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REMARKS 
 
 AND 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PLAIN of TROY, 
 
 MADE DURING AN EXCURSION 
 
 in JUNE, 1799. 
 
 By WILLIAM FRANCKLIN, Captain in the 
 Service of the East India Company, 
 
 AND 
 
 AUTHOR OF A TOUR TO PERSIA, &c. 
 
 juvat ire, & Dorica caftra, 
 
 " Defcrtofq; videre locos, littufq; reli&um." 
 
 Virg. jEncid, Lib. II. Lines 27 et feq. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR R. FAULDER, NEW BOND STREET. 
 
 By C. Clarice, Northumberland Court, Strand. 
 • l800. 
 
TO THE REVEREND 
 
 WILLIAM VINCENT, D. D. 
 
 AND 
 
 HEAD MASTER OF WESTMINSTER SCHOOL, 
 
 THE 
 
 Following Obfervations are infcribed as a Tri- 
 bute of Gratitude, and as a Mark of Perfonal 
 Refpecl, by his 
 
 moft obedient, and 
 
 obliged Friend and Servant, 
 
 The AUTHOR. 
 
 London, 
 March 2 2d, 1800. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 fROM the firft publication of Mr. Chevalier's 
 Defcription of the Plain of Troy to the prefent hour, 
 few Englifhmen of liberal education have viflted the 
 Levant without extending their tour to the Troad 
 alfo, and examining the fpot with that degree of 
 anxious curioflty which is natural to all who have 
 been acquainted with Homer in their youth. 
 
 Engaged as many of us may have been in the 
 various purfuits of active life, which have diverted 
 our attention from our claflical acquirements, or 
 Greek, literature more efpecially, the name of Homer 
 kindles again our pailion for his writings and we 
 haften to the fcene of the Iliad, with as much ar- 
 dour as pilgrims once viflted the Holy city, and the 
 waters of Jordan. 
 
 Several 
 
( vi } 
 
 •Several of thefe tours which have been publifhed, 
 and all the vifitors of the fpot with whom I have 
 converfed, unite in bearing teftimony to the general 
 fidelity of Mr. Chevalier, and never have I heard it 
 doubted by any one, but that the ftream he has af- 
 fumed is the true Scamander of Homer. 
 
 We may be feverally miftaken, or have different 
 opinions upon fome inferior or fubordinate points, 
 but that the general view of the Plain of Troy in 
 its actual ftate at the prefent hour, does clofely cor- 
 refpond with all the leading circumftances detailed 
 in the Iliad, cannot be queftioned by any one that 
 has vifited the fpot with Homer in his hand. 
 
 Such obfervations as I was enabled to make in a 
 fliort tour of four days, I here offer to the public 
 as they occurred to my mind and were noted in my 
 journal. Some obfervations may have arifen iince my 
 return from reflection, reading, or converfation, but 
 in my defcription of the country I have made it a 
 rule to alter nothing in order to give things a bet- 
 ter appearance than they had at the moment the ob- 
 
 jed 
 
{ vii ) 
 
 je& was before my eyes ; and I muft now add that 
 however warmed my imagination might be with the 
 love of Homer, however influenced by treading the 
 ground which forms the fcene of his defcriptions, 
 however pre-occupied by the affumption of Chevalier, 
 or the reafoning of Morritt, the love of truth would 
 have compelled me to fpeak out, if I had feen caufe 
 to detract, from their opinions or to controvert their 
 ftatements. I have done this freely in one inftance, 
 which, by fome perhaps, will be deemed rather ef- 
 fential than fubordinate ; but it diminifhes nothing 
 of my firm belief and conviction from the beft view 
 of the ground I could take, and the beft comparifon 
 of facls and circumftances which 1 could collect, that 
 the Plain of Troy defcribed by Chevalier, is in all 
 its general features the very fcene of action which 
 Homer has defcribed in his poems , 
 
 ■•"^^y-flB*" 
 
REMARKS 
 
 AND 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 Plain of Troy. 
 
 >&•&&&*- 
 
 Fuit Ilium et ingena 
 
 Gloria Teucrorum ! 
 
 14th June, 1799. /\.T 5, A.M. I embarked on board the 
 brig Bon Pere, about 60 tons, in company with Mr. Hope, bound 
 for the Dardanelles, the Troad, and Smyrna. 
 
 At 1 1 . The wind coming foul we came to anchor off Tophana. 
 
 15, 16. Wind bound. 
 
 17 at 6 P. M. we failed out of the harbour of Conftantinople 
 with a fair wind. 
 
 18. The wind being from the fouthward, we made but little 
 way. The Ifland of Marmora or Proconefus was a head of us. 
 
 19. We paffed the ifland of Marmora confifting of cragged 
 and rifted rocks, out of which the beautiful marble mufl have 
 been obtained, from which this Ifland had its name. At nine 
 oH. lock at night a breeze fprung up, and in the morning of the 
 20th at day light we caft anchor at the mouth of the Dardanelles. 
 
 A 20th. We 
 
3 REMARKS ATJD OBSERVATIONS 
 
 20th. We went on fhore and vifited the Englifh conful, Signior 
 Tarragani, a Jew, he received us with much hofpitality, and afuft- 
 ed us with every requifite for our journey to the Plain of Troy. 
 Mr. Tarragani had a large family confiding of a fon and fix 
 daughters, fome of whom were married and had children, who 
 all rending under the fame roof, compofed a family truly patriar- 
 chal. A finking fimilarity of features pervaded the whole, 
 which I have before had occafion to obfave as well in the 
 Eafl Indies as in Perfia. Whilft at the houfe of the conful we 
 were introduced to another Jewifh gentleman, a Mr. Gormazina, 
 fon of the late French conful at the Dardanelles. This gentle- 
 man fome years back had, at the inftance of Count Choifeul, the 
 French ambaflador, been induced to vifit the tomb of Achilles and 
 dig there for relicks j with infinite labour he penetrated near the 
 centre of the barrow, and at laft found fome curious remains, the 
 principal of which were afhes, charcoal, and bones. 
 
 It is true that two urns were likewife faid to be found and 
 fent to Count Choifeul GoufHer, to which Mr. Chevalier,* 
 perhaps out of too much refpect to the Count, has sfugned an 
 importance greater than they deferve, though he fpcaks with 
 caution. Now though an urn ought to be found, as urns, lacry- 
 matories, &c. &c. are found in tumuli generally, yet the defcrip- 
 tion of thefe two has naturally given rife to fufpicion, and to fay 
 
 * Defcription of the Plain of Troy, p. 153. 
 
 the 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 3 
 
 the Ieaft, they were pofTibly added to the inventory to enhance the 
 value of the labour in opening the ground ; if this was the ob- 
 ject, Mr. Gormazina who was rather impofed upon himfelf, than 
 defirous of impofing upon the count, was difappointed of his 
 reward, part of the relicks frill lay upon his hands, and Mr. 
 Hope with a laudable zeal for the inveftigation of antiquity re- 
 warded him more amply for the remains, than the Count for his 
 more fplendid portion of the ornaments ; the bones, afb.es, and 
 fragments we faw, but it is neceffary to attribute proof cautioufly 
 to fuch evidence, where the curiofity of the virtuofo gives a fpur 
 to the invention of the perfons he employs. 
 
 We took our leave of the Englifh conful, who was an a- 
 greeable man, he remembered to have feen Dr. Chandler whilfl 
 here about five and thirty years back, and reminded us of his hav- 
 ing permitted the Doctor to take his wife's picture. 
 
 Before we returned on board, we vifited the Afiatic caftle of 
 the Dardanelles and infpected the cannon of enormous caliber, 
 which placed on beds without carriages, appear too unweildy to 
 be of any effective fervice or indeed to be fired off more than once. 
 We faw likewife the famous cannon of Sultan Amurath, or 
 Morad the II. as mentioned by De Tott, and found him correct 
 'in this account, as I have frequently done in many others. The 
 
 * Mr. Hope was Co obliging as to offer mc a fmall portion of thefe relicks, which I 
 accepted, and fhall keep with at leaft as much veneration ;s the cai th of Mecca, or the 
 Toolfi of Jagernaut. 
 
 A 2 diameter 
 
4 REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 diameter is fufficicnt to permit a man to fit in ihe infide, and the 
 ball belonging to it is of the enormous weight of fifteen hundred 
 pounds. 
 
 Having obtained a fermaun from the bafiiaw of the Darda- 
 nelles to the agha of Koum Kala, and the difnicl of Troy, Mr. 
 Hope engaged a janifiary to accompany us who had been recom- 
 mended to me at Conftantinople, by Mr. Thornton, a gentleman 
 whofe urbanity of manners and claffical tafte, render his fociety 
 equally agreeable and inftructive. 
 
 The cafties which defend the entrance of the Dardanelles arc 
 about a mile afunder, the current fets rapidly into the Egean fea, 
 the fides of the hills are highly cultivated, and covered with rich 
 verdure, and the whole fcene is interefting. 
 
 In about two hours with a gentle breeze we reached the 
 Rhoetean promontory, and caft anchor at no great diftance from 
 the tomb of Ajax, having in view the Sigaean promontory at the 
 diftance of about four miles, the caftle of Koum Kala, with a 
 diftant profpect of the iflands of Imbros, Lemnos, and Samo- 
 thrace. 
 
 Previous to our excurnon we vifited the tomb of Ajax, it is fitu- 
 ated upon the Rhsetean promontory, and commands a noble view 
 of the Hellefpont, the Egean fea, and great part of the Plain of 
 Troy : the tumulus is of a circular form, furmounted at the top 
 by a cone, its elevation may be about 60 feet from the level, though 
 to the north eaft it is in a Hoping direction, its weftern face is in- 
 
 tirely 
 
• ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 5 
 
 tirely laid open, and difcovers the remains of fome very rude and 
 ancient mafonry, with part of a wall running acrofs the maffes of 
 earth, brick, ftone, and lime with fhells, appear extremely well 
 confolidated, and are in all probability co-eval with the tumulus ; 
 others have however thought differently, and every one has 
 a right to form his own judgment on the fpot, but we mud 
 not omit to notice that though the Rhaetean promontory, and 
 the Sig^ean, are the burying places of Ajax and Achilles ; it 
 does not appear that the Grecian army occupied the whole 
 extent between the two promontories, that would have been 
 too large to defend, and I mould rather fuppofe from an in- 
 flection of the ground, that the Grecian camp, reached no further 
 than the northern bank of the Simois, which falls into the Hel- 
 lefpont near the modern village of Koum Kala, about two miles 
 and a half difrant from the Sigaean promontory, indeed if the 
 Greeks had occupied the whole fpace, here would hive been no room 
 for the Trojan auxiliaries, who it appears from the 10th book 
 of Homer, were encamped on the fea fhore. Whilft ftanding on 
 the fummit of this barrow, I could not but call to mind the indig- 
 nation of Ajax, while contending for the armour of Achilles, and 
 the beautiful lines of Ovid, imprinted on my memory in early 
 youth. I looked back upon the Sigaean fhore, and felt like him 
 the indignation of a foldier, when I reflected that the prize of va- 
 lour, was carried off by the eloquence of an orator 
 
 Confedere 
 
REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 Confedere duces : &, vulgi ftante corona, 
 Surgit ad hos clypei dominus feptemplicis Ajax. 
 Ut que crat impatiens ira?, Sigaia torvo 
 Littcra refpexity claffemque in littore vultu : 
 Intendenlque manus, Agimus, pro Jupiter, inquit, 
 Ante rates caufam, & mecum confertur Ulyffes ! 
 At non He£roreis dubitavit cedere flammis: 
 Quas ego fuftinui ; quas hac a claffe fugavi. 
 
 qr the ftill more interefting lamentations of the chorus in the 
 Ajax of Sophocles. 
 
