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Chapter 17 (p.248)
Pergamus of Troy, March 15th, 1873.
Since my report of the 1st of this month I have continued the excavations
with great zeal, favoured by glorious weather and an abundance of
workmen. The nights are cold, and the thermometer still frequently
falls to freezing point towards morning, whereas during the day the
heat of the sun is already beginning to be troublesome, the thermometer
often showing 18° Réaumur (72½° Fahrenheit) in the shade at midday. The
leaves of the trees are only now beginning to sprout, while the Plain
is already covered with spring flowers.[231] For the last fortnight we
have heard the croaking of millions of frogs in the surrounding
marshes, and during the last eight days the storks have returned. One
of the discomforts of our life in this (p.249) wilderness is the hideous
shrieking of the innumerable owls which build their nests in the holes
of the walls of my excavations; their shrieks sound mysterious and
horrible, and are especially unendurable at night.
I have
proceeded with the excavation of the site of the Temple of Athena with
the greatest energy. The foundations of this sanctuary nowhere extend
deeper than 2 meters (6½ feet), and generally only to 1 meter (3¼
feet). The floor, which consists of large slabs of sandstone, and which
rests upon double layers of large hewn blocks of the same stone, is
frequently covered only with a foot, and never with more than 3¼ feet,
of vegetable soil; this explains the total absence of entire
sculptures. For whatever sculptures there were in or upon the temple
could not sink into the ground on the summit of the hill, and they
therefore remained lying on the surface for many centuries, till they
were destroyed by religious zeal or wantonness. This, and this alone,
explains the enormous mass of fragments of statues which cover the
entire hill.
I find, however, a great number of large sculptured
blocks of marble in the Corinthian style which are difficult to
destroy, and the removal of which causes me great trouble and loss of
time. As the Tower, which I partly uncovered last year, extends
directly below the temple at a great depth, and as I wish at all events
to lay bare its entire breadth, I shall leave only the ruins of the
north and south walls of the temple standing, and break away all the
rest, except a reservoir, 27 feet long and 26 feet broad, which is in
the sanctuary, and is built of blocks of limestone laid together
without cement or lime, and the walls of which have a thickness of 8
feet.
The four aqueducts mentioned in my last report empty themselves
into the reservoir. I shall leave it standing in order to give visitors
to the Troad a faint idea of the trouble which I have to take in
removing all the stones of a temple which is about 288 feet long and
72½ feet broad. But what is even much more difficult (p.250) than the
removal of the stones, is the carrying off of the débris, for as the
excavation is made on the flat earth, this can only be effected by side
paths, which become steeper the deeper we dig. However, I only wish to
uncover the top of the ruined Tower, for to bring it to light down to
the primary soil is a piece of work to which my patience is unequal.
This new large cutting, therefore, only requires a depth of 26 feet,
and on the western end I have given it a breadth of 78¾ feet. By this
means I hope to reach the ancient and highly important monument on the
north side in two or three days. As soon as this is done, I shall have
an upper and a lower terrace made for facilitating the removal of the
rubbish, and shall thus in a month from to-day be able to finish the
entire excavation of the Tower as far as its eastern end, which I came
upon yesterday in my steep cutting at the south-eastern corner of the
Pergamus, and of which I have laid open a breadth of 13 feet.
This
eastern side of the Tower, thus brought to light, runs down at an angle
of 60 degrees, and has the same appearance as the ancient buttress
which I uncovered at the north side of the Pergamus. As I did not at
first think that it was the Tower, I had the first layer of stones
broken off, but I soon found a piece of masonry composed of large
stones joined with earth. In consequence of this I have entirely
stopped the works in this cutting, which already extended to a length
of 111½ feet, and in spite of its small breadth was one of the most
difficult works in Troy. For, as already said, I had first to break
through a wall 10 feet thick, consisting of large blocks of marble, but
principally of Corinthian pillars joined with lime (see p. 239); then
the wall of Lysimachus, which was also 10 feet thick, and built of
large hewn stones. The large drums of pillars had to be rolled up the
steep path and then carried off; the large hewn stones had to be broken
with hammers and then removed in wheel-barrows.
