The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1915-11-04

HI
q allies have been trying to
u n pound their way beyond the
Dardanelles, stir many legen-
larry memories of this historic battle
region and bring to mind the oldest
contrasts. Here, where now mod
ern ordnance is hurting it's messen-
gers of destruction, Homers heroes
waged their spectacular, single-handed
combats, while admiring armies
grouped themselves around to watch.
It is a far cry from the romantic siege
If Troy to the terribly impersonal bat
tie of today. Yet the old walls OF
Troy must bring some sort of inspira-
lion to the soldiers fighting in their
shadows, soldiers of the allies or OF
the Turks. EXcavated Ilium, near
one of the present wars great bat
tlefields, is described in communi-
cation to the National Geographic So
ciety by Jacob e. Conner.
The Trojan walls are still In evil
dence: those same walls that dehed
The onslaught of Agamemnon and
Menelaus, of Ajax, Nestor, Diomed,
ULYSSES and Achilles, to fall at last
by stratagem. They remain as a
ruined and abandoned stage minus
It's paraphernalia, whereon was played
so many centuries ago an insignificant
little drama compared with modern
events, but it was a drama so big with
human interest divinely told that the
world has never known it's equal.
Wars in these crowded times are
for gain, but in the youth of the world,
If we take the Iliad literally, men
could afford to fight for an ideal
Hence the Homeric warfare was
beautiful, poetic pastime, seriously
resulting to some happy few, who
were thenceforth rewarded with inn
mortality in song.
Troy Well Worth Visit.
AS the theater Of the worlds great
est epic poem, Troy deserves visit
any year, every year. In the thoughts
and emotions it revives and stimulates
in the aroused sense of Indebtedness
of all subsequent literature and art 1t
richly repays a visit. The classical
student will leave it in daze OF
meditation upon things more real to
him than the actual things he has
seen and touched.
On the site where the German sa-
want, Schliemann, unearthed Homers
Troy, nine layers of old-time cities
were found, one above the other
They were builded, destroyed, and
forgotten here during the more
than 5000 years that civilization has
lived upon the products of the fertile
valley. The topmost layer contained
the remains OF the Roman city OF
Ilium: two Hellenic villages were
found directly beneath it, which -four
ished here between 1000 B. G. and the
Christian era. The sixth city from
the bottom was identified as Homers
Troy. The bottom layers contained
the remains of prehistoric settlements,
unimportant villages that have es-
capped every memory except these few,
uncovered, decaying stones. In the
second, or burnt city, probably 500
years before the time of Troy, was
found a considerable mass of buried
treasure, silver jars, gold daggers. and
wonderfully wrought diadems of gold.
Describing the country around Troy,
Mr.. Conner continues:
Yonder is the summit of Mt. Ida,
where the gods in solemn conclave so
often sat, where "cloud-compelled
Zeus'' sometimes thought two ways
in his mind at once" or else ended all
debate with a nod that shook high
Olympus and caused the heavens to
reverberate and glow with the flash
of his thunderbolt.
Away over yonder, skirting the ridge