Geography

We spoke before of Sestos, and of the whole of the Cherronesus, when we described Thrace. Theopompus says that Sestos is a small but well-fortified place, and is connected with the harbour by a wall of two plethra in extent, and for this reason, and by its situation above the current, it commands the passage of the strait.

In the Troad, above the territory of Abydos is Astyra, which now belongs to the Abydeni,—a city in ruins, but it was formerly an independent place, and had gold-mines, which are now nearly exhausted, like those in Mount Tmolus near the Pactolus.

From Abydos to the Aesepus are, it is said, about 700 stadia, but not so much in sailing in a direct line.

Beyond Abydos are the parts about Ilium, the seacoast as far as Lectum, the places in the Trojan plain, and the country at the foot of Ida, which was subject to Aeneas. The poet names the Dardanii in two ways, speaking of them as Dardanii governed by the brave son of Anchises, calling them Dardanii, and also Dardani; Troes, and Lycii, and close-fighting Dardani.

It is probable that the Dardania, so called by the poet, was anciently situated there; Dardanus, the son of cloud-compelling Jupiter, founded Dardania: at present there is not a vestige of a city.

Plato conjectures that, after the deluges, three kinds of communities were established; the first on the heights of the mountains, consisting of a simple and savage race, who had taken refuge there through dread of the waters, which overflowed the plains; the second, at the toot of the mountains, who regained courage by degrees, as the plains began to dry; the third, in the plains. But a fourth, and perhaps a fifth, or more communities might be supposed to be formed, the last of which might be on the sea-coast, and in the islands, after all fear of deluge was dissipated. For as men approached the sea with a greater or less degree of courage, we should have greater variety in forms of government, diversity also in manners and habits, according as a simple and savage people assumed the milder character of the second kind of community. There is, however, a distinction to be observed even among these, as of rustic, half rustic, and of civilized people. Among these finally arose a gradual change, and an assumption of names, applied to polished and high character, the result of an improved moral condition produced by a change of situation and mode of life. Plato says that the poet describes these differences, alleging as an example of the first form of society the mode of life among the Cyclops, who subsisted on the fruits of the earth growing spontaneously, and who occupied certain caves in the heights of mountains; all things grow there, he says, “without sowing seed, and without the plough. But they have no assemblies for consulting together, nor administration of laws, but live on the heights of lofty mountains, in deep caves, and each gives laws to his wife and children.

As an example of the second form of society, he alleges the mode of life und er Dardanus; he founded Dardania; for sacred Ilium was not yet a city in the plain with inhabitants, but they still dwelt at the foot of Ida abounding with streams.

An example of the third state of society is taken from that in the time of Ilus, when the people inhabited the plains. He is said to have been the founder of Ilium, from whom the city had its name. It is probable that for this reason he was buried in the middle of the plain, because he first ventured to make a settlement in it, they rushed through the middle of the plain by the wild fig-tree near the tomb of ancient Ilus, the son of Dardanus.

He did not, however, place entire confidence in the situation, for he did not build the city where it stands at present, but nearly thirty stadia higher to the east, towards Ida, and Dardania, near the present village of the Ilienses. The present Ilienses are ambitious of having it supposed that theirs is the ancient city, and have furnished a subject of discussion to those who form their conjectures from the poetry of Homer; but it does not seem to be the city meant by the poet. Other writers also relate, that the city had frequently changed its place, but at last about the time of Craesus it became stationary. Such changes, which then took place, from higher to lower situations, mark the differences, I conceive, which followed in the forms of government and modes of life. But we must examine this subject elsewhere.

The present city of Ilium was once, it is said, a village, containing a small and plain temple of Minerva; that Alexander, after his victory at the Granicus, came up, and decorated the temple with offerings, gave it the title of city, and ordered those who had the management of such things to improve it with new buildings; he declared it free and exempt from tribute. Afterwards, when he had destroyed the Persian empire, he sent a letter, expressed in kind terms, in which he promised the Ilienses to make theirs a great city, to build a temple of great magnificence, and to institute sacred games.

After the death of Alexander, it was Lysimachus who took the greatest interest in the welfare of the place; built a temple, and surrounded the city with a wall of about 40 stadia in extent. He settled here the inhabitants of the ancient cities around, which were in a dilapidated state. It was at this time that he directed his attention to Alexandreia, founded by Antigonus, and surnamed Antigonia, which was altered (into Alexandreia). For it appeared to be an act of pious duty in the successors of Alexander first to found cities which should bear his name, and afterwards those which should be called after their own. Alexandreia continued to exist, and became a large place; at present it has received a Roman colony, and is reckoned among celebrated cities.

