Discovery of a street in the Pergamus--Three curious stone walls of
different periods--Successive fortifications of the hill--Remains
of ancient houses under the Temple of Athena, that have suffered a
great conflagration--Older house-walls below these, and a wall of
fortification--Store, with the nine colossal jars--The great
Altar--Objects found east of the Tower--Pottery with Egyptian
hieroglyphics--Greek and other terra-cottas, &c.--Remarkable owl
vase--Handle, with an ox-head--Various very curious objects--A
statue of one Metrodorus by Pytheas of Argos, with an
inscription--Another Greek inscription, in honour of C. Claudius
Nero.
Pergamus of Troy, April 16th, 1873.
Since my report of the 5th of this month I have had, on an average, 160
workmen, and have brought many wonderful things to light, among which I
may especially mention a street of the Pergamus, which was discovered
close to my house, at a depth of 30 feet, in the Great Tower. It is
17¼ feet broad, and is paved with stone flags, from 4¼ to 5 feet
long, and from 35 inches to 4½ feet broad. It runs down very abruptly
in a due south-western direction towards the Plain. I have as yet only
been able to lay bare a length of 10 meters (33-1/3 feet). It leads,
without doubt, to the Scæan Gate, the position of which appears to be
accurately indicated, on the west side at the foot of the hill, by the
direction of the wall and by the formation of the ground; it cannot be
more than 492 feet distant from the Tower. To the right and left of the
street there is an enclosure 28½ inches broad and 11 feet long. The
slope of the street is so great that, while on the north-east side, as
far as it is there uncovered, it is only 30 feet below the surface of
the hill, yet at a distance of 33 feet it already lies as low as 37
feet.[246]
This beautifully paved street leads me to conjecture that a grand
building must at one time have stood at the top of it, at a short
distance on the north-east side; and therefore, seven days ago, when the
street was discovered, I immediately set 100 men to dig down the
north-eastern ground lying in front of it; this cutting I have made
78½ feet long, 78½ feet broad, and 33 feet deep. The removal of
these 7600 cubic yards of huge masses of hard _débris_ and stones is
rendered much easier by the fact that it joins my last year’s great
cutting, which runs quite horizontally from the northern declivity as
far as the Tower, and is therefore very well adapted for the use of
man-carts. In order to extract from this excavation all the objects of
the greatest use to archæology, I am having the walls made
perpendicular, as in fact I have had them made in almost all of the
other cuttings. As the work of removing this gigantic block of earth is
carried on both from above and from below, I confidently hope to have
finished it in twenty days’ work.
In this great bank of earth there are three curious walls, built one
above another, of small stones joined with earth. They have been built
at very different periods, and even the uppermost and latest of the
three, as is clear from the material, must be considerably older than
the foundation of the Greek colony about the year 700 B.C. This
uppermost wall is about 5 feet thick, built up from a depth of 11½
feet to within 1¾ foot of the surface, a circumstance which I do not
at all understand; for, as the ruins of the Greek colony reach down to
the depth of 6½ feet, the wall must, for many centuries, have stood
high above the earth. Still the Greeks may have used it as a foundation
for a building, and it may thus have been preserved. Below this wall
there is a stratum of earth 11½ inches thick; and then comes the
second wall, projecting about 11½ inches, and 6½ feet high; and
this again rests upon another and much older wall. The last runs in an
oblique line in a south-western direction parallel with the Tower-road,
and furnishes a second proof that the surface of the hill, which is now
quite horizontal here, did not slope down very abruptly towards the
Plain at this part.
Thus the opinion which I have previously expressed, that only the first
inhabitants of this hill had walls and fortifications, is now proved to
be erroneous. For these three walls, which at one time stood at the edge
of the declivity, and the three which I cut through at the south-east
side of the hill, can only have been walls of fortification, and they
evidently belong to the various tribes who inhabited this locality after
the destruction of the first nation up to the foundation of the Greek
colony.
