Troy have. Where was Troy located - on the territory of the modern state? In what country nowadays? Where is the city now? What is the city of Troy famous for?

The city of Ilion, or Troy, with whose name the events of the Trojan War were associated, was once the most famous and powerful city of Western Asia. According to Hellenic legends, he, along with his highly fortified fortress Pergamum, stood in a fertile, hilly country, between the spurs of Ida and the Hellespont. From two sides Troy was irrigated by two rivers: Simois and Scamander; both of them flowed through a wide valley and flowed into the nearest bay of the sea. In immemorial ancient times, long before the construction of Troy, the Tevkrian people lived on the slopes of Ida, ruled by King Tevkr, the son of the river god Scamander and the nymph Eden. Teucer friendly sheltered Dardanus, the son of Zeus and the galaxy of Electra: having fled during the famine from his homeland, from Arcadia, Dardanus first settled on the island of Samothrace, and from here he moved to the Phrygian coast of Asia, in the region of King Teucer. All this was before the construction of Troy.

King Tevkr cordially received him, gave him his daughter Bataea in marriage and assigned him a strip of land; on that land Dardanus built the city of Dardanus. The Trojan tribe that settled this city and its environs became known as the Dardanians. Dardanus had a son, Erichthonius: he subjugated the entire Trojan land under his rule and was revered by his contemporaries as the richest of mortals. Three thousand silk-maned mares grazed in his meadows. Twelve of them possessed such lightness and speed that the Phrygians called them the offspring of the stormy Boreas: they rushed along the undulating fields and did not knock down ears of corn with their hooves, rushed along the seashore flooded with waves and did not touch the waves, did not wet their quick feet in their foam.

Erichthonius was succeeded by his son Tros, after whom the people began to be called the Trojans. Tros had three sons: Il, Assarak and Ganymede. There was no man on earth who could compare with Ganymede in beauty; the father of gods and people, the world ruler Zeus ordered his eagle to kidnap the boy to Olympus: here he lived among the immortal gods and served Zeus - he filled his goblet at the meal. In return for the kidnapped son, Zeus gave King Tros a harness of divine horses. After the death of their father, Il and Assarak divided his kingdom among themselves. Assarak became the ancestor of the Dardanian kings; he had a grandson Anchises - a young man of such beauty that Aphrodite herself was captivated by him. From the marriage of Anchises with the goddess, the hero Aeneas was born, who was king over the Dardanians during the Trojan War. Il, the eldest son of Tros, was the ancestor of the Trojan kings. Once Il came to Phrygia and defeated all the fighters in the competition; as a reward for the victory, the Phrygian king gave him fifty young men and fifty virgins, gave him another, at the behest of the oracle, a motley cow and commanded: where the cow stops, let him build a city there. Il followed her and walked to a hill called Phrygian Ate Hill, where the cow stopped. The goddess Ate, the destroyer of people, the obscurer of the mind, once dared to confuse the mind of Zeus himself, for which he was cast down from Olympus; she fell to the ground in Phrygia, near the hill that was later named after her. On this hill, Il built the famous city of Troy (Ilion). Starting to build Troy, he asked Zeus for a good sign and, waking up in the morning, saw in front of his tent a palladion thrown from heaven to earth by Zeus - a wooden image of Pallas Athena, three cubits high. The goddess was represented with a spear in right hand, and in the left with a spindle and yarn. The image of Athena was supposed to serve as a pledge of divine help, a stronghold and protection for the citizens of the emerging city. Joyful, then Il set about building Troy and erected a temple to store the palladion. Having built Troy, he surrounded it with high walls with loopholes. The lower part of the city of Troy was walled later - under the son of Il, Laomedont.

