The City Of Cities

T roy, saddled with a conflict- ridden image since ancient times, has become the site of a fresh battle to preserve the former city's
spectacular history for posterity.

The Greek poet Homer secured Troy's place in the popular imagination with the Iliad classic recounting the Trojan Wars. A series of other battles, such as the Gallipoli campaign in 1915, and the
designation of the surrounding area as a military zone during the Cold War, reinforced its belligerent reputation.

Now an initiative is underway to protect Troy's legacy against the modern threat of neglect and pollution, and maintain it as place for peaceful research and reflection.

German professor Manfred Korfmann of Tuebingen University has headed the archaeological digging team in Troy for 19 years and over that time developed a vision of the site's future: "The Trojan wars
should come to an end. Troy should cease to be remembered with wars, it's time for Troy to become a place where cultures meet with nature in peace".

A new system is aimed at helping the visitors' understanding of a city which accrued eight layers, sandwiched one on top of the other, during ancient times. The plan builds on a preservation
initiative launched in 1996 when the Turkish government declared a national park in the area around Troy and adjacent ancient ruins. Korfmann said the park's establishment was a crucial step in the
Troy Project. "This will ensure that the entire geography of Homer is preserved in its original form," he said.

During the Cold War era, Troy and its environs were protected by their status as a military zone because of the proximity of the strategically-important Dardanelles Strait. The collapse of the Soviet
superpower in 1991 brought an end to this status and the region has been plagued since by hasty construction in the virgin countryside.

Potentially the most serious threat to the site comes from chemical pollution in the Meander River which pours into the sea just a few kilometres south of Troy. Environmentalists say the pollution
could leave parts of the Troy National Park, established after an initiative by President Suleyman Demirel, looking desert-like within the next 100 years, killing wildlife and vegetation.

The landscape has already changed sharply in recent years. Holiday resorts have been erected in ancient coastal villages near Troy and two cement factories have been built 

within the national park's boundaries -adding to environmental concerns.

"The physical existence of the holiday resorts is nothing when compared with facilities like road, electricity and water for them," said Murat Yasar, an architect in Korfmann's team. But Korfmann and
his team expressed optimism about the future of the site, adding that they had strong support from Turkish officials, local people and the business community.

Three millennia of Trojan history are visible at the site in the form of a 15-metre (50-foot) hill, made from layers of clay buildings which were simply flattened and built on by later generations. A
colour scheme distinguishes between eight periods in Troy's history and visitors are presented with information in Turkish, German and English.

In Homer's Iliad, Troy, dubbed the "city of cities" was the birthplace of Aeneas, in mythology a forefather of Rome's founder.

The Roman Emperor Augustus proclaimed himself a Trojan in 20 BC when opening a theatre which he had built there. That ancient theatre, now reconstructed, is among the archaeological treasures at the
site. "There is reason to believe that Virgil's Aeneid was first staged here on that night," said Korfmann.

The professor announced plans to bring the archaeological treasures to a wider audience. His team plans to open an exhibition in Europe early in the new millennium consisting of all the Troy findings
in Turkey.

Heinrich Schliemann unearthed the renowned Troy Treasure in the 1870s. Exhibitions in several European cities display parts of what is still known as "Priam's Treasure" although it dates from an age
before the famous king from the Iliad.

The treasure itself is the source of another epic battle.

The Soviet Army carried the biggest chunk of the treasure to Moscow from Berlin at the end of World War Two.

Germany has asked Russia to return it and Turkey also has a claim to it. "Of course we also want them back as it is only natural to exhibit them in their homeland. But our utmost priority is to
preserve Troy itself," said Turkish Culture Minister Istemihan Talay.

The archaeological team also has plans for a new museum at the entrance to Troy and has established a website at

http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/ufg/troia.

The hope now, Korfmann says, is that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) will declare Troy a world heritage site.