The length of the Troad from north to south—taking a straight line from the north-west point, Cape Sigeum (Yeni Shehr), to the south-west point, Cape Lectum (Babà-Calessi) —may be roughly given as forty miles. The breadth, from the middle point of the west coast to the main range of Ida, is not much greater. The whole central portion of this area is drained by the Mendere (the ancient Scamander), which rises in Ida and is by far the most important river of the Troad. The basin of the Mendere is divided by hills into two distinct parts, a southern and a northern plain. The southern—anciently called the Samonian plain —is the great central plain of the Troad, and takes its modern name from Bairamitch, the chief Turkish town, which is situated in the eastern part of it near Ida. It is of an elongated form, the extent from north to south being large in proportion to the average width, and is enclosed by hills which, especially towards the south, are low and undulating. From the north end of the plain of Bairamitch the Mendere winds in large curves through deep gorges in metamorphic rocks, and issues into the northern plain, stretching to the Hellespont. This is the plain of Troy, which has an average length of seven or eight miles from north to south, with a breadth of some two or three from east to west. The hills which enclose it on the south and east are quite low, and towards the east the acclivities are in places so gentle as to leave the limits of the plain somewhat indefinite. Next to the basin of the Mendere, with its two plains, the best marked feature in the riversystem of the Troad is the valley of the Touzla, the ancient Satniois. The Touzla rises in the western part of Mount Ida, south of the plain of Bairamitch, from which its valley is divided by hills; and, after flowing for many miles almost parallel with the south coast of the Troad, from which, at Assus, it is less than a mile distant, it enters the Aegean about ten miles north of Cape Lectum. Three alluvial plains are comprised in its course. The easternmost of these, into which the river issues from rugged mountains of considerable height, is long and narrow. The next is the broad plain, which is overlooked by the lofty site of Assus, and which was a fertile source of supply to that city. The third is the plain at the embouchure of the river on the west coast. This was anciently called the Halesian (Άλ ήσιον ) plain, partly from the maritime salt-works at Tragasae, near the town of Hamaxitus, partly also from the hot salt-springs which exist at some distance from the sea, on the north side of the river, where large formations of rock-salt are also found. Maritime salt-works are still in operation at the mouth of the river, and its modern name (Touzla = salt) preserves the ancient association. A striking feature of the southern Troad is the high and narrow plateau which runs parallel with the Adramyttian Gulf from east to west, forming a southern barrier to the valley of the Touzla, and walling it off from a thin strip of seaboard. This plateau seems to have been formed by a volcanic upheaval which came late in the Tertiary period, and covered the limestone of the south coast with two successive flows of trachyte. The lofty crag of Assus, washed by the sea, is like a tower standing detached from this line of mountainwall. The western coast is of a different character. North of the Touzla extends an undulating plain, narrow at first, but gradually widening. Much of it is covered with the valonia oak (Quercus Aegilops), one of the most valuable products of the Troad. Towards the middle of the west coast the adjacent ground becomes higher, with steep acclivities, which sometimes rise into peaks; and north of these, again, the seaboard subsides towards Cape Sigeum into rounded hills, mostly low.

The timber of the Troad is supplied chiefly by the pineforests on the slopes of Mount Ida. But nearly all the plains and hills are more or less well wooded. Besides the valonia oak, the elm, willow, cypress, and tamarisk shrub abound. Lotus, galingale, and reeds are still plentiful, as in Homeric days, about the streams in the Trojan plain. The vine, too, is cultivated, the Turks making from it a kind of syrup and a preserve. In summer and autumn water-melons are among the abundant fruits. Cotton, wheat, and Indian corn are also grown. The Troad is, indeed, a country highly favoured by nature—with its fertile plains and valleys, abundantly and continually irrigated from Ida, its numerous streams, its fine west seaboard, and the beauty of its scenery. Under a good government, it could not fail to be exceedingly prosperous. Under Turkish rule, the natural advantages of the land suffice to mitigate the poverty of the sparse population, but have scarcely any positive result.

