Ilios is the only polis, 'city', in the entire Iliad that was given a set of props to describe its various places (which invites speculation that the site, presumably already in ruins by the time the Iliad was strung together, inspired sufficient awe as to be regarded as an important monument of the not-too-distant pas)t. And, it is obvious, the Iliad's authorship knew the site well, indeed, intimately—which should forever dispel the popular notion of 'Homer's' blindness-—and that, in fact, it carefully tailored the descriptions of these props to suit its odd phallus-like morphology.
So it is that, while the site of Ilios is to be determined by its geographical situation relative to the locations of rivers and mountains and so on, the study of its shape and of its several places is a topographical problem concerning the relationship of these relative to each other.

ILIOS THEN AND GABELA TODAY

Since the course of the Neretva is one of the major routes between the coast and the hinterland, the importance of Gabela's unique strategic location underscores the reason for its existence throughout all phases of its history, from remotest antiquity to relatively recent times. It was a site conveniently situated on an outcropping in the plain, affording the safety of its elevation, and naturally defended by the surrounding marshes, as well as being as apt a place as any to stop and tax traffic going up or coming down the river's highway (no doubt accounting, in a measure, for King Priam's fabled wealth).
Today Gabela is on the 'wrong' side of the river, so to speak, for traffic to and from the coast and the interior is along the road skirting the Neretva's left bank. And, there is little reason to cross over, other than to visit and chat about the Iliad and the Odyssey with any of the some 3000 descendants of King Priam who now live there, or, simply, with a silent perusal of the site, pay a fitting homage to the follies and toils of men from which, eventually, emerged our Western Civilization.

THE FOUNDATION OF ILIOS

The Iliad's account about the foundation of Ilios appears to reflect the arrival of the Bronze Age through various ethnic migrations into and out of this area and the world abroad—

XX; 215:
At the first Zeus, the cloud-gatherer, begat Dardanus, and he founded Dardania, for not yet was sacred Ilios builded in the plain to be a city of mortal men, but they still dwelt upon the slopes of many-funtained Ida. And Dardanus in turn begat a son, king Erichthonius, who became richest of mortal men. Three thousand steeds had he that pastured in the marsh-land... And Erichthonius begat Tros to be king among the Trojans, and from Tros again three peerless sons were born, Ilus, and Assaracus, and godlike Ganymedes that was born the fairest of mortal men... And Ilus again begat a son, peerless Laomedon, and Laomedon begat Tithonus and Priam and Clytius, and Hicetaon, scion of Ares.

Later stories, based on the above genealogy, give many additional details of other personages involved in the foundation of Ilios, sometimes at variance with each other, but, in the main, represent Tros as the founder of Troy and Ilos as the founder of Ilios. However, none explains how there came to be a Troia, the country, and a Troia, the city, as well as an Ilios. But on a cue with with Genesis IV 17, where Cain founded a city and 'he named the city after the name of his son Enoch', one may adduce that Tros was the eponymous ancestor of the Troes, the collective name of several independent tribes federated in a commonwealth, after whom Troia, the name of a country, was so called. Also, one may adduce that Tros founded Ilios and called his son Ilos after the name of the city, and that Ilos founded Troia, a city, which he called after the name of his father Tros.

THE ETYMOLOGY OF ILIOS

Though the Illyrian roots ili- and ilj- (> Gk. ill-) are phonetically similar, they have dissimilar connotations: the one, that of 'mud', the other, that of 'serpent'.
In the name of Ilos is an association with 'mud', as conferred by the name of the Ileian Plain (Hutovo Blato) which is indeed muddy, and in the very Serbian ilo, meaning 'mud'. By extension, Ilos may well have been a totemic 'wasp-man' who built mud-brick habitations not unlike the wasp builds mud nests, and Ilios an important agglomeration of mud huts or even of palacial dwellings.
But in the name of Illyrus, son of Kadmos, the eponymous ancestor of the Illyrians, is an association of a magical snake which is said to have transferred its powers by winding itself around him. This story perhaps reflects the entwined mating of snakes—and thus the name of Illyrus may well mean 'serpent'—for, indeed, in Greek illo is 'to roll', 'twist', 'wind', and illos 'a rope, band' (from threads twisted around).
Thus a common denominator, or link, between the roots ili- and ilj- may be found in the easy Freudian association of 'mud' as the semen-stuff of life, and 'serpent' as the life-giving phallus.

THE PHALLIC SHAPE OF ILIOS

The hillock of Ilios—a natural geological caprice—was shaped, if you wish, like a trinacria, a three-legged, sun-faced device (a rebus for the sun's three major positions on the meridian throughout the year: low in the sky in winter, high in summer, and midway between in spring and autumn). But more than a trinacria, one can hardly miss its obvious phallic shape, which is the key for understanding the names and the ritual functions of its three principal parts.
It should be clearly understood that the Iliad's authorship, which went to special efforts to tailor Troy's geography with seventy-two geonyms—thus showing this geography had a special, even mystical, literary value—also capitalized on the fact that Ilios was shaped like a phallus, and consciously imbued it—as a holy place that it was—with spiritual values and tenets symbolizing the generative powers of nature, far removed from what might otherwise seem subconscious or excessive penis-preoccupations, or simple prurient sexuality. It should be noted that such a phallic image and association of ideas was not exclusive to the shape of Ilios, for it also extended to the general topography of mountains which were regarded as a length tipped with some outstanding prominence, from which one may adduce—among the many things to ponder about the Iliad—that such an insignificant detail as, say, the birthplace of Aeneas, someplace amid the slopes of Ida, was likely some precinct homologous with the glans penis.

THE THREE PRINCIPAL PARTS OF ILIOS
Ilios est omnis diviso in partes tres.

1. PERGAMOS: The collective name for the western hill of Avala (so called from the Arabic havalah, 'hill') and the adjacent northern hill of Djerzeles (so called from the name of a local folk-hero).
A classification of the instances in which the name of Pergamos is mentioned in the text of the Iliad reveals there were two distinct sections:

 

The two hills of Pergamos are homologous with the testicles, and from this may be understood its meaning in Greek as 'scrotum'—for sufficient information is wanting to remit an etymology directly to the Illyrian—derived from pera, 'a leathern pouch', 'wallet', and gemos, 'a load' (and by extension, 'to be full of').
Pergamos had an easy, natural, association of ideas with the sense of 'progeny', thus of 'the future', as may be adduced from the idea of 'forecasting' predictable astronomical phenomena at the Palace of Priam, and the 'foretelling' by Helen of the likewise predictable actions and fates of the Trojan War participants in the Rooms of Alexander. Thus the Iliad, in a sense, is also about its very own composition, for which reason its human actors, like automatons, obey willy-nilly to the forces of celestial divinities (hence man, to find the happiness of a state of Grace, must develop a particular and suitable harmony between Will and Fate).

2. [SKAIA]: The name of the southeastern spur, along which the town of Gabela proper is today situated, though nowhere mentioned in the text of the Iliad, it may be inferred from the name of the Scaian Gates at the bottom of the spur (hence so written in square brackets to denote an editorial comment). It is homologous with the shaft of the penis, and the name appears to be derived from the Illyrian root sca- (for the conventional Greek meaning 'left'--of what?--makes no sense) connoting 'unwanted', 'undesirable', and perhaps denoting 'expunge', 'expurgate', 'extirpate', associated with the 'circumcision' of the prepuce with which the Scaian Gates are homologous, as preserved in the Serbian skidati, 'to take off', 'peel off', 'to rip out (a page from a book)', 'denude'. Such an etymology could account for Priam and Hecabe's THALAMOS TREASURE CHAMBER (see below) 'cut' or 'excavated' under [SKAIA], somewhere in the vicinity of the SKAIAN GATES.

