to-day. This theory for the old course of the Scamander is still unrefuted.[1]
3. The Simoïs.The insignificant swamp brook (Dumbrek Su), often identified with the Homeric Simoïs, can hardly be classed with Vergil's buffeting river:
Ubi tot Simois correpta sub undis
Scuta virum galeasque et fortia corpora volvit.
It seems that this stream ought not to have a prominent place in Homer; yet it is referred to seven times, with no hint of its being smaller than the Scamander. Hercher argues that the mention of the Simoïs in the Homeric poems is a late interpolation by one who knew nothing of the Trojan country.[2] Rossmann takes the opposite extreme view, and believes that only one thoroughly versed in the Troad could picture the Simoïs in the light it is. He bids us look at the picture of the Scamander imploring the Simoïs to aid against Achilles (Φ, 308 ff.), and supposes that such a scene would be inapplicable to an independent (selbständiger) stream; that it is highly fitting that the Simoïs flow its sluggish and lazy course, remaining in the swamp till through the pressure of high water it reaches the Scamander. Yet Rossmann's argument (quoted with favor by Heinrich) loses its force when we consider that in all probability this portion of the Iliad belongs to the third stratum of the poem.
4. Bunarbashi.To the old arguments identifying
