Saturday, December 28, 2024

Peter Forschhammer describes annual flooding in the Plain of Troy

 Peter Forschhammer visited the plain of Troy in 1839.  In 1842 he published the following: 

There is no other plain in Asia Minor so much subjected to the influence of water as the plain of Troy is in the rainy season. The Mendere begins to rise as soon as the rains commence in the upper regions of Mount Ida. At its entrance into the lower plain it receives a considerable accession from the Kimar, which, rising far up in the mountains, is also affected by the early rains. The subterranean veins and channels of the mountain which feed the springs of the plain will also be gorged with water, and the probability is that even in this early part of the winter the three Asmaks of the Judan become large and continuous streams, the Akchi-Kevi-Asmak becomes an acting tributary of the Mendere, and a portion of the waters of the Bunarbashi-Su overflow its low eastern banks, and find their way into the bed of that river. As the winter advances the clouds fall down upon the lower Ida, and ultimately discharge themselves over the whole plain. With the exception of what is carried off by the artificial channel of the Bunarbashi-Su, the whole of the water of this side of Mount Ida is drained into the plain of Troy. The Mendere overflows its banks and forms the inundation river mentioned above. The rains of winter are generally accompanied by strong winds from the S.W., which obstruct the current of the Hellespont, and raise the sea- water above its ordinary level at the mouths of the Mendere and of the two Asmaks, thus impeding the current of the rivers and increasing the inundation in the lower part of the plain. The inundation thus created is permanent during the winter. At first it only covers the part of the plain adjoining the salt-water lagoons and the mouth of the Mendere, and up to the high steep banks of the Asmaks. In time, however, the extensive plain in the interior of Mount Ida, between Ene and Bairamiche, is converted into an immense lake, of which the narrow valley through which the Mendere flows between Ene and Bunarbashi is the only outlet. In this passage the water sometimes rises in winter 30 or 40 feet above the bottom of the river's summer bed, as may be seen by the grass left adhering to the trees on its banks. The whole plain of the Mendere is submerged, and at times even the valleys of the Kimar and the Dumbrek are overflowed to a considerable height. In them, however, the inundation rarely continues longer than five or six days at a time ; but it recurs at frequent intervals during the rainy season. 

Peter Forschammer, Observations on the Topography of Troy, P 35 

Forschhammer is saying that run off creates a lake between Ezine (Ene) and Bayramic (Bairamiche). He also tells us that the water in the canyon between Ezine and Pinarbasi (Bunarbashi) can rise 30-40 feet. 























Above: the area between Mt Ida (lower right) and Troy (upper left).  The distance from Bayramic to Ezine is greater than the length of the Trojan plain.  The lake at Bayramic is the reservoir of a modern dam. Forschhammer is right to say that "the whole of the water of this side of Mount Ida is drained into the plain of Troy."  
























Above: the canyon above Pinarbasi.  There is a modern dam just east of Pinarbasi, where the Mendere/Scamander enters the plain, so, the canyon is now a reservoir and full of water.  Some of this is surely deeper than the 30-40 feet Forschhammer estimated. 





































On the map above I've marked the two valleys and the lagoons Forschhammer mentions. 

All in all, he is talking about lots of water coming from three rivers into the plain all at once.   The inundation around the lagoons he calls "permanent in winter". The inundations in the two smaller valleys only last for five days or so, but that seems to imply that the inundations of the larger valley last longer. These would be the times when "The whole plain of the Mendere is submerged", which means the entire valley marked Plain of Troy in the map above is submerged.  




Thursday, December 12, 2024

Frank Calvert Drained Judan Lake

In earlier posts I have treated Judan Lake as an anomaly in the plain of Troy that appears on old maps but is no longer present in the plain.  

In my last post, Heinrich Schliemann described a swamp in the plain of Troy that was drained by Frank Calvert, who owned the land occupied by the swamp. 

In this post I will argue that the swamp drained by Calvert was in fact what the old maps call Judan Lake.  

