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Chapter 1
THE COUNTRY OF THE TROJANS (p.67)
I. The Extent of the Trojan Land. The Troad (ἡ Tpaas, sc. γῆ). In
interpreting the Homeric geography of the Troad, Strabo1 rightly says:
“The coast of the Propontis extends from the district of Cyzicus, and
the neighbourhood of the Aesepus and the Granicus, to Abydus and
Sestus; the land around Ilium, and Tenedos, and Alexandria-Troas from
Abydus to Lectum:2 but above all these lies the mountain-range of Ida,
which extends to Lectum. But from Lectum to the river Caicus3 and (the
promontory of) Canae there follows the country around Assos,4 and
Adramyttium, and Atarneus,5 and Pitane,6 and the Elaitic Gulf;7
opposite all of which stretches the island of the Lesbians: then
follows immediately the district of Cyme, as far as the Hermus8 and
Phocaea, which forms the beginning of Ionia and the end of Aeolis. Such
being the localities, the poet gives us to understand that, from the
district of the Aesepus and the present province of Cyzicene to the
river Caicus, the Trojan rule extended, divided into eight or even nine
parts, according to the dominions; but the mass of auxiliary troops is
counted among the confederates.”
Thus the Homeric Troad
comprised the north-western part of the later Mysia, between the rivers
Aesepus and Caicus: this is fully confirmed by the poet, who makes
Achilles mention in conversation with Priam that Priam’s dominion
comprises all that is bounded to the north-west (ἄνω) by Lesbos
and to the north-east (καθύπερθεν) by Phrygia and the Hellespont.
All the nations which inhabit this dominion are called Trojans (Τρῶες)
by Homer, although he sometimes appears to designateunder this name
more especially the inhabitants of [lium and its immediate environs.
Footnotes:
1. xiii, p. 581: ᾿Απὸ δὲ τῆς Κυζικηνῆς καὶ τῶν περὶ Αἴσηπον
τόπων καὶ Γράνικον, μέχρι ᾿Αβύδου καὶ Σηστοῦ, τὴν τῆς Προποντίδος
παραλίαν εἶναι συμβαίνει" ἀπὸ δὲ ᾿Αβύδου μέχρι Λεκτοῦ τὰ περὶ Ίλιον,
καὶ Τένεδον, καὶ ᾿Αλεξάνδρειαν τὴν Τρωάδα" πάντων δὴ τούτων ὑπέρκειται
ἣ Ἴδη τὸ dpos, μέχρι Λεκτοῦ καθήκουσα" ἀπὸ Λεκτοῦ δὲ μέχρι Καΐκου
ποταμοῦ καὶ τῶν Κανῶν λεγομένων ἐστὶ τὰ περὶ ἴΑσσον, καὶ ᾿Αδραμύττιον,
καὶ ᾿Αταρνέα, καὶ Πιτάνην, καὶ τὸν Ἐλαϊτικὸν κόλπον " οἷς πᾶσιν
ἀντιπαρήκει ἣ τῶν Λεσβίων νῆσος" εἶθ᾽ ἑξῆς τὰ περὶ Κύμην, μέχρις Ἕρμου
καὶ Φωκαίας, ἥπερ ἀρχὴ μὲν τῆς ᾿Ιωνίας ἐστί, πέρας δὲ τῆς Αἰολίδος.
Τοιούτων δὲ τῶν τόπων ὄντων, 6 μὲν ποιητὴς ἀπὸ τῶν περὶ Αἴσηπον τόπων,
καὶ τῶν περὶ τὴν νῦν Κυζικηνὴν χώραν, ὑπαγορεύει μάλιστα τοὺς Τρώας
ἄρξαι μέχρι τοῦ Καΐκου ποταμοῦ διῃρημέ- νους κατὰ δυναστείας εἰς ὀκτὼ
μερίδας, ἢ καὶ ἐννέα" τὸ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπικούρων πλῆθος ἐν τοῖς
συμμάχοις διαριθμεῖται.
2. Τὸ Λεκτόν, now called Cape Baba or Santa Maria. Here Heré, in company
with Hypnos, first touches the Trojan land on her way to Ida Cl. xiv.
