency between the location of Troy as identified by Schliemann (and other locations such as the Greek camp), the geological evidence, and descriptions of the topology and accounts of the battle in the Iliad. A small minority of contemporary writers argue that Homeric Troy was not in Anatolia, but located elsewhere: England,[3] Croatia, and Scandinavia have been proposed. These theories have not been accepted by mainstream scholars. Kenneth J. Dillon argues [4] that the Trojans were originally a steppe people related to the Magyars. After attacking and destroying the Hittite Empire, they came to control the Straits. During the Trojan War, the Greeks used a naval blockade to prevent Trojans on the European shore and on Lemnos from coming to the aid of Troy. Once Troy fell, the Trojans on the European shore fled northward and ended up as the Etruscans in Italy.  Archaeological Troy The layers of ruins on the site are numbered Troy I – Troy IX, Archeological plan of Hisarlik  with various subdivisions: Troy I 3000-2600 (Western Anatolian EB 1) Troy II 2600-2250 (Western Anatolian EB 2) Troy III 2250-2100 (Western Anatolian EB 3 [early]) Troy IV 2100-1950 (Western Anatolian EB 3 [middle]) Troy V: 20th – 18th centuries BC (Western Anatolian EB 3 [late]). Troy VI: 17th – 15th centuries BC. Troy VIh: late Bronze Age, 14th century BC Troy VIIa: ca. 1300 – 1190 BC, most likely candidate for Homeric Troy. Troy VIIb1: 12th century BC Troy VIIb2: 11th century BC Troy VIIb3: until ca. 950 BC Troy VIII: around 700 BC Troy IX: Hellenistic Ilium, 1st century BC  Troy I–V The first city was founded in the 3rd millennium BC. During the Bronze Age, the site seems to have been a flourishing mercantile city, since its location allowed for complete control of the Dardanelles, through which every merchant ship from the Aegean Sea heading for the Black Sea had to pass.  Troy VI Troy VI was destroyed around 1300 BC, probably by an earthquake. Only a single arrowhead was found in this layer, and no bodily remains.  Troy VII Main article: Troy VII The archaeological layer known as Troy VIIa, which has been dated on the basis of pottery styles to the mid- to late-13th century BC, is the most often-cited candidate for the Troy of Homer. It appears to have been destroyed by a war, and there are traces of a fire. Until the 1988 excavations, the problem was that Troy VII seemed to be a hill-top fort, and not a city of the size described by Homer, but later identification of parts of the city ramparts suggests a city of considerable size. Partial human remains were found in houses and in the streets, and near the north-western ramparts a human skeleton with skull injuries and a broken jawbone. Three bronze arrowheads were found, two being in the fort and one in the city. However, only small portions of the city have been excavated, and the finds are too scarce to clearly favour destruction by war over a natural disaster. Troy VIIb1 (ca. 1120 BC) and Troy VIIb2 (ca. 1020 BC) appear to have been destroyed by fires.  Troy IX The last city on this site, Hellenistic Ilium, was founded by Romans during the reign of the emperor Augustus and was an important trading city until the establishment of Constantinople in the fourth century as the eastern capital of the Roman Empire. In Byzantine times the city declined gradually, and eventually disappeared.  Excavation campaigns  Schliemann With the rise of modern critical history, Troy and the Trojan War were consigned to the realms of legend. In the 1870s (in two campaigns, 1871-73 and 1878/9), however, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated a hill, called Hisarlik by the Turks, near the town of Chanak (Çanakkale) in north-western Anatolia. Here he discovered the ruins of a series of ancient cities, dating from the Bronze Age to the Roman period. Schliemann declared one of these cities—at first Troy I, later Troy II—to be the city of Troy, and this identification was widely accepted at that time. The view from Hisarlik across the plain of Ilium to the Aegean Sea  Dörpfeld, Blegen After Schliemann, the site was further excavated under the direction of Wilhelm Dörpfeld (1893/4) and later Carl Blegen (1932-8). These excavations have shown that there were at least nine cities built one on top of each other at this site.  