3. KALLIKOLONE: The tip of the southeastern spur, at the distal end of 'the topmost citadel' of PERGAMOS (Avala and Djerzeles), today the site of a Turkish fortress in ruins called Stari Grad ('Old City'):

XX; 51:
And over against her [Athene] shouted Ares, dread as a dark whirlwind, calling with shrill tones to the Trojans from the topmost citadel, and now again as he sped by the shore of Simos over Callicolone.

The hill of Kallikolone is homologous with the glans, and together with [SKAIA] and Pergamos, completes the unmistakable phallic shape of Ilios. The name, in Illyrian, a compound-type word to accentuate its topography, means 'callus-hill' (that is, 'rough-hill like a callus'), though in Greek departs far from the original sense, and may be rendered as 'Beauty Hill' (still an apt name, perhaps, for those who might be inclined to think so).
Upon a time Kallikolone was enclosed by the famous WALLS OF ILIOS, which are not to be confused with those of the city Troia (Troy). They were erected under the aegis of King Laomedon to house within them the the sacred TEMPLE OF ATHENE (founded earlier by King Erichthonius, who later founded Athens). The associations this goddess had with all wet or humid places, such as springs, wells, swamps, and the like, strongly suggests her precinct will have been a cistern—or sacred well—and that it will have had an intimate (literary?) association with whatever was produced on Pergamos.

THE SITES ON ILIOS

The prize of the Trojan War was Ilios, and not so, as one might think, the city of Troy which might be thought of as the seat of the country's civil administration. Though the site was well protected by natural defenses, it was not beyond the taking by a concerted military effort, thus the story of a long siege rings as though the Trojan War was a holy war, and that the taking of Ilios obeyed to some ritual, such that the destruction of its precincts will have been on the order of their desecration by unholy acts. Little now remains of Ilios as described in the Iliad, for in the course of some three thousand years and more since the Trojan War, the site has seen continuous occupation. Consequently, only inferences may be drawn from the descriptions about this or that place, until that time when archaeological investigation may yield specific information.

1. THE PALACE OF PRIAM (ALSO, SANCTUARY OF APOLLO): On the summit of Avala (the western spur) is the almost intact oval platform of a megalithic observatory. Its major axis is aligned due east, and in the center is the small chapel of Sveti Stephan. A short distance behind the chapel are the remains of a rectangular construction of a much later date —most likely a look-out post—and, up until some decades ago, were twelve Bogomil stecci—large limestone blocks, almost always hewn into the shape of a house—surrounding the chapel. These have since been removed, and contemporary graves now surround the platform. Here was the site of the Palace of Priam, also called the Sanctuary of Apollo—

V; 446:
Aeneas then did Apollo set apart from the throng in sacred Pergamos where was his temple builded. There Leto and the archer Artemis healed him in the great sanctuary, and glorified him...

VI; 242:
...was now come to the beauteous palace of Priam, adorned with polished sun halls and in it were fifty chambers of polished stone, built each hard by the other; therein the sons of Priam were wont to sleep beside their wedded wives; and for his daughters over against them on the opposite side within the court were twelve roofed chambers of polished stone, built each hard by the other; therein slept Priam's sons-in-law beside their chaste wives...

The 'twelve roofed chambers of polished stone' is an obvious reference to the twelve zodiacal constellations representing a 'house' along the ecliptic.

2. THE PROTHYRON AND ECHOING PORTICO: The landing at the intersection of Avala (the western spur) and Djerzeles (the northern spur), where a short lane and a long trail leading up from Priam's Stables converge, opening the way to the Palace of Priam, the Rooms of Alexander, and to the City and Central Avenue along the length of [Skaia] (the southeastern spur). The site, which might be said to be the axis on which the trinacria shape of Ilios spins, was like a vestibule—

XXIV; 322:
Then the old man made haste and stepped upon his car, and drave forth from the gateway and the echoing portico... But when they had gone down from the city and were come to the plain, back then to Ilios turned his sons and daughters' husbands...

The 'echoing portico' is a reference to the convex, amphitheatre-like intersecting of the spurs, which form a kind of 'hall' or 'portico', and so captured all sounds from Priam's Stables below, perhaps even magnifying them.

3. PRIAM'S STABLES: The plain between the adjacent western and northern spurs of Pergamos is a natural V-shaped pen naturally suited for containing animals, from which there leads up a lane along either side of the slopes:

XXIV; 263:
"Will ye not make me ready a waggon, and that with speed, and lay all these things therein, that we may get forward on our way?"

So spake he, and they, seized with fear... brought forth the light-running waggon drawn of mules... And for Priam they led beneath the yoke horses that the old king kept for his own and reared at the polished stall.

4: ROOMS OF ALEXANDER: On the summit of Djerzeles (the northern spur) are to be found the ruins of a Turkish building laid out at right angles, like a letter L, with a round tower at the corner. The site (but not so the ruins) answers to the Rooms of Alexander:

VI; 313:
...but Hector went his way to the rooms of Alexander; the fair ones that himself had builded with men that were in that day the best builders in deep-soiled Troy; these had made him a chamber and a room and court hard by Priam and Hector in the city height.

VI; 503:
Nor did Paris tarry long in his lofty house, but did on his glorious armour, dight with bronze, and hastened through the city... even so, Paris, son of Priam, strode down from high Pergamos...

It was in these rooms where the first draft of the Iliad was set up (ostensibly from information about future events collected at the Palace of Priam) and so, in a way, one may think of the Iliad—among the many other things that one may think about it—as a hymn to its own composition:

III; 125:
She found Helen in the hall where she was weaving a great purple web of double fold, and thereon was broidering many battles of the horse-taming Trojans and brazen-coated Achaeans...

5. HOUSES OF HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE: A set of royal dwellings, situated on the border of [Skaia] with Pergamos, which may be thought of as symbolic of other similar but less important dwellings scattered along the length of [SKAIA]:

VI; 369:
...Hector of the flashing helm departed [from the Rooms of Alexander] and came speedily to his well-built house. But he found not white-armed Andromache in his halls... So Hector, when he found not his peerless wife within, went and stood upon the threshold, and spake amid the serving women...

6. THE 'CITY' AND CENTRAL AVENUE: Dwellings on [Skaia] will have been of an undetermined number—though an agglomeration large enough to be thought of as a 'city'—and of an unspecified sort—though perhaps of mud-bricks—which most likely were alloted to the priestly elite of King Priam's family:

VI; 390:
...and Hector hastened from the house back onto the same way along the well-built streets. When now he was come to the gates, as he passed through the great city, the Scaian, whereby he was minded to go forth to the plain...

Common folk will have been relegated to live elsewhere, anywhere, but Ilios. The enormous number of Trojans seeking refuge from the Danaans' onslaught may well have been temporarily accommodated within the Walls of Ilios—though uncomfortably so—but certainly not in the 'city' dwellings on a permanent basis.

7. THE THALAMOS TREASURE CHAMBER: One must imagine the former existence of an underground labyrinthine sort of passage located below Pergamos, in the vicinity of the Skaian Gates, which may be inferred from the following instances:

VI; 288:
But the queen herself went down [from her hall and the city] to the vaulted treasure-chamber wherein were her robes, richly broidered... Of these Hecabe took one... Then she went her way.