283, 284: Ἴδην δ᾽
κέσθην . . . Λεκτόν, ὅθι πρῶτυν λιπέτην ἅλα).
3. Now Ak-Su, or Bochair, Bakir, Bacher.
4. Now Behram or Bearahm.
5. Now Dikeli Kioi.
6. Now Sanderli.
7. Now the Gulf of Sanderli or of Fokia.
8. This river is now called Gedis or Ghiediz Tschai.
[p.68] We shall follow Buchholz 9 in describing in the following order the
eight or nine smaller dominions of which the Troad was composed :—
I. Dominion of of Pandarus.10
II. Dominion of Adrestus and Amphius.1
III. Dominion of Asius.2
IV. Dominion of Aeneas (Dardania).3
V. Dominion of Hector (Troy in the more narrow sense).4
The following districts are further mentioned in Homer :—
VI. Dominion of Altes (the Leleges).5
VII. Dominion of the Cilicians, viz. -
a. Dominion of Kétion.6
b. Dominion of Mynes.7
6. Dominion of Eurypylus (the Ceteians).8
II. Mountains of the Troad.
Mount
Ida (ἡ Ἴδη,9 τὰ ᾿Ιδαῖα ὄρη 10) still retains its ancient name.
Its Homeric epithets are ὑψηλή (high 1), πολυπίδαξ (rich in fountains
2) ; and from its abundance of game it is also called the mother or
nourisher of wild animals (μήτηρ θηρῶν 3). It extends through Western
Mysia in many branches from south-west to north-east. On account of its
manifold ramifications, it was compared by the ancients to a centipede (scolopendra).4
One of its principal branches extends along the northern coast of the
Gulf of Adramyttium, and runs out into the promontory of Lectum;5 the
other extends in a westerly direction along the river Aesepus, and
terminates at the city of Zeleia:—‘“ those who inhabited Zeleia at the
lowest foot of Ida.”6 In Ida rise the rivers Rhesus, Heptaporus,
Caresus, Rhodius, Grenicus (Granicus), Aesepus, Scamander, and
Simois:—‘Then Poseidon and Apollo took counsel to destroy the wall,
turning against it all the rivers that flow from the mountains of Ida
into the sea—Rhesus, Heptaporus, Caresus, Rhodius, Grenicus, and
Aesepus, divine Scamander also and Simois.”7 As already stated, the
highest summit of Ida is Mount Gargarus, now called Kaz Dagh, 5750 ft.
above the level of the sea. On Gargarus was “a temenos sacred to Zeus,
Footnotes:
9 Homerische Kosmographie und Geographic, von Dr. E. Buchholz; Leipzig, 1871.
10 Iliad, ii. 824-827. 1 J].
1 Iliad, ii. 828 884.
2 Iliad, ii. 835-839.
3 Iliad, ii. 819-823.
4 Iliad, ii. 816-818.
5 Iliad, xxi. 86, 87.
6 Iliad, vi. 396, 397 ; ii. 692.
7 Iliad, xix. 296.
8 Odyssey, xi. 519-521.
9 Iliad, viii. 207; xiii. 13.
10 Iliad, viii. 170.
1 Iliad, xiv. 293: Ἴδης ὑψηλῆς.
2. Iliad, viii. 47; xiv. 157, 288, 307; xv. 151; xx. 59, 218; xxiii. 117.
3 Iliad, viii. 47: Ἴδην δ᾽ ἵκανεν πολυπίδακα μητέρα θηρῶν, .. .
4 Strabo, xiii. p. 583: πολλοὺς δ᾽ ἔχουσα πρόποδας ἣ “I5n καὶ σκολοπενδρώδης οὖσα τὸ σχῆμα. ..
5 Strabo, xiii. p. 605: 7 γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ Λεκτοῦ ῥάχις ἀνατείνουσα πρὸς Thy Ἴδην ὑπέρκειται τῶν πρώτων τοῦ κόλπου μερῶν, .