 O Teucer hade, 
 
 Prepare fome hollow fofs, for the remains 
 Of Ajax : Raife him there a monument, 
 By after ages ne'er to be forgotten."* 
 
 Having ordered poft horfes over night, and made every pre- 
 paration for our little tour, early in the morning Mr. Hope and 
 myfelf, commenced our furvey of the Plain of Troy, and Mount 
 Ida ; we fet off from the tomb of Ajax, called by the natives In 
 ¥epe,-\- our round lay along the fkirts of a range of hills, extending 
 to the N. E. on gaining the fummit of this ridge, we had an open- 
 
 * Francklin's Sophocles, Ajax. 
 
 The reader will pardon this digreflion, in confideration that a military man, has 
 more refpecl for an ancient warrior, than an orator, and that a fon, may have a juftifia- 
 ble pride, in quoting the language of his father. 
 
 t I was not able to learn whether In was a (ignificant term in the modern lan- 
 guages of the country, but mould myfelf conjecture that In is ujn Tepe, the one tumu- 
 lus in oppofition to AYO Tepe at Sigxum. 
 
 ing 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 7 
 
 ing view of the Plain of Troy, with the barrow of ^Efyetes, about 
 nine miles diftant, and the ifland of Tenedos to the fouthward. 
 
 Proceeding along the fame range, and keeping the barrow of 
 .5tfyetes ftill in view, the country was rough and barren, but 
 crowned with heath, (hrubs, and wild lavender; in about half 
 an hour we afccnded the range of hills, which bound the valley 
 of Thymbra, and at half paft eight A. M. by a gentle defcent, we 
 came to the view of a temple, dedicated to Apollo, near the vil- 
 lage Halilali, in the valley of Thymbra, about five miles diftant 
 from the tomb of Ajax. Whilft traverfing the heights of the val- 
 ley of Thymbra, our attention was naturally called to reflect 
 on the ground we trod, as bearing the fame appellation at this 
 hour, by which it was known to Homer, and though I have 
 learned fince my return, that the exiftence of Troy itfelf is de- 
 nied, I had at the moment no doubt upon my mind, but that 
 as the name of Thimbreck and its pofition proved the geogra- 
 phy of the Iliad to be juft, it was an equal proof that Troy 
 occupied the fite allotted to it by the Poet. The rivers iEfopus, 
 Rhodius, and Granicus, retained the names afligncd to them by 
 Homer, as long as they were mentioned by ancient geographers, 
 and the towns of Abydus, Percote, and Zelcia, are marked as dif- 
 tin&ly in the march of Alexander, as in the page of the Iliad ; 
 could Homer be true in all the fubordinate geography, and main- 
 tain a falfehood in regard to the capital alone ? but there are no 
 ruins, etiam periere ruina ; this in the firft place is a fact that I 
 
 am 
 
B REMARKS AXD OBSERVATIONS 
 
 am nut convinced of, and of which I (frail treat hereafter, and in 
 the next, ruins are not necefiary to prove the exiftence of any 
 place. There are no ruins of the liium of Sirabp, and yet his 
 teftimony -vith that ot the Macedonians, Romans, Fimbria, Ju- 
 lius, and Auguftus, is fufheient to prove that tins Ilium as cer- 
 tainly exifted as Rome itfelf, and if all the places round Troy con- 
 tinued to exift in the pofition Homer ailigned to them, how could 
 it be fuppofed that Troy was the only fiction? the continuance 
 of the very name of Thimbrek is no more extraordinary than that 
 of Mitilyn, Smyrna, Erekli, Stanchio and a thoufand others, 
 which are ftill in being, corrupted indeed by time and the change 
 of language, but ftill in being, and though we mould build little 
 upon the ruins found there to carry up its antiquity to the age of 
 the Trojan war, they at leaft prove what is demanded for Troy it- 
 felf, that there was a town in this fpot, and Strabo has placed the 
 temple of the Thymbrean Apollo where Homer places Thymbra. 
 The remains of the temple of Apollo are ftill vihble, confifting of 
 various blocks of marble, capitals, and columns, pedeftals, and bro- 
 ken fhafts, ftrewing the ground to a coniiderable extent. Moft 
 of the pillars were of the Corinthian order and of the moft ex- 
 qnifite Parian marble : in traverfing ' over the fite of the temple, 
 I counted upwards of one hundred and fifty broken columns 
 hefides fhafts and capitals, which announce the temple to have 
 been a magnificent building, and to correfpond with the appella- 
 tion given to it by Virgil. 
 
 Da pro- 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 
 
 Da propriam Thymbraee domum 
 
 underneath a fmall oak is a block of marble two feet in height 
 and turned on its fide, there is fculptured on it a car with horfes, 
 the feet and hinder part of which are flill vifible. In the car fets 
 victory with wings, and over the head of the figure I, which is 
 much mutilated, runs a cornice, by which it ihould feem that the 
 whole piece had been defigned to ornament the outfide of a tem- 
 ple ; the wing of the figure is ftill entire, the car is fupported by 
 two low wheels, the embofled work of which has perifhed ; from 
 the ftyle of architecture as well as the defign, I mould fupect it to 
 be of a date anterior to the temple, and that it belonged to a 
 more ancient period, it is rude enough to attribute it to the age 
 of Troy itfelf ; there is likewife a pillar containing a Greek in- 
 fcription, a copy of which was taken by Mr. Hope's painter. 
 
 From the centre of thefe ruins, the valley of Thymbra is ex- 
 tremely pleafant, and there is moreover a very fine view of the 
 Plain of Troy, of both the promontories and the Egean fea. 
 
 After furveying thefe ruins, about half pafr. ten we proceeded 
 on through the Valley of Thymbra to vifit other rains in that 
 neighbourhood, our route lay up the valley in a co-urfe nearly 
 eaft, but over no regular road, more than a bridle way ; the fmall 
 ftream of Thymbra called by the Turks Tbiwbrek Sou, was 
 on our right and beyond it the valley was bounded by the range 
 
 B of 
 
jo REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 of hills called by Homer, Callicolone, which form a part of 
 Mount Ida. In afTuming this name, I follow Mr. Chevalier, and 
 his Callicolone is fo truly confident with the difpofition of the 
 country in the defcription of the Iliad, that there can be no 
 doubt of his corre&nefs, it is clofe to the Simois, for that river in 
 a manner marks the foot of the hill by its courfe. (See T. 53.) 
 /Cwore voip HiftotvTi (jtwv £7r* kocWikoAuvvj. And the hill itfelf rifes 
 in fuch a manner as to form a feat for the Gods on the Trojan 
 fide, as from an amphitheatre to behold the combat. (T. 149.) 
 Pococke has defcribed feveral hills of this fort in Afia Minor, 
 that have been completed with flone feats upon their declivity 
 for this purpofe, and imagination might eafily do as much to 
 form this into an amphitheatre for the Gods. A fecond con- 
 fideration alfo arifes from this proximity of the Simois to Calli- 
 colone, which is, that it as manifeftly proves the Simois to be 
 the eaftern river, as the mention of the Scamander on the left of 
 the Trojan line (A. 498.) proves that ftream to be the weftern of 
 the two. Thefe circumftances fo fully confirm the general fyftem 
 of Mr. Chevalier, Jhat no one who has made his obfervations on 
 the fpot will eafily be induced to call it in queftion. 
 
 The valley of Thymbrek, is here about two miles broad, 
 richly cultivated and deferving the appellation of epi6wA«£, 
 or fertile, and we pafled through feveral pleafant meadows, in 
 which were a number of willow and other treess The road 
 now began to narrow and we entered fome inclofures o£ 
 
 vineyards 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. it 
 
 vineyards and orchards, after pairing thefe we turned to the fouth- 
 ward and entered the bed of a large torrent thickly flrewed with 
 flones, and of confiderabe breadth, this torrent defcends from 
 the north eaft extremity of Mount Ida, and though now dry, its 
 fteep and high banks and ftony bottom attefted its power in the 
 winter feafon. It was moil probably one of thofe auxiliary 
 itreams which Homer has {o correctly mentioned in his 21ft Iliad 
 to have been called for by Scamander when addreffing his brother 
 Simois to puniih the temerity of Achilles. 
 
 Hafte my Brother, flood, 
 
 And check this mortal that controls a God ; 
 Our braveft heroes elfe fhall quit the fight, 
 And Ilium tumble from her tow'ry height. 
 Call then thy fubjett Jireams, and bid them roar, 
 From all thy fountains /well thy watry ftort ; 
 With broken Rocks, and with a load of dead 
 Charge the black /urge, and pour it on his head. 
 
 Pope. — 21ft. Iliad— line 258. 
 
 We ilill continued our route along the bed of the torrent, and 
 after a delightful ride of four miles, reached and repofed in a 
 grove of ftately fir trees at the upper extremity of the valley of 
 Thymbra, and fituated in a moft romantic folitude. The centre of 
 this grove was formerly a temple of fuperb and beautiful architec- 
 ture of the Doric order, which appears from the numerous frag- 
 ments of Columns, capitals and pedeftals of the finefr Parian mar- 
 
 B 2 ble, 
 
12 REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ble, I likewife picked up and brought away with me, a (mail 
 block of very fine alabafter. 
 
 We could not learn by any lights we had with us what was 
 the nature or defign of this temple, but it was mod probably 
 dedicated or fome fylvan divinity ; certainly no place could be 
 felefted or better calculated to excite devotion or produce tran- 
 quillity of mind. It is about one mile diftant '.'from the village 
 of Thimbreck, and is called by the natives, Thimbreck 
 Muzarlick; or, Cemetery of Thymbra. 
 
 After halting about two hours in this grove, we renewed 
 our journey to the fouth eaft, until we found ourfelves entangled 
 in the mountain, when tracing back our footfteps part of the 
 way we came, and turning off at about half the diftance, croffed 
 the range of the Callicolone hills in a direction due fouth, and 
 afcended to the fummit of one of the higheft, from whence we 
 had a magnificent view of five fucceflive tumuli, the Plain of 
 Troy, the Hellefpont, the Egearr fea, the tumulus of iEfyetes, 
 and the ifland of Tenedos. We proceeded over this elevated 
 ground, and a rugged uncultivated country, confuting alternately 
 of hill and vale and anfwering perfectly Homer's defcription of 
 '.' the heights of Ida, many valed, and thickly covered with wood." 
 At 5 P. M. we reached the village of Atch Keoi, about feven 
 miles to the fouthward of Thimbreck Muzarlick. On our ap- 
 proach to this village which flands on a commanding eminence, 
 we had a fine view of the Plain of Troy beneath, rich and a- 
 
 bundantly 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 13 
 
 bundantly fertile, with a diftinft view of Bunarbafhi on the op- 
 pofite heights. In the village we faw two columns of grey gra- 
 nite of an order unknown and very ancient. 
 
