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 feel that the poet had looked with his own eyes upon the theater of his heroes' deeds." At any rate, the traveler, as he looks down upon the city and land of the Trojans, does not feel inclined to be skeptical; rather he is ready to exclaim:

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Every spot before him seems pregnant with the burden of Troy's story:

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Before it broadens out into the plain, the Scamander (Mendere) flows through a rocky valley. Its present course is considerably over a mile distant from Hissarlik. It empties into the Hellespont at the extreme west corner of the plain. Consider the situation: the distance of the Scamander from Hissarlik; its outlet, near Sigeum, to the extreme west; the Greek fleet along the Hellespont, and, accordingly, on the right bank of the river. Now Homer's picture puts the Greeks on the opposite side. Beloch represents the Scamander of Homer as flowing its present course. In doing this he is compelled to give a forced interpretation of, 692, a wrong explanation of , 498, and , 1 ff. These difiiculties have induced many to believe that the poet had no acquaintance with the Troad. He puts the Greek host along the Hellespont; again he represents them