Number of workmen--Discoveries at 2 to 4 meters deep--Greek
coins--Remarkable terra-cottas with small stamps, probably _Ex
votos_--These cease, and are succeeded by the whorls--Bones of
sharks, shells of mussels and oysters, and pottery--Three Greek
Inscriptions--The splendid panoramic view from Hissarlik--The Plain
of Troy and the heroic _tumuli_--Thymbria: Mr. Frank Calvert’s
Museum--The mound of Chanaï Tépé--The Scamander and its ancient
bed--Valley of the Simoïs, and ruins of Ophrynium.
On the Hill of Hissarlik, October 26th, 1871.
[Illustration: Nos. 37-39. Stamped Terra-cottas (1½--2 M.).]
[Illustration: No. 40. Stamped Terra-cotta (2 M.).]
Since my report of the 18th I have continued the excavations with the
utmost energy, with, on an average, 80 workmen, and I have to-day
reached an average depth of 4 meters (13 feet). At a depth of 6½ feet
I discovered a well, covered with a very large stone, and filled with
rubbish. Its depth I have not been able to ascertain; it belongs to the
Roman period, as is proved by the cement with which the stones are
joined together. Ruins of buildings, consisting of hewn stones joined or
not joined by cement, I only find at about a depth of 2 meters (6½
feet). In the layers of _débris_ between 2 and 4 meters deep (6½ to
13 feet), I find scarcely any stones, and to my delight the huge blocks
of stone no longer occur at all. Medals belonging to Ilium and to the
first and second centuries before Christ, and the first two centuries
after Christ, as well as coins of Alexandria Troas and Sigeum, the age
of which I do not know, were found almost immediately below the surface,
and only in some few cases as deep as 1 meter (3¼ feet). By far the
greater number of the Ilian coins bear the image of Minerva, of Faustina
the elder, of Marcus Aurelius, of Faustina the younger, of Commodus or
of Crispina, and I found one with the following inscription: ΦΑΥΣΤΙΝΑ
϶ΚΤΩΡ ΙΛΙΕΩΝ. As far down as 2 meters (6½ feet) I found, as during my
last year’s excavations in this hill, an immense number of round
articles of terra-cotta, red, yellow, grey and black, with two holes,
without inscriptions, but frequently with a kind of potter’s stamp upon
them. I cannot find in the holes of any one of these articles the
slightest trace of wear by their having been used for domestic purposes,
and therefore I presume that they have served as _Ex votos_ for hanging
up in the temples. Upon most of those bearing a stamp I perceive in it
an altar, and above the latter a bee or fly with outspread wings; upon
others there is a bull, a swan, a child, or two horses. Curiously enough
these articles vanish all at once at a depth of a 2 meters (6½ feet),
and from this depth downwards I find, in their stead, pieces that are
sometimes as round as a ball, exactly the shape of a German humming-top,
sometimes in the form of hemispheres, others again in the form of cones,
tops (_carrouselen_), or volcanoes. They are from ¾ of an inch to
2¼ inches high and broad, and all the different forms have a hole
right through the centre; almost all of them have on one side the most
various kinds of decorations encircling the central hole.[83] With the
exception of a few of these objects made of blue stone, from ¾ of an
inch to 1½ inch broad, and found at a depth of 3 meters (10 feet),
they are all made of terra-cotta, and it is quite evident that the
decorations were engraved when the clay was still in a soft state. All
are of such excellent clay, and burnt so hard, that I at first believed
them to be of stone, and only perceived my mistake after having
carefully examined them. In the depth we have now arrived at I also find
very many of those elegant round vertebræ which form the backbone of the
shark, and of which walking-sticks are often made. The existence of
these vertebræ seems to prove that in remote antiquity this sea
contained sharks, which are now no longer met with here. To-day I also
found upon a fragment of rough pottery the representation of a man’s
head with large protruding eyes, a long nose, and a very small mouth,
which seems clearly to be of Phœnician workmanship.
I also constantly come upon immense quantities of mussel-shells, and it
seems as if the old inhabitants of Ilium had been very fond of this
shell-fish. Oyster-shells are also found, but only seldom; on the other
hand, I find very many fragments of pottery. As far as the depth yet
reached, all the buildings which have stood upon this hill in the course
of thousands of years seem to have been destroyed by fire; every one of
them is distinctly indicated by a layer of calcined ruins. This is at
all events the reason why I do not also find other objects, and
especially why I no longer find earthen vessels. Those I have hitherto
found uninjured are very small pots of coarse workmanship; however, the
fragments of the pottery prove that even in the time to which the ruins
belong, at a depth of 4 meters (13 feet), there already existed good
kitchen utensils.
