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105-474: The Romilii claimed descent from Romulus , the legendary founder and first King of Rome . Scholars have long disputed the historicity of Romulus, but from the morphology of the nomen Romilius, it seems probable that Romulus was an authentic cognomen ; Romilius belongs to a large class of gentilicia formed using the suffix -ilius , which were typically derived from surnames ending in the diminutive suffix -ulus . The first of this family mentioned in history

210-588: A 100-year gap between Troy III and Troy IV. Combined with a similar analysis of the pottery sequences of Korfmann and Schliemann this suggests that for a time in the late Early Bronze Age occupation contracted to the western end of the citadel mound. From 1988 to 2005, excavations were conducted by a team from the University of Tübingen and the University of Cincinnati under the direction of Professor Manfred Korfmann , with Professor Brian Rose overseeing Post-Bronze Age (Greek, Roman, Byzantine) excavation along

315-599: A bearded warrior wielding a spear as a god of war, the embodiment of Roman strength and a deified likeness of the city of Rome. He had a Flamen Maior called the Flamen Quirinalis , who oversaw his worship and rituals in the ordainment of Roman religion attributed to Romulus's royal successor, Numa Pompilius . There is however no evidence for the conflated Romulus-Quirinus before the 1st century BC. Ovid in Metamorphoses XIV ( lines 805-828 ) gives

420-403: A clear view of Trojan plain and the sea beyond it. The citadel was accessed by five gates, which led into paved and drained cobblestone streets. Some of these gates featured enormous pillars which serve no structural purpose and have been interpreted as religious symbols. The halls were built in megaron style, resembling Mycenaean architecture . The lower town was built to the south of

525-440: A dense residential neighborhood in the citadel. Walls from Troy II may have been reused as part of Troy III. By the period of Troy V, the city had once again expanded outside the citadel to the west. Troy IV sees the introduction of domed ovens. In Troy V, artifacts include Anatolian-style "red-cross bowls" as well as imported Minoan objects. They would trade with other cities around them. Troy VI–VII

630-488: A description of the deification of Romulus and his wife Hersilia , who are given the new names of Quirinus and Hora respectively. Mars, the father of Romulus, is given permission by Jupiter to bring his son up to Olympus to live with the Olympians . One theory regarding this tradition proposes the emergence of two mythical figures from an earlier, singular hero. While Romulus is a founding hero, Quirinus may have been

735-403: A distinctive characteristic in later periods, reflecting perennial security concerns at the vulnerable coastal site. Residents lived in attached houses made of stone and mudbrick. Some houses had a megaron layout, among which one room is notably larger than the others. Although the city plan is not entirely clear from its limited remains, the houses appear to have been oriented in parallel to

840-459: A god of the harvest, and the Fornacalia a festival celebrating a staple crop ( spelt ). Through the traditional dates from the tales and the festivals, they are each associated with one another. A legend of the murder of such a founding hero, the burying of the hero's body in the fields (found in some accounts), and a festival associated with that hero, a god of the harvest, and a food staple is

945-471: A location near the village of Pınarbaşı, Ezine , a mound approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) south of the currently accepted location. Published in his Voyage de la Troade , it was the most commonly proposed location for almost a century. In 1822, the Scottish journalist Charles Maclaren was the first to identify with confidence the position of the city as it is now known. The first excavations at

1050-527: A man who worked as a scribe on the other. The seal is important since it is the only example of preclassical writing found at the site, and provides potential evidence that Troy VIIb1 had a Luwian -speaking population. However, the find is puzzling since palace bureaucracies had largely disappeared by this era. Proposed explanations include the possibility that it belonged to an itinerant freelance scribe and alternatively that it dates from an earlier era than its find context would suggest. Troy VIIb2

1155-402: A new handmade style sometimes known as "barbarian ware". Imported Mycenaean-style pottery attests to some continuing foreign trade. However, the city's population appears to have dropped, and rebuilding seems to be confined to the citadel. One of the most striking finds from Troy VIIb1 is a bronze biconvex hieroglyphic Luwian seal giving the name of a woman on one side and the name of

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1260-446: A notable slope, similar to those at other sites including Hattusa . However, the walls differ from contemporary Aegean and Anatolian sites both in their lack of figural sculpture and in their masonry . While Troy VI's walls were made entirely of close-fitting ashlars , contemporary sites typically used ashlars around a rubble core . Troy VI's walls were overlooked by several rectangular watchtowers, which would also have provided

1365-843: A pattern recognized by anthropologists . Called a " dema archetype", this pattern suggests that in a prior tradition, the god and the hero were in fact the same figure and later evolved into two. Possible historical bases for the broad mythological narrative remain unclear and disputed. Modern scholarship approaches the various known stories of the myth as cumulative elaborations and later interpretations of Roman foundation myth . Particular versions and collations were presented by Roman historians as authoritative, an official history trimmed of contradictions and untidy variants to justify contemporary developments, genealogies and actions in relation to Roman morality . Other narratives appear to represent popular or folkloric tradition; some of these remain inscrutable in purpose and meaning. T.P. Wiseman sums up

