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ΙΟΣΙΔΗΟΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΣ

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• ΡΑΓΕΥΟΙΧΗΥΠΟΜΗΤΡΟΔΩΡΟΥ ΤΟΥ

ΑΤΡΟΥΛΙΝΔΥΝΟΣΕ ΦΕΣΑΛΚΕΝ

. ΕΡΙΑΥΤΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΜΕΛΕΑΓΡΟΣΟΣΤΙ ΤΗΓΟΣ ΠΡΟΟΡΩΜΕΝΟΣΤΟ...ΣΤ..

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ΚΑΙ ΤΩΙΔΗΜ ΩΙΕΠΑΙΝΕΣΑΙ ΜΕΝ

ΜΗΤΡΟΔΩΡΟΝΤΙΜΟΚΛΕΟΥΣΑΜΦΙ
ΠΟΛΙΤΗΝ ΑΡΕΤΗΣΕΝΕΚΕΝ ΚΑΙ
ΕΥΝΟΙΑΣΤΗΣΕΙΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΑΣ

ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΝΧΑΪΣΕΛΕΥΚΟΝΚΑΙ... Ν
ΔΗΜΟΝΕΙΝΑΙΔΕ. . ΤΟΝ ΚΑΙ.....
ΟΝΚΑΙΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΗΝ ΤΗΣ ΠΟΛΕΩΣ
ΔΕΔΟΣΘΑΙ ΔΑΥΤΩΙ ΚΑΙ ΠΟΛΙΤΕΙΑΝ
ΛΙΤΙΚ - ΝΣΙΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΦΟΔΟΝΕΠΙΤΗΝ
ΒΟΥΛΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΝ ΔΗΜΟΝΠΡΩΤΩΝ
ΜΕΤΑΤΑΙΕΙΑΣΞΕΙΝΑΙ ΔΑΥΤΩΙΚΑΙ
ΕΙΣ ΦΥΛΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΦΡΑΤΡΙΑΝΗ ΝΑΝΟΥ
ΛΗΤΑΙΕ .

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Chandler, who has written an interesting account of the antiquities of Sigeum, says, that the Athenæum, or temple of Minerva, stood on the brow of the high and steep hill on which the church belonging to the present village is now situated.*

* Travels in Asia Minor.

From the scattered marbles, described by him as its remains we obtained a small bas-relief, now in the collection at Cambridge, representing two persons, one of whom is in the military garb of the ancients, and the other in the civic habit, addressing a figure of Minerva.* Over the head of the goddess is the word AOHNA. The inscription preserved in the vestibule of Trinity College library at Cambridge, commemorating a degree of the Sigeans, two hundred and seventy-eight years before the Christian æra, came also from this place. It was removed in the beginning of the last century, by Edward Wortley Montague, then going ambassador to Constantinople. There is no mention in the poems of Homer, either of the promontory of Sigeum or of Rhoeteum; indeed, the latter can bardly be called a promontory. These names referred to cities, built after the time of Homer, rather than to landmarks. Hence the objection urged concerning the distance of these promontories from each other, does not prove any absurdity in the position of the Grecian fleet, in the bay to the east of the mouth of the river; on each side of which are two necks of land, whose distance may well admit the possibility of Agamemnon's voice, when he called from the centremost ship, being heard to the two extremities. Whenever the ac count given by an ancient author is irreconcileable with our preconceived and imperfect notions of the geography of a country, we are too apt, either to doubt the truth of the description, or to warp the text so as to accommodate an interpretation to the measure of our own ignorance. This has given rise to almost all the scepticism concerning Homer, and bas also characterized the commentaries upon other authors. When Eschylus relates the instruction given to Io, for her march from Scythia, the river he so happily designates by the title of Hybristes, from its great rapidity, and which is evidently the Kubau, has puzzled his editors, who have endea voured to prove it the Don, the Dnieper, or even the Danube; with as much reason as if they had supposed it to be the Rhine or the Thames. An actual survey of the district of Causacus, and of the course of the rivers, would have removed every difficulty, and evinced the peculiar accuracy with

See "Greek Marbles," No. XXIX. p. 51.

