Now, as Homer never saw Ilium's Great Tower, nor the Scæan Gate, and could not imagine that these buildings lay buried deep beneath his feet, and as he probably imagined Troy to have been very large—according to the then existing poetical legends—and perhaps wished to describe it as still larger, we can not be surprised that he makes Hector descend from the palace in the Pergamus and hurry through the town in order to arrive at the Scæan Gate; whereas that gate and Ilium's Great Tower, in which it stands, are in reality directly in front of the royal house. That this house is really the king's palace seems evident from its size, from the thickness of its stone walls, in contrast to those of the other houses of the town, which are built almost exclusively of unburned bricks, and from its imposing situation upon an artificial hill directly in front of or beside the Scæan Gate, the Great Tower, and the great surrounding Wall. This is confirmed by the many splendid objects found in its ruins, especially the enormous royally ornamented vase with the picture of the owl-headed goddess Athena, the tutelary divinity of Ilium; and lastly, above all other things, the rich Treasure found close by it. It can not, of course, be proved that the name of this king, the owner of this Treasure, was really Priam; but he is so called by Homer and in all the traditions. All that can be proved is, that the palace of the owner of this Treasure, this last Trojan king, perished in the great catastrophe, which destroyed the Scæan Gate, the great surrounding Wall, and the Great Tower, and which desolated the whole city. It can be proved, by the enormous quantities of red and yellow calcined Trojan ruins, from five to ten feet in height, which covered and enveloped these edifices, and by the many post-Trojan buildings, which were again erected upon these calcined heaps of ruins, that neither the palace of the owner of the Treasure, nor the Scæan Gate, nor the great surrounding Wall, nor Ilium's Great Tower, were ever again brought to light. A city, whose king possessed such a Treasure, was immensely wealthy, considering the circumstances of these times; and because Troy was rich it was powerful, had many subjects, and obtained auxiliaries from all quarters.
TERRA-COTTA LAMPS.[ToList]
This Treasure of the supposed mythical king Priam, of the mythical heroic age, is, at all events, a discovery which stands alone in archæology, revealing great wealth, great civilization and great taste for art, in an age preceding the discovery of bronze, when weapons and implements of pure copper were employed contemporaneously with enormous quantities of stone weapons and implements. This Treasure further leaves no doubt that Homer must have actually seen gold and silver articles, such as he continually describes; it is, in every respect, of inestimable value to science, and will for centuries remain the object of careful investigation.
While the Trojan war was the last it was also the greatest of all the achievements of the heroic age, and was immortalized by the genius of Homer. Paris, son of Priam, king of Ilium or Troy, abused the hospitality of Menelaus, king of Sparta, by carrying off his wife Helen, the most beautiful woman of the age. All the Grecian princes looked upon the outrage as committed upon themselves. Responding to the call of Menelaus, they assemble in arms, elect his brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenæ, leader of the expedition, and sail across the Ægean in nearly 1,200 ships to recover the faithless fair one. Some, however, excelled Agamemnon in fame. Among them Achilles stands pre-eminent in strength, beauty and value, while Ulysses surpasses all the rest in the mental qualities of counsel, subtility and eloquence. Thus, by the opposite endowments, these two heroes form the centre of the group.
BRONZE LAMPS.[ToList]
Among the Trojans, Hector, one of the sons of Priam, is most distinguished for heroic qualities, and forms a striking contrast to his handsome, but effeminate brother, Paris. It is said that even the gods took part in the contest, encouraging their favorite heroes, and sometimes fighting by their side or in their stead. It was not until the tenth year that Troy yielded to the inevitable fate. It was delivered over to the sword and its glory sank in ashes.