This inscription, the great historical value of which cannot be denied, seems certainly to belong to the third century B.C., judging from the subject as well as from the form of the letters, for the king Antiochus repeatedly mentioned must either be Antiochus I., surnamed Soter (281 to 260 B.C.), or Antiochus III., the Great (222 to 186). Polybius, who was born in 210 or 200 B.C., and died in 122 B.C., in his History (XXVIII. 1, and XXXI. 21) speaks indeed of a Meleager who lived in his time, and was an ambassador of Antiochus Epiphanes, who reigned from 174 to 164, and it is quite possible that this Meleager afterwards became satrap of the satrapy of the Hellespont, and that, in this office, he wrote to the Ilians the first letter of this inscription. But in the first letter of Antiochus to his satrap Meleager, he gives him the option of assigning to Aristodicides the 2000 plethra of land, either from the district bordering upon the territory of Gergis or upon that of Scepsis. The town of Gergis, however, according to Strabo, was destroyed by king Attalus I. of Pergamus, who reigned from 241 to 197 B.C., and who transplanted the inhabitants to the neighbourhood of the sources of the Caïcus in Mysia. These sources, however, as Strabo himself says, are situated very far from Mount Ida, and hence also from Ilium. Two thousand plethra of land at such a distance could not have been of any use to the Ilians; consequently, it is impossible to believe that the inscription can be speaking of the new town of Gergitha, which was rising to importance at the sources of the Caïcus. I now perfectly agree with Mr. Frank Calvert,[226] and with Consul von Hahn,[227] that the site of Gergis is indicated by the ruins of the small town and acropolis at the extreme end of the heights behind Bunarbashi, which was only a short time ago regarded by most archæologists as the site of the Homeric Troy. This site of Gergis, in a direct line between Ilium and Scepsis, the ruins of which are to be seen further away on the heights of Mount Ida, agrees perfectly with the inscription. Livy (XXXV. 43) gives an account of the visit of Antiochus III., the Great. I also find in the ‘Corpus Inscriptionum Græcarum,’ No. 3596, that the latter had a general called Meleager, who may subsequently have become satrap of the Hellespont. On the other hand, Chishull, in his ‘Antiquitates Asiaticæ,’ says that Antiochus I., Soter, on an expedition with his fleet against the King of Bithynia, stopped at the town of Sigeum, which lay near Ilium, and that the king went up to Ilium with the queen, who was his wife and sister, and with the great dignitaries and his suite. There is, indeed, nothing said of the brilliant reception which was there prepared for him, but there is an account of the reception which was arranged for him in Sigeum. The Sigeans lavished servile flattery upon him, and not only did they send ambassadors to congratulate him, but the Senate also passed a decree, in which they praised the king’s actions to the skies, and proclaimed that public prayers should be offered up to the Ilian Athena, to Apollo (who was regarded as his ancestor), to the goddess of Victory and to other deities, for his and his consort’s welfare; that the priestesses and priests, the senators and all the magistrates of the town should carry wreaths, and that all the citizens and all the strangers settled or temporarily residing in Sigeum should publicly extol the virtues and the bravery of the great king; further, that a gold equestrian statue of the king, standing on a pedestal of white marble, should be erected in the temple of Athena in Sigeum, and that it should bear the inscription: “The Sigeans have erected this statue to King Antiochus, the son of Seleucus, for the devotion he has shown to the temple, and because he is the benefactor and the saviour of the people; this mark of honour is to be proclaimed in the popular assemblies and at the public games.” However, in this wilderness it is impossible for me to find out from which ancient classic writer this episode has been taken.

It is very probable that a similar reception awaited Antiochus I. in Ilium, so that he kept the city in good remembrance. That he cherished kindly feelings towards the Ilians is proved also by the inscription No. 3595 in the ‘Corpus Inscriptionum Græcarum.’ But whether it is he or Antiochus the Great that is referred to in the inscription I do not venture to decide.

Aristodicides, of Assos, who is frequently mentioned in the inscription, is utterly unknown, and this name occurs here for the first time; the name of the place Petra also, which is mentioned several times in the inscription, is quite unknown; it must have been situated in this neighbourhood, but all my endeavours to discover it in the modern Turkish names of the localities, or by other means, have been made in vain.

