The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1922-06-22

10 III IN ten minutes. hstOnlSnlng! Is
this all there was OF Troy, and did this
little stronghold withstand nine
years siege and still remain uncon-
quered by force2 Impossiblel The
whole Hin OF Ilium may have been
fortified and to some extent populat-
ed; otherwise how was the garrison
provislonedl UnpOetic details like
these never troubled Homer, so why
bother about them.
Unearthed by Sehllemsnn.
Every student knows OF the remark
able work Of Schlicmann I'm unearthing
these ruins and establishing their
Identity as those Of the veritable Troy
of Homer; of the interchangeable zeal,
the determined search for the location,
the half-willing consent OF the Turkish
government, and the financial and
physical obstacles to be overcome But
the work did begin at last, and the
first walls to appear beneath the spade
were strange walls, not those de-
scrlbed by Homer and the order was
to dig deeper. still further ruins of
city after city were unearthed, till
Homer's Troy, all that is left of II,
was laid bare.
Only the antiquarian can see the
significance OF all these things as he
scrambles UP and down within and
among these disordered piles of what
once was masonry; but even an unin-
formed tourist can see the difference
between the rubble walls of later
date and the worthler structures
which preceded them.
There are walls, too, which show the
marks of mighty conilagration, and
these, 1t is oplned, are the same
whence Aeneas
"Did from the flames Of Troy upon his
shoulder
The old Anchlses bear"
on that last terrible night of destruc-
tion. One fnstlnctlvely looks for the
gap In the wall through which the
wooden horse was introduced, but he
looks In vain. Earthenware cisterns
of some 20 gallons capacity. for hold.
ing oil or wine, were built into the
walls, while bits OF lridescent glass,
pieces Of pottery. cobblestones and
clay were filled in around them.
Wall Of Prlsm Still Stands.
But there is still left one precious
bit OF Homeric architecture, IL the
archaeologlsts are correct, raising Its
crown as high as any OF the walls of
subsequent date. Ii is part of a bas-
tion facing toward the Hin OF Ilium
and known as the "Wall OF Priam." IL
was meant TO stand throughout the
ages, whoever was its builder, and
one ardently wishes to give the credit
for Its construction to those times. II
is noble wall, well pointed, well
laid, well preserved, capable yet OF
withstanding such assaults as when
Ajax strives some stones vast
weight to throw"
From Its corner overlooking the
plain OF Simois an outside stairway
descends toward the river, possibly a
later feature. Could this have been the
corner OF the wall where stood the
Scaean Gate; where the venerable
Father Priam brought the beautiful
Helen In order to show her the enc
my her own countIymen and kindred.
on the plain below; where he pointed
out the leaders, naming them lndlvid.
ually?-"and there is Menelaus, thy
former husband" II may well have
been the same, and romance at least
will have II So
Scattered about are bits OF sculp-
tured marble, the remains perhaps OF
Roman or AleXandrine occupation. on
In the dreamy distance lies Tenedos-
sinister Tenedos, not discernible ex-
cept In the clearest weather--and by
the shore near where the Dardanelles
meets the sea, whence Thetis might
at any moment arise, is tumulus
known as the tomb OF Achilles, and
nearby another, the tomb Of Patro.
clus.
The excavations at Troy have re-
vealed that no tess than nine layers
exist upon which at various times dur
ing the past 5000 years, human habi-
tatIons have been built.