Troad

Troas or The Troad is the historical name of the Biga peninsula (modern Turkish: "Biga Yarımadası") in the northwestern part of Anatolia,Turkey. This region now is part of the Çanakkale province of Turkey. Bounded by the Dardanelles to the northwest, by the Aegean Sea to the west and separated from the rest of Anatolia by the massif that forms Mount Ida, the Troad is drained by two main rivers, the Scamander (Karamenderes) and the Simois, which join at the area containing the ruins of Troy.Grenikos, Kebren, Simoeis, Rhesos, Rhodios, Heptaporos and Aisepos were seven rivers of the Troad and the names of the river gods that inhabited each river.

History

The region later known as the Troad was called Wilusa by the Hittites. This identification was first put forth by Emil Forrer, but largely disputed by most Hittite experts until 1983 when Houwink ten Cate showed that two fragments were from the same original cuneiform tablet and in his discussion of the restored letter showed that Wilusa was correctly placed in northwestern Anatolia. According to Trevor Bryce, Hittite texts indicate a number of Ahhiyawan raids on Wilusa during the 13th century BC, which may have resulted with the overthrow of king Walmu.Fact|date=September 2007

Bryce also reports that archeological surveys conducted by John Bintliff in the 1970s show that a powerful kingdom that held sway over northwestern Anatolia was based at Troy.

The kings of Pergamum (now Bergama) later ceded the territory of the Troad to the Roman Republic. Under the Empire, the territory of the Troad became part of the province of Asia; under the later Byzantine Empire, it was included in the "thema" of the Aegean Islands. Following its conquest by the Ottoman Empire, the Troad formed part of the sanjak of Biga.

In the New Testament

New Testament writings refer to this as Troas, and it is thought to be the home of Luke, writer of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Evidence of this is that he writes in Acts in the third person about Paul and his travels, until they get to the Troad, where he switches to the first person plural. The "we" section of Acts continues until the group returns to Troas, where his writing goes back to the third person. This change happens again the second time the group gets to Troas. There are three "we" sections in Acts, all following this rule. [Cf. Acts 16:8, Acts 16:10, Acts 16:19, Acts 20:5.] Luke never stated, however, that he lived in Troas, and this is the only evidence that he did.

Paul himself visited Troas, but "could not rest" [2 Corinthians, 2:12.] . He also refers to Troas when he asks his fellow worker Timothy out of Ephesus, to get his coat there. [2 Timothy, 4: 13.] This was a journey of about 500km.

ee also

*Alexandria Troas
*List of traditional Greek place names

Notes

Bibliography

* Trevor R. Bryce. Chapter 14, "The Trojan War: Myth or Reality" in "The Kingdom of the Hittites". Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-924010-8