Troy or Ilion was an ancient city, known as the setting for the Greek myth of the Trojan War. It was located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, 30 kilometres south-west of Çanakkale.
In Ancient Greek literature, Troy is portrayed as a powerful kingdom of the Heroic Age, a mythic era when monsters roamed the earth and gods interacted directly with humans. The city was said to have ruled the Troad until the Trojan War led to its complete destruction at the hands of the Greeks. The story of its destruction was one of the cornerstones of Greek mythology and literature, featuring prominently in the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as numerous other poems and plays. Its legacy played a large role in Greek society, with many prominent families claiming descent from those who had fought there. In the classical era, the site where legendary Troy was believed to have stood became a tourist destination.
Until the late 19th century, modern scholars regarded the Trojan War as entirely fictional. However, starting in 1871, Heinrich Schliemann and Frank Calvert excavated the site of the classical era tourist trap, under whose ruins they found the remains of earlier settlements.