Ancient people, in times after the end of the Bronze Age, considered the story of the Trojan War their history. For that reason they made pilgrimages to Troy, just the way we might visit a Civil War battlefield (although we can be much surer of the historical facts).

Alexander the Great (who considered himself to be descended from Achilles) set out to avenge the Greeks against the Persians.

He stopped at Troy to honor the heroes, especially Patroclus, and Athena. He also went into the treasury of Athena where armor said to belong to the Trojan War heroes was stored. Alexander switched his own armor with that of Achilles, which he wore into his next battle. He won, and promised the Trojans that their goddess Athena would get a new temple. Another century went by before the promise was fulfilled, however.

Troy's strategic location at the border between Europe and Asia meant that there was often conflict. Warring rulers would visit the tombs of heroes and the temple of Athena Ilias to make sacrifices, believing that powerful forces would be on their side if they showed proper respect at Troy. The Persian King Xerxes, on his way to attack the Athenian Greeks in 480 BCE, sacrificed a thousand cattle at Troy’s most sacred site. For a while, things went well for Xerxes.

The big, new temple was visited by Julius Caesar (who considered himself to be descended from Aeneas). This started a trend for the Roman Emperors to make the pilgrimage to Troy.

Augustus left inscriptions praising his own generosity to Athena.

The Emperor Hadrian helped build the small theater, or Odeion, perhaps as a place to present his own poem about Hector. In 1993 The archaeologists discovered a statue of Hadrian in the Odeion.

If you want to find out more about the family trees of the gods, heroes and important historic figures go to the Legends section