DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.959#0085
INTRODUCTION.
27
As to the chronology of Troy, we have only the general
supposition of antiquity that the Trojan War occurred
about b.c. 1200, and Homer's statement {Iliad, XX.
215-237) that Dardanus, the first Trojan King, founded
Dardania, which town I agree with Virgil and Euripides in
considering identical with Ilium, and that after him it was
governed by his son Erichthonius, and then by his grand-
son Tros, by his great-grandson Ilus, and then by his son
Laomedon, and by his grandson Priam. Even if we allow
every one of these six kings a long reign of o,2> years, we
nevertheless scarcely carry the foundation of the town be-
yond 1400 b.c, that is 700 years before the Greek colony.
The site of Troy, which at the time of its foundation
was 10 meters (about 33 feet) below the present surface,
was only 7 meters (23 feet) below it after its destruction,
when Ilium was again rebuilt by another people of Aryan
origin; for, in the debris of this people, which extends to
a depth of from 7 to 4 meters (23 to 13 feet) below the
present surface, I find the same objects of terra-cotta with
religious symbols.
On the photographic plates of the Atlas I have carefully
stated the depth at which every object
was found, so that it is very easy to
find out which of them belong to this
people* Their pottery resembles
that of the Trojans, but it is worse
and coarser, and we meet with many
new types. Almost all their vases
have a tube on either side for hanging
them up by cords. I here found, at
a depth of i6i feet, part of a lyre
made of stone, with six strings; and
No. 9. Ornamented Piece of Ivory
belonging to a Trojan Seven-
Stringed Lyre (7 H.}.
* This most important key to the archaeological evidence collected
ty Dr. Schliemann has been preserved in the present translation. The
depths are given in meters for the reasons stated in the Preface.
27
As to the chronology of Troy, we have only the general
supposition of antiquity that the Trojan War occurred
about b.c. 1200, and Homer's statement {Iliad, XX.
215-237) that Dardanus, the first Trojan King, founded
Dardania, which town I agree with Virgil and Euripides in
considering identical with Ilium, and that after him it was
governed by his son Erichthonius, and then by his grand-
son Tros, by his great-grandson Ilus, and then by his son
Laomedon, and by his grandson Priam. Even if we allow
every one of these six kings a long reign of o,2> years, we
nevertheless scarcely carry the foundation of the town be-
yond 1400 b.c, that is 700 years before the Greek colony.
The site of Troy, which at the time of its foundation
was 10 meters (about 33 feet) below the present surface,
was only 7 meters (23 feet) below it after its destruction,
when Ilium was again rebuilt by another people of Aryan
origin; for, in the debris of this people, which extends to
a depth of from 7 to 4 meters (23 to 13 feet) below the
present surface, I find the same objects of terra-cotta with
religious symbols.
On the photographic plates of the Atlas I have carefully
stated the depth at which every object
was found, so that it is very easy to
find out which of them belong to this
people* Their pottery resembles
that of the Trojans, but it is worse
and coarser, and we meet with many
new types. Almost all their vases
have a tube on either side for hanging
them up by cords. I here found, at
a depth of i6i feet, part of a lyre
made of stone, with six strings; and
No. 9. Ornamented Piece of Ivory
belonging to a Trojan Seven-
Stringed Lyre (7 H.}.
* This most important key to the archaeological evidence collected
ty Dr. Schliemann has been preserved in the present translation. The
depths are given in meters for the reasons stated in the Preface.