The Sacred Troy: Travellers, Soldiers, And Politicians

After the Troy/Ilion settlement was plundered and destroyed in 1180, there was no new settlement for a long time. During the period of increasing commercial activity in the entire Mediterranean from the 8th century onwards, Greeks started establishing trading colonies in distant regions. It was in this period that they came to Hisarlık Hill (Troy/Ilion), where ruins of the Late Bronze Age were visible, and treated this place as a sacred site of settlement. After this period, Troy became a center of political and military encounter, integration, and conflict between East and West. As a result, many important historical figures came to visit Troy. Persian King Kserkes visited Troy in 480 B.C. and Alexander the Great visited the city in 334 B.C. Other Roman Emperors including Hadrian and Augustus also visited the city and made offers to the gods in the name of heroes . In 1462, Mehmed the Conqueror visited the city and called attention to the historical significance of the site. Mehmed the Conqueror's visit to Troy is narrated in a book on Mehmed's military campaigns by Critobulus of Imbros (Gökçeada), who was the official historian of the palace.