If that thesis is right, then we can answer a question now.  Was the lake a result of human interventions in the plain or was it natural?  If the thesis is right, the lake was man made, though it was probably not ancient. It was caused by an old bridge which blocked up the drain ways of three springs.  

Peter Forschammer visited the plain and worked there with Thomas Spratt, whose maps of the plain are legendary among scholars.  His "Observations on the Topography of Troy" appeared in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London in 1842. He describes Lake Judan.

E. of the Mendere, and N.W. of the new Chiflik of Akchi Kevi, at the foot of three hills, in which a branch of the Chiblak range terminates, is a marshy lake, fed by springs called by the natives Judan (a water that never diminishes). From the Judan issue three Asmaks * Two of these flow N. of W. towards the sea ; the third flows in an opposite direction, and falls into the Kimar-Su.

 *Asmak is a term applied to channels which contain running water in winter only, and standing pools in summer. The beds of the Asmaks in the Trojan plain are commonly cut by the water through the flat soil, so that in many places they are not visible before you reach the edge of the steep bank.

Peter Forschammer, Observations on the Topography of Troy, P 30

What Forschammer is calling "the new Chiflik of Akchi Kevi" in 1842, is precisely the Chiflik owned by the Calvert family in the 1860's.  Schliemann called it Akshi Kioi.  Kevi and Kioi and Koy and Kuei are different ways of writing down the Turkish word for village. 

Schiemann reported that the swamp on the Calvert farm was caused by a fallen bridge which had blocked three springs.   

These springs — probably owing to their natural channels having been stopped up for centuries by a fallen bridge — have formed a large marsh of 240 acres, the evaporations of which greatly contribute to the malaria of the glorious Plain. ... In order to gain 240 acres of rich land and to make the district more healthy, but especially also in the interest of science, Mr. Calvert has now caused the channels to be opened, and he believes, as the incline is considerable, amounting at least to 53 feet, and the distance from the Hellespont is three hours, that by next summer the whole marsh will be dried up, and the two springs, which are now 5 feet under water, will be brought to light.

Schliemann, Troy and its Remains, 1875, p. 70f.  

About the swamp, Schliemann notes five years later that it "formerly covered an area of about 250 acres" and "has by the exertions of Mr. Calvert and his engineer, Mr. Stoney, been dried up and converted into the most valuable land; the three springs which produced it still exist" (Ilion, the City and Country of the Trojans, 1880, p. 99). So, in 1875 he thought there were two springs, but in 1880 he knows there were three.  The swamp was drained sometime between the writing of the two books.  

Another thing to note here: Forschammer says that the lake is the source of three Asmaks.  Two of them flow to the sea.  The third flows south toward the center of the plain where it meets with the Kimar Su which we know as Kamer Creek.  

The Greek for an arch is ... (kamara). The Turks have adopted the word, which they pronounce Kimar; and hence any water spanned by a bridge or aqueduct is called Kimar-Su, or, in the pronunciation of the Greeks, Kamara-Su.  ... The Kimar-Su has its name from a magnificent arch or aqueduct, founded on high rocks, 55 feet wide, and rising 92 feet above the bed of the river, which crosses it about 5 or 6 miles above its junction with the Mendere. Forschammer, 1842, p. 32f

The aqueduct is a Roman era construction that brought water to New Ilion on Hisarlik.  

Schliemann thinks differently from Forschammer about the Asmaks, claiming that "one arm of it rises in the Duden swamp on Mr. Calvert's farm of Akshi Kioi while another starts from the point where the Scamander and Thymbrius meet" (1880, 99).  He sees what Forschammer calls a third Asmak as the continuation of one of the Asmaks from the plain.  

In another contrast, Schliemann uses the term Duden Swamp, while Forschammer uses the term Judan Lake.  I am convinced that Judan and Duden are two ways of writing down the same Turkish word. 

