A Solitary Pursuit – Confusion & Loneliness At Troy (Istanbul & Everything After #21)

There has been so much consternation, controversy, and conjecture over Henrich Schliemann’s discovery of Troy, that few realize there was more than one iteration of the city. Troy’s history was repeatedly interrupted by natural cataclysms, human conflicts, and environmental challenges. Troy underwent radical transformations over time. Despite the vicissitudes of history, Troy had remarkable staying power. Archeologists and scholars have identified no less than nine different periods in its history. ?That makes Troy’s history harder to understand, especially when looking at its ruins. I found that trying to wrap my head around Troy’s history to be nearly impossible. I imagine most visitors must feel this way. Troy’s ruins are difficult to comprehend without the aid of an archeologist to interpret them. There was a great deal to see at Troy that did not look like much. The only thing I could do was use my imagination, but there was so much to imagine that I had no idea where to start.

Mass Confusion - A Puzzle With Too Many Pieces

Troy was one of the most baffling historic sites I have ever visited. There was not one past to grapple with, but many. So many in fact that it caused a great deal of confusion. I had no idea that so many different Troys existed. Each in its own way was just as important as the one made famous by the Iliad. This importance largely confounded me because it was difficult to find a focal point at the site. Besides Troy VI or VII - when the period covered by The Iliad likely took place - all the other Troys ran together. Distinguishing between Troy III and Troy V, for instance, meant staring at modest ruins and stony foundations without a clue as to what I was looking at. I became proficient at scratching my head and muttering under my breath, “isn’t that interesting.” Display boards offered information, but these were just as scattered as the ruins. The history of Troy mirrored the ruins, a series of fragments that were hard to piece together. Troy I – IX should have been easily understandable, until I was confronted by ruins that looked mostly the same.

The nine different phases of Troy were a way for archeologists to rationalize the ruins and distinguish between them. The problem is that 99.9% of visitors are not trained archeologists. Distinguishing one Troy from another is an impossible task for novices. The ruins did not help matters. They were not impressive, at least not compared to the ones I would later see at Ephesus and Pergamon. What I did find impressive was how much human activity had occurred at Troy. The Iliad was just a small part of a story that spans millennia. The incredible time span of Troy puts those who have questioned Schliemann’s discovery to shame. Schliemann may not have been able to pin down the specifics of what period in Troy’s history the Trojan war occurred, but he did uncover an incredible historic site that archaeologists and scholars have studied ever since. A fair amount of the criticism is envy from those who wished they had unearthed Troy.

Virtual Reality - The Weight of Expectations

Our group tour of the site was forgettable. The only thing I would remember was the confusion Touring the ruins should have given me a clearer understanding of Troy, but this only served to muddle matters further. Troy was one of the few historic sites I have visited where reading a book would have been more helpful than an in-person visit. Troy had none of the large-scale ruins one might expect to find in a place so rightfully famous. Instead, they were extensive and underwhelming. Everything was on a much smaller scale than I had imagined. Stones, broken columns, crumbling gates and foundations, all should have been visual aids. That was not my experience.? It was impossible to make out a great city, though there was no doubt that one had stood here on several occasions.

The earliest iteration of Troy goes back to 3600 BC. The arc of history then bends all the way forward to 500 AD. That is over four thousand years of history. Quite the time span considering that the focus is on the period when the siege of Troy may or may not have occurred. Troy I - IX are differentiated by the period of their existence, but this makes them difficult to distinguish from one another. That became apparent to me as our guide took us through the ruins while saying vague things like “here is Troy III” and “now we are at Troy VIII”.

Our guide was the same one leading our tour around Turkey. He was kind, knowledgeable, and accommodating. Extremely likable, patient, and kind. None of those traits helped him much at Troy. I got the sense that he must have felt much the same about Troy as everyone else. His voice did not betray any hint of excitement. His was more of a been there, done that attitude. After a few minutes walking around the ruins, I felt the same. I am pretty sure that the reason we spent an hour wandering around Troy was out of respect for a place we had heard so much about at school. The experience was weighed down by expectations. All my excitement was drained by the reality of Troy. ?

Isolation Chambers - Going It Alone

Troy reminded me that history is a lonely place. Abandonment, silence, and vacancy permeated the place. These attributes were the exact opposite of Troy’s history. Archaeologists have been able to piece together the story of a city that rose from the ashes of calamity on multiple occasions. On this day, that drama was nowhere to be found. It had been drained from these ruins long ago. Schliemann’s discovery and the work of countless scholars who followed in his footsteps brought the story of Troy to life, but the ruins felt lifeless. I have always found history to be a solitary pursuit, something I do mostly on my own. Reading books, searching through archives, taking notes, writing up research, I do these in isolation. Troy reminded me of loneliness and of my own.?