New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-10-25

Tho labors Of Dr. Schliemann in Greece were I'M
dertal,en with a twofold object in view, unique
in the annals of archaeology. They aimed at
adding chapter to the history of civilization ana
at giving the cachet Of truth TO two literary mas
terpeces of antiquity for the benefit of an IN
crodulous world Students of the H0neric poems
and of the heroic age which the Had particularly
describes will welcome this volume OF Dr. Schu.
chardts, which is the most succinct narrative oi
the great explorers life-work yet published III
Schljemann was in all things true to the convic-
ton that the faculty Of energetic initiative Is the
most precious essential in the carrying on OF work
for which public recognition is desired. The
same sturdy faith which sustained him in his de-
! Termination TO dig for ancient Troy on the hill
OF Uissarlik in the face Of all opposition from
theorizers who placed the site at Bunarbashi, led
him TO give his discoveries to the public lmme-
diately after he had made them, recording them
enthusiastically, and scorning half-hearteo sur
misses such as more cautious archaeologists would
have preferred If subsequent evidence came TO
light TO modify the significance of any discovery,
it was at once issued separately or incorporated In
an appendix to the first announcement on the
subject. This method while not seriously Vltlat-
ing the value of his great books, "Troja,'
Tfryns7 and Mycenac' renders them confusing
even to specialists. DR.. Schuchardt has brought
|
from one book information which has hereto
! fore been scattered through half dozen.
| The most touching feature of DR.. Schllemanns
career was his sublime belief in the general truth
of the Homeric poems at a time when German
! criticism was every day advancing well-ngh con-
| vincing proofs of their weakness historical doc
| uments. English scholars were almost alone In
| holding that the Iliad an authentic record OF
| an authentic event. The Germans, with follow
ing all over Europe cOntended that Homer, the in
dividual had never existed, that the name was
n collective" one the story Of the siege and down.
| fall of Troy sung in the Had being the fancful
| creation Of many poets. The Troy Of the poem
| they declared to be purely mythical town.
| Schemann was even less affected by the deliver
ances OF Wolf and his colleagues than was the
| trustfu youth Of BrOwnings poem His belief
| in Homer was rooted in the simplicity and tenacty
Of his character 1t dated from the period wien,
as a lad. unfamiliar with Greek, he purchased
three glasses of whskey and bribed dissipated
student who visited the German grocery where he
was employed, to recite hundred lines Of Homer in
| the original that he might enjoy
| the mere music in them. Later when he had
| made himself one Of the best lIomerc scholars
| of his day, he still rejected the hypothesis OF
pure romance. Whether he accepted the idea
Of collective Homer" or not his belief remained
the same. His discoveries must have compelled
him, if at first the critics could not admit that
| llomer's description of the siege Of Troy is
pastche made up from legends but he was i'm
movable on the two points that the legends spr"
from veritabe sources and that Pram's Troy
had existed on the hill of IIissarlik in the plain
Of Skamander, within three miles Of the Aegean
Sea. Considering the length Of time during which
scholastic opinion had ranged itself AGAINST the
lrff ic &ol,l
could not carry conviction to the unbelievers
until the excavations were made. Even then
skepticism died hard and its ghost is not laid yet
The controversy over the site of HOmerc Troy
was begun as long ago the Alexandrian age,
when Demetrios attempted to demonstrate by
rule Of thumb that the new historic IliOn which
men were then pleased to consider the phoenix born
Of the ashes of the Homeric and prehistoric Ilion
was too near the sea to be authentic The plain
he claimed was late auyial deposit and could
! not have furnished large enough stage for the
numbcrless actors in the great HOmeric drama
Moreover, insisted this ingenious precursor of the
modern archaeolOgist the lion of the Hssarlik
mound was not isolated but was built on the
spur of mountain ridge. How, then, could
Achilles have pursued Hector three times around
the Trojan walls, as described in Homer? He
preferred TO locate ancient lion about three miles
further inland a site known to-day lanai
tepeh, near Bunarbashi The orthodox men of his
time asked Demetrios for ruins at this stage
lie could not produce them but offered instead
the very plausible explanation that they must
have been removed and used as material for the
new Ilion at IIissark
The first of DemetriOs's arguments derived
from the statement in Herodotus that the plain
Of Skamander once bay is refutcd in
more than one way. In the first place Herodotus
subscribed to the Ancient Troy IIisSarlik theory
and must, therefore, have intended his statement
as TO the plain to refer to period far antedating
that of the Homeric siege. Secondly, Professor
Vrchow has proved by a strict anal sis of the
soil that the plain is innocent of any signs of
marine f. rmatioI. The contention that the pur-
suit around the walls could not have taken place
at Hissarlik is as easily disposed Of DR. Schu-
chardt Justly observes that the episode may b;
ascribed to the imaginary side Of Homer, and the
argument against Demetrios lose nothing of its
force.
"Wten Achilles Stays whole hosts OF TrojanS
he says, and fills the waters Of Skamander with
the slain, when Priam is represented as having
fifty SONS and twelve daughters, when the Trojan
War lasts ten years and Odysseus employs ten
further years his homeward journey we have
The workings Of the same poetic fancy which
enables Samson TO slaughter thousand Philstincs
with the jawbone of an ass. .. q II mat
tiers little whether the running Of the heroes
would he difficult because they would have to
climb up the ridge which joins the mound Of the
citadel TO the neighboring heights. D..
However, if stress need be laid the question
then we must remember that the last excavations
prove this ridge TO have been originally thirty
nine feet lower than it is now" Were this not
enough TO silence Demetrios we have this fact
wherewith to accomplish the ?urpose-the site at
Ianatepeh fulflls less than does that at Hissarik
the typographical conditions of the poem.
1t is curious that modern scholars have continG-
ally failed to see the untenability of Dcmetross
position. Dr. Schliemann it and his vision