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Chapter 11
On the Hill of Hissarlik, July 13th, 1872.
MyY last
report was dated the 18th of June. As the great extent of my
excavations renders it necessary for me to work with no less than 120
men, I have already been obliged, on account of the harvest season, to
increase the daily wages to 12 piasters since the 1st of June; but even
this would not have enabled me to collect the requisite number of men,
had not Mr. Max Müller, the German Consul in Gallipoli, had the
kindness to send me 40 workmen from that place. In consequence of this,
even during the busiest harvest season, I have always had from 120 to
130 workmen, and now that the harvest is over, I have constantly 150.
To facilitate the works, I have procured, through the kindness of the
English Consul in Constantinople, Mr. Charles Cookson, 10 “man-carts,”
which (p.185) are drawn by two men and pushed by a third. The same
gentleman also sent me 20 wheel-barrows, so that I now work with 10
man-carts and 88 wheel-barrows. In addition to these I keep six more
carts with horses, each of which costs 5 francs a day, so that the
total cost of my excavations amounts to more than 400 francs (16l.) a
day. Besides battering-rams, chains, and windlasses, my implements
consist of 24 large iron levers, 108 spades, and 103 pickaxes, all of
the best English manufacture. From sunrise to sunset all are busily at
work, for I have three capital foremen, and my wife and I are always
present at the works. But for all this I do not think that I now remove
more than 400 cubic yards of débris in a day, for the distance is
always increasing, and in several places it is already more than 262
feet. Besides this, the continual hurricane from the north, which
drives the dust into our eyes and blinds us, is exceedingly disturbing.
This perpetual high wind is perhaps explained by the fact that the Sea
of Marmora, with the Black Sea behind it, is connected with the Ægean
Sea by a strait comparatively so narrow. Now, as such perpetual high
winds are unknown in any other part of the world, Homer must have lived
in the Plain of Troy, otherwise he would not have so often given to his
????? the appropriate epithet of “??eµ?essa” (the “windy” or “stormy”),
which he gives to no other place.
As I have already said, at a
perpendicular depth of 12 meters (39½ feet) below the summit of the
hill (on the site of what is probably the temple built by Lysimachus) I
have dug a platform, 102 feet broad below and 112 feet wide at the top:
it already extends to a length of 82 feet. But to my great alarm I find
that I have made it at least 5 meters (16½ feet) too high; for, in
spite of the great depth and the great distance from the declivity of
the hill, I am here still in the débris of the Greek colony, whereas on
the northern declivity of the hill I generally reached the (p.186) ruins
of the preceding people at a depth of less than 6½ feet. To make the
whole platform 16½ feet lower would be a gigantic piece of work, for
which I have no patience at present, on account of the advanced season
of the year. But in order as soon as possible to find out what lies
hidden in the depths of this temple, I have contented myself with
making a cutting 26 feet broad above and 13 feet wide below, exactly
16¼ feet below the platform and in the centre of it. This cutting I am
having dug out at the same time from below and on two terraces, so it
advances rapidly.
Since the discovery of the Sun-god with the
four horses, many blocks of marble with representations of suns and
flowers have been found, but no sculptures of any importance. As yet
very few other objects have been brought to light from the excavation
of the temple; only a few round terra-cottas with the usual decoration
of the central sun surrounded by three, four, or five triple or
quadruple rising suns; knives of silex in the form of saws, a few
pretty figures in terra-cotta, among which is a priestess with very
expressive Assyrian features, with a dress of a brilliant red and green
colour, and a red cloth round her head; also a small bowl, the lower
end of which represents the head of a mouse. The mouse, it is well
known, is a creature inspired by the vapours of the earth, and, as the
symbol of wisdom, was sacred to Apollo. According to Strabo (XIII. p.
613) Apollo is said to have caused mice to show the Teucrians, who
migrated from Crete, the place where they were to settle. However, the
bowl with the head of a mouse is no more a proof that the temple built
here by Lysimachus was dedicated to Apollo than is the metopé
representing the Sun-god with four horses.
