Return to Hissarlik in 1873--Interruptions by holydays and
weather--Strong cold north winds--Importance of good overseers--An
artist taken to draw the objects found--Want of
workmen--Excavations on the site of the Temple--Blocks of Greek
sculptured marble--Great increase of the hill to the east--Further
portions of the great Trojan wall--Traces of fire--A terra-cotta
hippopotamus, a sign of intercourse with Egypt--Idols and owl-faced
vases--Vases of very curious forms--Whorls--Sling-bullets of copper
and stone--Piece of ornamented ivory belonging to a musical
instrument--New cutting from S.E. to N.W.--Walls close below the
surface--Wall of Lysimachus--Monograms on the stones--An
inscription in honour of Caius Cæsar--Patronage of Ilium by the
Julii as the descendants of Æneas--Good wine of the Troad.
Pergamus of Troy, February 22nd, 1873.
I returned here on the 31st of January with my wife, in order to
continue the excavations, but we have been repeatedly interrupted by
Greek church festivals, thunderstorms, and also by the excessive cold,
so that I can scarcely reckon that I have had as yet more than eight
good days’ work. Last autumn, by the side of my two wooden houses, I had
a house built for myself of stones from the old Trojan buildings, the
walls of which were 2 feet thick, but I was compelled to let my foremen
occupy it, for they were not sufficiently provided with clothes and
wrappers, and would have perished through the great cold. My poor wife
and I have therefore suffered very much, for the strong icy north
wind[215] blew with such violence through the chinks of our house-walls
which were made of planks, that we were not even able to light our lamps
of an evening; and although we had fire on the hearth, yet the
thermometer showed 4 degrees of cold (Réaumur = 23° Fahrenheit), and the
water standing near the hearth froze in solid masses. During the day we
could to some degree bear the cold by working in the excavations, but of
an evening we had nothing to keep us warm except our enthusiasm for the
great work of discovering Troy. Fortunately this extreme cold lasted
only four days, from the 16th to the 19th of this month, and since then
we have had glorious weather.
Besides Georgios Photidas, who was with me during the excavations of
last year, I have as foremen Georgios Barba Tsirogiannis (a sea-captain
from Chalcis in Eubœa), and an Albanese from Salamis, whom, however, I
shall shortly send back on account of his uselessness, and get two other
foremen from the Piræus in his stead. A good foreman is more useful to
me than ten common workmen, but I find that the gift of command is
rarely met with except among seamen.
I have also brought with me an artist, that I may have the objects found
copied immediately in Indian ink, and the drawings multiplied in Athens
by means of photography. This will, however, render it impossible for me
to state the depths at which the objects were found upon distinct
plates, as I have hitherto done. The articles discovered in the
different depths are now mixed together, but in each case the depth, as
well as the relative size, is stated in meters, in addition to the
number in the catalogue.
Workmen are at present not so easily to be had as before; for a merchant
from Smyrna residing here has engaged 150 men to gather a medicinal
root, which is here called γλυκόριζα, out of which liquorice-juice is
prepared. The German word _lakritze_, the French _lacorice_, and the
English _liquorice_, are evidently corruptions of γλυκόριζα. Now, as the
men employed by the Smyrna merchant work the ground at a certain price
by square measure, they earn from 12 to 23 piasters (2 frcs. 40 cent, to
4 frcs. 60 cent.) daily; whereas I can give them only 9 piasters (1 frc.
80 cent.) during the present short days. At Easter I can offer them 10
piasters, and after the 1st of June 12 piasters. As the roots are dug up
in the neighbourhood of Renkoï, it is principally the people of this
village that are engaged in the work; and for carrying on my excavations
I have to apply to the villages of Kafatli-Asmak, Yenishehr, and
Neo-Chori, which are situated in and round about the Plain of Troy. If
the weather is dry, I can count upon obtaining after to-morrow 120
workmen every day.
On the north side of the hill, at a distance of 131 feet from the
declivity and at a depth of 51 feet, the wall of white stones, which
rises at an angle of 40 degrees, 6½ feet below the Trojan wall,
seems, as I have said, to mark the site of the Greek temple of Athena.
