Herbert Cushing Tolman

“ The Homeric Troy.⁠In consequence of the clear connection between the earlier parts of the Homeric poems and Mycenaean times, it must be admitted that of all the settlements on Hissarlik, only that one which shows that it has come in touch with Mycenaean civilization can lay claim to the title of Homeric Troy. Such a city was our fortress with its huge walls, towers, gates, and inner buildings—a city which before its destruction had at least commercial relations with the people bearing the civilization which has been briefly described. ”

“ On the steep hillside rise the fortifications, towering above which, like terraces, are squares upon squares, which may represent the roofs and towers of the city. On the wall stand women, five in number, while the hand of a sixth is seen upraised. They appeal wildly to the struggling warriors to save the city. ”

“ The Mycenaean Age is a bronze age, and in a general way is similar to the bronze ages of Northern Europe. It offers many problems which have not yet been solved. Each year brings numerous and important discoveries. It is not our purpose to give even a superficial presentation of this civilization, but only to discuss its main characteristics, with reference to life as pictured in the Homeric poems. ”

“ If we assume that the civilization was foreign, then must the Greek hero-tales become unintelligible. When Homer speaks of Tiryns and Mycenae, "rich in gold" (γ, 305) , of Amyclae (Β, 584) , of Boeotian Orchomenos (Β, 511; λ, 284) ; when he mentions the tale of the Argonauts (μ, 79) ; when he brings Crete into touch with the royal house of Mycenae (Γ, 230; τ, 172) ; and when he has the blind bard Demodocus sing of the great events which occurred before the walls of Troy (θ, 44) , the poet undoubtedly refers to Mycenaean times. ”

“ To still another period belongs the East Wall, from the Gate VI T to the Tower VI g.
The poorest style of masonry is seen in the West Wall, which, with the exception of portions repaired at a later time, consists of small unwrought stones. In the East Wall the blocks are larger and better hewn, while the best form of masonry appears in the South Wall and in the towers, where the great stones are cut into rectangular blocks and closely fitted. ”

“ A heap of ashes, partly buried under a house wall of the VII Stratum, was found in the center of the hall, and warrants the assumption that our building was a dwelling house. The upper walls were probably erected out of fine building stone, and their complete destruction may be due to the fact that they were utilized by the inhabitants of the VII Stratum as material for their houses. No traces of clay brick are to be found in this structure. The roof was probably horizontal, and built of earth resting upon a steep incline constructed of straw or similar material. ”

“ Commenting on this, Leaf said: [31] "But we know for certain that the dwellers upon the hill of Hissarlik were at a completely different and altogether lower stage of civilization than the royal race of Mycenae. Scarcely half a dozen objects have been found which show a point of contact. If, therefore, Homer correctly describes the Achaeans, his Trojans are quite imaginary." Ludwich, although admitting that most Mycenaean finds are older than the Homeric age, yet declared them to show that the Iliad is no picture of the imagination, but rests upon a real foundation. ”

“ Was There a Real Troy?⁠With only Schliemann's "Burnt City" before them, we do not wonder that scholars were skeptical. Opinions were divided. One extreme view declared: "We know nothing of Ilion, in spite of Hissarlik and Schliemann. There are found interesting excavations in the land south of the Hellespont, but this is no proof that Troy was once on this spot. A pious opinion must not stand in place of proof." [29] In implicit faith that the Mycenaean discoveries are an exact picture of the Homeric age, Schulze swung to the opposite extreme. ”

“ This rich civilization seems to have received a sudden check on the mainland of Greece. There is no further development in artistic form or technique, such as we admire in the gold cups from Vaphio, the gold dagger-blades from Mycenae, and the characteristic pottery. ”

“ Tsountas has shown that two strata of Mycenaean population are to be distinguished in Argolis, the older of which is the Danaans and the younger the Achaeans. [16]
The Danaans are associated by tradition with Argos and the seacoast. Their ancestor, Danaüs, is closely connected with the hydrography of Argolis, as the myth of the Danaïdes illustrates. [17] Probably the Danaans originally dwelt in pile villages and founded Tiryns, which was once surrounded by swamps. The Achaeans lived in and around Mycenae in the mountainous country to the north. ”

“ In the Pergamos of Troy, Homer knows a number of separate buildings, dwellings, and temples, which, though separated, yet lie near together. In the citadel of Tiryns such separate dwellings are not found. At most, one can see a second separate dwelling in what is generally regarded as the women's apartment. It is otherwise in our citadel. All the buildings thus far found are separate structures at a little distance from each other. ”