In addition to this, as
the visitors to the Pergamus may see in the walls of this cutting, we
had to cut{251} through two Trojan walls, the first of which is 5¼ feet
thick, and the second 10 feet; both consist of stones joined with
earth. The first of these walls is directly below a portion of the
western wall of the comparatively modern Temple of Athena, and
as—according to my pocket compass—it runs due E.S.E.1/2E., I at first
thought that it might belong to the ancient diminutive temple of the
Ilian tutelary goddess, which Alexander the Great[232] found here. But
nothing further has appeared which could help to prove this.
Plate IX: Altar and Reservoir; Upper part of the Buildings discovered in the depths of the Temple of Athena.
The second
wall, 10 feet thick, is extremely interesting, for it is built of large
unhewn blocks of shelly limestone (Muschelkalk), and on the top of it
is a wall of small stones joined with earth. It evidently belongs to a
much later age, but was in any case built long before the arrival of
the Greek colony in Ilium. But even the lower wall of large stones was
not built till the Tower of Ilium had formed a heap of débris 20 feet
high; it must therefore have been built centuries after the erection of
the Tower.
This débris consists of ashes mixed with bones and small
shells, and on account of its dampness and toughness is just as
difficult to break down as damp limestone rock. In it I found many
fragments of those Trojan vessels, which are of a brilliant red or
black colour, both outside and inside, but nothing else of any
interest. Above the Tower, at the east side of the Pergamus, there is
nothing but yellow wood-ashes and a great number of stones. In fact,
down to the present depth of 4½ meters (14¼ feet) below the surface,
that is, from 7 to 10 feet below the foundations of the temple of
Athena, I find nothing but yellow wood-ashes, and among these an
immense number of enormous earthen jars (pithoi) from 3¼ to 6½ feet
long, and pointed below, which must have served not only as wine and
water jars, but as cellars for keeping provisions, for there are no
walled cellars.
Stone implements, such as I found in my former
excavations only below a depth of 13 feet (with the exception (p.252) of
the few knives of silex), are met with here in great numbers at as
small a depth as 6½ feet, that is, directly below the Temple of Athena;
those most frequently found are clumsy hammers of diorite, but
occasionally also hammers of the same or of green stone very prettily
worked; some of them have a wide hole at both sides and a narrow one in
the middle, and I cannot understand how a handle could have been fixed
into them.
The best finished instrument is always the wedge,[233] which
is of diorite or of hard green stone, sometimes also of white silex,
and occurs in all sizes from about ¾ of an inch to above 5 inches in
length. This instrument is always of such exquisite workmanship and so
well polished, that it is really astonishing how it was possible, with
the miserable means at the disposal of those times, to make anything of
such an excellent quality, for a modern artist with the best
instruments could not possibly make better ones.
The knives of silex,
which I found last year in such great quantities, are as yet but rarely
met with in this excavation. As stone implements do not occur elsewhere
before reaching a depth of 4 meters (13 feet), it is probable that the
numbers of stone implements met with here, as early as at a depth of 2
meters (6½ feet) on the site of the temple, belong to the débris which
was dug up when the large reservoir was constructed, for it appears to
extend pretty far down, and its foundations may perhaps reach down to
the Tower.
As, even in the temple itself, I find exclusively the
round terra-cottas in the form of cones and without decorations, while,
on the other hand, below the foundations of the temple I meet with
great quantities of them in the form of volcanoes and tops, with the
most various Aryan religious symbols, I am now of the opinion that all
those bearing such Aryan symbols must belong to the tribes which
preceded the Greek colony on this site. (p.253)
Of moulds of
mica-schist I have only found two, one of which was used on all the six
sides for casting weapons and instruments, the other for casting
headless nails, and has two round holes, not perforated, for what
purpose I do not know.[234]
While speaking of implements, I must
mention a very remarkable hammer of bone, found at a depth of 3 meters
(10 feet), which is covered with little engraved stars.
We again
met with several marble idols, with the engraved owl’s face of the
Ilian Athena and her girdle with dots; also a very pretty marble idol
without the owl’s head, but with two small arms extended horizontally.
The only terra-cottas with owls’ heads that have been met with, since
my last report, are two cups (vase-covers).
I find very many
copper coins of Ilium and Alexandria Troas, and Roman ones from the
time of Augustus to Constantine the Great, especially the latter,
directly below the surface, and at most down to a meter (3¼ feet) deep.
