PREHISTORIC MAN, ETC. 339 



Roman town of Ilion was also the site of Homer's Troy. 

 The tradition had indeed been sorely handled by Deme- 

 trios of Skepsis, a local antiquary of the second century 

 B.C., on the geological ground that the Plain of Troy is of 

 recent alluvial formation ; and by other critics on the score 

 of inconsistency with the Homeric narrative. But the Bali 

 Dagh, the site suggested by Demetrios, and in fact the 

 only alternative, is far more inconsistent, and is put 

 absolutely out of question by Dr. Schliemann's discoveries. 

 In successive seasons (1S71-3, 1876-82) he laid bare not 

 one, but six cities, built one after another on the same site, 

 and forming an accumulation of walls and debris some 

 thirty feet deep ; and, among these, two additional layers 

 have been distinguished in the confirmatory excavations of 

 Dr. Dorpfeld, 1892-94. The latter, however, indicate that 

 Dr. Schliemann's earlier work was not, from the circum- 

 stances of the case, sufficiently closely watched throughout, 

 and that in some cases objects were probably picked up at 

 lower levels than those to which they properly belong. In 

 particular, it is not clear that the cache of jewellery and 

 plate known as the "Great Treasure of Priam" was not 

 hidden originally in a shaft of some depth. 



7. Dr. Schliemann claimed as the Homeric Troy the 

 Second Town from the bottom, which had perished by fire, 

 and in which the " Great Treasure " was found. But the 

 Sixth Town, which Dr. Schliemann described as Lydian, 

 was shown by Dr. Dorpfeld in 1892-93 to be larger and 

 more important than was at first supposed, and to cor- 

 respond closely with the remains found subsequently at 

 Mykenae and elsewhere. 



8. With the same purpose in view of testing the 

 Homeric tradition, Dr. Schliemann proceeded in 1875-6 to 

 excavate the citadel of Mykenae, in the Peloponnese, the 

 traditional centre of the Achaian feudal confederacy. Here 

 the results were equally unexpected, but no less confirma- 

 tory of the legend. A civilisation was brought to light 

 wholly un- Hellenic, but far from barbarous ; greatly in 

 advance of all but the latest layers of Hissarlik, and 

 presenting already the marks of decadence after a protracted 