In the quadrangular building already mentioned I found, at a depth of
about 5 feet, a slab of marble 25·6 inches in length, the upper part of
which is 13·6 inches in breadth, and the lower part 15·36 inches. It
contains the following inscription:--
Ἐπειδὴ Διαφένης Πολλέως Τημνίτης, διατρίβων παρὰ τῷ βασιλεῖ, φίλος
ὢν καὶ εὔνους διατελεῖ τῷ δήμῳ, χρείας παρεχόμενος προθύμως εἰς ἃ
ἄν τις αὐτὸν παρακαλῇ, δεδόχθαι τῇ βουλῇ καὶ τῷ δήμῳ ἐπαινέσαι μὲν
αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τούτοις, παρακαλεῖν δὲ καὶ εἰς τὸ λοιπὸν εἶναι φιλότιμον
εἰς τὰ τοῦ δήμου συμφέροντα, δεδόσθαι δὲ αὐτῷ πολιτείαν, προξενίαν,
ἔγκτησιν, ἀτέλειαν ὧν καὶ οἱ πολῖται ἀτελεῖς εἰσι καὶ ἔφοδον ἐπὶ
τὴν βουλὴν πρώτῳ μετὰ τὰ ἱερὰ καὶ ἄφιξιν καὶ ἐμ πολέμῳ καὶ ἐν
εἰρήνῃ ἀσυλεὶ καὶ ἀσπονδεί· ἀναγράψαι δὲ τὰ δεδομένα αὐτῷ ταῦτα εἰς
στήλην καὶ (ἀνα)θεῖναι ε(ἰς....
The king spoken of in this inscription must have been one of the kings
of Pergamus, and from the character of the writing I believe that it
must be assigned to the third century before Christ.
At about the same depth, and by the side of the building, I found a
second marble slab 16·5 inches in length and 13·4 inches in breadth. The
inscription runs as follows:--
Ἰλιεῖς ἔδοσαν Μενελάῳ Ἀῤῥαβαίου Ἀθηναίῳ εὐεργέτῃ γενομένῳ αὐτῶν καὶ
περὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀνδρὶ ἀγαθῷ γενομένῳ προξενίαν καὶ εὐεργεσίαν.
This second inscription, to judge from the form of the letters, appears
to belong to the first century _B.C._ “Ἀῤῥαβαῖος” here occurs for the
first time as an Attic name.
At the same depth, and likewise by the side of the foundations of the
same building, I found a third marble slab, nearly 15 inches long and
about 14 broad. Its inscription is:--
Μηνόφιλος Γλαυρίου εἶπεν· ἐπειδὴ πλείονες τῶν πολιτῶν ἐπελθόντες
ἐπὶ τὴν βουλήν φασιν Χαιρέαν τὸν τεταγμένον ἐπ’ Ἀβύδου εὔνουν τε
εἶναι τῇ πόλει καὶ ἐνίοις πρεσβευομένοις ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου πρὸς αὐτὸν
βουλόμενον τῇ πόλει χαρίζεσθαι τὴν πᾶσαν σπουδὴν καὶ πρόνοιαν
ποεῖσθαι καὶ τοῖς συναντῶσιν αὐτῷ τῶν πολιτῶν φιλανθρώπως
προσφέρεσθαι, ἵνα οὖν καὶ ὁ δῆμος φαίνηται τὴν καθήκουσαν χάριν
ἀποδιδοὺς τοῖς προσαιρουμένοις τὴν πό(λιν)....... δεδόχθαι.
This third inscription also appears to belong to the first century B.C.
It is probable that the building in and around which I discovered these
three inscriptions was the Town-hall of Ilium; at all events, it does
not appear to have been a temple.
The view from the hill of Hissarlik is extremely magnificent.[84] Before
me lies the glorious Plain of Troy, which, since the recent rain, is
again covered with grass and yellow buttercups; on the north-north-west,
at about an hour’s distance, it is bounded by the Hellespont. The
peninsula of Gallipoli here runs out to a point, upon which stands a
lighthouse. To the left of it is the island of Imbros, above which rises
Mount Ida of the island of Samothrace, at present covered with snow; a
little more to the west, on the Macedonian peninsula, lies the
celebrated Mount Athos, or Monte Santo, with its monasteries, at the
north-western side of which there are still to be seen traces of that
great canal which, according to Herodotus (VII. 22-23), was made by
Xerxes, in order to avoid sailing round the stormy Cape Athos.
