One of the most pressing questions about the plain of Troy is simply who did all of this?
Who cut through the coast line across from Hissarlik? Who did the massive earthworks west of Kalafat? Who built a flood survivable city in the plain? Who built the famous acropolis on Hissarlik?
We all want to say that the Trojans did this stuff. And of course, we are right to say it. But when we call the city Troy and its inhabitants Trojans we are speaking as the Greeks taught us, not as the people who lived there taught us.
The Hittites may have called this place Wilusa, or Tauruisa, or Assuwa, or Ahhiyawa. But again, those are Hittite words.
In addition, the cut through the coastline, the manmade mounds west of Kalafat and the city in the plain form no part of the familiar story about Troy. Most of what I discuss on this blog has never been part of the meaning of the words Troy and Trojan.
I hope to see the meaning of those terms deepen, to include not only the geography and archeology of the plain, but also the voices of the people who lived there. May writing be found one day in the mound!
Wouldn't it be nice to know who these people were and how they thought about their world including how they thought about the Greeks and Hittites? What did they call the Hittites? What did they call the Greeks? And what did they call themselves?
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