, 1881-02-20
TROY.

TROY.
Kxa. Prof. sc1slicn,nnn discovered tho
t Site Of Ancient Troys
| The Dial
Tho ch;ef purposc of DR.. Schlfemann's labors
has hceu tho ycrtcaton Of the Horneric legends
| concerning Troy. It was m object worthy u
| the nobic5t endeayors OF his cnthlsasllc na1ufe'
Where did the ''Sacred Ilios " standT Is Iruy
| myth: or was there really city where Prlam
| ruled which was conquered, dcspo'led.and oairnea
| the Grecian hosts? Was tho Ten Years war;
with its mighty deeds of arms, fiction OF the
poets brain? Did Homer invent tue scenes .uo
! events tho men and women, OF the "llad ::
These are the questions which this intrepid eS-
| plorcr in the field of classic lcgcnu TOOK upon
| himself to answer. He had profound 1nl1h III
| uomcr,-an 1,nwayeriug belief in the reality or
| his narrative; and the task he unucrtooR WAS u
prove the objective correspondence Of the llt1lo
corner Of land in the extreme northwestern cor
| ncr of Asia Minor with the poetic descriptions
| of the :. Had" and that the Hill Of Hlssarik IS
| the very pInco where stood tho "FoIy CITY,
i around which was enacted the "Tale OF Troy
| Divine"
If tho reader viii! look at classical map OF the
| country around the Hcllespont, he VIII lfhu III
Troas point south Of the strait 1.-THE actual us
| tance Is three mics> marked Sovr1n lllum. on
modern maps this name will be found changed
tn Hissarli,z. For centuries after Homer tlsnc'
this tyns tho accepted site of Troy. But Ebout
| .UO H. c. Il writer known as Dernetrus OF seep-
sic challenged the identity Of No|um lilu1n WIN
tho u,,ceut Hos of Homer. His arguments were
| Of the hinslcst character; but, unfortunately,
| his views were adopted by Strabo, tho gcogrss-
| phcr, whose authority wus respected till the end
Of the last century. 1t is not certain where
Deme,rius and Strubo placed the site, but it IS
supposed to have been ut Il place now KNOWN
! as 4Akshi Kioi trather more thnn four miles
| in d direct line southeast OF i:ssarlik) IN
11s5. Lechcyalicr, Frcn"h traveller who nad
| 1uutIe Il hasty examination Of u portion or the
! Trt,,d, put forward claims for !. plAce cai'su
t Buunurbnshi as the spot where Troy hao
| stood in the days ot its strength anu slorf-
Nearly sixty years ago IN attempt WAS made
! to revive tho identity Ut Novnm 1li'm win .ee
! lIomeric lIios, by Maciarcn, lu English 'sritcr-
Since then scholars have disputed, over the con-
| ti,cting claims OF Novum ll!um a:lc Eo.l'sarbish.
and there is no saying bow long the contro'crs!
might have continued had not SchlieIn.nn gone
| to work with pickax and spa'le, and applied tae
| cure intluctions OF archaeological science 10 the
settlement OF the question; He has spent years
produced inc"ntestnble proofs n lavor 81 LIZ tIs
place which Greek tra!!on ra ha fot h, ~n n
/ surface of the hill 1T nounurbashi he struck the
solid rucs, and there were neither ruins nor re-
Mr. pn,lip sntn has said that ..tho theory Of
I4echev.er IS !, mere hyIothesis born from Inc
fancy OF modern traveller, "thout tne ), Sii.ht
est historical or traditional foundation ~ TINS
/ might be added that NOT single fact or princ'-
| pic Of archaeology can be quoted in support OF
! the FrenchEnuns s theory.
| Dr.. schcn,ann u went TO work in a very different
! spirit and pursued very different methods, from
any Of hts predecessors. tie org1nlz "a ex,
! with zeal t,,ar knew no bounds. His cxeAvA.
mons extend to depth Of titty-two and %ne-ha;f
from the sarfte IN eras w 10 sr tal
| strata, differing from cacn other in many par
ticunrs. In his opinion, these strain correspond
10 a success sion Of cities that have arisen one
above the other through long periods of time.
| The lowest stratum goes back 70 prehistoric
agc which must have nntedated tho Trojan war
tic sight OF the Hellenic City Of Sovnn, lliun.
i is tue third stratum thirsys,hr&es & dses n;n tfon
mann identifies rs tho Homcr!c llios. Here ne
| claims to have found the ruins Of city which
aEd it is to the subsuntintion OF this claim that
! his book Is devoted. 1t world be sheer prcsump-
the immense mass OF facts ind reasoning gath
| cred in tile 500 pages OF the work: but We may
to state in the briefcst form the princi-
n;H tained. ',tI00s''''A' - ~
First-The position of the Hill of Hi:sarlik
answers nearly all tho demands OF the :" liad"
| rounding country, i'll which the action OF the
| poem is represented as taking place.