After describing the rivers, Forschammer notes:

In addition to these watercourses the plain contains a number of swamps and marshes. Those which contain permanent lakes have been already noticed: they are, on the W. side of the Mendere, the marshes surrounding the springs which form the Bunarbashi-Su, and on the E. side, the sources of the three Judan Asmaks. Both are on a higher level than that of the central plain; the Bunarbashi swamps are much more extensive than those of the Judan. 

Forschammer 1842, p. 33 

In the above citation, Forschammer classifies what the maps call Judan Lake as a swamp or marsh that contains a permanent lake. He goes on here to describe the swamp at Yeni Koy as dry during part of the year.  He then describes another marsh on Kamer Creek. 

In the plain the bed of the [Kimar] river increases in breadth, and after passing the last height to the N. divides into three arms which re-unite near the Chiflik of Akchi-Kevi, where the water begins to re-appear at intervals. About 100 yards farther on the river passes through a little marshy wood called Baluk (a place for honey), at the lower end of which the channels of the Akchi-Kevi-Asmak meet those of the Kimar. The marsh was quite dry in the month of August; but a deep and well-defined bed, with a smaller one by its side, could be traced from it to the Mendere, through which the waters of the Kimar and Akchi-Kevi- Asmak find their way in the wet season.  P 33

Forschammer 1842, p. 33

This marsh occurred at the meeting point of the Asmak and the Kimar, south of Hanai Tepe.  

Below are two views from a map of the area provided by Schliemann's 1875 work. 


The area Schliemann has labeled "Marshy" is Judan Lake, or Duden Swamp as his own works call it. 

Coming out the south side of that marshy area we see a dotted line that represents what Schliemann thinks of as a continuation of the Asmak, but which Forschammer calls the Akchi-Kevi-Asmak. While Forschammer says that this Asmak flows downhill toward the center of the plain, Schliemann seems to think that it brings water from the Mendere to the Asmaks, which would have the water flow uphill, I believe. 

There is a bridge marked on the NW side of the marshy area.  That is probably the bridge that Frank Calvert removed to allow the swamp to drain into the Asmaks, one of which Schliemann likes to label the Ancient Bed of the Scamander.  Forschammer describes that very bridge. 

Some indications of ancient buildings are found on the hills above the Judan, near Akchi-Kevi. They are extensive, although there is no appearance of a town wall. Near them, and now surrounded by the marshy lake, is a bridge, 20 feet wide, across the channel of the Kalifatli-Asmak. It is evident that the extension of the lake must have rendered this bridge impassable to carriages for many centuries; the stones of the arch are about 1 1/2 foot in thickness, and yet the wheels of carriages have worn not merely deep tracks, but positively large holes through them. It is impossible to assign a date to this bridge, or to any of the bridges of square blocks for foot passengers which are pointed out on the map. 

Forschammer, 1842 p. 40  

He describes a somewhat spectacular ruin with amazingly deeply rutted stones.  It seems to be partly submerged if the lake has made it unusable.  Forschammer's 1842 piece provides a Spratt map. Below is the same area as seen on that map. 





















On the NW side of "Judan Lake," this map shows a Br in Ruins, which means Bridge in Ruins.  Notice that the map maker marks two more bridges, Br, along the Pasha Tepe Asmak.  That Br in Ruins is probably the bridge that Frank Calvert, the eventual owner of "Akschi Keui Chiflik," removed, allowing the marsh and lake to drain away into the Asmaks. 

Another Spratt map shows the same area with a different emphasis.  





















This map does not label the marshy area west of Akshi Kioi, but it does draw the signs of marshiness there, as it does south of Kanai Tepe.  It also shows a Ru. Ant. Bridge, ruined ancient bridge, at the top of the meeting point of the two Asmaks.  And that is yet another representation of the bridge that Frank Calvert removed in order to drain what Virchow and Schliemann call Duden Swamp, and what Spratt and Forschammer call Judan Lake. 





















On this final map, from Schliemann's 1880, the area in question is labeled Duden Swamp, and we see a bridge over the Asmak on its NW side. 

Also worth noting: between 1875 and 1880 Schliemann has changed his mind as to which of the Asmaks used to be the Scamander.  


