Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/261

 238 Primitive Greece : Mycenian Art. them all in at a single glance ; the mind therefore would scarcely be conscious of the time required to go from one spot to another. The reticence of the poet on this head would have no disturbing effect on people who were familiar with the scene of action, and who could follow the various incidents which he describes, the chasing of Hector around the walls by Achy lies, for instance. True, in order to do this the two champions had thrice to climb the slope which connects the plain with the plateau ; but the feat, though above what average humanity might be expected to perform, did not outstrip the bounds of possibility, or at least what the imagination of poet and auditors alike were ready to concede to heroes of by-gone days, held to be far superior in strength and agility to the men of their own generation. The same holds good in regard to minor points : we have said that whilst they cannot be reconciled with Lechevalier's view, they fit and strengthen Schliemann*s position at every turn. We have proved beyond cavil that on the clearest day all that the " father of gods and men " would have been able to descry from the top of Gargarus, even though supplied with a powerful telescope, would have been the slender outline of its white ramparts and buildings ; from that height all the rest would have merged and have been confounded with the plain. Then, too, if it would be vain to seek the two Homeric rivers at Bunarbashi, they are easily recognizable at Hissarlik. The Dumbrek-su is as certainly the ancient Simois, as the Mendere is the Scamander. Its ancient bed has been traced to a kind of ditch, which branches out from its present course below Hanai Tepeh, and which now only fills after heavy rains ; it then gathers itself into a stream and reaches the sea by several channels, the largest of which, the In-Tepeh-Asmak, doubtless corresponds with its old principal estuary (Fig. 33). Had the course of the Homeric Scamander been in a western instead of an eastern direction, as it is now, it would not have barred the way to people going from the camp to the city, to and fro ; whereas when Priam repairs to the tent of Achylles, the poet shows him stopping at the ford to water his horses before crossing over.* Though 1 Iliad.