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Chapter 20 (part A) (p.276)
Pergamus of Troy, April 5th, 1873.
Amidst cold
but glorious spring weather most favourable for the workmen, who now
number 150 on the average, I have this week continued the excavations
with the greatest energy and with good results.
The most
interesting object that I have discovered here in these three years is
certainly a house which I brought to light this week, and of which
eight rooms have already been laid open; it stands upon the Great
Tower, at a depth of 7 and 8 meters (23 to 26 feet), directly below the
Greek Temple of Athena. Its walls consist of small stones cemented with
earth, and they appear to belong to different epochs; for, while some
of them rest directly upon the stones of the Tower, others were not
built till the Tower was covered with 8 inches, and in several cases
even with 3¼ feet, of débris.
These walls also show differences in
thickness; one of them is 4¼ feet, others are only 25½ inches, and
others again not more than 19-2/3 inches thick. Several of these walls
are 10 feet high, and on some of them may be seen large remnants of the
coatings of clay, painted yellow or white. Only in one large room, the
dimensions of which, however, cannot be exactly ascertained, have
I (p.277) as yet found an actual floor of unhewn slabs of limestone, the
smooth sides of which are turned outside. Black marks, the result of
fire, upon the lower portion of the walls of the other rooms which have
as yet been excavated, leave no doubt that their floors were of wood,
and were destroyed by fire. In one room there is a wall in the form of
a semicircle, which has been burnt as black as coal.
All the rooms as
yet laid open, and not resting directly upon the Tower, have been
excavated down to the same level; and I find, without exception, that
the débris below them consists of red or yellow ashes and burnt ruins.
Above these, even in the rooms themselves, I found nothing but either
red or yellow wood-ashes, mixed with bricks that had been dried in the
sun and subsequently burnt by the conflagration, or black débris, the
remains of furniture, mixed with masses of small shells: in proof of
this there are the many remains which are still hanging on the walls.
In several rooms I found red jars (pithoi) from 7 to 8 feet high, some
of which I leave in situ. Above the house, and as far as the
foundations of the temple, I found nothing but red and yellow
wood-ashes. (See Plate X., opposite p. 287.)
To the east side of
the house is a sacrificial Altar of a very primitive description, which
is turned to the north-west by west, and consists of a slab of slate
granite about 5¼ feet long, and 5½ feet broad. The upper part of the
stone is cut into the form of a crescent, probably for killing upon it
the animal which was intended for sacrifice.
Fig.188: Great Altar for Sacrifices, found in the depths of the Temple of Athena (1/23 of the real size).
About 4 feet below the
sacrificial altar I found a channel made of slabs of green slate, which
probably served to carry off the blood. Strangely enough this Altar
does not stand on the Tower itself, but 3¼ feet above it, upon bricks
or lumps of earth which had been dried in the sun, and which have been
actually burnt by the conflagration, but nevertheless have no
stability. The altar was surrounded by an enormous quantity of (p.278) the
remains of bricks of this description, as well as by red and yellow
wood-ashes, to a height of 10 feet.
Of course I leave the altar in
situ, so that visitors to the Troad may convince themselves by the
nature of its pedestal and of the débris of the earthen wall, beside
which it stands, of the correctness of all these statements, which
might otherwise appear too incredible. The remarkable sub-structure of
this sacrificial altar, the curious débris in which it was buried, the
preservation of the great house, which has evidently been burnt, and
the walls of which were built at different epochs, and lastly, the fact
that its spaces were filled with heterogeneous débris and with colossal
jars—all this is a puzzle to me. I confine myself, therefore, to
stating the facts merely, and refrain from expressing any kind of
conjecture.
Above
the house, in the south-western wall of this excavation, are the ruins
of the southern wall of the Temple of Athena. They are 5¼ feet high,
and consist of large white{279} blocks of limestone. Their great
breadth gives them an imposing appearance, and this is further
increased by the great reservoir of the temple, the walls of which are
directly to the east of the altar, and 4¼ feet high. Above the very
ancient house, and below the southern wall of the temple, may be seen
the ruins of a small round cellar, 3½ feet in diameter and about 2½
feet high, which stands below the foundations, and must, therefore, be
older than the temple. It is built of chalk and stones, but the inner
side has been painted over with a kind of varnish or glaze, and has a
glossy appearance. This small cellar was filled with fragments of Greek
terra-cottas, among which, however, I found six small vases, almost
uninjured.
