Secrets of the Dead (2000–…): Season 14, Episode 2 - The Real Trojan Horse - full transcript

Announcer: Coming up on
"Secrets of the Dead,"

a decade of warfare.

Man: Troy was a city

worthy of a 10-year siege.

Announcer: The ultimate
sneak attack.

Man: Homer tells us they used
a Trojan Horse to get in.

Announcer: But could
the Trojan Horse

be more than an epic myth?

Man: So, clearly,

there was an attack.

Second man: The body
of the horse



very closely resembles
the hull of a ship.

What I'm gonna do is engineer
the conquest of Troy.

Announcer: The real
Trojan Horse,

on "Secrets of the Dead."

Narrator: Legend has it
that the fortress city of Troy

only fell when
its citizens were tricked...

fooled into bringing
a giant wooden horse

inside their gates

that concealed enemy troops
in its belly.

Today, the term "Trojan Horse"
is a byword for deception.

Man: The Trojan Horse
is the enemy within,

the gift that you
shouldn't accept,

the gift that really
turns out to be poison.

Narrator: The story comes
from an ancient Greek poem,



one of the oldest and greatest
in Western literature.

Woman: It's got everything--
a beautiful heroine, sex,

revenge, violence,
and a tragic ending.

Narrator: But could the poem
be more than fiction?

Man: It's really a very
sophisticated story

of what happens to both sides
in the course of a war.

Narrator: Our experts will
examine the physical evidence

to reveal the truth
behind the myth.

Did the Trojan Horse
actually exist?

They'll look for proof
that the fall of Troy

was a real event

and test radical theories

as to what may have led
to its downfall.

Was it an earthquake?

Man: Completely destroy
your entire city.

Narrator: A battering ram?

A revolutionary new weapon?

Man: Would be a fairly
sophisticated structure.

Narrator: Or could it really
have been a wooden horse?

Forensic investigators
will try to find

the real Trojan Horse.

The story begins with
a fight over a woman.

Helen of Troy, the Spartan queen

whose face launched
a thousand ships,

the most beautiful woman
in the world,

who'd run away to Troy
with a Trojan prince.

Man: According to the Trojans,

she left willingly.

According to the Greeks,
she was kidnapped.

Narrator: The dispute
over Helen is the cue

for a vast Greek army
to set sail

and attack the Trojans.

It was an expedition
of revenge,

an expedition of loot,
an expedition of glory

against Troy.

Narrator: The legend
was first written down

28 centuries ago,

in the works of the poet Homer.

He describes a 9-year siege

and how the Greeks devised
an ingenious plan

to crack Troy's
formidable defenses.

Strauss: The Greek army
would pretend to leave,

but it would leave behind
a beautiful wooden horse.

Narrator: This is the part that
the movies tend to focus on.

Strauss: The Trojans,
to their peril,

accept the horse
inside the city.

Narrator: That night,
the soldiers inside the horse

sneak out.

They open the gate,
let the invading army in...

and the city is wiped out.

For most people today,
this epic tale is just that--

a work of fiction.

Hall: The whole cycle
of stories about Troy

is almost always assumed
just to be a myth.

Narrator: But is there
any truth to the legend?

Classics professor Edith Hall
studies Homer's texts

and has long doubted
the accepted view.

Why couldn't there have
been a Trojan War?

If the war took place,
then maybe

the ancient story
of the Trojan Horse

had some historical reality
behind it as well.

I want to find out
whether there was

any real history
behind that myth,

and in particular, whether
there was any real history

behind the Trojan Horse.

Narrator: Retired military
engineer Stephen Ressler

will approach the problem
from a different standpoint.

Ressler: What I'm gonna do is
engineer the conquest of Troy.

I want to use
a series of computer models

to examine the ways that the
conquest might have happened

from an engineering
perspective.

Narrator: By combining
cutting-edge experimentation

with forensic analysis
of the ancient texts,

our experts will
set out to answer

some fundamental questions.

Did the Greeks and Trojans
really fight over Troy?

How did that war end?

Ultimately, the experts
want to find the truth

behind the tale of
the wooden horse.

The first step is
to prove that Homer

was describing a real place...

that the city of Troy existed

and that it really was
an almost impregnable fortress.

The texts are clear about
where we are to look.

Homer's poems say that
Troy stood by the Aegean Sea,

that the gods could
watch the battle

from the Mountains of Ida,

and that the Greeks
brought supplies

from what are now called
the Dardanelles.

Connect those points,

and the evidence leads to
a corner of modern-day Turkey.

It's got to be near the water.

It has to be in
a fertile plain.

Narrator: Eric Cline is
an expert in Bronze Age history

and in modern archaeology's
quest to find Troy.

Homer's texts provide precise
geographical clues,

right down to the water
that was said

to flow from beneath the city.

