Troy - Lower Town

Lower town

The lower town (not open to visitors) situated on the plateau to the south below the citadel hill was, according to the latest excavations, inhabited towards the end of the second millennium B.C. (Troy VI/VII). Traces of an enclosing wall have been found and some historians have recently suggested that this settlement and its citadel constituted an important seat of power and a commercial center, but excavations are in progress at the moment. The area of the lower town on the plateau to the south and east of the hill has so far been little explored, but a small township was established here in the Hellenistic period and then expanded in Roman times, particularly in the reign of Augustus. It was planned and laid out in traditional style with a ring wall which totaled 3.5km/2mi in length and was 2.50m/8ft thick. The large theater to the northeast belonged to this settlement.