ἔξω δὲ Ἀβύδου τὰ περὶ τὸ Ἴλιον ἔστι, τά τε παράλια ἕως Λεκτοῦ καὶ τὰ ἐν τῷ Τρωικῷ πεδίῳ καὶ τὰ παρώρεια τῆς Ἴδης τὰ ὑπὸ τῷ Αἰνείᾳ. διττῶς δὲ ταῦτʼ ὀνομάζει ὁ ποιητής, τοτὲ μὲν οὕτω λέγων Δαρδανίων αὖτʼ ἦρχεν ἐὺς πάις Ἀγχίσαο, / Δαρδανίους καλῶν, τοτὲ δὲ Δαρδάνους Τρῶες καὶ Λύκιοι καὶ Δάρδανοι ἀγχιμαχηταί. / εἰκὸς δʼ ἐνταῦθα ἱδρῦσθαι τὸ παλαιὸν τὴν λεγομένην ὑπὸ τοῦ ποιητοῦ Δαρδανίαν Δάρδανον αὖ πρῶτον τέκετο νεφεληγερέτα Ζεύς, / κτίσσε δὲ Δαρδανίην. / νῦν μὲν γὰρ οὐδʼ ἴχνος πόλεως σώζεται αὐτόθι.
Beyond Abydos are the parts about Ilium, the seacoast as far as Lectum, the places in the Trojan plain, and the country at the foot of Ida, which was subject to Aeneas. The poet names the Dardanii in two ways, speaking of them as Dardanii governed by the brave son of Anchises, / calling them Dardanii, and also Dardani; Troes, and Lycii, and close-fighting Dardani. /
It is probable that the Dardania, so called by the poet, was anciently situated there; Dardanus, the son of cloud-compelling Jupiter, founded Dardania: / at present there is not a vestige of a city.
εἰκάζει δὲ Πλάτων μετὰ τοὺς κατακλυσμοὺς τρία πολιτείας εἴδη συνίστασθαι· πρῶτον μὲν τὸ ἐπὶ τὰς ἀκρωρείας ἁπλοῦν τι καὶ ἄγριον, δεδιότων τὰ ὕδατα ἐπιπολάζοντα ἀκμὴν ἐν τοῖς πεδίοις· δεύτερον δὲ τὸ ἐν ταῖς ὑπωρείαις, θαρρούντων ἤδη κατὰ μικρόν, ἅτε δὴ καὶ τῶν πεδίων ἀρχομένων ἀναψύχεσθαι· τρίτον δὲ τὸ ἐν τοῖς πεδίοις. λέγοι δʼ ἄν τις καὶ τέταρτον καὶ πέμπτον ἴσως καὶ πλείω, ὕστατον δὲ τὸ ἐν τῇ παραλίᾳ καὶ ἐν ταῖς νήσοις, λελυμένου παντὸς τοῦ τοιούτου φόβου. τὸ γὰρ μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον θαρρεῖν πλησιάζειν τῇ θαλάττῃ πλείους ἂν ὑπογράφοι διαφορὰς πολιτειῶν καὶ ἠθῶν, καθάπερ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τε καὶ τῶν ἀγρίων ἔτι πως ἐπὶ τὸ ἥμερον τῶν δευτέρων ὑποβεβηκότων. ἔστι δέ τις διαφορὰ καὶ παρὰ τούτοις τῶν ἀγροίκων καὶ μεσαγροίκων καὶ πολιτικῶν· ἀφʼ ὧν ἤδη καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἀστεῖον καὶ ἄριστον ἦθος ἐτελεύτησεν ἡ τῶν ὀνομάτων κατʼ ὀλίγον μετάληψις, κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἠθῶν ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον μετάστασιν, παρὰ τὰς τῶν τόπων καὶ τῶν βίων μεταβολάς. ταύτας δὴ τὰς διαφορὰς ὑπογράφειν φησὶ τὸν ποιητὴν ὁ Πλάτων, τῆς μὲν πρώτης πολιτείας παράδειγμα τιθέντα τὸν τῶν Κυκλώπων βίον, αὐτοφυεῖς νεμομένων καρποὺς καὶ τὰς ἀκρωρείας κατεχόντων ἐν σπηλαίοις τισίν· ἀλλὰ τά γʼ ἄσπαρτα καὶ ἀνήροτα πάντα φύονται, / φησίν, αὐτοῖς· τοῖσιν δʼ οὐκ ἀγοραὶ βουληφόροι, οὔτε θέμιστες· / ἀλλʼ οἵ γʼ ὑψηλῶν ὀρέων ναίουσι κάρηνα / ἐν σπέσσι γλαφυροῖσι, θεμιστεύει δὲ ἕκαστος / παίδων ἠδʼ ἀλόχων. / τοῦ δὲ δευτέρου τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ Δαρδάνου κτίσσε δὲ Δαρδανίην, ἐπεὶ οὔπω Ἴλιος ἱρὴ / ἐν πεδίῳ πεπόλιστο, πόλις μερόπων ἀνθρώπων, / ἀλλʼ ἔθʼ ὑπωρείας ᾤκεον πολυπιδάκου Ἴδης / τοῦ δὲ τρίτου ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἴλου τὸν ἐν τοῖς πεδίοις. τοῦτον γὰρ παραδιδόασι τοῦ Ἰλίου κτίστην, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν λαβεῖν τὴν πόλιν· εἰκὸς δὲ καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐν μέσῳ τῷ πεδίῳ τεθάφθαι αὐτόν, ὅτι πρῶτος ἐθάρρησεν ἐν τοῖς πεδίοις θέσθαι τὴν κατοικίαν οἱ δὲ παρʼ Ἴλου σῆμα παλαιοῦ Δαρδανίδαο / μέσσον κὰπ πεδίον παρʼ ἐρινεὸν ἐσσεύοντο. / οὐδʼ οὗτος δὲ τελέως ἐθάρρησεν· οὐ γὰρ ἐνταῦθα ἵδρυσε τὴν πόλιν ὅπου νῦν ἔστιν, ἀλλὰ σχεδόν τι τριάκοντα σταδίοις ἀνωτέρω πρὸς ἕω καὶ πρὸς τὴν Ἴδην καὶ τὴν Δαρδανίαν κατὰ τὴν νῦν καλουμένην Ἰλιέων κώμην. οἱ δὲ νῦν Ἰλιεῖς φιλοδοξοῦντες καὶ θέλοντες εἶναι ταύτην τὴν παλαιὰν παρεσχήκασι λόγον τοῖς ἐκ τῆς Ὁμήρου ποιήσεως τεκμαιρομένοις· οὐ γὰρ ἔοικεν αὕτη εἶναι ἡ καθʼ Ὅμηρον. καὶ ἄλλοι δὲ ἱστοροῦσι πλείους μεταβεβληκέναι τόπους τὴν πόλιν, ὕστατα δʼ ἐνταῦθα συμμεῖναι κατὰ Κροῖσον μάλιστα. τὰς δὴ τοιαύτας μεταβάσεις εἰς τὰ κάτω μέρη τὰς τότε συμβαινούσας ὑπολαμβάνω καὶ βίων καὶ πολιτειῶν ὑπογράφειν διαφοράς. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν καὶ ἄλλοτε ἐπισκεπτέον.
Plato conjectures that, after the deluges, three kinds of communities were established; the first on the heights of the mountains, consisting of a simple and savage race, who had taken refuge there through dread of the waters, which overflowed the plains; the second, at the toot of the mountains, who regained courage by degrees, as the plains began to dry; the third, in the plains. But a fourth, and perhaps a fifth, or more communities might be supposed to be formed, the last of which might be on the sea-coast, and in the islands, after all fear of deluge was dissipated. For as men approached the sea with a greater or less degree of courage, we should have greater variety in forms of government, diversity also in manners and habits, according as a simple and savage people assumed the milder character of the second kind of community. There is, however, a distinction to be observed even among these, as of rustic, half rustic, and of civilized people. Among these finally arose a gradual change, and an assumption of names, applied to polished and high character, the result of an improved moral condition produced by a change of situation and mode of life. Plato says that the poet describes these differences, alleging as an example of the first form of society the mode of life among the Cyclops, who subsisted on the fruits of the earth growing spontaneously, and who occupied certain caves in the heights of mountains; all things grow there, he says, “without sowing seed, and without the plough. But they have no assemblies for consulting together, nor administration of laws, but live on the heights of lofty mountains, in deep caves, and each gives laws to his wife and children.