This region of Northwest Turkey
might fit the bill,

but you need a place where
there's hot and cold springs.

Homer tell us that
Troy had those.

Narrator: Scholars have
been reading Homer

for more than 2,500 years.

The clues have always
been there for anyone to see.

But it wasn't until the 1870s

that the first serious attempt
was made to follow them.

A millionaire showman
named Heinrich Schliemann

was the first to start digging.

Firm in the belief
that Homer's words

weren't fiction but history,

he began to explore
here in Turkey.

Heinrich Schliemann is
the first excavator of Troy
of note.

He puts a huge trench

right through the middle
of the mound,

and he was looking for Troy.

He ran against
conventional wisdom.

He was not
a trained archaeologist.

Narrator: Where
a modern archaeologist

will excavate with
forensic care,

he used dynamite.

But it paid off.

Nearly 50 feet
below the surface,

he found a paved ramp

buried in the rubble
of older buildings.

Cline: As Schliemann
is digging,

he comes across this layer,

which is a gate,
and in fact,

Schliemann thought he had found
the Scaean gate

that Homer describes
being wide enough

for two chariots to go through
at the same time.

Narrator: This gate
is the backdrop

for some of the key events
in Homer's story.

It's through the Scaean gates

that the wooden horse is said
to have entered the city.

As far as Schliemann
was concerned,

he had found Homer's Troy.

Shortly after his discovery,

he presented this image
to the world--

his wife draped
in ancient gold.

They found gold and silver
and necklaces and tiaras

and earrings.

Narrator: Without any proof,
he declared

that this was the lost treasure
of Homer's Troy.

Strauss: Schliemann
was a genius and a con man.

He engaged in
many swashbuckling,

questionable, even
reprehensible tactics.

Nonetheless, in spite of that,
he deserves the credit

for being the first person

who really brought this
to the attention of the world.

Narrator: But many
19th-century scholars

refused to believe the site
was Homer's Troy.

The citadel Schliemann found
just didn't seem big enough.

Homer describes a large,
fabulously wealthy city,

ripe for plunder.

And yet the hilltop citadel
at this site

barely covers 5 acres.

It seemed too small.

It wasn't quite what
Homer had described.

Narrator: Schliemann's
archaeology seemed

to contradict Homer's account.

In the 1990s, a major discovery
cast his work in a new light.

The plain south of the citadel
was once enclosed,

covered in dozens,
even hundreds of buildings.

Here was Troy, in all
its magnificence.

Strauss: Before that,
skeptics could have said that

Troy was nothing but a fortress

or a pirate's nest,
as someone put it--

a citadel half a acre in size.

But the lower town shows

that Troy was a settlement of
75 acres in size,

a substantial place by the
standards of the Bronze Age.

It was, um, as wealthy
as one might expect.

It was a city worthy
of a 10-year siege.

And suddenly it--it makes
a lot more sense.

Narrator: The proof
was conclusive--

Troy did exist,

and it was 10 times bigger than
Schliemann's original find.

Now another puzzle emerged.

Scholars wanted to prove
this 50-acre site

had provided the backdrop
for Homer's epic

set in the 13th century B.C.

Man as Homer: Then to secure
the camp and naval powers,

they raised embattled walls
with lofty towers.

From space to space
were ample gates around

for passing chariots,

and a trench profound.

Narrator: Homer describes
a city

whose walls could not
be breached.

Military historian
Mark Schwartz

wants to know how
the real Troy was defended.

He starts on the edge
of its lower city.

So far, very little of this
vast area has been excavated.

Schwartz: This would've been
filled with houses.

Lots of activity going on
in the streets.

You know, sort of the everyday
hustle and bustle of life

in a very active merchant city.

Narrator: For Schwartz,
the task

is to build a mental picture

of what an attacking
army would have faced

as they approached.

It's clear that stone walls
were not the only obstacle.

OK, so, this is...
old excavation unit,

and you can see
just down there,

that's the remains of that
fortification ditch.

That was about 2 meters deep
and 3 to 4 meters wide.

Would've run the length
of the entire lower city,

about 2 kilometers around.

Narrator: While it may not
seem impressive,

that simple ditch would've
been highly effective.

And it's the first sign
that the Trojans made

serious preparations
against attack.

The entire lower city was
rimmed by a defensive ditch,

and inside that a wooden fence.

This modern storm drain
has very similar dimensions.

Schwartz: So, this was
a serious impediment

to most of the army--
to the chariots,

to the infantry, to any sort of

equipment they're
trying to bring across.

They can't just climb in
and climb out.

It's--not that easy.
In fact, it's--difficult.

Imagine trying to do it with
a full sent of bronze armor.

[Indistinct shouting]

Schwartz: And you're
being shot at.

This is essentially
a form of attrition.

It's a way of
slowing down the army

and making sure that
the attackers accrue

a lot of losses on the way,

and that basically
discourages them

from further attack.

