In the age of Gallienus, and in that subsequent, Ilium and the Troas were twice ravaged by the Goths.
The project of Constantine the Great is now to be referred to. It is thus related by Sozomenus, translated by Mr. Dalzell:—“Having taken possession of the plain, which lies before Ilium, near the Hellespont, beyond the tomb of Ajax, where the Greeks, at the time that they were engaged in the expedition against Troy, are said to have had a station for their ships and tents, he there traced the outline and ground-plot of a city; and he constructed gates in a conspicuous place; which still at this day are seen at sea by those who sail along the west. While he was employed in this undertaking, God appeared to him by night, and warned him to go in quest of another place.” The Deity, also, is said to have conducted him to Byzantium, and commanded him to establish his residence there, to enlarge the town into a city, and to call it by his own name.
From this period, little is related of Ilium, or the Troas, commanding any peculiar interest, till the period when both became possessed by another, and, till then, an unknown people. It is related in the annals of this new and strange people, that Soliman, son of Orchan, taking an airing on horseback, in the country, lately conquered, came to some fine ruins of edifices, which had remained there from the time of the destruction of Troy, and which he beheld with wonder. After viewing these ruins, he was observed to remain musing and silent. On being asked the reason, he answered that he was considering how the sea between them and the opposite coast could be crossed, without the knowledge of the Christians. Two of his retinue offered to pass over privately at the strait, which is described as a Greek mile wide. A fleet was provided, they landed before day-break, and lay concealed among vines; until, a Greek coming by, they seized, and returned with him to the emperor; who gave orders that their captive should be kindly treated; and, on his undertaking to serve as a guide to the castle erected by Justinian, above Sestos, caused trees to be cut down, and a large raft to be constructed; on which, with about four-score men, Soliman crossed the strait; and arriving, under colour of night, at the fortress, found, without the entrance—such was the supine negligence and security of the Greeks,—a dunghill as high as the wall. His soldiers mounted over it, and easily got possession of the place; the people, a few exempted, being engaged abroad in the harvest-work. Thus did the Turks obtain their first footing in Europe, (A. D. 1357.)
“If we reflect,” says Dr. Chandler; to whose pages not only ourselves, but all the encyclopedias have been so largely indebted on all articles relating to the Troas; “if we reflect on the ravages, committed on the borders of the Hellespont, and on the destruction of the cities there, we shall not be surprised, that the coasts are desolate, and that the interior country of the Troas, returned nearly to its more ancient state, is occupied almost entirely by villages, herdsmen, and shepherds; who are no longer distinguished by the appellation of Ilians, Dardanians, Cebrenians, and so on; but as Greeks and Turks, or Turcomans, slaves, the masters and their dependants. The ancient places, which we have noticed, and of which few remain, or have possessed any consequence under the Turks, have all of them, especially those by the sea-side, been ransacked and plundered of their materials, for a long series of years. Constantinople has been adorned or enlarged from their stores, as well under the Roman and the Greek as the Mahometan emperors. Towns and villages, which have risen in their vicinity, public baths, mosques, castles, and other edifices, have been constructed from their relics; and the Turkish burying-grounds, which are often very extensive, are commonly rich in broken pillars and marble fragments, once belonging to them. The Troia had been left in ruins; and was a desert, in the time of Strabo. Since, in many instances, the very ruins have perished: but the desert remains; and, as then, still affords much, and that no vulgar matter for a writer.”
These remarks lead us, naturally, to that part of our subject, which relates to the present state in which these ruins lie. So much, however, has been written on the subject of Troy, and so many different opinions have been started, that the subject has become no little embarrassing; and the more so, since the compiler of these pages has not been on the scene of observation himself. In this dilemma, he thinks the wisest and best course is, to select such passages and descriptions as appear to him the most probable, and therefore the most characteristic of truth; leaving all references to the individual authorities to a general acknowledgment at the end.
It seems hardly to admit of doubt, that the plain of Anatolia, watered by the Mendar,[288] and backed by a mountainous ridge, of which Kazdaghy is the summit, is the precise territory, alluded to and described by Homer. And this is rendered the more probable, since Homer’s description contained certain prominent and remarkable features, not likely to be affected by any lapse of time. To increase the probability of this, the text of Strabo is considered very important; more especially as it illustrates, to a certain degree, even the position of Troy itself: for that it was not altogether unknown, in the time of Augustus, is proved by that celebrated geographer, who, more than once, expressly assigns to the ancient city the place then occupied by the village of the Iliensians. “Ilus,” says he, “did not build the city where it now is; but nearly thirty stadia farther eastward, towards Ida, and Dardania, where the Iliensian village is now situated.” This locality of Ilium has been discovered by Dr. Clarke, in the remains of that city. Crossing the Mendar, over a wooden bridge, that celebrated traveller entered an immense plain, in which some Turks were hunting wild boars. Proceeding then towards the east, and round the bay, distinctly pointed out by Strabo as the harbour in which the Grecian fleet was stationed, he arrived at the sepulchre of Ajax. Around this tomb Alexander is described as having performed rites, and made offerings. In former times, it was surmounted by a shrine, in which was preserved the statue of the hero. This statue Antony stole and took with him into Egypt; but, having been recovered by Augustus, it was by him restored to its ancient shrine; which, with a considerable portion of the structure, still remains. “It is impossible,” says Dr. Clarke, “to view its sublime and simple form, without calling to mind the veneration so long paid to it; without picturing to the imagination a successive series of kings, and heroes, and mariners, who, from the Hellespont, or by the shores of Troas and Chersonesus, or on the sepulchre itself, poured forth the tribute of their homage; and finally, without representing to the mind the feelings of a native or of a traveller, in those times, who, after viewing the existing monument, and witnessing the instances of public and of private regard, so constantly bestowed upon it, should have been told, the age was to arrive when the existence of Troy, and of the mighty dead, entombed upon its plain, would be considered as having no foundation in truth.” The view of the Hellespont, and the plain of Troy, from the top of this tomb, is one of the finest the country affords; and, travellers have the pleasure of seeing poppies and mezereons, and the field-star of Bethlehem, growing upon it.
From this spot the traveller passes over a heathy country to a village called Habil Elly, where he finds the remains of a temple, which seems to be those of ten temples rather than one. Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian capitals, lie dispersed in every direction, and some of them are of great beauty. On these are many inscriptions; amongst which are these remarkable words:—“The Ilians to their country’s God, Æneas.”
From these ruins you proceed through a dilapidated valley, full of vineyards and almond-trees; and, after a space, you find the remains of an ancient paved way. You then come to the village of Tchiblack, where you see many remains of ancient sculpture in a state of disorder and ruin. The most remarkable are those upon the top of a hill near the village, in the middle of a grove of oak trees. Here the ruins of a Doric temple, formed of white marble, lay heaped, mixed with sarcophagi, cippæ, stelæ, cornices, and capitals of large size, pillars, and entablatures. The village near which all these are, is supposed to be no other than ancient Ilium! of “Troy divine.” On these fragments are to be read various inscriptions.
At no great distance, of a high, conical, and regular shape, a tumulus stands, insulated. It is of great antiquity. On the southern side of its base is a long natural mound of limestone. It is, we are told, of such height, that an army encamped on the eastern side of it would be concealed from all observation of persons, stationed upon the coast, by the mouth of the Mendar. On the surface of the tomb itself are found fragments of the vases of ancient Greece;—a circumstance, attributed to the veneration paid to the tombs of Troas, in all the ages of history, until the introduction of Christianity.
At some distance from this tomb is another tumulus, less considerable. There are ruins, also, on the southern side of the water, called Callifat[289].