As an example of the second form of society, he alleges the mode of life und er Dardanus; he founded Dardania; for sacred Ilium was not yet a city in the plain with inhabitants, but they still dwelt at the foot of Ida abounding with streams.
An example of the third state of society is taken from that in the time of Ilus, when the people inhabited the plains. He is said to have been the founder of Ilium, from whom the city had its name. It is probable that for this reason he was buried in the middle of the plain, because he first ventured to make a settlement in it, they rushed through the middle of the plain by the wild fig-tree near the tomb of ancient Ilus, the son of Dardanus.
He did not, however, place entire confidence in the situation, for he did not build the city where it stands at present, but nearly thirty stadia higher to the east, towards Ida, and Dardania, near the present village of the Ilienses. The present Ilienses are ambitious of having it supposed that theirs is the ancient city, and have furnished a subject of discussion to those who form their conjectures from the poetry of Homer; but it does not seem to be the city meant by the poet. Other writers also relate, that the city had frequently changed its place, but at last about the time of Craesus it became stationary. Such changes, which then took place, from higher to lower situations, mark the differences, I conceive, which followed in the forms of government and modes of life. But we must examine this subject elsewhere.
τὴν δὲ τῶν Ἰλιέων πόλιν τῶν νῦν τέως μὲν κώμην εἶναί φασι τὸ ἱερὸν ἔχουσαν τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς μικρὸν καὶ εὐτελές, Ἀλέξανδρον δὲ ἀναβάντα μετὰ τὴν ἐπὶ Γρανίκῳ νίκην ἀναθήμασί τε κοσμῆσαι τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ προσαγορεῦσαι πόλιν καὶ οἰκοδομίαις ἀναλαβεῖν προστάξαι τοῖς ἐπιμεληταῖς ἐλευθέραν τε κρῖναι καὶ ἄφορον· ὕστερον δὲ μετὰ τὴν κατάλυσιν τῶν Περσῶν ἐπιστολὴν καταπέμψαι φιλάνθρωπον, ὑπισχνούμενον πόλιν τε ποιῆσαι μεγάλην καὶ ἱερὸν ἐπισημότατον καὶ ἀγῶνα ἀποδείξειν ἱερόν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκείνου τελευτὴν Λυσίμαχος μάλιστα τῆς πόλεως ἐπεμελήθη καὶ νεὼν κατεσκεύασε καὶ τεῖχος περιεβάλετο ὅσον τετταράκοντα σταδίων, συνῴκισέ τε εἰς αὐτὴν τὰς κύκλῳ πόλεις ἀρχαίας ἤδη κεκακωμένας, ὅτε καὶ Ἀλεξανδρείας ἤδη ἐπεμελήθη, συνῳκισμένης μὲν ἤδη ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου καὶ προσηγορευμένης Ἀντιγονείας, μεταβαλούσης δὲ τοὔνομα· ἔδοξε γὰρ εὐσεβὲς εἶναι τοὺς Ἀλέξανδρον διαδεξαμένους ἐκείνου πρότερον κτίζειν ἐπωνύμους πόλεις, εἶθʼ ἑαυτῶν· καὶ δὴ καὶ συνέμεινε καὶ αὔξησιν ἔσχε, νῦν δὲ καὶ Ῥωμαίων ἀποικίαν δέδεκται καὶ ἔστι τῶν ἐλλογίμων πόλεων.
The present city of Ilium was once, it is said, a village, containing a small and plain temple of Minerva; that Alexander, after his victory at the Granicus, came up, and decorated the temple with offerings, gave it the title of city, and ordered those who had the management of such things to improve it with new buildings; he declared it free and exempt from tribute. Afterwards, when he had destroyed the Persian empire, he sent a letter, expressed in kind terms, in which he promised the Ilienses to make theirs a great city, to build a temple of great magnificence, and to institute sacred games.
After the death of Alexander, it was Lysimachus who took the greatest interest in the welfare of the place; built a temple, and surrounded the city with a wall of about 40 stadia in extent. He settled here the inhabitants of the ancient cities around, which were in a dilapidated state. It was at this time that he directed his attention to Alexandreia, founded by Antigonus, and surnamed Antigonia, which was altered (into Alexandreia). For it appeared to be an act of pious duty in the successors of Alexander first to found cities which should bear his name, and afterwards those which should be called after their own. Alexandreia continued to exist, and became a large place; at present it has received a Roman colony, and is reckoned among celebrated cities.
