Historicity of the Iliad
While researchers of the 18th century had largely rejected the story of the Trojan War as fable, the discoveries made by Heinrich Schliemann at Hisarlik reopened the question.
[8] Since Schliemann, the site has been further excavated and reappraised numerous times, with particular attention to the layers which did coexist with the Mycenaeans, known collectively as Late Bronze Age Troy.
Additional lines of research have included excavations at other sites such as Mycenae, examination of potential references to Troy in Hittite records, and philological study of the Iliad and Odyssey themselves.
No scholars now hold that the specific events of the tale (many involving divine intervention) are historical fact; however, few claim that the story is entirely devoid of memories of Mycenaean times.
[12] Martin L. West has mentioned that such an approach "misconceives" the problem, and that Troy probably fell to a much smaller group of attackers in a much shorter time.
In The World of Odysseus, Finley presents a picture of the society represented by the Iliad and the Odyssey, avoiding the question as "beside the point that the narrative is a collection of fictions from beginning to end".
In this view, no historical city of Troy existed anywhere: the name perhaps derives from a people called the Troies, who probably lived in central Greece.
The identification of the hill at Hisarlık as Troy is, in this view, a late development, following the Greek colonisation of Asia Minor during the 8th century BC.
[citation needed] Another opinion is that Homer was heir to an unbroken tradition of oral epic poetry reaching back some 500 years into Mycenaean times.
The case is set out in The Singer of Tales by Albert B. Lord, citing earlier work by folklorist and mythographer Milman Parry.
Such a historical background would explain the geographical knowledge of Hisarlık and the surrounding area, which could alternatively have been obtained, in Homer's time, by visiting the site.
Hittite texts provide evidence that Late Bronze Age Troy was indeed a regionally important city, that it was already known by variants of its later names, and that it was of political interest to Mycenaean Greeks (Ahhiyawans).
[19] The Hittite placenames Wilusa and Taruisa occurring in these texts are generally regarded as corresponding to the later Greek terms (W)ilios and Troia.
Notably, a treaty was drawn up about 1280 BCE between the Hittite king Muwatalli II and Alaksandu of Wilusa (Alexander of Ilios), guaranteed by the Wilusan patron deity Apaliunas (Apollo).
Since Piyamaradu appears to have been supported by the Ahhiyawa and these letters also mention Wilusa, these events have sometimes been interpreted as a historical basis for the Trojan War, particularly in popular literature.
Similarly, although the Tawagalawa letter alludes to a previous disagreement between the Hittites and Ahhiyawa concerning Wilusa, it gives no indication that tensions escalated beyond strongly worded cuneiform tablets.
Noted Hittiteologist Trevor Bryce cautions that our current understanding of Wilusa's history does not provide evidence for there having been an actual Trojan War since "the less material one has, the more easily it can be manipulated to fit whatever conclusion one wishes to come up with".
The geologists compared the present geology with the landscapes and coastal features described in the Iliad and other classical sources, notably Strabo's Geographia.