Narrator: But it's only just
the first line of defense.

Schwartz: If the Greeks
actually got through

that line of defense,

they would have the entire
lower city to get through

to get up to the citadel.

Street fighting, basically.
Urban combat.

It would've been
a pretty tough slog.

Narrator: Troy seems to be a
city that was designed for war,

a city that could
only be captured

at a great and terrible cost.

But if an epic conflict
had taken place here

between the Trojans
and the Greeks,

what could have caused it?

Greek myth says it was honor

that launched a thousand ships

to bring Queen Helen back home.

Could there have been other,
more practical reasons

for an army to invade?

Edith Hall has come
to see firsthand

the landscapes of
Homer's literature.

Hall: I feel as though
I'm walking straight into

the 13th century B.C.

I feel like a time traveler.

Narrator: For Hall,
being on the ground

confirms what the few surviving

historical sources suggest--

that this mound of rock

less than half a mile
from the sea

was the key to
the balance of power

in the entire region.

Hall: This is the northeast
bastion of Troy,

and it's from here that
you can get a real sense

of the setting, the amazing
strategic location of the city.

It's at the very crossroads
of east and west.

This is where the coast of Asia
meets the sea.

It's where Greeks
would first arrive

if they want to come up
into the Black Sea.

Whoever had this place had
the control of the Dardanelles

and the whole of the Bosporus,

could control the whole of
the trade into the Black Sea,

and was basically
the conduit, the channel

for all kinds of communications

between Western Europe
and Asia.

Narrator: Troy's importance
wasn't just strategic.

The city had a reputation
throughout the region

as a center of wealth
and luxury.

The Greeks, anyway,
thought that the Trojans

had a very, very, very
luxurious standard of living.

So, this is not
your basic, little,

run-of-the-mill cow town.

This is a major
prosperous city.

Narrator: The Trojans
were traders,

and they were
particularly famous

for one commodity--horses.

Horse bones found in
the archaeological record

show that at a time when
they were scarce elsewhere,

these prized beasts
were plentiful in Troy.

Hall: One of the words
that Homer uses for Troy

is that it has very wide
avenues, wide streets.

They wanted to be able to drive
their horses and their wagons

and their chariots actually
within the city walls,

so obsessed with
their horses were they.

Strauss: Horses were also
a symbol of the power of Troy

because horse breeding
and horse dealing

were such an important part
of the Trojan economy.

Narrator: And during this era,

horses had a clear
military value.

Strauss: The horse in the form
of the chariot was a war animal.

Horses might also be a gift

that one king would
give to another.

It would be a very high-end,
very luxury item.

Narrator: Could the Greeks
have dazzled the Trojans

with a symbolic horse

and gotten them
to let down their guard?

With its wealth, trade,
and vital strategic position,

it's clear that Troy
was worth fighting for.

But what evidence is there
that the city was sacked

in the way Homer describes?

Generations of archaeologists
have scoured these ruins,

trying to identify
when these walls fell

and what caused their collapse.

Was the damage
the result of time,

or was it caused deliberately?

Cline: What I want to find
is evidence of destruction,

such as tilted walls
and things off-kilter,

even cracked blocks--

things that, uh, wouldn't
happen naturally.

And in fact, this huge piece

should not have this crack
right through the middle.

You can actually see where it's
broken in half right here.

In fact, there's quite a lot of

little details around the site
just like that.

I'm looking here at
some cracks in the blocks

that make up this
defensive wall.

That's hard to tell
when they cracked,

but they're definitely cracked
running right through

the middle of a number of them.

Narrator: It was once believed
that these cracks

were evidence of an attack,

the systematic destruction
that followed

after the Greeks slipped
inside the city walls.

Modern scholars
are less convinced.

Cline consults with retired
military engineer

Stephen Ressler.

The damage is
quite unique in that it's

a series of
very, um, clear fractures

that are oriented
on a diagonal.

But the rocks are
simply fractured.

They're not pulverized

or broken into
small pieces.

This certainly
does not look like

the result of an attack
on the walls of Troy.

Narrator: It seems
a far greater force

than the Greek army threatened
Troy in ancient times.

Man as Homer: Then terribly
thundered the father of

gods and men from on high,

and from beneath did Poseidon
cause the vast earth to quake

and the steep crests
of the mountains

and the city of the Trojans.

Narrator: Even Homer tells us
the city was shaken

by what he calls
the wrath of the gods.

Certainly the damage
Cline saw in Troy

was beyond the powers
of Bronze Age man.

[whistle blowing]

Having dismissed
the possibility

that the devastation
was caused by

an invading Greek army,

Cline travels 300 miles
to Istanbul.

Dr. Ozel.
I'm Eric Cline.

Hi. Nice to meet you.
How are you?