† Iliad. . 222.

schylus in Prometh. Vinct. 742. p. 56. Ed. C. J. Blomfield, Cantab. 1810. οι Υβριστής. Dubitatur num in hoc loco Eschylus Araxem fluvium innuat, vel Istrum, vel Tanrim, vel Alazona, vel Borysthenem, quod sentit Bullerus, vel denique fluvium cuk nomen Hybrista, &c. &c." Ibid. in Glossar. p 144.

The Hypanis of D'Anville, and Vardanus of some authors.

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which the poet attended to the features of nature. - Experi ence will at last teach this wholesome truth; that when Homer and Escylus wrote geographically, they had reference to better documents than modern maps; and, probably, to their own practical observations.

*

In the evening of our arrival at Sigeum, I had proof of the possible extent of vision in the clear atmosphere of this country, which would hardly be credited without ocular demonstration. Looking toward the Archipelago, I plainly discerned Mount Athos, called by the peasants, who were with me, Agionoros, the Holy Mountain; its tripple summit appearing so distinctly to the eye, that I was enabled to make a drawing of it. At the same time, it seemed that its relative position in all our maps, with respect to this promontory, is too far toward the north. The distance at which I viewed it could not be less than a hundred English miles: according to D'Anville, it is about thirty leagues from shore to shore, and the summit of the mountain is at some distance from the coast. We visited the two ancient tumuli, called the tombs of Achilles and Patroclus. They are to the northeast of the village. A third was dis covered by Mr. Gell, near the bridge for passing the Mender; so that the three tumuli mentioned by Strabot are yet entire. He describes them as the monuments of Achilles, Patroclus, and Antiochus. So much has been published concerning them, that it will not be necessary to add much to, and still less to repeat, what has been said before. The two nearest Sigeum are conspicuous objects in the view of persons passing the Hellespont; aud, in their form, are similar to others described in the preceding part of this work. It is remarkable, that none of the authors who have written on the subject, have noticed Strabo's allusion to three tombs. The largest was opened by order of Monsieur de Choiseul. I was acquainted with the Jew employed in the undertaking. He appeared an honest and respectable man; but I am inclined to doubt the truth of the story relating to the discovery of certain antiquities sent to his employer, as having been found in this tomb. There was no confidential person to superintend the work. It was performed by night, with scarcely any witness of the transaction. In the

*It now serves as a Turkish cemetry. See the engraving made from Mr. Gell's beautiful drawing of it, Plate XVI. Topography of Troy, p. 45.

+ Strab. Geogr. lib. xiii. p. 859. Ed. Ox.

† Μνήματα.

See a narration of the transaction, published by Mr. Thornton, in his Account' of Turkey.

zeal to gratify his patron, and prevent the disappointment likely to ensue from an expenditure of money to no purpose, it is at least probable that his Jewish brethen of the Dardanelles substituted other antiquities, in the place of reliques which they had been told they might find in the tomb.* The ruins of Parium, and of other ancient cities in their neighbourhood, as well as the ordinary traffick carried on with Greeks who pass through the straits from all parts of the Archipelago and Mediterranean, might easily have furnished them with the meaus of deception. I have not the smallest hesitation in affirming, that I believe these tombs to be coeval with the time of Homer, and that to one of them, at least, he has alluded in the Odyssey.f Many authors bear testimony to the existence of the tomb of Achilles, and to its situation, on or by the Sigean Promontory.‡ It is recorded of Alexander the Great that he anointed the Stêlê upon it with perfumes, and ran naked around it, according to the custom of honouring the manes of a Hero.§ Ælian distinguishes the tomb of Achilles from that of Patroclus, by relating, that Alexander crowned one, and Hephæstion the other. It will not therefore be easy to determine, at the present day, which of the three tombs, now standing upon this promontory, was that which the inhabitants of Sigeum formerly venerated, as containing the ashes of Achilles**. The same degree of uncertainty does not attach to the tomb of Ajax: upon the Rhotean side there is only a single tumulus.

