<P> Initially, the layers of Troy VI and VII were overlooked entirely, because Schliemann favoured the burnt city of Troy II . It was not until the need to close "Calvert's Thousand Year Gap" arose--from Dörpfeld's discovery of Troy VI--that archaeology turned away from Schliemann's Troy and began working towards finding Homeric Troy once more . </P> <P> "Calvert's Thousand Year Gap" (1800--800 BC) was a period not accounted for by Schliemann's archaeology and thus constituting a hole in the Trojan timeline . In Homer's description of the city, a section of one side of the wall is said to be weaker than the rest . During his excavation of more than three hundred yards of the wall, Dörpfeld came across a section very closely resembling the Homeric description of the weaker section . Dörpfeld was convinced he had found the walls of Homer's city, and now he would excavate the city itself . Within the walls of this stratum (Troy VI), much Mycenaean pottery dating from Late Helladic (LH) periods III A and III B (c. 1400--c. 1200 BC) was uncovered, suggesting a relation between the Trojans and Mycenaeans . The great tower along the walls seemed likely to be the "Great Tower of Ilios". </P> <P> The evidence seemed to indicate that Dörpfeld had stumbled upon Ilios, the city of Homer's epics . Schliemann himself had conceded that Troy VI was more likely to be the Homeric city, but he never published anything stating so . The only counter-argument, confirmed initially by Dörpfeld (who was as passionate as Schliemann about finding Troy), was that the city appeared to have been destroyed by an earthquake, not by men . There was little doubt that this was the Troy of which the Mycenaeans would have known . </P> <P> In 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes sacrificed 1,000 cattle at the sanctuary of Athena Ilias while marching through the Hellespontine region towards Greece . Following the Persian defeat in 480--479, Ilion and its territory became part of the continental possessions of Mytilene and remained under Mytilenaean control until the unsuccessful Mytilenean revolt in 428--427 . Athens liberated the so - called Actaean cities including Ilion and enrolled these communities in the Delian League . Athenian influence in the Hellespont waned following the oligarchic coup of 411, and in that year the Spartan general Mindaros emulated Xerxes by likewise sacrificing to Athena Ilias . From c. 410--399, Ilion was within the sphere of influence of the local dynasts at Lampsacus (Zenis, his wife Mania, and the usurper Meidias) who administered the region on behalf of the Persian satrap Pharnabazus . </P>

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