Returning to the Plain of Troy, we see to the right of it, upon a spur
of the promontory of Rhœteum, the sepulchral mound of Ajax; at the foot
of the opposite Cape of Sigeum that of Patroclus, and upon a spur of the
same cape the sepulchre of Achilles; to the left of the latter, on the
promontory itself, is the village of Yenishehr. The Plain, which is
about two hours’ journey in breadth, is thence bounded on the west by
the shores of the Ægean, which are, on an average, about 131 feet high,
and upon which we see first the sepulchral mound of Festus, the
confidential friend of Caracalla, whom the Emperor (according to
Herodian, IV.) caused to be poisoned on his visit to Ilium, that he
might be able to imitate the funeral rites which Achilles celebrated in
honour of his friend Patroclus, as described by Homer (_Iliad_, XXIII.).
Then upon the same coast there is another sepulchral mound, called
_Udjek-Tépé_, rather more than 78½ feet in height, which most
archæologists consider to be that of the old man Æsyetes, from which
Polites, trusting to the swiftness of his feet, watched to see when the
Greek army would set forth from the ships.[85] The distance of this
mound from the Greek camp on the Hellespont is, however, fully 3½
hours, whereas at a distance of a quarter of an hour a man cannot be
seen. Polites, moreover, would not have required to have been very
swift-footed to have escaped at a distance of 3½ hours. In short,
from the passage in the Iliad this tomb cannot possibly be identified
with that of Æsyetes, whether the site of ancient Troy be assigned to
the heights of Bunarbashi or to Ilium, where I am digging. Between the
last-named mounds we see projecting above the high shores of the Ægean
Sea the island of Tenedos. To the south, we see the Plain of Troy,
extending again to a distance of two hours, as far as the heights of
Bunarbashi, above which rises majestically the snow-capped Gargarus of
Mount Ida, from which Jupiter witnessed the battles between the Trojans
and the Greeks.[86] At half-an-hour’s distance to the left of Bunarbashi
is the beautiful estate of 5000 acres, whose name of Batak is now
changed into Thymbria, belonging to my friend Mr. Frederick Calvert. It
deserves the change of name for more than one reason; for not only does
the river Thymbrius (now Kemer) flow through it, but it comprises the
whole site of the ancient town of Thymbria, with its temple of Apollo,
among the ruins of which the proprietor’s brother, Mr. Frank
Calvert--known for his archæological investigations--is making
excavations, and has found several valuable inscriptions; among others,
an inventory of the temple. This estate further comprises the site of an
ancient town, which is apparently encompassed in some places by
ramparts; it is covered with fragments of pottery, and in regard to
position, distance, &c., corresponds so closely with the statements of
Strabo that it must certainly be his “Ἰλιέων κώμη,” where, agreeing with
the theory of Demetrius of Scepsis, he places the Homeric Troy. At the
foot of the hill containing the site, there are, curiously enough, two
springs, one of hot the other of cold water.[87] These springs--probably
owing to their natural channels having been stopped up for centuries by
a fallen bridge--have formed a large marsh of 240 acres, the
evaporations of which greatly contribute to the malaria of the glorious
Plain. The marvellous circumstance that these springs are situated
directly before the site of “Ἰλιέων κώμη” and that their position
corresponds so exactly with the two springs of hot and cold water which
existed in front of ancient Troy, and in which the Trojan women used to
wash their clothes, convinces Mr. Frederick Calvert that Demetrius of
Scepsis and Strabo were right, and that he possesses the actual site of
ancient Troy. In order to gain 240 acres of rich land and to make the
district more healthy, but especially also in the interest of science,
Mr. Calvert has now caused the channels to be opened, and he believes,
as the incline is considerable, amounting at least to 53 feet, and the
distance from the Hellespont is three hours, that by next summer the
whole marsh will be dried up, and the two springs, which are now 5 feet
under water, will be brought to light.[88] I have in vain endeavoured to
make Mr. Calvert change his opinion, by seeking to convince him that,
according to the Iliad (II. 123-30),[89] Troy must at least have had
50,000 inhabitants, whereas the site he possesses is scarcely large
enough for 10,000; further, that the distance from the Ἰλιέων κώμη to
the Hellespont directly contradicts the statements of Homer, for we are
told that the Greek troops in one day twice forced their way fighting
from the camp to the town, and returned twice, fighting. The distance of
the town from the ships, therefore, in my opinion, can at most have been
that of one hour (about 3 miles). Mr. Calvert replies that the whole
Plain of Troy is alluvial land, and that at the time of the Trojan war
its site must have been nearer the Hellespont; but, three years ago, in
my work, ‘Ithaca, the Peloponnesus, and Troy,’ I endeavoured to prove
that the Plain of Troy is decidedly not alluvial land.
[Illustration:
PLATE IV.
ISLAND OF IMBROS.
Mount Ida in Samothrace.
The Ægean Sea.
Kum-Kaleh.
Lighthouse.
PENINSULA OF GALLIPOLI.
Hellespont.
Simois.
