Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1898-05-02

American School at Athens.
The subject of the lecture was An
cient Troy, or rather the latest dis
coveries at Troy. In 1891, when DR..
Schliemann died, it was supposed that
the middle of the story of the redis-
covery of Troy had been reached; but
this seems to be refuted by the won
derful progress made in the research
of DR.. Schliemann's successor, DR.. w
Doerffeld
Prof Goodwin said, when the re-
port was spread of Schliemann's first
discovery, three questions were pre-
sented to him for consideration.
First, whether there was such man
as Schliemann; second, did he dis
cover an ancient city; and, finally,
was that city 'Troy?" Ample oppor-
tunity to verify these he had in 1890,
when he was the guest of DR.. Schlie-
mann on the hill which covered Per-
CANA.
The evidence of recent discoveries
are all in confirmation of the Homeric
Troy. AS the poet, the living poet of
the Had and Odyssey is contested, SO
Troy is invisible; it is not agreed rs
to where it existed If it had some
relic, like the Acropolis of Mycenae,
the sole relic which, supplies the evl
dence of Agamemnon, then it's situa-
ton could be easily verified. There
is an uncertainty Of the site of the
city of the Had because no ruins in
Asia can be identified with Troy as
those of the Acropolis with Mycenae.
The ruins found on the hill where
be are those of the Roman city Ilium
excavated in 1873 When Schliemann
began his excavations the hill was
112 feet in height. He proved that
so feet of this was the natural hill
and the remaining 81 feet was COM
posed of a mass of rubbish, ground
and bricks Beneath this he found a
perplexing mass of walls and build
ings.
Schliemann's first work was to dig
trench through the hill and remove
the ruins of the walls of the Pergama.
were six strata upon which cities had
been built. Further, that the sixth
was the one where the Romans of the
Augustan Age had built their llium,
and that the first or lowest stratum
represented Ilion.
In the second city he had discov-
cred the walls of the large citadel t.
be % feet high. In some places where
these are in ruins they were only SIX
feet. Upon these were built walls OF
sun-burnt bricks. These bricks were
about foot long, l foot wide and
inches in thickness. At various in
tervals beams were thrust through
the brick walls to hold them together.
These beams in the destruction OF
Troy were burnt and so the bricks
Immediately around the beams are of
a reddish color due to the fire. This,
he thought, proved that the bricks
were not baked like ours before they
were put into the wall.
he found to be or feet high, but
very much thinner than those of the
city. The average thickness of these
was about AZ feet. In the palace DR..
Schliemann found various treasures
which he conjectured to have been
placed there just before the sacking
of the city by the Greeks. These were
supposed to have been contained in a
wooden box which was burned when
the city was given to the flames. The
key of this box he found near the ar
ticles of the treasure. There were
globular objects, vases, two beautiful
diadems of gold, one golden fillet
about 18 inches long, four golden ear
rings, Sc smaller earrings and 5000
objects of gold, in the treasure. This
proves that these were not the relics
of tribe of barbarians but of ma
ton of great taste and wealth at
home. These articles are now in the
Schliemann Museum at Berlin.
Prof. Goodwin believes that the hill
upon which Nova Ilium was built is
about 31a miles from the Hellespont.
Under the northeast corner of the
hill Of Troy he thought the confluence
Of the ancient rivers, Simois and
Scanander, to have occurred.
Schliemann thought that on the
natural hill six cities had been sue
cessively built; but his successor, DR..
Doerffeld, has proved that there were
nine strata; that upon the ninth,
Nova Ilium had been built; and on
the sixth, lion, the city Of the Greeks.
Although Doerffeld cannot prove that
there was a burning of this city,
nevertheless he substantiates his
claim by the various kinds of pottery
which he found there. Such pottery,
of the time and of the city of Aga
memnon, Troy would have possessed.
This is considered as very good au
thority for his belief. He further
claims that the second city must have
been built about $500 years B. c.
The walls of Mantinea and Athens
were built of the same material and
L 81