BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book III.

[Illustration: OFFERING TO MINERVA.

_Painting by Gaudemaris._]




THE STORY OF TROY.




I. TROY BEFORE THE SIEGE.


[Illustration: _Design by Burne-Jones._]

That part of Asia Minor which borders the narrow channel now known as
the Dar-da-nellesʹ, was in ancient times called Troʹas. Its capital was
the city of Troy, which stood about three miles from the shore of the
Æ-geʹan Sea, at the foot of Mount Ida, near the junction of two rivers,
the Simʹo-is, and the Sca-manʹder or Xanʹthus. The people of Troy and
Troas were called Trojans.

Some of the first settlers in northwestern Asia Minor, before it was
called Troas, came from Thrace, a country lying to the north of Greece.
The king of these Thraʹcian colonists was Teuʹcer. During his reign a