Excavations of ancient Troy

Once Poseidon and Apollo came to Laomedont: for some fault, Zeus sent them to earth and ordered them to spend a year in the service of a mortal. The gods, without revealing their divinity, offered Laomedont - for a certain reward - to surround his city of Troy with a wall. As once Zeta and Amphion erected the walls of Thebes, so did Apollo and Poseidon work on the construction of the Trojan walls. Powerful Poseidon put a lot of effort; he dug out blocks of stone from the bowels of the earth, dragged them to Troy and made a wall out of them; Apollo, on the other hand, set the stones in motion with the sounds of the strings of his lyre: the stones folded by themselves, and the wall was erected by itself. The stronghold built by the gods would be indestructible - the enemies of Troy would never defeat it, but along with the gods, a mortal also participated in the construction of fortifications - Aeacus, the ancestor of the strong Aeacids, to whose family Telamon and Ajax, Peleus and Achilles belonged; part of the wall of Troy, erected by Aeacus, was destroyed.

The ancient city of Troy is located in the northwest of Anatolia, next to the famous Dardanelles and Mount Ida. Architectural monuments of history in the territory where the city of Troy is located are protected by UNESCO.

Position of Troy in the ancient world

This area gained its worldwide fame thanks to the so-called Trojan War and its symbol - the Trojan horse. This legendary story is described in a number of works of ancient literature, the most famous of which are Homer's poems "Odyssey" and "Iliad".

Ancient stories gave Troy another name, Ilion. This majestic city was located on the territory of Asia Minor right at the entrance from the Aegean Sea to the Dardanelles. An ancient sea trade route passed through Troy, connecting the Aegean, Marmara, and also the Black Sea.

The Trojan state during the Bronze Age controlled the Dardanelles and due to this was considered one of the main links of trade connecting the West with the East. As is known from the works of Homer, the waters of the Simois and Scamander rivers flowed near Troy.

The source of the Scamander River was on Mount Ida, which at the present time is called Kaz-Dag. In the days when the city of Troy was founded, its location was on the coast near the bay of the same name. The place where Troy is today does not look like a bay.

This is a huge flat area formed by the alluvial sediments of the Simois and Scamander rivers, the period of accumulation of which was many millennia. Over time, the river deposited so much material that it was enough to fill the entire bay.

Where the city of Troy is located today, only ancient ruins remain. This is the territory of modern Turkey. From the city of Canakkale to Troy, the distance is only 30 kilometers. Near the ancient city is the village of Tevfikiye.

Trojan horse and other attractions

Right at the entrance to the city is a copy of the Trojan horse, made of wood. Visitors can even get inside this majestic structure. Near the horse is the Museum of Excavations, opposite which is the Pytos Garden, where an ancient water supply system is stretched, and you can look at ancient clay products.

Those wishing to visit the city must buy a ticket, the cost of which is 15 lire. It is best to visit this area with an organized tour and a qualified guide. The thing is that the ruins are very similar to each other and you will quickly get tired of looking at them, but the guide's story will add weighty historical value to the external unpretentiousness.

Troy was destroyed and rebuilt nine times. After each "perestroika", some architectural details remained that have survived to this day.

Circular road

To better view the area where Troy is located, you should go around it on a circular road. AT right side from the entrance you can see the tower and walls that remained after the seventh reconstruction of the city.

It is about this period that Homer's famous poem "The Iliad" is discussed. This place has a staircase. Go down it and walk along brick walls, half of which have survived to our time intact.

At the top is the altar of the temple of Athena, and across the road are the homes of wealthy citizens. Further on your way you will meet trenches that have been preserved after Schliemann's excavations.

As a result, you will come to the majestic palace, which, according to archaeologists, also belongs to the historical period of the time of Homer. On the right side of the palace are the ruins of the place where the inhabitants of Troy prayed to the ancient gods.

Troy ruins

Many of us at least once in our lives have heard the name of the ancient city of Troy, or Ilion. The city was located on the territory of Asia Minor on the coast of the Aegean Sea. Today, lovers of travel and old cities are looking for information about where Troy was located and where its ruins can now be seen.

Troy in the past

The oldest archaeological traces of Troy date back to 2900-2500 BC. The ancient state of Troy was located near the Dardanelles (Hellespont) in the Aegean Sea, it was founded at the mouth of the bay of the same name. The ancient sea route connecting the Marmara, Black and Aegean seas was under the control of the Trojan state in those days. Troy was one of the important trading states.

