54 KEY. D. S. MAEGOLIOUTH, OX THE LIFE AND WORK OF HOMER. 



tion of those initials was known. They might be sure that there 

 must have been many instances of the same kind of thing in con- 

 nection with ancient literature. 



The Meeting adjourned at 6.10 p.m. 



SUBSEQUENT COMMUNICATION. 



Prof. Edward Hull : — Though not by any means a specialist 

 on the above subject, I read " my Homer " with the greatest 

 interest at school — and have never forgotten its charming story of 

 the Siege of Troy, written as it is in the most musical of languages, 

 and I have read the remarkable essay of Dr. Margoliouth with no 

 less interest. The reflection occurs to me that, while the Author 

 clearly shows how mythical are the heroes of that drama — and that 

 their names were derived from the events and characters attributed 

 to them — I cannot suppose that he intends to consign the whole 

 story to the origin which he assigns to Apollo, Aphrodite and all 

 the divinities except Zeus — namely, poetic fiction. What then 

 comes of the discovery of Schliemann and of the ruined cities he 

 describes ? May we not suggest that there was a city at the site 

 identified, recognisable by its geographical position as the site of 

 Troy, and that the poet, having full knowledge of the topography 

 of the region, made use of it as the central position for the events 

 recorded — though it may have only been a ruin ? I do not read in 

 the Author's paper anything that militates against this view". 



There is another point in connection with the settlement of the 

 ^Eolian Greeks (p. 42), the date of which is not certainly known. It 

 must have been very ancient, and the Author states that the 

 name Ilios or Ilion is very clearly Semitic ; in fact of Hebrew origin. 

 But there is another name no less clearly Semitic, namely Danai, 

 which may, perhaps, connect the early Greek settlers with that 

 remarkable tribe of the Israelites — the tribe of Dan. This tribe 

 settled on the coast of Palestine, and, like the Phoenicians, became a 

 maritime people, coasting along the Mediterranean — and doubtless 

 visiting the Grecian harbours and islands. 