 The houfes in the Troad are built of mud walls with flat 
 roofs and have a fingular appearance, on fome of thefe a number 
 of ftorks had taken up their abode undifturbed by the proprietors, 
 who have a great veneration for them. On one of thefe roofs in 
 particular were nine birds, and Mr. Hope humouroufly obferved 
 to me there appeared more birds than men in the village, which 
 certainly was not populous. Leaving Atch Keoi, we turned to 
 the weflward, and at about half a mile from the village, difcovered 
 a tumulus which I do not recollect to have heard mentioned by 
 any former traveller ; it bore the name of Anai Tepe, which in 
 Turkifh fignifies the hill of ftone, though no conjecture could be 
 formed of its defign, it being near three miles from Troy. 
 
 The form was like the reft, circular, but flat at the top ; the 
 river Simois ran to the fouth weft. We then defcended into the 
 valley and crofTed the Simois by a ford. The river was here fuf- 
 ficiently broad to be refpe&able, and we were furprized to find Co 
 much water in it, after we had read Mr. Dallaway's account, 
 though in the middle of fummer (21ft June) it was at leaft two 
 hundred and fifty yards in breadth, its current rapid, though 
 muddy, and its bed on either fide extended to above half a mile. 
 
 After palling the river, we foon came in fight of the village 
 of Bunarbafhi, and afcending the heights of Troy, took up our 
 
 quarters 
 
H REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 quarters in the houfe of the *Agha, and pofnbly on the fite of 
 the palace of old Priam, having accomplifhed this day a pleafant, 
 and to us, highly interefting journey, by a circuitous route of 
 about twenty Britifh miles. 
 
 The modern village of Bunarbafhi, and fite of ancient Troy, 
 is fituated on an eminence at the upper part of the plain, and rifes 
 gradually from the fources of the Scamander, at the diftance of 
 half a mile. If a traveller be defirous of viewing to advantage, 
 the fituation of ancient Troy, he will place himfelf midway, be- 
 tjyixt the fprings, and the city, and near to where formerly flood 
 the Scsean gate. The city of Troy, appears to have been bounded 
 on the eaft and fouth, by Mount Ida, and north and weft, by 
 the Simois, and the plain. From behind the village of Bunar- 
 bafhi the hills rife gradually, and at the diftance of two miles from 
 the agha's houfe are terminated by the lofty ftations of the tomb 
 of Hec~lor, and other high ground. 
 
 It is here that the appellation of ixwv Yivspoe<r<rctv, or ivindfwept 
 Ilium, occurs to the mind of the fpectator in full force and 
 when the Levanters blow, the flurries coming over the broken 
 ridges of Ida, muft here be experienced in their utmoft violence. 
 Placed on this eminence, it requires no great ftretch of imagina- 
 tion, to bring in review, the tranfactions of the war, and the fate 
 of Ilium, as fung by the divine bard. 
 
 The feveral barrows are all in view, all in the portions they 
 
 * A Turkifli deputy who a&s under the Paflia of the diftritt, 
 
 ought 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. «5 
 
 ought to occupy, and as they impreffed on my own mind with fo 
 full a convi&ion, as not to leave the fmalleft doubt remaining, but 
 that I flood on the very fite of Troy, or near it, fo I cannot think 
 it poffible, that any one can perfonally view, the evidence afforded 
 by the difpofition of the country round, and thefe monuments in 
 particular, without complete fatisfaction in his mind, that Homer 
 defcribed this fcepe from characters that are indelible. Barrows 
 it is true are common to other countries, but that we mould have 
 a rifing ground for the pofition of the city, a plain fuited to 
 the conflicts of the armies, fweeping down to the Hellefpont, two 
 rivers, one on each fide this plain, joining at no great diftance 
 from the fea, added to the different barrows, all in the very places 
 where they ought to be, cannot be the effect of chance, and are 
 circumftances fo various, that no country could produce them all, 
 unlefs. it were the very fpot defigned. Had I ever been fo fceptical, 
 (and doubts I certainly had,) I could not fee two barroWs one 
 large, and one fmaller at Sigseum, without confeffing that fuch 
 they ought to be according to the Iliad, and fuch their place. I 
 could not fee the Rhceteum marked by another barrow, without 
 reflecting that Ajax was encamped on the left of the line, and that 
 on the left he ought to have been buried. I could not view the 
 barraw of ./Efyetes, marked out by Strabo, and fixed at the mod 
 advantageous point for reconnoitring, without recalling the af- 
 fignment made of it by Homer to this purpofe : but above all 
 this, when I faw the barrow of Hector at the back of Troy; frill 
 
 marked 
 
16 REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 marked by the pile of ftones, which Homer allots to this, and this 
 only, I could not help thanking Mr. Morrit for pointing out this ' 
 peculiarity to my notice, and I muft add my teftimony to his, that 
 fuch is the fact, the ftones are piled as his drawing reprefents them, 
 and their appearance is not exaggerated. Now that all thefe cir- 
 cumftances fhould be united in the fpace of a few miles by acci- 
 dent, and that they fhould all correipond with Homer, is beyond 
 the power of calculation, if the fact were not true ■, no other fpot 
 in the world could be accommodated to the defcription, or anfwer 
 to the particulars required, and if this fpot does anfwer with fo 
 much precilion, both generally and fpecially, here and no where 
 elfe muft we look for Troy. 
 
 I viewed the tomb of Hector, not without reflection on the ho- 
 nours paid to an hero, at his funeral obfequies, by the people he 
 had defended, and the army he had commanded : I viewed the me- 
 morial railed over his remains, not only as an incitement to valour; 
 but as a tribute of gratitude, as perpetual as the exiftence of the 
 ground it fhmds on -, and I reverted from thefe tefrimonies of his 
 glory, to the character of the man. In fpite of the gallantly of the 
 Grecian heroes, the fire of Diomed, or the direful vengeance of 
 Achilles, who is there that does not join with Troy, in lamenting the 
 death of the brave and amiable Hector ? there is fomething fo mild, 
 ib liberal, and gentle in the manners of this chief, that a reader is 
 always more interefted in his fate, than that of any other perfonage 
 in the Iliad, and after his death we find the forrow univerfal. The 
 
 grief 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 17 
 
 grief of a mother, a wife, or a father, is natural and expected, 
 but there is fomething fo interefting, in the forrow exprefTed bjs 
 Helen, (the dreadful caufe of the war,) after the return of the dead 
 body of Hector, that I cannot refill tranfcribing it, as equally 
 linking for the delineation of character, as for the delicacy and 
 beauty of the fentiment. 
 
 Viewing the corpfe, Helen thus pours forth her lamentations. 
 
 " Ah dearer far than all my brothers elfe 
 
 " Of Priam's houfe, for being Paris' fpoufe 
 
 " Who brought me (wou'd I firft had died) to Troy, 
 
 " I call thy brothers mine ; fince forth I came 
 
 " From Sparta, it is now the twentieth year ; 
 
 " Yet never heard I one hard fpeech from thee 
 
 " Or taunt morofe, but if it ever chane'd 
 
 " That of thy father's houfe, female or mal« 
 
 " Blamed me, and even if herfelf the Queen, 
 
 " For in the King whate'er befel I found 
 
 " Always a father, thou haft interpojed 
 
 " Thy gentle temper, and thy gentle fpeech 
 
 " To/ooth them ; therefore, with the fame fad drops 
 
 " Thy fate, O Heftor, and my own I weep, 
 
 " For other friend within the ample bounds 
 
 " Of Ilium have I none, nor hope to hear 
 
 " Kind word again, with horror view'd by all." 
 
 24th Book, page 666. Cowper. 
 
 As the barrow of tins hero, ought to differ from all the others 
 in the Troad, from the very circumflance noticed in Homer. 
 
 C a'tta'p 
 
18 REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 A'TTA'P "TIIEP0E 
 
 nTKNO~I2IN AA'ESII KATEZTO'PESAN MErA'AOIH. 
 
 ft 797. 
 
 fo was I happy to find, that the ravages of curiofity or avarice, had 
 not deprived it of the characteristic which is peculiar to it ; it 
 has been opened in feveral places, particularly on the north fide, 
 next the Simois, which runs at the foot of the hill, in a winding 
 direction, and is loft among the mountains behind. 
 
 Book 24, Iliad. 
 
 " All then their mules and oxen to the wains 
 
 " Join fpeedily, and under Ilium's walls 
 
 " AfTemble numerous ; nine whole days they toiled 
 
 " Bringing much fuel home, and when the tenth, 
 
 " Bright morn with light for human kind arofe, 
 
 " Then bearing noble He£lor forth, with tears 
 
 " Shed copious, on the fummit of the pile 
 
 " They placed him, and the fuel fired beneath : 
 
 " But when Aurora, daughter of the dawn 
 
 " Reddened the eaft, then thronging forth all Troy 
 
 " Encompafs'd noble Hector's pile around, 
 
 " The whole vaft multitude conven'd ; with wine 
 
 " They quench'd the pile throughout, leaving no part 
 
 " Unvifited on which the fire had feized. 
 
 " His brothers next collected, and his friends 
 
 " His white bones mourning and with tears profufe 
 
 " Welt'ring their cheeks, then in a golden urn 
 
 " They plac'd them, which with mantles foft they veil'd 
 
 " Ma^onian hued and delving buried it, 
 
 " And overspread with siojjes, the spot adust ;" 
 
 Adjoining 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 19 
 
 Adjoining to the tomb of Hector, is another barrow of a 
 fmaller, fize coeval perhaps, and formed of accumulated earth, 
 but no flones ; it is fuppofed to be that of Priam, but as we have 
 no certain account of the funeral of the venerable king, we can- 
 not identify it like that of his fon. 
 
 A mile diftant from this, and upon a correfponding hill to 
 the fouthward, is another tumulus, called by the natives Upjhun 
 Tepe, which compleats the fourth tumulus between that and the vil- 
 lage of Atch Keoiy and not three, as has been reprefented through 
 miftake ; it is not impoffible but the laft barrow may be that of 
 Paris, as we learn from Ariftotle that he was buried near* Troy, 
 before the capture of that city. 
 
