The Culture of the Wilusans
The politics and religion of Wilusa might appear on treaties and royal archives, but the day to day reality of the people of Wilusa is often silent in such records, particularly given that any archives that may have been stored in the WIlusan Royal Palace were destroyed during the initial excavations by Heinrich Schliemann between 1870 -1873.
Subsequent excavations have uncovered more of the site and its environs, allowing us a much deeper understanding of the lives of the people who lived in Wilusa, whether they inhabited the splendours of the walled citadel or the sprawl of the Lower City, enclosed only by a wooden stockade and an anti-chariot ditch.
Who were the Wilusans?
We have spoken about the Luwian Kingdoms and people in an earlier page, however the greek-derived name of one of their Kings, Alaksanda (top left) rather begs the question as to whether Wilusa was inhabited by Luwians, Greeks or a mixture of both. Taken in combination with the only written evidence from the period in Wilusa being a seal in the Luwian language (top right) the latter might appear to be a reasonable conclusion.
However this needs to be considered alongside the fact that neither of the other Wilusan Kings' names that occur in the Hittite archives, Kukkunni and Walmu appear to be Greek derived. Even when we extend our examinations to the Iliad we find the Trojan royal family contains members with apparently Luwian derived names - Paris (Pari-ziti) and Priam (Priya-muwa) as well as Greek ones such as Hector or Kassandra.
The remains of the city itself are similarly ambiguous. The overall layout of the Citadel and Lower city resemble that of Hattusas as do the walls that surround the citadel. However the houses within the citadel are Mycenaean style megaron halls. This mix of cultures within Wilusa can be interpreted many different ways, but in The Wilusiad I have chosen the model of an overwhelmingly Luwian-population and culture, combined with a recently established Mycenaean Greek descended royal family.
What did Wilusa look like?
The city I use as a model for The Wilusiad's city of Wilusa is the layer known to archaeology as Troy VI, which is also the layer that best matches the description of Troy provided by Homer in The Iliad. This city was divided into two sections, the Citadel at the crest of the hill to the North and the Lower City stretching down the southern slopes of the hill (top left).
The citadel was enclosed by vast walls similar to those that enclosed the Hittite capital at Hattusa (top right), which protected it from external enemies and separated it from the Lower City, whose inhabitants could enter it only via the South Gate (centre). This Lower City was home to the majority of the population and was protected by a wooden stockade surrounded by a ditch which appears to have been designed specifically to repel attacks from chariots.
