I was delighted when I heard a couple of months ago that there was an Istrian historian who claimed that present day Motovun was at the site of Homeric Troy. Right off the bat, the connection struck me as entirely plausible. After all, Istria was named after Danube or Istros in Greek because ancient Greeks believed that a branch of the great river came to the northern Adriatic. The Argonauts sailed up the Danube in search of the Golden Fleece, and their story was already known to the heroes of The Iliad and The Odyssey.

According to one tradition of the story about the Argonauts, Medea’s father sent his son and her brother Absyrtos after her once she fled with Jason in search of the Golden Fleece. Absyrtos overtook her at Korkyra, but the king of the place refused to surrender Medea to him. When he overtook her for the second time, he was slain by Jason on a neighboring island, which was then renamed after Absyrtos. The islands were in what is today the Kvarner or Quarnero Gulf east of the Istrian peninsula. Korkyra is modern Krk, and Absyrtos is modern Cres.

I was also delighted to receive the book from the historian in question. Vedran Sinožić is his name. He lives in Novigrad down the Mirna valley some fifteen kilometers west of Motovun. Earlier this year, he published a book entitled Our Troy (Naša Troja in Croatian) under his own imprint in Novigrad. About eighty pages long and replete with his own illustrations, it is not difficult to master in a single reading. Predictably, Sinožić’s argument is based on the geography, topography, and toponyms in Istria and the Adriatic islands close to the peninsula. As he argues persuasively enough, they fit The Iliad and The Odyssey surprisingly well.

All in all, I find the argument convincing in spite of a few minor glitches that are easy to fix. Motovun could well be at the site of Homeric Troy. Perhaps the biggest glitch in Sinožić’s argument is that he does not even mention the connection between Istria and the Argonauts, which shows perfectly clearly that the peninsula and the Adriatic islands were an intimate part of the ancient Greek world. One further example is the island of Korčula, which was known to the Greeks as Korkyra Melaina or Korkyra Nigra. Another example is the island of Hvar or Pharos in Greek. In short, the connection between Motovun and Troy is not farfetched at all. In fact, it stands to reason perfectly well.

Having read the book in one sitting, I would suggest that the Municipality of Motovun should organize a symposium dedicated to Sinožić’s delightful claim. Historians from Croatia and abroad should be invited to discuss the accumulated evidence that Motovun is the site of ancient Troy. This would be the first step toward generating wider public interest and wider discussion of the evidence. With the help of the media, our Troy may well boost the number of tourists coming to Motovun, Istria, and the Adriatic islands. With some luck, the evidence provided by Sinožić will grow and grow. The prospect is appealing at first sight, and I can only hope that the Municipality of Motovun will pick the idea up.