Obviously the Trojans had connections both with east and west. But who were thay? It would probably be easier to answer this question if a few written tablets had been unearthed during the excavations. But no tablets have been found so far. However the Hittites in central Anatolia used both Hierogliphics and Cuneiform, around the second millennium B.C. This is why the linguists are searching the Hittite sources and trying to find something about Troy.

At a Symposium held at Bryn Mawr College in October 1984 linguist Prof. Watkins suggests that "Steep Wilusa", a city mentioned on a Hittite tablet which was written in Luvian, could well be "Steep llios" of the lliad. "Priya-Muwas" sounds very much like "Priamos". The Luvian "Aleksandus" may well be "Aleksandros", the second name of the Trojan prince Paris.

How can we ignore these reseblences? Especially if Homer tells us in the lliad that the Trojans and their allies spoke different languages and dialects.

"Hector, I urge you above all to do as I say. In his great city, Priam has many allies. But these foreigners all talk different languages. Let their own captains in each case take charge of them, draw up their countrymen, and lead them into battle.

(lliad II. 800-805)

"...Such was the babel that went up from the great Trojan army, which hailed from many parts, and being without a common language used many different cries and calls.

(lliao IV. 437-439)

That means the Trojans and their allies were certainly not Greek-speaking people. The names of many heroes mentioned in the lliad were local Anatolian names. Those which sound Greek were either adopted or made up. For example "Astyanax", son of Hector, was a Greek name, but Hector would call him "Skamandrias". "Hector" too could well have born a real local Anatolian name.