This very ancient house, with its small rooms, as it
stands, is very like a Pompeian house; it cannot, indeed, be at all
compared with the houses of Pompeii in regard to architecture or
decoration, but it surpasses them in peculiarity.
 By
the side of the house, as well as in its larger apartments, I have
found great quantities of human bones, but as yet only two entire
skeletons, which must be those of warriors, for they were found at a
depth of 7 meters (23 feet), with copper helmets upon their heads.
Beside one of the skeletons I found a large lance, a drawing of which I
give. The one skull is uninjured, and I add a faithful drawing of it;
the other is somewhat broken, but I hope soon to have the pieces joined
with cement. Both of the skulls are large, but remarkably narrow.
Fig.189: Copper Lance of a Trojan Warrior, found beside his Skeleton (7m depth).
Unfortunately both helmets were broken; however, I hope to be able to
put one of the two together when I return to Athens. (p.280)
Fig.190: Skull of a Trojan Warrior, belonging to one of the two Skeletons
found in the House on the Tower (7m depth). It is long, but narrow.
The
upper portions of both helmets have, however, been well preserved; and
these parts form the “f????,” or ridge, in which the “??f?? ?pp?????,”
or horse-hair plume, so frequently mentioned in the Iliad, was
fixed.”[244] In both{281} cases the f???? consists of two pieces. The
large copper ring found beside the helmet had been attached to it, in
what manner I do not know. Two days later, when I found the second
helmet, I perceived from the manner in which the lower portion was
fixed to the helmet that the pieces must be put together as shown in
the drawing of fig.191.
 Fig.191: (a) The upper and (b)
lower pieces of a Trojan Helmet-crest (f????) placed together. (c.) A
small piece of the Helmet remains adhering to the lower part of the
Crest (7m depth). A pin, fastened to the front of the part (b), goes into
the hollow base of (a), and supports it. (See the figures on p.334.)
Through the lower portion of each helmet runs a copper
nail, which has a round head and its other end simply bent round. As to
the place into which the ??f?? ?pp????? was inserted and fixed there
can be no doubt, for the opening at the top of the ridge can have
served no other purpose.
 By the side of the second helmet also, I found
the fragment of a copper ring similar to that found beside the first
helmet.[245]
Fig.192: Great Copper Ring, found near the Helmet-crest (7m depth).
In
some of the rooms I found no terra-cottas at all, but in others
enormous quantities of splendid black, red, and brown vases, pots, and
jars of all sizes, and of most (p.282) fanciful shapes; but unfortunately
in hewing down the hard débris most of them were broken, and I shall
not be able to
 have them repaired till I return to Athens. I wish to
draw attention to the elegance of the red jars with necks bent
back, two ears, and three breasts; as well as to the black or red vases
ornamented with engraved branches of trees, with three feet and two
small and two large upraised handles as arms; also to the terra-cotta
goblets, which are occasionally the form of champagne-glasses,
sometimes also in the shape of a soup-tureen with two handles. (p.283)
Fig.193: An elegant bright-red Vase of Terra-cotta, decorated with branches
and signs of lightning, with holes in the handles and lips, for cords
to hang it up by. Found on the Tower (8m depth).
Fig.194: Terra-cotta Vase. Found on the Tower (8m depth).
Footnotes:
[244] Homer’s Iliad, III. 362; IV. 459; VI. 9; XIII. 132; XVI. 216.
[245]
Few coincidences have struck us more than the comparison of these
helmet-crests with the frequent allusions in Homer, especially where
“Hector of the dancing helmet-crest” (?????a????? ??t??), takes off the
helmet that frightened his child (Iliad, VI. 469, foll.):—
?a?ß?sa? ?a???? te ?d? ??f?? ?pp???a?t??
?e???? ?p’ ????t?t?? ??????? ?e???ta ???sa?.
“Scared by the brazen helm and horse-hair plume,
That nodded, fearful, on the warrior’s crest.”
No
such plumed helmets are found among the remains of “pre-historic”
barbarous races. The skeletons, with the helmets and lances beside
them, bear striking witness to a city taken by storm. In Homer, the
Trojans under the command of “the crested Hector” are “valiant with
lances” (µeµa?te? ???e??s??, Iliad, II. 816-818).—[Ed.]
[Continue to Chapter 20, part B]
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