The other inscription runs as follows:—

ΩΝΙΟΥΤΟΥΕΥΔ
ΟΣΜΕΝ ΟΥΚΑΜΕΝΑΧΟΣΓΛΑΥΚΟ
ΕΠΕΓΡΑΨΑΜΕΝΕΙΣΣΤΗΛΗΝΚΑΤΑΤΟΝΝΟΜΟΝΕΡΓΟΦΙΛΟΝΠΑΤΡΟΣΟΥ
ΧΡΗΜΑΤΙΣΖΗΕΖΗΜΙΩΜΕΝΟΝΥΠΟΤΩΝΠΡΟΤΑΝΕΩΝΤΩΝΠΕΡΙΔΙΟ
ΦΑΝΗΝΗΓΗΣΙΔΗΜΟΥΟΦΙΛΟΝΤΑΤΟΥΣΚΑΤΑΤΟΝΝΟΜΟΝΣΤΑΤΗΡΑΣΔΥΟ5
ΚΑΙΜΗΝΟΓΕΝΗΝΜΝΗΣΑΡΧΟΥΚΑΙΑΡΤΕΜΙΔΩΡΟΝΦΑΝΙΑΚΑΙΔΙΟΜΗΔΗΝ
ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝΙΟΥΕΖΗΜΙΩΜΕΝΟΥΣΥΠΟΤΩΝΠΡΥΤΑΝΕΩΝΤΩΝΠΕΡΙΔΙΟΦΑΝΗΝ
ΗΓΗΣΙΔΗΜΟΥΥΠΟΗΜΕΡΑΣΤΡΕΙΣΟΦΙΛΟΝΤΑΣΕΚΑΣΤΟΝΑΥΤΩΝΣΤΑΤΗΡΑΣΔΥΟ
ΜΗΝΟΔΟΤΟΝΜΗΝΟΔΟΤΟΥΚΑΙΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΔΗΝΚΑΙΜΗΝΟΔΟΤΟΝΤΟΥΣΗΡΑΚΛΕΙ
ΔΟΥΕΖΗΜΙΩΜΕΝΟΥΣΥΠΟΤΩΝΠΕΡΙΦΑΙΝΩΝΑΚΤΑΕΥΔΗΜΟΥΠΡΥΤΑ10
ΝΕΩΝΟΦΙΛΟΝΤΑΕΚΑΣΤΟΝΑΥΤΩΝΣΤΑΤΗΡΑΣΔΥΟ
ΑΡΤΕΜΙΔΩΡΟΝΜΗΝΟΦΑΝΤΟΥΕΖΗΜΙΩΜΕΝΟΝΥΠΟΤΩΝΝΟ
ΜΟΦΥΛΑΚΩΝΤΩΝΠΕΡΙΙΠΠΑΡΧΟΝΗΓΗΣΙΔΗΜΟΥΟΦΙΛΟΝ
ΤΑΣΤΑΤΗΡΑΣΔΥΟ

........................
...................ωνίου τοῦ Εὐδ....
......οσμεν.........ουκαμεναχος γλαυκο..
ἐπεγράψαμεν εἰς στήλην κατὰ τὸν νόμον Ἐργόφιλον Πατρόσου (;)
Χρήματις[228] ζη[229] ἐζημιωμένον ὑπὸ τῶν προτάνεων[230] τῶν περὶ Διο-
φάνην Ἡγησιδήμου, ὀ(φ)ίλοντα τοὺς κατ(ὰ) τὸν νόμον στατῆρας δύο5
καὶ Μηνογένην Μνησ(άρχ;)ου καὶ Ἀρτεμίδωρον Φανία καὶ Διομήδην
Ἀπολλωνίου, ἐζημιωμένους ὑπὸ τῶν πρυτάνεων τῶν περὶ Διοφά(νην)
Ἡγησιδήμου ὑπὸ ἡμέρας τρεῖς ὀφίλοντας ἕκαστον αὐτῶν στατῆρας δύο.
Μηνόδοτον Μηνοδότου καὶ Ἡρακλείδην καὶ Μηνόδοτον τοὺς Ἡρακλεί-
δου ἐζημιωμένους ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ Φαινώνακτα Εὐδήμου πρυτά-10
νεων, ὀφείλοντα ἕκαστον αὐτῶν στατῆρας δύο.
Ἀρτεμίδωρον Μηνοφάντον ἐζημιωμένον ὑπὸ τῶν νο-
μοφυλάκων τῶν περὶ Ἵππαρχον Ἡγησιδήμου, ὀφίλον-
τα στατῆρας δύο.

In the inscription quoted in the ‘Corpus Inscriptionum Græcarum’ under No. 3604, which is admitted to belong to the time of Augustus Octavianus, Hipparchus is mentioned as a member of the Ilian Council, and as on line 13 the same name occurs with the same attribute, I do not hesitate to maintain that the above inscription belongs to the same period.

CHAPTER XVII.

Spring weather in the Plain of Troy—The Greek Temple of Athena—Numerous fragments of sculpture—Reservoir of the temple—Excavation of the Tower—Difficulties of the work—Further discoveries of walls—Stone implements at small depths—Important distinction between the plain and decorated whorls—Greek and Roman coins—Absence of iron—Copper nails: their peculiar forms: probably dress and hair pins: some with heads and beads of gold and electrum—Original height of the Tower—Discovery of a Greek house—Various types of whorls—Further remarks on the Greek bas-relief—It belonged to the temple of Apollo—Stones from the excavations used for building in the villages around—Fever.