Korfmann In 1988 excavations were resumed by a team of the University of Tübingen and the University of Cincinnati under the direction of Professor Manfred Korfmann. The question of Troy's status in the Bronze Age world has been the subject of a sometimes acerbic debate between Korfmann and the Tübingen historian Frank Kolb in 2001/2002. In August 2003 following a magnetic imaging survey of the fields below the fort, a deep ditch was located and excavated among the ruins of a later Greek and Roman city. Remains found in the ditch were dated to the late Bronze Age, the alleged time of Homeric Troy. It is claimed by Korfmann that the ditch may have once marked the outer defences of a much larger city than had previously been suspected. Possible evidence of a battle was also found in the form of arrowheads found in layers dated to the early 12th century BC. Korfmann died on 11 August 2005, and since the digging permit was tied to him personally, it is uncertain how and when the excavations will continue.  Hittite evidence In the 1920s the Swiss scholar Emil Forrer claimed that placenames found in Hittite texts — Wilusa and Taruisa — should be identified with Ilium and Troia respectively. He further noted that the name of Alaksandus, king of Wilusa, mentioned in one of the Hittite texts is quite similar to the name of Prince Alexandros or Paris of Troy. The Hittite king Mursili II in ca. 1320 BC wrote a letter to the king of the Ahhiyawa, treating him as an equal and implying that Miletus (Millawanda) was controlled by the Ahhiyawa, and also referring to an earlier "Wilusa episode" involving hostility on the part of the Ahhiyawa. This people has been identified with the Homeric Greeks (Achaeans). These identifications were rejected by many scholars as being improbable or at least unprovable. Trevor Bryce in 1998 championed them in his book The Kingdom of the Hittites, citing a recovered piece of the so-called Manapa-Tarhunda letter, which refers to the kingdom of Wilusa as beyond the land of the Seha (known in classical times as the Caicus) river, and near the land of Lazpa (the Isle of Lesbos). Recent evidence adds weight to the theory that Wilusa is identical to archaeological Troy. Hittite texts mention a water tunnel at Wilusa, and a water tunnel excavated by Korfmann, previously thought to be Roman, has been dated to around 2600 BC. The identifications of Wilusa with archaeological Troy and of the Achaeans with the Ahhiyawa remain controversial, but gained enough popularity during the 1990s to be considered a majority opinion.  Homeric Ilios and historical Wilusa Main article: Historicity of the Iliad The events described in Homer's Iliad, even if based on historical events that preceded its composition by some 450 years, will never be completely identifiable with historical or archaeological facts, even if there was a Bronze Age city on the site now called Troy, and even if that city was destroyed by fire or war at about the same time as the time postulated for the Trojan War. No text or artifact has been found on site itself which clearly identifies the Bronze Age site. This is probably due to the planification of the former hillfort during the construction of Hellenistic Ilium (Troy IX), destroying the parts that most likely contained the city archives. A single seal of a Luwian scribe has been found in one of the houses, proving the presence of written correspondence in the city, but not a single text. Our emerging understanding of the geography of the Hittite Empire makes it very likely that the site corresponds to the city of Wilusa. But even if that is accepted, it is of course no positive proof of identity with Homeric (W)ilion. A name Wilion or Troia does not appear in any of the Greek written records from the Mycenean sites. The Mycenaean Greeks of the 13th century BC had colonized the Greek mainland and Crete, and were only beginning to make forays into Anatolia, establishing a bridgehead in Miletus (Millawanda). Historical Wilusa was one of the Arzawa lands, in loose alliance with the Hittite Empire, and written reference to the city is therefore to be expected in Hittite correspondence rather than in Mycenaean palace archives.  Status of the Iliad The dispute over the historicity of the Iliad was very heated at times. The more we know about Bronze Age history, the clearer it becomes that it is not a yes-or-no question but one of educated assessment of how much historical knowledge is present in Homer. The story of the Iliad is not an account of the war, but a tale of the psychology, wrath, vengeance and death of individual heroes that assumes common knowledge of the Trojan War to create a backdrop. No scholars assume that the individual events in the tale (many of which centrally involve divine intervention) are historical fact; on the other hand, few scholars claim that the scenery is entirely devoid of memories of Mycenaean times: it is rather a subjective question of whether the factual content is rather more or rather less than one would have expected. The ostensible historicity of Homer's Troy faces the same hurdles as with Plato's Atlantis. In both cases, an ancient writer's story is now seen by some to be true, by others to be mythology or fiction. It may be possible to establish connections between either story and real places and events, but these connections may be subject to selection bias.  