For a long time it was believed that Troy is just a mythical state that was invented in antiquity. But everything changed after the famous self-taught archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann found a treasure in the northwestern part of the Hissarlik hill (near the city of Canakkale in modern Turkey) in 1870. During further excavations, the ancient city was found.

Troy today

The ruins of Troy are located in Turkey, near the city of Canakkale, about 30 km. The closest settlement is the village of Tevfikiye. You can quickly get to the museum from the city of Canakkale, buses make regular flights, minimum cost ticket is 3 lira.

The ruins of the city are of particular interest. They consist of 10 main layers. This is due to the fact that the city was destroyed and rebuilt several times during various military invasions.

It is worth noting that the city-museum of Troy is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

It seems to me that there is no such person who would not know and have not heard about him ..

• Let's start with the fact that this city was glorified in his work "Iliad" by the famous Homer.

• He described the events of the famous Trojan War. The wife of the Mycenaean king, the beautiful Helena, fell in love with Paris. The lovers fled to Troy, to the father of the groom. The enraged husband gathered an army and rushed to return the unfaithful wife. As a result, the siege of the city lasted 10 years.

He was taken thanks to a trick invented.

• The besiegers built a huge horse out of wood, hid a certain number of soldiers in it, and allegedly retreated. The Trojans dragged a horse into the city, mistaking it for a gift from the gods, and held festivities on this occasion. At night, the soldiers got out of the horse, opened the gates and let their comrades into the city. So, the famous Trojan horse entered history, and the city fell.

• He described real historical events. Although for a long time Troy was considered a fictional city, supposedly it did not exist in real life in ancient times. And then such a lover of archeology, Heinrich Schliemann, appeared. He set himself the goal of finding Troy. He succeeded only on the fourth attempt.

I want to note that life is arranged in such a way that cities are destroyed, covered with a layer of earth, new settlements can be built on this earth, etc. So, Schliemann excavated very rudely, he swept away those layers that were not interesting to him. This was also the case with Troy. He is her found in May 1873, destroying the later cultural layers.

• Schliemann revealed to the world the famous gold of Troy - this is the so-called "treasure of Priam". He even took a photo of his wife Sophia in jewelry from these finds.

For a very long time they did not believe that exactly that Troy was found, that the “treasure” was genuine, etc. But, the passions subsided and the majority came to the conclusion that this was the same legendary Troy.

• The city of Troy is also associated with the name of the famous Alexander the Great. He made a pilgrimage to this city. The altar of the temple of Athena, in which he visited, was found.

The fact is that the city of Troy is so geographically located that it is constantly beset by disasters (earthquakes, wars, etc.). Therefore, he is like a phoenix - he dies to be reborn again.

Well, since Schliemann did not excavate the entire territory of Troy and swept away not all cultural layers, I am sure that archaeologists will surprise the world more than once with their finds glorifying Troy.

“Discovery of Troy In the mass consciousness, the discovery of the legendary city is associated with the name of enthusiastic archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. He was able, contrary to the opinion of skeptics, to prove the historicity of Homer's Iliad.

Although in modern times stories about Trojan War were considered legends, scientists and amateurs tried to find the legendary city. In the 16th and 17th centuries in Troad visited by two explorers and travelers - Pierre Belon and Pietro della Valle. Each of them concluded that the legendary Troy is the ruins of the city of Alexandria of Troy, which were located 20 kilometers from Hissarlik.

At the end of the 18th century, another traveler and archaeologist Jean-Baptiste Lechevalier visited these places and wrote the work Notes on a Journey to Troas. Lechevalier argued that ancient city located near the town of Pinarbazi, five kilometers from Hisarlik. For a long time this theory was dominant.

In 1822 a Scottish journalist Charles McLaren published in Edinburgh a dissertation on the topography of the Trojan Plain. A hundred years later, Karl Blegen wrote that this work would have deserved more attention than it received. Maclaren collected all the information from the Iliad that had topographical significance and compared it with the maps of his time. Then the Scot tried to restore the appearance of the landscape as it was in antiquity. McLaren's conclusions were agreed by some British scientists and several German Homer researchers.
Charles Maclaren was the first to suggest that the legendary city was located on the Hissarlik hill. The basis of his conclusion was the assumption that the city of Homer was located in the same place as the Greek city of the Classical and Hellenistic eras.

