Anniversary Address. xxxv. 



To state it shortly, he claimed to have discovered the remains of 

 five cities, one above another, the second from the bottom being the 

 city described by Homer, and the fifth being the Greek city known as 

 Ilium, built shortly after the founding of Rome. He admitted that 

 the ruins of the fire-destroyed city which he identified with Troy, 

 hardly corresponded with the palaces " with polished corridors 

 adorned," described in the Iliad, but replied that the destruction took 

 place long before Homer was born, and the description was added to 

 by tradition and poetic license. The same spots were investigated 

 last September by Mr. Jebb, Professor of Greek at the Glasgow 

 University, and formerly Public Orator at Cambridge, and he has 

 come to the conclusion that Dr. Schlieniann's view — that he has dis- 

 covered the very City of Priam, and proved that the Iliad was based 

 upon real facts ; that Ilium did really exist, and that Homer, even 

 although he exaggerates, nevertheless sings" of events that actually 

 happened — must be definitely abandoned. 



He admits, however, that the ruins of the five cities described by 

 Schliemann exist ; that one, or perhaps two of them, represents the 

 Greek Colony of Ilium, and that the earliest, or possibly the earliest 

 two — if we may distinguish between the city destroyed by fire and an 

 earlier settlement — dates from pre-Hellenic times ; that this may have 

 been the town the siege of which gave rise to the poetic legend of 

 Homer. But he contends that neither the ruins themselves, nor the 

 surroundings, correspond with the poet's description ; and arrives at 

 the somewhat unsatisfactory conclusion, " that the Homeric data are 

 essentially irreconcilable with each other, being, in fact, derived partly 

 from Bunarbashi, and partly from Hissarlik." He adds that, in his 

 belief, "Bunarbashi was the place where the oldest legends or lays, 

 local to the Troad, placed Troy," and that " Hissarlik may have been 

 the centre around which poets of the Ionian epic school grouped 

 incidents or traits which they added to the original nucleus." 



I may remark, however, that this is just the opposite to the order 

 in which legends would seem likely to grow. I should rather have 

 expected that the story would have been originally told about the city 

 which was burnt, and afterwards, when the site was forgotten, have 

 been transferred to some neighbouring locality where the surroundings 

 are more imposing or romantic. 



It must, at any rate, be admitted, that the discoveries of Dr. 

 Schliemann, both in the way of ruined walls and buildings which he 

 has found, and of pottery, jewellery, wrought metals, and armour 

 which he has collected, are amongst the most valuable of the many 

 additions that have been made in recent years to our knowledge of 

 archseology, although he has probably gone too far in identifying the 



