Homeric Troy.

land in the course of ages by the mud of the Scamander and Simoi's . But it might he easily decided hy sinking shafts , for below the alluvial soil , which must abound with freshAvater shells , would be found seacockles and seasand and stones .

However that may be , those who assume from the " Iliad" the existence of a deep gulf in Homer ' s time , do not , in Dr . Schliemann ' s op inion , rightly interpret II . II ., 92 , and XIV , 35-36 , for the poet merely intends to describe here the Hellespont's IOAV shore ,

encompassed as it is by Cape Sigeion and the heights of Intepe . Dr . Schliemann cited and commented on Professor Forchhammer ' s " Observations on the Topography of Troy" as to the impossibility of tbe Plain ever havhg been under the sea , and maintained that it Avas tho tradition

of all antiquity that a gulf bad once existed in the Plain of Troy , citing Heredotus , Stvabo , & c . He trusted , hoAvever , that he could prove that the gulf had been filled up long before Homer ' s time ; and that the Plain extended as far into the sea as

now , for tbe to-wn of Kum-kale is situated on the point of the Plain Avhich projects furthest into the Hellespont , and stands on the site of an old city , which could be no other than Achilleion , whose foundation reached to about B . C . 800 . Dr .

Schliemann then entered into various criticisms on Homeric texts relative to the topography of the Plain of Troy , examining the true sense of the Gpaicr / xos TreSiov ( II . XL , 56 , X . 159-161 , and XX ., 1-3 ) , objecting to the common translation " hill

in the plain , " preferring to render it " the upper plain , " which ascends a little , but has no elevation in the shape of hills . Dr . Schliemann then spoke of the conical hills of the Troad , called " heroic tombs , " several of Avhich must have existed in the time

of Homer , since he mentions those of Achilles , Myrine , Aisuetos , ancl Ilos . Sir John Lubbock ' s investigations of the existing tumuli—the results of Avhich were negative—Avere referred to , as well as the excavations of Mr . Fred . Calvert , whose brother

also had examined the so-called tomb of Patroclus , without finding either ashes , charcoal , or bones . In none of the six excavations had the old identifications been confirmed b y the criticism of the pickaxe . In this Plain of Troy , Avhose topograph y he had endeavoured to describe , must be sought tbe site of Homeric Hion .

Dr . Schliemann then recapitulated the arguments stated in his celebrated book , '' The Antiquities of Troy , " Avhich have led him to identify the City in the " Iliad " with the modern site of Hissarlik 1 . In all antiquity till the time of the Diadocbi it was deemed certain that the Ilion of the

Greek colony stood on the site of Homeric Ilion . The testimony of Herodotus ancl others of tbe ancients were cited in proof at some length , and it Avas shoAvn that the Ilion which Xerxes and Alexander visited

as Homer ' s Troy could haA'e been none other than ( NOAV ) Ilion—i . e ., Hissarlik . Till the time of Demetrius of Skepsis nobody had ever heard of any other . Demetrius had rjitched on a place called the " village of the Ilienses , " but Dr . Schliemann had excavated the siteand found

, none but most insignificant remains ., Chevalier ' s identification with Bunarbasbi had also been tested with tbe piickaxe , and no pottery , the infallible criterion of an ancient site , had been found there . 2 . Having excluded the claims of other sites , Dr . Schliemann detailed tbe immense

positive results of his OAVB excavations at Hissarlik . He gave a most interesting resume of his discoveries in the perpendicular pentapolis , buried beneath the ruins of ( New ) Ilion , all tbese five cities , one upon another , being therefore older than B . C . 700 the date of the foundation of the

, Greek colony . Not much , if anything absolutely new was brought forward . The reading of the paper occupied an hour and a quarter . On the conclusion of the paper , Lord Stanhope , with a feAv warmly

complimentary remarks upon its great value , expressed his conviction that Dr . Schliemann had really ascertained the true site of Homeric Troy . He then invited Mr . Gladstone to open the discussion . Mr . Gladstone , Avho Avas warmly received , said , —I should be better pleased to listen to the observations of others on

the able and interesting paper Ave bave just heard , if I presumed to offer any remarks , so that I mig ht haA'e first had the benefit of their thoughts ; but I cannot for a moment decline to ansAver the appeal which you , my lord , have been good enough to make to me , especially introduced as it was by a commendation which I am far from deserving , and also for another reason which I will proceed to state , I OAVU I