National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1884-02-15
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

TROJA BY Dr. HENRY scH1iEMAYN. New York
Harper Bros.
No man has made moro valuable contribu-
tions to archaeological history than DIR Schlie-
mann, and the important results of his ex-
cavations are ably set forth in the preface to
this book by Prof. A. II. Joyce, who bostows
high, but just, praise upon the indefatigablo
and energetic excavator. These results have
revitalized the heroes Of Homer, who had
been consigned to mythology by such practi-
cal historiansas Niebuhr and Grote. This book
is in reality a sequel to DIR. schliemann's for
mer work, Ilios," and he amends and corrects
many statements made in that work, which
his later investigations have thrown new
light upon. Underneath Hissarlik, which he
attributed to be the Homeric city, he formerly
| identified two earlier settlements, but now
he identifies only one, reaching the conclu-
sion that the city on which the Homeric
legends were founded was the second in the
order Of building. Important results follow
this change, and the general credibility Of
the theory that Homer had substantial
foundation of fact for his descriptions is
strengthened.
Of all the places in the Troad, tho weight
Of evidence is decidedly in favor Of Hissarlik
being the site of the Troy sung of by Homer,
though DIR. Schliemann thinks that Hissarlik
represents tho Acropolis only, while the town
of Troy extended below and southwark. He
locates the Skaran gate and traces the Ska
mander by its old bed near to tho walls Of
| Troy.
He searched the so.called tumuli OF
Achilles and Patrocius, and found that they
were not tombs, but sites Of very ancient
settlements, and other ancient sites woro
found by the shore, further down tho coast.
He crossed the Hellespont to the Chorsonese,
and made excavations in tumulus called
tho Mound of Protesilaos. In IL
he found pottery fragments corresponding
to those in the lowest layers on
Hissarlik. Prof Joyce, in his preface DO.
fore referred to, halls this as an important
fact and arrives at the conclusion that the
Trojans who founded the city were
Thracians; that the founders of Troy came
from Thrace and were called Phrygians, the
Armonians being later offshoots of the stock
After referring to statements by Strabo ant
Karl Blind of the Phrygian origin of the
Trojans, he says:
The researches Of the last few years have
aDunuhntly SHOWN tnat all these statements were
correct Ny displacement of the cunelform In
scriptons of Van has proved that as late as the
year $40 Il. G. there were yet no Arynn settl er
In Ararat or Armenia the country being still hell
by race which seems TO have been the same a
that of modern Georgia, and which spoke a Ian
guage that had no connection with,those of tn
Aryan family. When the Aryan Armenian
finally made their way to their new home the
must have marched from the west and not fron
| the east. Among the hundreds of names be
longing to the vast district between Media an
| Hays, which occur OH the monuments of Assyrla
| there are none that can be assigned to an Arya
origin, and comparative philology has no,
proved that modern Armenian, like the scant
relics Of the old language of Phrygia, occupies
middle place between the Greek on one side an
the Letto-Slayic on the other. The ancestors Q
the Armenians and the Phrygians must, therefore
have once lived In region which was bounde
by Greeks on the south and by Slavs on the north
in other words. In tho very country which wa
known to classical geography as Thrake.
The Importance of connecting the Troj an
with the Aryan stock appears in explaining
the perfect understanding of each other
speech noticed throughout the contests of tn
heroes in the "Iliad," the Trojan speaking
-. in a Grecisnized dialect Of Thrace. Tn
book is one which will be read with deep in
terest by all lovers Of Homer, and it may b
read with profit by architects and tn
: students of Greek inscriptions.