1470-414: A portion of land to each ward, for the benefit of the people. Nothing is known of the manner in which the tribes and curiae were taxed, but for the military levy, each curia was responsible for providing one hundred foot soldiers, a unit known as a century , and ten cavalry. Each Romulean tribe thus provided about one thousand infantry, and one century of cavalry; the three hundred cavalry became known as

1575-636: A pottery industry, possibly associated with a wine or oil industry. The style of these pots shows stylistic similarities to other North Aegean sites, suggesting cultural contact. (Because other artifacts do not show these links, archaeologists believe that Greek settlement of Troy did not begin until later.) Both the Troy VI walls and the Troy VIIa Terrace House were reused for worship and communal feasting, as evidenced by animal bones, pottery assemblages, and traces of burned incense. Strikingly,

1680-561: A prearranged signal, the Romans seized and carried off the marriageable women among their guests. The aggrieved cities prepared for war with Rome, and might have defeated Romulus had they been fully united. But impatient with the preparations of the Sabines, the Latin towns of Caenina , Crustumerium , and Antemnae took action without their allies. Caenina was the first to attack; its army

1785-513: A sacrifice. Shortly before, a group of envoys from Laurentum had complained of their treatment by Tatius' kinsmen, and he had decided the matter against the ambassadors. Romulus resisted calls to avenge the Sabine king's death, instead reaffirming the Roman alliance with Lavinium, and perhaps preventing his city from splintering along ethnic lines. In the years following the death of Tatius, Romulus

1890-528: A section of the Troy ;VI wall which was weaker than the rest. Since the mythic city had likewise had a weak section of its walls, Dörpfeld became convinced that this layer corresponded to Homeric Troy. Schliemann himself privately agreed that Troy VI was more likely to be the Homeric city, but he never published anything stating so. Carl Blegen , professor at the University of Cincinnati , managed

1995-542: A series of artworks based on the Roman foundation myth. The artists contributing works included a sculpture of Hercules with the infant twins by Gabriele Fiorini, featuring the patron's own face. The most important works were an elaborate series of frescoes collectively known as Histories of the Foundation of Rome by the Brothers Carracci: Ludovico , Annibale , and Agostino . The subject for

2100-523: A source. Other significant sources include Ovid 's Fasti , and Virgil 's Aeneid . Greek historians had traditionally claimed that Rome was founded by Greeks, a claim dating back to the logographer Hellanicus of Lesbos of 5th-century BC, who named Aeneas as its founder. Roman historians connect Romulus to Aeneas by ancestry and mention a previous settlement on the Palatine Hill , sometimes attributing it to Evander and his Greek colonists. To

2205-525: A trench across the mound of Hisarlık to the depth of the settlements, today called " Schliemann's Trench ". In 1871–1873 and 1878–1879, 1882 and 1890 (the later two joined by Wilhelm Dörpfeld), he discovered the ruins of a series of ancient cities dating from the Bronze Age to the Roman period. Schliemann was planning for another excavation season in 1891 when he died in December 1890. He proposed that

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2310-473: A variant of the legend, the augurs favoured Romulus, who proceeded to plough a square furrow around the Palatine Hill to demarcate the walls of the future city ( Roma Quadrata ). When Remus derisively leapt over the "walls" to show how inadequate they were against invaders, Romulus struck him down in anger. In another variant, Remus was killed during a melée, along with Faustulus. The founding of Rome

2415-447: Is a back-formation from the name of the city. Roman historians dated the city's foundation to between 758 and 728 BC, and Plutarch reports the calculation of Varro 's friend Tarutius that 771 BC was the birth year of Romulus and his twin. The tradition that gave Romulus a distant ancestor in the semi-divine Trojan prince Aeneas was further embellished, and Romulus was made the direct ancestor of Rome's first Imperial dynasty . It

2520-471: Is also notable for its architectural innovations as well as its cultural developments, which included the first evidence of horses at the site. The language spoken in Troy VI is unknown. One candidate is Luwian , an Anatolian language believed to have been spoken in the general area. Potential evidence comes from a biconvex seal inscribed with the name of a person using Anatolian hieroglyphs often used to write Luwian. However, available evidence

2625-420: Is evidenced by a defensive ditch cut 1-2 into the bedrock. A wall or palisade may have stood several meters behind the ditch, as in the outer defenses of other cities such as Qadesh and Carchemish . However, material evidence for such a wall is limited to postholes and cuts in the bedrock. The lower city was only discovered in the late 1980s, earlier excavators having assumed that Troy VI occupied only

2730-412: Is known about these several layers due to Schliemann 's careless excavation practices. In order to fully excavate the citadel of Troy II, he destroyed most remains from this period without first documenting them. These settlements appear to have been smaller and poorer than previous ones, though this interpretation could be merely the result of gaps in the surviving evidence. The settlements included

