Once thought to be purely imaginary, a prop in Homer’s epic poem ‘The Iliad,’ excavations in Turkey in 1871 eventually proved that the city indeed existed. According to Iliad, this is where the Trojan War took place during which the Greeks famously concealed themselves within a giant wooden horse to gain access to the city. The archaeological site of Troy contains several layers of ruins, each built on top of the next and dating back some 5,000 years.