In the other parts of
my excavations, since my last report, we have again brought to light an
immense number of round terra-cottas, and among them, from a depth of
from 4 to 10 meters (13 to 33 feet), a remarkable number (p.187) with
three, four, or five ? round the central sun.[184] One, from a depth of
23 feet,[185] shows the central sun surrounded by six suns, through
each of which a ? passes; upon another, found at a depth of 33 feet,
the central sun has 12 trees instead of rays;[186] upon a third,
brought from a depth of 16½ feet, the sun has seven rays in the form of
fishing-hooks, one in the form of the figure three and two in the shape
of the Phœnician letter Nun, then follow 12 sheaves of rays, in each of
which are four little stars; upon a fourth terra-cotta, which I found
at a depth of 16½ feet, there are four rising suns and a tree in the
circle round the sun.[187] I very frequently find between the rising
suns three or four rows of three dots running towards the central
sun,[188] which, as already said, according to É. Burnouf, denote
“royal majesty” in the Persian cuneiform inscriptions. It is certain
that this symbol is here also intended to glorify the Sun-god. At a
depth of from 7 to 10 meters (23 to 33 feet) we also find round
terra-cottas, upon which the entire surface round the sun is filled
with little stars, and in addition only one ?.
During the last
few days we have also found, in the strata next above the primary soil,
at a depth of from 46 to 36 feet, a number of round brilliant black
terra-cottas of exquisite workmanship; most of them much flatter than
those occurring in the higher strata, and resembling a wheel; many are
in the shape of large flat buttons.[189] But we also meet with some in
the form of tops and volcanoes, which differ from those found in the
higher strata only by the fineness of the terra-cotta and by their
better workmanship. The decorations on these very ancient articles are,
however, generally much simpler than (p.188) those met with above a depth
of 10 meters (33 feet), and are mostly confined to the representation
of the sun with its rays, or with stars between the latter, or of the
sun in the centre of a simple cross, or in the middle of four or five
double or treble rising suns. At a depth of 6 meters (20 feet) we again
found a round terra-cotta in the form of a volcano, upon which are
engraved three antelopes in the circle round the sun.
At a depth
of from 5 to 8 meters (16½ to 26 feet) a number of terra-cotta balls
were found, the surface of each being divided into eight fields; these
contain a great many small suns and stars, either enclosed by circles
or standing alone. Most of the balls, however, are without divisions
and covered with stars; upon some I find the ? and the tree of life,
which, as already said, upon a terra-cotta ball found at a depth of 26
feet, had stars between its branches.
Fig.143: Terra-cotta Ball, representing apparently the climates of the globe (8m depth).[190]
Among
the thousands and thousands of round terra-cottas in the form of the
volcano, the top, or the wheel, (p.189) which are found here from the
surface down to a depth of from 14 and 16 meters (46 to 53 feet)—that
is, from the end of the Greek colony down to the ruined strata of the
first inhabitants, I have not yet found a single one with symbolical
signs, upon which I could discover the slightest trace that it had been
used for any domestic purpose.[191] On the other hand, among those
which have no decorations I find a few, perhaps two in a hundred, of
those in the form of volcanoes, the upper surfaces of which show
distinct traces of rubbing, as if from having been used on the
spinning-wheel or loom. That these articles, which are frequently
covered with the finest and most artistic engravings, should have
served as weights for fishing-nets, is utterly inconceivable, for,
apart from all other reasons opposed to such a supposition, pieces of
terra-cotta have not the requisite weight, and of course are directly
spoilt by being used in water.
 M. É. Burnouf writes to me, that
these exceedingly remarkable objects were either worn by the Trojans
and their successors as amulets, or must have been used as coins. Both
of these suppositions, however, seem to me to be impossible. For
amulets they are much too large and heavy, for they are from above 1
inch to nearly 2 inches, and some even 2-1/3 inches, in diameter, and
from 3/5 of an inch to nearly 2 inches high; moreover, it would be most
uncomfortable to wear even a single one of these heavy pieces on the
neck or breast. That they were used as coins appears to me
inconceivable, on account of the religious symbols; moreover, if they
had been so used, they would show traces of wear from their continual
transfer. The white substance with which the engravings are filled
seems also to contradict their having been used as coins; for in their
constant passage from hand to hand it would have soon disappeared.
Lastly, (p.190) such an use is inconsistent with the fact that they also
occur in the strata of the Greek colony, in which I find a number of
copper and some silver coins of Ilium. However, the latter belong for
the most part to the time of the Roman emperors, and I cannot say with
certainty that they reach back beyond our Christian era. There are,
however, coins of Sigeum, which probably belong to the second century
before Christ, for in Strabo’s time this town was already destroyed.