The present Ilium was a kind of village-city, when the Romans first came into Asia and expelled Antiochus the Great from the country within the Taurus. Demetrius of Scepsis says that, when a youth, he came, in the course of his travels, to this city, about that time, and saw the houses so neglected that even the roofs were without tiles. Hegesianax also relates, that the Galatians, who crossed over from Europe, being in want of some strong-hold, went up to the city, but immediately left it, when they saw that it was not fortified with a wall; afterwards it underwent great reparation and improvement. It was again injured by the Romans under the command of Fimbrias. They took it by siege in the Mithridatic war. Fimbrias was sent as quaestor, with the consul Valerius Flaccus, who was appointed to carry on the war against Mithridates. But having excited a sedition, and put the consul to death in Bithynia, he placed himself at the head of the army and advanced towards Ilium, where the inhabitants refused to admit him into the city, as they regarded him as a robber. He had recourse to force, and took the city on the eleventh day. When he was boasting that he had taken a city on the eleventh day, which Agamemnon had reduced with difficulty in the tenth year of the siege with a fleet of a thousand vessels, and with the aid of the whole of Greece, one of the Ilienses replied, We had no Hector to defend the city.

Sylla afterwards came, defeated Fimbrias, and dismissed Mithridates, according to treaty, into his own territory. Sylla conciliated the Ilienses by extensive repairs of their city. In our time divus Caesar showed them still more favour, in imitation of Alexander. He was inclined to favour them, for the purpose of renewing his family connexion with the Ilienses, and as an admirer of Homer.

There exists a corrected copy of the poems of Homer, called the casket-copy. Alexander perused it in company with Callisthenes and Anaxarchus, and having made some marks and observations deposited it in a casket of costly workmanship which he found among the Persian treasures. On account then of his admiration of the poet and his descent from the Aeacidae, (who were kings of the Molossi, whose queen they say was Andromache, afterwards the wife of Hector,) Alexander treated the Ilienses with kindness.

But Caesar, who admired the character of Alexander, and had strong proofs of his affinity to the Ilienses, had the greatest possible desire to be their benefactor. The proofs of his affinity to the Ilienses were strong, first as being a Roman, —for the Romans consider Aeneas to be the founder of their race,—next he had the name of Julius, from Iulus, one of his ancestors, a descendant of Aeneas. He therefore assigned to them a district, and guaranteed their liberty with exemption from imposts, and they continue at present to enjoy these advantages. They maintain by this evidence that the ancient Ilium, even by Homer’s account, was not situated there. I must however first describe the places which commence from, the sea-coast, where I made the digression.

Next to Abydos is the promontory Dardanis, which we mentioned a little before, and the city Dardanus, distant 70 stadia from Abydos. Between them the river Rhodius discharges itself, opposite to which on the Cherronesus is the Cynos-sema, which is said to be the sepulchre of Hecuba. According to others, the Rhodius empties itself into the Aesepus. It is one of the rivers mentioned by the poet, Rhesus, and Heptaporus, Caresus, and Rhodius.

Dardanus is an ancient settlement, but so slightly thought of, that some kings transferred its inhabitants to Abydos, others re-settled them in the ancient dwelling-place. Here Cornelius Sylla, the Roman general, and Mithridates, surnamed Eurptor, conferred together, and terminated the war by a treaty.

Near Dardanus is Ophrynium, on which is the grove dedicated to Hector in a conspicuous situation, and next is Pteleos, a lake.

Then follows Rhoeteium, a city on a hill, and continuous to it is a shore on a level with the sea, on which is situated a monument and temple of Ajax, and a statue. Antony took away the latter and carried it to Aegypt, but Augustus Caesar restored it to tie inhabitants of Rhoeteium, as he restored other statues to other cities. Antony took away the most beautiful offerings from the most celebrated temples to gratify the Aegyptian queen, but Augustus Caesar restored them to the gods.

After Rhoeteium is Sigeium, a city in ruins, and the naval station, the harbour of the Achaeans, the Achaean camp, the Stomalimne, as it is called, and the mouths of the Scamander. The Scamander and the Simoeis, uniting in the plain, bring down a great quantity of mud, bank up the sea-coast, and form a blind mouth, salt-water lakes, and marshes.

Opposite the Sigeian promontory on the Cherronesus is the Protesilaeium, and Eleussa, of which I have spoken in the description of Thrace.

The extent of this sea-coast as we sail in a direct line from Rhoeteium to Sigeium, and the monument of Achilles, is 60 stadia. The whole of the coast lies below the present Ilium; the part near the port of the Achaeans, distant from the present Ilium about 12 stadia, and thirty stadia more from the ancient Ilium, which is higher up in the part towards Ida.

