The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1922-09-28
THE DARDANELLEs

There are few names, the bar
mention of which inspires memorie,
of an historic past, of endless nag
eants of nations and conquerors On
of these is the Dardanelles, which
once again looms large in the news Of
the world. It is impossible for any
school boy to read of the Dardanelleg
without involuntarily calling to mind
a whole picture gallery of portraits
1 the fleets of Greece and legendary
heroes who beset ancient Troy; Xerxes
sitting on his throne above Magyar
Point and watching the columns of
his Persian warriors cross the bridge
Of boats with which the engineers
had bridled the HelIespont. later stin
Alexander, Of Macedon, leading his
serried legions on the deathess glory
at Arbela; the struggling galleys Of
Byzantine and Saracen; the hosts of
the Fourth Crusade, perverted from
a splendid purpose to splendid
crime.
In looking back over history for
mention of the name Dardanelles-
or Hellespont, to use the name the
Greeks gave it in Homeric days-one
is particularly impressed by the fire.
quency with which it has bobbed up
in romantic legend, as well as in his
toric fact. The story Of Hero and
Leander, for instance, stands out as
one of the earliest love stories to be
found on the public library shelves. |
The feat OF Leander in swimming the
straits to gain the side of the beauti-
ful priestess Of Sestos inspired Lord
Byron nearly 5000 years afterward
r. emulate the achievement, one of
the most quixotic acts in the career
Of that eccentric genius.
This northwestern corner of Asia
Minor, terminating in the Asiatic
leadland Of the Dardanelles, consti-
Jutes the territory known of old as
he Troas and later as the Troad, and
vas famous as the site of the 1O-year
;iege of Troy
Here, too, Achilles of the tender
leel rumbled in his chariot about the
Trojan walls, dragged the body of
iector, who was Priam's son. And
n this site, marked by tentative ex-
avations, the famous wooden horse !
lscharged its load Of death and de- :
truction on the hapless Trojans.
After the Trojan war, the next /
reatest spectacle enacted on the {
hores of the Dardanelles was the 7
assage of the mighty army of .
erxes, king of Persia, modified for
le invasion of Greece, with the :
vowed intention of crushing western !,
and supplanting the grow :
g prestige Of the infant Grecian Z
ates with the Oriental despotism of =
le east. That was in 48O B. C. = =
IL must have been during the pro- :,
tristan era thatfa little settlement !,
as made on the other end of the :
aterway that splits the western world e
ON Its eastern neighbor. Where the Z
armora narrows to become the Bos- y
lorus, some Grecian colonists built :.
town that in Latin times was known " "
Byzantium. 1
The Emperor Constantine, first i'm p'
rial sponsor Of Christianity. was ~ u
st to see the possibilities of the 81
y as seat of imperial power. And -
It, IN $50 A. D., he transferred the az
ajesty which had been Rome's.
snceforth the city became known as Of
on
Since Mohammend's reign Constan- ma
lople has never been captured, al w
ough at least twice it has been near an
falllng-in 1878, when the Russians an
re halted at San Stefano by the ne
'naclng guns of the British fleet, w
q in 1928, when the Bulgarian 7"
MES reached the Tchataldia lines,
nc, 30 miles from the city, hedging
the peninsula upon which it and
suburbs stands between the Sea no
Marmora and the Black sea. But Fr
ore Mohammed's time the city had by
N captured three times, and each f.,
le, it is significant to note, by the
luence of the sea power. n
80