Troy: Myth or History? · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

Troy: Myth or History?

History · Ancient Greece & Rome · ages 11-13
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. Schliemann claimed to have found a hoard of gold jewelry that he called Priam's Treasure.

    Circle one:   True   False

  2. Who excavated the site at Hisarlik, believing he had found the city of Troy?

    • Heinrich Schliemann
    • Carl Blegen
    • Homer

  3. Where is Hisarlik, the mound Schliemann dug into?

    • In modern Greece
    • In modern Turkey
    • In modern Italy

  4. Why does Priam's Treasure complicate Homer's story instead of simply proving it?

    • It came from a layer roughly 1000 years too early for that war
    • It was found buried in modern Greece, not Turkey
    • No gold was actually found at the site

  5. The layer called Troy VIIa, shown highlighted, has burned walls and broken pottery from around 1180 BCE. What does this evidence best support?

    Troy ITroy IITroy IIITroy IVTroy VTroy VITroy VIIaTroy VIIITroy IX
    • The Greek gods caused the fire themselves
    • Every soldier named in the Iliad was a real person
    • A real city was destroyed around the time the legendary war might have happened

  6. Homer's Iliad was told aloud as poetry for generations before anyone wrote it down. Why does this make it hard to call the poem pure history?

    • Homer wrote it down the same week the war ended
    • Storytellers could add or change details every time they retold it
    • Archaeologists dug up the original written poem as a stone tablet

  7. Suppose future digs find that no other Greek cities from that time show any signs of war with Troy. How would this affect the idea of one big Trojan War?

    • It would make one single large Greek-versus-Troy war less certain
    • It would prove the Greek gods were real
    • It would prove Homer copied Schliemann's notes

  8. A museum sign claims: 'Schliemann's dig proves the Trojan War happened exactly as Homer described it.' What is wrong with this claim?

    • Schliemann never actually dug at Hisarlik
    • No walls or gold were ever found at the site
    • Archaeology can show a real city and a real destruction, but not prove every detail of a poem
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Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Troy: Myth or History? W1-mt_aXNlkbAeIk-s1

  1. True · He named the gold after Priam, the king of Troy in the Iliad, though it turned out to be from a much older layer.
  2. Heinrich Schliemann · Heinrich Schliemann dug at Hisarlik in the 1870s and believed he had found Homer's Troy.
  3. In modern Turkey · Hisarlik sits on the coast of modern Turkey, near the Aegean Sea.
  4. It came from a layer roughly 1000 years too early for that war · The treasure belonged to a much older city layer, long before any possible Trojan War.
  5. A real city was destroyed around the time the legendary war might have happened · A burned layer at roughly the right time supports part of the story, but it does not confirm gods or named heroes.
  6. Storytellers could add or change details every time they retold it · Stories told aloud for generations tend to change, so real memory and invented myth blend together.
  7. It would make one single large Greek-versus-Troy war less certain · Without wider evidence of a coordinated war, historians might consider smaller conflicts or several wars blended into one legend.
  8. Archaeology can show a real city and a real destruction, but not prove every detail of a poem · Finding a destroyed city supports part of the story. It does not prove gods, heroes, or events happened exactly as told.
Worksheet · LightMySky