Near the Sigeium is a temple and monument of Achilles, and monuments also of Patroclus and Anthlochus. The Ilienses perform sacred ceremonies in honour of them all, and even of Ajax. But they do not worship Hercules, alleging as a reason that he ravaged their country. Yet some one might say that he laid it waste in such a manner that lie left it to future spoilers in an injured condition indeed, but still in the condition of a city; wherefore the poet expresses himself in this manner, He ravaged the city of Ilium, and made its streets desolate, Let us, however, dismiss this subject, for the discussion leads to the refutation of fables only, and probably there may be reasons unknown to us which induced the Ilienses to worship some of these persons, and not others. The poet seems, in speaking of Hercules, to represent the city as small, since he ravaged the city with six ships only, and a small band of men. From these words it appears that Priam from a small became a great person, and a king of kings, as we have already said.

A short way from this coast is the Achaeïum, situated on the continent opposite Tenedos.

Such, then, is the nature of the places on the sea-coast. Above them lies the plain of Troy, extending as far as Ida to the east, a distance of many stadia. The part at the foot of the mountain is narrow, extending to the south as far as the places near Scepsis, and towards the north as far as the Lycians about Zeleia. This country Homer places under the command of Aeneas and the Antenoridae, and calls it Dardania. Below it is Cebrenia, which for the most part consists of plains, and lies nearly parallel to Dardania. There was also formerly a city Cybrene. Demetrius (of Scepsis) supposes that the tract about Ilium, subject to Hector, extended to this place, from the Naustathmus (or station for vessels) to Cebrenia, for he says that the sepulchre of Alexander Paris exists there, and of Oenone, who, according to historians, was the wife of Alexander, before the rape of Helen; the poet says, Cebriones, the spurious son of the far-famed Priam, who, perhaps, received his name from the district, (Cebrenia,) or, more probably, from the city (Cebrene). Cebrenia extends as far as the Scepsian district. The boundary is the Scamander, which runs through the middle of Cebrenia and Scepsia. There was continual enmity and war between the Scepsians and Cebrenians, till Antigonus settled them both together in the city, then called Antigonia, but at present Alexandria. The Cebrenians remained there with the other inhabitants, but the Scepsians, by the permission of Lysimachus, returned to their own country.

From the mountainous tract of Ida near these places, two arms, he says, extend to the sea, one in the direction of Rhoeteium, the other of Sigeium, forming a semicircle, and terminate in the plain at the same distance from the sea as the present Ilium, which is situated between the extremities of the above-mentioned arms, whereas the ancient Ilium was situated at their commencement. This space comprises the Simoïsian plain through which the Simoeis runs and the Scamandrian plain, watered by the Scamander. This latter plain is properly the plain of Troy, and Homer makes it the scene of the greatest part of his battles, for it is the widest of the two; and there we see the places named by him, the Erineos, the tomb of Aesyetes, Batieia, and the tomb of Ilus. With respect to the Scamander and the Simoeis, the former, after approaching Sigeium, and the latter Rhoeteium, unite their streams a little in front of the present Ilium, and then empty themselves near Sigeium, and form as it is called the Stomalimne. Each of the above-mentioned plains is separated from the other by a long ridge which is in a straight line with the above-mentioned arms; the ridge begins at the present Ilium and is united to it; it extends as far as Cebrenia, and completes with the arms on each side the letter 0.

A little above this ridge of land is the village of the Ilienses, supposed to be the site of the ancient Ilium, at the distance of 30 stadia from the present city. Ten stadia above the village of the Ilienses is Callicolone, a hill beside which, at the distance of five stadia, runs the Simoeis.

The description of the poet is probable. First what he says of Mars, but on the other side Mars arose, like a black tempest, one while with a shrill voice calling upon the Trojans from the summit of the citadel, at another time running along Callicolone beside the Simoeis; for since the battle was fought on the Scamandrian plain, Mars might, according to probability, encourage the men, one while from the citadel, at another time from the neighbouring places, the Simoeis and the Callicolone, to which the battle might extend. But since Callicolone is distant from the present Ilium 40 stadia, where was the utility of changing places at so great a distance, where the array of the troops did not extend? and the words The Lycii obtained by lot the station near Thymbra, which agree better with the ancient city, for the plain Thymra, is near, and the river Thymbrius, which runs through it, discharges itself into the Scamander, near the temple of Apollo Thymbraeus, but is distant 50 stadia from the present Ilium. The Erineos, a rugged spot abounding with wild fig-trees, lies below the ancient city, so that Andromache might say in conformity with such a situation, but place your bands near Erineos, where the city is most accessible to the enemy, and where they can mount the wall, but it is very far distant from the present city. The beech-tree was a little lower than the Erineos; of the former Achilles says, When I fought with the Achaeans Hector was not disposed to urge the fight away from the wall, but advanced only as far as the Scaean gates, and the beech-tree.

