The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1877-01-14
SCHLIEMANN AND HIS VOR6.

SCHLIEMANN AND HIS YORK
BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS DISCOVERIES ON THE
SITE OF ANCIENT TROY.
When, in 1874, DR.. Heinrich Schliemaun's
book appeared, entitled " Trnj Aniscne AL
terthuetner THAT lis, "Trcjan Antiqui,
ties 1T called out a world of ridicuie
criticism and enthusiasm. AS it purpoIted
to be an account of the discove OF Homer's
Troy, the learned scholars of the land oil
Strauss laughed at it with much salts faction
and the comic papere, taking the hint from
| the universities, abused DR.. Schliemunn in
the heavy, numbering way of German wits,
represent ting him, for example, as standing
| with u skull in his hand and singing that
be knew it was Hecobs's by its false teeth,
or with helmet fully recognized aa having
been worn by Eneas, because that i!literate
| gentleman hadn't written his name in the
crown. Most of the best scholars of Eurnpe
had looked upon Ilion ss having but q my
| thieal existence, in much the way 10 which
Old Eratosthenes remarked that one might
trace the wanderings OF Ulysses when he
bad succeeded in discovering the name of
| the cob6er who stitched the bag of the
winds. They had, and have, very good
grounds for their belief, DR.. Schiiemann to
the contrary Notwithstanding. But the
common and unlearned eagerly believed old
Trey had been found. The man who had
discovered IL was, too, one of themselves.
tor the DoctCr-he is said to have received
his degree from G0ttingeH, hated Of Hsine
wac of an originally poor family, and
though hn had always shown greA5 desire
OF learning Geek-mDialy BIZ causs of a tipsy
scholar wac used to rec,te Homar's re
sounding verse in his ceaance--hn had
gained no knowledge Of ltat most brauC,-
.dl Of tongues till he WAS we'll 0u a Years
AS man he entered IA mercantile honse,
for which he Travelled sunie years, and flu
nlk I've rspl l
look up Hroy-the myta-and prove it a re-.
atty. Meantime he had mastered good deal
OF Greek, bet rot sufficient to prevent him
from Insisting that the thea glaukOpiS Athene
OF college days meant not the "giAncins-
eyed goddess Atheue," but the " owl. faced
goddess" an assertion for which Professor
Max Muller Was not long in dropping on him
from the columns of the London Academy
Grown rich, be determined to seek In the
Hill Of Hissarlik, which stands just at the
junction of the East and West civilizations,
IN the region where connecting link is
found between the primitive Greeks of
Asia and Europe, answers to the type of
Greek city, and presents the type of the
primeval capitals of the East. The weight
OF ancient testimony, as we'll as much of the
modern. pointed TO this as the site of
llion. Both Schliemann and his opponents
agreed that Homer never saw the city,
the only difference between them being
that the Doctor held the reason to be
that in Homer's day the city was covered
from slght, whilo the ohjectors hatd it to
ha that there never had been any such city.
Whatever the final verdict may be, it is
certain that Schlemaun's WORK throws
much light on antique life, and if it is not
Troy that he has tound, whence comes that
light what was the buried city,
In 1870, DR.. Schliemann began some pre-
excavations at HissaTlik, hut soon
after, having obtained tirman from the
Turkish GOverument-Which did not, how |
ever, prevent b'aI from meeting with many |
dltficu Titles, placed in his way by sordid |
and stupld officia's-he set at work in ear |
nest, and was sn3n rewarded most richly. |
From 1871 to 1873 his researches were sy |
tematic; they were cot like L&ya:d's at |
Nineveh, hut corsis cd Offerings and trans
verse cuttings which laid opeu the varions
strata below the present surface. The high |
antiquity of his finds vas attested uy 80
high an authority as Mr.. Charles Newton
Of the British N useum, who went to Athens
TO examine then; and iC may be added that
aAnong those who believe in his Eoueral
theory was DR.. Ecken brecher, the German
arch n ologist, who was quite capable of ap.
preclstiDg at their full value ire adverse
criticisms with which the columns of the
supplements of the profound Augsburg
ZeisWng nsed to g flied week
after week. Many who believed in the
reality of old Troy had held that it's true
i:sproved by excava.ing at the spot and f cd
Dg nothing.
1t seems fair to cay that if the WINDY
Troy" ever existed, the Hill of Hissarlk
vas the right place in which to seek for it.
Among the first of his discoveries was thu
act that Illion, if there 1t had been, had
unk to decay before the time of Constan-
Inc the Great, as, though later coins of
lis day were found near the surface, none
# Consta ltne we're found further down.
Tbe top of the Hill was Greek; then came
puzz'ing transitions tn sort of ''stone aoe,'
mt between forty aud fifty feet beneath the
urface the Doctor foHnd-Troy, az be,
Without the slightest SHOW ofschOlaIly hes .
ration asserts. The whole hill was, ia his
wn words, a "cornucopH" of treasures
ich in terra cottas, but many of them
earring not the remOtest resemblance to
FORKS of Hellenic art. The first settlers of
he Hill we're evidently of Aryau origin, as G
las shown by Aryau symbols. The excava- a
ions Of 1873 proved, to the Doctors salts
Al - m |