Here I am having five terraces made on two sides simultaneously, and the
_débris_ carried away in man-carts and wheel-barrows. In the
north-eastern excavations this _débris_, from the surface to a depth of
10 feet, consists of black earth, mixed with splinters of marble; and
among them I find very many large and beautifully-sculptured blocks of
marble, which evidently belong to the temple of the time of Lysimachus,
which stood here, but are of no further value to archæology. The removal
of these blocks, the weight of which is often nearly two tons, gives me
the greatest trouble. The site of the temple is indeed indicated
distinctly enough by the existence of these large marble blocks in the
Doric style, but of the sanctuary itself there is not one stone in its
place. A depression in the earth, 112 feet long and 76 feet broad, seems
to prove that the place has been ransacked hundreds of years ago by
Turks seeking stones suitable for sepulchral monuments; they have also,
curiously enough, carried off all the foundations. Below the layer of
_débris_, 10 feet thick, which descends at an angle of from 50 to 60
degrees, there is an accumulation of ashes, covering with a crust of 131
feet thick the buttress previously mentioned, which distinctly marks the
former declivity of the hill. The declivity at this point is rounded off
towards the east; and--as is proved by the fact that the buttress itself
(as well as the layers of _débris_ that lie above it) turns in the same
direction, and that the strata of _débris_ which lie above it also
extend out to the east--the _eastern_ declivity at one time likewise
commenced at this point, whereas its present position is 262½ feet
distant from it. The hill of the Pergamus has therefore increased
262½ feet in an eastern direction since the buttress was built. I do
not believe that there is a second hill in the world whose increase in
size, during thousands of years, can in the remotest degree be compared
with this enormous growth.
Except those small round terra-cottas in the form of volcanoes and tops,
with the usual decorations, and some more or less broken pottery,
nothing has as yet been discovered in this excavation. The other
cutting--which I opened to reach the supposed site of the very ancient
temple of Athena--is at the east end of my large platform, upon which I
am again throwing the greater part of the _débris_ which is being dug
down there, because to remove it beyond the platform would be too
difficult. In the mean time I have only had this cutting made 42½
feet broad, but I intend to widen it as soon as I find any prospect of
advantage to archæology from doing so. In the lower terrace of this
cutting I find the continuation of that Trojan wall which also shows
itself in the more eastern cutting. This wall is here only 3¼ feet
high, but the stones lying below it leave no doubt that it was at one
time much higher. Every visitor to the Troad confirms my observation of
the remarkable fact, that this wall continues on the two sides of my
large cutting through the entire hill, to the right and left of the
entrance, at a depth of 39½ feet. If this wall belongs to a time
preceding the Trojan wall (as to which I can entertain no doubt, owing
to its great depth), yet the mighty ruins beneath it, as well as the
pavement of white pebbles lying below it, at a depth of 1¾ foot in my
large cutting, prove that it must have been built a long time after the
_first_ destruction of the city. But the real object of the wall here
and further to the west is utterly inexplicable to me, for it is built
above and through the ruins of mighty buildings.
The strata of _débris_ in this cutting all lie horizontally, which
leaves no doubt that they have been gradually formed in the course of
time. Their composition proves that most of the houses which stood here
were destroyed by fire. But there are also several thick strata here, in
which we find thousands of shells in a state of good preservation, which
proves that they at least cannot have belonged to buildings destroyed by
fire.
[Illustration: No. 159. Bright Red Terra-cotta Image of a Hippopotamus
(7 M.)]
Among the interesting objects discovered in this excavation, I must
especially mention a brilliant red terra-cotta hippopotamus, found at a
depth of 23 feet. It is hollow, and has a ring on the left side, and
therefore may have served as a vessel. The existence of the figure of a
hippopotamus here at a depth of 23 feet is extremely remarkable, nay,
astonishing; for this animal, as is well known, is not met with even in
Upper Egypt, and occurs only in the rivers of the interior of Africa. It
is, however, probable that hippopotami existed in Upper Egypt in ancient
times; for, according to Herodotus (II. 71), they were worshipped as
sacred animals at the Egyptian town of Papremis. At all events, Troy
must have been commercially connected with Egypt; but even so, it is
still an enigma, how the animal was so well known here as to have been
made of clay in a form quite faithful to nature.
[Illustration: No. 160. Remarkable Terra-cotta Vessel, in the shape of a
Bugle, with three feet (3 M.).]
[Illustration: No. 161. Terra-cotta Vessel with three feet, a handle,
and two ears (5 M.).]
Of idols of marble, it is only during these few days that we have found
eight, only two of which had the engraved owl’s head of the Ilian
Athena. Of vases with owl’s faces, two female breasts, and two upraised
arms, I have found only one, at a depth of 15 meters (49¼ feet), and
at a depth of 7 meters (23 feet) the upper portion of another, upon
which the stump of one of the arms may still be recognised. At a depth
of 10 feet we found two vases, with two female breasts and an immense
navel, which are doubtless also intended to represent the tutelary
goddess of Troy. Lastly, of vase-covers with an owl’s face and helmet,
the first found was at a depth of 1 meter (3¼ feet), having a double
handle in the form of a coronet; another, found at a depth of 3 meters
(26 feet), has a simple handle. Among the other terra-cotta vessels I
must specially mention an exceedingly remarkable cup in the form of a
bugle-horn with three feet, which was found at a depth of 3 meters (10
feet); also a vessel with but two feet, which, however, as is proved by
the broken places on the right side, has been attached to some other
vessel of a similar form and description; this double vessel had a ring
on either side for suspension by strings. Of the other earthenware I can
only mention a small curious vase which has three long feet, one handle,
and two others in the form of ears.
