TROIA  , a

town and episcopal see of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Foggia, situated 1440 ft. above sea-level, 7 M . N.W. of the station of Giardinetto-Troia, which is r6 m . S.W. of Foggia . Pop . (1901), 6674 . Troia occupies the site of the ancient Aecae, 12 M . S. of Luceria, on the Via Traiana, a town which fell to Hannibal after the victory of Cannae, but was won back by the Romans in 214 . Under the empire it appears to have become a colony . Troia was itself founded in 1017 by the Greek prefect Basilius Bugianus . The cathedral dates from 1107, but the upper part of the facade with its curious sculptures, fine rose-window and polychromatic decoration, the choir apse and the interior were restored early in the 13th century . The latter has been somewhat spoilt by recent decorations . The bronze doors, partly in relief and partly in niello, of 1119 and 1127 respectively, were cast in Beneventum by Oderisius Berardus .

The small domed

church of S . Basilio has an ambo of 1158 .