Around the 8th century BC, the ancient Greek poet Homer told of a great city called Troy, besieged for 10 years after its prince stole the wife of the King of Sparta. His epic poem The Iliad told of legendary warriors like Achilles and Hector, divine meddling by the Greek gods, and eventually the city’s fall through the ruse of the Trojan horse. For centuries, many assumed this was pure storytelling.

Then, in the 1870s, archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated Hisarlik in modern-day Turkey – and found the ruins of a fortified city destroyed and rebuilt multiple times (pictured). Later digs revealed artifacts and signs of conflict dating to the era Homer described, so Troy did exist – even if many other aspects of the story remain in the realm of myth.

Incredible ancient myths, legends that turned out to be real