The last of Schliemann's predecessors was Frank Calvert, Englishman, British Consul in Turkey. He was an amateur archaeologist and was fond of the history of Troy all his life. Frank, like Schliemann, believed that Troy was a real city, contrary to the skepticism of many contemporaries.
Frank's brother purchased a small land plot in Troas, part of which captured the territory of the Hissarlik hill. Calvert excavated "his" part of the hill, but they yielded modest results. Later, it was Frank Calvert who shared his thoughts with Heinrich Schliemann, who decided to conduct own research hill.

In the 1860s Heinrich Schliemann already explored Ithaca, where he found, as it seemed to him, monuments associated with the names of Laertes and Odysseus. In 1868, an archaeologist decided to excavate in Turkey. It took Schliemann and his friends in Constantinople three years to obtain permission from the Turkish government to excavate. The firman (permission) was handed over to Schliemann on the condition that half of the finds be handed over to the Turkish museum.

October 11, 1871 Heinrich Schliemann with his wife Sophia and several workers, he arrived at the Hissarlik hill and immediately began excavations. The workers were Greeks from Asia Minor from the surrounding villages, sometimes joined by Turks.

Schliemann excavated on the hill until June 1873. During this time, the archaeologist was able to excavate seven archaeological layers of the city. He himself believed that Troy Priam is the Troy-II layer. Toward the end of the excavations, Schliemann discovered a large hoard of gold objects, which he called "Priam's Treasure". After leaving Turkey, Schliemann continued to study the monuments in Orchomenus and Mycenae, published the work "Troy and its ruins".

In 1878 Heinrich returned to Troad and continued his excavations. After them, he returned twice more for excavations to the Hisarlyk hill, and now he was accompanied by professional archaeologists. In 1882 he joined Schliemann in Troy Wilhelm Dörpfeld, second secretary of the German Archaeological Institute in Athens.

Schliemann died in 1890, and Dörpfeld continued the excavations. The archaeologist in 1893-1894 discovered the fortifications of Troy-VI. The German archaeologist considered them to be the city of Priam.

Forty years after Dörpfeld's work, excavations ceased. From 1932 to 1938, the Hissarlik hill was explored by an archaeologist Carl Blegen, director of the University of Cincinnati. The American proved that there were nine settlements on this site, one after another. These nine levels of Troy he divided into 46 sublevels.

Next stage research of the archaeological site was associated with an expedition Manfred Korfman. His excavations refined the data of his predecessors and made it possible to create a modern chronology of Troy.

Early Bronze Age (Troy-I - Troy-V)

The first five archaeological layers of the settlement show a continuous history of the city, which lasted until the 17th century. BC.
Troy-I existed for about 400 years from 300 to 2600. BC. It had common features with the culture of central Anatolia, but was quite independent. The city had external connections with the islands and the north of the Balkans.

Troy II arose on the ruins of the previous city. Presumably Troy-I died from a strong fire. This settlement was the successor of the previous one in terms of culture. The city had a mighty fortress wall with a diameter of about 110 meters. The fortification was a citadel from where its masters exercised power over the territory of the Troad.

The standard of living of the Trojans has become higher: the houses have become more spacious and comfortable. The fortress housed a majestic megaron. The Trojans of this time were engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. Archaeologists have found many terracotta whorls. Weaving also developed. Trade contacts with the Cyclades continued to develop. The Trojans supplied their neighbors with grain and pottery.

Troy-II again destroyed by fire, but soon the settlement was occupied by the same people around 2250 BC. The ceramics of the third city practically did not differ from the ceramics of the previous era. Reasons that killed Troy-III unclear. It seems that there was no fire that destroyed the entire settlement, but the houses were destroyed.

Troy-IV existed in the period 2100 - 1950 BC. The territory of this city occupied about 17 thousand kilometers. The new settlement had strong fortifications. The houses of this Troy were built close to each other, forming complexes that were separated by narrow streets. Pottery of this time continues the traditions of past eras of the settlement. But the number of products created using the potter's wheel has grown.

