>>22713270The 'Trojans' were most likely the Lydian or Carian-speaking inhabitants of the city-state of Wiluša (Hittite: 𒌷𒃾𒇻𒊭), a major Bronze Age settlement that existed in Western Anatolia in the territory of the Troad (Taruiša), part of the Assuwa confederation. Assuwa was in conflict with the Hittite Empire, attempting to maintain independence, but they were still culturally closer to the Hittites than to the Mycenaeans, speaking languages of the Anatolian IE branch. The names Wiluša and Truwiša would have been Hellenised as Ī́lios/Ī́lion and Troía. Assuwa is actually potentially the etymological source of 'Asia'.
Archaeologists associate Wiluša with the site at modern day Hisarlik known as Troy VII, which was destroyed around 1190 BC, which both aligns with the mythology and with what we know of the Late Bronze Age collapse. Around this time, the Hittite Empire and its hegemony over Anatolia collapsed, trade routes throughout the Near East and Mediterranean were interrupted, rising use of ironworking and the decline of the chariot affected balances of martial power, there were massive droughts, and there were massive invasions by the Sea Peoples and migrations of Dorians into Peninsular Greece (also called the Return of the Heracleidae). This conflict also saw the decline and splitting of the Mycenaean civilisation, and contributed to more sieges and expeditions by Mycenaean Greeks, including against the Anatolian kingdoms.