The Iliad as essentially legendary Some archaeologists and historians maintain that none of the events in Homer are historical. Others accept that there may be a foundation of historical events in the Homeric stories, but say that in the absence of independent evidence it is not possible to separate fact from myth in the stories. In recent years scholars have suggested that the Homeric stories represented a synthesis of many old Greek stories of various Bronze Age sieges and expeditions, fused together in the Greek memory during the "dark ages" which followed the fall of the Mycenean civilization. In this view, no historical city of Troy existed anywhere: the name derives from a people called the Troies, who probably lived in central Greece. The identification of the hill at Hisarlik as Troy is, in this view, a late development, following the Greek colonisation of Asia Minor in the 8th century BC.  The Iliad as essentially historical Another view is that Homer was heir to an unbroken tradition of epic poetry reaching back some 500 years into Mycenaean times. In this view, the poem's core could reflect a historical campaign that took place at the eve of the decline of the Mycenaean civilization. Much legendary material would have been added during this time, but in this view it is meaningful to ask for archaeological and textual evidence corresponding to events referred to in the Iliad. Such a historical background gives a credible explanation for the geographical knowledge of Troy (which could, however, also have been obtained in Homer's time by visiting the traditional site of the city) and otherwise unmotivated elements in the poem (in particular the detailed Catalogue of Ships). Linguistically, a few verses of the Iliad suggest great antiquity, because they only fit the meter if projected back into Mycenaean Greek, suggesting a poetic tradition spanning the Greek Dark Ages. Even though Homer was Ionian, the Iliad reflects the geography known to the Mycenaean Greeks, showing detailed knowledge of the mainland but not extending to the Ionian islands or Anatolia, which suggests that the Iliad reproduces an account of events handed down by tradition, to which the author did not add his own geographical knowledge.   "Trojan Horse" at the site of Troy  Troy in later legend See also: Trojan War Such was the fame of the Trojan story in Roman and medieval times that it was built upon to provide a starting point for various legends of national origin. The most famous is undoubtedly that promulgated by Virgil in the Aeneid, tracing the ancestry of the founders of Rome, and more specifically the Julio-Claudian dynasty, to the Trojan prince Aeneas. Similarly Geoffrey of Monmouth traces the legendary Kings of the Britons to a supposed descendant of Aeneas called Brutus.  Tourism Today there is a Turkish town called Truva in the vicinity of the archaeological site, but this town has grown up recently to service the tourist trade. The archaeological site is officially called Troy by the Turkish government and appears as such on many maps. A large number of tourists visit the site each year, mostly coming from Istanbul by bus or by ferry via Çanakkale, the nearest major town about 50 km to the north-east. The visitor sees a highly commercialised site, with a large wooden horse built as a playground for children, then shops and a museum. The archaeological site itself is, as a recent writer said, "a ruin of a ruin," because the site has been frequently excavated, and because Schliemann's archaeological methods were very destructive: in his conviction that the city of Priam would be found in the earliest layers, he demolished many interesting structures from later eras, including all of the house walls from Troy II. For many years also the site was unguarded and was thoroughly looted. However what remains, particularly if put into context by one of the knowledgeable professional guides to the site, is an illuminating insight into civilizations of the Bronze Age, if not to the legends themselves.  