Conclusion: 

I believe that the anomaly known as Judan Lake has been explained.  It was not a remnant of an ancient water control system as I had once suspected it might be. 

It was instead a swamp caused by a fallen bridge.  The lake disappeared after Frank Calvert removed the ruins of the bridge.  


Mea Culpa

In writing the last two entries on this blog I have come to realize that I have been making a huge mistake in looking at the satellite images while thinking about the Spratt maps.  I have been placing Judan Lake in the wrong place.  It belongs much further up the plain than three of my prior posts have placed it.  I will be updating with disclaimers on all of those posts in the future.   




Sunday, November 10, 2024

Heinrich Schliemann describes a swamp in the plain of Troy

Homer never mentions a river called Thymbrius.  Other authors do, however.  The temple of Apollo Thymbrius was supposed to be near the place where the river Thymbrius met the Scamander river. What we now know as Kemer Creek is the body of water most commonly identified as the Thymbrius.  It joins the Scamander/Karamendere at the top of the plain of Troy, about 5 miles southeast of the citadel at Hisarlik. Hanai Tepe, a small settlement mound, is nearby the confluence of the two rivers.  If there ever was a temple of Apollo Thymbrius, perhaps it was in the vicinity of Hanai Tepe.  

In his work of 1880, Ilios, The City and Country of the Trojans, Henrich Schliemann cites several sources while discussing the rivers in the plain.  Here is one of them.  

M. Burnouf makes the following remarks upon the river : “The Thymbrius flows in the hollow of a valley between the hills of Akshi Kioi and the heights to the south. It is about 30 ft. broad. Its banks are steep; it is perfectly limpid, and is overshadowed by large trees. Its banks, which are from 10 to 12 ft. high, show two very distinct layers : first, a modern alluvium, consisting of earth washed down by the rains from the hills; secondly, below this, a thick layer of plastic clay, analogous to that which forms the soil of the plain of the Scamander. The confluence of the Thymbrius and the Scamander is not difficult to determine,* since the banks are high. During the inundations, the great polygon formed by the Thymbrius, the Scamander, and the hills to the east, becomes covered with water, which runs with great impetuosity in an easterly direction ; inundates the swamp (now rendered salubrious) to the north of Akshi Kioi; pours into the large bed of the Kalifatl Asmak, which is identical with the ancient bed of the Scamander; and forms other streams, which flow in the same direction. On the 18th of May, 1879, we saw this whole plain covered with dead trees and branches, which had been carried away in the same direction, and caught by the bushes of the agnus-castus and tamarisk.” 

*  This means that the banks of the river are not obliterated, and do not confound themselves with the plain. (Schliemann, City and Country of the Trojans, p 78)

Frank Calvert wrote appendices for Schliemann.  On page 707, in his appendix on "Thymbra and Hanai Tepe", Calvert writes: "Thymbra was identified by Hobhouse with Akshi Kioi (the present Thymbra Farm), and Barker Webb recognized the Thymbrius in the Kemar Su."  


Hanai Tepe is at the southern end of a raised area NNE of the confluence of Kemer Creek and the Karamendere.  Thymbra Farm is the property owned by Frank Calvert.  "At a mile’s distance in a north-westerly direction lies the beautiful estate belonging to my friend Mr. Calvert, the old name of which—Akshi Kioi or Batak (which latter means “swamp ”)—has now been changed into Thymbra" (p108).

The entry in Schliemann's Index: "Akshi Kioi or Batak (i.e. “swamp ”), village, depopulated by plague, and replaced by farm of Thymbra, 99; site of the ancient historic Thymbra, 719. See Thymbra." (p 753)

In his work of 1875, Troy and its Remains, Schliemann tells the story of the swamp on Calvert's farm. 