Nice to meet you.

Narrator: This station
monitors seismic activity

all over Turkey.

Here is
our recording.

Cline: Wow.

Narrator: This is
one of the most

earthquake-prone
regions on earth.

How many earthquakes
do you record per day?

Ozel:
Not less than 50...

50 per day?
For small ones?
Yes.

Last year, we had
recorded 13,000
per year.

Per year. Wow.

The intensity
and the magnitude

can--can vary greatly,

so, probably most of them,
you wouldn't even notice.

But every so often,
there would be one

that would completely
destroy your entire city.

In 1999, there were
at least 17,000 people

killed right away.

From the 19th century
till now,

uh, more than
90,000 people

lost their lives
because of the
earthquake in Turkey.

Narrator: That's 12 times
the population of ancient Troy.

The ancient city
sits on the edge

of a major fault line.

And the north
Anatolian fault,

it goes all
the way across.

Yes. This
is the northern...

There it is.
...starting from here.

From there.

Ozel: Approximately
1,500 kilometers...
Wow.

And then it's just
entering Greece.

Right. Right.

Narrator: The damage
Cline found

was most likely caused
by an earthquake

or series of quakes.

Today, we know why
earthquakes take place,

with plate tectonics, and we
know the science behind it,

but in antiquity,
they would have thought

the gods were angry
and the earth was shaking

because of the gods.

Narrator: Even as
Cline stands watching,

reports come in of a new quake

originating just a few
miles from Troy.

There was an earthquake
140 seconds ago

in the region of Canakkale,
right near Troy.

We've just been in this area

in the region of
northwest Anatolia.

We're talking about
earthquakes in antiquity

and here one has happened just
now in that very same location.

In the end, we can surmise

that there were really
destructive earthquakes

in the late Bronze Age

and that we should
expect to some--

to find some indication of that
while excavating.

Narrator: Seismologists agree

that a series of quakes

may well have hit Troy
around 1300 B.C.

But here, the mystery deepens.

Homer's war took place
around 1180 B.C.,

fully 100 years after
the earthquake hit Troy.

And it seems that
instead of fleeing Troy,

the local people returned
and rebuilt the city,

populating it more
densely than ever.

We've got strong masonry
of the one city,

the one that was destroyed,

but there's almost
an immediate rebuilding.

We're looking here at
the end of one of the

big houses of
the previous city.

But now we've got
a new addition,

which has been added
after the earthquake.

So, obviously,
there were survivors.

They have rebuilt.
They've done new additions.

Narrator: Cline spots
a difference

in the quality of
the craftsmanship.

Things have changed a bit.

This is not quite
as nice masonry

as it is in the big house.

It's on a different level.

The big mansions of
the previous city

now seem to have
smaller interior

party walls put in,

almost as if there's
3 families living there

where one family
had been before.

Narrator: Evidence found
in the rebuilt Troy

suggests that its citizens
were facing a new threat,

not from earthquakes
but from a human enemy

beyond their walls.

Excavations have uncovered
dozens of huge storage jars

sunk into the ground
beneath the citadel.

They are there to stockpile
food supplies.

That would have
enabled them to survive

within the protection
of the city

for a longer period of time
than had been the case earlier.

Cline: This could
all be suggestions that

people are gearing up
for a war.

Narrator: Did they expect
a long siege?

[Meow]

Narrator: And Troy's defenses
hold important clues

that further the investigation.

Rose: Parts of
the fortification walls

were thrown down
by the earthquake,

and so there was a need
to rebuild quickly.

Narrator: But the walls
weren't just rebuilt,

they were strengthened.

A new tower was added on
the southeast side of the city.

One of the gates leading
to the citadel was blocked

so that there were fewer
entrances to the citadel.

Narrator: Each of these steps
made Troy harder to capture.

Man: So, this is fortress Troy.

Narrator: Military historian
Mark Schwartz

puts himself in the position
of the defending troops

manning the citadel walls.

335 meters of this very, very
solidly built wall.

This looks imposing as it is,

but it would've been
double this height.

And you can see it's
about 4 meters wide

in--in--in places.

So, you could actually get
a number of defenders up here

hurling stones,
shooting arrows, right,

at anyone who's
attacking the city.

And they're also covering
their weak places.

Narrator: Troy's weak points
are its 3 principal gates.

We know that
after the earthquake,

the western gate was sealed.

The eastern gate was fortified
with a second outer wall

to funnel attackers
into a narrow kill zone.

And a large tower dominated the
approach from the lower city.

So, what do they do?
They have

towers projecting
from the wall.

Defenders on top of this tower,

which is a little bit higher
than the wall,

can shoot back while
defenders on top of the wall

are shooting down,
and so you get

any attacker right in
a crossfire right there.

Narrator: The fortifications
were clearly well thought out,

but Homer is also clear--
they fell.

