Special Sub-Topic: Troy Click Here To Play: Troy

Heinrich Schliemann was the man who was credited with the discovery of the ruins of the city of Troy thousands of years after it was destroyed. However, another man had already made small excavations on the site. Who was he?

Frank Calvert. Frank Calvert had made small excavations on one part of Hisarlik and uncovered some ruins. It is said that it was he who gave Schliemann the idea to dig on Hisarlik.

The Hittites were a very powerful race, who controlled a lot of land. When the ruin of their city was found, so were some tablets. These tablets were copies of letters and formal documents. In some the Hittite king referred to other kings as his "brother". One of the tablets mentions a name which historians believe is the Hittite name for the Troad region. What is this name?

Wilusa. The Hittite tablets also mention several other places. It is believed that Millawanda is the Hittite name for the city of Miletus.

We all know the Trojan king as Priam, but, that wasn't his real name. What was it?

Podarces. After Heracles sacked the city, he left only one member of the royal family alive, Podarces, as he had said all along that Heracles should have been given what was rightfully his. Heracles then changed Podarces' name to Priam.

While Heinrich Schliemann was excavating, he destroyed part of the Trojan circuit wall because he didn't notice it.

False. Schliemann destroyed the wall because it looked too modern to be of the time period of the Trojan War.

How is it said that Heinrich Schliemann died, and where?

A stroke in Naples, Italy. It is said that Schliemann collapsed in the street and was taken into a hotel foyer where he died. He was carried speechless and apparently penniless in a hotel foyer on the Piazza Umberto.

Who was in the hotel foyer when Schliemann was brought in and recorded the incident?

Sienkiewicz. Sienkiewicz was a Polish novelist. This is what he wrote in his book "Letters from Africa" (1901) about Schliemann's death: 'That evening, a dying man was brought into the hotel. His head bowed down to his chest, eyes closed, arms hanging limp, and his face ashen, he was carried in by four people ... The manager of the hotel approached me and asked, "Do you know, Sir, who that sick man is?" "No." "That is the great Schliemann!" Poor "great Schliemann"! He had excavated Troy and Mycenae, earned immortality for himself, and - was dying..."

In what year did Heinrich Schliemann die?

1890. While his colleague Wilhelm Dorpfeld sat at his desk penning the last words of their joint report on the new discoveries, Schliemann collapsed and died. This was very close to Christmas.

Which "layer" of the Troy ruins is most widely accepted as that of the Trojan War, Homer's Troy?

Troy VIIa. There have been many opinions on this, but according to evidence found, Troy VIIa was most likely Homer's Troy.

Priam sent his son Paris to Greece, this we all know, but why did he do it?

To retrieve his sister Hesione. Hesione had been kidnapped by Greeks over forty years before Priam sent Paris to retrieve her. Though the Trojans claimed that Hesione was kept in Greece against her will, the Greeks claimed that she wanted to stay there and that she truly loved her husband.

Paris first went to Troy to compete in some games. He won all that he entered. Fearing for his foster son's life, Paris' foster father revealed who Paris was. Paris was welcomed lovingly into the royal family, all having forgotten the prophecy.

True. Despite the prophecy telling that Paris would bring the downfall of Troy, his family was so happy to see him they welcomed him back. It turned out that he did fulfil this prophecy.