At half-an hour's distance to the left of Bunarbashi is the beautiful estate of 5000 acres, whose name of Batak is now changed into Thymbria, belonging to my friend Mr. Frederick Calvert. It deserves the change of name for more than one reason ; for not only does the river Thymbrius (now Kemer) flow through it, but it comprises the whole site of the ancient town of Thymbria, with its temple of Apollo, among the ruins of which the proprietor's brother, Mr. Frank Calvert — known for his archaeological investigations — is making excavations, and has found several valuable inscriptions ; among others, an inventory of the temple. ... These springs — probably owing to their natural channels having been stopped up for centuries by a fallen bridge — have formed a large marsh of 240 acres, the evaporations of which greatly contribute to the malaria of the glorious Plain. ... In order to gain 240 acres of rich land and to make the district more healthy, but especially also in the interest of science, Mr. Calvert has now caused the channels to be opened, and he believes, as the incline is considerable, amounting at least to 53 feet, and the distance from the Hellespont is three hours, that by next summer the whole marsh will be dried up, and the two springs, which are now 5 feet under water, will be brought to light.* (p70f)

About the Kalifatli Asmak Schliemann writes in 1880 that "one arm of it rises in the Duden swamp on Mr. Calvert's farm of Akshi Kioi while another starts from the point where the Scamander and Thymbrius meet". About the swamp, Schliemann notes that it "formerly covered an area of about 250 acres" and "has by the exertions of Mr. Calvert and his engineer, Mr. Stoney, been dried up and converted into the most valuable land; the three springs which produced it still exist" (99f). 

Apparently there were three springs, not two, in the swamp.  

The picture below shows the confluence and the locations of Hanai Tepe, Frank Calvert's farm, and the anomaly on Kemer Creek about which I have written before.  


Schlieman continues: 

Professor Virchow says: “There can be no doubt whatever that the volume of water which once flowed in the bed of the Kalifatli Asmak was much larger than that which now flows in it, even at the period of the inundations. Its bed answers so well to a great and powerfully working stream, that the present river appears only as a residue of its former wealth. Where was formerly water, there are now broad edges of bank overgrown with bushes, and now and then showing deeply-indented borders. In places here and there are still deep bays, of whose origin the present current offers no explanation. In many places, especially on the left bank, are rows of sand-hills, which must once have been formed by alluvium; they are at present so high that even their foot is never reached by the water. The common sources of the Asmak in the Duden swamp, close to Akshi Kioi, are not copious enough to feed a large river." (1880, 84f)

Virchow points to a swamp near Akshi Kioi/Thymbra Farm as the source of the Asmak on the eastern side of the plain. (An Asmak is a body of water that flows for only part of the year, and is standing pools during another part.)

Two things I take away from this.  

1. There was a body of water north of Akshi Kioi/Thymbra Farm at one time. 

2. The waters north of Akshi Kioi/Thymbra Farm were the source of the waterways on the east side of the upper plain. 

I have speculated that the anomaly on Kamer Creek was a dam on the old river bed, and that the dam created a reservoir that then flowed off to the east side of the plain.  That reservoir would have filled the entire area north of the former Thymbra Farm, precisely where Burnouf reports a swamp.  

The swamp on Calvert's land is not shown on the 1850's Spratt map below, but the two arms of the Asmak are.  
























Spratt shows the upper arm of the Asmak ending at Akchi Keui Chiflik.  Chiflik indicates a private holding of some kind, possibly a farm.  This map clearly shows the ridge running down to Kanai Tepe (= Hanai Tepe).  Eski Akchi Keui means Original Akchi Village, this is the location of the old village that was depopulated by plague. It sits further north on the same ridge as the Calvert property and Hanai Tepe. 


Friday, November 1, 2024

Herodotus on the Causes of the Trojan War

These are the first lines of Herodotus' Histories.  So these lines are known as Histories I, 1-6. They tell an alternative story about the outbreak of the Trojan war. 

This is the text of the inquiry of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, so that things done by man may not be forgotten in time, and that great and marvelous deeds, some displayed by the Hellenes, some by the barbarians, not lose their glory, including among others what was the cause of their waging war on each other.