Man as Homer: Soon should
our arms with just success
be crowned

and Troy's proud walls
lie smoking on the ground.

Narrator: From within
these formidable defenses,

archaeological clues suggest
that an enemy force

was somehow able
to breach the city walls.

What has been found there is

approximately a meter of earth,

very blackened with
bits of charcoal,

within which some arrowheads
have been found.

Narrator: Here is evidence
that the city was taken,

that it was burnt,
and that this time,

it was not quickly rebuilt.

So, clearly,
there was an attack.

Who the attackers were
has always been a question.

Narrator: Many find this
evidence persuasive.

It matches Homer's time frame

and points directly
to a Greek assault.

One of these arrowheads
is of a type

found only on
the Greek mainland.

The city that seems to have
been destroyed by an earthquake

eventually recovered.

It was rebuilt.

And this city seems to have
been destroyed by humans.

Narrator: And while few bodies
have been recovered
from this time,

to Barry Strauss, the way
those bodies were left

tells a brutal story.

The excavators have found
an unburied male skeleton

outside the door of a building
on the citadel.

Perhaps it was a householder
trying to defend his home.

Most dramatically,
they found the skeleton

of a 15-year-old girl
buried in the lower city.

An ancient people would not
bury a body within the walls

unless they were under
very great stress.

Narrator: For some scholars,
the written
and archaeological record

makes a clear case.

The Trojan War and the sacking
of the city aren't myth,

but historical fact.

I'm convinced that
the Greeks were at war

with the residents of this part
of western Turkey

all through the Bronze Age.

The ancient Greeks
in the 8th century B.C.

produced an incredibly
detailed account

of a war that had taken place
about 500 years before,

rich in all kinds of detail
about the Bronze Age

that I don't think they could
have necessarily have invented.

Narrator: If Homer is reliable
about the Trojan War,

could his story of the horse
be rooted in fact as well?

Man as Homer: What a thing
was this, too,

which that mighty man
wrought and endured

in the carven horse,

wherein all we chiefs of
the Argives were sitting,

bearing to the Trojans
death and fate!

Narrator: And when the Trojans
pulled this carved horse

into their city,

these chiefs jumped out
and opened the gates

for the rest of the Greek army.

Today, some scholars
believe Homer's tale

is a mythologized
version of the truth.

Perhaps the carved horse
was something else entirely.

What if it wasn't a statue?
What if it was a weapon

and Troy's downfall was caused
by a practical device,

like a battering ram?

Mark Schwartz looks at the
feasibility of this strategy.

He starts at the city gates.

Schwartz: This is
the south gate.

The main gate to the citadel.

Narrator: Troy's gates
would have been wooden

and the obvious
points to attack.

So, if the Greeks
got close enough,

how would
a battering ram have worked?

A battering ram is--
at its simplest

is just a big log
with something sharp

or heavy at the end of it,

and you're just using
the weight and the momentum

behind this big log
to get in and smash

a gate such as this one.

It'd be more effective
if it had metal at--at one end.

And sometimes
the metal was shaped

to look like a ram's head,

hence giving it the name
"battering ram."

Narrator: The theory is simple,

but how does it
stand up to scrutiny?

The forests
to the south of Troy

would supply
the necessary wood.

You look at it.
[Slapping tree]

That would make a nice
battering ram, I think.

Narrator: But a ram
would have to be heavy,

and the attackers
would need a way of

striking the strengthened
gates repeatedly.

They couldn't simply pick up
a tree trunk and charge.

I was a combat
engineer specifically,

and combat engineers
specialize in

both construction
and destruction

of obstacle systems.

Narrator: Stephen Ressler
places himself

in the position of his
ancient counterparts.

I'm particularly fascinated
with ancient engineering

because of the conditions
under which

the ancient engineers operated.

They worked in a world
of much greater constraint.

They had very limited materials
and very limited tools

to do their work.

Narrator: Applying
those limitations,

Ressler constructs a virtual
model of a battering ram

that the Greeks had
the technology to build.

Ressler: I'm incorporating
a chassis made up
of wooden timbers

with 4 wheels,
wooden wheels that's

structurally robust enough
to support

a ram consisting
of a tree trunk

that probably weighed about
a ton and a half to 2 tons.

Narrator: It could be
wheeled up to the gates,

and to the Trojans,
this could have looked like

a giant horse.

The battering ram itself

would swing on ropes

so that gravity could
drive the impact.

Each blow would be
10 times more effective

than simply charging the gate
with a fixed ram.

The same forces make a modern
wrecking ball effective.

But deploying such a large
weapon in battle conditions

would be uniquely difficult.

Man: It would have taken hours
to approach the walls of Troy

and then to deploy the ram

and to batter down the doorway.

