Ilium
Ilium, historically associated with the ancient city of Troy, is located in the Troad region of northwestern Asia Minor, near the confluence of the Scamander and Simois rivers. This site holds significant archaeological importance due to its connection to the legendary events of the Trojan War, as depicted in Homer's *Iliad*. Archaeological excavations reveal layers of settlement dating back to the second millennium BC, showcasing its historical prominence and subsequent decline.
After a long period of relative obscurity, Ilium was revitalized by Greek settlers around 700 BC. The city gained further significance during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, becoming a center for the worship of Athena and hosting various festivals and games. It attracted notable visitors, including Alexander the Great and several Roman emperors, who acknowledged its cultural heritage and historical connections, particularly to Aeneas.
Despite experiencing destruction and neglect at different times, Ilium was rebuilt and continued to serve as a site of religious and cultural importance. The archaeological remains, including temples, theaters, and walls, illustrate its evolution through different eras, highlighting its enduring legacy in the context of ancient history.
Subject Terms
Ilium
Ilion, Troia (Troy, Hisarlik)
A town in the Troad (northwestern Asia Minor), situated on an elevation overlooking the junction of the rivers Scamander (Menderes) and Simois and the southern region of the Hellespont (Dardanelles). The significance of the place in the Bronze Age, and the glories and tragedies of the Trojan War, depicted in Homer's Iliad, are reflected by the discovery of numerous successive sites dating back to the second millennium BC. A gap of more than four hundred years separates the destruction of the last of them from the resettlement of the site by Aeolian Greeks (perhaps from Lesbos, with some Rhodian participants) shortly before 700 (`Troy VIII’). During a period of relative insignificance, Ilium derived its only importance from its (still modest) temple of Athena Ilias, visited by the Persian monarch Xerxes I (c 480). A later visitor was Alexander the Great (334), who, according to Strabo, adorned the temple with votive offerings, and gave the town city status and immunity from taxation. The center of a religious Federation (synedrion) of the Troad (from at least 305), and of an Ilian Festival and Games, it also benefited from the favor of one of Alexander's successors, Lysimachus, and began to issue silver and bronze coinage.
Ilium was subsequently visited by the Seleucid monarch Antiochus III the Great, who offered sacrifices to Athena (192). Two years later Gaius Livius Salinator, mindful of the city's connexion with Rome as the place of origin of Aeneas, inaugurated cordial relations, confirming its privileges. Nevertheless, not long afterward, Demetrius of Scepsis found the locality greatly neglected. Ilium became part of the Pergamene kingdom, but under subsequent Roman rule, during the First Mithridatic War (85), it was sacked by the disorderly troops of Gaius Flavius Fimbria.
However, the city was rebuilt by Sulla, and accorded respect by many subsequent Roman leaders. Julius Caesar was even said by Suetonius to have thought of migrating to Ilium, and its imperial visitors included Augustus (though he planned to fine its citizens for failing to help his daughter Julia when she was in danger of drowning), Germanicus (AD 17), Hadrian (who rebuilt the temple of Ajax in 124) and Caracalla (who held contests in memory of Achilles in 214). Meanwhile the local mint issued a long series of bronze coins celebrating the legendary traditions of the place and depicting its monuments, including the shrine of Athena Ilias (under Marcus Aurelius, 161–80). About AD 257, Ilium was plundered by the Goths, but when Constantine I the Great (306–37) became emperor it was said to have been one of the sites that he considered as a possible future capital before deciding on Byzantium (Constantinople) instead. Julian the Apostate came to Ilium in 355 before ascending the throne, and his letters mention a Christian bishop.
The early Greek settlers had repaired older walls and founded two modest sanctuaries, dating from the mid-seventh century, of which traces have survived. Remains of theaters and a wrestling school, of Hellenistic and Roman times (`Troy IX’), can also be seen, and the plan of the enlarged Sanctuary of Athena has been reconstructed. Strabo ascribes it to Lysimachus, to whom he likewise attributes the city's first wall, and the existence of the wall in early Hellenistic times has been confirmed by excavations.
Lysimachus was also active at Alexandria Troas, located on a sea-lagoon, seventeen miles south of Ilium. Founded c 310 BC by Antigonus I Monophthalmos—who resettled the previous inhabitants of five other towns at the place—under the name of Antigonia, the settlement was enlarged by Lysimachus and renamed Alexandria. It became a Roman colony under Augustus (c 20 BC), but an earlier coin attributable to the city bears the title `Colonia Julia’ and portrays Julius Caesar (described as princeps felix ), who had presumably inaugurated the colony—in connexion with his known favor toward Troy and its legends. Hadrian showered benefactions on Alexandria Troas, and the wealthy Athenian Herodes Atticus (d. cAD 177), at great expense, gave it an aqueduct, which has not survived. The colony's monetary issues, resuming at about the same time, concentrate largely on the cult of Apollo Smintheus, whose temple lay south of the city walls.