When was Troy founded, and by who?
The first city of Troy was founded in 3,000 BCE. Ilus, the son of Tros is the founder of Troy according to legend. Ilus (Ilos in Greek) is in Greek mythology the founder of the city called Ilion (latinized as Ilium) to which he gave his name. When the latter became the chief city of the Trojan people it was also often called Troy, the name by which it is best known today. Ilus was son and heir to Tros of Dardania and brother of Assaracus and Ganymede. He won the wrestling prize at games held by the King of Phrygia and received fifty youths and maidens as his reward. The king also, on the advice of an oracle, gave him a cow and asked him to found a city where it should lie down. Ilus did so. Ilus then prayed to Zeus for a sign and at once saw the Palladium fallen from heaven and lying before his tent but was immediately blinded for the impiety of looking on the image. He regained his sight after making offerings to Athena. Ilus preferred his new city of Ilium to Dardania and on his father's death he remained there, bestowing the rule of Dardania on his brother Assaracus instead and so the Trojans were split into two kingdoms.
The Troy I settlement, first discovered by Heinrich Schliemann, sits just above the bedrock, the top of the earth's crust. Therefore archaeologists assume that even though there were people living just a few miles from Troy, no one had decided to build a real town at that exact location until around 2700 BCE. Several older villages near Troy were studied by Schliemann, Carl Blegen and the current excavators. Two of the villages contained real evidence of early human settlement: Hanay Tepe and Kumtepe. Both belong to the period before the Bronze Age, called the Neolithic, or New Stone Age. During the Neolithic farming and pottery-making were in full swing. The practice of religion required some organization, but society was simply ordered compared to the Bronze Age, when the evidence suggests greater (priest, trader, ruler, craftsman, farmer, etc.) and perhaps greater difference between rich and poor. During the Neolithic period chipped stone was used more often for tools than metal. During the Bronze Age, metal tools were used more often. After any catastrophic destruction (earthquake, war, fire, plague) the people of Troy who survived usually rebuilt right away. Survivors, or victors, were in such a big hurry to rebuild that they did not bother to cart away the remains of the destroyed city. They would level things off a little, and just build on top! This explains why, after nearly 2000 years of occupation, the city was built up by about 30 feet. L8r
