According to Greek legend, the Trojan War was a 10-year siege, c. 1200 B.C., on the ancient city of Troy (also called Ilium). The Greek poet Homer (c. 850-? B.C.) chronicled the Trojan War in his epic the Iliad. According to Homer, the (Greek) Mycenaeans, under their great king Agamemnon, set out to conquer the city of Troy, situated on the Turkish coast at the southwestern part of the Hellespont. The Hellespont, now called the Dardanelles, and the Bosporus are narrow straits that connect the Aegean Sea with the Black Sea. As such, they are the gateway between Europe and Asia, and in Mycenaean times they held the key to control of the profitable Black Sea trade. In hopes of taking over that trade, Agamemnon’s army attacked the powerful city of Troy, launching the decade-long campaign. The mythological war likely reflected a real war that was fought over the Dardanelles about 1200 B.C.