XXIV; 191:
And himself he went down [from the Palace of Priam] to the vaulted treasure-chamber, fragrant of cedar wood and high of roof that held jewels many...

No such chamber or labyrinthine passage is now known to exist under the town of Gabela, though it is a fact that 'proteus fish', blind salamanders living in underground recesses and common to the Yugoslavian Adriatic coast, have occasionally been brought up by those townspeople drilling wells.

The Thalamos Treasure Chamber seems to have been fitted with a pair of swinging doors, perhaps hinged at a slant such that they might swing, yet never remain open, adduced from the following allusion:

XXIV; 315:
Forthwith he [Zeus] sent an eagle, surest of omen among winged birds, the dusky eagle, even the hunter, that men call also the black eagle. Wide as is the door of some rich man's high-roofed treasure-chamber, a door well fitted with bolts, even so wide spread his wings to this side and to that; and he appeared to them on the right, darting across the city. And at sight of him they waxed glad, and the hearts in the breasts of all were cheered.

The eagle is surely the constellation Aquila, whose wing-tip stars Alshain and Tarazed flank Altair, as would two hypothetical swinging doors situated on either side of the Central Avenue.

8. THE SKAIAN GATES: The formal accesses to and from the plains, at the bottom of [Skaia] (whence they are so called):

VI; 237:
But when Hector was come to the Scaian gates and the oak tree, round about him came running the wives and daughters of the Trojans...

VI; 392:
...now he was come to the gates, as he passed through the great city, the Scaian, whereby he was minded to go forth to the plain...
The Skaian Gates might be thought of as a complex of three pairs, thus:

9. THE SANIDES GATE: The walls overlooking the Skaian Gates were broken at the middle, opposite the Central Avenue, by an entrance to the enclosure within (not to be confused with Theano's Gate, below):

XVIII; 274:
"...the city [height] shall be guarded by the walls and the high gates and the plank-doors [sanides, whence the name for this gate] fastened together, large, well-smoothed, fixed-fast, bolted shut."

10. THE WALLS OF ILIOS: Walls of the Turkish fort of Stari Grad now run along the perimeter of Gabela's southeastern promontory. It was within this massive and ample fort that the walls which Laomedon built also traced a circuit along the perimeter of Kallicolone. The story of their construction is a puzzle:

XXI; 442:
...what time we came at the bidding of Zeus and served the Lordly Laomedon for a year's space at a fixed wage, and he was our taskmaster and laid on us his commands. I verily built for the Trojans round about their city a wall, wide and exceedingly fair, that the city might never be broken; and there, Phoebus, didst herd the sleek kine of shambling gait amid the spurs of Ida, the many ridged.

To think of Poseidon and Apollo as two personages, noted for whatever building skills may have distinguished them, and who acquired a divine stature at some time between Laomedon's reign and the Trojan War, does not ring true. And, to suspect that they may represent a coral-like stone quarried on the island of Lesbos (Brac), which is soft when cut into blocks and hardens when left to dry in the sun, may only be confirmed by archaeological investigation. But perhaps the best explanation is that Poseidon and Apollo—on a cue with their deeds in later days—represent alluvial silt brought up from the plain to fill in and level off the enclosure:

XII; 24:
...of all these [tributaries of the Scamander] did Phoebus Apollo turn the mouths together... And the Shaker of Earth... was himself the leader and made all smooth along the Hellespont, and again covered the great beach with sand...

Thus were Apollo and Poseidon to do in the aftertime...

One enters the enclosure within the walls through the Sanides Gate. At the western corner of the walls, overlooking the Skaian Gates, is a belvedere which offers an unrestricted view of the Troic and Ileian Plains in the distance. It was to this place of watch, in earlier days, at the onset of the Trojan War that:

III; 149:
...they that were about Priam... sat as elders of the people over the Scaian Gates... like unto cicalas that in a forest sit upon a tree and pour forth their lily-like voices, even in such wise sat the leaders of the Trojans upon the wall.

Later, it was to this place that Helen was was called forth and asked to sit with King Priam and the Elders and identify the host assembling on the nether side of the Troic Plain (Glibusa Marshes), towards the Hellespontos (Neretva's delta):

III; 162:
"...sit before me [Priam], that thou mayest see thy former lord and thy kinsfolk and thy people..."

It was also from here, that, still later, during the anxieties of mid-crisis, King Priam and others watched, aghast and horrified, the chase that Achilles gave after Hector:

XXII; 131, et pas.:
So he [Hector] pondered as he abode, and night to him came Achilles...

But trembling gat hold of Hector when he was aware of him, neither dared he any more abide where he was, but left the gates behind him, and fled in fear; and the son of Peleus rushed after him... Past the place of watch, and the wind-waved wild fig-tree they sped, ever away from under the wall along the waggon track...
But hard upon Hector pressed swift Achilles in ceaseless pursuit... Oft as he strove to rush straight for the Dardanian gates to gain the shelter of the well-built walls, if so be his fellows from above might succor him with missiles, so oft would Achilles be beforehand with him and turn him back toward the plain, but himself sped on by the city's walls.

11. THE TEMPLE OF ATHENE: Nothing now remains of the precinct within the Walls of Ilios, excepting strong reminiscences by way of association of ideas:

VI; 297:
Now when they were come to the enclosure of Athene on the city height, the doors were opened for them by fair-cheeked Theano... for her had the Trojans made priestess of Athene... Then with sacred cries they all lifted up their hands to Athene; and fair- cheeked Theano took the robe and laid it upon the knees of fair-haired Athene...

Given the generally watery connections of Athene with places such as springs, wells, sources of rivers, marshes, and the like, and the homology of Kallicolone with the glans, and of her precinct with the urinary meatus, one might easily adduce that her temple may have been a sacred well, or reservoir of some sort, or, on a cue with Hecabe's propitiatory offering of her finest robes, perhaps even a tannery. These robes—of an indeed very special sort—were likely designed and produced at Pergamos (Avala and Djerzeles), and, they likely were broidered with information about the future—hence Hecabe, in offering them, wished to learn about the fate of Ilios from the image of Athene. Could the image—which moved, for it answered negatively—have been a tortoise, whose aegis or shell was symbolic of literature?

12. THEANO'S GATE: The watery associations of Athene's temple seem strengthened even further in the suggestion that a cloacal drain serviced a reservoir, necessarily fitted with a sluice-gate, opened after Hecabe and her retinue came within the walls, suggesting that only by draining a reservoir will Hecabe have had access to the image of Athene.

THE POST-TROJAN HISTORY OF GABELA

The major event which brought the Trojan War to a close was that of the well-known incident of the Trojan Horse (now in the province of legend, and for which there is no positive proof other than reasonable conjecture). After this, Ilios was never to be again. From this time up to the present, it could be said, the region has undergone the following major changes in social and political structures—

THE ILLYRIANS: The Danaan conquest of Troy caused the political collapse of the seaboard, but, it seems, left the Balkan interior, which had never really belonged to the Trojan federation, relatively untouched. In due course, the ethnic identities of diverse Illyrians tribes emerged as a highly segmented culture. And, it was in this context that the Iliad and the Odyssey came about as full-fledged epic narratives, a fact which points towards Ithaka, where these works are likely to have been composed, having acquired a superlative political and economic stature.