“ A man as conservative in this matter as Professor Christ is led to assert (Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur, 1898, p. 55) : "His descriptions of Mount Ida, of the plain of the Scamander (Ε, 773) , of Poseidon's high lookout from Samothrace (Ν, 10) are so true to nature (zeigen so viel Naturwahrheit) that we must 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 ”

“ The coast along the Aegean consists of a line of foot-hills, while the eastern boundary of the plain is formed by the spurs of the Ida chain. Between these ranges, in a spot especially favored by nature, sheltered as it is by hills and sea, is the valley of the Scamander (modern Mendere) , fertile and rich-soiled, where to-day is still to be recognized much of the Homeric flora. ”

“ The building consists of a large hall 15.30 m. long, and, in the western portion, 8.40 m. broad. Whether it formed a trapezoid like VI E and VI F, with its greater width on the east, cannot be determined, owing to the destruction of the north wall. In front of the hall is a very small antechamber facing the west. The masonry of the foundation is of unwrought stone. The walls vary in thickness, as seen in fig. 30. The east wall, which is the strongest, has a thickness of about 1.90 m., while the thickness of the side walls is 1.40 m., and that of the west wall only 1 m. ”

“ The remains of the other buildings of the VI City are so scanty that no idea can be formed of their plan or situation. It is likely that these ruins are situated on the second terrace. In the center of the citadel no part of the Mycenaean fortress remains.
30. Streets. [30] ⁠A description of the streets leading from the gates to the ascending terraces of the citadel has been given in the discussion of the various buildings. As we enter through the gates we find ourselves on the circuit road which lies between the city wall and the houses of the first terrace. ”

“ As the eye surveys the Trojan country, it is attracted to those heights near Bunarbashi, almost ten miles distant from the Hellespont, amid which, in the mountain fastnesses, where the Ida range is high and steep, is the fortress of Balidagh. Rising as it does five hundred feet, it forms an excellent spot for an impregnable stronghold. In early times many believed that it was Priam's citadel. ”

“ Extent.⁠What do we mean by "Mycenaean pottery," "Mycenaean Troy?" The term "Mycenaean" is roughly applied to those palaces, dwelling houses, tombs, pottery, weapons, gems, and ornaments which exhibit a similarity, more or less striking, to those found on the citadel of Mycenae—monuments which evidently are the work of one and the same race. Recent excavations have shown the extent of Mycenaean influence to be broader than scholars of a few years ago even dreamed of believing. ”

“ The western corner (a in fig. 24) is in a good state of preservation; but the eastern corner (f) , which chanced to be unearthed by Schliemann in 1872, was later destroyed.
The several inner rooms are shut in by the great retaining wall and the side walls. The large hall (t) is over 13 m. deep, while the rooms (s and r) have a depth of only 5 m. It is not likely that the walls which surround the room (n) belong to the VI Stratum. The massive steps at the north of the building, with the two inclosing walls, ascended to the second terrace of the citadel. ”

“ They were used in its erection sometime during the existence of the VI City, since remains of clay brick in the great Tower VI g show unmistakably that the entire superstructure originally consisted of this material. Throughout its whole extent the East Citadel Wall, which exhibits the same style of masonry from the Tower VI g to the Gate VI T, curves at no point, but forms an immense polygon. Each side is about 9 m. long, and, projecting beyond its predecessor, makes a solidly constructed advancing angle. ”

“ Farther in the distance is "rugged" Imbros (Ν, 33; Ω, 78) , above which towers the huge Samothracian mountain. [3] It was from this summit that Poseidon looked upon the battle, "for thence was plain in sight all Ida, and plain in sight were Priam's city and the ships of the Achaeans" (Ν, 11–14) . In a clear day "holy" Lemnos (Β, 722) shows its outline in the west, while, over one hundred miles distant, Mount Athos (Ξ, 229) is dimly seen at sunset.
Between the Thracian Chersonesus, which in the
Fig. 2.⁠Plain of Troy
The Valley of the Scamander is in the foreground. ”

