Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/50

34 It is also certain that in the time of Alexander New Ilium did exist, and was inhabited by Aeolians. (Demosth. c. Aristocr. p. 671; Arrian, Anab. i. 11. § 7; Strab. xiii. p. 593, foll.) This new town, which is distinguished by Strabo from the famous ancient city, was not more than 12 stadia, or less than two English miles, distant from the sea, and was built upon the spur of a projecting edge of Ida, separating the basins of the Scamander and Simois. It was at first a place of not much importance (Strab. xiii. pp. 593, 601), but increased in the course of time, and was successively extended and embellished by Alexander, Lysimachus, and Julius Caesar. During the Mithridatic War New Ilium was taken by Fimbria, in 85, on which occasion it suffered greatly. (Strab. xiii. p. 594; Appian, Mithrid. 53; Liv. Epit. lxxxiii.) It is said to have been once destroyed before that time, by one Charidemus (Plut. Sertor. 1.; Polyaen. iii. 14): but we neither know when this happened, nor who this Charidemus was. Sulla, however, favoured the town extremely, in consequence of which it rose, under the Roman dominion, to considerable prosperity, and enjoyed exemption from all taxes. (Plin. v. 33.) These were the advantages which the place owed to the tradition that it occupied the identical site of the ancient and holy city of Troy: for, it may here be observed, that no ancient author of Greece or Rome ever doubted the identity of the site of Old and New Ilium until the time of Demetrius of Scepsis, and Strabo, who adopted his views; and that, even afterwards, the popular belief among the people of Ilium itself, as well as throughout the world generally, remained as firmly established as if the criticism of Demetrius and Strabo had never been heard of. These critics were led to look for Old Ilium farther inland, because they considered the space between New Ilium and the coast far too small to have been the scene of all the great exploits described in the Iliad; and, although they are obliged to own that not a vestige of Old Ilium was to be seen anywhere, yet they assumed that it must have been situated about 42 stadia from the sea-coast. They accordingly fixed upon a spot which at the time bore the name of Ίλιέων κώμη. This view, with its assumption of Old and New Ilium as two distinct places, does not in any way remove the difficulties which it is intended to remove; for the space will still be found far too narrow, not to mention that it demands of the poet what can be demanded only of a geographer or an historian. On these grounds we, in common with the general belief of all antiquity, which has also found able advocates among modern critics, assume that Old and New Ilium occupied the same site. The statements in the Iliad which appear irreconcilable with this view will disappear if we bear in mind that we have to do with an entirely legendary story, which is little concerned about geographical accuracy.

The site of New Ilium (according to our view, identical with that of Old Ilium) is acknowledged by all modern inquirers and travellers to be the spot covered with ruins now called Kissarlik, between the villages of Kum-kioi, Kalli-fatli, and Tchiblak, a little to the west of the last-mentioned place, and not far from the point where the Simois once joined the Scamander. Those who maintain that Old Ilium was situated in a different locality cannot, of course, be expected to agree in their opinions as to its actual site, it being impossible to fix upon any one spot agreeing in every particular with the poet's description. Respecting the nationality of the inhabitants of Ilium, we shall have to speak in the article. (Cump. Spolm, de Agro Trojano, Lipsiae, 1814, 8vo.; Rennell, Observations on the Topography of the Plain of Troy, London, 1814, 4to.; Choiseul-Gouffier, Voyage Pittoresque de la Grèce, Paris, 1820, vol. ii. p. 177, foll.; Leake, Asia Minor, p. 275, foll.; Grote Hist. of Greece, vol. i. p. 436, foll.; Eckenbrecher, über die Lage des Homerischen Ilion, Rhein. Mus. Neue Folge, vol. ii. pp. 1—49, where a very good plan of the district of Ilion is given. See also, Welcker, Kleine Schriften, vol. ii. p. 1, foll.; C. Maclaren, Dissertation on the Topography of the Trojan War, Edinburgh, 1822; Mauduit, Lecouvertes dans la Troiade, &c., Paris & Londres, 1840.) [L. S.]

COIN OF ILIUM.

ILLI′BERIS (Ίλλιβepίς, Ptol. ii. 4. § 11), or ILLI′BERI LIBERINI (Plin. iii. 1. s. 3), one of the chief cities of the Turduli, in Hispania Baetica, between the Baetis and the coast, is identified by inscriptions with Granada. It is probably the Elibyrge (Έλιβύργη) of Stephanus Byzantinus. (Inscr. ap. Gruter, p. 277, No. 3; Florez, Esp. S. vol. v. p. 4, vol. xii. p. 81; Mentelle, Geogr. Comp. Esp. Mod. p. 163; Coins ap. Florez, Med. vol. iii. p. 75; Mionnet, vol. i. p. 15, Suppl. vol. i. p. 28 Eckhel, vol. i. p. 22.) [P. S.]

COIN OF ILLIBERIS (IN SPAIN).

ILLI′BERIS or ILLIBERRIS (Ίλιβερίς), a town in the country of the Sordones, or Sardones, or Sordi, in Gallia Aquitania. The first place that Hannibal came to after passing through the Eastern Pyrenees was Illiberis. (Liv. xxi. 24.) He must have passed by Bellegarde. Illiberis was near a small river Illiberis, which is south of another small stream, the Ruscino, which had also on it a town named Ruscino. (Strab. p. 182.) Mela (ii. 5) and Pliny (iii. 4) speak of Illiberis as having once been a great place, but in their time being decayed. The road in the Antonine Itin. from Arelate (Arles) through the Pyrenees to Juncaria passes from Ruscino (Castel-Rousillon) to Ad Centuriones, and omits Illiberis; but the Table places Illiberis between Ruscino and Ad Centenarium, which is the same place as the Ad Centuriones of the Itin. [.] Illiberis is Elne, on the river Tech.

Illiberis or Illiberris is an Iberian name. There is another place, Climberris, on the Gallic side of the Pyrenees, which has the same termination. [.] It is said that berri, in the Basque, means "a town." The site of Illiberis is fixed at Elne by the Itins.; and we find an explanation of