Fig.144: Small Terra-cotta Vessel from the lowest Stratum, with four
perforated feet, and one foot in the middle (14m depth.).[192]
At
a depth of 14 meters (46 feet) I find, among other curious objects,
small round bowls only 1¾ inch in diameter; some of them have, on the
edge of the bottom, four little feet with a perforated hole, and in the
centre a fifth little foot without a hole. Other bowls of the same size
have four little feet, only two of which have a perforated hole. My
conjecture is that all of these small bowls, which could both stand and
be hung up, were used by the ancient Trojans as lamps. Among the ruins
of the three succeeding nations I find no trace of lamps, and only at a
depth of less than a meter (3¼ feet) do I find Greek ??????.
At
the depth of 2 meters (6½ feet) I found, among the ruins of a house, a
great quantity of very small bowls, only 3-4ths of an inch high and
2-5ths of an (p.191) inch broad, together with their small lids; their use
is unknown to me. At all depths below 4 meters (13 feet) I find the
small flat saucers of from nearly 2 inches to above 3 inches in
diameter, with two holes opposite each other; from 4 to 7 meters (13 to
23 feet) they are coarse, but from 7 to 10 meters (23 to 33 feet) they
are finer, and from 13 to 14 meters (42½ to 46 feet) they are very
fine. I am completely ignorant as to what they can
 have been used for.
At all these depths I also find funnels from 2¾ to above 3 inches long,
the broad end of which is only a little above an inch in diameter. In
the upper strata they are made of very coarse clay, but at an
increasing depth they gradually become better, and at a depth of 46
feet they are made of very good terra-cotta.
Figs.145,146: Two little Funnels of Terra-cotta, inscribed with Cyprian Letters (3m depth.).
It is extremely
remarkable, however, that these curious and very “unpractical” funnels
were kept in use in an entirely unchanged pattern by all the tribes
which inhabited Ilium from the foundation of the city to before the
Greek colony. I also find, in the second and third strata, terra-cottas
in the form of the primitive canoes which were made of the hollowed
trunk of a tree. From 4 to 7 meters (13 to 23 feet) they are coarse,
and about 4 inches long; at a depth of from 7 to 10 meters (23 to 33
feet) they are finer, and from 1½ to 2¾ inches long. They may have been
used as salt-cellars or pepper-boxes; I found several with flat
lids. (p.192) These vessels cease to be found in the lowest stratum.
Miniature vases and pots, between 1 and 2 inches high, are frequently
found in all the strata from a depth of from 10 to 33 feet; at a depth
of from 46 to 52½ feet only three miniature pots were discovered; one
is not quite an inch high. At a depth of 5 meters (16½ feet) we found a
perfectly closed earthen vessel with a handle, which seems to have been
used as a bell, for there are pieces of metal inside of it which ring
when it is shaken.
Of
cups (vase-covers) with owls’ heads and helmets, since my last report
two have been brought out from a depth of 10 and 11 feet, two from 16
feet and one from 26 feet. The first are made of bad terra-cotta and
are inartistic; those from a depth of 16 feet are much better finished
and of a better clay; while that from 26 feet (8 meters) is so
beautiful, that one is inclined to say that it represents the actual
portrait of the goddess with the owl’s face.[193] During these last few
days we have found a number of those splendid red cups in the form of
large champagne glasses, without a foot, but with two enormous handles,
one of which was 10½ inches high; but I have already found one 12½
inches in height.
 From a depth of from 26 to 33 feet we have also
brought out many small pots with three little feet, with rings at the
sides and holes in the mouth for hanging up, and with pretty engraved
decorations. Upon the whole, we have (p.193) met with many beautiful
terra-cottas from all the strata during the last few days.
Fig.147 (left): A Trojan Humming-top (7m depth.).
