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II.—On the Site of the Homeric Troy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2012
Extract
The traveller who sails from the Piraeus for the Hellespont sees, after havingpassed the western shore of Lesbos, the Cape Lectum, which forms the westernextremity of the Ida range of mountains. This cape is the southern extremity ofthe land, which from Homeric times until now, and probably for many centuriesbefore Homer, has borne the famous, the immortal, name of Troas. In sailingthence along its western shore, which extends almost in a straight line to thenorth, and ends in Cape Sigeum, the traveller distinguishes there, in the midstof a dense forest of oak-trees, the gigantic ruins of the once flourishing cityof Alexandria-Troas, which, by its immense extent, seems to have had at least500,000 inhabitants.
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- Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1880
References
page 29 note a In opposition to the common belief, I think that this city was not founded by Antigonus, but that it was only enlarged by him, for Strabo (xiii. c. 1, § 47) expressly states “that its site was formerly called ‘Sigia,’ and that Antigonus, having colonised it with the inhabitants of Scepsis, Larissa, Colonae, Hamaxitus, and other cities, named it Antigonia-Troas.” He further states (ibid. § 27), that this city was afterwards embellished by Lysimachus, who named it, in honourof Alexander the Great, “Alexandria-Troas.” Julius Caesar was so much pleased with its site, that, according to Suetonius (Jul. Caes. 79), he intended to make it the capital of the Roman Empire. According to Zosimus (ii. 30) andZonaras (xiii. 3), Constantine the Great had the same plan before he chose Byzantium. Under Hadrian, the celebrated orator Herodes Atticus was governor of this city. There are still preserved several parts of the gigantic aqueduct which he built, and to the cost of which his father Atticus contributed three millions ofdrachms of his own fortune. Alexandria-Troas is also mentioned in Holy Scriptureas one of the cities which were visited by St. Paul. Its extensive Byzantine ruins leave no doubt that it has been inhabited till the end of the Middle Ages. Itis now called “Eskistambul.”
page 32 note a , Forchhammer, Observationson the Topography of Troy, in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1842, xii. p. 34.Google Scholar
page 36 note a Gladstone, W. E., “Homer's place in History” (Contemporary Review, 1874).Google Scholar
page 37 note a Mollien, F. Ravaisson de, in the Révue Archéologique of December, 1874.Google Scholar
page 38 note a The references to this work belong, throughout, to Mr. John Murray's splendid English edition, translated by Miss Dora Schmitz, and edited by Dr. Philip Smith. London, 8vo. 1875. To Mr. JohnMurray's courtesy the Society is indebted for the map and woodcuts which illustrate this paper.
page 44 note a Professor Müller, Max.—Academy, January 10, 1874.CrossRefGoogle Scholar