THE ROMAN DOMINATION: The Neretva valley fell to Roman domination in 228 B.C. after the defeat of Queen Teuta, who, in her disastrous zeal for conquest abroad, paved the way for Rome to gradually acquire control of all Illyricum, such that, by the 3rd century A. D., when the Roman Empire faced crisis, Illyricum was the bulwark from which it drew support.
One may conjecture that it was through the close political association of Rome and Illyricum (in contrast to former Illyrian tribes and Greek colonies scattered here and there) that a tradition about Troy had a stamp of credible historicity otherwise wanting in the general Greek approach to Homeric questions. A would-be 'genealogy' of 'Homer', made in Hadrian's time, distinctly connects the Iliad and Odyssey's authorship with Troy by making 'Homer' a native of ZAKYNTHOS (Melita, Mljet) because of his sweet voice.

THE MIDDLE AGES: The ethnic character of Illyricum was drasticly modified by the arrival of the Slavs in the 6th and 7th centuries A.D., such that, by the Middle Ages, the former site of Ilios, which had become Kapela, now went as Drijeva, a name derived from the Serbian drvo meaning 'wood' or 'boat' (cognate with with Greek drys meaning 'oak', not unlike Brigesta, a name derived from that of an oak-like tree from which the brigantine was made).

THE DUBROVNIK REPUBLIC: Drijeva was referred to in Latin documents as forum mercator Narenti, 'the market-place of the Neretvans' when it was a mercantile center servicing the coast and hinterland. The name Drijeva was first mentioned in a contract of 1186 between the Serbian Duke Stevan Nemanja and his brothers Stracimira and Miroslav, by which Dubrovnik was given the guarantee of non-taxable commerce.
Drijeva's marketplace was spread from today's village of Trsana (across Gabela, on the Neretva's left bank) to the village of Visic. Remains of walls show its precise location at the railroad bridge between Trsana and Visici. Here, there was a seher or 'town', where, according to local legend, 77 locks opened the 77 shops of different commercial activities. The buildings were mainly of wood, and the town was surrounded by a dike to protect it from the river's periodic disastrous floods.
In the 1320s Drijeva fell under the rule of Bosnia and became the possession of feudal lords and remained part of this kingdom until the beginning of the 1400s. From 1410 it belonged to Sandalj Hranic Kosaca, and later, to his nephew the hertzog Stjepan Vukcic.
Slave trade flourished during the 1300 and 1400s, and Drijeva was the most important slave market of these regions, from where they were sold into larger market places in Apulia, Sicily, Genoa and Venice. But the frequent complaints of Bosnian kings and lords, eventually brought the Great Council of Dubrovnik to issue a decree in 1416 banning all commerce with slaves and of their transportation in Dubrovnik's vessels. Dubrovnik leased the customs-house and salt production from the lords of Drijeva, and exported great quantities of salt from Grus, Sipan and nearby Ston through the Neretva all the way to Kosovo, deep in the hinterland where cattle breeders required it.
The market place Drijeva, on the left bank, and the town Kapela, on the right, show that Venice reconstructed the place after 1452, although Hungarians, after the death of the hertzog Stjepan in 1466, took over some cities (Pocitelj) on the lower Neretva, while the remaining Herzegovinan lands were still held by Stjepan's son Vlatko, who was in constant clashes with his cousin Vlatkovic.
On the 10th of October of 1492, Dubrovnik's Council of Appeasement issued an edict that all subjects who lived on Kapela's colony of Osobljani ('personality') or Oslobjani ('freeman'), which had an autonomous government and court of law, had to move to Ston.

THE TURKISH DOMINATION: >material on Avala dated to 1400's...(where is report?)
After the death of Matija Korvin in 1490, the Turks took Drijeva and its environs in 1493. From this period is the following in the putopis 'travelogue' of Evlija Celebija:

THE CITY OF GABELA: Beside the River Neretva there is a strong rectangular city. In these provinces it has no equal, although it is small. It has a disdar ('commander') and kadija ('judge'). He lives in the town of Gabela, because that is where the main ferry and the Sunday fair is. But on the side where the city is, there is where the overlord is, and the janicari ('regular army') commander, the notary, and the customs officials. A bit further from the river, on the wide and sandy plain in an inaccessible green field, is the building of Sultan Fatih. The marshes cannot harm it and also excavation is impossible because wherever one digs water wells up. On the four angles it has four towers, each a castle. Towards the lake there is an iron gate, and in the interior there are about 20 houses all roofed with slate, a small mosque of Sultan Fatih (Fatih the Conqueror), a wheat silo and a munitions tower. Since this area was small, it was necessary to widen it because of the rebelious population and Venetian attacks. The Sultan Ibrahim gave it to Gengis Pasha who rebuilt the Fatih tower. The towers in the four corners are stronger than the old castle. It has 23 small, big, and other canons. To the west there is a big town called Citluk. The perimeter of the fort is 550 paces. Its inhabitants go armed and, according to needs, they serve [in the army] as far as Sicily, and rob. They speak Bosnian. At the south of Gabela's town there is a small field. It is not cultivated, but before it was used for cultivating rice. Close to the Neretva there are three different strong buildings roofed with shingle and with fortified windows. By the command of the Sultan Suleiman small ships are always nearby. The town has three mihrab Muslim shrines, one tekia, two hann inns, about 30 stores and 150 houses roofed with slate. Citluk is out of the city to the west, close to the river on a fertile green plain, and has up to 300 houses, all covered with slate, firmly built, and some houses have towers. It has three mahala quarters, three shrines, and one mosque. Its environs are stony, its people fiery and strong, of sound body, good-looking and good oarsmen. People drink goat's milk. Here we mounted our horses and crossed the river between the stones and came to the tower on Kor [probably the Krupa tower]. This tower was built by Fatih's commander, Kodje Mustapasha, and the village of Citluk is his legacy. The tower is in a narrow canyon, and has five storeys with big canons turned towards the river, it is very solid and the doors are to the north. It has a commander with a troop of 80 men. We showed the orders of our emperor to the overseer of the salt plant and in the seriyatic sidil the following text was written: "According to the Padishak's will no tax shall be taken on Dubrovnik's salt, and regarding the salt it should be dealt with as previously". I said goodbye to these people and went to the city of Pocitelj.

THE VENETIANS: According to the Bosnian begler-bey Ibrahim Pasha Memibegovic, in 1624 Gabela had 300 inhabitants. But when the Venecians took it during the Candian wars (1645-69), they found 3000 Turks, 24 big bronze canons, and much food and munitions. All efforts of the Turkish court to reconquer Gabela were unsuccessful.
Afraid that the town might again fall under Turkish control, the Venetians destroyed it in 1715. It was never rebuilt, although the territory fell under Turkish rule again in 1718, and Gabela became part of Turkey with the peace of Pozarevac of 1718. Until 1778, it was an important frontier-site between Herzegovina and Dalmatia, though the role of Gabela as a fortification was taken by Pocitelj, a few kilometers up-stream the Neretva.

THE NAMES OF DRIJEVA AND GABELA

Ilios, under the Illyrians, having lost its former religious magic in favour of 'pragmatic' mundane affairs, became Kapela, meaning both 'chapel' and 'head' (as a 'capital' or seat of authority) on a cue with the former Temple of Athene, and on Kallikolone's phallic homology with the glans (cf. Italian capezzolo, 'nipple', 'teat'). Eventually, Kapela became, by popular usage, Gabela, a patently Illyrian word, for it is on record that it was the name given to a section of Risan, in Boka Kotorska, from where the Illyrian Queen Teuta reigned—that is, from the then 'capital' of the Illyrian queendom.
A millenium-and-a-half later, the port facilities at Gabela became known as Drijeva, after the name of a small cargo vessel much used in this area, derived from drvo, 'oak', (cf. brigesta, 'a hard wood' whence 'brigantine'). Then, under the Turks, the name of Gabela became closely associated with the Arabic kabalah, a term for the rationalization of diverse taxes and duties which at that time levied on salt and slaves traded there, from where is derived the current Italian word gabella, a 'tax' or 'duty'.


