FUN WITH MAPS ISSUE 2026-087

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (May 27, 2026) – This edition of Fun with Maps takes us back to the story of a famous wooden horse.

Trojan

A self-taught German archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann discovered remnants of a past civilization in Asia Minor, today’s Turkey, on May 27, 1873.  It turned out to be Troy, made famous in Homer’s Iliad.

Schliemann made it his life’s work to unearth sites in the Aegean Sea area previously considered mythological.

Troy’s discovery lends some credibility to the Iliad, which describes a short few days in the ten plus year siege of Troy by the Greeks in the 12th or 13th century BC.  The Greeks wanted Helen back who was kidnapped by Paris and taken to Troy. 

That of course does not mean that the Trojan Horse existed, and that the defenders were gullible enough to take a wooden horse, filled with Greek soldiers, inside the city’s walls.

This map by Tallis of Asia Minor is from 1850.  Troy is on the left near the sea.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps. Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.