In the Homeric legend, with which the story of the Troad begins, the people called the Troes are ruled by a king Priam, whose realm includes all that is bounded by “Lesbos, Phrygia, and the Hellespont” (Il., xxiv. 544), i.e. , the whole “Troad,” with some extension of it, beyond Ida, on the north-west. According to Homer, the Achaeans under Agamemnon utterly and finally destroyed Troy, the capital of Priam, and overthrew his dynasty. But there is an Homeric prophecy that the rule over the Troes shall be continued by Aeneas and his descendants. From the “Homeric” Hymn to Aphrodite, as well as from a passage in the 20th book of the Iliad (75-353)—a passage undoubtedly later than the bulk of the book—it is certain that in the seventh or sixth century b.c. a dynasty claiming descent from Aeneas reigned in the Troad, though the extent of their sway is unknown. The Homeric tale of Troy is a poetic creation, for which the poet is the sole witness. The analogy of the French legends of Charlemagne warrants the supposition that an Achaean prince once held a position like that of Agamemnon. We may suppose that some memorable capture of a town in the Troad had been made by Greek warriors. But we cannot regard the Iliad in any closer or more exact sense as the historical document of a war. The geographical compactness of the Troad is itself an argument for the truth of the Homeric statement that it was once united under a strong king. How that kingdom was finally broken up is unknown. Thracian hordes, including the Treres, swept into Asia Minor from the north-west about the beginning of the seventh century b.c., and it is probable that, like the Gauls and Goths of later days, these fierce invaders made havoc in the Troad. The Ionian poet Callinus has recorded the terror which they caused further south.

A new period in the history of the Troad begins with the foundation of the Greek settlements. The earliest and most important of these were Aeolic. Lesbos and Cyme in Aeolis seem to have been the chief points from which the first Aeolic colonists worked their way into the Troad. Commanding positions on the coast, such as Assus and Sigeum, would naturally be those first occupied; and some of them may have been in the hands of Aeolians as early as the 10th century B.C. It appears from Herodotus (v. 95) that about 620 B.C. Athenians occupied Sigeum, and were resisted by Aeolic colonists from Mytilene in Lesbos, who had already established themselves in that neighbourhood. Struggles of this kind may help to account for the fact noticed by Strabo, that the earlier colonies had often migrated from one site in the Troad to another. Such changes of seat have been, he observes, frequent causes of confusion in the topography; and the fact has an important bearing on attempted identifications of the more obscure ancient sites.