Iron I do not find at all, not even in the temple, but a number of
copper nails, which, however, I begin to think could not have been used
for driving into wood; for this purpose they seem to be far too long
and thin. The usual length of the nails occurring below 6½ feet is from
about 4 to above 6 inches, with a thickness of 1/5 of an inch, and I do
not think that it would be possible to drive such a nail even into very
soft wood. Besides this, most of the nails have no head at all, others
two heads, and many have two pointed ends, one of which is bent round
so as to form a head.
Thick copper nails suitable for driving into wood
are very rarely met with; I have only found two in two years. I am
therefore induced to believe that all the nails which I find in the
strata of the nations preceding the Greeks have been used only as dress
or hair pins. This (p.254) belief is confirmed by a copper nail, about 5
inches long, with a head of the usual form, and the fragment of a
similar nail, which were found only 3 inches below the surface, in a
small groove, which my men had made round their reed-hut to allow the
rain-water to run off. On the head of the nail there is a small gold
ball, and then there follows downwards on the nail a row of eighteen
similar little gold balls. At the end of this row there is a second row
of nine gold balls of like size. The rows of the little balls are in
the form of necklaces, and cover a third part of the nail.
The fragment
of the other nail is still more remarkable, for it shows a string of
little balls which form a perfect bow; they are made of the alloy which
in antiquity was called electrum (??e?t???), consisting of three parts
of gold and one part of silver; below the bow, in a horizontal
direction, there is a row of little balls, which are probably intended
to represent the string. The little balls are firmly soldered to both
of the nails. In addition to this I must also mention that the silver
nails so frequently met with are generally of the same form and size as
the copper ones, and can certainly never have been used for driving
into wood.
On the west side of the Great Tower, which I laid
bare last year, I am likewise making an excavation 47 feet long and 48
feet broad, so as to bring to light more of this side, and to see how
the walls of Ilium are connected with it. It is worth a journey round
the world to see this Tower, whose site was at all events so high, that
it not only commanded a view of the Plain, but also of the plateau
lying to the south of it, whereas its summit now lies a great many feet
below the level of the plateau. According to this it seems that the
accumulation of débris on the site of the city is as large as it is in
the Pergamus.[235] (p.255)
In the western excavation,
already mentioned, I found the ruins of a very large house of the Greek
period. It extended to the depth of 6½ feet, and must have belonged to
a rich man, for the floors of the rooms are made of large red slabs
splendidly polished. In it I found two small and very pretty female
heads of terra-cotta, as well as two extremely remarkable pieces of
hard brittle black stone, like glass, in the form of mushrooms, but
with a tube running through the centre. The heads of the two pieces
have decorations similar to those on the round terra-cottas in the form
of humming-tops and volcanoes, and I therefore believe that both pieces
belong to the pre-Hellenic period.
 Below the foundations of the
Greek house I found, at the depth of 3 and 4 meters (9¾ to 13 feet),
many of the whorls with the usual decorations of four, five, or six
double or treble rising suns; or four flaming altars; or four Rosæ
mysticæ; or four or five ? in the circle around the central sun. I
likewise found, at a depth of 10 feet, one of these articles, upon
which there is a very rude and inartistic engraving of the Ilian
Athena, with the owl’s head and outstretched arms.
Fig.172: A Whorl with rude Symbols of the Owl’s Face, Suastika, and lightning (3m depth).
By the side of this representation there are two crosses, and at the four ends of each are
the marks of the nails with which our forefathers fastened the two
pieces of wood which were laid crosswise for igniting the holy fire. In
the same circle with the image of the goddess there are two symbols of
lightning. A faithful drawing of this terra-cotta is given in the cut.
Of
the earthenware found in this excavation there is one piece especially
deserving of attention. This is a vessel in the (p.256) form of a helmet,
with a round hole at the bottom; it may have served as a kind of funnel.
As
has been already said, the splendid block of triglyphs representing
Phœbus Apollo with the four horses of the Sun, which I discovered last
July, must, as the triglyph on the left side proves, have stood over
the entrance of the temple, probably on its propylæa, and must have had
another block of triglyphs of the same size on its right side. It would
be of the greatest interest to archæology if I should find the second
block of triglyphs, which, as happened with the other block, has
probably been thrown from the summit of the hill down the steep
declivity. I have also previously expressed the opinion, that the block
of triglyphs which I saved had been thrown down by fanatical Turks
because it represented living creatures, which is strictly prohibited
in the Koran.
