Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/243

 220 Primitive Greece: Mycenian Art. there stood a city called Troy by Homer ; which after a longer or shorter resistance succumbed to the repeated attacks of besiegers that had come from Hellas proper. But it does by no means follow its having been a large place, capable of harbouring thousands of auxiliaries within its walls, or that the sustained efiforts of united Greece were required to subdue it. The favour- ite pastime of Epic poetry throughout the heroic period was the singing of Troy with its succouring and besieging* hosts ; in their hands it assumed the proportions of a great centre ; in reality it was a hamlet rudely fortified, which a handful of men could easily overthrow. Having gone over the positive data which higher criticism may hope to excogitate from the narrative of the Iliad, it remains to determine how far these data suit the position and the ruins of Hissarlik, or if they would better harmonize with some other spot in this district, around which are remains of unquestion- able antiquity. A place with a fortress before whose walls were fought so many battles, must have left traces of its existence, and if so they could not long elude the curiosity of modern ex- plorers, and the spade, sooner or later, was sure to bring them to light. As a matter of fact, Dr. Schliemann has explored every ancient site in the Troad, and, with his assistants, has subjected the site of Troy to an exhaustive examination. The men of old, whether in Greece or Italy, invariably selected a naturally strong position for the site of their towns, which a little artificial help would complete. Was life, in those distant days, less precarious, less exposed to perpetual attacks in this corner of the world than anywhere else ? That in this it followed the. universal rule and was a town seated on a height, is implied by the epithets used by Homer in describing Troy and Pergamus, its acropolis. The poet has no passing allusion to hills which the Greeks would have had to turn in order to reach the walls of the city ; accordingly it would be vain to seek for Troy in one or other of the side valleys, of the plain, such as those of the Dumbrek-su or Kemar-su. The only obstacle between the citadel and the ships of the allies seems to have been the Scamander ; but this could not be very great, since we constantly hear of its being forded by combatants and messengers alike, on their way to the camp and the city to and fro. The arena where all the