Fig.148 (right): Terra-cotta Bell, or Clapper, or Rattle (5m depth)
I
have still to describe one of those very pretty vases which occur
abundantly at the depth of from 7 to 10 meters (23 to 33 feet), and
have either two closed handles, or, in place of them, two handles with
perforated holes, and also two holes in the mouth in the same
direction; thus they could stand or be hung up by means of strings
drawn through the four holes. They have in most cases decorations all
round them, which generally consist, above and below, of three parallel
lines drawn round them horizontally; between these there are 24
perpendicular lines, which likewise run parallel; the spaces formed by
the latter are filled alternately with three or six little stars.[194]
At a depth of from 7 to 10 meters (23 to 33 feet) we also meet,
although seldom, with vases having cuneiform decorations. I must,
however, remind the reader that all the decorations met with here, at a
depth of from 33 feet up to 6½ feet, have always been more or less
artistically engraved upon the terra-cottas when they were still soft
and unburnt, that all of the vases have a uniform colour (though the
ordinary pots are in most cases uncoloured), and that we have never
found a trace of painting in these depths, with the exception of a
curious box in the form of a band-box, found at a depth of 8 meters (26
feet), which has three feet as well as holes for hanging it up. It is
adorned on all sides with red decorations on a yellow ground, and on
its lid there is a large ? or a very similar symbol of the Maya, the
fire-machine of our Aryan forefathers.
In the lowest stratum
also, at the depth of 52½ feet, I found only the one fragment, already
described, of a vase with an actual painting.[195] All of the other
vessels found in these strata, even the round terra-cottas in the form
of wheels, volcanoes, or tops, are of a brilliant{194} black, red or
brown colour, and the decorations are artistically engraved and filled
with a white substance, so as to be more striking to the eye.
As
every object belonging to the dark night of the pre-Hellenic times, and
bearing traces of human skill in art, is to me a page of history, I am,
above all things, obliged to take care that nothing escapes me. I
therefore pay my workmen a reward of 10 paras (5 centimes, or a
half-penny) for every object that is of the slightest value to me; for
instance, for every round terra-cotta with religious symbols. And,
incredible as it may seem, in spite of the enormous quantities of these
articles that are discovered, my workmen have occasionally attempted to
make decorations on the unornamented articles, in order to obtain the
reward; the sun with its rays is the special object of their industry.
I, of course, detect the forged symbols at once, and always punish the
forger by deducting 2 piasters from his day’s wages; but, owing to the
constant change of workmen, forgery is still attempted from time to
time.
As I cannot remember the names of the men engaged in my
numerous works, I give each a name of my own invention according to
their more or less pious, military or learned appearance: dervish,
monk, pilgrim, corporal, doctor, schoolmaster, and so forth. As soon as
I have given a man such a name, the good fellow is called so by all as
long as he is with me. I have accordingly a number of Doctors, not one
of whom can either read or write.
Yesterday, at a depth of 13
meters (43½ feet), between the stones of the oldest city, I again came
upon two toads, which hopped off as soon as they found themselves free.
In
my last report I did not state the exact number of springs in front of
Ilium. I have now visited all the springs myself, and measured their
distance from my excavations, and I can give the following account of
them. The first spring, which is situated directly below the ruins of
the ancient town-wall, is exactly 365 meters (399 yards) (p.195) from my
excavations; its water has a temperature of 16° Celsius (60.8°
Fahrenheit). It is enclosed to a height of 6½ feet by a wall of large
stones joined with cement, 9¼ feet in breadth, and in front of it there
are two stone troughs for watering cattle. The second spring, which is
likewise still below the ruins of the ancient town-wall, is exactly 725
meters (793 yards) distant from my excavations. It has a similar
enclosure of large stones, 7 feet high and 5 feet broad, and has the
same temperature. But it is out of repair, and the water no longer runs
through the stone pipe in the enclosure, but along the ground before it
reaches the pipe. The double spring spoken of in my last report is
exactly 945 meters (1033 yards) from my excavations. It consists of two
distinct springs, which run out through two stone pipes lying beside
each other in the enclosure composed of large stones joined with earth,
which rises to a height of 7 feet and is 23 feet broad; its temperature
is 17° Celsius (62.6° Fahrenheit). In front of these two springs there
are six stone troughs, which are placed in such a manner that the
superfluous water always runs from the first trough through all the
others. It is extremely probable that these are the two springs
mentioned by Homer, beside which Hector was killed.[196] When the
poet (p.196) describes the one as boiling hot, the other as cold as ice,
this is probably to be understood in a metaphorical sense; for the
water of both these springs runs into the neighbouring Simoïs, and
thence into the Kalifatli-Asmak, whose enormous bed was at one time
occupied by the Scamander; the latter, however, as is well known, comes
from Mount Ida from a hot and a cold spring.