6. Iliad, ii, 824, 825: οἱ δὲ Ζέλειαν ἔναιον ὑπαὶ πόδα νείατον ”15ns, ἀφνειοί, πίνοντες ὕδωρ μέλαν Αἰσήποιο, . . .
7 Iliad,
xii. 17-22: δὴ τότε μητιόωντο Ποσειδάων καὶ ᾿Απόλλων τεῖχος ἀμαλδῦναι,
ποταμῶν μένος εἰσαγαγόντες ὅσσοι am’ ᾿Ιδαίων ὀρέων ἅλαδε προρέουσιν,
Ῥῆσός θ᾽ Ἑπτάπορός τε Κάρησός τε Ῥοδίος τε Ἐρήνικός τε καὶ Αἴσηπος δῖός
τε Σκάμανδρος καὶ Σιμόεις, ὅθι πολλὰ βοάγρια καὶ τρυφάλειαι.
(p.69)
and a fragrant altar.8 Mount Gargarus is further mentioned three times
by Homer.9 According to P. Barker Webb,10 the summit of Gargarus
consists of actinolithic schist, nearly all the rest of the mountain
being of mica-schist. This schist is accompanied by immense deposits of
primitive white compact calcareous rock. Here are the sources of the
Scamander, which, as I have related above, I visited in company with
Professor Virchow. According to Webb, travellers have penetrated for a
distance of 200 métres (658 ft.) into the cavern, from which the
principal source dashes forth, without reaching its fountain.
Tchihatcheff’s measurements1 make the sources 650 meétres (2138 ft.)
above the level of the sea. The mica-schist of Gargarus has a somewhat
greenish colour; it sometimes contains a little asbestus. In the lower
part of the mountain this schist assumes a different aspect; and under
its new form, which is that of the true mica-schist, it extends
exclusively from the top of Gargarus as far as the village of Saliklar
Kioi. This primitive rock extends to the plain on the north side of the
river, where the hills have some elevation.
Turning now to the
South, we see a country very different from that we have just left.
Alexandria-Troas is built on an ashy syenite, com-posed of the three
usual elements, among which the felspar predomi-nates ; it gives its
colour to the whole mass, in spite of a quantity of erystals of
blackish mica. The syenite extends through the whole country to the
east of Alexandria-Troas, as far as Iné or Ené. The valley of Ligia
Hammam is formed of schist surrounded on all sides by syenite. Between
Kemalli and Iné are the silver mines already referred to. P. Barker
Webb goes on to say: “Descending the hill about 200 métres, we found
ourselves on a volcanic tufa, which was succeeded at first by columns
of phonolith, and then by trachyte, as far as Iné. At a distance of two
hours from Iné the syenite meets a series of trap and basaltic rocks.
Not far from Iné is the curious conical hill called Iné Tepeh, or Suran
Tepeh, which has been thought by some to be an artificial tumulus; but
in reality it is nothing else than an isolated mass of basalt, which
rises abruptly in the midst of the plain. The valley of Beiramich, as
well as the other valleys which converge there, are com-posed of the
secondary limestone of the Troad. Several chains of hills penetrate
into it towards the south; they consist entirely of basaltic or trap
rock, and rise from the great centre of ancient volcanoes around Assos.
The largest of the lateral valleys is that of Aiwadjik, already
mentioned, three hours to the south-west of Beiramich. About halfway
Footnotes:
[p.70]
between the two towns rises a beautiful conical hill called Kara-Euli,
which stands isolated in the plain. Its sides, which resemble walls,
are formed of basaltic columns, presenting to the eye a thousand
elegant shapes. Having passed the mountain, we had before and around us
a thousand varieties of trachyte and other rocks of igneous origin,
with volcanic agglomerations and tufa. Sometimes pretty large masses of
hardened schistose clay alternate, striated with variegated colours, in
company with jasper and jaspoide thermantide. Aiwadjik is built on a
height of volcanic rock, and its walls are composed of the same
material. Among the stones of the walls we noticed a very strange white
tufa, which was probably cut from a neighbouring quarry. Wherever we
looked, the country appeared to have been overturned by the action of
ancient volcanoes until we arrived at Assos. At Mantasha, distant an
hour from Assos, on the road to Aiwadjik, the ruins of a castle may be
seen on the top of a small hill, which has the appearance of an extinct
voleano. We also noticed towards the sea a current of trachyte lava of
considerable length. As tufas and conglomerates are found there, it is
highly probable that it was a submarine volcano, whose scoriae, ashes,
and pumice-stone have been carried away by the water. We nevertheless
felt a great pleasure in still observing volcanic remains and erratic
masses of obsidian strewn here and there on the surface of the current.
