When I went to Istanbul recently, I'm looking forward to undergo the full tourist experience and immerse myself completely in the ancient and fascinating history of the city . Known through the ages as Byzantium and Constantinople before becoming Istanbul, constantly conquered and strategically important settlement has played a major role in world history as we know, so I felt that when visiting, I would discover one of the true cradles of modern civilization.
After a few fantastic days visiting the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar, I discovered to my surprise that we are not the first modern people worldwide tourists.
Not even close. In fact, we were beaten to it by thousands of years by the ancient Romans. During a tour of Istanbul day to visit the ancient city of Troy in southern Turkey (considered by many experts as the Trojan War site, as described in the Iliad of Homer), I found to my surprise that tourism has been going there for thousands of years.
Apparently, the ancient Romans believed that Aeneas, one of the original heroes of Troy, was an ancestor of Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome. So there are about 2000 years the Romans were already flocking to Troy on organized trips, wishing that I had to discover and experience its colorful past, which already at that time in history dating back nearly 2,000 years.
Apparently, local tour guides, even at the time were using every trick in the book to relieve the Roman visitors of their hard earned Deniers, even to the point of making things up. They point to the hills and random fields and tell the hushed crowd that they were bloody battles of the sites where their ancestors had given their lives for the glorious cause. They even used to place large animal bones around the sites, take a dented helmet and a rusty sword beside them and tell the gullible visitors that these were the remains of their brave ancestors who were beaten in battle. I would not be at all surprised if the next group of archaeologists who take a shovel to the area was discovered a 2000-year gift shop with hand-carved models of Aeneas, Romulus and Remus and a range of shield sticky magnets depicting dramatic scenes of the fictional battles.
But what surprised me most was the story of the Trojan horse. Like everyone else, I had heard and knew the basic story, but I'd never really thought about the logistics until I saw a huge replica horse standing the entrance to the ruins of the ancient city.
The story goes that, after 10 years of trying to take the city of Trojans in a courteous manner, the Greeks came up with an evil plan. They build a huge hollow horse, hide a bunch of their best chaps inside, then roll to the gates of the city. At the same time the rest of the Greek army would visibly recoil and sail away on their ships, leaving behind their most convincing to persuade rogue Otherwise Trojans that the horse (the symbol of the ancient city) was a Greeks offering to the goddess Athena (the Trojans worshiped the Greek gods), intended to say sorry for the destruction of the temple in Troy and ensure good weather for the Greek fleet as it sailed away.
Apparently, even after 10 years of war and repeated warnings of the elders of the city, the military brass of Troy accepted the story at face value, gave a hearty Otherwise slap on the back and happily wheeled the horse in the city where it seems left them unattended. That night, the Greeks returned quietly to their ships, guys inside the horse jumped and opened the doors of the city, and the entire Greek army poured in Troy and chopped every man, woman and child that they could find. The war was over. How Trojans keep remote Greeks for 10 years with stupidity like that just below the surface?
And here the story comes full circle. There I was driving this story in the footsteps of millions of tourists before me, do not doubt this, when it suddenly occurred to me - does a really happen? Was there ever really a Trojan horse or even a city of Troy? Some say it's all the fantasies and the site I visited is what remains of another ancient city. Some say it's all true. But do I buy a small carved wooden horse and Troy magnet of sticky gift shop? You bet I did. Hail, Caesar!