Where was Troy?
Wilkens Case for England Achilles storms ashore with his small band of warriors. He looks, yes, remarkably like Brad Pitt. A vast fleet of virtual Greek vessels is coming up behind him. The sands of an immense stretch of beach spread endlessly. A large walled city lies beyond in a desert-like plain. We know we are somewhere, at least in imagination, in the vicinity of the eastern Mediterranean, near the site of Schliemanns great discovery, the great city of Troy. But was Troy anywhere near this region? There are enormous difficulties, difficulties which still cause scholars to question the very existence of Troy, the reality of Homers war, the historical accuracy if not reality of the Illiad. Schliemanns tiny ruins of a city on the coast of Turkey cannot possibly fill the bill for the city described in Homer. At best it could have held 2000 people. Yet Priams palace alone is described as having sixty rooms, not to mention the size of the city required to harbor the Trojan fighting forc