The summit on which Assos is situated is a spur of that of Mantasha,
though the former is much higher and occupies a much greater space.
From the top, where we now see the ruins of the citadel of Assos,
currents of trachyte extend in various directions, similar to those at
Nemi, near Rome, principally in the direction of Adramyttium. This
country also recals to mind, though on a larger scale, the volcanic
hill of Radicofani in Tuscany; and the resemblance was increased by our
finding in the rock the mineral which Thomson calls florite, and which
by the German mineralogists is termed hyalite. Though the volcano is no
longer active, we saw evident signs of internal subversions of the soil
and of the frequent earthquakes which ravage this country.”2
“In
the Troad there is no primordial volcanic formation; the principal part
of the volcanic districts is situated in the south. We find there at
every step thermal fountains and an abundance of salt-water springs,
the intimate relation of which to the phenomena of volcanic eruptions
has been so often observed by geologists; nay, these hot springs are so
numerous, that the vapours produced by the hot water have made some
authors say that they spread a thick cloud as far as the extremity of
the Gulf of Adramyttiim.”3 “The lowlands, and that part which is
properly called the Plain of Troy, are interrupted by frequent
elevations, we might almost say by slight undulations of the ground,
formed by the spurs of Mount Ida, which terminate imperceptibly on the
sea-coast. Towards Dardania and Cebrenia, the mountainous ridges of Ida
rise one
2 P. Barker Webb, Topogr. de la Troade; Paris, 1844, pp. 135-137.
3 Ibid p. 129
[p.71]
above the other, covered with pine-trees. The basaltic rocks of the
Bali Dagh attach these ridges to the syenite mountains behind
Alex-andria-Troas, in the midst of which rise those conical masses
which are visible to so great a distance at sea.”4
Between the
two affluents of the Simois, which meet at the village of Doumbrek,
there is, according to the investigations of Professor Virchow and M.
Burnouf, an extensive mass of diluvium, composed of quartz, diorite,
serpentine, trachyte, &c., more or less rounded. The vegetation
consists principally of arbutus, andrachnés, and pines, which increase
in size with the height of the mountain ridges. There is a group of
tangled heights formed of quartzose mica-schist, where the pines are of
noble dimensions. There is a rivulet in every dale. The dales become
more and more hollow, and it is difficult to advance owing to the
shrubs which cover the slopes. The Oulow Dagh is now reached; it is a
long ridge, belonging to a range of Ida, whose height is 429 80 m. =
1409 ft. The Oulou Dagh consists essentially of a somewhat laminated
serpentine: on its'roundish conical surface we see many steeply-raised
enormous masses of snow-white quartz and brown ferruginous quartzite,
which lie pretty accurately in the direction of north and south. The
mountain-ridge maintains this character as far as the Kara Your; only
from hence the ridge extending towards Chiblak and Hissarlik consists
of tertiary limestone.
From the Oulou Dagh may be seen to the
west a large part of the Troad, Ida, Lesbos, the Kara Dagh, the islands
of Tenedos, Imbros, and Samothrace, the Plain of Troy, Hissarlik, and
the confluence of the Simois and Scamander. The descent is easy by the
mountain ridge ; there is a good road through the pines, which form
here and there beautiful tufts. These woods are now cultivated for sale
by Turcomans, whose graves may be seen here and there.
Following
the ridge, the Kara Your is reached. This mountain, which is 209 metres
= 686 ft. high, forms the eastern extremity of the plateau which
separates the basin of the Simois from that of the Thym-brius. From the
Kara Your we enjoy a fine view over the basin of the Thymbrius as far
as the heights of Bounarbashi, with all its undulations ; but Hissarlik
is not visible from hence.
