In this publication - the first to focus on Troy's neighbours and contemporaries - Trevor Bryce unearths the secrets of this ancient city. Fully illustrated with maps, charts and photographs, he explores Troy's involvement in the Iliad.

The book surveys the entire history of Troy, from its beginnings c. 3000 BC until its decline and obscurity in the Byzantine era, incorporating recent research that has previously been published only in German. There is much emphasis on Troy's neighbors and contemporaries throughout this period, in order to provide a clear historical and cultural context for the city and its inhabitants throughout its lifespan. A detailed comparative chronology and a series of maps complement the discussion. The period of the alleged Trojan War serves as a focal point for the investigation, but the book ranges far beyond this, dealing, for example, with the reasons for Troy's new lease of life in the late Greek and Roman periods. Given the proliferation of "proofs" of the Trojan war, the book provides a sober and up-to-date assessment of what the most recent evidence tells us about the whole tradition recorded for us in Homer's epic "The Iliad."