The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1922-12-15

Society Washington. d. CD
Within "the Zone of the Straits"-the
strip Of land bordering the Darda-
nelles, the Bosphorus and the Aegean
sea, whose international control is
likely to be altered somewhat by re-
vision of the treaty Of Sevres-lies the
subject of one of the worlds greatest
epics: Troy, where two nations
fought for the fair Helen
The Trojan walls, unvisited by the
idle tourist, are still In evidence;
those same walls that defied the on
slaughts Of Agamemnon and Menelaus,
Of Ajax, Nestor, Diomed, Ulysses and
Achilles, to fall at last by stratagem.
They remained as ruined and aban-
doned stage minus its paraphernalia,
wherein was played so many centuries
ago an Insignificant little drama COM
pared with modern events; but 1t was
a drama so big with human interest
divinely told that the world has never
known its equal.
To be sure, it was all In the telling;
and what would Troy have been with
out its Homer? Still, as the theater
Of the worlds greatest epic poem, 1t
deserves a visit any year, every year.
In the thoughts and emotions 1t re-
wives and stimulates, In the aroused
sense Of Indebtedness Of all subse-
uuent literature and art, 1t richly re-
paws a visit. The classical student
will leave it In a daze of meditation
upon things more real to him than the
actual things he has seen and touched.
In visiting the ruins of Troy, one
sets out from the village of Darda-
nelles for a five hours hot and dusty
ride.
After a couple of hours travel
through the plain the road grows
rougher and begins to ascend into billy
country The traveller realizes that he
should be nearing historic ground
now and he glances around the horizon
to see if he can identify Mt. Ida, and
toward the sea for a first sight OF
Tenedos; but no, this is only common
soil Rounding the summit Of the next
rise one sees the road leading down
into Eren KOui, a Turkish village, a
convenient halting place for coffee.
Then the road begins to wind through
the village in gradual descent until
1t makes sudden jerky little turn
into the open country, and behold the
plain of Troy; not the plain Of the his
toric action, but the drainage area
which includes Troy.
To the Hill Of Hum.
The road leads straight toward q
Ridge In the distance, 1.-The Hill OF
nium," at the lower point of which
will presently appear the ruins. II
was down that identical ridge, or SO
one tells oneself that the angry god
Apollo, strobe toward vengeance
while the arrows in the culver on his
shoulder changed In ominous music.
YOnder the summit of Mt Ida, where
the gods In solemn conclave so often
sat. Away over there, skirting the
ridge of Ilium, is Simois' stream, or
shows upon approach that modern
SimOiS is no more than a creek. Worse
than that; following its attenuated
course, less than a mile downstream
one discovers that it ends in q morass
instead of joining the Scamander as OF
yore. And the latter stream is scarce.
ly less disappointing, for 1t is no more
dgnified in size or appearance. In
fact, their sluggish currents united car
scarcely boast of banks except at oc
easional intervals, for both streams
are now only broad swales merging
with the adjacent plain, with no con
dnuous current toward the sea except
In seasons Of high water, If such are
ever known.
Behold the ruins at lastl A long
low ridge, some four or five miles In
length, ends abruptly Ike a promon
tory projecting into the sea. above
which it rises about 80 feet. The ridge
is the so-called Hill of nium." the
sea is the fioodplain of the Simois and
Scamander. historically known as the
plain Of Troy, and the promOntory
with Its crown of ruins, Is Troy itself
You walk around the ruins and make
the surprising discovery that If the
walking were good you could easil!