Canakkale gained a place in history of world literature in 19th century. Not the very land area, but a sound by which the place is located. Dardanelles - the famous narrow sound separating Europe from Asia. Idol of all the contemporary European youth, George Gordon Byron swam across Dardanelles in 1809. Well, for that time, this was an outstanding achievement even for professionals. Till his very death, Byron was proud of this conduct not less than he was proud of his best poem "Harold the Child". Nowadays, a ferry crosses Dardanelles once per hour. Cars, trucks, and passengers are carried from Europe to Asia and back. The whole thing takes half an hour – just enough time to go up the upper deck and sip a cup of tea. Drinking your tea, look at the formidable waves below, and at the sky above – all these saw Lord Byron in flesh. After that, remember that Dardanelle is the only sound on Earth that once got... whipped!
It happened 26 centuries ago. Persian army tried to cross Dardanelles to get to Greece. Greeks were very worried about the enemy, for strength of the latter was more than enough to defeat the former.
So, right where students wait for their ferry nowadays (it is normal in Turkey to study in Europe while living in Asia), Persian King Xerx once had looked at the sea. The first attempt had totally failed, for the sea had completely destroyed Persian bridge made of boats. Raged, Tsar had ordered to whip the sea and throw fetters into it to claim that the sea was Xerx’ slave. The second attempt had been successful, but that had not helped Persians very much, because their army had been annihilated by Greeks, eventually. After that, the father of history, Herodotus (born in Turkey) proclaimed,
"Gods won’t stand if anyone excepts themselves want to stay too high!"
INFORMATION
The Dardanelles (Turkish: Çanakkale Bogaz?, Greek: Δαρδαν?λλια, Dardanellia), formerly known as the Hellespont (Greek: Eλλ?σποντος, Hellespontos), is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is located at approximately 40°13′N, 26°26′E. The strait is 61 kilometers (38 mi) long but only 1.2 to 6 kilometers (0.75 to 4 mi) wide, averaging 55 meters (180 ft) deep with a maximum depth of 82 meters (300 ft). Water flows in both directions along the strait, from the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean via a surface current and in the opposite direction via an undercurrent.
Like the Bosporus, it separates Europe (in this case the Gallipoli peninsula) and the mainland of Asia. The strait is an International waterway, and together with the Bosporus, Dardanelles connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.
The Turkish name Çanakkale Bogaz? is derived from the major city adjoining the strait, Çanakkale (which takes its name from its famous castles; kale means "castle"). The name Dardanelles derives from Dardania, an ancient Greek city on the Asian shore of the strait.
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788–19 April 1824), commonly known as Lord Byron, was an English poet and a leading figure in Romanticism. Among Lord Byron's best-known works are the narrative poems Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Don Juan. The latter remained incomplete on his death. He is regarded as one of the greatest European poets and remains widely read and influential, both in the English speaking world and beyond.
Lord Byron's fame rests not only on his writings but also on his life, which featured extravagant living, numerous love affairs, debts, separation, allegations of homosexuality and martial exploits. He was famously described by Lady Caroline Lamb as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know." Byron served as a regional leader of Italy's revolutionary organization the Carbonari in its struggle against Austria, and later travelled to fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Greek War of Independence, for which Greeks revere him as a national hero. He died from a febrile illness in Messolonghi.
His daughter Ada Lovelace, notable in her own right, collaborated with Charles Babbage on the analytical engine, a predecessor to modern computers.
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We stayed the night in Canakkale, in a three-star hotel located on the very seacoast. The embankment is not spacious, yet it is very cosy. About 2 km of the sea shore are occupied by various hotels. Mussel pilaf sellers stand at the road where tourists and locals – mainly, lovers – love to walk. For 0,5 Lira, you will be given a half of a big mussel with rice and a lemon slice. Ineffably tasty thing! An additional pleasure will be given by the sea-odour which seems to fill impregnate everything. It is mixed with strong odour of pine, for pine-trees have been planted on the Asian coast of Dardanelles for many years. Retired Turks especially like settling in the pines, because this area is still quiet and clean. Tourists have not reached to this place, yet. Newly married couples are the other part of local contingent. It is very prestigious to celebrate your honey-moon in pines on Dardanelles coast.
There is another curious thing that has arrived at Canakkale just recently. It is the Trojan horse. Admittedly, it is plastic. Remember the "Troy" movie with Brad Pitt starring. Here, the film was not made in Turkey where actual Troy had been. Turks were very insulted by that. To apologize, the Hollywood guys decided to present the horse to Canakkale. So, now, it is standing here, on the embankment...
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To-day, Canakkale is a little modern town with a graveyard that is sacred for all Turks – soldiers died during World War I are buried here. Every year New Zealanders, Australians and Canadians come here to show respect to their relatives who were killed during that horrible war too. Turks feel piety to all the veterans. All the graves are looked after and clean...
Having passed the cemetery, we went to the legendary Troy.
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Nanny-goats’ bells keep ringing near the ancient ruins. Temperature is 20 degrees centigrade, and Aegean Sea is visible from Troy hills. It is late November. Omnipresent cats are playing around...