The Persian learned men say that the Phoenicians were the cause of the dispute. These (they say) came to our seas from the sea which is called Red,1 and having settled in the country which they still occupy, at once began to make long voyages. Among other places to which they carried Egyptian and Assyrian merchandise, they came to Argos, [2] which was at that time preeminent in every way among the people of what is now called Hellas. The Phoenicians came to Argos, and set out their cargo. [3] On the fifth or sixth day after their arrival, when their wares were almost all sold, many women came to the shore and among them especially the daughter of the king, whose name was Io (according to Persians and Greeks alike), the daughter of Inachus. [4] As these stood about the stern of the ship bargaining for the wares they liked, the Phoenicians incited one another to set upon them. Most of the women escaped: Io and others were seized and thrown into the ship, which then sailed away for Egypt. 2.

In this way, the Persians say (and not as the Greeks), was how Io came to Egypt, and this, according to them, was the first wrong that was done. Next, according to their story, some Greeks (they cannot say who) landed at Tyre in Phoenicia and carried off the king's daughter Europa. These Greeks must, I suppose, have been Cretans. So far, then, the account between them was balanced. But after this (they say), it was the Greeks who were guilty of the second wrong. [2] They sailed in a long ship to Aea, a city of the Colchians, and to the river Phasis:2 and when they had done the business for which they came, they carried off the king's daughter Medea. [3] When the Colchian king sent a herald to demand reparation for the robbery and restitution of his daughter, the Greeks replied that, as they had been refused reparation for the abduction of the Argive Io, they would not make any to the Colchians. 3.

Then (they say), in the second generation after this, Alexandrus, son of Priam, who had heard this tale, decided to get himself a wife from Hellas by capture; for he was confident that he would not suffer punishment. [2] So he carried off Helen. The Greeks first resolved to send messengers demanding that Helen be restored and atonement made for the seizure; but when this proposal was made, the Trojans pleaded the seizure of Medea, and reminded the Greeks that they asked reparation from others, yet made none themselves, nor gave up the booty when asked. 4.

So far it was a matter of mere seizure on both sides. But after this (the Persians say), the Greeks were very much to blame; for they invaded Asia before the Persians attacked Europe. [2] “We think,” they say, “that it is unjust to carry women off. But to be anxious to avenge rape is foolish: wise men take no notice of such things. For plainly the women would never have been carried away, had they not wanted it themselves. [3] We of Asia did not deign to notice the seizure of our women; but the Greeks, for the sake of a Lacedaemonian woman, recruited a great armada, came to Asia, and destroyed the power of Priam. [4] Ever since then we have regarded Greeks as our enemies.” For the Persians claim Asia for their own, and the foreign peoples that inhabit it; Europe and the Greek people they consider to be separate from them. 5.

Such is the Persian account; in their opinion, it was the taking of Troy which began their hatred of the Greeks. [2] But the Phoenicians do not tell the same story about Io as the Persians. They say that they did not carry her off to Egypt by force. She had intercourse in Argos with the captain of the ship. Then, finding herself pregnant, she was ashamed to have her parents know it, and so, lest they discover her condition, she sailed away with the Phoenicians of her own accord. [3]

These are the stories of the Persians and the Phoenicians. For my part, I shall not say that this or that story is true, but I shall identify the one who I myself know did the Greeks unjust deeds, and thus proceed with my history, and speak of small and great cities of men alike. 6.

As you can see, Helen is still the issue in Herodotus' version of events, but she is just one in a series of abductions.  A Phoenician ship abducted Io, and then a Greek ship abducted a Phoenician princess called Europa. Then another Greek ship abducted Medea from Colchis. This is followed by the abduction of Helen by a Trojan prince, in retaliation for the abduction of Medea.  Thus there were retaliatory abductions of high status women going on.  

The usual story of how Medea left Colchis is, of course, the story of Jason and the Argonauts, in which Medea uses her magical powers to help Jason steal the golden fleece from her father, a powerful sorcerer, then flees to Greece aboard the Argos with Jason and her brother. This is no abduction because she goes willingly, eventually marrying Jason and becoming his queen when he takes the throne.  Similarly, the usual story is that Helen, the queen of Sparta, fell in love with Paris, a mere prince, via the agency of Aphrodite, and went with him willingly to Troy.  