I may here remind the reader that
Mount Kara Your has hitherto been held to be identical with the Homeric
Callicolone; but that, as Troy is not visible from it, I have now, at
the suggestion of Professor Virchow, and in accordance with Burnouf’s
view, transferred that honour to the Culou Dagh, which fulfils this
apparently indispensable condition. I must however remark that Strabo,
on the authority of Demetrius of Scepsis, evidently believed in the
identity of the Kara Your with the Homeric Callicolone, for he states
it to be only 5 stadia from the Simois and 10 stadia from ᾿Ιλεέων Κώμη,
which distances perfectly agree with the situation of the Kara Your,
but not with that of the Oulou Dagh.5
4 P. Barker Webb, op. cit. p. 129.
5
Strabo, xiii. p. 597: ὑπὲρ δὲ τῆς ᾿᾿χιέων κῷῶμης δέκα σταδίοις
ἐστὶν ἡ Ιζαλλικολώνη, λόφος τις, παρ᾽ dv ὁ Σιμόεις ῥεῖ, πενταστάξιον
τις, παρ᾽ dv ὁ Σιμόεις ῥεῖ, πενταστάξιον 5 Strabo, xiii. p. 597: ὑπὲρ
δὲ τῆς ᾿᾿χιέων
I remind the reader, once for all, that the stadium
of 600 Greek feet was the tenth part of the English geographical mile.
In other words, 10 stadia = 1 geog. mile = 1 minute of a degree at the
Equator.
[p.72]
Professor Virchow, moreover, pointed out to me on the Kara Your the
foundations of an ancient building, perhaps a temple, whereas there are
no traces of buildings on the Oulou Dagh.
The plateau between
Kara Your and the village of Chiblak is desert, uncultivated, destitute
of wood, and full of ravines. Here and there are some bushes on a sort
of very meagre prairie. In proportion as you advance to the west the
soil becomes limestone ; but the vegetation is the same, except the
pines, which cease with the schist.
Of Promontories, I have in
the first place to mention Cape Lectum, opposite Lesbos, which is the
westernmost peak of Ida, and the extreme southern point of the Trojan
dominion. In Strabo’s time the altar was still shown here, which,
according to tradition, had been erected by Agamemnon to the twelve
gods;6 but this very mention of a definite number of the gods shows
that its origin must belong to a later period. Here, as before stated,
Heré, in company with Hypnos, on their way to Mount Gargarus, first
reached the Trojan shore.7 It is also mentioned by Herodotus.8
Next
comes the famous Cape Sigeum, which forms the north-western point of
all Asia, at the entrance of the Hellespont, opposite to the city of
Eleusa on the southern extremity of the Thracian Chersonesus. It is now
called Cape Yeni Shehr. According to M. Burnouf’s measurement, the
height of Cape Sigeum is 77°20 metres = 252 ft. above the level of the
sea. On this cape (and not, as is erroneously shown on Admiral Spratt’s
map, on the high plateau to the 8.S.W. of it) was situated the ancient
city of Sigeum: in the first place because there is here an
accumulation of ancient débris 6 ft. deep, whereas there is none at all
on the neighbouring plateau; and secondly because Sigeum had a port,
which did in fact exist immediately to the east of the promontory,
whilst there is none at the foot of the plateau. The city was destroyed
by the Ilians soon after the overthrow of the Persian empire, and it no
longer existed in Strabo’s time9.
Like the whole ridge of which it forms the north-eastern extremity,
this promontory consists of limestone, and falls off very abruptly
towards the sea. It is now crowned by the village of Yeni Shehr, which
is inhabited exclusively by Christians, and stands on the débris and
ruins of the ancient city of Sigeum.
In a direct line to the
east of Cape Sigeum is Cape Rhoeteum, now called In Tepeh, on the
Hellespont. The distance between these two promontories is, according
to Strabo,10 60 stadia; but this is one of the
6 Strabo, xiii. p. 605: ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ Λεκτῷ βωμὸς τῶν δώδεκα θεῶν δείκνυται, καλοῦσι δ᾽ ᾿Αγαμέμvovos ἵδρυμα"
7 Iliad, xiv. 283, 284: “T8ynyv Po inéaOny. 2 sia weea e Λεκτόν, ὅθι πρῶτον λιπέτην ἅλα"
8 ix. 114
9
Mela, i. 18. 3; Plin. H. N. v. 88; Serv. ad Aen. ii. 312; τὸ Σίγειον,
Herod. v. 65, 94; Thucyd. viii. 101; Strabo, xiii. p. 595; Ptol y. 23;
Steph. Byz. p. 597. Strabo, xiii. p. 603, calls it also Xuyelas ἄκρα.
