Thomas Bulfinch (1796–1867). Age of Fable: Vols. I & II: Stories of Gods and Heroes. 1913.

XXVIII. d. Troy

AFTER hearing so much about the city of Troy and its heroes, the reader will perhaps be surprised to learn that the exact site of that famous city is still a matter of dispute. There are some vestiges of tombs on the plain which most nearly answers to the description given by Homer and the ancient geographers, but no other evidence of the former existence of a great city. Byron thus describes the present appearance of the scene:

“The winds are high, and Helle’s tide

Rolls darkly heaving to the main;

And night’s descending shadows hide

That field with blood bedewed in vain,

The desert of old Priam’s pride,

The tombs, sole relics of his reign,

All—save immortal dreams that could beguile

The blind old man of Scio’s rocky isle.”

Bride of Abydos.

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