Among the Greek towns in the Troad, three stand out with especial prominence—Ilium in the north, Assus in the south, and Alexandria Troas in the west. The site of the Greek Ilium is marked by the low mound of Hissarlik (“place of fortresses”) in the Trojan plain, about three miles from the Hellespont. The early Greek settlers in the Troad naturally loved to take Homeric names for their towns. The fact that Homer places the town of Dardania far inland, on the slopes of Ida, did not hinder the founders of the Aeolic Dardanus from giving that name to their town on the shores of the Hellespont. The site of the historical Thymbra, again, cannot be reconciled with that of the Homeric Thymbra. Similarly, the choice of the name Ilion in no way justifies the assumption that the Greek settlers found that spot identified by tradition with the site of the town which Homer calls Ilios. It does not even warrant the hypothesis that they found a shrine of Athene Ilias existing there. For them, it would be enough that the sounding name could be safely appropriated,—the true site of Homeric Ilias being forgotten or disputed,—and that their town was at least in the neighbourhood of the Homeric battlefields. The Greek Ilium may have been founded about 700 b.c. It is noticeable that no ancient writer suggests a later date than the time of Croesus (c . 550 B.C.); and Strabo says that the establishment of the colony at Hissarlik—after previous occupation of a different site—took place “in the time of the Lydians” (έπί Λυδῶ v ). It would be reasonable to infer that the Greek Ilium preserved some well-marked traces of Lydian influence, perhaps in architecture or art, perhaps in manners or traditions. The traces of Lydian workmanship found in the excavations at Hissarlik are thus easily explained, without recourse to the shadowy hypothesis of a distinct Lydian settlement on the spot. When Xerxes visited the Trojan plain, he “went up to the Pergamon of Priam,” and afterwards sacrificed to the Ilian Athene (Herod., vii. 42). It is doubtful whether the “Pergamon” meant was at the Greek Ilium, or at another site (to be mentioned presently), Bunárbashi; strong reasons in favour of the latter have lately been adduced by Mr George Nikolaides, in his Ίλιάδος Στρατηγική ∆ιaσκεvή. In the 4th century Ilion is mentioned among the towns of the Troad which yielded to Dercyllidas (399 b.c. ), and as captured by Charidemus (359 b.c.). It possessed walls, but was a petty place, of little strength. In 344 b.c. Alexander, on landing in the Troad, visited Ilium. In their temple of Athene the Ilians showed him arms which had served in the Trojan war, including the shield of Achilles. Either then, or after the battle of Granicus, Alexander directed that the town should be enlarged, and should have the rank of “city,” with political independence, and exemption from tribute. The battle of Ipsus (301 b.c. ) added north-western Asia Minor to the dominions of Lysimachus, who executed the intentions of Alexander. He gave Ilium a wall 5 miles in circumference, incorporating with it some decayed towns of the neighbourhood, and built a handsome temple of Athene. In the 3d century B.C. Ilium was the head of a federal league (κοινόν ) of free Greek towns, which probably included the district from Lampsacus on the Hellespont to Gargara on the Adramyttian Gulf. Twice in that century Ilium was visited by Gauls. On the first occasion (278 b.c. ) the Gauls, under Lutarius, sought to establish a stronghold at Ilium, but speedily abandoned it as being too weak for their purpose. Forty years later (218 b.c.) Gauls were brought over by Attalus I. to help him in his war against Achaeus. After deserting his standard they proceeded to pillage the towns on the Hellespont, and finally besieged Ilium, from which, however, they were driven off by the troops of Alexandria Troas. At the beginning of the 2d century b.c. Ilium was in a state of decay. As Demetrius of Scepsis tells us, the houses “had not even roofs of tiles,” but merely of thatch. Such a loss of prosperity is sufficiently explained by the incursions of the Gauls and the insecure state of the Troad during the latter part of the 3d century. The temple of the Ilian Athene, however, retained its prestige. In 192 b.c. Antiochus the Great visited it before sailing to the aid of the Aetolians. In 190 B.C., shortly before the battle of Magnesia, the Romans came into the Troad. At the moment when a Roman army was entering Asia, it was politic to recall the legend of Roman descent from Aeneas. Lucius Scipio and the Ilians were alike eager to do so. He offered sacrifice to the Ilian Athene; and after the peace with Antiochus (189 b.c.) the Romans annexed Rhoeteum and Gergis to Ilium, “not so much in reward of recent services, as in memory of the source from which their nation sprang.” The later history of Ilium is little more than that of Roman benefits. A disaster befell the place in 85 b.c., when Fimbria took it, and left it in ruins; but Sulla presently caused it to be rebuilt. Augustus, while confirming its ancient privileges, gave it new territory. Caracalla (211-217 a.d.) visited Ilium, and like Alexander paid honours to the tomb of Achilles. The latest coins found on the site are those of Constantius II. (337-361). In the 4th century, as some rhetorical “Letters” of that age show, the Ilians still did a profitable trade in attracting tourists by their pseudo-Trojan memorials. After the 4th century the place is lost to view. But we find from Constantine Porphyrogenitus (911-959) that in his day it was one of the places in the Troad which gave names to bishoprics.

