Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 23.djvu/600

Rh Propontis a little west of Cyzicus, to the Caicus, which flows into the Ægean south of Atarneus. But the true eastern boundary is undoubtedly the range of Ida, which, starting from near the south-east angle of the Adramyttian Gulf, sends its north-western spurs nearly to the coast of the Propontis, in the region west of the Æsepus and east of the Granicus. Taking Ida for the eastern limit, we have the definition which, as Strabo says, best corresponds with the actual usage of the name Troad. Ida is the key to the physical geography of the whole region ; and it is the peculiar character which this mountain-system imparts to the land west of it that constitutes the real distinctness of the Troad from the rest of Mysia. Nature has here provided Asia Minor with an outwork against invaders from the north-west ; and as in the dawn of Greek legend the Troad is the scene of the struggle between Agamem non and Priam, so it was in the Troad that Alexander won the battle which opened a path for his further advance.

The length of the Troad from north to south taking a straight line from the north-west point, Cape Sigeum (Yeni Shehr), to the south-west point, Cape Lectum (Baba-Calessi) may be roughly given as forty miles. The breadth, from the middle point of the west coast to the main range of Ida, is not much greater. The whole central portion of this area is drained by the Mendere (the ancient Scamander), which rises in Ida and is by far the most important river of the Troad. The basin of the Mendere is divided by hills into two distinct parts, a southern and a northern plain. The southern anciently called the Samonian plain is the great central plain of the Troad, and takes its modern name from Bairamitch, the chief Turkish town, which is situated in the eastern part of it near Ida. It is of an elongated form, the extent from north to south being large in proportion to the average width, and is en closed by hills which, especially towards the south, are low and undulating. From the north end of the plain of Bair amitch the Mendere winds in large curves through deep gorges in inetamorphic rocks, and issues into the northern plain, stretching to the Hellespont. This is the plain of Troy, which has an average length of seven or eight miles from north to south, with a breadth of some two or three from east to west. The hills which enclose it on the south and east are quite low, and towards the east the acclivities are in places so gentle as to leave the limits of the plain somewhat indefinite. Next to the basin of the Mendere, with its two plains, the best marked feature in the river- system of the Troad is the valley of the Touzla, the ancient Satniois. The Touzla rises in the western part of Mount Ida, south of the plain of Bairamitch, from which its valley is divided by hills ; and, after flowing for many miles almost parallel with the south coast of the Troad, from which, at Assus, it is less than a mile distant, it enters the ^Egean about ten miles north of Cape Lectum. Three alluvial plains are comprised in its course. The easternmost of these, into which the river issues from rugged mountains of considerable height, is long and narrow. The next is the broad plain, which is overlooked by the lofty site of Assus, and which was a fertile source of supply to that city. The third is the plain at the embouchure of the river on the west coast. This was anciently called the Halesian ( AA^criov) plain, partly from the maritime salt-works at Tragasse, near the town of Hamaxitus, partly also from the hot salt-springs which exist at some distance from the sea, on the north side of the river, where large formations of rock-salt are also found. Maritime salt-works are still in operation at the mouth of the river, and its modern name (Touzla = salt) preserves the ancient association. A striking feature of the southern Troad is the high and narrow plateau which runs parallel with the Adramyttian Gulf from east to west, forming a southern barrier to the valley of the Touzla, and walling it off from a thin strip of seaboard. This plateau seems to have been formed by a volcanic upheaval which came late in the Tertiary period, and covered the limestone of the south coast with two successive flows of trachyte. The lofty crag of Assus, washed by the sea, is like a tower standing detached from this line of mountain- wall. The western coast is of a different character. North of the Touzla extends an undulating plain, narrow at first, but gradually widening. Much of it is covered with the valonia oak (Quercus jEgilops), one of the most valuable products of the Troad. Towards the middle of the west coast the adjacent ground becomes higher, with steep acclivities, which sometimes rise into peaks ; and north of these, again, the seaboard subsides towards Cape Sigeum into rounded hills, mostly low.

The timber of the Troad is supplied chiefly by the pine-forests on the slopes of Mount Ida. But nearly all the plains and hills are more or less well wooded. Besides the valonia oak, the elm, willow, cypress, and tamarisk shrub abound. Lotus, galingale, and reeds are still plentiful, as in Homeric days, about the streams in the Trojan plain. The vine, too, is cultivated, the Turks making from it a kind of syrup and a preserve. In summer and autumn water-melons are among the abundant fruits. Cotton, wheat, and Indian corn are also grown. The Troad is, indeed, a country highly favoured by nature with its fertile plains and valleys, abundantly and continually irri gated from Ida, its numerous streams, its fine west sea board, and the beauty of its scenery. Under a good government, it could not fail to be exceedingly prosperous. Under Turkish rule, the natural advantages of the land suffice to mitigate the poverty of the sparse population, but have scarcely any positive result.

In the Homeric legend, with which the story of the Troad begins, the people called the Troes are ruled by a king Priam, whose realm includes all that is bounded by &quot;Lesbos, Phrygia, and the Hellespont&quot; (II., xxiv. 544), i.e., the whole &quot; Troad,&quot; with some extension of it, beyond Ida, on the north-west. According to Homer, the Achseans under Agamemnon utterly and finally destroyed Troy, the capital of Priam, and overthrew his dynasty. But there is an Homeric prophecy that the rule over the Troes shall be continued by ^Eneas and his descendants. From the &quot; Homeric &quot; Hymn to Aphrodite, as well as from a passage in the 20th book of the Iliad (75-353) a passage un doubtedly later than the bulk of the book it is certain that in the seventh or sixth century B.C. a dynasty claim ing descent from ^Eneas reigned in the Troad, though the extent of their sway is unknown. The Homeric tale of Troy is a poetic creation, for which the poet is the sole witness. The analogy of the French legends of Charle magne warrants the supposition that an Achaean prince once held a position like that of Agamemnon. We may suppose that some memorable capture of a town in the Troad had been made by Greek warriors. But we cannot regard the Iliad in any closer or more exact sense as the historical document of a war. The geographical compact ness of the Troad is itself an argument for the truth of the Homeric statement that it was once united under a strong king. How that kingdom was finally broken up is unknown. Thracian hordes, including the Treres, swept into Asia Minor from the north-west about the beginning of the seventh century B.C., and it is probable that, like the Gauls and Goths of later days, these fierce invaders made havoc in the Troad. The Ionian poet Callinus has recorded the terror which they caused further south.

A new period in the history of the Troad begins with the foundation of the Greek settlements. The earliest