MAPS

Little, archaeologically, is still known about Ithaka, situated at the end of a narrow fertile valley towards the western end of NERITON (Peljesac), below the summit of SAMOS (Sveti Ilija 961 mts.):

II; 631:
And Odysseus led the great-souled Cephallenians that held Ithaca and Neritum, covered with waving forests, and that dwelt in Crocyleia and rugged Aegilips; and them that held Zacynthus, and that dwelt about Samos and held the mainland and dwelt on the shores over against the isles.

III; 200:
"This again is Lartes' son, Odysseus of many wiles, that was reared in The land of Ithaca, rugged though it be, and he knoweth all manner of craft and cunning devices."

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ITHAKA

The site of Ithaka is currently recognized simply as that of a vinograd, the name for small terraced vinyards on the slopes of barren hillsides (which, oddly, are to be found only along the Adriatic seaboard corresponding with what was once Troy). But several tell-tale details scattered here and there throughout the site, such as drain cannals, paved roads, massive walls and doorways, betray a distinct habitational rather than agricultural origin. On a meditated view of the site, the would-be vinograd plotsevade their function because of their restricted areas, and, furthermore, on a statistical basis, the man-hours of labour represented fall well in excess of the man-hour labour parameters of other vinograds.
A paved road, from the fields of Donja Vrucica, becomes forked and trisects the site: to the left is the way down to a ravine, and to the right, likewise to the same ravine, enfolding, as it were, an elevation overlooking the ravine, on which is a grid of narrow alleys and some 20 rooms or so. The road to the left passes, on the left side, another grid of rooms, and, on the right side, a lesser side-street running parallel with a massive, fortress-like wall, broken approximately in the middle with a conical doorway. The road to the right passes, on the left side, what appears to be the inside of a fortress, and, on the right side, still other grids of alleys and rooms, some large enough to be thought of as small plots of land.

DESCRIPTIONS OF ITHAKA FROM THE ODYSSEY:

> QUOTES THAT DESCRIBE BUILDINGS, ETC...
>ANALYSIS OF ALL QUOTES

THE ORIGINS OF ITHAKA

ODYSSEUS AND THE DANAOI

THE NEW ILLYRIAN ORDER

THE PRE-EMINENCE OF ITHAKA

Ithaka, it could be said, is that it was a literary centre, of exceptional distinction, for it underscores in a subtle way the entire literary contents and historical background of both the Iliad and the Odyssey, as follows: The phallic shape of ILIOS (Gabela) parallels the Trojan coast, such that the length of [SKAIA] (the town of Gabela proper) is analogous with the length of NERITON (Peljesac), and the Thalamos Treasure Chamber at the Skaian Gates (where Hecabe kept her precious robes), corresponds neatly with the site of Ithaca represented by the remains of a vast and complex town-like vinograd, or terraced 'vinyard'.
This analogy allows one to infer that Helen's broidering with scenes of the Trojan War, which, if you wish, Hecabe might have put away with her other precious robes at the Thalamos Treasure Chamber, has a distinct parallel with Penelope's own weavings during Odysseus' absence. Furthermore, 'weaving' or 'stitching' is associated with literary endeavours, as might be said in 'the thread of a story', suggesting that it was in Ithaka where the Iliad and the Odyssey, once their formats had been established, were set to verse and polished into formal epic units.
Still another inference may be made about Ithaka as a literary centre, and that is, that, in terms of a general chronological order, the bulk of myths of the Heroic Age which come suddenly to an end with the Trojan War, what survived to become an indelible rebus of world-history in the various constellations and their respective stories.

THE COMPOSITIONS OF THE ILIAD AND ODYSSEY

>letters not foreign to trojans: hittites and writing
>kadmos
Samothes, samothea
-geography
-history... a> trojan recollection b, foreign preserved..
astronomy...
a>instances in Iliad and Odyssey
b> constellations..
chess...
b> places where written
a> differences between them
--------
Ithaka was a literary center, or a college,if you wish, of intense intellectual endeavours.

The concept of writing was not, most certainly, foreign to Trojans. Internal evidence of this is in Belleropho's tablets (xxx 000), and external, the fact that Hittites had correspondence with Trojans... musings about Kadmos (at this point without the benefits of some methodological scheme for adequate inquiry...The stories about Kadmos and his would-be introduction of the invention of writing to the Greek language

There is an insinuation in the Iliad—a tenuous one, perhaps—about the circumstances of its composition (which one could construe as a celebration to its own glory) in ... Helen is shut up in the ROOMS OF ALEXANDER on Djerzelez, where she broiders future events about the Trojan War. Her source of information about what these events will be is obtained from the megalithic observatory at the PALACE OF PRIAM on Aval. Thus, the two hills of PERGAMOS are homologous with the testicles, and hence with progeny, are associated with prediction of future events. These assembled sets of facts will have been stored in the THALAMOS TREASURE CHAMBER, along with other valuable broiderings, and offered, under special circumstances, to Athene. (Sybeline oracles)
The Odyssey , it seems, also is composed under more-or-less similar circumstances,


MAPS
PHOTOS
BIBLIOGRAPHY

*Among other inventions, the game of chess is said to have been invented by a certain Palamedes, companion of Odysseus, as a distraction from the long hours of boredom during the Trojan War.

TROIA (TROY), 2 (the city): Daorson

Troy, the 'city',1 as distinguished from various other ISLAND PORTS or MAINLAND PORTS by virtue of its unique situation, might be thought of as a 'capital' or seat of civil administration (as opposed to ILIOS (Drijeva/Gabela) which was a religious center, and ITHAKA (Donja Vrucica) which was a literary center). However, archaeological investigations to date have brought to light the former use of this site as a necropolis

LOCATION

The archaeological remains of Troia are located at the hill-top site of Daorson, in the vicinity of Osanici, a village about 3 kms. northwest of Stolac.
The site is approached from the base of the hill along a well-trod path, about 1 km. or so, past a few farm houses, and here and there among the stone walls of animal pens, are the remains of ancient masonry against the hillside. At the top, towards the bottom of a flat, earthy field, may be seen the monumental limestone walls of Troy, behind which was the city.
Troy was strategically but precariously perched in several levels—perhaps some 25 to 50 mts.—on a cliff-side affording it natural protection, one side overlooking the Radimlja, a tributary of the RHESOS (Bregava), and the other the open valley of Stolac.
>age of the ruins
3-archaeologically ancient, suggests a picture of locals in hinterlands with some benefits from the sea

THE RUINS OF TROIA [TAROIA]

1. CITY WAL: Of cyclopaean masonry (so called because only the Cyclopes could have lifted such enormous stones), they are made of huge, squared, mortar-bound limestone blocks, some 3 mts. long. It runs for 63 mts., about 2.50 mts. wide, and in places is more than 4 mts. high.
2. TOWERS: Two square towers were positioned at the ends of the wall. One, immediately overlooking the CITY GATE, the other, distant, lying in rubble, was perhaps? an addition of a much later date (3rd to 1st century BC).
3. CITY GATE: About 2 mts. wide, it pierces the wall beside one of the towers. The masonry is so grooved and notched as to betray the use of a door.
4. ACROPOLIS: Inside the wall was an agora (marketplace), also streets and public and residential buildings in several layered levels, downwards from the CITY GATE.
5. CISTERN: One of the imperatives for the safety of the site will have been an adequate (if not ample) water supply. A cistern, holding some 216 mts.3, serviced by stairs running to the valley below, recalls and gives meaning to Hectors words about Andromache's certain fate:

VI; 456:
"Then haply in Argos shalt thou ply the loom at another's bidding, or bear water from Messes or Hypereia, sorely against thy will..." ???????????????

