Excavations at the ancient city of Troy in Türkiye’s northwestern Çanakkale province are uncovering a 2,800-year-old agora, shedding new light on the city’s 5,000-year history of wars, fires and earthquakes that repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt it.

Troy is featured in Homer’s "Iliad," which tells of a 20-year war. Professor Reyhan Körpe, deputy head of the Troy excavations, said archaeologists have been working since 2014 to understand the connection between Bronze Age Troy and Ilion of the Archaic and Classical periods.

Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998, the Troy archaeological site is home to a civilization dating back 5,000 years and attracts thousands of visitors from around the world, particularly from East Asia. Excavations are being conducted under the direction of professor Rüstem Aslan, head of the Troy Excavations Committee.

The work is being carried out with permission from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, in coordination with Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University.

Troy’s oldest agora

Körpe, a faculty member in the Department of History at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, said the excavation area is located in front of the southern gate of Troy VI.

"This is the area in front of the southern gate belonging to Troy VI. Since 2014, we have been trying to understand the connection between Bronze Age Troy and Ilion of the Archaic and Classical periods,” he said.

Körpe said archaeologists believe the area served as a marketplace, or agora, during the Late Bronze Age. After Troy was abandoned, the site was revived by settlers who arrived about 80 to 90 years later.

"We can say that the area we are excavating is Troy’s oldest agora,” he said.

The remains uncovered at the site show that some sections of the Troy VI walls were reused during the Early Archaic period, with houses built on top of them. In other words, Körpe said, the marketplace of Bronze Age Troy continued to function as an agora for the people who settled there.

"Excavations in this area will continue in the coming years, and we will try to better understand this connection,” he said.

‘Troy lived on as Ilion’

Körpe said many parts of Troy were damaged during the excavations launched by Heinrich Schliemann.

Körpe said that since 2014, archaeologists have been conducting more detailed excavations in a smaller area. During the work, they uncovered a paved road and an entrance leading from the lower city toward the southern gate, as well as the agora.

Excavations have also revealed architectural remains belonging to the agora, along with amphorae and other pottery fragments dating to the Early Iron Age.

"These findings show that Troy was not abandoned for a long period after the Bronze Age,” Körpe said. He explained that newly arrived migrants appear to have settled in the area about 80 to 90 years later, building houses over earlier remains and, in some cases, on top of the old walls.

The settlers named their new settlement Ilios, or Ilion, in a place they had previously known as "Wilusa.”

"In a sense, they ensured that Troy continued to live on as Ilion,” he said.