Period Troy-V began with the remodeling of the entire settlement. Residents built new wall for guard. The city existed until the 18th century BC. The reason for its destruction is unclear. Again, there are no traces of the devastating fire. But the builders of the city Troy VI created a completely different city, which did not take into account the location of the buildings of its predecessor. The city of Troy-VI presumably perished around 1300 BC. as a result of an earthquake. It was replaced by a settlement Troy-VII. It had four periods of existence until the middle of the 10th century BC.

King Alaxandus and the Hittites

During the period Troy-VII the inhabitants of this city were in close contact with neighboring states - the Hittite state, the kingdoms of Asia Minor and the Greeks of Akhkhiyava. It is believed that the Hittites knew Troy under the name Wilus states.

In the XVII century BC. the Hittite king Labarna subjugated Artsava and Vilusa. The latter after a certain period of time became independent, but maintained neutral relations with Hittite kingdom. In the XIV century BC. the state of Wilus came to the attention of the rulers of the Hittite state.

An ally of the Hatti kings of the XIV century. BC. Suppiluliumas I and Mursilis was king of Vilusa Kukunnis. It is known that he helped Mursilis during his campaign against Artsava.

Kukunnis, under the changed name "Kykn", entered the cycle of legends about the Trojan War. Legends made him a representative of a side branch of the royal house, which ruled one of the cities of the Troad. He was the first to meet the Greeks who landed and died at the hands of Achilles.
At the end of the XIV century BC. The king of Vilusa was the son of Kukunnis Alaksandus. His reign is known thanks to the treaty between Alaksandus and King Muvattalis of Hatti.

The treaty states that Koukunnis adopted and made Alaxandus his heir. The population of Vilusa grumbled against the new king. They said that the inhabitants of the country would not accept the son of Alaksandus as a new sovereign. It also refers to the "children of the king", who claimed the throne, inherited by Alaksandus.

Muvattalis promised the ruler of Wilusa and his heirs protection. In exchange, Alaxandus became a dependent king. He was supposed to inform the overlord about possible rebellions in the west of Asia Minor. In the event of a war between Hatti and the states of Asia Minor, Alaksandus had to personally come to the rescue with his army. For wars with Mitanni, Egypt or Assyria, the king of Wilusa had to send his troops.

According to one clause, Alaxandus was obligated to fight an enemy who might invade the land of Hatti through Wilusa. This enemy is supposed to be the Achaean Greeks, who at that time were trying to gain a foothold in Asia Minor.

Soon after the submission of the Hittite power of the kingdoms of Asia Minor, the famous battle of kadesh in Syria. The Egyptian text dedicated to this battle lists the units of the Hittite army. Among others, the people of Drdnj are mentioned there (probable decoding - Dar-d-an-ja). This people is identified with the Dardanians who lived within the Vilusa.

The dominance of the Hittite monarchs over Vilusa did not last long. Already the letter of the king of the Hittites to the king of Ahkhiyava, dating from the turn of the XIV - XIII centuries BC. shows the situation has changed. It follows from the document that a conflict occurred between Hatti and Ahkhiyava, as a result of which the Hittites lost control over Vilusa, and the Achaeans strengthened their influence in this country.

In the XIII century BC. the land of Hatti was ruled by the militant Tudhaliyas IV. He fought with a coalition of small Asia Minor states united in Hittite documents common name Assuva. Among them was Wilusa. Tudhaliyas IV won and Vilusa again became a dependent state.

From the letter of the Hittite king to the ruler of Milavanda, it follows that Tudhaliyas made his protege Valma the ruler of Vilusa. For some reason, he fled and the Hatti king was going to restore him to power. Probably, the expulsion of Valmu happened before Assuva's speech against the Hittites, and the restoration after the victory of Tudhaliyas, when "the gods gave him" these lands.