Schwartz: They would probably

assemble the battering ram

outside of the range
of arrow fire,

but obviously, once
they got within range--

they'd have to in order
to get it up to the gate--

they would be
under constant attack.

Narrator: In skilled hands,
a Bronze Age bow

is accurate and lethal
at more than 150 feet.

And so they would have had
to run a gauntlet

to get right up to the gate.

You're essentially
being funneled right into

a--a death trap right here.

Man: The doorway might
have been knocked down

in the matter of 15 minutes
of continuous operation,

but they would've
been subjected to

considerable defensive fire
from the battlements above

during that period of time.

And so, you would have
had to try to...

bang and slam
right into this gate.

Really, with all of these
attackers from here and here,

from there.

[Indistinct shouting]

I would not like to have been
in that situation at all.

My suspicion is
that the machine

never would've had an
opportunity to go into action.

I think it probably
would have been destroyed

before it reached its target.

Narrator: If Ressler's
suspicions are correct,

then a battering ram couldn't
have been an alternative

to Homer's Trojan Horse.

The Greeks could only take Troy
by direct assault

if they were prepared
to waste countless lives.

Strauss: Ordinarily,
to take a place by assault,

you need to have a superiority
of 3 to 1.

All the evidence we have
suggests that

the Greeks did not have
that kind of superiority.

Certainly in Homer,
the Greeks complain

that the Trojans have
an equal number of men

to the amount of men
that the Greeks have.

Narrator: In this scenario,
the Trojan War

would soon reach a stalemate,

and the only option
for the Greeks

would be to begin a siege,

which, according to Homer,
lasted 9 years.

Man as Homer: Now 9 long years
of mighty Jove are run

since first the labors
of this war begun.

Narrator: Troy's defenses
were perfectly suited

to withstand a lengthy assault.

But could
the Trojans themselves

survive a lengthy assault?

Mark Schwartz looks for
evidence below the surface.

So, this is the ancient
water system of Troy,

and this was what allowed
the citizens of Troy

to actually survive the siege,

because you can go maybe
a few weeks without food,

but only a few days
without water.

So, they actually constructed
this beautiful system

of shafts to supply water
to the citizens.

Wow. That is incredible.

Narrator: The earth below Troy
hides a natural spring.

That's one of the reasons
why the city stands here.

Over a period of centuries,
the water's flow

was controlled and directed
via channels

cut by hand
through the bedrock.

Schwartz: I mean, you can see
the chisel marks.

Maybe they took a natural path
and then enlarged it.

Originally, the water
would have been filling this.

Narrator: The network spreads
out underneath the citadel.

Schwartz: You could see
this vertical shaft

going right up to the surface.

That allowed access
to this water system.

Ah. And another
shaft down here.

[Creaking]

Narrator: Out of reach today,

there is a vast man-made
central reservoir

at the end of this opening.

It was capable
of holding nearly

300,000 gallons
of drinking water.

Schwartz: These shafts are like

the veins and arteries
of the city.

Uh, in the fact that they
provide the life to the city.

Narrator: Homer tells us
that the Trojans survived

9 years under siege,

and the archaeology suggests
that was entirely possible.

But Homer also tells us,

and the archaeology
supports the idea,

that the downfall of the city
did come.

There is another
extraordinary explanation

as to what the real
Trojan Horse might have been.

In the centuries after
the downfall of Troy,

siege towers would become
an accepted part of warfare.

What if Homer's writings are
actually a veiled description

of the first time one was used?

It is certainly plausible
that the whole idea

of a Trojan Horse
is a dim memory

or even a metaphor for
some sort of siege tower.

I mean, the siege tower would
have had men inside of it.

It would have been covered
with animal skins,

and it's not such a far leap

to get from a siege tower
to a Trojan Horse.

Narrator: While historical
sources date siege towers

to a slightly later period,

there's nothing
in their construction

that the Greeks
could not have achieved.

In its simplest form,
a siege tower

really is nothing more
than a mobile ladder

that's designed
to get assault troops

up to the level of
the enemy battlements

with some level of protection.

Narrator: And yet, it's clearly
a mammoth undertaking.

As with the battering ram,
the tower that Ressler models

would have a wheeled
wooden base.

But on top of that
sits what is in effect

a moving, multi-story building.

Ressler: It consists of
a heavy timber framework

covered with wooden planking
on 3 sides for protection,

normally somewhat higher than
the level of the battlements

so that archers positioned
on the top level

can look down and fire down
upon the battlements.

Schwartz: So, you have
to imagine these walls

would be maybe 6 meters
high of stone,

with another 3 meters of
mud-brick wall on top of that.

Narrator: Taking Troy's
fortifications into account,

Ressler designs a machine
5 stories tall

using 25 tons of wood,

capable of holding 200 men.

It would require hundreds more

to push and pull it into place.

This wouldn't be
a stealth attack.