Besides, the Naustathmus which retains its name at present, is so near the present city that any person may justly be surprised at the imprudence of the Greeks, and the want of spirit in the Trojans;—imprudence on the part of the Greeks, that they should have left the place for so long a time unfortified with a wall, in the neighbourhood of so large a city, and so great a body of men, both inhabitants and auxiliaries; for the wall, Homer says, was constructed at a late period; or perhaps no wall was built and the erection and destruction of it, as Aristotle says, are due to the invention of the poet;—a want of spirit on the part of the Trojans, who, after the wall was built, attacked that, and the Naustathmus, and the vessels themselves, but had not the courage before there was a wall to approach and besiege this station, although the distance was not great, for the Naustathmus is near Sigeium. The Scamander discharges itelf near this place at the distance of 20 stadia from Ilium. If any one shall say that the Naustathmus is the present harbour of the Achaeans, he must mean a place still nearer, distant about twelve stadia from the sea, which is the extent of the plain in front of the city to the sea; but he will be in error if he include (in the ancient) the present plain, which is all alluvial soil brought down by the rivers, so that if the interval is 12 stadia at present, it must have been at that period less in extent by one half. The story framed by Ulysses, which he tells Eumaeus, implies a great distance from the Naustathmus to the city; when we lay in ambush below Troy, and he adds afterwards, for we had advanced too far from the ships. Scouts are despatched to learn whether the Trojans will remain near the ships when drawn away far from their own walls, or whether they will return back to the city.

Polydamas also says, Consider well, my friends, what is to be done, for my advice is to return now to the city, for we are far from the walls.

Demetrius (of Scepsis) adds the testimony of Hestiaea of Alexandreia, who composed a work on the Iliad of Homer, and discusses the question whether the scene of the war was about the present city, and what was the Trojan plain which the poet mentions as situated between the city and the sea, for the plain seen in front of the present city is an accumulation of earth brought down by the rivers, and formed at a later period.

Polites also, who was the scout of the Trojans, trusting to his swiftness of foot, and who was on the summit of the tomb of the old Aesyetes, was acting absurdly. For although he was seated on the summit of the tomb, yet he might have observed from the much greater height of the citadel, situated nearly at the same distance, nor would his swiftness of foot have been required for the purpose of security, for the tomb of Aesyetes, which exists at present on the road to Alexandreia, is distant five stadia from the citadel.

Nor is the course of Hector round the city at all a probable circumstance, for the present city will not admit of a circuit round it on account of the continuous ridge of hill, but the ancient city did allow such a course round it.

No trace of the ancient city remains. This might be expected, for the cities around were devastated, but not entirely destroyed, whereas when Troy was overthrown from its foundation all the stones were removed for the reparation of the other cities. Archaeanax of Mitylene is said to have fortified Sigeium with the stones brought from Troy. Sigeium was taken possession of by the Athenians, who sent Phryno, the victor in the Olympic games, at the time the Lesbians advanced a claim to nearly the whole Troad. They had indeed founded most of the settlements, some of which exist at present, and others have disappeared. Pittacus of Mitylene, one of the seven wise men, sailed to the Troad against Phryno, the Athenian general, and was defeated in a pitched battle. (It was at this time that the poet Alcaeus, as he himself says, when in danger in some battle, threw away his arms and fled. He charged a messenger with injunctions to inform those at home that Alcaeus was safe, but that he did not bring away his arms. These were dedicated by the Athenians as an offering in the temple of Minerva Glaucopis.) Upon Phryno’s proposal to meet in single combat, Pittacus advanced with his fishing gear, enclosed his adversary in a net, pierced him with his three-pronged spear, and despatched him with a short sword. The war however still continuing, Periander was chosen arbitrator by both parties, and put an end to it.

Demetrius accuses Timaeus of falsehood, for saying that Periander built a wall round the Achilleium out of the stones brought from Ilium as a protection against the attacks of the Athenians, and with a view to assist Pittacus; whereas this place was fortified by the Mitylenaeans against Sigeium, but not with stones from Ilium, nor by Periander. For how should they choose an enemy in arms to be arbitrator?

The Achilleium is a place which contains the monument of Achilles, and is a small settlement. It was destroyed, as also Sigeium, by the Ilienses on account of the refractory disposition of its inhabitants. For all the sea-coast as far as Dardanus was afterwards, and is at present, subject to them.