[7]. See Dr. Colquhoun “On the Site of the Palæ-Scepsis of Strabo” (Trans. R. S. Liter., vol. iv. 1852).
But the most celebrated place in Mysia was the ancient city of Troy. It would be out of place here, indeed impossible, to discuss any of the various theories of ancient or modern times referring to this famous town and its no less famous war. It is enough to state here our firm belief in the existence of both, and further, that the legends since grouped around them by no means demand any such non-existence. We have no doubt that a prominent conical hill, now called Hissarlik, does represent the spot where old Troy once stood.[[8]] The convergency of the various stories of ancient history, the existence at Hissarlik of ruins of remote antiquity, and the singular fitness of the position (unless, indeed, all that is attributed to Homer is to be condemned as purely mythical), lead to the seemingly inevitable conclusion that here, if anywhere, once stood this celebrated town.
[8]. It has been, justly, we think, remarked (Quarterly Review, April, 1874), that “not one of the sceptical critics has ever questioned that these (the Homeric poems) show an acquaintance with the topography of the region which (and this is no small point) has borne, from all known antiquity, the name of the Troad.... Homer’s Ida, and Scamander, and Hellespont are as real in his pages as in their existence at the present day.”
The inhabitants of Ilium were a mixed population, partly, it is probable, of Thracian origin, and so far only Greek that a Pelasgian element may be traced in both peoples, while they were probably, also, inferior in civilization to the Greeks, with barbaric habits and manners, already obsolete among their more polished enemies. Nor, again, is it at all necessary to maintain that the capture of Troy implies its entire destruction; it is, indeed, more likely that its ultimate ruin was due to the enmity of its Asiatic neighbours, as suggested by Strabo on the authority of an ancient writer, Xanthus. It is clear that Ilium stood on rising ground, between the rivers Scamander and Simois, and that here were placed the palaces of Priam and of his sons. The whole spot was, we may reasonably conclude, surrounded by strong walls, with many gates, only one of which is, however, noticed in Homer by name. Such was the tradition, the long endurance of which is shown in the subsequent sacrifice by Xerxes, recorded by Herodotus (vii. 43).
The new Ilium of later days most likely occupied the same traditional site; the theory of Demetrius of Scepsis, adopted by Strabo, of two Iliums separated the one from the other by a considerable interval of ground, being clearly adverse to a common-sense view of the question.[[9]] Any one would naturally expect that those who constructed Novum Ilium would select that place for their town to which the legends most distinctly pointed; while a manifest objection to the view of Demetrius is that it converts Homer from a poet into a topographer, and attempts to make the natural features of the country accord with his poetic descriptions. It is far more probable that Homer, or whoever collected the poems passing under his name, had but a very general idea of the localities where were laid the scenes he describes: while there is, also, no general agreement as to the true site of Troy among those writers who, in modern times, have more or less accepted the theory of Demetrius and Strabo. Indeed, on the idea of Homer having written his poems with an Ordnance map in his lap, it is simply impossible to fix on any one spot that satisfies all the conditions of his story.
[9]. The site for ancient Ilium of recent years the most popular is called Bournarbashi, where the Scamander emerges from the lower ridges of Mount Ida, and, therefore, not far from the “village of the Ilians.” This view, proposed originally by Chevallier in 1788, and, subsequently, adopted by Rennell, Leake, Welckher, Forchhammer, Choiseul-Gouffier, and others, has, however, been completely answered by Grote, whose arguments have been fully confirmed by the latest researches.
We must now notice the recent marvellous researches of Dr. Schliemann, for, though they have done little towards the revelation of Homer’s Troy, they have demonstrated that, many feet below very ancient and still existing walls, there have once been enormous structures, the treasury, fortress, and royal residence of some wealthy ruler of remote antiquity. While, therefore, we do not believe that Dr. Schliemann has found old Troy, in the same sense that Layard discovered the palaces of Sardanapalus, the Greek inscriptions he has unearthed have assuredly proved the identity of the modern Hissarlik with Novum Ilium. What, then, is the history of Schliemann’s researches, and what has he done that any other man might not have done with as ample means at his command? Doubtless there are other men who might have done as much as he, notably Mr. Layard. As Dr. Schliemann was much influenced by his early education at home, and as his career has been a very extraordinary one, we feel sure our readers would like to know something of the digger as well of as what he has dug out. We purpose, therefore, to give a brief sketch of his personal history, and then, with equal brevity, to add a notice of what he has accomplished.
Born in 1822 at a small village in Mecklenburg, he tells us that, “as soon as I learnt to speak my father related to me the great deeds of the Homeric heroes,” and, though from ten years of age he was an apprentice in a warehouse,[[10]] he always retained, as he adds, “the same love for the famous men of antiquity which I conceived for them in my first childhood.” As time went on Schliemann became a clerk, though on a yearly salary of only £32: but he contrived to live on half—to do without a fire, and to devote all his spare moments to the study of languages. Thus he learnt first English and French, each in six months, and then other modern tongues, including Russ.
[10]. In this “warehouse,” let it not be forgotten, Schliemann was employed from fourteen to twenty years of age, from 5 A.M. to 11 P.M., selling herrings, butter, brandy, milk, &c.; and that it was not till after he had lost this occupation from an injury caused by lifting a cask, that he was promoted to the clerkship at the salary mentioned in the text.
To Dutch, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese he allowed only six weeks each. During the eight years from 1846 to 1854 he was so much occupied in business that he had no time for literature; in the latter end, however, of the second year he found time to learn Swedish and Polish. It was not till January, 1856, that he ventured to attack Greek, his fear being, as he naïvely remarks, that the fascination of its study might interfere with his commercial duties. Aided however by two Greek friends, he tells us he learnt modern Greek in six weeks, and, in three months more, sufficient classical Greek to understand the ancient writers, and especially Homer. In 1858 Dr. Schliemann was able to travel over Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Italy, and Egypt, on the way learning somewhat of (we presume colloquial) Arabic, and returning thence through Syria and Athens to St. Petersburg. It was not, however, till 1863 that he had secured, by his vigorous commercial occupations, the means to spend the rest of his life as he pleased.