6/20 Arrival in Canakkale and the visit to Troy

Beginnings and Endings

Of course the official start of our trip was at Troy, Turkey, that city besieged for 10 years by the Greeks, finally succumbing to the “Achaens,” as they called themselves then. The Achaens finally pack up their spoils of war and head for home, but their many ships are separated and arrive home at different times. It took Ulysses another ten years to get back and all his men were lost. Troy: end of war; beginning of journey home to Ithaca.

Photos are here.

Of course, wily Homer doesn’t begin his book in Troy, but at Calypso’s island and cave, where we’ll visit on Thursday (actually, John and I have elected to visit the city of Valletta, Malta's capital, and not make the journey to the Maltese island of Gozo that purportedly was Calypso’s.) 

Note her crow's feet! Brian says this is unique.

We travel through the Dardenelles, picking up a pilot at Mehmetcik. Some 300,000 Turks and 200,000 Allies died there and Attaturk said something like, “They may have been born other places, but in death they lie here. We are all Turks.” We understand the significance of the straight and its connection with the Black Sea and Istanbul. Canakkale is the town nearest Troy, now some 5 miles inland, compared with its seaside location in Odysseus’ time.

Gordon Turnbull, the first of our two lecturers this morning, and our ally from Yale, is awesome! He is the first lecturer of many throughout the cruise, and he talks about the origin of the Iliad and Odyssey and the various people who likely had a significant hand in shaping the poems. (not Homer!) The beginning historical and psychological perspective is extremely helpful in orienting us to the things we are about to discover.

C. Brian Rose also spoke on the boat about Troy and its archeological history, its nine levels, and the fact that the battle at Troy immortalized in the Iliad may be in the 6^th level of Troy’s ruins. Brian, the archeologist who has spent the last nineteen years leading the excavation of Troy, later guides us through the site. Passion matters. He has that passion and delights in sharing it.

Canakkale has a small but exquisite archeological museum. Brian talks about the sarcophagi he had unearthed in Troy, particularly the one that was obviously intended for a woman, with female images all around it. He was immensely surprised to find the body of a 25-year-man inside. He speculated that it had, indeed, been fashioned for a woman, but when some young male family member who had not been expected to die, died, it was used for him instead, and left unfinished. Robbers raided this sarcophagus during antiquity and all treasure had been removed. Another, unadorned, sarcophagus contained the remains of an 8-year old girl and had not been robbed. Its gold jewelry and other precious items were intact. In the photo above, Brian is on his knees pointing out the important images on the sarcophagus.

No evidence has been found of a Trojan horse, but then wood would not have lasted from the 1200 bc date of the presumed encounter.

Heinrich Schliemann was Troy’s first archeologist in the late 19^th century. Archeology did not exist as a science, so Schliemann’s approach was to run a bulldozer through what he expected to be the site of ancient Troy, exposing the nine layers of ancient cities, one on top of another, and a bounty to make him wealthy.  His second wife is photographed wearing some of the ancient gold jewelry from the site.

Schleimann’s trench is pictured below. Despite his initial crude approach, Schleimann is considered the father of modern archaeology. Thankfully, modern archaeologists use finer tools, including resonance imaging of underground objects, showing that at one point, Troy was much larger than its uncovered site.

Based on our very amateurish experience with docking a very small boat, we are repeatedly astounded to watch our fabulous captain sidle this 300’ ship up to narrow docks and quays.




Photos of our arrival at Canakkale are here.