Note 1405 — Chapter I

Kramer proposes the insertion of ὤν before τῶν εἰρημένων ἀγκώνων ἐπ’ εὐθείας, 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.