The round articles of terra-cotta in the form of volcanoes and
humming-tops, with symbolical decorations, were met with in great
quantities, as they always are. Four sling-bullets were discovered, one
of which, made of copper, was brought out from a depth of 49 feet, one
of alabaster from 23 feet, and two of diorite from a depth of from 20 to
23 feet. At a depth of 4 meters (13 feet) I found a splendidly
ornamented flat piece of ivory, which must evidently have been part of a
musical instrument.[216] Lastly, at the depth of 1 meter (3¼ feet)
there was a fragment of a female statue of fine marble, executed in a
masterly style. It not improbably represents the tutelary goddess of
Ilium, whose temple, as we know, stood in the Pergamus.
Simultaneously with these excavations I had 22 men working in a
north-westerly direction, from the south-eastern corner of the
Acropolis, in order to lay bare the Great Tower still further on that
side, an operation that has become impossible to effect from my great
trench. But as the hill at this point has only a very gradual slope I
was compelled to make the new cutting with a considerable slope, which
renders the carting-off of the _débris_ much more troublesome, but is
absolutely necessary, to enable us to reach the requisite depth of 26
feet for arriving at the Tower. At the very commencement of this
cutting, at a foot below the surface, I came upon two enormous walls,
each of which is 10 feet thick. The first seems to belong to the Middle
Ages,[217] and consists of large blocks of Corinthian pillars joined by
cement and of other marble blocks taken from ancient buildings. The
second wall, which follows immediately, must certainly belong to the
town-wall built by Lysimachus, which was 40 stadia long.[218] It is
composed of large and beautifully hewn blocks of limestone, which are
laid one upon another without any kind of cement, and which generally
bear a monogram. As the letter is not always the same, and as for
instance upon one stone there is a Σ, and upon another an Υ or a Δ, I
presume that they are the initials of the different builders. In the
first wall I found a marble slab nearly a foot thick, 32½ inches
broad, and 3½ feet long, with the following inscription:--
ΗΒΟΥΛΗΚΑΙΟΔΗΜΟΣ
ΓΑΙΟΝΚΑΙΣΑΡΑΤΟΝΥΙΟΝΤΟΥΣΕΒΑΣ
ΤΟΥΤΟΝΣΥΝΓΕΝΗΚΑΙΠΑΤΡΩΝΑΚΑΙΕΥ
ΕΡΓΕΤΗΝΤΗΣΠΟΛΕΩΣ
Ἡ βουλὴ καὶ ὁ δῆμος
Γάϊον Καίσαρα τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ Σεβασ-
τοῦ τὸν συνγενῆ καὶ πατρῶνα καὶ εὐ-
εργέτην τῆς πόλεως.
The person praised in this inscription can by no means have been the
Emperor Caligula, for in that case the title αὐτοκράτωρ would have been
added. But as this word is wanting, the person meant is certainly Caius
Cæsar, the son of Vipsanius Agrippa and of Julia, the daughter of
Octavianus. He had a brother called Lucius. Both were adopted by
Augustus, and owing to this adoption they received the title of “υἱὸς
τοῦ Σεβαστοῦ,” and both were selected by Augustus as his successors.
Caius Cæsar, born in the year 20 B.C., was adopted at the age of three
years. He took part in the Trojan games, which Augustus instituted at
the dedication of the temple of Marcellus. At the age of fifteen he was
appointed Consul, and when nineteen he was made Governor of Asia. During
his administration there he became involved in a war with Phraates the
king of Armenia, was wounded, and died in the year 4 after Christ, on
the 21st of February, at the age of 24.[219] As in the inscription he is
called the kinsman, the benefactor, and the patron of Ilium, it is
probable that he often came here during his administration; at all
events, he took great interest in the city, and lavished favours upon
it. The family of the Julii always attached great importance to their
descent from Iülus (or Ascanius) the son of Æneas; and the sole
political object of Virgil’s Æneid was to prove and glorify their
genealogy. This explains the favours which the Julii lavished upon
Ilium, and their hatred against the Greeks because they destroyed Troy,
and also because they had espoused the cause of Mark Antony.
An _oka_ of wine, which contains about two ordinary wine-bottles, last
year cost 1¼ piaster (25 centimes); now it costs 2 piasters (40
centimes) the oka; but it is of a most excellent quality, and I prefer
it to any French wine.
[Illustration: No. 162. Terra-cotta Image of a Pig, curiously marked
with Stars (4 M.).]