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THE HOMERIC TOPOGRAPHY OF THE TROJAN PLAIN RECONSIDERED
Author(s) -
LUCE J. V.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
oxford journal of archaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1468-0092
pISSN - 0262-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0092.1984.tb00114.x
Subject(s) - shore , ridge , bay , archaeology , coastal plain , geology , ancient history , geography , history , paleontology , oceanography
Summary. Homeric passages bearing on the location of the Achaean camp at Troy are re‐examined in the light of new scientific data on the time‐scale for the alluviation of the Trojan plain. The new data confirm the accuracy of Strabo's account of the plain, and in particular of the shore‐line having come close to the Hisarlik site ( Novum Ilium ) in Hellenistic times. In the era of Troy VI/VII, c. 3,250 years BP, the shore‐line appears to have run west by south of the site, and a broad marine embayment lay between the city and the Sigeum ridge. It is therefore no longer possible to accept the received view (deriving from Schliemann and Leaf) that the Achaean camp was sited on the present shore‐line by the Hellespont. A new site is proposed for the camp on the lower slopes of the Sigeum ridge about four miles west of Hisarlik. It is argued that the indications in the Iliad are not inconsistent with such a siting, and in fact suit it better than the received view. This is shown with regard to the course of the Scamander, evidently pictured by Homer as running between camp and city, and also with respect to the general axis of the fighting on the plain, which is indicated to lie in an east‐west rather than a north‐south direction. The Besika Bay site, first proposed in 1912, is rejected as inconsistent with the Homeric data and unsatisfactory in itself.