The town τὸ Σίγειον is also called Σίγη by Hecataeus, p. 208; Scylax,
p. 36.
10 xiii, p. 595: ἔστι δὲ τὸ μῆκος τῆς Tapa Alas ταύτης ἀπὸ
τοῦ Ῥοιτείου μέχρι Σιγείου καὶ τοῦ Αχιλλέως μνήματος εὐθυπλοούντων
ἑξήκοντα σταδίων..
[p.73]
being only 30 stadia, which is given by Pliny.*. On this cape formerly
stood the town of Rhoeteum (τὸ “Poitecov).? It is not a promontory in
the proper sense of the word, but an elevated rocky shore with several
peaks, of which the highest, according to-M. Burnouf’s measurement, is
only 168 ft. high. For this reason it is also called by Antipater
Sidonius “Poitnides ἀκταί It is spoken of as the “ Rhoetea litora” by
Virgil. Rhoeteum is also mentioned by Livy. On a lower peak of this
promontory is the tumulus attributed by tradition to Ajax, of which I
shall treat hereafter. It deserves particular notice that the names of
the two capes, Σέγειον and Ῥοίτειον, do not occur in Homer, and that he
only once mentions them where we read that, although the sea-shore was
broad, yet it could not contain all the ships, and the people were
crowded; they had therefore drawn them up in rows, and had filled the
long mouth of the whole shore as far as it was enclosed by the
promontories.°
III. Rivers of the Troad.
(a)
The Stmois (ὁ Σιμόεις), now called Doumbrek Su, rises, according to
Homer, on Mount Ida, but more precisely on the Cotylus. Virchow,' who
investigated this river together with me, writes of this river as
follows: ‘In its beginning it is a fresh mountain-brook. Its sources
lie eastward of the wooded mountains of the Oulou Dagh. From numerous
little watercourses, which partly bubble forth from the rock, and some
of which form little torrents, two rivulets are at first formed. The
larger and longer of them flows in a valley gap, between a prominent
spur of the Oulou Dagh, separated from the principal mount by a deep,
green meadow valley, and a spur of the tertiary mountain ridge, which
descends from Ren Kioi towards Halil Eli, nearly parallel with the
ridge of Rhoeteum. The shorter and more southerly rivulet gathers the
water from the Kara Your and the mountain ridge which joins it to the
Oulou Dagh. Both rivulets join not far above Doumbrek Kioi and form the
Doumbrek Su (Simois), which is midway between a small river and a large
rivulet. Its bed, which is deeply cut throughout, and proceeds now in
shorter, now in longer windings, is at Doumbrek perhaps from 12 to 30
yards wide; but on the 11th of April the water covered only part of the
bottom of this bed, and nowhere did its depth exceed 6 inches. We could
wade through it without any difficulty. The current is rapid; the
bottom is covered with small pebbles, now and then also with somewhat
larger rounded stones from the Oulou Dagh.* The valley itself is small,
but very fertile.
1 Plin. H. N. v. 33: “fuit et Aeantium, a Rhodiis conditum, in altero cornu, Ajace ibi sepulto, xxx. stad. intervallo a Sigeo.”
2 Herodot. vii. 43; Scylax, p. 35; Steph. Byz. p. 577; Mela, i. 18.5; Plin. H. WV. v. 33; Thueyd, iv. 52, viii. 101.
3 Anthol. Gr. ii. p. 24, ed. Jacobs; i. p. 254, No. 146, ed. Tauchnitz.
4 Aen. vi. 595, and Plin. H.N. v. 33.
5. xxxvii 37
6 Iliad,
xiv. 33-36: οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδ᾽ εὐρύς wep ἐὼν ἐδυνήσατο πάσας τῷ ῥα
προκρόσσας ἔρυσαν, καὶ πλῆσαν ἁπάσης ἠϊόνος στόμα μακρόν, ὕσον
συνεέργαθον ἄκραι.