You can imagine the chaos
that would have been

a battle such as this.

You would have to launch
everything you had
at that wall.

You would have had to have
your men all along here,

your archers, your slingers
back there,

giving you covering fire,
shooting at those defenders,

trying to suppress
their fire on you.

Then you'd have to wheel slowly
that tower into place.

Narrator: The effort involved
would've been enormous.

Ressler estimates his model

would have moved at
less than 3 feet per minute,

but there is a possibility
that it could have been done.

It certainly seems
plausible to me

that the Mycenaeans would've

had the know-how
and the resources

to make such siege towers.

Narrator: One of the best clues

that such technology
did exist at that time

can be found in
the city walls themselves.

It seems clear that the Trojans

were aware of siege warfare.

There is no other reason
to make their walls

at an angle rather than
straight up and down.

Narrator: This simple fact
would've been a barrier

to the siege tower's success.

The walls angle about
20 degrees here.

If you think of it like this,

you're actually gonna have
quite a bit of space

between the top of the wall
and the top of the siege tower.

And somehow, under
full fire from defenders,

you're gonna have to get
men up that siege tower,

up and over onto the wall.

Narrator: The slanted walls
would have required

an extra level of engineering.

Ressler: And that means
that the tower must be

equipped with some sort
of a drawbridge

that will allow assault troops
to be able to bridge that gap.

The drawbridge itself would be

a fairly
sophisticated structure

in order to be able to carry
those loads safely.

So, we can see that there's
a fairly substantial challenge

in designing a siege tower

to attack the walls of Troy.

Narrator: And, of course,
it's nothing

compared to what
would have faced

those who manned the apparatus.

Mark Schwartz has
serious doubts

that a tower would've worked.

Schwartz: Given the losses
they would've incurred,

given the angle of the walls,

given the difficulty in getting

from the top of the siege tower

over onto the tops
of the walls,

given the limitations
on the available

archers and slingers
they might have had,

it would've been
very unlikely that

such an attack
would've been successful.

Narrator: Having ruled out
the possibility

that the Trojan Horse was
any kind of assault weapon,

the experts must return
to Homer's writing.

And the idea that the Greeks
found a radical way

to end the siege, not with
brute force, but with guile.

Man as Homer: Unite and rouse
the sons of Greece to arms,

but first with caution
try what yet they dare.

Narrator: The determined Greeks
may have considered

one other wild possibility.

Hall: The Greeks celebrated
cunning intelligence.

They told each other
lots of stories about

trickster heroes and people
who managed to steal things

or win wars by tricks.

The story of the Trojan Horse

is as plausible a history

as any other speculation that
scholars have come up with.

Why don't we do Homer
the credit

of really listening
to what he says?

Narrator: According
to the stories,

the ruse worked like this.

The Greeks assemble a group of

heavily armed,
handpicked warriors.

They're loaded inside
a giant horse

which is left outside
the gates of Troy.

The remaining soldiers
appear to sail away,

abandoning the siege.

They're actually hidden,
shielded from view

by an island just offshore.

What follows has been
represented countless times

in story, art, and film.

The horse is taken
inside the gates,

and the Trojans
let their guard down

as they celebrate
the war's apparent end.

The Greek soldiers
inside the horse sneak out

and throw open the city gates.

With every other
theory discounted,

this last possibility remains--

the horse Homer wrote about
did exist.

But how plausible
is this scenario?

Why a horse?

Perhaps the animal's
connection with Troy

made it a logical choice.

Strauss: It would have
been a fine symbol

that the Greeks had left,

because the horse was
one of the symbols of Troy.

So, for the Greeks
to leave a horse

was a token of submission.

Narrator: How would they have
built such a complex structure?

Stephen Ressler believes
the answer to this question

is rooted in the fact that the
Greeks of the late Bronze Age

were seafarers.

Ressler: We know the Greeks
were great shipbuilders.

So, if they were gonna
build a large wooden horse,

I have to believe that
they would've built it

the same way they
built their ships.

Narrator: The maritime Greeks
had been honing

their carpentry skills
for centuries.

Ressler: Well, first in the
overall framework of the horse,

we have a keel below, just as
a Greek ship would have;

we have the prow,
which corresponds to
the prow of a ship;

we have a stern post
corresponding to

the stern post of the ship.

The body of the horse
very closely resembles

the hull of a ship.

And I truly believe
that's the way

it would've been put together.

It had to be able to carry
fairly substantial loads.

Narrator: Those loads being
a number of armed troops.

But just how many
warriors could fit?

The Trojan Horse
literally grows

with each telling of the story.

Later accounts suggest
it held virtually

a full ship's company.

From the mythology, the most
common number we hear is 30.

So, let's start
by assuming there were

30 men inside
the horse's belly.

Narrator: A warrior
in full armor

would require more than
35 cubic feet of space.