Troy VII and the legend of the Trojan War

Already in Antiquity, different dates for the Trojan War were expressed. Duris of Samos refers it to 1334 BC, Eratosthenes - 1183, Ephor - 1136. Herodotus wrote that she was 800 years before he began work on the "History", that is, in the last third of the XIII century BC.

The city of Troy-VII-a perished at the turn of the 13th and 12th centuries BC. There are different points of view on the time of its fall. L.A. Gindin and V.L. Tsymbursky date the fall of the city to 1230-1220 BC. This was the beginning of the so-called campaign period. "peoples of the sea".

The campaign of the Greek states against Troy was often associated with the heyday of Mycenaean civilization. According to the reconstruction of the researchers, the campaign took place after the beginning of the decline of the Mycenaean civilization. Greece was subjected to one invasion from the north, which led to the destruction of part of the palace centers. The danger of new attacks from the north pushed the Achaeans to overseas enterprises. The flourishing of Rhodes at the expense of immigrants is also attributed to this time.

Speaking about the population of Troy in period VII, the deep ties of its population with the Thracians are noted. The top of the city in this era probably adopted the culture of Mycenaean Greece, which confirms the name Alaksandus, consonant with "Alexander".

The forms of ceramics of Troy VII-a resembled the ceramics of the Northern Balkans inhabited by the Thracian tribes. The composition of the Teucres (inhabitants of Priam Troy), presumably, was dominated by early Thracian elements.

After the destruction of Troy by the Achaeans, the city was reborn. Now it was a sparsely populated settlement, which is identified with the layer Troy VII-b I. The surviving Teucers themselves, for the most part, did not remain in their former places, but joined the campaigns of the peoples of the sea. These campaigns destroyed the Hittite kingdom of a number of small states of Asia Minor, and were also a threat to Egypt.

The depopulation of Troad made it possible for the Thracians to move here, who re-populated Troy. The period is associated with the settlers Troy VII-b II. But, given the previous contacts, the inhabitants of the city and the Thracians, their settlement of these places was peaceful.

Troy after the Trojans: another Greek city

Around 950 B.C. the settlement on Hissarlik ceased to exist. In the Archaic era (VIII-VI centuries BC), life resumed on the hill. In 480 B.C. Xerxes at the beginning of the campaign to Greece visited this place. The king examined the ancient acropolis and sacrificed a hundred bulls to Athena of Ilion. Its magicians made libations in honor of the heroes who died here. In 411 BC. this place was visited by the Spartan navarch Mindar, who made sacrifices to Athena of Ilion.

Ilion had almost no political significance and was controlled by more powerful neighbors. In 360 B.C. the city was captured by the mercenary adventurer Haridem of Oreos, and again the horse played a fatal role in the fall of the city.

Haridem persuaded a slave of one of the influential citizens to help them pass into the city. This slave went outside the walls for prey and returned at night. The mercenary persuaded him to return at night on horseback. The guards opened the gates for him, and a group of mercenaries broke into Ilion. The story of this event was preserved by Aeneas Tacticus, a contemporary of Haridem. He was interested in military tricks, so he did not write anything about the fate of the settlement after its capture by Haridem. Probably the commander of the mercenaries began to rule here as a tyrant - a typical case for the 4th century BC.

In 334 BC. ruins of Troy visited Alexander the Great. As they write in the writings about his campaign, he made sacrifices here in honor of the ancient heroes. At the end of his life, the ruler decided to build a new temple here. These works were completed in the reigns of his Diadochi: Antigonus, Lysimachus and Seleucus.

Epigraphic sources report that during the years of the existence of the state of Antigonus the One-Eyed, one of the Greek interpolis associations in his lands was Ilion Union. The date of foundation of this interpolis association is unknown. Both Alexander and Antigone are called the founder of the Ilion League.

The messages of the union to Antigonus are known. The Ilionian Union had a Sanhedrin (council of allied cities), whose representatives met on the territory of the sacred site of Athena of Ilion. Among the other members of this association, two cities are known - Gargara and Lampsak.
For modern science the ratio of the Aeolian and Ilionian unions that existed in the time of Antigonus remains a mystery. It is assumed that these could be different names of one interpolis association. It is known that Troad was part of the Aeolis region.
Presumably, Antigonus formed two unions from Asia Minor cities - Aeolian and Ionian. The center of the Ionian Union was in the ancient sanctuary of Panionius, the center of the Aeolian was in the temple of Athena of Ilion.