2835-483: Is marked by dramatic cultural changes including walls made of upright stones and a handmade knobbed pottery style known as Buckelkeramik . These practices, which existed alongside older local traditions, have been argued to reflect immigrant populations arriving from southwest Europe. These newcomers may have shared an origin with the Phrygians who initiated similar cultural shifts at sites such as Gordion . This layer

2940-404: Is not clear to what extent a historical figure underlies the mythical Romulus, the events and institutions ascribed to him were central to the myths surrounding Rome's origins and cultural traditions. The myths concerning Romulus involve several distinct episodes and figures, including the miraculous birth and youth of Romulus and his twin brother , Remus ; Remus' murder and the founding of Rome;

3045-404: Is not sufficient to establish that Luwian was actually spoken by the city's population, and a number of alternatives, such as Greek and Lemnian-Etruscan , have been proposed. Hittite documents found at Hattusa suggest that literacy existed at Troy and that the city may have had a written archive. The Alaksandu Treaty required King Alaksandu to read its text publicly three times a year, while

3150-508: Is notable for having been misidentified as Homeric Troy, during initial excavations, because of its massive architecture, treasure hoards, and catastrophic destruction. In particular Schliemann saw Homer's description of Troy's Scaean Gate reflected in Troy II's imposing western gate. However, later excavations demonstrated that the site was a thousand years too old to have coexisted with Mycenaean Greeks . Troy continued to be occupied between 2300 BC and 1750 BC. However, little

3255-499: Is open to the public as a tourist destination, and was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1998. The site was excavated by Heinrich Schliemann and Frank Calvert starting in 1871. Under the ruins of the classical city, they found the remains of numerous earlier settlements. Several of these layers resemble literary depictions of Troy, leading some scholars to conclude that there is a kernel of truth underlying

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3360-408: Is said to be named after Mettius Curtius, a Sabine warrior who plunged his horse into its muck to stymie his Roman pursuers as he retreated. At a critical juncture in the fighting, the Romans began to waver in the face of the Sabine advance. Romulus vowed to build a temple to Jupiter Stator , to keep his line from breaking. The bloodshed finally ended when the Sabine women interposed themselves between

3465-545: Is said to have conquered the city of Fidenae , which, alarmed by the rising power of Rome, had begun raiding Roman territory. The Romans lured the Fidenates into an ambush, and routed their army; as they retreated into their city, the Romans followed before the gates could be shut, and captured the town. The Etruscan city of Veii , nine miles up the Tiber from Rome, also raided Roman territory, foreshadowing that city's role as

3570-518: Is unclear whether or not the tale of Romulus or that of the twins are original elements of the foundation myth, or whether both or either were added. Ennius (fl. 180s BC) refers to Romulus as a divinity in his own right, without reference to Quirinus . Roman mythographers identified the latter as an originally Sabine war-deity, and thus to be identified with Roman Mars . Lucilius lists Quirinus and Romulus as separate deities, and Varro accords them different temples. Images of Quirinus showed him as

3675-494: The Milawata letter mentions that the deposed King Walmu was still in possession of wooden investiture tablets. The archive would likely have been housed in the citadel's innermost precinct, whose remains were pushed over the northern side of the hill during 3rd century construction. Despite attempts to sift through the rubble, no documents have been found. Troy VI was destroyed around 1300 BC, corresponding with

3780-660: The Mons Vaticanus , a hill at Rome. Pollio , the surname of a Romilius who lived in the time of Augustus , was derived from the occupation of the bearer, a polisher of arms or armour. Romulus Romulus ( / ˈ r ɒ m j ʊ l ə s / , Classical Latin : [ˈroːmʊɫʊs] ) was the legendary founder and first king of Rome . Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of these traditions incorporate elements of folklore , and it

3885-519: The Odyssey suggests that the latter was originally pronounced Wilios . These names seem to date back to the Bronze Age, as suggested by Hittite records which refer to a city in northwest Anatolia called Wilusa ( 𒌷𒃾𒇻𒊭 ) or Truwisa ( 𒆳𒌷𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ) which is generally identified with the site of Hisarlık, near Tevfikiye . In Greek myth, these names were held to originate from

3990-642: The Celeres , "the swift", and formed the royal bodyguard. Choosing one hundred men from the leading families, Romulus established the Roman senate . These men he called patres , the city fathers; their descendants came to be known as " patricians ", forming one of the two major social classes at Rome. The other class, known as the " plebs " or "plebeians", consisted of the servants, freedmen, fugitives who sought asylum at Rome, those captured in war, and others who were granted Roman citizenship over time. To encourage

4095-688: The Istanbul Archaeology Museum . Almost all the precious metal objects that went to Berlin were confiscated by the Soviet Union in 1945 and are now in Pushkin Museum in Moscow . Even in his own time Schliemann's legacy was controversial because of his excavation methods which included removing features he considered insignificant without first studying and documenting them. Wilhelm Dörpfeld (1893–1894) began working

