A Trojan horse and Pergamum parchment

The first thing you see when you arrive at Troy, is a rather square but very huge horse. Immediately the story of the deviousness of the Greeks and the gullibility of the Trojans comes to mind. The Trojan Wars were considered legendary rather than factual, until Heinrich Schliemann began digging in the late 19th century. Now, behind the horse lie the remnants of the imposing city of Troy. Actually there re the remnants of nine cities, dating back to 3000BC, and up to 500AD. There are earthen ramparts and remains of various city walls, storage jars, pottery drainage pipes, piles of carved and shaped rocks, and a circular path with interpretative boards. The rest is up to the imagination.
At Pergamum there are more intact portions of the city to help the modern visitor. You can see impressive temples, a library which housed 200,000volumes, and the magnificent Acropolis . Pergamum was a renowned cultural and political centre from the days of Alexander the Great till Roman times. It was one of the Middle East‘s richest and most powerful small kingdoms. Parchment was invented there.
It was cleverly built on steep hillside above a fertile valley. You can still see Roman bridges across the rivers, irrigating farms and fields of herbs and plants used for medicine. There was a temple of Telesphorus, famous for healing. I loved hearing that the two daughters of Telesphorus were called Hygeia and Panacea - handing their names down into modern medicine.