Meanwhile, Io is one of many mortal women with whom Zeus fell in love. He turned her into a cow to hide her from his jealous wife. After many adventures he turned her back into a human. 






Thursday, June 27, 2024

On Atlantis, Graham Hancock and Ignatius Donnelly

Perhaps the most pernicious habit of Atlantis interpreters is the one pointed out by Dr Miano on Youtube: The typical Atlantis interpreter adopts the "8000-9000 years ago" time frame and very nearly NOTHING ELSE from the original story.  In fact, aside from believing Plato on the date, they seem to have little or no interest in Plato's Atlantis.  Lots of interpreters take up the description of the city with its alternating rings of water and earth. But plenty leave that out.  Those who do will usually concentrate on other matters, such as the size and shape of the plain of Atlantis, or its location.  

The war against the Greeks?  Rarely emphasized.  The ten kings of Atlantis?  Rarely mentioned. The bull ritual that the kings perform?  Rarely mentioned.  The large, oddly shaped temple of Poseidon in the center of town? Rarely mentioned. The loss of Greek literacy? Rarely mentioned. The Egyptian priest's claim that his people wrote down the story of Atlantis contemporaneously with the actual events?  Rarely mentioned.  The destruction both of Greek elites and of Atlantis on the same day in the same "flood from heaven"?  Rarely mentioned.  

Another irritating aspect of Atlantis talk is that there are several widely-shared ideas about Atlantis that do not come from the story by Plato. They come from a bastardization of the story that was invented by Ignatius Donnelly.  Plato never said that Atlantis was "advanced." Donnelly did. Plato never said that Atlantis traded with all the continents, but Donnelly did. Plato never mentioned or talked about survivors of Atlantis, but Donnelly did.  

Perhaps we should judge Atlantis interpretations by how much of Plato they can actually interpret. The best interpretations take in the most statements from the original story. The worst interpretations ignore the greatest number of remarks from Plato. 

If that were the standard, interpreters working in the shadow of Donnelly would suffer severely.  Hardly a word of Plato is found in them.  This is not because Donnelly did not discuss Plato. He did.  His 1882 book, The Antediluvian World, opens by reciting the entire Atlantis tale, including the full text from both Timaeus and Critias.  

A quick perusal of Donnelly's table of contents will show good readers exactly what he was up to.  







I don't know why this wikibook does not have links for Part V, but there it is.  

Donnelly includes Plato's entire tale of Atlantis on pages 5-22 of his book.  After that, Plato steps away and Donnelly's speculations take center stage.  

The main reason Donnelly's followers do not discuss Plato is probably that they have taken from Donnelly (and the zeitgeist he inspired) a completely wrong-headed approach to the Atlantis tale. Donnelly treats the Atlantis tale as if it is a story about a lost world.  That is a wrong emphasis.  The tale is about a war.  The loss of Atlantis is not the reason for telling the story.  The reason to tell it is to recall a great war.  

In addition, Donnelly treats the tale as a platform for his own speculations.  He does not seek to understand it or to interpret it.  He aims to promote his own ideas about it.  

Followers of Donnelly have fallen for both of these wrong headed approaches.  They treat all of Plato's remarks as though they boil down to saying there is a lost world, then they bring their own ideas into the story and talk about its location or influence.  

In Part II above, Donnelly teaches the world to conflate all ancient mentions of floods from around the world and to imagine that they all refer to a single event.  The Atlantis tale alone mentions several distinct and important floods, but that does not phase Donnelly.  He ignores the details of the story.  

Dr Miano has commented at length on Graham Hancock's depressing habit of conflating all flood myths from around the world, from all times and places, as if they all attempt to recall or warn about a single ancient event.  



Hancock learned this trick from Donnelly.  Or better, it was Donnelly who made the world ready to believe that all ancient flood myths might refer to the same event. Hancock gets an easy skate on this matter because Donnelly's ideas have been around for 140 years.  