4200-405: The 1788 Prix de Rome was the death of Tatius ( La mort de Tatius ). Garnier won the contest. Troy Troy ( Ancient Greek : Τροία , romanized :  Troíā ; Latin : Trōia ; Hittite : 𒆳𒌷𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 , romanized:  Truwiša / Taruiša ) or Ilion ( Ancient Greek : Ίλιον , romanized :  Ī́lion , Hittite : 𒌷𒃾𒇻𒊭 , romanized:  Wiluša )

4305-503: The Ancient Near East. Troy II was destroyed twice. After the first destruction, the citadel was rebuilt with a dense cluster of small houses on an irregular plan. The final destruction took place around 2300 BC. While some scholars have linked this destruction to a broader crisis that affected other Near Eastern sites, there is no definitive evidence for the city having been destroyed by an attack. Troy II

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4410-483: The Bronze Age city were destroyed by the Greeks' building projects, notably the peak of the citadel where the Troy VI palace is likely to have stood. By the classical era , the city had numerous temples, a theater, among other public buildings, and was once again expanding to the south of the citadel. Troy VIII was destroyed in 85 BC, and subsequently rebuilt as Troy IX. A series of earthquakes devastated

4515-435: The Bronze Age they would have been overlaid with wood and mudbrick superstructures, reaching a height over 9 metres (30 ft). The walls were built in a "sawtooth" style made of 7–10 metres (23–33 ft) segments which joined at shallow angles. This characteristic is common in the walls of Mycenaean citadels, though at Troy it is also found in other buildings, suggesting that it may have been decorative. The walls also have

4620-493: The Mycenaean palaces . The destruction layer shows evidence of enemy attack, including scorch marks. After the destruction of Troy VIIa around 1180 BC, the city was rebuilt as Troy VIIb. Older structures were again reused, including Troy VI's citadel walls. Its first phase, Troy VIIb1, appears to be largely a continuation of Troy VIIa. Residents continued using wheel-made Grey Ware pottery alongside

4725-603: The Rape of the Sabine Women , and the subsequent war with the Sabines ; a period of joint rule with Titus Tatius ; the establishment of various Roman institutions; the death or apotheosis of Romulus, and the succession of Numa Pompilius . According to Roman mythology , Romulus and Remus were the sons of Rhea Silvia by the god Mars . Their maternal grandfather was Numitor , the rightful king of Alba Longa , through whom

4830-415: The Romans, Rome was the institutions and traditions they credit to their legendary founder, the first "Roman". The legend as a whole encapsulates Rome's ideas of itself, its origins and moral values. For modern scholarship, it remains one of the most complex and problematic of all foundation myths. Ancient historians had no doubt that Romulus gave his name to the city. Most modern historians believe his name

4935-500: The Romilii known from history or inscriptions are Titus , Lucius , and Gaius , all of which were common throughout Roman history. Denter , the cognomen assigned to the first praefectus urbi , referred to someone with prominent teeth, while Rocus , from raucus , designated someone with a loud, deep, or hoarse voice. Vaticanus belongs to a class of surnames derived from a person's place of origin or residence, in this case

5040-445: The Romilii vanish from history for several centuries after the time of the decemvirs, it may not be possible to prove whether the Romilii were patrician or plebeian. The Romilii mentioned in imperial times may well have been plebeians; but most patrician gentes eventually acquired plebeian branches, often descended from freedmen or newly enfranchised citizens, who assumed the nomina of their patrons. The only praenomina associated with

5145-500: The Romulus myths were an exercise in mockery, they were a signal failure. The episodes which make up the legend, most significantly that of the rape of the Sabine women , the tale of Tarpeia , and the death of Tatius have been a significant part of ancient Roman scholarship and the frequent subject of art, literature and philosophy since ancient times. In the late 16th century, the wealthy Magnani family from Bologna commissioned

5250-464: The Sabine women, and the only one already married. He also mentions that some authorities make Hersilia the wife of Hostus Hostilius , rather than Romulus. Two children are attributed to Romulus in Plutarch: a daughter, Prima, and a son, Avillius, but here Plutarch notes that his source, Zenodotus of Troezen, is widely disputed. Livy , Dionysius , and Plutarch rely on Quintus Fabius Pictor as

5355-480: The Terrace House was not renovated when it was adopted as a cult center and thus must have been used in a ruined state, potentially suggesting that the occupants of Troy VIIb3 were deliberately re-engaging with their past. Troy VIIb was destroyed by fire around 950 BC. However, some houses in the citadel were left intact and the site continued to be occupied, if only sparsely. Troy VIII

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5460-644: The Tiber , near where they had been exposed as infants, but disagreed on the site of their new city. Each took up station on a different hill, and awaited an omen to decide between them. Remus sighted six vultures over the Aventine Hill, then Romulus saw a flight of twelve above the Palatine Hill. Remus argued for the Aventine based on priority, Romulus the Palatine based on number. The conflict escalated, and Romulus or one of his followers killed Remus. In