Troy again became a significant city: temples, a bouleuterium (a meeting place for the city council), and theaters appeared there. At the same time, ancient burial mounds were restored. The revived city had about 8 thousand inhabitants.

Around 250 B.C. the walls of Troy were restored. City visited famous people of that time: the king of Syria Antiochus III, the Roman senator Mark Livius Salinator, the commander Lucius Cornelius Scipio.

In 85 BC the city was destroyed again. This year was the end of the first war Rome with Mithridates VI. In Greece and Asia Minor, it was led independently by two commanders: Sulla and the protege of his enemies, Fimbria. The latter crossed over to Asia Minor and began to punish the Greek cities that had previously gone over to the side of the Pontic king.

Among others, Fimbria laid siege to Ilion. The inhabitants of the city sent for help to Sulla. He promised them help and told them to tell Fimbria that the Ilions had already surrendered to Sulla. Fimbria persuaded the inhabitants of Ilion to let him in as a confirmation of surrender.

Entering the city, the Roman commander massacred and subjected the envoys to his enemy Sulla to a particularly cruel execution. Fimbria ordered to set fire to the temple of Athena of Ilion, where many residents fled. The next day, the Roman inspected the city, making sure that not a single altar was left intact.

The destruction of Ilion by Fimbria made an impression on contemporaries, because the Romans considered themselves to be from ancient Troy. The destruction of the city was compared with the one arranged by Agamemnon, and the time that separated the destruction of the cities was calculated. Appian of Alexandria, citing other authors, wrote that the destruction of the city by Fimbria happened 1050 years after the end of the Trojan War.

After defeating a rival, Sulla helped rebuild the city as a reward for his loyalty to him. The Ilionians responded by introducing a new calendar, where the account was kept from 85 BC. The years that followed were difficult for Ilion. Five years after Fimbria, the city suffered from pirate attacks.

When did the third war begin? Kingdom of Pontus, Ilion remained faithful to the alliance with Rome. Plutarch relates the tradition that when a storm destroyed the Pontic siege engines near Cyzicus, many Ilionians saw Athena in a dream. The goddess was in a torn robe and said that she came from Cyzicus, where she fought for its inhabitants. After that, the Ilionians helped the Roman general Lucullus, who fought against the Pontics in the Troad.

At the end of the war, the Roman general Pompey, who ended the war, arrived in Ilion. He was proclaimed the benefactor of the city and the patron of the temple of Athena of Ilion. Fifteen years later, he rendered good deeds to Ilion and Julius Caesar. He emphasized the loyalty of the city to Rome during the war with Mithridates.

In 42 BC. after defeating Caesar's assassins, Octavian and Antony settled the veterans of the sixteenth legion in Ilion. After 22 years, Emperor Augustus again visited this city. Descent from the Trojan hero Aeneas played an important role in his propaganda. By his order, in Ilion there were repair work. On the site of the former bouleuterium, on the orders of the princeps, an odeon (a building for musical performances) was erected.

During his visit to Ilion, Augustus lived in the house of a wealthy citizen Melanippus, son of Euthydippus. Eight years later, when the theater was completed, Melanippus erected a statue of the emperor there.

In the era Roman Empire Ilion lived off travelers who were interested in ancient history. Another component of its economy was the extraction and export of stone. In 124 AD Ilion was visited by the famous philhellenic emperor Hadrian. He ordered a new reconstruction of the city.

After the visit Adriana Ilion began to flourish as a Roman city: baths, a fountain, an aqueduct were built in it. A new repair of the odeon was made by order of the emperor Caracalla, who visited Ilion in 214 AD.

In 267 AD Asia Minor the Goths devastated, and Ilion was again destroyed. But the city continued to exist in the IV century. Constantine the Great even considered it as a possible capital of the empire, until he chose Byzantium. By 500 AD, Ilion ceased to exist.