12'2 PLAIN OF TROY. 
^^/v^' village afterwards led us along the top of the 
'^ — ^ — ' mound. Here then both Art and Nature have 
combmed to mark the Plain, by circumstances 
of feature and of association not likely to occur 
elsewhere ; although such as any accurate de- 
scription of the country may well be expected 
to include : and if the Poems of Homer, with 
reference to the Plain of Troy, have similarly 
associated an artificial tumulus and a natural 
mound, a conclusion seems warranted, that these 
are the objects to which he alludes. This ap- 
pears to be the case in the account he has given 
of the Tomb of Ilus and the Mound of the Plain '. 
Upon the surface of the To7w5 itself, in several 
small channels caused by rain, we found frag- 
ments of the terra-cotta vases oi jintient Greece^ ; 
(1) The Trojans were encampeJ 0#J {^aKTjxu wiSlou) upon, or near 
to, tte Mound of the Plain (II. K. l60) ; and Hector holds his council 
with the Chiefs, apart from the camp, at the Tomb of Ilus (II. K. 415) ; 
which was therefore near to the Mound. Their coincidence of situation 
induced M. Chevalier to conclude they were one and the same : De- 
ecript of the Plain of Troy, p. 113. Mr. Bryant combated this opinion : 
Observations upon a Treatise, Sfc. p. 9. Mr. Morritt very properly 
deride? the absurdity of supposing the council to be held at a distance 
from the army. Findical, of Homer, y>.96. 
(2) These are still in our possession, and resemble the beautiful 
earthenware found in the sepulchres of Athens, and at IVola io Italy. 
The durability of such a substance is known to all persons conversant 
in the Arts ; it is known to have resisted the attacks of water and 
air, at least two thousand years. 