Second-The structure and arrangement of
| the ruins Ut the third stratum which have been
| laid bare CORRESPOND To- remarkable extent
| with the descriptions Of the poem.
| Third-The place bears the strongest evidence
| OF having been destroy ed by great contugra-
ton. and in this respect furnishes peculiar cvi-
dencc OF its identity With tue city which Homer
| describes US hnEiny been given to tho flames BY
| tho victorious Greeks.
Fourth-The ten treasures of gold and silver
| found in or near the principal house prove the
city to nave been the residence of Il powerful
and wealthy chlef.-such an one as Pr'am IS Dc
ford good ground for the cpthet "Cty Of Gold,'
| SO frequently used.
| Fifth-Thc archaeological remains of all kinds
| found in such abundance are such as naturally
| belong to the age which can fairly be assigned
to this third stratum Of the excavations, and
ttons astot of the Iiiad' '>'e'''~S' 'e e
| Sixtb-The historical testimony, to which allu-
sion has already been made, is strongly corrob-
oratiyo Of tho discosurs made by tie exc;,va-
tiOnS ut HiSsark 1t is not likely thar Aerxcs
would have visited Noyum 1liun, TO make li'';-
| tions to the heroes slain in The Trojan war, or
that Alexander would have come thttncr to offer .
sacrifices to rriam when On his way to the East.
| with the Troy Of Homer had not been well
| founded and universally believed.
| 1t is not pretended, of course. that the topos..
| raphy a1ld remains OF the third city nncarlhed
ut fiissarlik correspond in every particular with
! the poem OF Homer. It must not be 1or@otten
| that Homer deals with his matter in the large
| aud imaginative manner Of the pnct. Still. the
| agreement is much more striking thnn would be
| suspected: and, taken together, tho prupos-
lions stated above make cut IN overwhelming
| case in favor OF Schiie1uann's yiews. As Prof
| Eirchow has well said. = 1t Is not LETT to our
VIC must have pluec which answers To all the
| requirements of the poetry; therefore we ate
| C0npGIled TO say: IiEfC. upDN Inc tbslFtSs-Hill
| Of Hssnriik.-hf}e upon the rufus Of tho burnt
City Of Gold,-hsls ,cOS lfum-''
Closely connected with the problem to
! where Troy stood are other questions Of fas-
| cinating interest. 1t is but Il step 10 the in
| qlliry whether tho persons and incidents de-
| scribcd In tho :" llliad" to l1e treated us
myths regarded as historical fucts There
| is no room for tho discussion of this question
| here: but VIC may he permitted to remark that
since tie publication Of DR.. Sch1iemann's :.
| searches htt: few scholars of e.unencc have
cnrctl to speak nt tho :" ilill" ;s nothing more
| than collection Of poetical fc:ons. All, Ill
| dce.t, nre not wiling to follow slr. Gladstone
| In yielding to Homer IN historical authors
| ty quite equal to that OF Hert"lotus. Tut
that the Trojan WAS was an actual strnx-
glcd. some scene Of that act Of the warfare
between Europe and Asia which nude the
| Western coast Of AsiA forever Greek as Mr..
| Freeman puts 1t. Is II proposition entitled hy
every canon OF historical criticism to unYuall-
| fled acceptance. The traditions woven Into
poetic form BY Homer must have rested upon
| solid basis Of fact transformed to very con-
siderable extent they no doubt were by "thc
| vision and the faculty divine" of the poet: but
we cannot close our eyes to the literal exactuess
with which many Of Iionlcr's lines fit into the
facts revealed by Schlemnnn. Acnceforth we
may have the satisfaction Of feeling that Homer
was not only mighty III fancy,-tho inspired
singer of tho ways and workings Of the Olym-