6. OUTLYING WALLS: Of lesser size—but still of Cyclopaean masonry—vestiges of outer walls incorporated into the cliff-side among boulders, suggest a continuation of the CITY WALL.
7. STAIRS: A long, narrow, and winding set of steps hugging the cliff-side lead from the CISTERN to the base of the mountain. Their onlyfunction seems to have been that of servicing the CISTERN, for the main access to the site from the plain below (wide enough to accommodate a horse-drawn vehicle, if you wish, and at an easier slant) was the usual way up to the site.

ECHOES OF TROIA THE 'CITY' IN THE ILIAD

Hitherto, it has been difficult to distinguish the names of Troia and Ilios from each other as those of entirely separate entities, such that it is a forgone conclusion that Troia was the name of the country as well as of a city also called Ilios (Ilion being a variation). Such ambiguity is natural, for the Iliad—supreme authority on all Trojan matters—has never seemed altogether clear on this point, and, it was not until 1985 that, in the archaeological context of a Troy = Yugoslavia equation, it became apparent that Troia was both the name of a country and a place (Ilios being the name of still another place), of which Daorson is a distinct echo—
Remarkably little topographical information on Troy, but then again, one must bear in mind, that, according to the Iliad, it was Ilios which was the site of siege, and not Troy.

I; 129:
"...we Achaeans [Achilles, addressing Agamemnon] will recompense thee threefold and fourfold, if ever Zeus grant us to sack the well-walled city of Troy."

VII; 71:
"...either ye take well-walled Troy or yourselves be vanquished beside your sea-faring ships [says Hector to the Achaeans]."

VIII; 241:
"...upon all [altars of Zeus] I [Agamemnon] burned the fat and the thighs of bulls, in my eagerness to lay waste well-walled Troy."

II; 140:
"...let us flee with our ships [says Agamemnon] to our dear native land; for no more is there hope that we shall take broad-wayed Troy."

XXIV; 774:
"...for no longer have I [Helen] anyone beside in broad Troy that is gentle to me or kind; but all men shudder at me."

XVI; 698:
Then would the sons of the Achaeans have taken high-gated Troy by the hands of Patroclus, for around and before him he raged with his spear, has nor Phoebus Apollo taken his stand upon the well-builded wall thinking thoughts of bane for him... Thrice did Patroclus set foot upon a corner of the high wall, and thrice did Apollo fling him back...

XXI; 544:
Then would the sons of the Achaeans have taken high-gated Troy, had not Phoebus Apollo aroused goodly Agenor...

LINGUISTIC EQUATION: [TAROIA] = TARUISA

Hittite clay documents of about 1250 B.C.—the only references yet come to light attesting to the historical reality of Troia external and prior to the Iliad—tell of a falling out between Hattussas, and the Assuwa who were in league with the Lukka. These Assuwa were Paeonian colonists from Thessalonika, settled at the mouth of the Axios (the Tiber) on Italy's western coast, who, with the Lykioi (Lucanians) of southern Italy, formed part of the mighty Trojan Alliance abroad. The result was that formerly cordial diplomatic relations between Hattussas and Taruisa—in which context a certain Alaksandus of Wilusija is mentioned—and Ardzawa (the later Illyrian Vardzaei), became strained and came to an end. Soon after, the Hittite Empire collapsed, never to arise again.
The reference in these documents to Alaksandus of Wilusija can hardly be missed for that of Alexander of Ilios. And the name of Taroia—later contracted to Troia, whence our modern term Troy—was recorded in Hattian (that is, 'Hittite') as Taruisa:

TAROIA	TARUISA
DAOR(I)S(I)ON	TROIA
DAORSON	TROY

Of the Ardzawa, a certain Kupantakal, sounds like Pandarus who hailed from ZELEIA [ZALEIA] (Jablanica gorges), the region up-stream the Neretva held in later times by the Illyrian Vardzaei.

7-survival late into historical times

THE FATE OF TROIA

Later Greek tradition preserved accounts of the destruction of TROIA (Daorson), which must not be confused with the desecration and looting of ILIOS (Gabela). It would be reasonable to assume that, because of the resolute Danaan intention of utterly annihilating the Trojan nation, the site of Troia, in the wake of its destruction, was abandoned to the desolation of wind and dust, and that, not until a much later time, was the site again occupied by the Illyrian Daorsi (or Daorsioi or Daorizoi), a people who might be thought of as of mixed Danaan and Trojan stock. But there is also reason for suspecting—principally because the Iliad's story of a siege on Ilios seems to insinuate strong religious undertones, such that a suggestion of a gradual 'cultural domination' rather than an outright war—that Troia was not, through Danaan intervention, altogether abandoned, and that whatever population survived into later times, was of mixed Danaan and Trojan stock. However, this hypothesis cannot at this time be developed further without the benefit of a fuller archaeological investigation of Daorson.

8-exploration, but not sufficient.


MAPS

The site is to be sought somewhere in the vicinity of Milna, at the western end of LESBOS (Bracõ). It was one of the seven towns offered by Aga-memnon to Achilles (who himself had captured these at the onset of the Trojan War):

IX; 149:
"And seven well-peopled cities will I [Agamemnon] give him [Achilles], Cardamyle, Enope, and grassy Hire and sacred Phare and Antheia with deep meadows and fair Aepeia and vine-clad Pedasos*. All are nigh to the sea on the nethermost borders of [the] sandy Pylos [i.e., 'bay'].

-The name means "grassy...(?)
-scene of Odysseus' visit to Kirke
-moly


MAPS

*troubled passage, inverted epithets?

An sland port-town situated at the eastern end of Tenedos (Korcõula), it was one of the seven towns offered by Agamemnon to Akhilleus—

IX; 149:
"And seven well-peopled cities will I [Agamemnon] give him [Achilles], Cardamyle, Enope, and grassy Hire and sacred Phare and Antheia with deep meadows and fair Aepeia and vine-clad Pedasos. All are nigh to the sea on the nethermost borders of [the] sandy Pylos [i.e., 'bay'].

The name of Antheia is more than likely a corruption of Antreia, so called from the cavern in the hills behind Vela Luka occupied from earliest times.On the uselessness of this gift to Akhilleus see PEDASOS (Oneum/Almisa, Omisõ), and, as for its cult-ritual function, it appears to have been connected with Hyllas, youthful companion of Herakles, who—it was said in later times—wandered too far from the ship Argo in search of fresh water, and, falling into a well, was never again seen, hence the name of the bay during classical times, the ..................


MAPS

A mainland port-town situated in the environs of Brijesta (if not this town itself) within the cove by the same name which indents the northern shores of NERITON (Peljesac):

II; 625:
And those from Dulichium and the Echinae, the holy isles, that lie across the sea, over against Elis,* these again had as leader Meges, the peer of Ares, even the son of Phyleus, dear to Zeus, begat—he that of old had gone to dwell in Dulichium in wrath against his father.