References ^ Geografy XIII, I, 36, Strabo,tr. H. L. Jones, Loeb Classical Library. ^ Natural History, V,33, Pliny the Elder, tr. H. Rackham, W. S. Jones and D. E. Eichholz, Loeb Classical Library. ^ Iman Wilkens, Where Troy Once Stood (Groningen 2005), p. 68.  See also Bronze Age Heinrich Schliemann Lost cities Mycenae Trojan Trojan War Trojan language Homer Iliad Trojan horse  Bibliography Latacz, Joachim (2004), Troy and Homer: towards a solution of an old mystery, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0199263086 Shepard, Alan and Stephen D. Powell, ed. Fantasies of Troy: Classical Tales and the Social Imaginary in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2004.   TROY (TRUVA) - 4000 years old Ancient City Troy is a city which existed over 4000 years and known as the center of ancient civilizations. Many years, people believed that it was the city in tales and never existed until it was first found. At this time it was known as Ilium or New Ilium. Today Troy or New Ilium places in Hisarlik at Canakkale. The remains of the city - the remains from the thieves and destructors - can be visit in here. Most of what was left is the remains of the destruction of Schliemann, the famous archaeologist. Today an international team of scientists brings the Troy of the Bronze Age back to life under sponsored project by Daimler - Benz and another team is at law wars - called as Second Trojan Wars today- with Russia and Germany to get stolen Trojan treasures.And Trojan Golds are at Pushkin Museum At first, Troy appared in Greek and Latin literature. Homer first mentioned story of Troy in Iliad and Odyssey. Later it became most popular subject in Greek drama and told its story eloborately to next generations. The book of Virgil's Aeneid contains the best known account of the sack of Troy. In addition, there are untrue stories under the names of Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius. In Bronze age, Troy has a great power because of its strategic position between Europe and Asia. In the 3rd an 2nd millennia BC, Troy was a cultural centre. After the Trojan War, the site was apparently abondoned from 1100 to 700 BC. About 700 BC Greek settlers began to occupy the Troas. Troy was resettled and named Ilion. Alexander the Great ruled over the area successively from the late 6th century BC. After Roman captured Troy in 85 BC. , it was restored partially by Roman general Sulla. After the occupation of Constantinople ( Istanbul ), Troy lost its importance. 'Ilium was for a considerable period to the Heathen world, what Jerusalem is now to the Christian, a 'sacred' city which attracted pilgrims by the fame of its wars and its woes, and by the shadow of ancient sanctity resposing upon it. Without abusing language, we may say that a voice speaking from this hill, three thousand years ago sent its utterances over the whole ancient world, as its echoes still reverberate over the modern', says Charles Maclaren, The Plain of Troy Described (1863). [From the book 'In Search of Trojan War', written by Micheal Wood]. 'I would as soon as go in guest of Utopia, or of the Carib Island of Robinson Crusoe, and his Cabin; and I should return with equal emolument,' said the redoubtable Jacob Bryant of the search for Troy, which he thought never existed (1799) [From the book 'In Search of Trojan War', written by Micheal Wood]. Troy (Truva) located on Hisarlik at Canakale , one of the Turkish city in west of Turkey, the city of Dardanels, the heart of history at the World War I - Galliboli where Turks wrote the history at the World War I, Gallipoli Champaign. Canakkale has been a crossing point for armies, traders, migrating people since before history. Charles Mclaren in 1822 found the ruins of Troy left from Helenistic and Roman Ilion at Hisarlik, Canakkale in Turkey. The German archiolog Heinrich Schlieman excavated Troy third times from 1870 to 1890. His theft of treasure from Troy and his demage (destruction) to Troy will be always rembered in Turkish archological history. Today the remains of Troy what left from Schiemann. A new German excavator team is still working to rebuild Troy ruins by using new advanced technologies since 1988. I believe after their study, Troy has a new apperance and visitors will enjoy it very much. You can find detail information about Troy excavating and high technology using in here. Also thanks to Daimler - Benz because of sponsoring troy excavating. In some writings, Schileman's credibility was