Literary Troy was characterized by high walls and towers, summarized by the epithet “lofty Ilium.” Some other epithets were “well-walled,” “with lofty gates,” “with fine towers.”Any archaeological candidate for being the literary city would therefore have to show evidence for the walls and towers. Schliemann’s Troy fits this qualification very well. High walls and towers are in evidence at every hand. Hisarlik, the name of the hill on which Troy is situated, is Turkish for “the fortress.”

The walls of Troy, first erected in the Bronze Age between at least 3000 and 2600 BC, were its main defense, as is true of almost any ancient city of urban size. Whether Troy Zero featured walls is not yet known. Some of the known walls were placed on virgin soil (see the archaeology section below). The early date of the walls suggests that defense was important and warfare was a looming possibility right from the beginning.