"Only locals knew where Troy was for many years", our guide tells, "But one day, an adventurer Schliemann having read "The Iliad" got desperate to find the treasures of Troy. He had been to America, by that time, but could not earn anything there. Then, he asked permission from the Sultan, and started digging. That was a barbarous digging, for Schliemann’s aim was just to find the treasure. And... he reaches his goal! He found crates filled with gems and gold. Afterwards, he quarried with his wife, originally Greek, and she decided to poison him to become the only owner of the treasure...
...Of course, all these only barely coincide with historical truth, but Turks in general have rich imagination. They like exaggerating, probably having inherited this trait from the ancient people who had lived here and who had been the authors of Ancient Greek and Asia Minor myths. In fact, Schliemann was not an adventurer. He was an amateur archaeologist totally engaged in Hellenism. He did not want to earn no money; on the contrary, he worked many years to gather enough funds to start the digging. In addition, he was seeking for mere location of Troy rather than for treasures or stuff. Troy’s actual name was "Ilion", that where "Iliad" – the Ilion song took its name from. Schliemann spent long months looking for Troy and overcoming all the obstacles Turkish administration put to him till he finally found it. Oh, that was a sensation! In 19th century, nobody believed that there had been such thing as Troy. People thought, it had been an ingenious fiction of Homer.
A safe bet that the poem is ingenious, but not all of it is a fiction. The war itself had happened in reality. Archaeologists who have been in that digging since Schliemann’s time, and show no intention of departing even now, confirm that Troy really had been under the siege. Moreover, not for once. The city was rebuilt for 9 times! Come, and you will see it in flesh. Therefore, tourists who visit this place see not one Troy, but nine of them! In total, as many as thirty Troy’s, most of which are apparent only to archaeologists, had been here. Ulysses had attacked only one of them – number 6...
"Look, horse!" ever-calm Koreans shout, "it’s Trojan horse!" Amazingly, these manage to walk without breaking their order even in such hilly landscape.
The go up the steps inside the wooden horse. Well, this horse, though not as young as us, is only 70 years old. From the same wooden beast did the Achaeans enter the fortress.
Well, there had been actually 12 soldiers inside the horse rather than hundred, as in Hollywood movie. That’s what Homer says. Scientists (with whom I am of the same opinion after having been to Troy) claim that... Sit down, please, and prepare yourself. Safer for health, like this.
There had never been a horse. There simply could not be such a thing.
Troy city gate is rather small in size. Therefore, it would have been simply impossible to move anything where even three men could hide through it. So, that horse issue had been completely devised by Homer who had lived in 8th century B.C. I shall remind you, the war mentioned happened in 12th century B.C. Oh, by the way, are you still sitting? Do not get up if so, or sit down again if you have stood up without permission. The point is that during the war described in "Iliad" Troy had not been captured. Neither had it been demolished or set on fire. All these happened much later, according to gods’ will, like people used to think in those times. Good old earthquake – and there’s no Troy around. Finally, nobody died. People abandoned Ilion in the very beginning – right in time.
Well, "what the hell!" people think watching this little unremarkable town. "What’s so special about it that hundreds of our ancestors kept running to and fro around poor Troy shooting arrows and slaughtering each other?" The reason is eternal. It’s money. Troy’s location was uniquely fitting for trade. That’s why Achaeans tried to capture this town, from where sea trade could easily be controlled. Well, time set peace among all...
As it usually happens, the town was not forgotten at once. Even Alexander the Great, who knew where Troy had been, visited this place one day and sacrificed animals before his Asian campaign. Romans in their Empire period used to cover their stone seats with marble. During Emperor Constantine rule, they seriously considered moving the capital from Rome to Troy. Though, later they decided that the Bosphorous is strategically more suitable, which turned out to be correct. Incorrect was what they did with Troy – Constantine ordered to take the marble plates from here and bring them to Constantinople that was under construction. Ironically, they understood that this place was Troy only after the plates had been taken away. Local peasants heard that Romans built a city on the Bosphorous, and paid a lot for the marble plates, and started to deconstruct temples and buildings of Troy. Constantine heard about that and asked with curiosity,
"Where you peasants take these finely made marble plates from?"
Simple-minded locals confessed, and added that they had lots of such plates down there in Troy.
Bit by bit, people who had settled near the dilapidated town also abandoned this place. As late as in 19th century, Schliemann made the glorious Troy – all the 9 Ilion’s – revive. Whereas now, in 21st century, tourists walk watching the ruins, and local peasants work on the field where insane Achilles had killed brave Hector...
INFORMATION
Homer (ancient Greek: ?μηρος, Homeros) is an ancient Greek epic poet, traditionally considered the author of the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. No reliable biographical information about Homer survives from classical antiquity, and he is considered a legendary figure rather than a historical person. The Iliad and the Odyssey are considered by most scholars to be the products of a centuries-long tradition of orally composed poetry; the role of an individual poet, or poets, in composing them is a matter of dispute. According to some, they are the product of the same poet, but for others, such as Martin West, they were composed by different poets. For still others, such as Gregory Nagy, the epics are not the creation of any individual, but rather slowly evolved towards their final form over a period of centuries; in this view, they are the collective work of generations of poets.
Homer's works begin the Western Canon and are universally praised for their poetic genius. By convention, the compositions are also often taken to initiate the period of Classical Antiquity.
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