5565-551: The Troy I level. From 2006 until 2012, these excavations continued under the direction of Korfmann's colleague Ernst Pernicka, with a new digging permit. In 2013, an international team made up of cross-disciplinary experts led by William Aylward, an archaeologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was to carry out new excavations. This activity was to be conducted under the auspices of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University and

5670-612: The accuracy of C 14 dating . Troy 0 is a pre-Bronze Age layer known from limited finds of pottery shards and wooden beams. It is tentatively dated to c.  3600–3500 BC but little is known about it. Troy I was founded around 3000 BC on what was then the eastern shore of a shallow lagoon. It was significantly smaller than later settlements at the site, with a citadel covering less than 1 ha . However, it stood out from its neighbours in particular for its massive limestone fortifications which were regularly renovated and strengthened. Defensive architecture would continue to be

5775-513: The center were large megaron-style buildings around a courtyard which was likely used for public events. One of these buildings, Megaron IIA, is the biggest known building of its kind in the Aegean-Anatolian region. The citadel was protected by massive stone walls and towers topped with mudbrick superstructures. It was accessed through two ramps, one of which is well preserved and attracts attention from modern day tourists. Because

5880-472: The chief rival to Roman power over the next three centuries. Romulus defeated Veii's army, but found the city too well defended to besiege, and instead ravaged the countryside. After a reign of thirty-seven years, Romulus is said to have disappeared in a whirlwind during a sudden and violent storm, as he was reviewing his troops on the Campus Martius . Livy says that Romulus was either murdered by

5985-408: The citadel, covering an area of roughly 30 hectares. Remains of a dense neighborhood have been found just outside the citadel walls, and traces of Bronze Age occupation have been found further away. These include huts, stone paving, threshing floors, pithoi, and waste left behind by Bronze Age industry such as murex shells associated with the manufacture of purple dye. The extent of the lower town

6090-501: The city around 500 AD, though finds from the Late Byzantine era attest to continued habitation at a small scale. Early modern travellers in the 16th and 17th centuries, including Pierre Belon and Pietro Della Valle , had mistakenly identified Troy with Alexandria Troas , a ruined Hellenistic town approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Hisarlık. In the late 18th century, Jean Baptiste LeChevalier identified

6195-437: The city was not large enough to require two gates for practical purposes, some archaeologists have speculated that one of the gates was intended for ceremonial processions. The lower city was protected by a wooden palisade unlike any other known in that era. It was a complex structure nearly 3 meters wide, with interior buttresses and columns and beams secured in notches cut into the bedrock. Wheel-made pottery appears at

6300-477: The classical-era remains and led to their subsequent partnership. In 1868, German businessman Heinrich Schliemann visited Calvert, and secured permission to excavate Hisarlık. At this point in time, the mound was about 200 meters long and somewhat less than 150 meters wide. It rose 31.2 meters above the plain and 38.5 meters above sea level. As with Calvert and others, in April 1870 Schliemann began by excavating

6405-656: The coast of the Aegean Sea at the Bay of Troy. Possible evidence of a battle was found in the form of bronze arrowheads and fire-damaged human remains buried in layers dated to the early 12th century BC. The question of Troy VI's status in the Bronze-Age world was the subject of a sometimes acerbic debate between Korfmann and the Tübingen historian Frank Kolb in 2001–2002. One of the major discoveries of these excavations

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6510-464: The consuls in the years preceding the Decemvirate were in fact plebeians, and that the consulship was not formally closed to the plebeians until after the decemvirs had been overthrown. A similar objection has been made with respect to the decemvirs; while plebeians are not supposed to have been included in the first college, it has been argued that some of the decemvirs bore plebeian names. Since

6615-479: The crown after he sacrificed and prayed to Jupiter , and after receiving favourable omens. Romulus divided the populace into three tribes , known as the Ramnes , Titienses , and Luceres , for taxation and military purposes. Each tribe was presided over by an official known as a tribune , and was further divided into ten curia , or wards, each presided over by an official known as a curio . Romulus also allotted

6720-445: The defeat of the Latin towns, the Sabines, under the leadership of Titus Tatius , marshalled their forces and advanced upon Rome. They gained control of the citadel by bribing Tarpeia , the daughter of the Roman commander charged with its defense. Without the advantage of the citadel, the Romans were obliged to meet the Sabines on the battlefield. The Sabines advanced from the citadel, and fierce fighting ensued. The nearby Lacus Curtius

6825-559: The eastern Aegean and southeastern Europe. Troy itself appears to have maintained these connections, showing similarities to sites in Thessaly and southeastern Europe, as well as Aegean sites such as Poliochni in Lemnos and Thermi in Lesbos . Despite some connections to Anatolian sites including Bademağacı , it did not yet have the close ties with central Anatolia seen later. Troy I