I remarked in my
last memoir that the Doumbrek-Su (Simoïs) still flows past the north of
Ilium into the former channel of the Scamander, and I afterwards said
that one of its arms flowed into the sea near Cape Rhœteum. This remark
requires some explanation. The sources of the Simoïs lie at a distance
of eight hours from Hissarlik; and, as far down as the neighbouring
village of Chalil-Koï, though its water is drawn off into four
different channels for turning mills, its great bed has always an
abundance of water even during the hottest summer weather. At
Chalil-Koï, however, it divides itself into two arms; one of which,
after it has turned a mill, flows into the Plain in a north-westerly
direction, forms an immense marsh, and parts into two branches, one of
which again falls into the other arm, which flows in a westerly
direction from Chalil-Koï, and then empties itself directly into the
Kalifatli-Asmak, the ancient bed of the Scamander. The other arm of the
Simoïs, which flowed in a north-westerly direction from Chalil-Koï,
after it has received a tributary from the Kalifatli-Asmak by means of
an artificial canal, turns direct{197} north, and, under the name of
In-tépé-Asmak, falls into the Hellespont through an enormously broad
bed, which certainly was at one time occupied by the Kalifatli-Asmak,
and in remote antiquity by the Scamander, and is close to the
sepulchral mound of Ajax, which is called In-tépé. I must draw
attention to the fact that the name of Ajax (??a?, gen. ??a?t??) can
even be recognised in the Turkish name (In-tépé: Tépé signifies “hill.”)
In
returning to the article by M. Nikolaïdes, I can now also refute his
assertion that near Ilium, where I am digging, there is no hill which
can be regarded as the one described by Homer as the tomb of Batiea or
the Amazon Myrina.[197]
Strabo (XIII. i. p. 109) quotes the
lines already cited from the Iliad [198] (II. 790-794) as an argument
against the identity of Ilium with the Ilium of Priam, and adds: “If
Troy had stood on the site of the Ilium of that day, Polites would have
been better able to watch the movements of the Greeks in the ships from
the summit of the Pergamus than from the tumulus of Æsyetes, which lies
on the road to Alexandria Troas, 5 stadia (half a geographical mile)
from Ilium.”
Strabo is perfectly right in saying that the Greek
camp must have been more readily seen from the summit of the Pergamus
than from a sepulchral mound on the road to Alexandria Troas, 5 stadia
from Ilium; for Alexandria Troas lies to the south-west of Ilium, and
the road to it, which is distinctly marked by the ford of the Scamander
at its entrance into the valley, goes direct south as far as
Bunarbashi, whereas the Hellespont and the Greek camp were north of
Ilium. But to the south of Ilium, exactly in the direction where the
road to Alexandria Troas must have been, I see before me a tumulus 33
feet high and 131 yards in circumference, and, according to an exact
measurement (p.198) which I have made, 1017 yards from the southern city
wall. This, therefore, must necessarily be the sepulchral mound of
which Strabo writes; but he has evidently been deceived in regard to
its identity with the tumulus of Æsyetes by Demetrius of Scepsis, who
wished to prove the situation of this mound to be in a straight line
between the Greek camp and the village of the Ilians (?????? ??µ?), and
the latter to be the site of Troy. The tumulus of Æsyetes was probably
situated in the present village of Kum-Koï, not far from the confluence
of the Scamander and the Simoïs, for the remains of an heroic tumulus
several feet in height are still to be seen there.
The mound now
before me is in front of Troy, but somewhat to the side of the Plain,
and this position corresponds perfectly with the statements which Homer
gives us of the position of the monument of Batiea or the Amazon
Myrina: “p??p?????e p?????” and “?? ped?? ?p??e??e.” This tumulus is
now called Pacha-Tépé.
We may form an idea of what a large
population Ilium possessed at the time of Lysimachus, among other
signs, from the enormous dimensions of the theatre which he built; it
is beside the Pergamus where I am digging, and its stage is 197 feet in
breadth.