However, the locality has not been inhabited at all since
the ninth century, and the labourers of the distant Turkish villages
cannot possibly have given themselves the trouble of rolling down from
the hill such tremendous weights from mere religious zeal. Besides
this, the good state in which the sculpture has been preserved proves
that it cannot possibly have stood upon the top of the hill up to the
time of the Turkish invasion, and this leads me to suppose that it was
thrown down by the early Christians more than a thousand years before,
very likely even in the fourth century A.D.; for it is well known, that
all sculptures of heathen gods which were difficult to destroy they
simply hurled from the top of the hills upon which they stood. That
this is the only true explanation is also confirmed by the covering of
earth, 3¼ feet thick, which enveloped the sculpture on the declivity of
the hill. According to the average accumulation of the soil in this
locality, the formation of such a covering would be impossible in the
course of three or four centuries: it would have required more than a
thousand years. (p.257)
It is now quite certain that the Doric
temple, which at one time stood on the north side, and in the depths of
which I have so long been working, was the sanctuary of Apollo; and
that the block of Doric triglyphs so frequently mentioned belonged to
this temple of Apollo, and to none other; since Ilium’s great temple,
which I am now investigating, could only have been dedicated to the
tutelary goddess of Ilium, Athena, for in the great inscription quoted
in my last report it is simply called “t? ?e???.”
In order to
try to find the second block of triglyphs, I have since yesterday set
25 men to work upwards from the foot of the hill at the point where the
Phœbus Apollo was found, over a breadth of 59 feet, to remove the
débris which unfortunately I had thrown down the declivity last year,
and which forms a covering of 23 feet in thickness; and then to dig
away the whole steep side of the hill to a depth of 4½ feet from the
bottom upwards.
As soon as I have workmen to spare, I shall also
employ thirty to make a deep cutting into the theatre, the stage of
which, as already said, is 197 feet broad; this cutting I intend to
make 33 feet broad and 148 feet long; for, in a small opening which I
made there last year, I found a number of fragments of broken statues,
and it is quite possible that some, which might be of the greatest
interest to archæology, escaped the zeal of the early Christians.
 Fig.173: Splendid Trojan Vase of Terra-cotta, representing the tutelary
Goddess of Ilium, ?e? ??a???p?? ?????. The cover forms the helmet (8m depth).
The
many thousands of stones which I bring out of the depths of Ilium have
induced the inhabitants of the surrounding villages to erect buildings
which might be called grand for the inhabitants of this wilderness.
Among others, they are at present building with my Ilian stones a
mosque and a minaret in the wretched Turkish village of Chiplak, and a
church-tower in the Christian village of Yenishehr. A number of
two-wheeled carts, drawn by oxen, are always standing by the side of my
excavations,(p.258) ready to receive the stones which can be of any use
as soon as they have been brought to the surface; but the religious
zeal of these good people is not great enough for them to offer to help
me in the terrible work of breaking the large, splendidly hewn blocks
so as to make them more convenient to remove.
Although spring is
only just commencing, there is already a great deal of malignant fever
in consequence of the mild winter, and the poor people of the
neighbourhood are already daily beginning to make large claims upon my
stock of quinine.
I found myself obliged to raise the men’s wages to 10 piasters or 2 francs, eight days ago. (p.259)
Footnotes:
[231] Compare Homer’s picture of the marshalling of the Greek forces: Iliad, II. 467-8:—
?sta? d’ ?? ?e?µ??? Scaµa?d??? ???eµ?e?t?
??????, ?ssa te f???a ?a? ???ea ????eta? ???.
“Upon Scamander’s flowery mead they stood
Unnumbered as the vernal leaves and flowers.”—[Ed.]
[232] Plutarch, Life of Alexander, viii. Comp. p. 146.
[233]
As elsewhere, the wedges here spoken of are what the Author afterwards
decided to be axes, and especially battle-axes.—[Ed.]
[234] An engraving of a similar mould, found on the Tower, is given in Chapter XVIII., No. 175. p. 261.
[235]
It is perhaps unnecessary to remind the reader again how the Author
afterwards gave up the idea of this distinction between the city and
its Pergamus.—[Ed.]
[Continue to Chapter 18]
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