“ VI G. [24] ⁠Passing toward the east side of the citadel, we find small ruins (VI K, VI H, VI J) of the walls of buildings discovered at the east of the unexcavated portion that lies to the north of the Gate VI T. The first important structure that confronts us is VI G, which has been cut in twain by the great southeast trench dug by Schliemann in 1873. [25] On the northeast of this trench a rectangular piece of wall, with an inner wall beside it, is preserved. Of the antechamber, only the small portion remains which lies at the southwest rim of the trench. ”

“ The second was thought by Schliemann to be the Ilios of Priam. Its circuit wall and buildings were constructed of brick, with stone foundations. A palace was discovered corresponding somewhat in general arrangement to the palaces of Tiryns and Mycenae. The pottery, often grotesque, was monochrome. On some of the gold ornaments
Fig. 6.⁠Paved Ramp at Gate FM (II Stratum)
unearthed were rosettes and spirals similar in pattern to what we designate to-day the gold work of the oldest stage of Mycenaean civilization. ”

“ In our citadel several of the buildings discovered consist of such an arrangement. Before each structure we must suppose an open court. The great closed apartment is the thalamos, and the half-open antechamber is the doma.
Dörpfeld described the nine strata of settlements on Hissarlik as follows: [27]
I. Lowest primeval settlement; walls of small rubble stones and clay; primitive finds; date (only conjectured) , 3000 to 2500 B.C.
II. Prehistoric citadel, with strong walls of defense and large dwellings of brick; three times destroyed and rebuilt; monochrome pottery ”

“ The prestige of Mycenae may have followed the decline of Cretan supremacy. At any rate, 2000 B.C. is not too early a date at which to place the most flourishing period of this civilization in Crete, for Mycenaean remains have been found in Thera buried under volcanic débris of an eruption of about 1800 B.C. [39] Legends of a vast Cretan empire are probably reminiscences of that mighty maritime nation, once supreme on Mediterranean waters.
↑ Schliemann, Mycenae and Tiryns; Schuchhardt-Sellers, Schliemann's Excavations; Tsountas and Manatt, The Mycenaean Age; Frazer, Pausanias, III, 97–230 ”

“ This is not strange, for so strategic is its position that Count von Moltke writes: "We who are no scholars allow ourselves to be guided solely by military instinct to the spot which, in old times as well as now, men would have selected for an inaccessible citadel." ”

“ The gateway VI U shows somewhat larger measurements than the two gates VI S and VI T; but we can hardly suppose that it formed the chief entrance, since the direction of VI T, as we have shown above, favored its being the principal gate to the citadel. ”

“ The Pergamos of Troy, according to Homer, was no level citadel, since near the dwellings lay ἐν ἀκροτάτῃ πόλει (Χ, 172) an altar of Zeus. So, according to the conception of the poet, there was a highest point in the citadel, where was the altar of Zeus and perhaps the two temples of Athena and Apollo. For the citadel of the second stratum such
Plan. III.⁠Citadel of Mycenaean Troy (VI Stratum) and Athena Precinct of Roman Ilion (IX Stratum)
a description is impossible, for it was built on a level ”

“ I, pp. 294 ff.) goes so far as to maintain that the Homeric age was an iron age, and that the more frequent use of the word bronze (χαλκός) than the word iron (σιδηρος) is merely a reminiscence of an earlier use of that metal. Cf. Jevons, Iron in Homer, Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1803. ↑ Heinrieh, Troja bei Homer und in der Wirklichkeit, p. 27. Cf. Tsountas and Manatt, The Mycenaean Age, pp. 159–190 ”

“ Another valley—this time of an insignificant swamp stream, called Dumbrek Su, and often identified with the Simoïs—cuts the eastern chain of hills at a little distance from the Hellespont.
Here at the southern point of meeting of the two valleys of the Scamander and the Dumbrek Su is the mound of Hissarlik, rising about sixty feet above the plain, and over three miles distant from the sea and from the Hellespont. [5] The hillside is rather
Fig. ”

“ It is probable that upon these were placed planks and reeds, which were covered with a layer of earth. The lower inner room, which must have been about 3 m. high, extended to the outside wall of the citadel, while the upper room reached some distance beyond, until shut in by the wall (a c) . ”

“ The offensive weapons of Mycenaean times were of bronze. The Iliad, with the exception of Δ, 123, and Σ, 34, mentions only bronze swords, lances, and arrows. [26] The representations on the Mycenaean ornaments exhibit a striking correspondence with the earliest portions of the Homeric poems.
41. Dress. [27] ⁠It is probable that in Homeric times
Fig. ”