tresses, on which was to depend the future fate of the Chersonesus, stood on the summit of a mountain rising exceedingly abrupt above the latter place, then neglected and defenceless; was named Choirodocastron; deemed utterly inaccessible to an enemy, and' from its situation impregnable'. The fleet of Justinian under Belisarius had its station at Abydos, which was one of the few surviving cities; but of which no farther mention is made for above three centuries, except that it was besieged' between the years one thousand ninety-three and one thousand ninety-seven.. I have only to add here what is related by a Byzantine historian that an immense treasure collected by Theodore Lascares was reposited for security in a fortress, opposite formerly the Scamander, and called by the diminutive, Astytzium.

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IV. Troy, it has been already mentioned, was taken about eleven hundred and eighty-four years before the Christian æra. The worship of the heroes lasted, if not longer, to the beginning of the third century after it. During this period, they, with the other warriors, were believed to haunt the plain where they fell; their monuments were approached with awe, and their names were familiar even to the herdsman and shepherd. A new race of people is now about to arrive in the Troia, entirely strangers, ignorant of its antient renown, unacquainted with the names Ilium or Troy, Achilles or Ajax, Hector or Homer. These found the

Procopius, 1. 1v. c. 10. The name may be translated Hog-way-castle..

* By Tzachas..

3 Georg. Pachymn. p. 39, εν τῳ καλα ανω. Σκαμανδρα Φρέριῳ τῷ έξω πως Αςιζίω ὑποκοριζόμενῳ, cities,,

cities, except Abydos, in ruins; and, if the Heroes were not quite forgotten, their barrows were neglected, and those by Sigéum and Rhœtéum again become such as they were left on the departure of the Greek army from before Troy, solitary objects by the sea-shore.

INVASION OF THE TROIA AND CHERSONESUS BY THE TURKS.

I.

I. Abydos betrayed.-II. They surprize Choirodocastron.

THE Turks, having extended their conquests in Asia to the shores of the Hellespont under Orchan, attacked Abydos. The Greek, who commanded there, made a brave defence, but was betrayed by his daughter. Enamoured with the person and valour of one of the assailants ', whom she had beheld from the wall, she threw a letter over the battlements, promising, if, the army being first withdrawn, he would return at the head of a select party in the night, she would admit him into the town. The garrison, on the supposed departure of the enemy, indulged in festivity; and the governor was surprised in his bed. Orchan came to Abydos; and the Hellespont did not long continue the boundary of the Turkish Empire.

Abdurachman:

2 Candys's Travels, p. 20.

II. It is related in the annals of this people, that Soliman, son of Orchan, taking an airing on horseback in the country lately conquered, came to some fine ruins of edifices, which had remained there from the time of the destruction of Troy, and which he beheld with wonder; I suppose to the reliques of Alexandréa Troas, or rather of Ilium. After viewing this désolate city, he was observed to remain musing and silent. On being asked the reason, he answered, that he was considering how the sea between them and the opposite coast could be crossed without the knowlege of the Christians. Two of his retinue offered to pass over privately at the Strait, which is described as a Greek mile wide. A float was provided, they landed before day-break, and laid concealed among vines, until, a Greek coming by, they seized and returned with him to the Emperor; who gave orders that their captive should be kindly treated, and, on his undertaking to serve as a guide to the castle erected by Justinian above Sestos, caused trees to be cut down, and a large raft to be constructed; on which, with about fourscore men, Soliman crossed the Strait; and arriving, under colour of the night, at the fortress, found, without the entrance, such was the supine negligence and security of the Greeks, a dung-hill as high as the wall. His soldiers mounted over it, and easily got possession of the place; the people, a few excepted, being engaged abroad in harvestwork. Thus did the Turks obtain their first footing in Europe,

Leuenclavius, p. 314.

2 Choirodòcastron, called by the Turks, Zemenic-hissar.

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in 1357. The levity and folly of the Greeks was apparent in their jesting on the loss of this strong-hold, and proving, by quibbling on the name, that the Turks had only taken from them a Hog-stię. But the taking of this Hog-stie soon led to that of Madytos, which was a populous place, of Callipolis, and of a large portion of Europe, besides the Chersonesus.

CHAPTER

XXXVII.

OF THE STRAIT OF THE HELLESPONT.

1. Importance of its command under Mahomet the first.II. Under Amurath the second.-III. Under Mahomet the second.

I.

WHILE the Greeks yet continued in possession of their ca

pital, and the Turks were employed in enlarging and settling their dominions in Europe and Asia, the command of the passage of the Strait of the Hellespont was an object of great importance both to the Infidels and Christians.

Mahomet the first, when at war with his brother Musa, who held the portion of the Turkish Empire in Europe to which the Chersonesus of Thrace, with Callipolis, belonged, not being able to cross the Hellespont to invade him from Asia, was repeatedly compelled to covenant with the Greek Emperor Emmanuel for

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the transportation of his army, to and fro, at the Strait of the Bosphorus above Constantinople; where he obtained permission afterwards' to erect a fortress on the side of Asia with a small town in it'.

II. Amurath the second, advancing from Magnesia by Mount Sipylus to assist his son Mahomet the second, who resided at Adrianople in Europe and was attacked by the king of the Hungarians, found, on his arrival at the Hellespont, that the gallies of the Christian powers were stationed at Callipolis to prevent a junction of their armies. He was reduced almost to despair, and marched away to the Strait above Constantinople, and there effected a passage in skiffs; but the difficulty and danger which he had encountered made so forcible an impression on his mind that he bound himself by a solemn oath to secure in future the communication between the two continents by building a fortress in Europe opposite to that already provided by his father in Asia; but he did not live to execute his design.

III. Mahomet the second, returning from an expedition into Asia, found likewise, when he came to the Hellespont, the Strait there guarded by a Christian fleet, and was forced to pursue the same rout as Mahomet the first and Amurath had done; but, after passing at the Bosphorus, he commenced immediately preparations for the fatal work planned by his father; and, to insure expedition in the execution of it, attended its progress in person.

In 1414.

› Ducas Hist. Byzant. p. 133. Knolles, History of the Turks.

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