Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/249

 226 Primitive Greece: Mycenian Art. been of material assistance to him in working out his theory. He asserted that the two springs mentioned by Homer— one lukewarm, the other cold — are to be seen at the foot of the village. But instead of two springs we have forty, and all have a mean temperature of sixteen to seventeen degrees Centigrade. Although his assertion was purely gratuitous, and the creation of his own fertile brain, his theory went on flourishing, and at the beginning of this century was almost universally accepted by historians and critics ; some of whom have obdurately refused to relinquish their position, even after the discoveries that have been made at Hissarlik.^ In justice to the defenders of this theory, it must be confessed that on the first blush many points about Bunarbashi seem to suit in a remarkable manner the site of ancient Troy : copious springs of fresh water jet forth in front of its houses staged on the spurs of the mountain ; in its rear was a citadel which the ravine covered on two of its sides ; whilst on the remaining faces the ascent was so long and arduous, as to enable the defenders from their vantage-ground to check the enemy's advance. A fellow wall to that of the Bali Dagh rises on the other side of the ravine ; it is locally known as Eski Hissarlik, ** ancient fortress," because it closely resembles the so-called rampart of Pergamus. The two castles guarded the pass against invaders who should descend the mountains along the course of the Scamander on their way to the coast. The felicitous choice of its situation was extolled to the skies ; victory seemed assured to the expounders of the theory, when a military authority (von Moltke) declared, that if Troy had ever existed, it could only have been erected on the Bali Dagh. How- ever fair and sound the reasoning may look on the surface, it will not stand the test of facts as revealed on the ground. It is self- evident that the several points of the battle-field are at no great distance from each other ; since no count is taken of the many journeys made between the city and the encampment, whether by warriors, heralds, or kings ; yet a space of over twelve kilometres parts Bunarbashi from the coast, and this distance is increased by two kilometres from the top of the Bali Dagh.^ Let us take the first battle, beginning with the second canto of the Iliad and 1 Gust AVE d'Eichthal, Le site de Troie selon Lechevalier et selon ScMiemaun {Annuaire de P Association pour Vefuouragement des itudes grecqttes en France^ 1874.
 * Precisely 12,800 metres.