The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-09-10

rxTRaCzh IRON a PaIFATE LETTEH FROM DE-
E scasrrNIsN-Hfsrpg EALUE p5sTH L Lat
apeuRofnGrU4r4D lscorERIEs Ills EARLY sL.s
THEORIES eOsFTfssED. FL
From the Troy Pines -
twill no doubt be interesting 20 YOU ,a an &c
~ c,,r hnnored friend Professor North lte
haar that Professor 81. Gomperz In Vienna.
NOD s ajrnadv sucreeGed fin decipteriug ten ol
nv Trojan ir,scriptioss, all OF which are fn
very, Dr9nitire Cyprian characters. but con.
Tain nure Greek words. Thus the important
fact Is established that the Trojans spoke
Greek. but the chronology of these NOM
neuts. as we'll as of all objects which came
from The burnt. city In from tWeDty-three
10 thirty.three- feet below the surface, il
now generally acknowledged to be be
tween 1900 and 1000 before Christ, while
the Homeric hymns cannotGube older
than 900 years before Christ But t,TroySs
tragical fate had remained in fresh. memory,
for 1t was sung by numerous rtapsodA and
probably by hundreds of them before Homer,
whose poems alone are preserved because
they were the most sublime and perfect
Troy was. rebuilt, and ten feet above the
ruins of the ancient lion you fad poste-
rior prehistoric city, which must also have
been destroyed, for, like In Troy ana NE IN
Pompey, you can dig up there the skeleton
of every. house. In the Egyptian poem ol
Pentasus, which dates from the hfteentn
century before Christ, the Trojans OF lion
are descrbedias fighting against. Ramases
T., the SesostrIs of the Greeks, While
the Scriptures of Medinet-Abou at Thebes
EgyptL which date from the END
of the fourteenth to the beginning
Of thirteenth century before Christ, the
Trojans. still appear as one OF the most
powerful nations on the, coasts OF The
Mediterranean; but all these Trojans must
derive from the prehistoric city which you
find in thirteen to twenty-tbree feet below
the surface, on the top of Troy. No doubt
the site of Troy had been abandoned and
uuiDhabited for centuries before the age OF
Homer, for the objects, and particularly the
idols, found even in the highest prehistoric
LAYERS Of ruins, show an immense difference
in age when compared with those described
by Homer; besides, the latter continually
speaks of iron, whereas l never found q
trace of iron in any one Of the four prehls-
toric cities OF Troy, and not even In the
uppermost, which just precedes the ilium
OF the Greek colony.
John Murray, of London, who IS we'll
known by his glde-bookS for travellers, is
now going to publish ny work On Troy Ill
an English dress, and with, think, I'll my
two hundred and eighteen tablets, Whicn he
has got beautifully engraved. I trust this
English translation wilt be we'll received all
over the globe, for the worlds enthusiasm
for the Houleric song will never subside us
long as our plauet is Inhabited by men.
The Times adds: #
In this connection we may state that we
have information to the effect that plan OF
settlement has been agreed upon between
DR.. SchiierDann and the Turkish Govern.
ment, by which the former is to pay over to
the barbarians one-half of the value of the
treasure taken from the site OF ancient Troy.
Three experts have been chosen to make esti-
mates of the value OF the interest thus con-
cededed to the Turkish Government, and as
soon as their report is made Dr.. Schiemann
will settle the demand, and come into undis.
puted possession of his treasures, which be
values above all price.
THE reader will see that DR.. S. does not
write very good English