καὶ τὸ Ἴλιον δʼ ὃ νῦν ἔστι κωμόπολίς τις ἦν, ὅτε πρῶτον Ῥωμαῖοι τῆς Ἀσίας ἐπέβησαν καὶ ἐξέβαλον Ἀντίοχον τὸν μέγαν ἐκ τῆς ἐντὸς τοῦ Ταύρου. φησὶ γοῦν Δημήτριος ὁ Σκήψιος, μειράκιον ἐπιδημήσας εἰς τὴν πόλιν κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς καιρούς, οὕτως ὠλιγωρημένην ἰδεῖν τὴν κατοικίαν ὥστε μηδὲ κεραμωτὰς ἔχειν τὰς στέγας· Ἡγησιάναξ δὲ τοὺς Γαλάτας περαιωθέντας ἐκ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἀναβῆναι μὲν εἰς τὴν πόλιν δεομένους ἐρύματος, παρὰ χρῆμα δʼ ἐκλιπεῖν διὰ τὸ ἀτείχιστον· ὕστερον δʼ ἐπανόρθωσιν ἔσχε πολλήν. εἶτʼ ἐκάκωσαν αὐτὴν πάλιν οἱ μετὰ Φιμβρίου Ῥωμαῖοι λαβόντες ἐκ πολιορκίας ἐν τῷ Μιθριδατικῷ πολέμῳ. συνεπέμφθη δὲ ὁ Φιμβρίας ὑπάτῳ Ὀυαλερίῳ Φλάκκῳ ταμίας προχειρισθέντι ἐπὶ τὸν Μιθριδάτην· καταστασιάσας δὲ καὶ ἀνελὼν τὸν ὕπατον κατὰ Βιθυνίαν αὐτὸς κατεστάθη κύριος τῆς στρατιᾶς, καὶ προελθὼν εἰς Ἴλιον, οὐ δεχομένων αὐτὸν τῶν Ἰλιέων ὡς λῃστήν, βίαν τε προσφέρει καὶ δεκαταίους αἱρεῖ· καυχωμένου δʼ ὅτι ἣν Ἀγαμέμνων πόλιν δεκάτῳ ἔτει μόλις εἷλε τὸν χιλιόναυν στόλον ἔχων καὶ τὴν σύμπασαν Ἑλλάδα συστρατεύουσαν, ταύτην αὐτὸς δεκάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ χειρώσαιτο, εἶπέ τις τῶν Ἰλιέων οὐ γὰρ ἦν Ἕκτωρ ὁ ὑπερμαχῶν τῆς πόλεως. τοῦτον μὲν οὖν ἐπελθὼν Σύλλας κατέλυσε, καὶ τὸν Μιθριδάτην κατὰ συμβάσεις εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν ἀπέπεμψε, τοὺς δʼ Ἰλιέας παρεμυθήσατο πολλοῖς ἐπανορθώμασι. καθʼ ἡμᾶς μέντοι Καῖσαρ ὁ θεὸς πολὺ πλέον αὐτῶν προὐνόησε ζηλώσας ἅμα καὶ Ἀλέξανδρον· ἐκεῖνος γὰρ κατὰ συγγενείας ἀνανέωσιν ὥρμησε προνοεῖν αὐτῶν, ἅμα καὶ φιλόμηρος ὤν· φέρεται γοῦν τις διόρθωσις τῆς Ὁμήρου ποιήσεως, ἡ ἐκ τοῦ νάρθηκος λεγομένη, τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου μετὰ τῶν περὶ Καλλισθένη καὶ Ἀνάξαρχον ἐπελθόντος καὶ σημειωσαμένου τινά, ἔπειτα καταθέντος εἰς νάρθηκα ὃν ηὗρεν ἐν τῇ Περσικῇ γάζῃ πολυτελῶς κατεσκευασμένον. κατά τε δὴ τὸν τοῦ ποιητοῦ ζῆλον καὶ κατὰ τὴν συγγένειαν τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν Αἰακιδῶν τῶν ἐν Μολοττοῖς βασιλευσάντων, παρʼ οἷς καὶ τὴν Ἀνδρομάχην ἱστοροῦσι βασιλεῦσαι τὴν Ἕκτορος γενομένην γυναῖκα, ἐφιλοφρονεῖτο πρὸς τοὺς Ἰλιέας ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος· ὁ δὲ Καῖσαρ καὶ φιλαλέξανδρος ὢν καὶ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς Ἰλιέας συγγενείας γνωριμώτερα ἔχων τεκμήρια, ἐπερρώσθη πρὸς τὴν εὐεργεσίαν νεανικῶς· γνωριμώτερα δέ, πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι Ῥωμαῖος, οἱ δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι τὸν Αἰνείαν ἀρχηγέτην ἡγοῦνται, ἔπειτα ὅτι Ἰούλιος ἀπὸ Ἰούλου τινὸς τῶν προγόνων· ἐκεῖνος δʼ ἀπὸ Ἰούλου τὴν προσωνυμίαν ἔσχε ταύτην, τῶν ἀπογόνων εἷς ὢν τῶν ἀπὸ Αἰνείου. χώραν τε δὴ προσένειμεν αὐτοῖς καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν καὶ τὴν ἀλειτουργησίαν αὐτοῖς συνεφύλαξε καὶ μέχρι νῦν συμμένουσιν ἐν τούτοις. ὅτι δʼ οὐκ ἐνταῦθα ἵδρυται τὸ παλαιὸν Ἴλιον καθʼ Ὅμηρον σκοποῦσιν, ἐκ τῶν τοιῶνδε τεκμαίρονται. πρότερον δὲ ὑπογραπτέον τοὺς τόπους ἀπὸ τῆς παραλίας ἀρξαμένους ἀφʼ ἧσπερ ἐλίπομεν.
