DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.959#0134
1871.] OLD BED OF THE SCAMANDER. 73
bed of the Scamander, we may settle the otherwise insur-
mountable difficulties of the Homeric topography of the
Plain of Troy; for, had the Scamander occupied its
present bed at the time of the Trojan war, it would have
flowed through the Greek camp, arid Homer would have
had abundant opportunity of speaking of this important
circumstance. But as he never mentions a river in the
camp, there can, of course, have been none there. More-
over, the Simo'is is now half-an-hour's distance from the
Scamander; whereas Homer frequently mentions the con-
fluence of these two streams before Ilium, and most
of the battles took place in the fields between Troy, the
Scamander, and the Simo'is. At its confluence with the
Kalifatli-Asmak, whose enormous bed must, at one time,
have belonged to the Scamander, the Simo'is has an
especially large and deep bed, which is doubtless still
the same that this stream occupied at the time of the
Trojan war.
The Kalifatli-Asmak, after its confluence with the
Scamander near the village of Kum-koi, turns to the north-
west, and flows into the sea by three arms, not very far
from the present bed of the Scamander; below the village,
however, it has quite a narrow bed, which is obviously of
recent formation. Its old channel, on the other hand,
which was the ancient bed of the Scamander and is of an
immense breadth,proceeds direct northwards fromKum-koi:
it is now occupied by the water of the small rivulet called
In-Upi-Asmak, which I shall afterwards describe minutely,
and empties itself, as before said, into the Hellespont close
to Cape Rhceteum.
The Scamander did not take possession of its present
bed suddenly, but very gradually, probably in the course
of many centuries; for between its present channel and its
ancient one there are three enormous river-beds, likewise
leading to the Hellespont, which possess no water and
must necessarily have been successively formed by the
bed of the Scamander, we may settle the otherwise insur-
mountable difficulties of the Homeric topography of the
Plain of Troy; for, had the Scamander occupied its
present bed at the time of the Trojan war, it would have
flowed through the Greek camp, arid Homer would have
had abundant opportunity of speaking of this important
circumstance. But as he never mentions a river in the
camp, there can, of course, have been none there. More-
over, the Simo'is is now half-an-hour's distance from the
Scamander; whereas Homer frequently mentions the con-
fluence of these two streams before Ilium, and most
of the battles took place in the fields between Troy, the
Scamander, and the Simo'is. At its confluence with the
Kalifatli-Asmak, whose enormous bed must, at one time,
have belonged to the Scamander, the Simo'is has an
especially large and deep bed, which is doubtless still
the same that this stream occupied at the time of the
Trojan war.
The Kalifatli-Asmak, after its confluence with the
Scamander near the village of Kum-koi, turns to the north-
west, and flows into the sea by three arms, not very far
from the present bed of the Scamander; below the village,
however, it has quite a narrow bed, which is obviously of
recent formation. Its old channel, on the other hand,
which was the ancient bed of the Scamander and is of an
immense breadth,proceeds direct northwards fromKum-koi:
it is now occupied by the water of the small rivulet called
In-Upi-Asmak, which I shall afterwards describe minutely,
and empties itself, as before said, into the Hellespont close
to Cape Rhceteum.
The Scamander did not take possession of its present
bed suddenly, but very gradually, probably in the course
of many centuries; for between its present channel and its
ancient one there are three enormous river-beds, likewise
leading to the Hellespont, which possess no water and
must necessarily have been successively formed by the