St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-09-22
A Week in the Troad.
~ G. A. SAVAGE.
Con iHued fyOm IUsT ,r..L.

-
Scalnander. This broad river is one of
the distinctive features of the Troad
and is rendered classic by Homer. By
men 1t WAS called Scamandrr but by th,.
gods Aantius, and was worShipped hv
the Irojans us di, unity. You will re-
niembcr il WAS beside this stream that
Rhesns, king of Thrace, lay cncamped
(acc"rding to Nirgil,) when TlN s>es and
Dlomed slew him in night attack upon
his tents, and led away his fiery stceds
10 the Glecian ships 'hefore they had
tasted the forage of Troy or drank the
AantfuS.' This river rises in Mount
Ida some thirty miles away and flows
through the entire length of the Trojan
Plain. As | shall have occasion to
speak of it again when describing the
site of Troy, | will simply say here that
authorities differ as to whether this
principal river in the Scamander or the
Simois. 1t still bears the name Men
deere, which is circumstantial proof
that 1t was anciently the Scamandcr.
and most who have investigated the
matter believe this To bc the case.
We crossed the river by wooden
bridge II mile OF more above its mouth.
stopping first to taste its water. which
We found decidedly salt. it being 50
near the sea. and to collect few shells
and pebbles as souvenirs, and then
pushed on to the mound of Achilles.
Homer in the 9th OdN ssey. in speak
ing of the ashes of Achilles and his
friend Patrocln>, puts these words into
the mouth of Agamcmnon
''O'rr all these
The sacred army "t the warlik- Greeks
Built up tomb macniticently vast
Upon u cape of the broad Hcllrspont
There To be seen far of upon the deep.
BY those " hU now born shall he born
In future years
OF all the places of interest III the
Gated than this. Its position on Il cape
luttng ont into the IiellcSpnnt Just
where il joins its waves with the blue
.fgean. the extensive view of the broad
>c;i that can ht seen from it, and th,
tradition which for more than 2,OOO
years has called it 10y the name of
Achilles, all 90 to prove that it is the
same mound that Homer san and had
III mind when he wrote the OdN S>cy
Twenty two hundred Years ago Alex
ander the Great when he crossed the
llellespont To invade Asia Minor. came
To the mound of Achilles and made Il
sacrifice upon it, himself running naked
around the mound. You will rcmem-
Der the words of Cicero in the Grafton
tor Poet Archias, "itgue is (Ilerdnder
Ndgm"s) tdmcn cum IN siJeo ad AchiiiiS
tumulum ddstitisset - fortunate" in
q"t. "ddolescens. YW tuR rirtutis
Homrrnm pr6c0nem nrencris." IT rert
nam nisi Hids lila crStiiisSet. idtm umn-
i"S qW corpus cjuS contererdt nomei
etidm obyuisSet"
There was IL votiVe temple here and
Il city AchlIcinm Sprang up around it.
This was the second time that have
crossed the track of Alexander the
Great. In emulation of him. and in
honor of the hero who there lay buried,
we rode our horses around the tomb
and then went up to the top to muse
and vandali>e. My relies consist of Il
few flowers and IL rock or two. which
plizr very highly. The mound CON
tains both the ashes OF Achilles and
Patr"clus. and, if il Was erected just
over the funeral pNre of the latter, Is
the spot around which the rrvcngcful
Achilles dragged each morning the body
of Hector who had slain his friend, and
it WAS here that the aged Piam came
to redeem the body of his valiant son.
Jones did not understand why We
We're making 81 much ado over every
mound of earth we came across. "Ah,
said llez. significantly, pointing down
wards, "ckok cdptieh bou,tla." The full
force of the remark will be lost upon
You from your Hmited knowledge of
Turkish. 'Zoptieh" is the ordinary
police officer who strolls about Constan-
tinople ''bour,ld" means here" and
"chOk is our intensive expression
every" or every much" Jones seemed
satisfied.
The ancient town of Sigeum was sit
uated near here Oh the PromontorN of
"Kum Kaleh," "Sand Castle"
Near the mound of Achilles there Is
another which has sometimes been
called that of Patroclus, but this is
evidently mistake, as Achilles directs
that one mound shall cover them both, =
and when both are in Hadcs, Agamcm
non gives to Achilles the information
that his request had been regarded, rs
is recorded in the 24th book of the
Odyssey. Quite Il good many of these
mounds have been cXcavated. and found
/ to contain human remains. This was
true of the mound of Achilles. but
whether the great hero was really
buried there cannot claim to decide.
Jones got Il little impatient before we
had finished our observations on the
mound and SO we concluded to move
ON, and leaving the place we rode ul
the hill towards the Egean, on the top
of which stands the Greek village OF