Troas
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The Troas (Troad) is an ancient region in the northwestern part of Anatolia, bounded by the Hellespont to the northwest, the Aegean Sea to the west, and separated from the rest of Anatolia by the massif that forms Mount Ida. It is drained by two rivers, the Scamander (modern Karamenderes) and the Simois, which join at the area containing the ruins of Troy. Grenikos, Kebren, Simoeis, Rhesos, Rhodios, Heptaporos, and Aisepos were seven rivers of the Troad and the names of the river gods that inhabited each river.
The region later known as the Troad was called Wilusa by the Hittites. This identification was first put forth by Emil Forrer, but largely disputed by most Hittite experts until 1983 when Houwink ten Cate showed that two fragments were from the same original cuneiform tablet, and in his discussion of the restored letter showed that Wilusa was correctly placed in northwestern Anatolia. According to Trevor Bryce, Hittite texts indicate a number of Ahhiyawan raids on Wilusa during the 13th century BC, which may have resulted with the overthrow of king Walmu.
Bryce also reports that archeological surveys conducted by John Bintliff in the 1970s show that a powerful kingdom that held sway over northwestern Anatolia was based at Troy.
The kings of Pergamum later ceded the territory of the Troad to the Roman Republic. Under the Empire, the territory of the Troad became part of the province of Asia; under the later Byzantine Empire, it was included in the Thema of the Aegean Islands. Following its conquest by the Ottoman Empire, the Troad formed part of the sanjak of Bigha. As of 2005, Troas is part of the Turkish province of Canakkale.
See also: Alexandria Troas.
Bibliography
- Trevor Bryce. Chapter 14, "The Trojan War: Myth or Reality" in The Kingdom of the Hittites. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19924010-8de:Troas