Did the Trojan War really happen?

It is possible that you will come across many interesting, unusual and even amazing events in the dusty pages of history. Of course, many mysterious events too! Here, the Trojan War remains one of the most mysterious events in history, although we have very detailed information about it. Some believe that the Trojan War was only a subject for literary works in antiquity, and that such a war never took place. According to some, the Trojan War was a “very” real war, dozens of people lost their lives and caused great changes in ancient times! So what is the truth? Did the Trojan War really happen or was it just a successful “fantasy” that has been around for thousands of years? Let’s search together for the answer to this age-old question…

The first traces of the Trojan War are found in Homer’s Iliad and The Odyssey.

The most important poet of ancient Greece conveys very detailed information about the Trojan War from thousands of years ago to the present day. Homer talks about a very exciting war in the ancient city of Troy, which is located within the boundaries of today’s Canakkale. According to the story, Paris of Troy and the beautiful wife of Spartan King Menelaus Helen fell in love with each other. Paris kidnaps Helen, and the forbidden love story turns into a bloody war story…

After Paris kidnaps Helen, the Achaeans (the name Homer used for all the ancient Greek peoples) attack the city of Troy with a large army. However, the impenetrable city walls prevented the city from being captured by the Achaeans. Accordingly, the Achaeans enact one of the most interesting strategies in the history of warfare. A huge wooden horse is being built, and the elite soldiers of ancient Greece are hidden inside this horse. When the Trojans see a giant horse instead of eggs on the battlefield, they think their enemies have retreated. When they take this unusual “gift” to the city, almost all of the Trojans are killed by the Achaeans…

Before the 19th century, the debate about the truth of the Trojan War was not as fierce as it is today.

Many historians have believed that the war was largely a figment of Homer’s “imagination”. At the very least, it was thought that some developments outside of everyday life might have occurred in the region thousands of years ago, but the Trojan War as we know it turned into a “war” in Homer’s exaggerated words. However, some archaeological developments in the nineteenth century convinced more historians that the Trojan War may have been real.

In the year 1868, some discoveries were made which revealed that terrible events took place in the ancient city of Troy!

Excavations in the area have revealed ancient everyday items such as pottery (some depicting a gigantic horse), human remains, arrowheads, tools of war, and materials that appear to have died in gruesome ways, as well as evidence that the city was “burned”.

However, the historical artifacts found in the area date back to the 13th century BC. According to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, the thirteenth century was the time of the Trojan War… Well, has enough data been obtained to believe that the Trojan War was more than a thousand years old? Did the Trojan War really happen?

Scholars agree that something contrary to the flow of daily life occurred in the area of ​​ancient Troy between 1200-1300 BC.

A terrible natural disaster, ruthless robbers, maybe a great fire. However, it is difficult to say for sure whether the ancient Greeks slaughtered the Trojans with a huge horse or whether the Trojan War actually took place. However, it may be worth looking into the archives of the “great powers” of the period when looking for traces of the Trojan War in the dusty pages of history!

The archives of ancient Egyptian and Hittite civilizations speak of two different powers opposing each other on both sides of the Aegean Sea.

These two ancient civilizations were among the leading civilizations of the era of the Trojan War, if that is true. For this reason, they were in political, social, and economic relations with both the ancient Greeks and the Trojans. In other words, it can be said that the Aegean Sea witnessed the struggle of two important societies that did not like each other very much and had the possibility of fighting. However, neither the Hittites nor the ancient Egyptian sources have a direct source on the Trojan War.

It is hard to say if the Trojan War really happened!

That is why, though hundreds of years old, this ancient narrative is, according to some, based partly on oral stories in ancient societies, partly on the imagination of a talented poet, and perhaps partly on the struggle between two rival civilizations in the same region. Some consider the Trojan War to be one of the most famous and most effective “real” wars of antiquity in terms of its causes and consequences. For this reason, it is not possible to give a clear answer to the question “Did the Trojan War really happen”, at least for the time being. But there is no doubt that Troy is one of the most famous and enigmatic war stories in history…