7 Beitrége zur Landeskw de der Troas, pp.92-96.
8 In the celebrated passage where the Scamander summons the Simois to battle against Achilles, it is said (Iliad,
xxi. 311-314): all ἐπάμυνε τάχιστα, Kal ἐμπίπληθι ῥέεθρα ὕδατος ek
πηγέων, πάντας δ᾽ ὀρόθυνον ἐναύλους, ἵστη δὲ μέγα κῦμα, πολὺν δ᾽
ὀρυμαγδὸν ὄρινε φιτρῶν καὶ λάων, ἵνα παύσομεν ἄγριον ἄνδρα.
[p.74]
If we then pass the mountain ridge which crosses the valley below
Doumbrek Kioi, and descend on its gradually sloping west side to the
region of Hahl Eh, which abounds with trees and fruit, we find the
little river scarcely larger at this village. Here also we ride through
it without the horses’ feet getting wet above the ankles. The clearness
of the water permits us to see the bottom covered with small pebbles
and gravel. At a short distance below the village, which is situated on
its right bank, the little river divides into two arms. The right or
northern arm, after having received the ‘ Rain-brook of Ren Kioi,—a
very small and inconsiderable rivulet, which has only an intermittent
flow of water,—forms a large swamp in which it disappears. On the other
hand, the left or southern arm approaches more and more to the mountain
ridge which extends from Kara Your past Chiblak towards Hissarlik, and
it flows pretty near the lower edge of its slope. At first, as long as
it flows through the ‘Plain,’ it has a somewhat deeper bed, whose banks
are frequently undermined and fall off every here and there 5 or 6 ft.;
its breadth varies, but it hardly anywhere exceeds 20 ft. Here and
there groups of willows and other bushes grow on the bank and on small
islands in the river-bed; a rich vegetation of shrubs, especially of
tamarisks and Vitex agnus-castus,® extends along its banks. But further
on, in proportion as the little river approaches the foot of the
mountain ridge, it divides into more and more arms, whose course, as
one easily sees, must be very irregular. One after the other disappears
in the large and deep swamp, which, connected at many points with the
northern swamp, extends as far as the foot of Hissarlik, and occupies
the larger part of the so-called Plain of the Simois. Whilst the
ramification of by-rivulets and their disappearance in the great swamp
causes a continual diminution of the volume of running water, there
nevertheless still remains a ‘main arm,’ which continues its course
along the ridge. We could still follow it up along the three springs of
Troy, though it was there reduced to a little rivulet of 4 to 5 paces
in breadth, and with an insignificant, though still rapid, current. Of
these three springs, all of which are marked on our Map of the Troad,
the first, which runs from a stone-enclosure and has a temperature of
146 Celsius = 58°28 Fahr., is immediately below the ruins of the
ancient city wall. The second, whose stone-enclosure is destroyed, and
a third, with a well-preserved stone-enclosure and a double outlet,
having a temperature of 14°3 to 15° Celsius=57°-74 to 59° Fahr., are
within a quarter of a mile from the first spring.
“At the west
end of the great swamp formed by the waters of the Simois, a short
stream gathers again, and pours into the Kalifatli Asmak. The spot
where the gathering of the water takes place is pretty nearly in a
straight line drawn from Hissarlik to the In Tepeh Asmak; that is to
say, at the point on the western edge of the swamp which is farthest
from Hissarlik. Apparently without any preparation, there is almost
immediately a large broad river-bed, with many windings, between steep
banks from 6 to 8 ft. high ; this river-bed is interrupted by numerous
islands,
[p.75]
but every here and there it is pretty deep. After a course of scarcely
10 minutes the stream empties into the eastern bend of the Kalifatl
Asmak, a little above the place where an artificial ditch leads from
the Kalifatli Asmak to the In Tepeh Asmak, above a stone bridge which
here spans the Kalifatli Asmak in the direction of Koum Kioi. No water
can flow through the ditch except during the inundations.” The Simois
is mentioned seven times in the Idiud. Thus the poet says : “But when
they (Heré and Athené) approached Troy and the two flowing streams,
where the Simois and Scamander mingle their currents, there Heré, the
white-armed goddess, stopped the horses, releasing them from’ the