The heat during the day, which is 32° Celsius (89.6°
Fahrenheit), is not felt at all, owing to the constant wind, and the
nights are cool and refreshing.
Our greatest plague here, after
the incessant and intolerable hurricane, is from the immense numbers of
insects and vermin of all kinds; we especially dread the scorpions and
the so-called Sa?a?t?p?d?a (literally “with forty feet”—a kind of
centipede), which frequently fall down from the ceiling of the rooms
upon or beside us, and whose bite is said to be fatal.
 I cannot
conclude without mentioning an exceedingly remarkable person,
Konstantinos Kolobos, the owner of a shop in the village of Neo-Chorion
in the Plain of Troy, (p.199) who, although born without feet, has
nevertheless made a considerable fortune in a retail business. But his
talents are not confined to business; they include a knowledge of
languages; and although Kolobos has grown up among the rough and
ignorant village lads and has never had a master, yet by self-tuition
he has succeeded in acquiring the Italian and French languages, and
writes
Fig.149: A Trojan decorated Vase of Terra-cotta (7m depth).
and speaks both of them perfectly. He is also wonderfully expert
in ancient Greek, from having several times copied and learnt by heart
a large etymological dictionary, as well as from having read all the
classic authors, and he can repeat whole rhapsodies from the Iliad by
heart. What a pity it is that such a genius has to spend his days in a
wretched village in the Troad, useless to the world, and in the
constant company of the most uneducated and ignorant people, all of
whom gaze at him in admiration, but none of whom understand him!
Footnotes:
[184] See the Plates of Whorls, Nos. 350, 351, 352, 356, 357, 359, &c.
[185] Plate XXVI., No. 362. M. Burnouf calls these “the 6 bi-monthly sacrifices.”
[186] Plate XXXIII., No. 402.
[187] Plate XXXIV., No. 403.
[188] Plate XXII., No. 320.
[189] See the Sections on Plate XXI.
[190]
In the ball here depicted there is no mistaking the significance of the
line of ?, the symbols of fire, as denoting the torrid zone. The three
dots are, according to M. Burnouf, the symbol of royal majesty therein
residing. The two rows of dots parallel to the torrid zone may possibly
represent the inhabited regions of the temperate zones, according to
the oriental theory followed by Plato.—[Ed.]
[191] See the qualification of this statement on p. 40.
[192] In the Atlas, Dr. Schliemann describes this and another such as Trojan lamps, but adds that they may be only vase covers.
[193] The one meant seems to be that engraved on p. 115 (No. 74).
[194] See Cut, No. 149, p. 199.
[195] See Cut, No. 1, p. 15.
[196] Iliad, XXII. 145-156:—
?? d? pa?? s??p??? ?a? ????e?? ??eµ?e?ta
?e??e?? a??? ?p?? ?at’ ?µa??t?? ?sse???t?,
?????? d’ ??a??? ?a???????, ???a te p??a?
???a? ??a?ss??s? S?aµ??d??? d???e?t??.
? µ?? ??? ?’ ?dat? ??a?? ??e?, ?µf? d? ?ap???
G???eta? ?? a?t?? ?? e? p???? a???µ??????
? d’ ?t??? ???e? p????e? ?????a ?a????
? ????? ????? ? ?? ?dat?? ???st????.
???a d’ ?p’ a?t??? p????? e???e? ????? ?as??
?a??? ?a??e??, ??? e?µata s??a??e?ta
????es??? ????? ?????? ?a?a? te ???at?e?
?? p??? ?p’ e??????, p??? ???e?? ??a? ??a???.
“They” (Hector and Achilles, in flight and pursuit)
“They by the watch-tower, and beneath the wall
Where stood the wind-beat fig-tree, raced amain
Along the public road, until they reached
The fairly-flowing founts, whence issued forth,
From double source, Scamander’s eddying streams.
One with hot current flows, and from beneath,
As from a furnace, clouds of steam arise;
‘Mid Summer’s heat the other rises cold
As hail, or snow, or water crystallized;
Beside the fountains stood the washing-troughs
Of well-wrought stone, where erst the wives of Troy
And daughters fair their choicest garments washed,
In peaceful times, ere came the sons of Greece.”
[197] See Iliad, II. 811-815, quoted above, p. 179.
[198] Chapter II., p. 69.
[Continue to Chapter 12]
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