The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-10-04


Alexander the Great went up to the citadel O
Ilion on the hill Of Hissarlik. as xerxes bat
done before him. and having offered sacrinc,
to Athena. hung up his armor in the temple
He planned. moreover. to enlarge the city b.
giving Il new walls, but this project was moi
carried out till the time OF Lysimachos in 301
&c Lysimschos settled the inhabitants oil
| various neiRhborinC towns in Ilion and sur
rounded the city with wall five miles in CIR
| cumference. The Romans took especial pride
in this resurrection Of Ilion. for they regarded
themselves as sprung from Eneas and
believed Ilion to be tho cradle OF their race.
Ennius sang OF the enthusiasm with which the
Roman armies greeted this. tho reputed home
OF their ancestors. when in the year 191 D. @.
they first trod Asiatic soil. While. how
ever. the Romans were fraternizine with the
Ilians, . critic appeared who was to deny the
| continuity Of Ilion. and who was consequently
| to dispute the existence OF any connection be-
| tween Rome and the city on the hill OF Hissar-
| lik. This representative Of Alexandrian erudl-
ton. Demetrios. native Of Skepsis. averred
| that the ancient Ilion could not have existed
| on the site Of the Ilion OF his day-that Is to
say. the Hissarlik discovered by DR.. Schlie-
mann. He based his assertion chiefly on two
grounds. In the first place the plain stretch
ing from It to the sea only came he said. into
existence through Q later alluvial deposit ofthe
Skamander and would. therefore. In the days
Of Homer. have been far too small to have been
the scene Of the combats described. In the
second place. tho pursuit Of Hector by Achilles
thrice round the walls Of the city could not have
taken place on tho site OF the new lion: for
hill. but on 4 spur Of a long mountain ridge. so
tnse ss ono point tne runners Wouiu nave neu
70 chmo up oohsloolso,e inchne. De,se I,,.
consequently pretol.eo 70 Iecoenihe o,o tmon
III INC so-c."eu ,M"so Y. Wv In"n". AAs'
accotuinS W 1he "e@sute"eh'S no Sose' "u -,
tnirty s.aola from new nIon' Yen tsom cue MI
OF AAihko'ones ana nve TON tne e'moeis.
tncreiore coinoided Win inc site now caiieo
hahMtepah. opposse ouuatosehl. NO an-
cient runs coulo % olscosereo thore.
even IN tho ume OF Deme.rios' out tnis
alo not no ea,u' lns"nu..e Ihs Hsee,uon' AZ.
enc seones Wouia oe usoo LOT inc puloine Q,
new mon ana inc 9teaeer pan Oh tnem wou,a
DC ca.teo away 70 elaeum. nero ID NO uouo'
.haI inc seosiapner e..aoo ie.i colhp,e.elS vi,
DER the speh OF tne criuoism o! Oemetrlos' anu
IN ou, Ase' WHOM 10 , man s. s' .., W
tne AieAanerisn spIt. e.apos ~, ues. .n
rekinoieo tue oia contfoverSy' ms 'neory
was accepted oy mos. scnoiars VINO
iaenuheo the runs On inc oanaash: naii
an nours Journey aooVe nunarpashi'
WIN .he snciehs 10y. III och.emann. On
the o.her haho. heiu 70 the pre,nieAanuriah
tiaaition ana eAcaVa.ea ~ new mon Waere.
s'tnoueh ms nIss isoors.in AoA-11 oiu NO.
convert many OF ms opponents. MS SUBSEQUENT
oiscovenes IN looI arc aomi1eo 10 nave see-
'aeo tne oueSuon VI 1foy 0''e iofe'er'
w.
How did It happen that 50 many able men
were 80 completely misled in this matter2
This question is discussed BY DR.. schuch
hardt at some length. He points out that the
notion OF the Aexandrian Demetrios that the
plain between Ilion and the sea was an al
luvial deposit had clearly been suggested by
passage in Herodotos. who says that the plain
was formerly bay. This. however. Is a geo.
logical statement made without reference to
history. Herodotos was far from thinking
that the plain lay under water In Homeric
times. for he himself believed in the identity
Of the old and the new Ilion. otherwise how
could he have mentioned without criticism the
visit-of Xerxes to Priam's citadel and it's new
inhabitantsP Moreover. Prof virchow has ex-
Amined the plain geologically. and has dug
In different places to depth Of several metres.
but he has nowhere found traces OF marine
formation. Again. in the second century A. D..
Skylax gives twenty-five stadia t3S miles,
As the distance between lion and the sea, a
measurement which is still under the existing
condition quito correct. II then the plain has
not appreciably increased from the time Of
Skylax down to our own. that Is to say. in
period Of nearly eighteen hundred years, 1t can
scarcely have come into existence altogether
In the preceding period Of one thousand years.
The second argument OF Demetrios that
Achilles and Hector could not have run three
times round the site Of new Ilion raises the
question Of how much poetic exaggeration
may be attributed 10 Homer. A poet who
could make Achilles choke the waters Of
river with the victims Of his wrath would
scarcely be much troubled by the fact that the
running Of his heroes would be rendered more
difficult whore they had to climb up the ridge
which Joins the mound Of the citadel. that is to
say the hill Of Hissarlik. to the neighboring
heights. There is no more exaggeration in
the threefold pursuit of Hector by Achilles than
there is In the alleged prowess Of Diomede.
who is described as hurting stone which two
other men could hardly raise. However.
II stress be laid upon the question raised