Ressler: Here's my model
of a single man seated,

and in order to investigate
how much space

30 of them would require,

all I have to do is
copy him 29 times.

Narrator: They can be arranged
in a number of ways,

some more efficient
than others.

Ressler: And so, we can look
at an alternate arrangement

of men seated in two groupings,

one above the other
inside the belly of the horse,

and in this case, it's
a considerably more

efficient arrangement.

Not only can we fit 30 in,

we can actually fit 40.

Narrator: The result
is a massive structure--

the enormous statue below
by Hollywood.

If I take this model
and scale it up

to meet the proportions
of a full horse,

it turns out that the height
of the Trojan Horse

would need to be a little bit
over 10 meters tall.

That's equivalent
to the height of

the walls of Troy themselves,

and indeed a horse that large
would've weighed

upwards of 30 metric tons.

Narrator: Clearly, a smaller
horse was required.

And for the trick to work,

the Greeks only needed
to conceal enough men

to open the gates.

Ressler knows
sheer numbers alone

do not guarantee success
in a stealth attack.

Ressler: I think 9 elite
warriors inside the horse

constitutes a strike force
that was entirely

adequate to their mission,

which was simply to get
the gates of the city open.

Narrator: With that in mind,
he adjusts his model.

It would need
to be small enough

to appear unthreatening.

The horse is actually
quite modest in size.

In fact, I suggest that
if you were a Trojan,

you might actually
be surprised that it

could conceal 9 men inside.

Narrator: It's a little more
than 13 feet tall

and less than 7 feet wide.

Ressler: I've designed my
Trojan Horse to be small enough

to fit inside
the south gate of Troy.

Cline: Homer tells us they
used a Trojan Horse to get in

by hiding their men inside
this huge, wooden animal.

Narrator: Could the Greeks
really have tricked
the Trojans like this?

I frankly would be surprised

if the Trojans would
fall for that.

At the very least,
I would want to knock and say,

"Anybody there?"

How plausible is it?

That's difficult to say.

But the idea of getting forces,
infiltrating forces

in the city in order to

gain access to the gate
and open it

to the rest of the army
is plausible.

We can imagine that
there was a debate.

Do you think the Greeks
have really gone?

Do you trust the Greeks or not?

Another group, though, said no,
this is a gift from the gods

and that we ought to
take it in and welcome it.

Narrator: According to
Homer's account,

the horse does go
through the gate,

and the siege reaches
its bloody end.

And the Greeks inside the horse

open the gates of the city.

The Greeks enter and they are

able to slaughter
their opponents.

The Trojans mount what little
resistance they can,

but in the end,
it's not enough.

The Greeks finally, after
all this time, take Troy,

kill its royalty,
and sack the city.

Hall: The scale
of the brutality

that was needed to take a city
of this size and sophistication

was breathtaking.

Homer's description
of the sacking of Troy

is very graphic
and very violent.

It comes in the mouth of Priam,
the king of Troy,

who actually foretells
his daughters being raped,

his sons being
put to the sword,

the little children being
thrown off the walls of Troy,

the whole place gutted.

By the end of the day,
there would have been

nothing left of Troy
but a smoking ruin.

Narrator: Homer's Troy
fell more than 3,000 years ago.

As the ancient city
has been covered

with physical layers
of stone and earth,

so a chain of real events

has been obscured by
layers of myth-making.

And yet it's hard to reject
the entire story as fiction.

Cline: In my opinion,
the Trojan War took place.

I think Troy
was a wealthy city.

I think it took quite a while
to capture.

Narrator: We know
that the walls of Troy

would frustrate
almost any attack.

Strauss: They tried
one thing after another.

In the end, they had no choice
but to try deception.

Narrator: Any direct assault
would have required

men and resources far beyond
what was available.

And the Trojans
appear to have been

ready for a long siege.

The experts have
considered and ruled out

all the possible ways
the Greeks

could have defeated
the Trojans.

It seems the Trojan Horse

might be the most
plausible tactic.

Of course, we
start out by saying,

"This can't possibly be true.

It's so simple-minded."

And yet, sometimes
simple-minded things

turn out to be true.

Hall: Homer tells us that
the stalemate in the war

could only be broken
with the Trojan Horse.

It's a jolly plausible account
resonant with history.

Narrator: And if Homer
was right about

Troy and the Trojan War,

maybe his description
of the fall of Troy

is also true.

Once you've used
a Trojan Horse,

no one is gonna
fall for that again.

But if this was
the one time it was used,

it might even have succeeded.

Narrator: Expert opinion
on the accuracy

of the Trojan Horse story
is divided.

But the fact that
it's now legendary

doesn't mean
it's just a legend.

AnnoAnnouncer: The "Secrets of
the Dead" investigation

continues online.

For more in-depth analysis
and streaming video

This program is
available on DVD.