In my presentation, I will address the symbolic uses to which the myth of the fall of Troy was put in ancient Greece and Rome. I will start with the myth’s status as the foundational myth of Archaic and Classical Greece (670-334 BCE); proceed to its being employed as a powerful political tool by Alexander the Great and his heirs (334-20 BCE); and conclude with its becoming instrumental in the construction of Roman identity, which led to the myth’s radical re-assessment in the Roman period (20 BCE -- 392 CE). This will be accompanied with the account of the history and monuments of the Greek city of Ilion, which occupied the site of the Bronze Age Troy during the Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman periods (Troy VIII and IX) and was universally recognized as its symbolic representative.