DISTRICT OF TROAS. 
93 
rocks among the Yalany oaks, covering the soil But in all 
that now exists of this devoted city, there is nothing so con¬ 
spicuous as the edifice vulgarly termed by mariners The Pa¬ 
lace of Priam ; from an erroneous notion, prevalent in the 
writings of early travellers, that Alexandria Troas was the 
Ilium of Homer.* This building appears from a considerable 
distance at sea. In front it has three noble arches, and be¬ 
hind these are many others. The stones of w hich it consists 
are placed together without any cement. Large blocks of 
sculptured marble, the remains* of a cornice, appear above and 
on each side of the arches in front; and tliat the whole struc¬ 
ture was once coated over with marble, or plates of metal, is 
evident, for holes for the metal fastenings are seen all over 
the work. Of the three front arches, the center arch mea¬ 
sured forty-eight feet wide at the base, and each of the other 
twenty-one. The stones in that part of the work were five 
feet ten inches long, and three feet five inches thick. 
Behind the center arch is a square court, having four other 
arches; one on each side. A noble flight of steps conducted 
to the center arch in front: on each side of this was a column 
of the prodigious diameter of eight feet, as appears by the re¬ 
mains of their bases, still visible upon the two pedestals. These, 
columns were not of entire blocks of stone, for we saw their 
disjointed parts among the ruins below the flight of steps. The 
back part of the building, aod the two sides, were surrounded 
by walls supported on opeu arches: twelve of these remain on 
the northern side almost entire. The front of the building 
faces the west: behind, that is to say; upon the eastern side, 
were three magnificent arched portals. The walls here, on 
each side of the center arch, were supported upon a vault con¬ 
taining six arches, and these yet remain entire. From this 
description it is evident, that a plan of the building might be 
delineated to show its original form. No very accurate repre¬ 
sentation lias yet been engraved of any part of it. I am in¬ 
clined to believe, with Chevalier, that it was intended for 
baths, as a grand termination of the aqueduct of Herodes 
Attkus.f The opinions of Pococke and Chandler, that it was 
a gymnasium for the instruction of youth, is thereby rather 
* Belon, De La Valle, Lithgow, and'others, fell into this strange mistake. It is an 
error, however, which prevailed before they lived. Lithgow caused his own portrait 
to be represented in the midst of the ruins of Alexandria Troas, as a frontispiece to 
his work; calling these the ruins of Ilium, with the tombs of Priam and Hecuba. (Se$ 
Mnetesn Years' Travels , Sec. by IV. Lithgow, 4to. Loral IGl l.} 
t Plain offroy, p. 10, 
