[34] From the mountainous tract of Ida near these places, two arms, he says, extend to the sea, one in the direction of Rhœteium, the other of Sigeium, forming a semicircle, and terminate in the plain at the same distance from the sea as the present Ilium, which is situated between the extremities of the above-mentioned arms, whereas the ancient Ilium was situated at their commencement. This space comprises the Simoïsian plain through which the Simoeis runs and the Scamandrian plain, watered by the Scamander. This latter plain is properly the plain of Troy, and Homer makes it the scene of the greatest part of his battles, for it is the widest of the two; and there we see the places named by him, the Erineos, the tomb of Æsyetes,1 Batieia, and the tomb of Ilus. With respect to the Scamander and the Simoeis, the former, after approaching Sigeium, and the latter Rhœteium, unite their streams a little in front of the present Ilium,2 and then empty themselves near Sigeium, and form as it is called the Stomalimne. Each of the above-mentioned plains is separated from the other by a long ridge3 which is in a straight line with the above-mentioned arms;4 the ridge begins at the pre- sent Ilium and is united to it; it extends as far as Cebrenia, and completes with the arms on each side the letter 0.
1 The position of the tomb of Æsyetes is said to be near a village called by the Turks Udjek, who also give the name Udjek-tepe to the tomb itself. The tomb of Ilus, it is presumed, must be in the neighbourhood of the ancient bed of Scamander, and Batieia below the village Bounarbachi.
2 This and the following paragraph more especially are at variance with the conjecture of those who place New Ilium at the village Tchiblak, situated beyond and to the north of the Simoïs.
3 As there are no mountains on the left bank of the Menderé, at the distance at which Demetrius places the town of the Ilienses, the long ridge or height of which Strabo speaks can only be referred to the hill of Tchiblak. In that case the Simoïs of Demetrius must be the stream Tchiblak, which modern maps represent as very small, but which Major Rennell, on authority as yet uncertain, extends considerably, giving it the name Shimar, which according to him recalls that of Simoïs.—Gos- sellin.
4 Kramer proposes the insertion of ὤν before τῶν εἰρηἐνων ἀγκώνων ἐπ᾽ εὺθείας, by which we are to understand that the extremities of the arms and of the ridge are in the same straight line. Groskurd reads μεταξὺ before τ. ε. α., changes the construction of the sentence, and reads the letter ψ instead of ε. His translation is as follows: ‘Both-mentioned plains are separated from each other by a long neck of land between the above-mentioned arms, which takes its commencement from the present Ilium and unites with it, extending itself in a straight line as far as Cebrenia, and forms with the arms on each side the letter ψ.’
The topography of the plain of Troy and its neighbourhood is not yet sufficiently known to be able to distinguish all the details given by Demetrius. It appears only that he took the Tchiblak for the Simoïs, and placed the plain of Troy to the right of the present Menderé, which he called the Scamander. This opinion, lately renewed by Major Rennell, presents great and even insurmountable difficulties when we endeavour to explain on this basis the principal circumstances of the Iliad. It must be remembered that in the time of Demetrius the remembrance of the position of ancient Troy was entirely lost, and that this author constantly reasoned on the hypothesis, much contested in his time, that the town of the Ilienses corresponded with that of ancient Ilium. Observations on the Topography of the plain of Troy by James Rennell.—Gossellin.
The Geography of Strabo. Literally translated, with notes, in three volumes. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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