It was then that Swiss scholar Emil Forrer deciphered newly discovered writings from the Hittite Empire to the east, finding two place-names—Wilusa and Taruisa—that sounded convincingly like the Hittite way of writing "Wilios" (the Greek name for the site was "Ilion") and "Troia" (Troy). He also found a treaty, from the early 13th century BC, between the Hittite king Muwatalli and a king of "Wilusa" named Alaksandu. The king’s name, Forrer added, recalls the name of the Trojan prince Alexander—called Paris in Homer’s Iliad. Critics pooh-poohed, conceding that a place named Wilusa may have existed, but where was it on...