6930-575: The evidence that hadn't already decomposed, been built over, or reused in later construction . The material culture of Troy VI appears to belong to a distinct Northwest Anatolian cultural group, with influences from the Aegean and the Balkans. The primary local pottery styles were wheel-made Tan Ware and Anatolian Gray Ware. Both styles were offshoots of an earlier Middle Helladic tradition related to Minyan Ware . The earliest gray ware at Troy

7035-468: The first several sublayers of Troy VII were in fact continuations of the earlier city. Although some scholars have proposed revising the nomenclature to reflect this consensus, the original terms are typically used to avoid confusion. Troy VI existed from around 1750 BC to 1300 BC. Its citadel was divided into a series of rising terraces, of which only the outermost is reasonably well-preserved. On this terrace, archaeologists have found

7140-505: The function of regional capital, its status protected by treaties. Aspects of its architecture are consistent with the Iliad 's description of mythic Troy, and several of its sublayers (VIh and VIIa) show potential signs of violent destruction. Thus, these sublayers are among the candidates for a potential historical setting of those myths. Troy VI and VII were given separate labels by early excavators, but current research has shown that

7245-470: The ground. Troy VIIa seems to have been built by survivors of Troy VI's destruction, as evidenced by continuity in material culture. However, the character of the city appears to have changed, the citadel growing crowded and foreign imports declining. The city was destroyed around 1180 BC, roughly contemporary with the Late Bronze Age collapse but subsequent to the destruction of

7350-524: The growth of the city, Romulus outlawed infanticide, and established an asylum for fugitives on the Capitoline Hill . Here freemen and slaves alike could claim protection and seek Roman citizenship. The new city was filled with colonists, most of whom were young, unmarried men. While fugitives seeking asylum helped the population grow, single men greatly outnumbered women. With no intermarriage taking place between Rome and neighboring communities,

7455-422: The hill of Hisarlık. Its discovery led to a dramatic reassessment of Troy VI, showing that it was over 16 times larger than had been assumed, and thus a major city with a large population rather than a mere aristocratic residence. However, only 2–3% of the lower city had been excavated as of 2013, and few architectural features are likely to exist. Almost 2m of the surface has eroded, likely removing much of

7560-578: The indigenous god of the Sabine population. As the Sabines had not had a king of their own since the death of Titus Tatius, the next king of Rome, Numa Pompilius , was chosen from among the Sabines. Various sources state that Romulus had a wife, Hersilia . In Livy, following the defeat of the Caeninenses and the Antemnates, the Sabine women begged Hersilia to intercede with her husband on behalf of their families so that they would be received into

7665-519: The latter part of the fourth century BC. This hypothesis is rejected by other scholars, such as Tim Cornell (1995), who notes that by this period, the story of Romulus and Remus had already assumed its standard form, and was widely accepted at Rome. Other elements of the Romulus mythos clearly resemble common elements of folk tale and legend, and thus strong evidence that the stories were both old and indigenous. Likewise, Momigliano finds Strasburger's argument well-developed, but entirely implausible; if

7770-455: The legends . Subsequent excavations by others have added to the modern understanding of the site, though the exact relationship between myth and reality remains unclear and there is no definitive evidence for a Greek attack on the city. In Classical Greek , the city was referred to as both Troia ( Τροία ) and Ilion ( Ἴλιον ) or Ilios ( Ἴλιος ). Metrical evidence from the Iliad and

7875-526: The megaron at Midea in the Argolid . Archaeologists believe there may have been a royal palace on the highest terrace, but most Bronze Age remains from the top of the hill were cleared away by classical era building projects. The citadel was enclosed by a massive wall whose limestone base is visible to modern day visitors. These walls were periodically renovated, expanding from an initial width of 1.2 to 5 metres (3.9 to 16.4 ft) around 1400 BC. During

7980-539: The names of the kingdom's founders, Tros and his son Ilus . In Latin , the city was referred to as Troia or Ilium . In Turkish , it is generally known as Troya or Truva . The archaeological site of Troy consists of the hill of Hisarlık and the fields below it to the south. The hill is a tell , composed of strata containing the remains left behind by more than three millennia of human occupation. The primary divisions among layers are designated with Roman numerals , Troy I representing

8085-408: The new city would eventually fail. Romulus sent envoys to neighboring towns, appealing to them to allow intermarriage with Roman citizens, but his overtures were rebuffed. Romulus formulated a plan to acquire women from other settlements. He announced a momentous festival and games , and invited the people of the neighboring cities to attend. Many did, in particular the Sabines , who came in droves. At

8190-513: The oldest layer and Troy IX representing the most recent. Sublayers are distinguished with lowercase letters (e.g. VIIa and VIIb) and further subdivisions with numbers (e.g. VIIb1 and VIIb2). An additional major layer known as Troy 0 predates the layers which were initially given Roman numeral designations. The layers have been given relative dates by comparing artifacts found in them to those found at other sites. However, precise absolute dates are not always possible due to limitations in