To the right of the Camels is the old bed of the Scamander.
Mounds of Achilles and Patroclus.
Yeni-Shehr
on
Sigeum Pr.
VIEW OF THE NORTHERN PART OF THE PLAIN OF TROY, FROM THE HILL OF
HISSARLIK.]
[Illustration:
PLATE V.
THE CHAIN OF MOUNT IDA.
Mount Gargarus (Kasdak).
Village of Chiplak.
Snow-clad Summit.
Excavations in the Temple.
Altar.
VIEW OF THE SOUTH-EASTERN PART OF THE PLAIN OF TROY, FROM THE HILL OF
HISSARLIK.]
Another curiosity of this estate is, that close to the temple of Apollo
there exists a round hill, called “Chanaï Tépé,” about 32¾ feet in
height, and 216½ feet in diameter at its base. It used to be
considered a natural hill, till Mr. Frank Calvert, in the year 1856,
made a cutting in it, and found upon a flat rock, 16 feet high, a
circular space, enclosed by a wall 6½ feet in height. The whole of
the inner space, as far as the edge of the surrounding wall, was filled
with calcined bones, which the surgeons of the English fleet pronounced
to be human bones. In the centre Mr. Calvert found the skeleton of a
human being. The whole was covered with about 10 feet of earth.
The Plain of Troy is traversed from the south-east to the north-west by
the Scamander, which is distant from Hissarlik 35 minutes’ walk, and the
bed of which I can recognise from here by the uninterrupted row of trees
growing upon its banks. Between the Scamander and Hissarlik, at a
distance of only 15 minutes from the latter, the Plain is again
intersected by the river Kalifatli-Asmak, which rises in the marshes of
Batak (Thymbria), and is filled with running water only in late autumn,
winter, and spring; but during the hot summer months, till the end of
October, it consists of an uninterrupted series of deep pools. This
stream, even during the continual heavy winter rains, and in comparison
with its splendid and immensely broad channel, has but a very scanty
supply of water--in fact, never so much as to cover even the tenth part
of the breadth of its bed. I therefore believe that its huge bed must at
one time have been the bed of the Scamander; I believe this all the
more, as the Simoïs still flows into the Kalifatli-Asmak at a quarter of
an hour’s distance north of Ilium, where I am digging.[90] By
identifying the channel of this river, which may be traced to the
Hellespont near Cape Rhœteum, with the most ancient bed of the
Scamander, we may settle the otherwise insurmountable difficulties of
the Homeric topography of the Plain of Troy; for, had the Scamander
occupied its present bed at the time of the Trojan war, it would have
flowed through the Greek camp, and Homer would have had abundant
opportunity of speaking of this important circumstance. But as he never
mentions a river in the camp, there can, of course, have been none
there. Moreover, the Simoïs is now half-an-hour’s distance from the
Scamander; whereas Homer frequently mentions the confluence of these two
streams before Ilium, and most of the battles took place in the fields
between Troy, the Scamander, and the Simoïs. At its confluence with the
Kalifatli-Asmak, whose enormous bed must, at one time, have belonged to
the Scamander, the Simoïs has an especially large and deep bed, which is
doubtless still the same that this stream occupied at the time of the
Trojan war.
The Kalifatli-Asmak, after its confluence with the Scamander near the
village of Kum-köi, turns to the north-west, and flows into the sea by
three arms, not very far from the present bed of the Scamander; below
the village, however, it has quite a narrow bed, which is obviously of
recent formation. Its old channel, on the other hand, which was the
ancient bed of the Scamander and is of an immense breadth, proceeds
direct northwards from Kum-köi: it is now occupied by the water of the
small rivulet called _In-tépé-Asmak_, which I shall afterwards describe
minutely, and empties itself, as before said, into the Hellespont close
to Cape Rhœteum.
The Scamander did not take possession of its present bed suddenly, but
very gradually, probably in the course of many centuries; for between
its present channel and its ancient one there are three enormous
river-beds, likewise leading to the Hellespont, which possess no water
and must necessarily have been successively formed by the Scamander, as
there is no other river here that could have formed them.
To the north-north-east, I overlook another plain, called Chalil-Owasi,
half an hour in breadth and 1½ hour in length, which is traversed by
the Simoïs and extends to the hill upon which are the mighty ruins of
the ancient city of Ophrynium. The coins which have been found there
leave no doubt about this. There, close to the Simoïs, was Hector’s
(so-called) tomb, and a grove sacred to his memory.[91]
[Illustration: No. 41. A great mixing Vessel (κρατήρ), of Terra-cotta,
with 4 Handles, about 1 ft. 5 in. high, and nearly 1 ft. 9 in. in
diameter (7 M.). (See pp. 157, 262).]