The present Ilium was a kind of village-city, when the Romans first came into Asia and expelled Antiochus the Great from the country within the Taurus. Demetrius of Scepsis says that, when a youth, he came, in the course of his travels, to this city, about that time, and saw the houses so neglected that even the roofs were without tiles. Hegesianax also relates, that the Galatians, who crossed over from Europe, being in want of some strong-hold, went up to the city, but immediately left it, when they saw that it was not fortified with a wall; afterwards it underwent great reparation and improvement. It was again injured by the Romans under the command of Fimbrias. They took it by siege in the Mithridatic war. Fimbrias was sent as quaestor, with the consul Valerius Flaccus, who was appointed to carry on the war against Mithridates. But having excited a sedition, and put the consul to death in Bithynia, he placed himself at the head of the army and advanced towards Ilium, where the inhabitants refused to admit him into the city, as they regarded him as a robber. He had recourse to force, and took the city on the eleventh day. When he was boasting that he had taken a city on the eleventh day, which Agamemnon had reduced with difficulty in the tenth year of the siege with a fleet of a thousand vessels, and with the aid of the whole of Greece, one of the Ilienses replied, We had no Hector to defend the city.
Sylla afterwards came, defeated Fimbrias, and dismissed Mithridates, according to treaty, into his own territory. Sylla conciliated the Ilienses by extensive repairs of their city. In our time divus Caesar showed them still more favour, in imitation of Alexander. He was inclined to favour them, for the purpose of renewing his family connexion with the Ilienses, and as an admirer of Homer.
There exists a corrected copy of the poems of Homer, called the casket-copy. Alexander perused it in company with Callisthenes and Anaxarchus, and having made some marks and observations deposited it in a casket of costly workmanship which he found among the Persian treasures. On account then of his admiration of the poet and his descent from the Aeacidae, (who were kings of the Molossi, whose queen they say was Andromache, afterwards the wife of Hector,) Alexander treated the Ilienses with kindness.
But Caesar, who admired the character of Alexander, and had strong proofs of his affinity to the Ilienses, had the greatest possible desire to be their benefactor. The proofs of his affinity to the Ilienses were strong, first as being a Roman, —for the Romans consider Aeneas to be the founder of their race,—next he had the name of Julius, from Iulus, one of his ancestors, a descendant of Aeneas. He therefore assigned to them a district, and guaranteed their liberty with exemption from imposts, and they continue at present to enjoy these advantages. They maintain by this evidence that the ancient Ilium, even by Homer’s account, was not situated there. I must however first describe the places which commence from, the sea-coast, where I made the digression.
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