8295-525: The previous. Archaeologists refer to these layers using Roman numerals. Among the early layers, Troy II is notable for its wealth and imposing architecture. During the Late Bronze Age , Troy was called Wilusa and was a vassal of the Hittite Empire . The final layers (Troy VIII-IX) were Greek and Roman cities which in their days served as tourist attractions and religious centers because of their link to mythic tradition. The archaeological site

8400-455: The remains of freestanding multistory houses where Trojan elites would have lived. These houses lacked ground-floor windows, and their stone exterior walls mirrored the architecture of the citadel fortifications. However, they otherwise display an eclectic mix of architectural styles, some following the classic megaron design, others even having irregular floorplans. Some of these houses show potential Aegean influence, one in particular resembling

8505-402: The second layer, Troy II, corresponded to the city of legend, though later research has shown that it predated the Mycenaean era by several hundred years. Significant finds included many "owl-headed idols" and stone axes from the lower levels. Some of the most notable artifacts found by Schliemann are known as Priam's Treasure , after the legendary Trojan king . Many of these ended up in

8610-401: The senators, torn apart out of jealousy, or was raised to heaven by Mars, god of war. Livy believes the last theory regarding the legendary king's death, as it allows the Romans to believe that the gods are on their side, a reason for them to continue expansion under Romulus' name. Romulus acquired a cult following, which later became assimilated with the cult of Quirinus , perhaps originally

8715-406: The shepherds and hill-folk. After becoming involved in a conflict between the followers of Amulius and those of their grandfather Numitor, Faustulus told them of their origin. With the help of their friends, they lured Amulius into an ambush and killed him, restoring their grandfather to the throne. The princes then set out to establish a city of their own. They returned to the hills overlooking

8820-458: The site 1932–38. Wilhelm Dörpfeld collaborated with Blegen. These archaeologists, though following Schliemann's lead, added a professional approach not available to Schliemann. He showed that there were at least nine cities. In his research, Blegen came to a conclusion that Troy's nine levels could be further divided into forty-six sublevels, which he published in his main report. A post hoc Correspondence Analysis of Blegen's pottery sequence showed

8925-447: The site alongside Schliemann and later inherited excavation at the site and published his own independent work. His chief contributions were to the study of Troy VI and VII, which Schliemann had overlooked due to his focus on Troy II. Dörpfeld's interest in these layers was triggered by the need to close a hole in the initial excavators' chronology known as "Calvert's Thousand Year Gap". During his excavation, Dörpfeld came across

9030-550: The site for the first time, along with caches of treasures that attest to Trojan participation in networks of aristocratic competition. These items were made from amber imported from the Baltic region , carnelian imported from India , and lapis imported from Afghanistan . Some of these items are strikingly similar to those found at sites such as Poliochni and Ur , leading some scholars to speculate that they may have been made by itinerant jewelers who worked routes covering much of

9135-408: The site were trenches by British civil engineer John Brunton in 1855. The next excavation at Hisarlık was conducted in 1865 by Frank Calvert , a Turkish Levantine man of English descent who owned a farm nearby. Calvert made extensive surveys of the site and correctly identified it with classical-era Ilion. This identification convinced Heinrich Schliemann that Homeric Troy should be sought beneath

9240-414: The southern walls. Artifacts from this era include dark colored handmade pottery, objects made of copper, as well as a monumental stone stele with a relief depicting an armed warrior. Troy I was founded as part of a consolidation of settlement in the area. Its founders came from nearby towns such as Kumtepe and Gülpınar , which had been part of an earlier network that had cultural and economic ties to

9345-403: The state rather than slain by Roman arms. In Dionysius, Hersilia was herself one of the Sabine women, and the only one who was already married at the time of her abduction. Dionysius explains that she was either mistaken for a virgin, or, he thinks more probably, that she was the mother of one of those abducted, and refused to abandon her daughter. Plutarch also relates that Hersilia was one of

9450-480: The sublayer known as Troy VIh. Damage in the Troy VIh layer includes extensive collapsed masonry and subsidence in the southeast of the citadel, indicative of an earthquake . Alternative hypotheses include an internal uprising as well as a foreign attack, though the city was not burned and no victims were found in the debris. Troy VIIa was the final layer of the Late Bronze Age city. It

9555-474: The twins were descended from both the Trojan hero Aeneas , and Latinus , the king of Latium . Before the twins' birth, Numitor's throne had been usurped by his brother, Amulius , who murdered Numitor's son or sons, and condemned Rhea Silvia to perpetual virginity by consecrating her a Vestal . When Rhea became pregnant, she asserted that she had been visited by the god Mars. Amulius imprisoned her, and upon

9660-529: The twins' birth, ordered that they be thrown into the Tiber . But as the river had been swollen by rain, the servants tasked with disposing of the infants could not reach its banks, and so exposed the twins beneath a fig tree at the foot of the Palatine Hill . In the traditional account, a she-wolf happened upon the twins, and suckled them until they were found by the king's herdsman, Faustulus , and his wife, Acca Larentia . The brothers grew to manhood among

