Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-03-25
PLAIN OF TROY.
The Site of the Ancient City
of Priam.
ConstantinopIe As Seen by An Amer
lean Visitor.
Arp,enians With Fraudulent Naturali :
zatcn Papers.

The plain Of Troy, the site of the old
City of Priam, the home of the beautl-
tul Helen, whose dark eyes set the
whole world a-fghtinS, lies near the
mouth of the Helles pont, about three
miles from the Aegean Sea, and con-
siderable part of the ruins and the
country around belongs TO Mr.. Calvert,
The United States consul at the neigh
boring towr of Dardanelles. lie has an
estate of 500 or coo acres well irrigated,
and under a high state OF cultivation,
and his home is the grateful headquar-
1ers of the arCheologists who come to
dig among the ruins. From the thres-
hold of his home one can see where
Achilles chased Hector around the
walls of the city, where the wooden
horse was played of upon the Trojans
by the cunning Greeks, and where Ajax
did his best fighting.
The tOpoe .aphical features of the
country have considerably changed
during the 3,GGG years since the Trojan
war. The ancient city is buried deep
beneath the soil. the ranges of hills
have been rounded off, ravines have
been filed up and the rivers have
changed their courses, but the general
outline of the country can easily be
traced from the description in Homer's
great poem.
The excavations made by DIR. Schlie-
mann and by Frank Calvert, show that
there are stratas of cities. one upon an
other under fifty feet of rubbish and
soil and sand. The first city was built
upon the bed rock, and there is no
doubt that It's population were Arian,
hole = ba
pottery. The second settlement, whose
foundations rested upon the ruins of
the first, according to Schliemann. was
built by the Trojans, and the ruins
show that the town was destroyed by
fearful confla graft The walls bear
marks of having been exposed to in
tense heat, melted lead and copper are
found in the ashes, and among the de-
bris were charred human bones, skele-
tons with braast-plates and helmets,
and, most wonderful Cf all, the treas
ures of Priam," whose intrinsic value
is very great and whose archaeological
value is even greater. They are sup
posed to have been the hoarded Vaiu-
abes of the king, and to have escaped
destruction at the time his palace was
destroyed.
SIS
and electrum, caldrons and other uten-
sils of copper. bracelets. rings, chains
and ornaments of gold; battle axes.
swords, spear heads and other weapons
of copper and many various articles OF
metal which were fused together by
the great heat that occurred at the de-
struction of the city.
4t.~k e,,o
cessors to the city that lies underneath
should not have discovered these de-
posits. because they built their houses
Immediately over. them. From the
style of construction, the judgements
weapons, utensils and other articles
that are found in the ruins. DR.. Schle-
mann believes that the third settle
ment was composed of Greeks, proba-
bly, part of Agememnon army, VINO
took posses:;ion and continued to live
there The earth that concealed TINS
ruin has been occupied for severa
hundred years by Turkish shepherds
and farmers. who have been CROWNS
vegetables and feeding sheep upon the
romantic spot.
According TO the calculations of th'
archeologists. Troy was much small
er city than students generally sup
pose. The ruins will not JUSTIFY
larger estimate than 5000 population
1t is also determined that the date o
the Trojan war and the fall OF Tro!
was about 1870 Il. G.
Frank Calvert, the United States
consul is an accomplished archeoloSls
Well as an enterprislng buSihes
man and is recognized as an authorlt!
upon all Of these subjects. HIS 1amii'
has been here more than halt a cen
tury. His elder brother was consu
of the United States for thirty year
and he has served in that capacity 10
nearly twenty-five years. TWO OF Ill
daughters have married Americans
psychologists, who came mere TO man
excavations, and are now living III III
United States.
DR.. Doerfield. director of the Germa
School of Archaeology at AthehS' ma
succeeded DR.. ScEliemann in charge o
the work here. and expects to resum
the excavations again this spring.
anybody wants to visit the ruins Q
Troy the easiest way is to leave IN
steamer at the little town of Darda
y nelIes and arrange with DIR. Calvert I
find a horse and a guide across TN
| country.
Living in the channel at the town /.
Dardanelles is n fleet of black huihs WI
L stern looking cannon protruding from u
1 port holes. but the ships are not so Iorn
| dable as they look 1t is the famous nay
of Turkey-famous for having peen vi
L able to get any further than their presei
L anchorage during the recent wa
/ with Greece. The Grecian meet ~
peared at the mouth OF - u
Hellespont and challenged the IuTl @
i to come oait for sea hght. in'
L could not go into the strait because IL
l lined from end to end with fortlheatloi
/ and Krupp guns, and no vessel IN
1 floats could endure the bombardment IN
would salute it if it were attempted
force the passage. But they dared .iie s 81
tan's seamen to come out where tne CO.., s,
is clear and the sultan gave the ORDER.
minister of marine told MIN ,Iae =
ships were all right, and 1t wouio pe /
i teresting to know how he alter"u,l N
crawled out of the scrape Decausr "a !,
Il could not get any farther than the Ia. "a. u u
1 nelles The boilers leaked, tne .ii .enSt,r
broke down. the steering gear wou nrt,,
work, and not one of them aars Sn nSi'u = =
to sea, even if it could nave miaoe ah,a
steam necessary. Nor were thus ne, had