SCHLIEMANN'S " TROY."* 11)
[SECCIIM NOTICE.]
Dr the pottery which forint': a piorninent feature in Dr. Salle- mann's discoveries, four classes are especially important. First, those vases which have a neck bent back like that of a swan and a beak-shaped mouth ; secondly, -vases in the shape of animals ; thirdly, those with ovals' faces, two upraised wings at the sides, and the body of a woman; fourthly, those described by Dr. Schliemann as " brillia:ntred goblets, in theform of immense champagne-glasses, with two mighty handles." • Of the last two classes more anon. In most of the vases the handle is a conspicuous feature, and many have holes or rings for suspension, as is the case with-some of the vases found in Etruscan tombs. We must- not pass-over the terra-cotta vase-covers, generally representing the head of the owl. On pages 291 and 352 are represented terra-cottas from -the Greek stratum, described as bearing hieroglyphics. These engravings we have shown to a most distinguished Egyptologist, who fails to recognise such characters in them. The same high authority claims as Cypriau one of the very few indisputably human-headed vase-covets (No.- 185, p. 268). He points out the projecting eye, a peculiarity said still to characterise the people of Cyprus.
The excavations tend to discredit the theory of a separate " Stone Age," inasmuch as stone implements appear side by side with copper, and with pottery of fine workmanship. Good stone implements were probably often preferred to such inferior tools of metal as an early age could produce. Some have doubted whether effective arms could be made Of simple copper, but there is really no doubt of the fact. Sir John Lubbock (Prehistoric Times, chap. vii.) states that the ancient inhabitants of North America hammered out copper aites even without the agency of fire. Some, however, of the implements originally classed by Dr.
Schliemann as copper seem to contain an admixture of tin. ,
Among the -discoveiies in 1872, perhaps the most interesting is that of the "Great Tower of Mum," surmounted by benches of stones joined with earth. From this point, according to Dr. Schliemann, Priam surveyed the hosts of Greece and Troy. In the following year, Dr. Schliemann came upon a double gateway, finding even the copper bolts of the gates, which he naturally 'identifies with the "Semen Gate." Close to this gateway he places the "Palace of Priam." It was by the side of this build- ing that he met with the crowning mercy,—the discovery of " the treasure." Thinking he saw gold behind a copper vessel, he called off his men to breakfast, and while they were out of the way, he cut out "the treasure" from beneath the tottering wall. "The treasure" comprises, besides about 9,000 small objects made of the precious metals, several large vessels of gold and silver; a copper shield, a cauldron, and several weapons of the * Troy and its Remains: a Narrative of Researches and Discoveries made on the Site of Ilium and in the Trojan Plain. By Dr. Henry Schliemann. Translated with the Author's sanction. Edited by Philip Smith, B.A. London: John Murray. 1875. same metal ; some blades of silver, two gold diadems, and last, not least in point of interest, a key and a plate of copper, sup- posed to have belonged to the chest in which the treasure was packed. Some critics have objected to this being called the "Treasure of Priam." But it is convenient to give a name to it, and: also to the city in which it was found. The greatest purist could hardly expect us to employ algebraic symbols, and speak of Ring x, or the city y.
Dr. Schliemanki Made borings on the 'plateau -of the Greek Ilium, and finding no trace of pottery or house-walls other than Hellenic; abanclinied hiS former:view as to the extent of the City of -Priem, and decided that it was comprised in what he at first considered merely its acropolis, a space of about 77,400 square yards: His editor, however, does not admit the necessity of this change of view, remarking that "the pottery and other remains which ' were left on the surface of the plateau of Miura' would Indira-Ey:Ile cleared away by the seceding 'settlers." With 'all defer:eat for the opinion of a scholarfwito- has specially studied the: qiikition,' We must Irezitute to cross' swords with him on -this point.'"PbtterY is, We belieVe, "never :entirely absent frturrthe site Of an ancient city, d'the Greeks would- haVe been the last to take the trouble te'reineve it. All romiditheir great temples stilllie seattered the' frag‘iadrite of pretilohrei.idifices, in& beneath Ilium'itSelf they kft deliii.:4'fortyAthrleet deep.
'Ortlianrof thevierks of art diteevered at Hissarlik, Dr. Schlie- iiiiecognises the outline oi a worean'S form surmounted by the hertd-bniii owlovhile in -the upright 'handles of many vases he seeathe''CoiinterPart of-wings. 'In this eitriotts hybrid "he 'Claims to liasie'-Afilveiled-Ahe libinerie" " •Aisviai•irts. ' deriving the epithet from 7/Lain-Tan- mei, and- s'esi, face. He thus abjures the time-honouredyimdering hnight7eyed,",_ with the deriva- tion from yActuxO;, gkarniktg,: and 14, eye. The limitation of the epithet • to a- single goddess we admit to be a point Dr. Schliemann's favour. On the other hand, although the epithetouvx-Lxvies. iS reserved by Homer ,fer Hera, we cannot doubt :that other fair ones deserved it. Dr. Schliemann expects to find, at ,Myeenm cow-headed images of '.1-1p5 Aoi; wg. But if the attendance of the owl on Athena in later times points to an older conception of the goddess as herself owl-headed, we oughteonsisteutly to look for Hera- with the heal of the familiar peacock. As to the reason for selecting the owl as the attendant of the Goddess of Wisdom in pest-Homeric times, we need only look in the owl's fae,e for an answer. He maybe an impostor, but he is-none-the less a philosopher. The fact is the gods of Greece and Rome were in their very essence anthropomorphic. The eagle- headed lgisroch,_ might please the Assyrian, but the feelings of the Greeks and Romans are well expressed in the contemptuous tone in which.
