DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4593#0387
356 THE ISLES AND SHRINES OF GREECE
When I set foot on Asia Minor, it was at Smyrna.
It was fitting to land there before going to Troy;
for, of the seven cities which disputed Homer's birth,
did not the weight of tradition favor Smyrna? Think
of a city tracing its importance back several hundred
years before Christ, and yet remaining to-day one of
the chief commercial cities of Asia Minor, — living on
its trade, not on its traditions. It has been shattered
by earthquake and devastated by fire, but new cities
have repeatedly grown on the foundations of the
old, and few have a more beautiful site. It nes-
tles confidently on the plain by the seaside, but rises,
too, tier on tier, on the hill overlooking its sheltered
gulf. The notable buildings, which in ancient times
gave it celebrity, are gone; but archaeologists have
delved among the ruins. Of a population of two
hundred thousand, fully half are Greeks. Thus there
are almost as many Greeks at Smyrna as at Athens.
Athens has become European ; at Smyrna Orientalism
is still predominant. As you enter its great bazaars,
sec camels lurching through the streets, and meet
Turks and Greeks in Oriental costume, you feel that
you are in a different zone of life and tradition.
The next day brought me to the Dardanelles. I
had the satisfaction of meeting here Messrs. Korte,
Prager, Strack, and Noach, four German archaeolog-
ical students, devoted friends of Dr. Ddrpfeld, with
whom I had before shared the joys and hardships
of the Peloponnesian trip and the island excursion.
We organized a cavalcade to move on Troy.
We spent the night at the Dardanelles, and next
day crossed the famous strait, took horses and set out
for the plains of Troy. It was a ride of several hours,
When I set foot on Asia Minor, it was at Smyrna.
It was fitting to land there before going to Troy;
for, of the seven cities which disputed Homer's birth,
did not the weight of tradition favor Smyrna? Think
of a city tracing its importance back several hundred
years before Christ, and yet remaining to-day one of
the chief commercial cities of Asia Minor, — living on
its trade, not on its traditions. It has been shattered
by earthquake and devastated by fire, but new cities
have repeatedly grown on the foundations of the
old, and few have a more beautiful site. It nes-
tles confidently on the plain by the seaside, but rises,
too, tier on tier, on the hill overlooking its sheltered
gulf. The notable buildings, which in ancient times
gave it celebrity, are gone; but archaeologists have
delved among the ruins. Of a population of two
hundred thousand, fully half are Greeks. Thus there
are almost as many Greeks at Smyrna as at Athens.
Athens has become European ; at Smyrna Orientalism
is still predominant. As you enter its great bazaars,
sec camels lurching through the streets, and meet
Turks and Greeks in Oriental costume, you feel that
you are in a different zone of life and tradition.
The next day brought me to the Dardanelles. I
had the satisfaction of meeting here Messrs. Korte,
Prager, Strack, and Noach, four German archaeolog-
ical students, devoted friends of Dr. Ddrpfeld, with
whom I had before shared the joys and hardships
of the Peloponnesian trip and the island excursion.
We organized a cavalcade to move on Troy.
We spent the night at the Dardanelles, and next
day crossed the famous strait, took horses and set out
for the plains of Troy. It was a ride of several hours,