At one point in Laws, Plato cites Homer, then comments on him. I recite the passage below, then comment on it.
Plato Laws, 681e-682e
Plato cites part of a speech from Aeneas describing his royal lineage extending from Dardanus.
Dardania he founded when as yet
The Holy keep of Ilium was not built
Upon the plain, a town for mortal folk,
But still they dwelt upon the highland slopes
Of many-fountained Ida.
”Hom. Il. 20.216 ff.
...
Athenian
Ilium was founded, we say, after moving from the highlands down to a large and noble plain, on a hill of no great height which had many rivers flowing down from Ida above.
Clinias
So they say.
Athenian
And do we not suppose that this took place many ages after the Deluge?
Clinias
Many ages after, no doubt.
Athenian
At any rate they seem to have been strangely forgetful of the catastrophe now mentioned, since they placed their city, as described, under a number of rivers descending from the mount, and relied for their safety upon hillocks of no great height.
Clinias
So it is evident that they were removed by quite a long interval from that calamity.
Athenian
By this time, too, as mankind multiplied, many other cities had been founded.
Clinias
Of course.
Athenian
And these cities also made attacks on Ilium, probably by sea too, as well as by land, since by this time all made use of the sea fearlessly.
Clinias
So it appears.
Athenian
And after a stay of ten years the Achaeans sacked Troy.
Clinias
Very true.
Athenian
Now during this period of ten years, while the siege lasted, the affairs of each of the besiegers at home suffered much owing to the seditious conduct of the young men. For when the soldiers returned to their own cities and homes, these young people did not receive them fittingly and justly, but in such a way that there ensued a vast number of cases of death, slaughter, and exile. So they, being again driven out, migrated by sea; and because Dorieus was the man who then banded together the exiles, they got the new name of “Dorians,” instead of “Achaeans.” But as to all the events that follow this, you Lacedaemonians relate them all fully in your traditions.
Megillus
Quite true.
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Plato agrees with Homer that Troy was founded by persons who moved down from Mt Ida to a "plain" and seems to think it is a city protected from flooding only by "hillocks of not great height".
The city was in "a large and noble plain, on a hill of no great height".
The ridge at Hisarlik is not a hill. Hisarlik is a knoll at the far western end of a 15-20 meter tall ridge line that extends for a couple miles. Its 55 feet above the plain seems like a great height.
In addition, Hisarlik is not subject to perennial flooding. The plain is. But Plato is emphasizing flood risk, saying that the city was beneath "a number of rivers" coming down from Mt. Ida, about which he is right. And his point is that they forgot about the earlier flood catastrophe, which he calls "the Deluge".
So he seems to be making two criticisms, the city was built on a hill, but not a high enough one, and the city relied on hillocks of no great height for their "safety".
I want to know, is he saying that they did not build Troy on a high enough height to be safe from floods?
Or is he saying that they did not build it on high enough heights to protect if from floods, and that they did not protect it from floods with anything more than "hillocks of no great height"?
These "hillocks of no great height" that were relied on for the "safety" of ancient Troy might be earthworks that functioned as flood walls.
Perhaps the city in the plain appeared to be built upon a low hill because it was old and many cities were on top of one another there. And maybe Plato has tapped into a memory of Troy's flood walls being overtopped.
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