From hence we descended once more to Koum-kalé where we embarked for the Dardanelles. And now, having finished the survey of this interesting country, it may be proper to add, by way of postscript to this chapter, a brief summary of the principal facts concerning it, for the use of other travellers, and as the result of our observations in Troas.

*A cast from the bronze figure of Isis, said to have been excavated upon that occa sion, is now in the possession of the earl of Aberdeen. It certainly represents very ancient workmanship. The inverted position of the wings is alone proof of its great antiquity, whatever may have been its real history.

+ Odyss. . 73.

Diodorus Siculus. Strabo, Elian, Philostratus in Vit. Apollon, &c.

Diod. Sie. lib. xvii.

Elian. Var. Hist. lib. xii. c. 7. The distinction is also made by Strabo, and by other writers. This difference between Homer's record and the traditions of the country, respecting the Trojan war, seems to prove that the latter were not derived from the former. Dr. Chandler has discussed this subject, in his interesting History of Ilium. See p. 138.

**It should also be observed, that to the south of Sigeum, upon the shore of the Egean, are yet other tumuli, of equal, if not greater size, to which hardly any attention has yet been paid; and these are visible far out at sea. The opening all of them will, it is hoped, one day throw some light upon this curious subject.

1

I. The river Mender is the Scamander of Homer, Strabo, and Pliny. The amnis navigabilis of Pliny* flows into the Archipelago, to the south of Sigeum.t

II. The AIANTEUM, or Tomb of Ajax, still remains; answering the description given of its situation by ancient authors, and thereby determining also the exact position of the naval station of the Greeks.

III. The Thymbrius is yet recognized; both in its present appellation Thymbreck, and in its geographical position.

IV. The spacious plain lying on the northeastern side of the Mender, and watered by the Callifat Osmack, is the Simoisian; and that stream the Simois. Here were signalized all the principal events of the Trojan war.

V. The ruins of Palaio Callifat are those of the Ilium of Strabo. Eastward is the Throsmos, or mound of the plain. VI. The hill near Tchiblack, if it be not the Callicolone, may possibly mark the site of the village of the Ilicans, mentioned by Strabo, where ancient Ilium stood.

VII. Udjek Têpe is the tomb of Æsyetes. The other tombs mentioned by Strabo as at Sigeum, are all in the situation he describes. The tomb of Protesilaus also still exists, on the European side of the mouth of the Hellespont.

VIII. The springs of Bonarbashy may possibly have been the AOIAI ПHгAI of Homer; but they are not sources of the Scamander. They are, moreover, warm springs.

IX. The source of the Scamander is in Gargarus, now called Kasdaghy, the highest mountain of all the Idæan chain.

X. The altars of Jupiter, mentioned by Homer, and by Eschyles, were on the hill called Kûchûnlû Têpe, at the foot of Gargarus; where the ruins of the temple now remain.

*Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. v. p. 277. Ed. L. Bot. 1625.

"The following passage of Pliny is attended with some difficulty; but the expres sion amnis navigabilis, applied to the Scamander, may be well explained by Plutarch, in two passages to which I shall refer: by these it appears that the epithet navigabilis was given by the ancients to small streams. The word worauds, as well as amnis, was used by them when speaking even of torrents. Strabo, lib. ix. 6, 8.

"Scamander, amnis navigabilis: et in promontorio quodam Sigeum oppidum: dein portus Achæorum, in quem influit Xanthus, Simoenti junctus; stagnumque prius faciens Palescamander.'

"Plutarch speaks thus, in two places, of the river Melas, in Phocis; a part of Greece which he knew most intimately, from being born there: The Melas, spread out into navigable marshes and lakes (An λwrà xai Aluvas,) makes the plain impassable. Again: The Melas is navigable at its sources (rúïμos év mnyaïs.) Vit. Pelop. et Syllæ. The marshes on the Plain of Troy, made by the river, are mentioned by Strabo, p. 859. We have, then, the Melas, a small river, navigable at its sources, and with avigable marshes." Walpole's MS. Journal,

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