began questioning. Troy, treasure and the truth is one of them. Wihelm Dorpfeld followed to excavate after Schliemann. They found nine levels at Troy. Troy I to V relates roughly with early Bronze Age ( 3000 to 1900 BC ). Its inhabitants were known as Trojan in this period. Troy VI and VII were built in the Middle and Late Bronze Age. Troy VIII to IX belongs to Helenistic and Roman Ilion (Latin Ilium). In the history, Troy was destroyed many times and rebuilt. Until now archeologists have founded 9 level of Troy lebeled fron I to IX. Perhaps many other levels are still hidden in it. Troy is one of the most famous city in the old history, including Hector, Rchiles and Archaian Greeks, the sake of Helen. Its story is written in ever language, Trojan horses, Archilles' heels and Odysseys have become figures in poems. From Alexander the Great to Lord Byron, they stood and gawed on the site of the great deeds of the heroes. In the history people always wondered whether the Trojan War happened or not. There Troy was. Did Helen of Troy exist? Was there a real wooden horse? Here is the famous tale of Trojan War and city of Troy   ÇANAKKALE   First Documentary by Turks on Gallipoli Champain and underwater search, See history in the Depths. The first-waterway on the way of Istanbul, the place where a century was collapsed, the place where 500,000 soldiers lost their lives at Gallipoli, homeland of many civizilations including the ancient city known as Troy, the city of Heroes: Çanakkale, one of the Turkish cities, located on the Hellespoint at the north-west part of Turkiye.The city has always been strategically important because it has been a crossing point for armies, traders, migrating people since before history. BRIEF SUMMARY The Dardanelles Strait is one of the most important geological feature of Çanakkale. This is the almost 60 km (38 miles) long ribbon of water separating the continent of Europe from the Asia Minor. Throughout history, anyone who controlled this gateway commanded a highly strategic area. There are many stories told about this place.  The first known story of the Dardanelles is the story of Helle. In the ancient times, the Dardanelles were known as the Hellespont, "Helle's sea" , named after a mythical Boetian princess who was drown in its waters. According to Greek mythology, when King Athamas' children, Phryxus and Helle, were sent away by their stepmother. While passing over the straits on a ram with golden fleece, Princess Helle fell into the water. Another lovey story is told ear to ear; Abydose and Sestus were two town of ancient Çanakkale that faced one another across the Straits. Leander was a handsome youth from Abydos who was in love with an Aphrodite priestess, Hero. Every night he would swim from Abydos to Sestus to see her. One night there was a terrible storm and he had never arrived. Hero, asuming that Leander had drowned, threw herself into the sea. Dardanelles played an important role at World War I. British and its Allies, who wanted to take Istanbul, could not pass through the Dardanelles. The eight month-long struggle between the Allies and Turkish forces is known as the Battle of Gallipoli. So serious were the casualties on both sides, that Winston CHURCHILL, Prime Minister of England, was removed from his office. Every year of April 25th, Gallipoli is invaded again not by Allied troops, but by their descendants, other veterans, and tourists. The sounds of the riffle fire ring out at Anzac Cove, but this time as a salute to hereos by the Turkish Honor Guard. When you reach Galliboli Pennisula you can feel the spirit of the heroes of the battle. Today Galliboli pennisula is a national park and is open to all visitors who come to pay respect in many military burial grounds. Blow are the words of Ataturk, the famous Turkish commander of Gallipoli and the founders of modern Turkish Republic. " Those heroes that shed their blood and  lost their lives...! You are now lying in  the soul of a friendly country, therefore  rest in peace. There is no differences between  the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they  lie side by side here in this country of ours...  