 At no great diftance from the tomb of Hector, (which 
 it overlooks) is the Acropolis, the nepyxpog uxpv the Arx Alta x 
 or lofty citadel of Priam, which fo long bid defiance to the uni- 
 ted efforts of Greece, and which was at laft fubdued by ftrata- 
 arem. No fituation could be better felected than this for the de- 
 fence and fecurity of Troy, it is as Mr. Morrit moft correctly re- 
 marks, " a pointed and high hill rifmg to the fouth eaft of Troy, 
 " terminated on three fides by high rocks, and the Simois rolls at 
 " the foot of thefe under a row of equally ftupendous precipices 
 
 * Paris was not buried in Troy, neither do I think Heitor was, though Cheva- 
 lier is of a different opinion, if within the walls, why afk leave of the Greeks to bury 
 him ? the tumulus which I have here afcribed to Paris, is out of the city. 
 
 C 2 " on 
 
zo REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 " on the oppofite fide." But the advantages of the Acropolis arc 
 not perceived fufficiently on the approach from Bunarbafhi, 
 for this purpofe it is neceffary to make a detour round the hill 
 to the north eaft, and to take your ftation in a corn field on the 
 banks of the Simois, near the foot of the rock ; there you may 
 perceive a tremendous precipice, rifing abruptly to the height of 
 four hundred feet, at the bottom of which runs the Simois, 
 whofe fheam is rapid and the bed thickly ftrewn with ftones. A 
 fortrefs built in modern times on this rock, would doubtlefs be 
 extremely formidable, what then muft it have been in a rude and 
 early age, when the art of war was in its infancy and tactics al- 
 together unknown ? 
 
 After infpecting the pofition of the Acropolis, what can be 
 more fatisfactory than again recurring to Homer, and fixing its 
 fituation beyond all doubt. In the 8th book of the Odyffey we find 
 a circumftantial detail of the confultations among the Trojan 
 chiefs reflecting the fate of the Epean horfe, the caufe of all 
 their woe, it is given by Demodocus the bard, who fings the fall 
 of Troy divine, to the wanderer Ulyffes then unknown. 
 
 " Already in the horfe concealed his band 
 
 " Around, Ulyffes fat, for Ilium's fons 
 
 " Tfeemfelves had drawn it to the citadel, 
 
 " And there the mifchief flood, then firife arofe 
 
 " Among the Trojans compaffing the horfe ; 
 
 " And 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 21 
 
 " And threefold was the doubt, whether to cleave 
 " The hollow trunk afunder, or, up drawn 
 " Aloft, to caji it headlong from the rocks ; * 
 " Or to permit th' enormous image kept, 
 " Entire to ftand an offering to the Gods. 
 
 Cowper. 
 
 Exclufive of the Acropolis we learn that there were other 
 buildings and temples eretted on the fummit of this hill, particu- 
 larly one to Jupiter, and another to Minerva, to whofe fhrine the 
 Trojan matrons went in proceflion at the inftance of Hector, 
 when the army was hard preffed by the enemy as may be feen in 
 the 6th Iliad. 
 
 The extent of the ground on the top of the hill juftifies the 
 fuppofition. Mr. Hope and myfelf having with confiderable dif- 
 ficulty fcrambled up that part of the fleep which faces the north 
 eaft ; on our reaching the fummit found a prodigious quantity 
 both of ftone and fine Parian marble fcattered over a large 
 fpace, and in one particular fpot we traced what appeared to 
 have been the fite of a temple ■f in form of an oblong fquare, 
 
 I mail 
 
 * That is, to the extreme edge of the precipice where the reader will perceive the 
 fate that awaited it. 
 
 f Not to fpeak too pofitively, I fubmit the whole of this conjecture to the candour 
 of the reader, and the examination of future travellers ; but if this hill fhould be finally 
 determined to be the citadel, I muft affirm that there are ruins of Troy, however com- 
 mon the opinion may be, that even the ruins have perijlied. I can find no town in later 
 ages between this hiil to the junction of the two rivers, but the modern Ilium of Strabo^ 
 and if the ancient Ilium or Troy muft be in the plain, i» mhu s-nroTure ttoAi,-. If fo 
 
 I think 
 
■i-i REMARKS AND- OBSERVATIONS 
 
 I fliall conclude the account of the Acropolis by hazarding a 
 conjecture not entirely inapplicable to the fubjec"r, as it regards 
 the difference of the Acropolis from the other parts of the city. 
 In many parts of Afia, but particularly in the Eaft Indies, it 
 is cuftomary to have the town or city divided into two parts, 
 the one of which the citadel (if the fituation of the country 
 will admit of it) is always built upon a hill, or on the high- 
 eft ground they can felect, the other or lower town, which con- 
 tains the greater part of the inhabitants, is called the Pettah, 
 and confidered in the light of an outwork j it is very confonant 
 to reafon therefore to allow the poflibility of Patroclus's attempt 
 upon the outer ivall of the city, which was below on the plain, or at 
 leaft upon a doping acclivity ; thofe who have feen the hill forts of 
 Myfore, and many parts of the Dekkan, and will compare them 
 with the Acropolis of Troy, may eafily account for the labour of 
 a ten years fiege, or allow the appellation of the epithet of walls 
 built by the gods themfelves, not to have been exaggerated. 
 
 The idea entertained by many perfons that there are no re- 
 
 I think I fliould fay that thefe are the remains of Dardania, prior to Ilium and Troy, in 
 the i7r«p'i«, of Ida, but as far as a private opinion is of weight, T am inclined to think, 
 that the conjecture I have adopted, reconciles both affertions of Homer ; that the city 
 or pettah was in the plain, and that the citadel was on a precipice, very lofty and ex- 
 pofed to all the winds and ftorms that burft on Ida. This the language of the poet 
 in different places requires, and this we obtain by placing the city on the ground that 
 rifes to Bunarbaflii, or by extending it to the Plain. 
 
 mains 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 23 
 
 mains of a city on the fite of Troy, or that the ruins themfelves 
 have perilhed is not altogether well founded ; on the contrary 
 about the Acropolis, and the environs of the city, they certainly are 
 to be found ; at Bunarbafhi in the Aga's houfe and in the village 
 below, are many large blocks of marble, columns of red and grey 
 granite, and capitals of columns, one of which we found in the 
 liable of the Aga's court yard, it appeared to have formed part of 
 a pillar of a temple of Jupiter, from the device of an eagle which 
 it contained, and may have been brought hither from fome of the 
 temples in the neighbourhood, as its capital which is Ionick pre- 
 cludes us from affigning it to remote antiquity. But on the hill 
 of Bunarbafhi is an immenfe block of very coarfe marble, with 
 fome devices rudely executed, particularly the head of a cy- 
 prefs tree, it looks as if it had belonged to a fountain and is rude 
 enough for any age. 
 
 In a cottage near the fources of Scamander, we found a piece 
 of marble about two feet high, no doubt of great antiquity, it 
 had the figure of a warrior, well executed in alto relievo ; of this fi- 
 gure Mr. Hope's painter took a drawing, and we regretted much 
 that its fize prevented our getting it on board our fhip. On fur- 
 veying the ground, many other circumftances occurred to prove 
 the former exiftence of a city, and if fo, certainly that of Troy : 
 with refpe6t to the fize of it, many authors and travellers have 
 differed, but acknowledging the probability of its having occu- 
 pied the fpace allotted to it in the fubjoined map, I fhould not 
 
 think 
 
e 4 REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 think it could contain lefs than forty or fifty thoufand* inhabi- 
 tants, either citizens or allies, and indeed lefs could not be given 
 to the capital of a prince, who contended for ten years againft the 
 united force of Greece, and who had either in alliance or fubjec- 
 tion -j- the whole of Alia Minor. If however the very great length 
 of time which has elapfed fmce the Trojan war be confidered, 
 and the numerous changes that have happened in much lefs time 
 in various parts of the globe, (in fome cities even to utter annihila- 
 tion,) betaken into the fcale, our furprize and admiration will be 
 excited not that we have not more, but that fo much is ftill pre- 
 
 * If with Thucydides we eftimate the Greek army at an hundred and twenty thou- 
 fand men, the Trojans, according to Homer's eftimate of one to ten, would amount to 
 twelve thoufand citizens in arms, befides the other native inhabitants, and we ought cer- 
 tainly to eftimate the allies at far more than double that number. 
 
 f The kingdom of Priam according to Homer, extended along the coaft from the 
 greater Phrygia to Lefbos. (n. 543) inland it is undefined, it feems to have rifen 
 from fome tribe of plunderers inhabiting the highlands of Ida, which firft built Darda- 
 nia, (y. 216. ) on the fkirts of the mountains, and afterwards as they acquired power, 
 approached the coaft, and built Troy on the plain, thus Dardania is the city of Darda- 
 nus, llios as Homer ufes it, the city of Ilus. Troie (T)n'u) the city of Tros. (t. 230) 
 all built by the refpeflive fovereigns. Plunderers of this fort ftill infeft Ida, and the 
 Afiatic Olympus, and if Afia were again without a great imperial power like that of 
 the Othman's, any one of thefe tribes might extend its influence from the heights to 
 the plain. 
 
 At the prefent day in fome parts of Romelia and Bulgaria the roads are in- 
 fefted by troops of banditti, who defy the Turkifh government, fome of thefe we 
 parted through during the journey of the late military minion to Turkey, but feeing 
 us well prepared and numerous, they did not think proper to attack us. Their recefles 
 are in mount Hzmus, and though when taken the puniftiment is inftant and terri- 
 ble, yet it does not deter them from the commiffion of fimilar enormities. They 
 lately plundered the princefs of Walachia, and detained her and her fuite for feveral 
 days. 
 
 ferved. 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 25 
 
 ferved. If Troy could furvive the ravages of Greece in the hour 
 of victory, and incenfed by the vexatious delays of fo long a 
 fiege, and the blood of fo many thoufands of her fons, it is ftill 
 more extraordinary that any remains mould have furvived the 
 direful effects of Turkifh rapine, and bigotted fuperftition. 
 
 Bis vetus everfum eft Argivis Ilion armis, 
 
 Bis nova vifrores Graecia luget avos ; 
 Maxima Trojanos retulit cum Roma ncpotes 
 
 Atque iterum imperium cum modo Turcus habet. 
 
 Scaliger. 
 
 Having relblved to explore Mount Ida, and afcend to Gargarus, 
 its fummit, or rather the higheft of its hills, we fet off on the 22d 
 about five in the morning. We croffed the Simois at a ford 
 about two miles from the village, and by an eafterly courle pro- 
 ceeded to the foot of Gargarus, about a mile diftant from the 
 ford ; on reaching the mountain we found it much fteeper than 
 we imagined, and its height from the level of the plain may be 
 fomething more than two miles, the firft part of which was by 
 a moderate afcent, but the latter rugged and difficult of accefs. 
 It is divided into three parts or halting places, the intermediate 
 fpaces being covered with low oak and other trees. After having 
 arrived at the fummit, you difcover what . had not been vifible 
 from the plain below, an ample platform or table-land of a cir- 
 cular form and 460 feet in circumference, and where no doubt 
 
 D flood 
 
t6 REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ilood the fane and altar of Jupiter the Deliverer". On cafting the 
 eye around from this iummit, the view is magnificent and exten- 
 five, to the right are i'een the highlands over the Dardanelles and 
 commencement of the Hellefpont ; on the left, the ifland and 
 caflle of Tenedos ; In the plain below, every circumftance as de- 
 icribed by Homer is minutely recognized ; the city and towers of 
 Ilium below our feet, the fources of Scamander, the rich and fer- 
 tile plain of Troy watered by the Simois and the Scamander whole 
 light is obfeured by its deep and fedgy banks, the barrow of 
 iEfyetes, the Sigcean and Rhcetean promontories, and the fituation 
 of the Grecian fleet, prefent a fucceffion of pleafing and intereft- 
 ing objects, while the picture is bounded with a double view of the 
 Hellefpont and iEgean fea, and the iflands of Lemnos, Imbros, 
 and Samothracia. In fhort nothing is wanting to complete tbe 
 fcene, and the enthufiafm of the moment is perhaps excufable 
 when the exulting traveller fhall exclaim, " Troy exifts." 
 
 When we were upon this fpot, we had Homer and the work 
 of Morritt in our hands, we examined the poet by the comment, 
 and could not refrain from giving our teftimony to the fidelity of 
 both. Gargarus is a fummit that not only overlooks all that 
 Homer afiigns to the profpecl:, but is really the higheft point of 
 the whole ridge, and commands a view to the north and fouth 
 weft, and when we figured to our imagination, Jupiter fitting 
 here, and Neptune watching his motions from the heights of 
 Samothracc, with the Plain of Troy between them, we felt from 
 
 the 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 27 
 
 the fublimity of the poet, the fuperiority of their rank, as clearly 
 as the fubordinate fituation of the other deities, when one party 
 fat on Callicolone, and the other on the .retrenchment of Her- 
 cules to contemplate the re-appearance of Achilles in the field, 
 I have heard fince my return, that Mr. Morritt's affumption of 
 tliis height for the Gargarus of the poet, has been doubted, 
 and that his meafures from Lectum have been fuppofed to be 
 erroneoufly taken from the diftance between Le£tum and the 
 city of Gargarus rather than the mount. This is a queftion I 
 cannot enter into, but Homer defcribes Gargarus as the higheft 
 point of Ida, and fuch was the fummit on which we ftood ; the 
 view we had to the weft was alfo correfpondent with the defcrip- 
 tion of the poet, and the view we took to the north was acrofs the 
 Hellefpont into Thrace, and might well be extended to the Glac- 
 tophagi, Hippemolgi and Tartar tribes (in that age) on the Da- 
 nube, if we had had the fame powers of vifion as the deity is en- 
 dowed with in the poem. 
 
 One doubt I muft confefs arofe in our mind, which was 
 that we could not trace the Scamander from its fource, but 
 the reafon of this will appear in the following pages, when 
 we fhall be on the banks of the ftream itfelf. 
 
 To confirm the topographical correclnefs of Homer, I mall 
 produce two inftances the firft from the 14th Iliad, and the 
 fecond from the 8th Iliad, in regard to the direftion of Lemnos 
 from Ida, which place the father of the* gods on his own 
 
 D 2 proper 
 
2 S REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 proper Gargarus, and may tend to corroborate the imperfect, 
 defcription, which I have above attempted. Firft, as to the 
 courfe of 'Juno and Sleep. 
 
 " Together forth they went, Lemnos they left 
 
 " And Iinbros city of Thrace, and in dark clouds 
 
 " Mantled, with gliding car fwam though the air 
 
 " To Ida's Mount, with rilling waters veined, 
 
 " Parent of favage beaftsj at Leclos firft 
 
 " They quitted Ocean, over palling high 
 
 " The dry land, while beneath their feet the woods 
 
 " Their fpiry fummits waved."* 
 
 Cowper. 
 
 In the energetic but fimple language of Homer, I fhall now , 
 place Jupiter on his fane on the fummit of Gargarus. 
 
 " To fpring fed Ida, mother of wild beafts 
 '• He came, where Jiands in Gargarus his Jhrine ; 
 " Arriving loofed his courfers, and around 
 " Involving them in gather'd clouds opaque, 
 " Sat on the mountains head, in his own might 
 " Exulting with the towers of Ilium all 
 " Beneath his eye, and the whole fleet of Greece." 
 
 Cowper — Book 8, line 190. 
 
 * Mr. Morritt in his admirable vindication of Homer Tays, " on the 6th of No- 
 vember 1794, I arrived from Lelbos at the fouthern part of Ida, in companj with other 
 Englifhmen. We landed about twenty miles below Ledum, now cape Baba in the 
 Sinus Adramettus. The mountains rife gradually from the promontory of Lectum in 
 long ridges, which unite on the right in a high fummit the ancient Gargarus." Is 
 not this the courfe of Juno P 
 
 Though 
 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. z 9 
 
 Though not entirely applicable to the prefent fubjedt, I can- 
 not refrain from giving another paffage which I found in the 
 Iliad, and which I fufpect our own great poet to have had in 
 view when he wrote his Paradife Loft. It relates to the arts 
 made ufe of by Juno to deceive the vigilance of the father of the 
 gods, and permit her favorite Greeks to obtain fome advantage. 
 Being on the fummit of Ida, I could not conceive a better op- 
 portunity for inferting it. 
 
 " Beneath them earth 
 " With fudden herbage, teem'd, at once upfprung 
 " The crocus foft, the lotus bathed in dew, 
 " And the crifp hyacinth with cluft'ring bells ; 
 " Thick was their growth, and high above the ground 
 " Upbore them j on that flowery couch they lay, 
 " Inverted with a golden cloud that fhed 
 " Bright dew drops all around." 
 
 Cowper — Bock 14, line 37Z. 
 
 Among the many excellencies obferved in Homer, his epithets 
 are not the leafl to be admired. His . %o\\jttI$«.koi; "iStjs fpring 
 fed Ida, is particularly appofite; during our tour of two days 
 from entering the Callicolone or chain of hills that conftitute 
 Mount Ida, until we pafTed Troy to the fouth weft, we found a- 
 mong the hills the beds of feveral torrents, but there are ftill many 
 more, as the Granicus, ^fepus, Rhodius, and other rivers, which 
 all take their rife either from Mount Ida, or the hills behind it. 
 
 From 
 
So REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 From the torrents which come down from Ida, and join the wa- 
 ters of the Simois, it mull be a formidable ftream in the winter 
 - fealbn ; the chain of mountains compofing Ida, are not in ge- 
 neral remarkably high, but are abundantly well furnifhed with 
 wood, which fupplies the Troad with fuel, as in, former times. 
 Thischain which commences from the province of Myfia to the 
 north, is continued in a direction fouth and fouth wefterly, until 
 it is terminated by the promontory of Lectum in the Egean fea 
 and from its many feet or projecling points, has been compared 
 to the Scolopendra ; or, hairy worm, called centipes,* moll of the 
 hills have fragments of ftone and rock, but on Gargarus is found 
 a vaft quantity of marble, or rather of rock, marble, veined. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Alexandria Troas, are quarries of very 
 fine granite, from which molr. of the relicks found in the Troad 
 have been produced. After an intelleclural feaft of three hours, 
 we quitted with regret the interefting profpect, and returned to 
 Bunarbafhi. 
 
 Descending from the heights of Gargarus, a traveller is na- 
 turally led to vifit and examine the fources of the famed Scamander 
 or Xanthus of Homer ; At the foot of the hill, on which ftocJ tl.e 
 
 * It is remarkable that Homer ufes the term rU2i ? , which poflibly fupplied the geo- 
 graphers with the idea of the Scolopendra. 
 
 Tlcttrt; (SlirtriiotTO II0AE2 7ro?,v7rioaxo{ "lo>;;. 
 
 Y. 59. 
 
 Acropolis 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 3 r 
 
 Acropolis about two miles diftant and near the modern village of 
 Bunarbafhi, under the made of fome willows rifes the hot or firft 
 fource of Scamander ; the approach to it is by a road paved with 
 large ftones, and appears very ancient. 
 
 The fountain is about eight feet broad, the water beautifully 
 clear and limpid, ftrongly marking the dyxaov v$up of Homer, ri- 
 iing from a bed of the fineft fand imaginable ■, large flabs of Pa- 
 rian marble have been thrown acrofs the mouth or ciftern, in 
 which as in times of old, the dames of Troy are ftill aceuftomed 
 to wafli their garments, and bleach them on the neighbouring 
 bank of beautiful verdure. 
 
 At no great diftance from the firft, is the fecond or cold 
 fpring, muck broader but mallow, it rifes from the foot of 
 a low hill, covered entirely with rocks, from which the water 
 guflies through numberlefs crevices, bubbling and trilling in 
 pleafing murmurs. 
 
 By the modern Turks the Scamander is here termed, Kirk 
 Geous Sou j or, the river with forty eyes, evidently from the gum- 
 ma: out of its waters as above defcribed. 
 
 In the neighbourhood is found a very great quantity of mar- 
 ble but of inferior quality, of which no doubt were made 
 thole canals fo particularly defcribed by Homer, but which at 
 prefent do not exift, though at both the fountains the Turkifli 
 women ftill wafh their garments and perform ablutions. At this 
 prefent time (June) both the fprings were perfectly cold, but we 
 
 were 
 
32 REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 were aflured by the natives that the water of the firft was in the 
 winter months always hot and emitted a fteam, but that the fe- 
 cond was always cold, both in winter and fummer : an affer- 
 tion which we find corroborated by the fucceffive teftimonies of 
 various travellers, but particularly Chevalier, Morritt, Dallaway. 
 But Homer muft now as in other inftanccs appear himfelf, 
 and defcribe the charaEleriJlics of thefe celebrated fountains 
 which a lapfe of three thoufand years have not been able to 
 obliterate ; it is thus the poet when verging to the conclufion of 
 the Iliad and the fate of Hector, defcribes the fources of the 
 Scamander. 
 
 Next by Scamander's double fource they bound, 
 Where two fam'd fountains burft the parted ground, 
 This hot through fcorching clefts is feen to rife, 
 With exhalations {teaming to the Ikies, 
 That the green banks in rummer's heat, o'erflows 
 Like chryftal clear, and cold as winter fnows ; 
 Each guOiing fount, a marble ciftern fills 
 Whofe polifh'd bed receives the falling rills ; 
 Where Trojan dames, (e're yet alarmed by Gr ece,) 
 Walh'd their fair garments in the days of peace. 
 
 Pope — Book 22, line 195. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of thefe fprings the country is un.. ^m- 
 monly beautiful, many of the inhabitants have, built their cot- 
 tages on the banks of the river, which flows in a clear perennial 
 
 ftream 
 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 33 
 
 frream through gardens laid out in pleafant walks, and arbours 
 covered with grape vines ; plantations of walnut, poplar, and fy- 
 camores are alfo {sen, and an abundant variety of fruit trees, ren- 
 der thefe gardens a moft charming retreat from the heats of fum- 
 mer. The banks of the Scamander being deeply embowered with 
 fedge, and marfh-mallows, conceal the water from the fight. 
 
 At a cottage near the fecond fource, is to be feen a block of 
 marble, about three feet in height, on which is fculptured in relievo 
 the figure of a warrior, well executed. Near Troy though fo early 
 in the feafon as the twenty third of June, the harveft was nearly 
 gathered in, and what appears to Europeans extremely Angular, the 
 female reapers, wore ftraw hats to defend their faces from the fun. 
 
 During our flay at Bunarbafhi, and indeed throughout the 
 Troad, we were received with great politenefs and hofpitality. 
 In the country, the Turks feem to have forgotten that fupercil- 
 lous air of pride and hauteur, which prevails among their brethern 
 at the capital ; all here feemed defirous of giving us a kind re- 
 ception and accommodation, the hofpitable Aga of the diftri£t was 
 himfelf at Conftantinople, but the attention paid to us by his fa- 
 mily, gave no caufe to regret his abfence, to whofe profufe liber- 
 ality, in a conftant and ample fupply of provifions, there feemed 
 to be no bounds. 
 
 It was here for the firft time, we had an opportunity of obfer- 
 ving the carts of the Troad, which forcibly reminded us of the war 
 chariots of Homer, both in their appearance, and conftruflion. 
 
 E Dr. 
 
34 REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 Dr. Chandler, whofe interefting travels in Afia Minor, afford a 
 rich fund of entertainment, both for the antiquarian and man of 
 obfervation, thus defcribes them. 
 
 Standing on the Sigaean promontory, now cape * Yeni Cheir 
 JaniiTary, which overlooks the Plain of Troy, the Dr. remarks, 
 " a long train of low carriages refembling ancient cars, were then 
 " coming as it were in proceflion, from Mount Ida, each was 
 I s wreathed round with wicker work, had two low wheels, and 
 " conveyed a nodding load of green wood, which was drawn 
 " through the dully plain by yoked oxen or buffaloes, with a 
 " flow and folemn pace, and with an ugly creaking noife." Do 
 we not in this defcription, recal our ideas to the Grecian follow- 
 ers of the camp bringing in wood from Mount Ida for the fune- 
 ral of Patroclus ? 
 
 " Bui Agamemnon as the rites demand 
 
 " With mules and waggons fends a chofen band, 
 
 " To load the timber and the pile to rear, 
 
 " A charge confign'd to faithful Merion's care, 
 
 " With proper inftruments they take the road 
 
 " Axes to cut, and ropes to fling the load : 
 
 " Fir ft march the heavy mules, Jecurely flow, 
 
 " O'er hills, o'er dales, o'er crags, o'er rocks they go, 
 
 " Jumping high o'er the flirubs of the rough ground, 
 
 " Rattle the clatt'ring cars, and the Jfiockt axles bound. " 
 
 Pope's Iliad. — Book 23, line 134, et Seq. 
 
 * The new village. It is remarkable that Strabo has a new town alfo in this neigh- 
 bourhood, though 1 think not in the fame place. 
 
 After 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 55 
 
 After an accurate and pleafing furvey of Troy and its environs, 
 we determined to trace the courfe of Scamander, from its foun- 
 tains near the city, until its junction with the Simois and final dif- 
 charge into the Hellefpont. 
 
 We left Bunarbafhi at four o'clock, on the afternoon of the 
 twenty third, taking our departure from the cold ox fecond fpring ; 
 our route lay along the fkirts of a hill, to the fouth weft, at which 
 time the river was clear and limped, and in a direction tolerably 
 ftrait ; on reaching the level plain, it began to meander until we 
 loft fight of it, amidft the fedges, low rufhes, marfh-mallow, and 
 tamarifk, that covered its banks. 
 
 We could now fatisfactorily account for our not having feen 
 the Scamander, even from the heights of Gargarus, and which 
 Mr. Hope and myfelf, had remarked with no fmall degree of afto- 
 nifhment, it being generally imagined that both rivers were to be 
 feen, and fo when the country was in high culture and full of 
 people they probably were, and this we alfo obferved that where- 
 cver we could obtain a light of the water, the ftream was ftill lim- 
 pid, pure, and comparatively deep, running in a channel from 
 twelve to twenty feet wide, till we loft it in a morafs. 
 
 The reafon was now apparrent, why we did not fee it from 
 Gargarus, as the brakes and trees, with which its banks were 
 entirely overhung, permitted only an .accidental view. We con- 
 tinued our ride over the plain, the whole face of w hich appeared 
 one entire field of cultivation, it was a perfect level, and I Ihould 
 
 judge 
 
36 REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 judge the extent, to be about nine miles in length, from Troy to 
 the fea, and from three to four miles in breadth ; we kept the 
 Simois on our right, from a mile and half to two miles diftant. 
 Whilit tfaverfing the plain, once the theatre of fo many great 
 and interefting actions of the war, the mind of an obfervant tra- 
 veller will naturally be imprened with fenfations of enthufiafm ; 
 and if the glow of patriotifm is expected to be felt in the field of 
 Marathon, or the fpirit of devotion can be railed by the venerable 
 ruins of Iona, furely fome fmall portion of enthufiafm is excufa- 
 ble, in him who vifits the land of Homer. 
 
 " Videbat nil bellantes Tergama circum 
 
 " Hac fugertnt Graii, fremeret Trojana juventus 
 " H<ec Phrygesy inftaret curru crijlatus Achilles. 
 
 For myfelf I could not pafs over this clafiic ground without 
 feeling a fincere ardour, even with a mind hurt by recent untoward 
 circumftances, which had occured in the various and capricious 
 turns of my life and perhaps fortunes. After proceeding about 
 four miles from the fprings, the face of the plain becomes marfhy 
 and overgrown with rufhes, and is almoft a morafs. 
 
 We had now loft fight of the Scamander altogether, until 
 we reached the fide of a hill, near the village of Erkes Keoi, 
 where we favv it again, flowing in an artificial canal made or 
 opened again about fixty years fince, by the famous Hajjan Bafoa 
 Ghaziy the lord high admiral of Turkey , this canal into which 
 
 the 
 
ON THE PLAIxM OF TROY. 37 
 
 the Scamander has been diverted, commences near the village of 
 Erkefkeoi, and after traverfing a direction due fouth, it turns a 
 mill and is difcharged into the Egean fea, about three miles dif- 
 tant. Tne water of the canal is equally clear with that of the 
 native ftream itfelf. In the plain below the village we croffed 
 over a bridge, or rather caufeway which had been made acrofs the 
 Scamander, occaiioned by the overfpreading of the river that 
 now had loft itfelf in a morafs, though its ancient bed was vifi- 
 ble : fending on our f ervants and baggage into the Chiftelick, we 
 made an excuruon from this place to vifit the tomb of iEfyetes, 
 fituated three miles to the fouth eaft of Erkefkeoi. This tu- 
 mulus is on a level in a valley, at the foot of a ridge of hills con- 
 nected with Mount Ida, and is a monument of the higheft anti- 
 quity in the Troad, having been erected previous to the war ; it 
 is called by the Turks Udjuk Tepe, or the chimney hill. It is an 
 immenfe mound of earth clofely beaten, and rifes from the level 
 of the plain, to the height of an hundred and thirty feet, with a 
 circumference of twelve hundred. 
 
 From this fpot Polites one of the fons of Priam, (whofe ftory 
 is fo pathetically defcribed in the 2nd Mneid,) was detached in 
 order to reconnoitre the pofition of the Grecian camp, and to ob- 
 ferve the movements of the army ; certainly no fpot could have 
 
 been felecled more appropriate, as it not only commands a 
 
 - 
 
 perfect view of the Plain of Troy in every direction, but has 
 
 likewife 
 
3 8 REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 likewife an admirable look out into the ./Egean fea, immediately 
 over againft the illand of Tenedos. 
 
 " But various Iris, Jove's commands to bear 
 
 " Speeds on the wings of wind through liquid air, 
 
 " In Priam's porch the Trojan chiefs (lie found, 
 
 " The old confulting, and the youth around ; 
 
 " Polite 1 s Jhape the monarch's Jon fiie clioje 
 
 " Who from ALfyetes' tomb obferved the foes, 
 
 " High on the mound, from whence in proffetl lay, 
 
 " The fields, the tents, the navy, and the bay. 
 
 Pope's Iliad. 
 
 This tomb we had kept in view, during the whole of our 
 tour, it had been to us a guide, an indelible land mark in afcer- 
 taining the different pofitions in the Troad * It is vifible from 
 Gargarus, from the Rhcetean and Sigaean promontories, from 
 Thymbrek, and Bunarbafhi, and has a view itfelf over the whole 
 plain, as well towards the Hellefpont, as the iEgean fea, and is 
 
 * The fame obfervation may apply to the ifland of Tenedos, which is equally con- 
 spicuous from Troy and its environs. 
 
 "Eft in confpeflu Tenedos, nctiffima fama 
 
 *' Iniula, dives opum, Priami dum regna manebant." 
 
 Virg jEneid, Lib. II. 
 
 It has however in one refpeft furvived the kingdom of Priam, and at the pre- 
 fent day, produces fome of the beft wine in the Archipelago. 
 
 in 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 39 
 
 in fa£l the very point where a picket would now be placed, if it 
 were neceffary to give a fignal to the city of what was palling on 
 the plain. Strabo p. 599, mentions that the barrow allotted to 
 iEfyetes lay on the road leading tcr Alexandria Troas, which ac- 
 cords with the obiVvation of all our modern travellers, but he 
 has a meafure of ave ftadia, which it is difficult to afcertain : it 
 riles however out of the plain, like a truncated cone, and is more 
 peculiarly adapted to the circumftances required, than any other 
 barrow in the whole country. 
 
 The fetting fun warned us to defcend from the fummit, and 
 repair to our quarters at ErkefTekeoi ; on our return we paffed 
 two other tumuli fituated on the fea fhore, one of which was 
 called by the natives, Befhek Tepe, the name of the other we 
 could not learn, though forne have fuppofed thefe two have con- 
 tained the remains of Peneleus and Protefilaus. We flept that 
 night at the chiftelick, or country houfe of Haffan Bafha, and on 
 the 24th in the morning, infpired with the hope of finding the 
 Scamander, or at leaft its bed which we had loll on the preced- 
 ing day we proceeded to our enquiry ; about half a mile north 
 of the village we fell in with the bed, and prefently after with 
 the river itfelf, which had very little water in it. By infpecHon 
 of the map of the Troad as given by Mr. Morritt in his admira- 
 ble defence of Homer, I have to obferve, that though correcT: in 
 other refpefts, he certainly failed in the inflance of tracing the 
 courfe of Scamander. He proceeded in a direction north and 
 
 by 
 
40 REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 by eaft, and continued his route, over what he calls Talce Satman- 
 der, and looked no further for the bed of the river. If Mr. Mor- 
 ritt has followed Chevalier in the conftru&ion of his map, they 
 are certainly both in an error, as I fhall proceed to fhew in the 
 map fubjoined which was made by Mr. Hope on the fpot after 
 profecuting our fearch for the Scamander with fuccefsful dili- 
 gence. From the place above mentioned, we followed the river, 
 in a courfe north by weft for about two miles, its banks as in 
 the upper part of the plain were overgrown with marfh myrtles, 
 tamarifks, and the country on both fides a morafs, which in the 
 winter feafon muft be impafTable, and which Mr. Chevalier or 
 or Morritt could not have penetrated : the bed of the river was fre- 
 quently dry, yet ftill retained its original character, the breadth 
 being from twelve to twenty feet ; whilft mentioning the breadth 
 of the river at this part of the plain I conceive a paffage from 
 Homer will ferve ftill further to illuftrate the accuracy of the 
 poet's general defcription ; it relates to the conteft of the river 
 Scamander with Achilles, whilft that hero was committing fuch 
 terrible devaftation among the flying Trojans j that the prefent 
 actual fituation of the bed of the river mould coincide in fo exact 
 a manner is really furprifing, but the fa£t is certain. 
 
 " On the border flood 
 " A fpreading elm, that overhung the flood ; 
 " He feiz'd a bending bough, his fleps to flay ; 
 " The plant uprooted to h*s weight gave way, 
 
 " Heaving 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TRO\. 41 
 
 " Heaving the bank, and undermining all ; 
 
 " Loud flafh the waters to the ruining fall 
 
 " Of the thick foliage. The large trunk difplayed, 
 
 " Bridg'd the rough flood acrofs : The hero ftay'd 
 
 " On this his weight, and rais'd upon, his hand, 
 
 " Leap'd from the channel, and regain'd the land. 
 
 Pope's Iliad. — Book 21ft. 
 
 I cannot help introducing in this place, a moft ingenious 
 remark of Mr. Blackwell, in his enquiry into the life and writings 
 of Homer about forty years fince, and from which it would ap- 
 pear he had actually vifited the fpot, for, if we except the wild fig 
 tree and the tomb of Dardanus, we (hall obferve the Plain of 
 Troy, as it exifts at the prefent day : fpeaking of Homer's geo- 
 graphical accuracy, he obferves, " The firft which prefents itfelf, 
 " is, that he mull: have been acquainted with the field of a£lion, 
 " the Plain of Troy. It was this enabled him to defcribe it fo 
 " minutely ; and gives it that air of veracity it bears from thofe 
 " natural incidents he has thrown into his narration. He had 
 " them, not by reading or fpeculation, but from the places them- 
 " felves, and the profpects that arife from the culture and difpo- 
 " fition of the grounds. Who but the man that had viewed the 
 " bendings of the coajl, and every corner of the fields, could 
 " have defcribed or feigned the genuine marks of it: the tornb 
 " of Dardanus, the fprings of Scamander, the banks of Simois, 
 " the beach tree, with many other circumfcances, that diftinguifh 
 " the environs, and enrich his landfkip ? 
 
 F " We 
 
42 REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 We now loft fight of the bed again for a fhort time, but on 
 fearching perceived it had funk into a marfhy ground to the north 
 eaft, though our guides informed us we fhould fall in within ano- 
 ther branch more to the weftward : we crofTed over the morafs, 
 and proceeding north and by weft, again difcovered the river a- 
 bout a mile diftant from whence it difappeared, the bed lies in 
 the fame ftate as before. Future travellers may recognize the fpot, 
 by obferving and afcending a fmall round hill as marked in the 
 map, which places the fea to the weftward and at the foot of 
 which the river runs ; here the Scamander is as broad as many 
 parts of the Simois, and might well have anfwered to the appel- 
 lation given by Homer, of £c»Qv$tvyeis deep and full of eddies, or 
 i7T ywevjt ZxctpcwSpw, the Scamander with a broad margin. 
 
 From this eminence we beheld the Simois about a mile 
 diftant approaching to its junction with the Scamander, the 
 ftream broad and rapid ; our fatisfaclion at this difcovery was 
 enhanced by the pleafing and honeft recollection, that we had at- 
 tained a point given up by other travellers, who fuppofed the 
 Scamander did not exift beyond the canal of HafTan Baflia, which 
 Mr. Morritt calls the Amnis Navigabilis of Pliny, or perhaps de- 
 ceived by their guides,* or reports of the country people, took the 
 matter for granted. Having thus fallen in again with our river, 
 we determined not to quit it, and continued our courfe along its 
 
 * I am the more inclined to fuppofe the latter to have been the cafe, as we found 
 much difficulty in perfuading our guides to accompany us, who perfifted in alluring us 
 the river was loft. 
 
 banks 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 43 
 
 banks for about half a mile, when we were again for a few mo- 
 ments at fault., but foon perceiving the bed, our never failing 
 guide, we rode into it, and with the exception of a very few yards 
 after tracing it about three quarters of a mile further in a direc- 
 tion north and by eaft, we at length reached its junction with the 
 Simois, broad and flowing rapidly about two miles diftant from the 
 Sigean promontory, and five from the village of ErkefTu Keoi in 
 the direction we had followed j* the tefl of their junction to a fu- 
 ture traveller will be a fmall ftone bridge over the bed of the 
 Scamander, twenty yards from its junction and which obliged 
 us to ride out of the bed and in again at the oppofite fide. It 
 is matter worthy of remark, that this famous river mould flill as 
 in the days of Homer have two names : at its fource as I have above 
 remarked, it is called Kirk Gegus Su, or the river with forty eyes, 
 but on its junction with the Simois, which is called by the Turks 
 Chai Sou, the united ftreams receive the appellation of Mendrus. 
 Aware of the fafcinating attractions of etymology in the inveftiga- 
 tion of a name, I fhould hefitate in combining the ancient and mo- 
 dern names at this diftance of time, yet the application is lb un- 
 itrained and the fimiliarity fo evident, that I think the modern name, 
 Mendrus, Scamander, or Scamandros, amounts to an almoft irrefra- 
 gable document of its having triumphed over time, and of hav- 
 
 * It is neceflary to remark in this place, that the fubjoined map was made from 
 an eye view, and not from a£tual meafurement : my fellow traveller Mr. Hope 
 >fery obligingly favoured me with it, in order to illuftrate my own ideas on the fubjedt. 
 
 F 2 • ing 
 
44 REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ing eftablifked the accuracy of Homer* From hence the Scaman- 
 tler in a courfe nearly north, flows in a broad and rapid ftream 
 along the plain, lkirts the weliern flank of the village of Koum 
 Kala, and is finally difcharged into the Heliefpont about two 
 miles from its junction. 
 
 At the mouth of the Scamander is a very confiderable bar of 
 fand, which prevents accefs to veffels of large burthen, but we 
 were allured by the natives, that in the winter ieafon the torrents 
 from Ida coming down with violence, difcharge an immenfe 
 body of frefh water into the l'ea, the effect of which is perceived 
 a great way off. 
 
 Having thus brought the Scamander from its fource, under the 
 walls of Troy to its junction with the Simois, and final dicharge 
 into the Heliefpont after a circuitous courfe of twelve miles, I fhall 
 make a few obfervations on the nature of the foil of the Troad. 
 At Bunarbafhi the Turkifh fignification of which is the fpring or 
 fountain head, the foil is rich and foft and the earth remarkably fine, 
 lower down, fat and greafy, in the centre of the plain the earth 
 of the corn fields was of a reddifh brown, at the loweft part near 
 the junction of the rivers, the foil was of the richeft black mould 
 
 * Ifk, Efk, Ufk, are terms for rivers in almoft every region of the world. Bruce 
 found the name in AbyfEnia, and there is an Ifki in Kerman, as well as an Ifca, Efk, 
 and Ufk in England and Scotland, and if it were allowable to follow an etymology fo 
 general, I fhould fay Jfca-Mendrus was the Scamander, or river Mendrus. 
 
 and 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 45 
 
 and anfwered forcibly to the epithet fo frequently applied by 
 Homer of Tpoiy lpi£uXx'£. The fertile Trojan plain. 
 
 Throughout the Troad we had occafion to remark that a cou- 
 ple of buffaloes or oxen were fufficient to draw the plough with 
 eafe, whereas in the neighbourhood of Constantinople, it took 
 twelve or fometimes fourteen, this can be accounted for only by 
 the nature of the foil, there it is a hard and ftiff clay, that of the 
 Troad foft and rich mould, the plain was covered with numerous 
 herds of cattle, horfes, oxen and buffaloes* 
 
 On quitting the river, we proceeded to the famous Sigsean pro- 
 montory now cape Janiffary, where are to be feen, the celebrated 
 Sigaean infcriptions and other coftly marbles which have been ac- 
 curately copied by Chifhull, Dr. Chandler, and other travellers. 
 Quitting the fite of the ancient Sigaeum, now a Greek village, we 
 proceeded along the promontory on the fhores of the Hellefpont, 
 at this place fully entitled to the appellation of broad and 
 fpacious. 
 
 At the fwell of the promontory and juft as it begins to rife, 
 is the barrow of Achilles, confpicuous for its fize and elevation, 
 afar off at fea, it is a vaft mound of earth, heaped up in the form 
 of a cone, the elevation of its eaftern afpecl: is about one hundred 
 and twenty feet, and the circumference fix hundred, the earth 
 
 * The uncommon luxuriance of the harveft in the neighbourhood of Troy, in- 
 duced me to gather fome of the wheat with my own hands, which I brought to 
 England, and prefented to Governor Haftir.gs. The ear is remarkably fine, 
 and the ftalk long and bearded fimilar to that of Rohilcund in the Eaft Indies. 
 
 has 
 
46 REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 has been uncommonly well beaten, and bids fair to remain as free 
 from the ravages of time, as it has already done, the fummit of 
 the cone has been fmoothed off, and contains a fmall mud build- 
 ing erected by a Mahometan Dervifh, who by a whimfical Angula- 
 rity of difpofition, has converted the tomb of Achilles, into a repo- 
 fitory for his own afhes, and thofe of his brethren, lwo other 
 Muflulmans already repofe in the cemetry of Achilles. This bar- 
 row as has been already remark'd, was opened a few years fince, by 
 Signor Gormazino at the inftance of Count Choifeul Goufier. 
 
 However other perfons may have thought upon the fubjecl: of 
 the relicts found in this barrow, I fhall with deference prefume to 
 fubmit my own opinion, as it arofe whilft ftanding on the fpot 
 'which inclines to credit their being the afhes of Achilles and 
 Patroclus, and for this reafon, that if the pofition of the tu- 
 mulus be eftablifhed as I conceive it to be beyond all doubt by the 
 teftimony of Homer himfelf, why may we not attach equal cre- 
 dit to the difcoveries made in it ? 
 
 The funeral of Achilles is detailed by Homer in fo circum- 
 ftantial a manner, and contains moreover fo curious a picture 
 of the rites of antiquity, that I fhall beg leave to produce it 
 as an additional inftance of the accuracy of the great poet, 
 whofe works afforded us fo much amufement, in our progrefs 
 through the Troad. 
 
 In the 24th book of the OdyfTey, the fhade of Agamemnon 
 addrefles that of Achilles in the following manner : 
 
 " Full 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 47 
 
 " Full feventeen days, we day and night deplor'd 
 
 " Thy death, both Gods in Heav'n and men below, 
 
 " But on the eighteenth day we gave thy corfe 
 
 " Its burning, and fat fheep around thee flew 
 
 " Numerous, with many a paftured ox moon horn'd ; 
 
 " We burn'd thee cloath'd in vefture of the Gods, 
 
 " With honey and with oil feeding the flames 
 
 " Abundant, while Achaia's heroes arm'd 
 
 " Both horfe and foot encompaffing the pile 
 
 " Clafh'd on their fhields and deaf'ning was the din. 
 
 " But when the fires of Vulcan had at length 
 
 " Confum'd thee, at the dawn we ftored thy bones 
 
 " In unguent and in undiluted wine, 
 
 " For Thetis gave to us a golden vafe 
 
 " Twin eared, which fhe profefsed to have received 
 
 " From Bacchus, work divine of Vulcan's hand ; 
 
 " Within that vafe, Achilles ! treafured lie, 
 
 " Thine and the bones of thy departed friend 
 
 " Patroclus, but a feparate urn we gave 
 
 " To thofe of brave Antilochus, who moil 
 
 " Of all thy friends at Ilium, flaared thy love 
 
 " And thy refpeft, thy friend Patroclus flain. 
 
 " Around both urns we -placed a noble pie, 
 
 " We warriors of the /acred Argive race t 
 
 " On a tall promontory /hooting /ar 
 
 " Into the fpacious Helle/pont, that all 
 
 " Who live and who /hall yet be born may view, 
 
 " Thy record even from the difiant wave.* 
 
 * Afjutp a,VTo7o~t S'eireiTa, yXyuv xeci dfAVf/ovci Tu'jwjG 
 Xevctpev Apytiuv itpog fjpc&ros u\-)QLi\' l a,uv 
 
 " A'^ 
 
4 8 REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 A JtJJJ 67T» Trpo^outTYi nr\ -rrXocre" E XXyicttovtu. 
 n'V K6i> 7rj\t<pxv7j<; Ik mvToQiv dvdpcta-iv \lv\ 
 To~j ct vuv yey/xx<rt xa.\ o\ [AeTC7ri<rQev ecrovjat. 
 
 Odyfley, CI. 80. 
 
 Here then at the diftance of three thoufand years, we have 
 a detail fo circumftantial, fuch a coincidence of facts, and fo ana- 
 logous with the recent difcoveries, that it muft furely amount to 
 conviction : not an item in the above lines but in fome fhape or 
 other tends to corroborate and identify the tomb of Achilles, the 
 funeral pile, the refpect of the army, the vafe, the reparation of 
 the afhes of Achilles and Patroclus from thofe of Antilochus, 
 and laftly the record in the erection of a noble pile, ftill fpeaking 
 in indelible characters, altogether form a chain of minute circum- 
 ftances, which are in my opinion irrefragable, and I muft confefs 
 I do not envy the feelings of him who is not convinced. 
 
 At no great diftance from the tomb of Achilles, is that of 
 his friend Patroclus on the beach, it is fituated in the inclofure 
 of a vineyard on the plain, circular in form, low and flat at the 
 top, it might naturaly be fuppofed that the barrow of a perfon fo 
 highly efteemed and fo much beloved as Patroclus was by Achil- 
 les, would have been of a larger fize, but for this we muft recur 
 to Homer, who will folve the difficulty, ift. He was buried* 
 
 * Of both thefe barrows a very accurate view has been taken by Mr. Hope's 
 painter, which it is to be hoped that Gentleman will publifh when he returns to 
 England from his intcrefting journey. 
 
 on 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 49 
 
 on the plain, or level of the fea more, ett' «^ as appears from.' 
 the 23d Iliad, after collecting a fufficient quantity of wood 
 from Mount Ida, the people returned to the fea fide, and there 
 
 " Each man his log 
 " For fo the armour bearer of the king 
 " Of Crete, Meriones had them enjoin'd 
 " Bore after them, and each his burthen caft 
 " Down on the beach regular." 
 
 — — And again in the fame book* after the corpfe was burnt 
 
 " Defigning next the compafs of the tomb, 
 
 " They mark'd its boundary with ftones, then filled 
 
 " The wide inclofure haftily with earth, 
 
 " And having heaped it to its height return'd." 
 
 Cowpbr's Iliad. 
 
 The prefent appearance of this tumulus, exhibits every mark 
 of an hafly erection and unfinifhed rites. We know from Ho- 
 mer that Achilles had always defigned that after death, his own 
 allies mould be mingled with thofe of Patroclus, therefore there 
 was no occafion for making the tumulus fo extenfive at that time, 
 becaufc fays he in the fame book, " afterwards the Greeks who 
 " mall be left in the (hips after my death fhall conftrucl: one 
 " broader and loftier*" 
 
 In T 245, He fays 
 
 AAX* g7r<6*%e« toTov, &c. 
 
 G " there 
 
5 o REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 " There let him reft, with decent honor laid, 
 ." Till I lhaK follow to th' infernal fliade ; ' 
 " Meantime erect the tomb, with pious hands, 
 " A common structure on the humble fands. 
 " Hereafter Greece fome nobler work may raife 
 " And late pofterity record our praife." 
 
 Pope's Iliad, Book 23, line 304. 
 
 How linking then does this paffage allimilate with tbe pre- 
 fent appearance of both tombs, the one lofty and compleat 
 irretching out from a tall promontory far into the fpacious 
 Hellefpont, the other low and humble, down on the beach 
 in an unfinilhed flate. Before I conclude thefe flight remarks 
 upon the Troad, it will be neceffary and an acr. of juftice to bear 
 teftimony to the excellent work of Mr. Morritt, and to his general 
 accuracy, though he has in one or two points been erroneous, 
 which I attribute to his leaning upon Chevalier, but his ingenious 
 conjectures, as well as fpirited and manly arguments in his contro- 
 verfy with Mr. Bryant, will ever place him in the light of one of the 
 ablefl vindicators of Homer, and defenders of the exiftence of Troy. 
 From the Sigaean promontory we proceeded to Koum Cala, or 
 caftle on the fand, a fortrefs erected by the Turks to defend 
 the entrance of the Hellefpont, with a correfponding one on 
 the oppofite ihore. This place I take to have been the fta- 
 tion of the Grecian fleet, it is about two miles and a half 
 from the Sigsean promontory, the fweep of the fliore refem- 
 bles a bow. Not far diftant from the village is the Scaman- 
 
 der, 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. $i 
 
 der, the north bank of which was moft probably the fta- 
 tion of Ajax as the Sigaean promontory was that of Achilles, 
 compofing the right and left wings of the Grecian army ; this 
 pla ce will allow ample room both for the troops and tents, 
 and would, I doubt not, at the prefent day be felected as a place 
 of debarkation, were the fubjugation of the Troad intended. 
 
 From Koum Cala we crofted the Scamander or Simois, and 
 coafting along the fhores of the Hellcfpont at length reached the 
 In I'epe, or tomb of Ajax, the place from whence we fet out, hav- 
 ing thus concluded a moft agreeable tour of four days, in which 
 we had traverfed about forty miles, and furveyed the Troad 
 with tolerable accuracy, Jludio mijiuente laborem, the pleafure of 
 which excurfion was only alloyed by the reflection that it could 
 not be of a longer continuance. 
 
 But before I clofe my work, I ought to add a few remarks 
 upon the feveral tours, in which others as well as myfelf 
 have beeen engaged ; the firft is, that though we travel in the 
 Eaft with fufficient regularity to calculate diftances, which can- 
 not be far from the truth, ftill I by no means pretend to 
 affert that our eftimation is equal to acliual meafurement ; 
 for this purpofe indeed more time is requifite, than I could 
 fpare at the moment when I vifited the Troad, but I underftand 
 this has been done by Mr. Hawkins, whofe refearches I hope will 
 be given to the public, and to whofe accuracy I mall moft cheer- 
 fully fubmit fuch obfervations as occured to myfelf in my hafty 
 
 G 2 excurfion ■, 
 
52 REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 exeurfion ; we are all milled by imagination as well as the eye, 
 and may all have incurred errors, which nothing but an actual 
 furvey can correct. 
 
 Another defect is obvious, which is, that we have none of us 
 viewed the Troad in the winter when the Simois would un- 
 doubtedly have a very different appearance ; and when the Sca- 
 mander, though a perennial ftream, might fhew itfelf to more 
 advantage. A ftream confeffedly diverted into a different chan- 
 nel for two thoufand years, cannot be judged by the prefent 
 remains of its channel, which has been choaking, and in a 
 courfe of obliteration for the fame period : from the bed as we 
 viewed it in fome parts, I fhould judge that it might fully 
 have anfwered every attribute affigned to it by Homer, but it 
 can never be feen again in its natural ftate, unlefs the canal 
 were clofed, the channel cleared, and the ftream reftored to its 
 original bed, all this would hardly be effected in any country, 
 but in Turkey it is impojjible ■, all that I pretend to affert is, 
 that I am perfectly convinced it has been diverted, and that it 
 did originally join the Simois, on this head my conviction is 
 as perfect as that of Mr. Chevalier or Mr. Morritt. 
 
 A third fact neceffary to be known, can only be afcertained 
 by a vifit in the winter, which is, the diftinction between the two 
 fprings, at the head of the Scamander -, the inhabitants certainly 
 confirmed to us, the fame affertion they had made to Mr. Morritt, 
 and Mr, Chevalier, but the teftimony of an European, who had 
 
 feen 
 
ON THE PLAIN OF TROY. 53 
 
 feen one fpring reeking, and the other not, who had afcertained 
 the difference of heat between the two, would be more fatisfac- 
 tory than any teftimony upon report. I do not queftion the fact, 
 for the report was conftant, frill as a report it cannot have the 
 weight of ocular demonftration. 
 
 But above all it is frill neceffary for fome well informed tra- 
 veller, to examine on the fpot all the circumftances which occur 
 in the poems of Homer, to point out the true pofition of the city 
 itfelf, and this fhould be done, not by a curfory furvey as ours ne- 
 ceflarily was, but by a refidence of fome days at Bunarbafhi j on 
 this fubjecl: there ftill remains much for examination, for though 
 the fountains of the Scamander, and the high ground to fouth eaft 
 do fufficiently lead us to general conclufions, it is highly poffible 
 that the eye of a judicious obferver would trace out fomething more 
 fpecifically true than has hitherto been obtained -, but for this 
 purpofe more time is certainly requifite than it was poffible for us 
 to beftow upon the difcovery. 
 
 I now fubmit thefe remarks to the candour of the reader, who 
 will, I truft, fo far allow the motive for publication, as he feels 
 the neceflity of comparing evidence to arrive at truth. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 Printed by C. CLAimn, Northumberland Court, Strand, 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 7, Line 18, for iEfopus, read iEfepus. 
 9, — — 4, after figure, dele I. 
 27, — — 1 8, for mind, read minds. 
 30, — — i$>for intelle&ural, read intelleftual, 
 5 1, ■■ 4, for place, read fpace. 
 
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