Exploring the Dardanelles - From Troy to Gallipoli

They’re called the Dardanelles after Dardanus, the mythical ancestor of nearby Troy – He was born, according to our guide, when Zeus was‘naughty’ with Electra, the local king’s daughter.. Also, according to ancient writers, it’s the place where Helle fell from the back of the golden-fleeced ram while passing through the strait on the way to Colchis in the Black Sea, setting the scene for Jason’s quest of the Golden Fleece. Further it’s the setting for the fatal attraction of Hero to Leander, leading to his drowning while trying to swim across to meet her. Such sacrifice, however foolhardy, naturally led later romantic poets to idealize and even try to imitate them.

The Dardanelles has been a strategic water route and an object of conquest throughout history. The city of Troy was placed strategically to dominate the straits, the site for Homer’s epic tales. Then in the 5 BCE the Persian king Xerxes built a pontoon bridge for his army on his invasion of the Greek city states. It was later fought over by Alcibiades in the Peloponnesian War and Alexander used it on his invasion of Asia. A thousand years later the Rumeli Turks crossed here, establishing their first European beachhead, which culminated in the capture of Constantinople a hundred years later. Their castle today benignly observes the European-side ferry landing. In World War I it lured yet another over-confident invader when the British made their landings.

A walking tour of Troy is both rewarding and easy; just be sure to bring sun protection and water, as it can be hot and exposed. Homer immortalized Troy in his stories of King Priam, Hector, Paris and beautiful Helen. Archeological excavations have revealed nine separate levels of cities. A symbolic wooden Trojan horse commemorates the legendary war. There’s more to see here than we were led to expect, though it’s not as dramatic as some other sites. The walls of Troy VI and I are easiest to discern. Then we got a better biew of Troy I looking across Schliemann’s Trench, the deep gash early archaeologists cut thru the midden. Continuing around we passed the ramp and gate of Troy II, then remains of Troy VII and IX, including the Odeon, South Gate. As we returned, we were reminded that this area is still a military crossroads – overhead, US jet fighters flew back to their Turkish base after sorties over Kosovo. [1999]

The Coming of the Greeks : Indo-European Conquests in the Aegean and the Near East - Robert Drews - This is a fascinating look at the development of chariot warfare and an examination of early migrations across Anatolia.   These accomplishments are even more impressive when you explore Eastern Turkey and see the formidable geographic challenges these people faced.   Several recent proposals (for both the Greeks, and the Israelites) is that mythical ancestral migrations were actually later retellings of the making of nations from people who were already living in those areas.  This book takes a look at the latest evidence.

 In Search of the Trojan War Exploring the site of Troy is a fascinating experience.  It's one of the better preserved and authenticated ancient sites in the world, and is well displayed.  Wood's excellent book gives historical and archaeological background to the site.  It's based on the PBS TV series

In 1915, Winston Churchill, as 1^st Lord of the Admiralty, promoted an invasion of ‘Byzantium’ by way of the Dardanelles, with a joint amphibious and naval force running up the Bosphorus to capture Istanbul . His aim was to cut German supply lines to the Middle East, while knocking Turkey out of the war. Nothing went as planned, bad luck, inept and even cowardly commanders had already doomed the ANZAC forces when Kemal Ataturk led the counterattack that strapped the Allies on their tiny beachhead spread along the narrow peninsula.

The straits were mined by the Turks to prevent Allied ships from penetrating them but after one ship was sunk, the Allied navy stalled and strategic momentum was lost. In early 1916, after 10 months fighting and more than 200,000 casualties, the Allies withdrew.

The site is well preserved, and evocative of the futility of war. Overnight in Canakkale. The town has been attacked, defended and overrun for thousands of years, but today is a pleasant seaside city with a large University and mostly Turkish vacationers. In the evenings, the passagiata slowly makes its way along the broad curving quay, with many restaurants and tea houses, usually with a cooling sea breeze.

We start our walk on a beautiful day, clear blue skies, great views of the Dardanelles and the tanker traffic as we take the ferry across to the Gallipoli peninsula. The main threat now is from forest fire, which has destroyed much of the wooded area, with unsupervised recovery leaving many places with an impenetrable, but lower brush and brambles. So today, the views are broader than would have been the case during the battles in 1915. While waiting in the van for the ‘feribot’, we were approached by a succesion of merchants. Each makes a brief presentation at the open door, then steps aside to let the next guy have a try. Silk carpets for just $15! T-shirts for $3, silver jewelry! Resisting these bargains we drove onto the ferry when it opening it’s gate, and the merchants followed us aboard to continue the negotiations.

It’s a short drive to the Gallipoli museum, which sits on a high point and prvides broads views and a solid description of the campaign. We were joined by busloads of kids on holiday. We met a group from Samsun, on the Black Sea, and exchanged picture taking, then met them several times later as we toured, each time to renewed handshakes, yells, and smiles and a disruption of the teacher’s plans. Hiked down from Conkbayit, the main Turkish lines to Lone Pine, where the Aussie assualt made it as far as this ridge on the first day, but never any farther. We hiked about 5 km, sometimes in rebuilt trenches. Asstonishly to realize how tiny this brutal battlefield was in places it seemed the Urks could almost throw rocks over the beachhead to hit the sea. We continued down to Anzac Cove, another 2 km, for a great lunch we’d bought at a supermarket earlier – 3 kinds of cheese, various breads, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, antep ezme (thick, spciy chile paste) and a coos coos – bulgar- mint meze, finished with ayran (a yogurt drink).

Picked up by our van, we drove down to the Cove around 3 pm then back to Canakkale by ferry.  On the Asian side  we made a  brief stop at the German cannons dominating the straits.  Once able to prevent Allied shipping from traversing to the Black Sea, now they can’t hold off swarms of kids using them as a playground. 

Back to hotel just before 6, in time for a swim – then lay and watched the swallows swooping to skim water from the pool.  Some flyers are quite accomplished, barely making a ripple, others clumsily hit the surfact breast first and have to quickly flutter off to avoid a total dunk.  At one point, a dozen birds were swooping and splashing over the pool.

From the modern city of Bergama, we entered the site of the ruins of Pergamum climbing the sometimes steep path up to the the most dramatic acropolis in Asia., thru the Temple of Athena and the agora to the Trajaneum.  This was built on a terrace, partly cut into the hill, partly supported by massive arches which also serve as high vaulted storage rooms below. A series of arches follows the lower sections, leading to the Hellenistic theatre carved into the hillside.  From here, we walked past the Altar of Zeus [the actual altar was removed to Berlin by German archaeologists], then continued on downhill, passing city walls from several eras, and a series of gymnaisia and a bath complex

At the base of the city, you can visit the Asclepium, the ancient HMO where patients came for treatment and cures.  Vaulted, underground passages connect the various sites.

You can do Gallipoli and Troy as a long day trip from Istanbul, but it’s much more rewarding to take several days, which then lets you expand to Pergamum. There are good hotels in Cannakale with convenient ferry connections. A guide is highly recommended.