Troy. 237 corner of the world. As his eye follows the apparently unbroken march of progress, from the bottom of the trenches up to the present level, he comes to the conclusion that this hill, from a time immeasurably older than history, was never left long desolate ; whereas it is impossible to carry the Bali Dagh beyond the eighth or ninth century B.C. Again, at Hissarlik, although the enclosure is not what may be called Cyclopsean, it nevertheless is a standing witness to a mighty effort on the part of the constructors. As to the myth relating to the origin of this same rampart, it may have arisen after the fall and burning of the place, when the substructures having been laid bare, a simple and admiring population ascribed them to the joint effort of Apollo and Poseidon. If these be indeed the walls wherein the early iEolian bards thought to descry the still living impress of the august hands that had heaped up the stones, the relation of the citadel to the lower town coincides in a remarkable degree with the Homeric narrative. Pergamus is a mound of fifteen to sixteen metres in height, situate at the north extremity of the plateau. It has all the essentials of an acropolis ; slopes lead up to it, and it is surrounded by walls. The ancient town spread around it and stretched below, perhaps to the border of the plain. The temples of the gods and houses of the princes rose on the esplanade, and were strongly entrenched behind the massive enclosure. When the chiefs wish to summon the people and impart their will to them, a herald calls out from the top of the rampart, and his voice is heard everywhere and promptly obeyed. In a few minutes posterns and stairs, broad ramps leading to the principal entrances, all are thronged with armed men ready to march, with matrons who will presently bring offerings by which they hope to appease the anger of the gods. The distance of 5000 metres which now parts the sea from the foot of Hissarlik, may have been a trifle less in antiquity, ere the neck of land crowned by Kum Kaleh was formed. If Hissarlik represents Troy, the fact that Greek and Trojan troops, messengers, and heroes were able to traverse daily more than once a space of barely three English miles, ceases to have anything very wonderful in it. With a horse the ground could be covered at a single gallop ; the various points were so close to one another as to enable the eye to take