The Illyrian meaning of the name is probably on the order of 'anchored (at bay)', inspired from the cluster of islets Galicak, Pucenjak, Dubovac, Tajan, and other even smaller rocks enclosed within the cove, and whence in Greek 'slavish' or 'servile' (from being held 'captive').

MAPS

*This statement is confusing, from which, perhaps, an interpollation may be adduced, its sense being that the isles that lie across the sea, over against Elis are to be thought of as the Adriatic Archipelago across the sea from Elis, the district-type name for the environs at the latitude of Ancona, on the Adriatic's Italian coast.

The northernmost of the mainland port-towns, located a few kilometers to the east of Split, it was one of the seven useless towns offered to Achilles by Agamamenon, for its great distance from Kardamyle (Cavtat), the southernmost of the mainland port-towns, rendered the gift-package utterly wanting of any strategic importance:

IX; 149:
"And seven well-peopled cities will I [Agamemnon] give him [Achilles], Cardamyle, Enope, and grassy Hire and sacred Phare and Antheia with deep meadows and fair Aepeia and vine-clad Pedasos. All are nigh to the sea on the nethermost borders of [the] sandy Pylos [i.e., 'bay'].

The name, whatever it's elusive meaning, is a metathesis of Epone, with a typically Illyrian place-ending -one. In classical times this place went under the name of Epetium.


MAPS

One of the seven towns offered to Achilles by Agamemnon, it is located toward the eastern half of Lekton (Hvar):

IX; 149:
"And seven well-peopled cities will I [Agamemnon] give him [Achilles], Cardamyle, Enope, and grassy Hire and sacred Phare and Antheia with deep meadows and fair Aepeia and vine-clad Pedasos. All are nigh to the sea on the nethermost borders of [the] sandy Pylos [i.e., 'bay']."

XIV; 283:
To many-fountained Ida they [Hera and Hypnos] came, the mother of wild creatures, even to Lectum, where first they left the sea; and the twain fared on over the dry land, and the topmost forest quivered beneath their feet. There Hypnos did halt, or ever the eyes of Zeus beheld him, and mounted up on a fir-tree exceeding tall, the highest that then grew in Ida; and it reached up through the mists into heaven. Thereon he perched, thick-hidden by the branches of the fir, in the likeness of a clear-voiced mountain bird, that the gods call Chalcis, and men Cymindis.

Hira means 'divine' or 'wonderful' (and by extension 'holy'), a meaning survived in that of Bogomolj, which, for some obscure reason, is to be associated with that of Drvenik on the mainland opposite, in which is the Serbian root drvo, meaning 'wood'.


MAPS

The southernmost of the mainland port-towns, located a few kilometers north of Dubrovnik, within the cove of Zaton. It was one of the seven useless gifts offered to Achilles by Agamamenon, for its great distance from Enope (Stobrec), the northernmost of the mainland port-towns, rendered the gift-package utterly wanting of any strategic importance.
The name, meaning 'cardamom mill' (abundant in these hills) is echoed the name of Mlini, meaning 'mill'.


MAPS

Situated in the eastern half of Zakynthos (Mljet), this town is most likely to be identified with the village of Sobra, within a cove by the same name and ideally suited for anchorage, on the island's northern shores.

I; 37:
"Hear me, [says Chryses] thou of the silver bow, who dost stand over Chryse and holly Cilla, and dost rule mightily over Tenedos, thou Sminthian..."

I; 430:
...Odysseus came to Chryse bringing the holy hecatomb. When they were now got within the deep harbour, they furled the sail... and rowed her with oars to the place of anchorage. Then they cast out the mooring-stones and made fast the stern cables, and themselves went forth upon the shore of the sea.

Here, presumably, will have been a sanctuary of Sminthian Apollo, who will have held sway—according to Chryses' invocation—from the eastern to the western end of the island, as well as the whole of neighbouring Tenedos (Korcula).
Ironically, Odysseus, years later, attempted sailing these very waters, though now reduced to a makeshift raft..............


MAPS

An island port-town situated at the western end of ZAKYNTHOS (Mljet) within a deep and narrow cove—

I; 37:
"Hear me, [Chryses] thou of the silver bow, who dost stand over Chryse and holly Cilla, and dost rule mightily over Tenedos, thou Sminthian..."

Chryse's invocation of Sminthian Apollo sweeps geographically from the eastern to the western end of Zakynthos, including the whole of neighbouring TENEDOS (Korcula).

The Greek understanding of Killa makes the name akin with killos, 'an ass', but neither the language nor the meaning are are adequatley phased with a necessary meaning in Illyrian that might convey some sort of topographical information. That Polace is a port indeed invites a derivation from pyl- > pul-, though pyl-, whence Pyl-os (thus its inhabitants are Pyl-es and not Pyl-i-oi, cf. tro-, Troes), thus Pyli-oi < pylj-/kylj- 'ship-wright' (obviously, at a port facility). Whether pylj- > kilj- might be put to doubt, thus Killa requires a derivation from an independent root Ill. kilj- the notion of 'ship's hull', 'keel' (whence Sp. quilla, cognate with Fr. quai, Eng. key) transcribed Gk. kill-, but > pilj- > polj- whence Sr.-Cr. polje, 'a vale', 'valley'.

Polace is likely the place Odysseus delivers Chryseis
quote
Place where Odysseus builds raft and sails away


MAPS

An island port-town situated at the estern end of TENEDOS (Korc¼ula), it fell to the dominion of Odysseus—

II; 631:
And Odysseus led the great-souled Cephallenians that held Ithaca and Neritum, covered with waving forests, and that dwelt in Crocyleia and rugged Aegilips; and them that held Zacynthus, and that dwelt about Samos and held the mainland and dwelt on the shores over against the isles.

Krokyleia is a metathesis of Korkyleia, whence the classical and modern forms of the name. The root kor- connotes 'spongy', 'corky' in a negative context, or 'hard', 'rocky' in a positive context, and thus the name appears to have been inspired on the 'wandering' Planktai (Planjak, et al.), of which Krokylaia itself was the closest to the island, like bobbing corks in the sea. The name became extensive to the island itself, surely on the oddity of the cork-tree found only on this, of the many isles in the Adriatic Archipelago, or on the importance of the Illyrian settlement of Blato, situated towards the western end, a name likewise denoting 'spongy', 'marshy'.
The earliest settlement of Krokyleia—perhaps dating from the middle Bronze Age?— will have been on the off-shore islet where the mediaeval town now stands, a practice also detected in KARDAMYLE (Epidaurum, Cavtat) and Butua (Budva). The most common explanation for such an arrangement is that of safety from marauders, and this may well be so on the mainland where some hostile folk may have wandered aimlessly, but such a situation would seem to have been precluded by the safety afforded by an island. It seems likely, then, on a cue with the name of Butua, that Krokyleia acquired its importance functioning as a pen, not unlike Korax (Stari Grad), situated across the straights, where animals could be shut in and kept from wandering hither and thither.


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II; 688:
For he lay in idleness among the ships, the swift-footed, goodly Achilles, in wrath because of the fair-haired girl Brises, whom he had taken out of Lyrnessus after sore toil, when he wasted Lyrnessus and the walls of Thebe, and laid low Mynes and Epistrophus, warriors that raged with the spear...