As my further excavations have shown, at a depth of 8 meters (26 feet),
immediately below the Temple of Athena, and at a distance of 131 feet
from the above-mentioned street, a large wall runs out from the Tower in
a southern direction. I have had 6½ feet of this wall laid bare to
the south. But how far it extends in this direction cannot be
ascertained without making new and enormous excavations. It is also
impossible for me to ascertain its breadth without breaking down the
curious pre-Hellenic house. It also appears to me that the Tower ends
here, for in my investigations at the foot of that ancient house I no
longer found any trace of it. Instead of it I came upon very ancient
houses, the walls of which, still partially covered with a coating of
clay and white colour, all bearing traces of a terrible conflagration,
which has so completely destroyed everything that was in the rooms, that
we only occasionally find charred fragments of pottery among the red
wood-ashes with which the spaces are filled. Curiously enough we again
find, below these very ancient houses, other house-walls which must
certainly be older; and these too show indications of having been
exposed to a terrible heat. In fact, the labyrinth of very ancient
house-walls, built one above another, and found in the depths of the
Temple of Athena erected by Lysimachus, is unique, and presents the
archæologist with the richest materials for his investigations. But what
is most inexplicable to me about this labyrinth of walls is a wall of
fortification, 11¾ feet high, running through it from W.N.W. to
E.S.E. This is likewise built of stone joined with earth, and is 6 feet
broad at the top and 12 feet broad at the foot: it does not stand
directly upon the primary rock, and was not built till the rock had
gradually become covered with a layer of earth 1¾ foot in thickness.
It appears therefore to be somewhat less ancient than the Great Tower,
which stands directly upon the primary rock. Running parallel with this
wall of fortification, only 2½ feet from it and at the same depth,
there is a wall 2 feet high, which is likewise built of stones joined
with earth.
The room at the greatest depth which I have excavated is 10 feet high
and 11¼ feet broad; but it may have been higher; its length I have
not yet ascertained. One of the compartments of the uppermost houses,
below the Temple of Athena and belonging to the pre-Hellenic period,
appears to have been used as a wine-merchant’s cellar or as a magazine,
for in it there are nine enormous earthen jars (πίθοι) of various forms,
about 5¾ feet high and 4¾ feet across, their mouths being from
29½ to 35¼ inches broad.[247] Each of these earthen jars has four
handles, 3¾ inches broad, and the clay of which they are made has the
enormous thickness of 2¼ inches. Upon the south side of these jars I
found a wall 26 feet in extent and 10 feet high, built of sun-dried
bricks, which, however, had become really burnt bricks through the
conflagration. This wall, which likewise appears to me to be a
fortification and very thick, I have had broken down to the
perpendicular line of the foundations of the Temple of Athena.
[Illustration: PLATE XI.
Reservoir. Altar.
A.--THE EXCAVATIONS IN THE TEMPLE OF ATHENA.
From the East.
B.--THE MAGAZINE, WITH ITS COLOSSAL JARS, _Page 290._
In the depths of the Temple of Athena.]
I am in great fear lest the Turks should make off with the large stone
altar, the upper part of which forms a crescent, to use it for building
a minaret in the village of Chiplak; therefore, without moving it from
its place, I shall have it carefully split in two, so that it will be
useless for building purposes. This stone and its pedestal are daubed
over with a white crust of clay, which upon the pedestal is nearly an
inch thick.
I have continued the excavation on the south-east side of the Pergamus,
and I have found that the great wall, which I regarded as a continuation
of the Tower, is part of a very ancient and large wall of enclosure.
[Illustration: No. 203. Fragment of a Terra-cotta Vase, with Egyptian
hieroglyphics, from the bottom of the Greek Stratum (2 M.).]
[Illustration: No. 204. A Greek Lamp on a tall foot (2 M.).]
[Illustration: No. 205. Fragment of a two-horned Serpent (κεράστης), in
Terra-cotta (3 M.).]