"Olunigenumque deem Luonstra et latrator Anubis"
are set in opposition to this very goddess Minerva by a poet "who" .as Dr. Sehliemann -himself in another connection remarks, "is the most conscientious preserver of ancient traditions." In the early stages of, G recian art, we do not find animal forms representing gods; but if the,artist.is not- eve' to the representation of Inman forms, he simply depicts,asyrnbol, as the cone on the coins of Ambracia. Io, indeed, is described as goiaage6);, but in her case we have to deal with Egyptian affinities. What a flutter of wrath would have arisen among the belles of Olympus, if a presumptuous mortal had depicted two of the three goddesses to whose superior beauty they had given way as adorned with the beak of the owl or of the pea- cock! Bribery would hardly have been needed to secure the golden apple for the third candidate.
In speaking of the pottery, we have drawn attention to the two-handled- goblets. One of the most important items con- stituting the " Treasure" is a. two-handled gold cup of altogether different shape. Both are asserted by our author to be ahrge til.appairE),Acc. "The usual interpretation," he says, "of these words_by 'double cups, with a common bottom in the centre,' is en- tirely erroneous. It really appears as if this wrong translation -arose solely through Aristotle,,for, as is clear from. his Hist. Aninz. (ix., 40), there were in his time double cups with a common bottom in the centre. If Oiwa; elp.ePocel=EXXor means double cup, . then eitapipopg4 must mean double urn." lye must bear in mind that cliapi simply indicates "on both sides," and that in a.epops6; we have a verbal root. The word denotes that the transport is effected by applying the power .'on both sides," and the idea of a projecting handle is not essential. We may compare the adjective ‘if.apix6-3.-ExAo; with cii.c.cpico.6,-, used as an epithet of an isthmus. A "double cup" may seem an absurd idea, as of course one side only could be used at a time. But if such cups were used in -the time of Aristotle, why should they not have been used in the time of Homer ? In the Introduction (p. 28), mention is made of "splendid black cups in the form of an hour-glass, and with two large handles." Can this "hour-glass" form throw any light on the Siirce; cilACPnaltEXAos?
It will; however, be long ere such controversies are finally Settled, and we mist hasten to sum up the results of Dr. Sehliemann's labours. What Botta and Layard did for Khorsabad and Nineveh our author has done for the cities which rose in succession on mound of Hisiarlik. But the palace walls of Assyria bear upon them the undoubted records of their ancient Possessors, while these later discoveries, in spite of the supposed inscriptions; may still to cautious critics be "a body without a name." We must not be led into a discussion' of the .question how far these discoveries tally with the descriptions in the Homeric Poems. It is scarcely necessary to remark that the writer of those poems could never have seen more of Troy than its ashes, and that, as a poet, he had full right to exaggerate the size and fin- portanee of the subjects of whieli he treated. Dr. Schliemann -has proved that many centuries before the dawn of history there stood near the banks of Scamauder, on a'aite regarded as that of Troy by nearly all the ancientk`aeitY corresponding, except in size, to the descriptions of the "Greek Poet. He has proved that' this eitY4iniutaken after a strugile'ild:d7e-stroyed by fire. He has even reStbred to light treasurea 'vihich escaped the hand of the spoiler in thte' inidst of the flames.' If Troy is to be sought anywhere save " among the Muses who dwell on Olympus,"
0
it should be sought "in the trenches Of Hissarlik." It has been "said of some discoveries that they are first ridiculed, then declared contrary to the Scriptures, and finally adopted as obviowily true. Dr. Schliemann's assertions. are passing through this ordeal. Treated in the first instance with derision; or with more contemptuous neglect, they have of late been declared in many points at variance 'with the Homeric Poem's, "the Bible of the Greeks ;" and it is certain that they rudely shake the Talmudic fabric of commentaries on those poems. Whether the third stage will ever be reached by them remains to be seen. The author's 'desire to be accurate is illustrated by his request that the epithet "Perpetual,' in reference to the snow on Ida, should be omitted in the translation. But we are told he is enthusiastic. Probably he is, or he 'would not have spent 210,000 and the best years of hi& life on such "useless" researches. Still, this enthu- siasm is not so infectious that' weneed fear that all Lombard Street may hurry to the Troad. Englishmen should appreciate the untiring energy that held on through storm and Sun, and in spite of delays from Greek saints and Turkish sinners has succeeded in reCouing the treasures of five buried cities.
We congratulate Dr. Schliemann on having met with a most able editor, who has enriched the work with notes most apposite to the arguments. A comparison of .several passages with the original has satisfied us of the faithfulness of the translation, and a careful scrutiny has detected very little in the way of errata. Those who have seen the photographic plates of the original " Atlas " will not fail to appreciate the illustrations of the present work. We heartily commend it to those who, amid, the turmoil of this hurrying age, still care to turn a listening ear to "the tale of Troy divine."
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