9765-423: The two armies, pleading on the one hand with their fathers and brothers, and on the other with their husbands, to set aside their arms and come to terms. The leaders of each side met and made peace. They formed one community, to be jointly ruled by Romulus and Tatius. The two kings presided over the growing city of Rome for a number of years, before Tatius was slain in a riot at Lavinium , where he had gone to make

9870-585: The whole issue as the mythography of an unusually problematic foundation and early history. The unsavoury elements of many of the myths concerning Romulus have led some scholars to describe them as "shameful" or "disreputable". In antiquity such stories became part of anti-Roman and anti-pagan propaganda. More recently, the historian Hermann Strasburger postulated that these were never part of authentic Roman tradition, but were invented and popularized by Rome's enemies, probably in Magna Graecia , during

9975-440: Was Romulius Denter, said to have been appointed praefectus urbi by Romulus himself. That the Romilii were patricians is inferred from the fact that Vaticanus was consul in 455, while the plebeians were excluded from the consulship until the lex Licinia Sextia of 367 BC; and from his election to the first college of decemvirs, all of whom are supposed to have been patricians. However, historians have long suspected that some of

10080-482: Was a major Late Bronze Age city consisting of a steep fortified citadel and a sprawling lower town below it. It was a thriving coastal city with a considerable population, equal in size to second-tier Hittite settlements. It had a distinct Northwest Anatolian culture and extensive foreign contacts, including with Mycenaean Greece , and its position at the mouth of the Dardanelles has been argued to have given it

10185-404: Was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlık (near Tevfikiye ), Turkey . The place was first settled around 3600 BC and grew into a small fortified city around 3000 BC. During its four thousand years of existence, Troy was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. As a result, the archeological site that has been left is divided into nine layers , each corresponding to a city built on the ruins of

10290-568: Was built soon after the destruction of Troy VI, seemingly by its previous inhabitants. The builders reused many of the earlier city's surviving structures, notably its citadel wall, which they renovated with additional stone towers and mudbrick breastworks. Numerous small houses were added inside the citadel, filling in formerly open areas. New houses were also built in the lower city, whose area appears to have been greater in Troy VIIa than in Troy VI. In many of these houses, archaeologists found enormous storage jars called pithoi buried in

10395-623: Was commemorated annually on April 21, with the festival of the Parilia . Romulus' first act was to fortify the Palatine with the Murus Romuli , in the course of which he made a sacrifice to the gods. He laid out the city's boundaries with a furrow that he ploughed, performed another sacrifice, and with his followers set to work building the city itself. Romulus sought the assent of the people to become their king. With Numitor's help, he addressed them and received their approval. Romulus accepted

10500-655: Was destroyed around 1050 BC after an apparent earthquake. Troy VIIb3 dates from the Protogeometric era. No new builds were constructed, so its existence is known primarily from artifacts found in the West Sanctuary and terraces on south side of mound. These areas were excavated in the 1990s, surprising the archaeologists who had assumed that the site was abandoned until the Archaic Era. Locally made neck-handled amphoras shows that Troy still had

10605-504: Was destroyed by fire around 2550 BC. Troy II was built around 2550 BC. Although there is no evidence of a cultural break after the previous settlement, the new city had a very different character. It was twice the size of the preceding city, featuring a lower town as well as an expanded citadel divided into two precincts. These precincts, divided by colonnades , suggest growing socio-political stratification in Trojan society. At

10710-544: Was founded during the Greek Dark Ages and lasted until the Roman era . Though the site had never been entirely abandoned, its redevelopment as a major city was spurred by Greek immigrants who began building around 700 BC. During the Archaic period , the city's defenses once again included the reused citadel wall of Troy VI. Later on, the walls became tourist attractions and sites of worship. Other remains of

10815-709: Was made in Aegean shapes, though by 1700 BC it had been replaced by Anatolian shapes. Foreign pottery found at the site includes Minoan, Mycenaean, Cypriot, and Levantine items. Local potters also made their own imitations of foreign styles, including Gray Ware and Tan Ware pots made in Mycenaean-style shapes, particularly after 1500 BC. Although the city appears to have been within the Hittite sphere of influence, no Hittite artifacts have been found in Troy VI. Also notably absent are sculptures and wall paintings, otherwise common features of Bronze Age cities. Troy VI

10920-475: Was swiftly put to flight, and the town taken. After personally defeating and slaying the prince of Caenina in single combat, Romulus stripped him of his armour, becoming the first to claim the spolia opima , and vowed to build a temple to Jupiter Feretrius . Antemnae and Crustumerium were conquered in turn. Some of their people, chiefly the families of the abducted women, were allowed to settle in Rome. Following

11025-484: Was the Troy VI–VII lower city. This lower town had a wide anti-chariot defensive ditch backed by a wooden palisade. Added to the citadel this lower town would have brought Troy up to an area of around 200,000 square meters. This discovery led to a major reinterpretation of the site, which had previously been regarded as a small aristocratic residence rather than a major settlement. A number of radiocarbon dates, from charcoal samples, were obtained from various phases of

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