While the Greek Ilium at Hissarlik owed its importance to a sham pretension, which amused sight-seers and occasionally served politicians, Assus, on the south coast, has an interest of a more genuine kind, and is, indeed, a better type of ancient town-life in the Troad. Its situation is one of the most magnificent in all the Greek lands. The seaward faces of the isolated and sea-washed rock on which Assus stood are carved to south and south-west into terraces. The natural cleavage of the trachyte into joint planes had already scarped out shelves which it was comparatively easy for human labour to shape; and so, high up on this cone of trachyte, the Greek town of Assus was built, with its colonnades, baths, theatre, its public walks and its monuments of the dead, mounting tier above tier, till the summit of the crag λvas crowned with a Doric temple of Athene. The view from the summit is not only very beautiful but also of great historical interest. In front is Lesbos, one of whose towns, Methymna, is said to have sent forth the founders of Assus, as early, perhaps, as 1000 or 900 B.C. The whole south coast-line of the Troad is seen, and in the south-east the ancient territory of Pergamum, from whose masters the possession of Assus passed to Rome by the bequest of Attalus III. (133 b.c.). The great heights of Ida rise in the east. Northward the Touzla is seen winding through its rich valley from a rocky defile in the east to the oak-forests in the western hills. This valley was traversed by the road which St Paul must have followed when he came overland from Alexandria Troas to Assus, leaving his fellow-travellers to proceed by sea. The north-west gateway of Assus, to which this road led, is still flanked by two massive towers, of Hellenic work, and of an age which leaves no doubt that they are the same between which St Paul entered the town. On the shore below, the ancient mole at which he embarked for Mytilene with his companions can still be traced by large blocks under the clear water. Assus affords the only harbour on the 50 miles of coast between Cape Lectum and the east end of the Adramyttian Gulf; hence it must always have been the chief shipping-place for the exports of the southern Troad. Too much off the highways to become a centre of import trade, it was thus destined to be a commercial town, content with a modest provincial prosperity. The great natural strength of the site protected it against petty assailants; but, like other towns in that region, it has known many masters,— Lydians, Persians, the kings of Pergamum, Romans, and Ottoman Turks. From the Persian wars to about 350 b.c. Assus enjoyed at least partial independence. It was about 348-345 b.c. that Aristotle spent three years at Assus with Hermeas, an ex-slave who had succeeded his former master Eubulus as despot of Assus and Atarneus. Aristotle has left some verses from an invocation to Arete (Virtue), commemorating the worth of Hermeas, who had been seized by Persian treachery and put to death. Under its Turkish name of Beihram, Assus is still the commercial port of the southern Troad, being the place to which loads of valonia (acorn-cups for tanning) are conveyed by camels from all parts of the country. The recent excavations at Assus, conducted by explorers representing the Archaeological Institute of America, have yielded results far more valuable for the history of Greek art and architecture than any excavations yet undertaken in the Troad. The sculptures form one of the most important links yet discovered between Oriental and early Greek art, especially in respect of the types of animals. The later Hellenic town-walls of Assus also well repay the new study which they have received. With their ramparts, towers, and posterns they form the finest and most instructive extant specimen of Greek military engineering. The director of the exploration, Mr J. T. Clarke, published in 1882 an excellent report on the work so far as it had then been carried.

Alexandria Troas stood on the west coast at nearly its middle point, a little south of Tenedos. It was built by Antigonus, perhaps about 310 B.C., and was called by him Antigonia Troas. Early in the next century the name was changed by Lysimachus to Alexandria Troas, in honour of Alexander’s memory. As the chief port of north-west Asia Minor, the place prospered greatly in Roman times, and the existing remains sufficiently attest its former importance. The site is now covered with valonia oaks; but the circuit of the old walls can be traced, and in several places they are fairly well preserved. They had a circumference of about 6 English miles, and were fortified with towers at regular intervals. Remains of some ancient buildings, including a bath and gymnasium, can be traced within this area. The harbour had two large basins, now almost choked with sand. A Roman colony was sent to the place, as Strabo mentions, in the reign of Augustus. The abridged name “Troas” (Acts xvi. 8) was probably the current one in later Roman times. The site is now called Eski Stambul.

Many classical sites of less note in the Troad have been identified with more or less certainty. Neandria seems to be rightly fixed by Mr F. Calvert at Mount Chigri, a...