The rest of Donnelly's table of contents demonstrates that Hancock gets almost his entire world view from Donnelly.  Or better: Donnelly made the world ready to recognize and not contest the rest of Hancock's story.  Donnelly came up with the idea of pretending to discover Atlantis as a forgotten meaning behind ancient literature and religion.  Donnelly came up with the idea of looking for similarities in artifacts from around the world and explaining them as derivatives from Atlantis. He began the habit of treating similarly shaped buildings around the world as if they might all have a single origin in Atlantis. Donnelly came up with the idea of treating ancient cultures as colonies of Atlantis. Hancock has dropped the unpopular word colony.  Aside from that, his thinking is very much in the groove laid down by Donnelly.  His vaguely defined advanced civilization in North America is nothing more than Atlantis moved to the shores of North America.   

In his work of 1883, Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel, Donnelly defends at length the hypothesis that a comet hit the earth and destroyed a high civilization ~12,000 years ago, or ~10,000bce.  This puts its date close to that of Atlantis as dated by Plato's tale, ~9560bce.  In this work, Donnelly compiles and blurs his eyes over a large collection of ancient myths and tales about fires, concluding that they all discuss a single event, namely, his proposed comet strike.  

So, all ancient stories about floods are or might be about one flood, and all ancient stories about fires are or might be about one fire. 

Hancock follows Donnelly down the comet strike trail as well.  This move lets him point to almost any ancient artifact that can be construed as astronomical and treat it as if its original motive and meaning has to do with an ancient comet strike during the younger dryas.  This is the form Hancock applies to Gobekli Tepe.  He looks at a carving on a pillar, imagines that it has to do with constellations, then connects his imaginary star map with a comet strike.  It is pure Donnelly.  

In fact, Hancock has been doing Donnelly and almost nothing but Donnelly for a long, long time. The ancient aliens crowd have been doing almost nothing but Stichen and Von Daniken for a long, long time. Hancock is no more original than those clowns.  


Wednesday, March 20, 2024

24 Anomalies in the Plain of Troy



"From Hısarlık, we can see several other mounds."

In Search of the Real Troy 

https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/200501/in.search.of.the.real.troy.htm



Below is a list of the anomalies discussed so far on this blog.  All of them have been discussed already, either on the page about the Top Ten Anomalies (A) in the plain, or on the page adding Six More Anomalies (B).  I also have a page about Declivities in the Plain (C) where some of these are discussed.  Others were discussed in posts specific to them individually.  This list demonstrates the thesis that the plain of Troy is heavily distorted by what appear to be human interventions



1 The large mound in front of Hisarlik.  

2 The marsh in the mound in front of Hisarlik

3 The Kesik Cut through the coastal cliffs at Lisgar Marsh* (A)

4 The large berm SW of Kalafat (A)

5, 6 The two mounds west of Kalafat (A)

7 The large declivity west of Kalafat (A,C)

8 The smaller declivity between the mound and the berm SW of Kalafat (A,C)

9 The cut through the inland ridge at Besik Bay* (B)

10 The marsh SW of Kalafat  (A,C)

11 The structure in the marsh SW of Kalafat  

12, 13 The two mounds below Pinarbasi (B)

14 Judan Lake** (B, C)

15 The raised area east of Lisgar Marsh (B)

16 The strange shapes at the top of the plain (B)

17 The odd shapes near Kalafat (B)

18 The berm on Kamer Creek

19 The mound NW of the great mound 

20 The waterway that starts in the middle of the plain 

21, 22 The two sand deposits at two ends of the great mound. 

23. The raised straight line NW of the great mound. 

24. The 2.5 kilometer long mostly straight, raised line near the top of the plain.  


* technically not in the plain 

** no longer exists















Historical Descriptions of the Hill at Kumkale

 Let's begin with a statement from Walter Leaf,  Troy, A study in Homeric Geography  (1912)  Firstly, as to the "spring of the plai...