chariot, and she poured a thick cloud around them, and the Simois
sprouted ambrosia for their pasture.”’10 Again: “Simois also, where
many ox-hide shields and crested helms fell down in the dust.”1 Again:
“ Black as a storm, Ares cried on the other side, now shouting shrilly
to the Trojans from the citadel, now running along the Simois unto
Callicolone.”2 Again: “He (Scamander) grew yet more furious against the
son of Peleus, and, lifting high the crested wave of (his) stream,
shouted to the Simois.”3 Again: ‘“ Descending from Ida along the banks
of the Simois.”4 Lastly: “The dread battle-shout of Trojans and
Achaeans was left alone; and many times did the fight sway hither and
thither over the plain, as they pointed against each other their brazen
spears between Simois and the floods of Xanthus.”°5 The river is also
mentioned by Aeschylus,6 Ptolemy,7 Stephanus Byzantinus,8 Mela,9
Pliny,10 Horace,1 Propertius,2 and Virgil.3
The identity of
this river with the Simois of Homer is confirmed by Strabo,* who
states, on the authority of Demetrius of Scepsis :
“From the mountains of Ida two ridges advance to the sea, the one
[p.76]
terminating in the promontory of Rhoeteum, the other in that of Sigeum
; they form with it a semicircle, but terminate in the Plain at the
same distance from the sea as Novum Ilium. This city, therefore, lies
between the two extremities of the ridges already named, but the
ancient town between their starting-points ; but the inner space
comprises as well the Plain of the Simois, through which the Simois
flows, as the Plain of the Scamander, through which the Scamander
flows. The latter is properly called the Trojan Plain, and the poet
makes it the theatre of most of the battles ; for it is broader, and
here we see the places mentioned by the poet,—the fig hill, the tomb of
Aesyetes, the Batieia, and the tumulus of Ilus. But the rivers
Scamander and Simois, of which the one approaches ‘Sigeum, the other
Rhoeteum, join at a short distance below Ilium, and discharge near
Sigeum, where they form the so-called Stomalimne. The two
above-mentioned plains are separated by a long neck of land, which
issues directly from the two ridges already named; beginning from the
projection on which Novum Ilium is situated, and attaching itself to it
(συμφυὴς αὐτῷ), this neck of land advances (southward) to join
Cebrenia, thus forming with the two other chains the letter €.”
The
description of Pliny5 agrees with that of Strabo: “dein portus
Achaeorum, in quem influit Xanthus Simoenti junctus: stagnumque prius
faciens Palaescamander.”
The identity of this river with
the Homeric Simois is further con-firmed by Virgil, who tells us that
Andromache, after Hector’s death, had again married Helenus, another
son of Priam, who became king of Chaonia: ;
“Ante urbem in
luco falsi Simoentis ad undam Libabat cineri Andromache, Manesque
vocabat Hectoreum ad tumulum, viridi quem cespite inanem Et geminas
causam lacrymis sacraverat avas.” 6
Thus Hector’s tomb was
in a grove near the Simois; but, according to Strabo,7 Hector’s tomb
was in a grove at Ophrynium, and this is also confirmed by Lycophron in
his Cassandra. But Ophrynium is in close proximity to the river of
which we are now speaking, and which, from this and all other
testimonies, can be none other than the Simois. As the present name of
the Simois, Dowmbrek, is believed not to be a Turkish word, some take
it for a corruption of the name ‘Thymbrius, and use it to prove that
the river—which runs through the north-eastern valley of the Plain of
Troy, and falls into the Kalifatli Asmak (the ancient bed of the
Scamander) in front of Ilium—is the Thymbrius, and cannot possibly be
the Simois. To this I reply, that there is no example of a Greek word
ending in os being rendered in Turkish by a word ending in k ;
further that Doumbrek must certainly be a corruption of the two Turkish
words ip EASip EAS Don barek. Don signifies “ice,” and barek “
possession” or “ habitation: ” the two words therefore mean much the
same thing as “ containing ice,”
5 HΝ v.33
6. Aeneid. iii. 302-305.
7. xiii, p. 595: πλησίον δ᾽ ἐστὶ τὸ ᾿Οφρύνιον, ἐφ᾽ ᾧ τὺ τοῦ Ἕκτορος ἄλσος ἐν περιφανεῖ τόπῳ"
[Continue to Chapter 1b]
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