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."
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.
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.