XX; 89:
"Not now for the first time shall I [Aeneas] stand forth against swift-footed Achilles; nay, once ere now he drave me with his spear from Ida, when he had come forth against our kine, and laid Lyrnessos waste and Pedasos withal; howbeit Zeus saved me, who roused my strength and made swift my knees. Else had I been slain beneath the hands of Achilles and of Athene, who ever went before him... and bade him slay Leleges and Trojans with spear of bronze."

A mainland port-town located in Thymbre (Neretva delta's right bank) below the heights of Gargaros (Sveti Ilija, Biokovo).
The meaning of the name may be only partially understood, for the first element of the word lyr- must mean something other than 'lyre', which makes neither geographical nor topographical sense, though the second element, -nessos, 'island', is a clear reference to the several rocky out-croppings in the marshy environs, like islands, or crannogs, used for erecting safe dwellings.


MAPS

A mainland port-town situated opposite the eastern tip of Lesbos (Brac), at the norhern end of a bowl-like vale under the high walls of IDA (Biokovo Range).

XXIV; 543:
And of thee, old sire, we hear that of old thou wast blest; how of all that toward the sea Lesbos, the seat of Macar, encloseth, and Phrygia in the upland, and the boundless Hellespont, over all these folk, men say, thou, old sire, wast preeminent by reason of thy wealth and thy sons.

The name, in Illyrian, means 'bowl' (whence Spanish mucura, 'a water jug') which reflects the local topography, though in Greek it means 'happy', or 'blessed', and is said to have been the name of a legendary king of Lesbos whose daughter, Issa, subsequently gave her name to the island of Vis.


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Located at the western end of LEKTON (Hvar), it was one of the seven towns within the bay of PHRYGIA (northern seaboard) offered to Achilles by Agamemnon.

Phare means 'light house', a name as good as any other for any outward lying point.


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VI; 395:
...Andromache, daughter of great-hearted Etion, Etion that dwelt beneath wooded Placus, in Thebe Hypoplakia, and was lord over Cilician men; for it was his daughter that bronze-harnessed Hector had to wife.

VI; 414:
"My father verily goodly Achilles slew, for utterly laid he waste the well-peopled city of the Cilicians, even Thebe of lofty gates. He slew Etion, yet he despoiled him not... but he burnt him in his armour, richly dight, and heaped over him a barrow; and all about were elm-trees planted by nymphs of the mountain... And my mother, that was queen beneath wooded Placus, her brought he hither with the rest of the spoil, but thereafter set her free, when he had taken ransom past counting; and in her father's halls Artemis the archer slew her."

A mainland port-town intimately associated with THEBE (Klek), may have been any one of several archaeological sites in the hillsides overlooking Neum. Plakos may have been a cemetery, and thus a 'town', even if so of the dead, so to speak, for the name is consistently associated with a lower level, or something below, and perhaps means nothing else than 'barrow', from the cake-like piling of stones in a circle to mark a grave, a usual custom of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages.


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IX; 666:
And Patroclus laid him down on the opposite side, and by him in like manner lay fair-girdled Iphis, whom goodly Achilles had given him when he took steep Scyros, the city of Enyeus.

XIX; 326:
"...nay, nor though it were he that in Skyros is reared for me [Achilles], my son well-beloved—if so be godlike Neoptolemus still liveth. For until now the heart in my breast had hope that I alone should perish far from horse-pasturing Argos, here in the land of Troy, but that thou shouldest return to Phthia, that so thou mightest take my child in thy swift, black ship from Skyros, and show him all things—my possessions, my slaves, and my great high-roofed house."

Located in the northeastern part of Lesbos (Brac), it was one of the seven towns within the bay of Phrygia (northern seaboard) offered to Achilles by Agamemnon.


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II; 686:
For he lay in idleness among the ships, the swift-footed, goodly Achilles, in wrath because of the fair-haired girl Brises, whom he had taken out of Lyrnessos after sore toil, when he wasted Lyrnessos and the walls of Thebe... In sore grief for her lay Achilles idle; but soon was he to rise again.

IV; 376, et pas.:
"Once verily [says Agamemnon] he came to Mycenae, not as an enemy, but as a guest, in company with godlike Polyneices, to gather a host; for in that day they were waging a war against the sacred walls of Thebe, and earnestly did they make prayer that glorious allies be granted them...
So when they had departed and were got forth upon their way, and had come to Asopos with deep reeds, that coucheth in grass, there did the Achaeans send forth Tydeus on an embassage. And he went his way, and found the many sons of Cadmus feasting in the house of mighty Eteocles.
Then, for all he was a stranger, the horseman Tydeus feared not, all alone though he was amid the many Cadmeians, but challenged them all to feats of strength, and in every one vanquished he them full easily... But the Cadmeians, goaders of horses, waxed wroth, and as he journeyed back, brought and set a strong ambush... But Tydeus even upon these let loose a shameful fate, and slew them all..."
OJO——
..."Son of Atreus, utter not lies , when thou knowest how to speak truly. We declare ourselves to be better men by far than our fathers: we took the seat of Thebe of the seven gates, when we twain had gathered a lesser host against a stronger wall, putting our trust in the portents of the gods and in the aid of Zeus; whereas they perished through their own blind folly..."

VI; 395:
...Andromache, daughter of great-hearted Etion, Etion that dwelt beneath wooded Placus, in Thebe under Placus, and was lord over the men Cilicia; for it was his daughter that bronze-harnessed Hector had to wife.

VI; 414:
"My father [Andromache's] verily goodly Achilles slew, for utterly laid he waste the well-peopled city of the Cilicians, even Thebe of lofty gates. He slew Etion, yet he despoiled him not... but he burnt him in his armour, richly dight, and heaped over him a barrow; and all about were elm-trees planted by nymphs of the mountain... And my mother, that was queen beneath wooded Placus, her brought he hither with the rest of the spoil, but thereafter set her free, when he had taken ransom past counting; and in her father's halls Artemis the archer slew her."

XIV; 113:
"Nay, but of goodly father do I [Diomedes] too declare that I am come by lineage, even of Tydeus, whom in Thebe the heaped-up earth covereth." (Damned by Zenodotus and Aristophanes.)

A mainland port-town, well ensconced in the natural protection of a cove within the Klek-Neum Bay—
The history of Thebe is long, and convoluted: it was founded by the celebrated Kadmos, to whom, among his several inventions, we owe the invention of the alphabet; his progeny, the Kadmeioi (masters of Thebe) will have conducted the town's political policies, while the Kilikes (a Phrygian tribe), of the environs, will have been other, lesser, folk; among its rulers was the famous king Oedipus, and, about a generation or so before the Trojan War, it was attacked and sacked by the Seven Against Thebes under the leadership of Tydeus, father of Diomedes; again attacked and sacked, this time by Achilles, it was here that he established his camp, away from where Agamemnon had his.

Thebe, so penned within a cove, had only exposure towards the Klek-Neum Bay. Consequently, the idea of any of the gates of its walls opening towards the mountain behind it should be corrected in favour of seven 'wharves', one next to the other, as lent by the multiple meanings of the word pylos and its topographical applications as 'gate', 'door', 'port', and so on.

The etymology of Thebe is complex, for one possibility is that the name may be akin with Hebrew tebitu, 'boat', (Egyptian tebu), simply because the Klek-Neum Bay was ideally suited for building boats. But another, perhaps preferable possibility, is that Thebe uses the Greek theta to represent the 'th' sound of Zebe,* quite likely meaning 'seven', a number often associated with Thebe.


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*cf. Illyrian Samoz (th) (whence the English giant Samothes) = Greek Samos (s).