You, the mothers who sent their sons from far away  countries wipe away your tears. Your sons are now  lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having  lost their lives on this land they have become  our sons as well."ATATURK, (1934). Before city of Çanakkale was built, people has settled a place which is 7 km away from the southern entrance of the Hellespont and north of the Scamander river ( Menderes Nehri ). Troy (Truva) , also called Illium, is located at Hissarlik today. Wooden Horse and the Archilles' Hell come from here. Troy is spoken of in the Illiad and the Odyssey in the tale of Helen , the most beautiful woman whose beauty was said to have launced the Trojan War. Troy existed for 4000 years and suddenly disappeared from the Earth until the ruins at Hisarlik were discovered in 1800s. In addition, Dardanos, Abydos, Assos, Sestos, and Gallipolis are located in the region of Çanakkale. The Swastika While commonly associated with Nazi Germany, the swastika symbol is more than 3,000 years old. The term "Swastika" was originally the name for a hooked cross in Sanskrit, and swastikas have been found on artifacts, such as coins and pottery, from the ancient city of Troy. Not only are swastikas associated with ancient Troy, the symbols are found in many other cultures, such as Chinese, Japanese, Indian and southern European. By the Middle Ages, the swastika was a well-known symbol and had many different names, depending on the country. In some cultures, such as in ancient China, the symbol is turned counterclockwise (sauvastika). Throughout its history, the swastika represented life, sun, power, strength and good luck. In the early 20th century, it was still considered a positive symbol. During World War I, it was found on shoulder patches of members of the American 45th Division and the Finnish air force. Only after the Nazi period did its connotation change. German nationalists chose to use the swastika in the mid-19th century because it was associated with the Aryan race and Germanic history. At the end of the 19th century, German nationalists used the symbol on periodicals and for the official emblem of the German Gymnasts’ League. By the 20th century, it was a common symbol used in Germany to represent German nationalism and pride, for example, as the emblem for the Wandervogel, a German youth group. Swastikas also were used, however, in anti-Semitic periodicals. The swastika officially became the emblem for the Nazi Party on August, 7, 1920, at the Salzburg Congress. Describing the new flag in Mein Kampf, Hitler said the swastika symbolized the victory of the Aryan man. Today the symbol is most commonly associated with Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, neo-Nazis and other hate groups. Overview The Swastika has an extensive history. The motif seems to have first been used in Neolithic Eurasia. The swastika is used in religious and civil ceremonies in India. Most Indian temples, entrance of houses, weddings, festivals and celebrations are decorated with swastikas. The symbol was introduced to Southeast Asia by Hindu kings and remains an integral part of Balinese Hinduism to this day, and it is a common sight in Indonesia. The symbol has an ancient history in Europe, appearing on artifacts from pre-Christian European cultures. It was also adopted independently by several Native American cultures. Greek helmet with swastika marks on the top part (details), 350-325 BCE from Taranto, found at Herculanum. Cabinet des Médailles, Paris. In the Western world, the symbol experienced a resurgence following the archaeological work in the late nineteenth century of Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered the symbol in the site of ancient Troy and associated it with the ancient migrations of Proto-Indo-Europeans ("Aryan" people). He connected it with similar shapes found on ancient pots in Germany, and theorised that the swastika was a "significant religious symbol of our remote ancestors," linking Germanic, Greek and Indo-Iranian cultures.[2][3] By the early 20th century it was widely used worldwide and was regarded as a symbol of good luck and auspiciousness. The work of Schliemann soon became intertwined with the völkisch movements, for which the swastika was a symbol of "Aryan" identity, a concept that came to be equated by theorists like Alfred Rosenberg with a Nordic master race originating in northern Europe. Since its adoption by the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler, the swastika has been associated with fascism, racism (white supremacy), World War II, and the Holocaust in much of the West. The swastika remains a core symbol of Neo-Nazi groups, and is also regularly used by activist groups to signify the supposed Nazi-like behaviour of organizations and individuals they oppose.                                                                Home  History  Jokes   DCR'S    My History        Search Google: