*

from one to another, (B. xv. v. 676.) Spaces would, of course, be left at given distances for the chariots to pass, for the tents were within the outermost line of ships, (B. xv. v. 653.) Lastly, some of the vessels were decked, and had sails, (B. i. v. 480. B. xv. v. 676,) and they were of such a size, that some carried 50, and some 120 men, (B. ii. 510. B. xvi. v. 170.) Grounding on these data, 25 feet seems a sufficient breadth to allow for each ship, including space for passages; and assuming that they were ranged in four lines, (a less number would not justify the use of the poet's image,) then we find, by an easy calculation, that 7400 feet, or something less than a mile and a half, would suffice for the extent of the harbour. The number of lines, however, might be double of what we have supposed. The coast, from the termination of the cliffs at Sigeum, to the river beyond Koum Kale, is about two miles long in Mr Hobhouse's map; about one mile and a half in Foster's; about one mile and a quarter in Chevalier's; and a mile and three quarters in Wood's. A small part of the surface, however, near the Sigean point, would be too steep for receiving the ships. This ground then is exactly of such an extent as Homer's statement seems to require, and there is nothing absurd in supposing, that the voice of Agamemnon might be heard from the middle at both extremities of the line, (B. viii. v. 222.) The point at Koum Kale, which Mr Hobhouse describes as a sandy flat, probably owes its existence partly to the river, as Dr Clarke supposes, but partly also to the current of the Hellespont, which conflicting here with the waters of the Egean Sea, drops the sands it receives from the numerous mountain streams that fall into it. As the mouth of the river would be nearer Rheteum in Homer's time, it is probable this point would also extend farther eastward, and would not be so prominent, (see the map.) In

this situation, we see that the Greeks, when they issued out of their camp, would immediately find themselves in the Scamandrian plain, as Homer states; that in advancing to Troy, they would cross the Scamander only; and that the Trojans, when encamp ed near the entrenchments, might be said to be posted between them and the Scamander. We do not find the hill of Sigeum, and the sloping bank reaching to E, distinctly mentioned, but there are several expressions which seem to refer to them. The ship of Ulysses was drawn up on the main land, "high above the sands," (B. i. v. 486.) In comparing the ships in their lines to the steps of a ladder, their position rising above one another on the acclivity, seems to be distinctly alluded to. At the funeral games, the racing chariots, which most probably started near the shore at Achilles's station, and ran as far perhaps as the barrow F, were out of sight the greater part of their course, (B. xxiii. v. 450;) and we find that these chariots were impeded in their career by "channels scooped out by winter torrents," which could scarcely have existed here without high grounds above. (B. xxiii. v. 420.) The wall was lowest towards the left, (B. xiii. v. 683,) that is, it stood on level ground there, and was most easily scaled. It is plain, that the entrenchment covered a considerable space of ground beyond the ships and tents, for after the Trojans had passed over the walls, a pretty long time elapses, (B. xiii. xiv. xv.) and much fighting takes place before they reach the ships. Patroclus, who began his attack at the ship of Protesilaus, having repulsed the first bands of the enemy, did not pursue them towards the city, "but led them back to the ships, and slaughtered the Trojans between the ships, the river, and the walls," (B. xvi. v. 394;) that is, he fought in the open space between the ships on the north and west, the wall on the south, and the river on the east. It is deserving of notice, that though the station of Ajax was at the extremity of the camp, (on the left,) and that of Ulysses in the centre, (B. viii. v. 222,) yet when the Trojans were fighting within the entrenchment, the station of Ajax is described as being in the centre of the battle, while Idomeneus fought on the left, (B. xiii, v. 312—

327.) This is explained, by supposing that the station of Ajax was at c, the most exposed position, that of Idomeneus at b, and that the Trojans fought in the open space between these points and the river, and up towards d. The small oblong figures ranged along the shore, within the space b, c, d, e, represent the ships in their supposed position.

The Encampment of the Trojans. -It will be seen that this position of the Grecian camp explains a number of circumstances which can scarcely be reconciled with any other hypothesis. In the Sth Book, the Trojans, after driving the Greeks within their lines, withdrew to a place on the banks of the river, at a distance from the ships, and not soiled with blood, where they remained during the night, and "kindled in their camp, between the Greek entrenchments and the Scamander, a thousand fires, which shone before Troy," (B. viii. v. 490–556.) The encampment must, therefore, have been nearly in the situation IF H. Though the expression above quoted may be thought to place it more directly between the entrenchments and Troy than it appears in the map, yet we find it did not completely cover the town, for Hector sent a message directing the youths and old men to keep guard during the night to prevent a surprise, (B. viii. v. 517.) But the position of the Trojan camp is particularly described. Dolon, the spy, who was taken and killed by Ulysses and Diomed in their nocturnal excursion, told them," that the Carians and Peonians, who were archers, with the Leleges, Caucones, and Pelasgi, were (gos y años) towards the sea; the Lycians, Mysians, Phrygians, and Meonians, who were cavalty, were posted at Thymbra; and the Thracians, newly arrived, were just hard by, at the extremity of the camp," (B. x. v. 428-434.) Dolon, who was close by the entrenchment, and near the river, (for the spot was marshy,) when speaking, evidently describes the order and position of the army, beginning with those who were farthest off, (at H,) and ending with those (at 1) who were nearest the place where he stood. The more these details are examined, the more curious and exact will their coincidence be found with the nature of the ground. The archers placed at H

(we learn elsewhere that the Caucones were at the extremity of the army) were nearest the sea, evidently because, being worst fitted for resisting an assault in the night time, they were placed farthest from the scene of battle, which was chiefly in the low ground near the river. The cavalry of the allies, for the same reason, were next them, and the Trojan infantry, though not mentioned, would be nearest the enemy, except the Thracians. It seems, at first sight, inconsistent that the Thracians, newly arrived, and by sea, should yet, as the poet states, be farthest from the sea, and nearest the enemy; but this is completely explained by the nature of the coast, near which the Carians and others (at II) were stationed, for it consists of high cliffs, where no troops could land; and, on the other hand, the Thracians, disembarking probably at Rheteum, would naturally take up their station at that part of the camp (I) which was nearest the point they came from. We may fairly defy those who place the whole, or a part, of the Greek entrenchment eastward of the river, to dispose of these circumstances with any plausibility. We ought farther to mention, that the Trojan army consisted of 50,000 men, (B. viii. v. 558,) and would, of course, cover a large space.

Thymbra.-Thymbra, which has been the subject of much discussion, is mentioned in the passage lately quoted, and, as this is the only instance in which the name occurs in Homer, let us see what light it affords for determining the situation of the place. We must recollect, that the whole Trojan army was posted on the west side of the Scamander. The Thracians, who were evidently very near the entrenchments, were, as we have seen, at one extremity of the army, and the Carians and other archers at the other. The Lycians and certain troops, chiefly cavalry, who were at Thymbra, from the order in which they are named, must have occupied an intermediate position, that is, near F. This indicates the ground watered by the rivulet of Bournabashi as the Thymbra of Homer, and that stream as the Thymbrius of later writers. As the Trojan army was on the west side of the Scamander, and, from its magnitude, must have extended to this place, and as those posted here

must have been between the troops near the sea, and those near the river and the entrenchments, we do not think the position of the place could have been more distinctly pointed out. And, if we allow any weight to the testimony of later writers, that the place was named from a river, its position is placed beyond a doubt, for this is the only stream on that side of the Scamander, where the Trojans were now encamped. The propriety, too, of allotting this as quarters for the cavalry is evident, when we reflect that the rivulet, being the only stream in the district which continues without abatement during summer, (the season of the war,) its banks, though in some parts marshy, would be fresh and green when all the neighbouring ground was parched, and it would thus afford both pasture and water for the horses. The name, too, Thymbra, derived, as Servius says, from that of an odoriferous herb common there, is peculiarly applicable to a place having the aspect of a perpetual meadow, and, of course, stored with strong scented herbs, while the adjoining fields were withered. We may add, that this rivulet is the next stream in magnitude in the district to the Scamander and Simois, and, distinguished as it is by the permanence of its current, it would have been singular had no mention been made of it either by Homer or Strabo. We have no doubt that Strabo refers to this stream in speaking of the Thymbrius, though his account, taken literally, will not apply to any river in the Troad. He says, 66 the Thymbrian plain, with the river Thym brius rolling through it, corresponds to Homer's description, for it is near Old Troy, (Chiblak,) and falls into the Scamander 50 studia from (New) Ilium," (p. 893.) Now, there must be a capital error in the text here; first, because there is no stream in the district which the description will at all suit; † and, secondly, because he

• See Eneid, L. iii. v. 85. Nota. Ed. Delph.

Mr Hobhouse observes, that the only stream in the plain which at all agrees as to the position of its estuary with Strabo's Thymbrius, is the brook of Atche-Keu ; but it cannot be said, properly speaking, to be near Old Troy;-it is far too trifling to be named as a river; and it may fairly be stated as the climax of absurdity,

exactly reverses Homer's testimony, for the poet's Thymbra ought, on every possible ground, to be on the opposite side of the Scamander from the town, and near the Greek camp; and must, therefore, be far from Old Troy, and comparatively near New Ilium, according to Strabo's own account of these places. We should recollect, that the geographer did not describe the Troad from personal observation, and that his account, though minute, is in some points confused, and in others grossly erroneous, as when he doubles the distance between Sigeum and Rheteum. Having, in this instance, to reverse his reasoning, perhaps we may modify his description on the same principle, and construe his meaning to be, that the Thymbrius was near New Ilium, and fell into the Scamander 50 stadia from (his) Old Troy. This would make his account more consistent with Homer, and with the actual face of the country. The Califat water, next to the Bournabashi rivulet, has, perhaps, the best title to be regarded as the Thymbrius; but, besides being on the wrong side of the Scamander, if its ancient junction with that river was at or near P, as we have supposed, it was evidently too far removed from the scene of action. We think, therefore, there is every reason to identify Homer's Thymbra with the ground watered by the rivulet of Bournabashi.

The Tomb of Ilus.-The position of the Trojan camp helps us to fix that of the tomb of Ilus. Dolon, the spy, told Diomed and Ulysses that Hector was then (during the night) "holding a council at the tomb of Ilus, apart from the noise of the camp," (B. x. v. 414.) The tomb was, therefore, not in the camp, but at a short distance from it. Again, it was towards the town, for the Trojans passed it next day when flying to Troy, (B. xi. v. 166;) and, as the army was posted on the western bank of Scamander, it should, consequent ly, have been on the opposite side of the river; and there we find it actu

when the main body of the Trojan army was close upon the Greek camp at the sea, to post a part of it at eight or nine miles distance. The inconsistency, however, at taches to Strabo, and not to the modern traveller.

ally was, for Priam, going from Troy to the Greek camp, passed the tomb of Ilus just before he came to the Scamander, (B. xxiv. v. 349.) It is thus that the more minutely Homer's narrative is investigated, the more its truth and consistency appear. We must, on these grounds, fix it somewhere opposite to the mouth of the rivulet of Bournabashi, and, perhaps, it may be identified with the barrow or mount K. It cannot be farther north, for it was in the route of the right wing of the Grecian army going to or retiring from Troy, (B. xi. v. 369.) The propriety of holding the council here, though at some distance from the camp, appears, when we recollect that Hector had to communicate with the town, to which we find him sending off a message, (B. viii. v. 517;) and we also find him more apprehensive that the town, guarded only by old men and youths, might be surprised, than that the army should be attacked by an enemy it had just beaten, and whose embarkation during the night he began to count upon. The position of the tomb of Ilus serves to fix that of a ford, perhaps the principal ford of Scamander, for Priam passed the river near it coming to the Greek camp, and the Trojans in their flight in Book xi. passed here also. The place is called a ford (ogos) when Priam crossed there on his return, (B. xxiv. v. 692;) and the same expression occurs again, referring most probably to the very same part of the river. (B. xiv. v. 432.) Chevalier very absurdly (even on his own hypothesis) holds the small eminence F to be the tomb of Ilus; and Dr Clarke, on the most superficial grounds, identifies it with the barrow L.

The Throsmos, or Mound of the Plain.-The Throsmos, like other objects in the Trojan topography, has produced its full share of controversy, and has been darkened by a profusion of speculations, thrown out without regard to the text of Homer. The expression gasos εdio10 has been translated" the hill or mound of the plain." Pope, in his map, has not ventured to assign its situation at all. Chevalier, finding that while the Trojan army was encamped on the Throsmos, Hector held a council at the tomb of Ilus, concluded that these objects were one and the same, (the

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an

barrow F,) leaving his readers to make out for themselves how 50,000 men could encamp on a hillock of the size of a bowling-green. Dr Clarke finding a tumulus L standing close to a long ridge M, settled at once that these were the objects which Homer had associated under the names of the Throsmos and tomb of Ilus, though it would be very difficult, on any hypothesis, to bring these near the Greek camp. Mr Hobhouse, more considerate, and more sceptical on the subject, concurs with Mr Bryant in thinking that the expression means merely" saltus campestris,' a plain adapted for military purposes," opinion still liable to great objections. Homer uses the expression only three times, (B. x. v. 160. B. xi. v. 56. B. xx. v. 3,) but under circumstances sufficient, we think, to define precisely what he means. 1. The Throsmos was on the same side of the Scamander with the Greek entrenchment, for it was on the night when the Trojans were posted between the entrenchment and the river that they were said by Nestor to be encamped on the hill of the plain, near the ships. (B. viii. v. 489. B. x. v. 159.) 2. The position of the Trojan army, here said to be on the hill of the plain, is also spoken of simply as a plain, (B. viii. 558,) and also as a part of the Trojan plain, (B. x. v. 11.) 3. The Throsmos included an extensive space, for it is applied to the whole ground occupied by the Trojan army, one wing of which, we have seen, was near the sea, another at the Scamander, and a part at Thymbra. (B. x. v. 160, 428-434.) 4. It was not always applied to the same piece of ground, for when the Trojan army slept the first time on the field, they retired to the banks of Scamander, but the second time they did not so retire, but, on the contrary, remained close to the entrenchment, and were only driven to the banks of the river next day, after many furious charges; (B. xx. passim, B. xxi. v. 1;) yet their position on both occasions is said to be on the Throsmos. (B. xx. v. 3.) The appellation was, therefore, not confined to an isolated hill or ridge, but was applied to an extensive tract of ground characterized generally by a plain surface. 5. It cannot, however, be understood to mean nothing more than " saltus campes

tris," or a plain adapted for fighting; for, in this case, it would undoubtedly have been applied to the plain on the Trojan side of the river, where the chief battles were fought. But, on the contrary, in the three instances where it occurs, it is exclusively employed to distinguish the ground on the Grecian side of the Scamander; and we have seen that it applies to the whole of that ground, froin the camp to the rivulet, and from the sea to the Scamander. Now, keeping these facts in view, and reflecting for a moment on the nature of the ground, the whole difficulty vanishes, and a singular fitness and propriety appears in the poet's expression. The surface of the ground alluded to, from the cliffs on the sea shore to the Scamander, is a continued and gentle slope. (Hobhouse, 712.) It is a plain, but a rising or sloping plain. Its declivity. is so small and uniform, that it is just ly considered as a part of the Trojan plain; yet it is so distinguished by its slope from the dead level on the other side of the river, that it could not be better characterized than by an expression which implied that it was at once a hill and a plain. Perhaps the expression Throsmos pedioio might be rendered" bank of the plain," meaning the sloping ground that bounds the valley. It is curious that Mr Hobhouse deduces a similar meaning from the use of the word in two instances by Appollonius, where it seems to imply a gentle ascent." (Travels, p. 758.) In Clarke's translation, too, we find it rendered in one place very accurately, editior locus campi. There are eminences on the east side of the Scamander also, but these are merely irregular swells of the surface, of a very different form. And the Greeks, we may observe, had good reason to distinguish this range of sloping ground, since their camp was placed at its termination; and when it was mentioned as the enemy's station, the expression conveyed an idea of their danger. This explanation appears to us to remove completely every difficulty hitherto connected with the Throsmos, and we can scarcely suffer ourselves to believe, that it will again be the subject of controversy. It is remarkable that the Throsmos, which has embarrassed modern speculators so much, seems to have presented no difficulty at all

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to Strabo, as he never mentions it, we think, in all his long discussions on the Troad.

The Scamander.-It appears singular, on a first view, that so little mention should be made of this river, though both armies must have passed over it repeatedly in their movements. Chevalier accounts for this by the small size of his Scamander; but it is still better explained by the fact that the Mendere is nearly dry* during summer, the season of the war. Chandler passed it several times dryshod in the end of August, though it was not destitute of water, (p. 40.) The reviewer saw the stream 200 feet broad in July, and asserts that it is never without a considerable body of water. (Vol. VI. p. 274.) But Chevalier says it was dry when he saw it; and Dr Sibthorpe found it dry in September. (Walpole's Mem. p. 114.) The probability is, that it has always some water, though the quantity may be so small as to escape notice in its broad channel. As the river in this state would offer no greater obstruction to the armies than any other hollow or rough piece of ground, the poet's silence is accounted for and justified. It had some little water in it during all the time embraced by the story of the Iliad, as appears from several incidents. (B.xiv. v. 433. B. xvi. v. 667. B. xxiv. v. 349.) The contest of the river with Achilles in the xxi. book is merely a personification of one of those floods to which, like all mountain streams, it is subject. The marsh at its mouth, which is still the source of intermitting fever to the neighbouring vil lages, (Clarke, III. p. 93,) affords a rational explanation of the pestilence which raged in the Greek camp, and was ascribed, with some truth, to the agency of Apollo or the sun.

The Field of Battle.-A particular place being mentioned by the name of the ford, (ogos,) situated most probably near the rivulet of Bournabashi, we may infer that the Scamander was not everywhere equally passable. But this particular place was, perhaps, only preferred by persons in chariots

Virgil seems to allude to this circumstance, when, speaking of the feigned Xanthus, he says," Arentem Xanthi cognomine rivum agnosco."-Eneid, B. iii. V 350.