The tumuli of troy and the troad

This article focuses on the tumuli that lie in the western and central parts of the Troad; as a group, they functioned as attraction points, landscape markers, and social-cultural phenomena. The tumuli along the northwest coast of the Troad, in the shadow of Ilium, probably began to be associated with the graves of the Homeric heroes during the early Archaic period. Two of the mounds were often linked to Achilles and Patroclus; others have been connected with Antilochus, Protesilaus, and Ajax. Athens' first overseas colony of Sigeum was probably founded here in order to co-opt the legendary framework that these tumuli represented. They also formed the nucleus of a tourism industry centered on Ilium, and the tumulus of Achilles appears to have been monumentalized in the 3rd century BC to increase its tourism potential. The tumuli in the center of the Troad, along the Granicus and Aesepus rivers, date primarily to the Archaic and Classical periods, and were set up by wealthy Anatolians associated with the Persian satrap in Dascylium. These served both as estate markers and as components in a system of aristocratic competition. The sarcophagi and tomb chambers contained within them are among the earliest examples of Proconnesian marble monuments, and most were sited along the principal roads and waterways for easy viewing. The estates that produced these tumuli were largely abandoned after Alexander's conquests, and the area would not become inhabited again until a series of late Roman earthquakes prompted the inhabitants of the coastal cities to return to the interior. © 2016 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston. All rights reserved.