146 TROY AND ITS REMAINS. [Chap. X.
to express the conjecture that the image of the Sun, which
I find represented here thousands and thousands of times
upon the whorls of terra-cotta, must be regarded as the
name or the emblem of the town, that is vI\ios. I now
venture to express the opinion, that in like manner this
Sun-god shone in the form of a woman upon the Pro-
pylasa of the temple of the Ilian Athena as a symbol of
the Sun-city (ttjs 'IXlov). I have heard a learned friend
express the opinion that this masterpiece belonged to
the period between Pericles and Alexander the Great,
because the Sun-god's outstretched hand is very similar
to that of Phoebus Apollo on the coins of Rhodes of the
same period. But, according to Strabo (XIII. i), Alexander
the Great, on his visit to Ilium, found there a little temple
(evreXr} vaov) of the Ilian Athena ; and a little temple,
of course, cannot have possessed such excellent works of
plastic art. Besides this, the head of the Sun-god appears
to me to have so much of the Alexandrian style, that I
must adhere to history and believe that this work of art
belongs to the time of Lysimachus, who, according to
Strabo (XIII. i), after the death of Alexander the Great,
built here the new temple of the Ilian Athena, which
Alexander had promised to the town of Ilium after the
subjugation of the Persian Empire.*
The discovery of this work of art upon the steep
declivity of the hill—whereas it must necessarily have
stood on the opposite side above the entrance to the
* For a further description and discussion of this splendid relief, see
the Introduction, pp. 32-34. An acute critic has suggested to us that the
metope is a sculpture of the best age of Greek art, before or about the time
of Alexander, inserted in a Doric frieze of late debased work, as is proved
by the difference of styles, and by the evident fact that the metope was
originally too large for the space between the triglyphs. The temple to
which it belonged, in Dr. Schliemann's final opinion, was a temple oi
Apollo, which he discovered later (comp. Chap. XIV., p. 223, and
Chap. XVII., p. 257).—[Ed.]
to express the conjecture that the image of the Sun, which
I find represented here thousands and thousands of times
upon the whorls of terra-cotta, must be regarded as the
name or the emblem of the town, that is vI\ios. I now
venture to express the opinion, that in like manner this
Sun-god shone in the form of a woman upon the Pro-
pylasa of the temple of the Ilian Athena as a symbol of
the Sun-city (ttjs 'IXlov). I have heard a learned friend
express the opinion that this masterpiece belonged to
the period between Pericles and Alexander the Great,
because the Sun-god's outstretched hand is very similar
to that of Phoebus Apollo on the coins of Rhodes of the
same period. But, according to Strabo (XIII. i), Alexander
the Great, on his visit to Ilium, found there a little temple
(evreXr} vaov) of the Ilian Athena ; and a little temple,
of course, cannot have possessed such excellent works of
plastic art. Besides this, the head of the Sun-god appears
to me to have so much of the Alexandrian style, that I
must adhere to history and believe that this work of art
belongs to the time of Lysimachus, who, according to
Strabo (XIII. i), after the death of Alexander the Great,
built here the new temple of the Ilian Athena, which
Alexander had promised to the town of Ilium after the
subjugation of the Persian Empire.*
The discovery of this work of art upon the steep
declivity of the hill—whereas it must necessarily have
stood on the opposite side above the entrance to the
* For a further description and discussion of this splendid relief, see
the Introduction, pp. 32-34. An acute critic has suggested to us that the
metope is a sculpture of the best age of Greek art, before or about the time
of Alexander, inserted in a Doric frieze of late debased work, as is proved
by the difference of styles, and by the evident fact that the metope was
originally too large for the space between the triglyphs. The temple to
which it belonged, in Dr. Schliemann's final opinion, was a temple oi
Apollo, which he discovered later (comp. Chap. XIV., p. 223, and
Chap. XVII., p. 257).—[Ed.]