Since my last report we have not found any kind of interesting
antiquities worth mentioning on the whole of the east side of the Tower;
but in the large new excavation to the north-east of the Tower-road we
have discovered a great quantity of exceedingly curious articles. The
ruins of the Greek colony here extend exactly to a depth of 6½ feet,
and there I found a fragment of pottery with painted Egyptian
hieroglyphics, of which I give a drawing. Three other pieces of pottery
were found at a depth of 10 feet. One of these represents an owl’s face,
a 卐 and the impressions of the four nails for fixing it; the second
fragment has a 卐 in which each of the four ends again terminates in a
square; the third fragment represents a wheel in a state of rotation. At
a depth of 6½ feet we also came upon a terra-cotta idol with the
owl’s face and the upraised arms, which are broken off, but appear to
have been longer. This idol, like all the others, has a human figure:
the owl’s beak and eyes project from the head and have been carefully
wrought; there are indications of hair on the forehead, and two lines on
the neck seem to denote armour. At the same depth I found the bottom of
a dish, upon which there is a representation in high relief of two
youths embracing and kissing each other; this is a most masterly piece
of work. At a depth of 5 feet we found the upper portion of a vase with
a pretty owl’s head; the rim of the mouth forms a kind of helmet. A
little deeper than a foot we met with a good-looking head of a man in
terra-cotta; at 2 meters (6½ feet) down, a Greek lamp with a foot
2¾ inches long, and at the same depth some very pretty vases and
jugs, and a terra-cotta flattened on one side, with two perforated holes
and a stamp, in which there is a very pretty picture of the head and
shoulders of a woman. At a depth of 3 and 4 meters (10 and 13 feet) were
twelve marble idols without owls’ faces; upon one of these idols there
are four horizontal lines on the neck; further, at a depth of 10 feet, a
fragment of a serpent with two horns; at a depth of 16½ feet, a piece
of diorite in the form of a bell, beautifully polished, and twice
perforated; at the same depth, a quantity of beautiful terra-cotta
vases and jugs, prettily ornamented, ivory needles for knitting or
embroidering, and a very neat perforated terra-cotta cylinder 1¼ inch
long, covered with engraved symbolical signs. But the most curious
article, found at a depth of 5 meters (16½ feet), is an idol of the
Ilian Athena with an owl’s head, which is rounded off in front and at
the back; the eyes are very large and beautiful, but the beak is small
and roughly made; on the neck there is a cross line, and above it ten
upright lines, which are probably intended to denote armour; the whole
of the rest of the body is covered with lines, in which, more especially
on the back, the bird’s feathers are unmistakable; and there is a
peculiar ornament on the abdomen. This idol, like all the others, has a
human figure.[248]
[Illustration: No. 206. Terra-cotta Cylinder, 1¼ in. long, with
Symbolical Signs (5 M.).]
[Illustration: No. 207. Terra-cotta Vase with helmeted image of the
Ilian Athena (6 M.).]
[Illustration: No. 208. Fragment of a large Cup-handle in black
Terra-cotta; head that of an Ox (6 _M._).]
[Illustration: No. 209. A finely decorated little Vase of Terra-cotta (6
M.).]
At a depth of 6 meters (20 feet) I found two splendid brilliant red
vases with representations of the Ilian Athena with the owl’s head, a
kind of helmet, two upraised arms, two breasts, and the large circular’
prominent elevation on the abdomen.[249] At the same depth I found an
idol of the usual form, made of bone; and upon a handle of black
terra-cotta, which has probably belonged to a large cup, the head of an
ox, executed in high relief with great skill;[250] this involuntarily
reminds one of Homer’s Βοῶπις πότνια Ἥρη ("Our Lady Hera, with the head
[or eyes] of a cow”). Among many other remarkable terra-cotta vessels,
at this depth, I also found a small but really splendidly ornamented
vase, the surface of which is divided into fourteen alternate
compartments, larger and smaller.[251] In each of the larger
compartments there are three circles of little stars and a star in the
centre; in each of the smaller compartments there are triple zigzag
lines; this vase has little holes in the small handles for hanging it up
by a string. Among the other curious articles from this depth there is a
silex saw, 4 inches long and 1¾ inch broad, also one of those round,
twice perforated terra-cottas flattened on one side and with a large
stamp which represents a swan and an antelope. A similar terra-cotta,
the stamp upon which represents the head of a warrior with a helmet, was
found at a depth of 8 meters (26 feet). These two are the first
terra-cottas of this kind which I have hitherto discovered below a
depth of 2 meters (6½ feet).
[Illustration: No. 210. Terra-cotta Disc stamped with a Swan and an
Antelope (6 M.). Remarkable for the depth.]
[Illustration: No. 211. Terra-cotta Disc pierced with two holes, and
stamped with the Head of a Warrior. Remarkable for the depth (8 M.).]
At a depth of 7 meters (23 feet) I found a small tripod with a
projecting owl’s face, also a pretty red terra-cotta cup (cover) with
the owl’s face of the Ilian Athena and her helmet; a knife and a long
copper instrument; a piece of bone 3¼ inches long, ornamented with
very artistically engraved symbolical signs, and among other exceedingly
curious terra-cottas, the handle of a cup with a cross and the marks of
the four nails for fixing it; further, a fragment of the upper portion
of a large urn, which is ornamented with three encircling stripes: the
upper and lower stripes consist of peculiarly interwoven crooked lines;
the middle one contains small circles, in each of which is a cross.
[Illustration: No. 212 A piece of bone, curiously engraved (7 M.).]
At a depth of 8 meters (26 feet) we discovered a marble idol with the
owl’s head of the tutelary goddess of Ilium, and a brilliant red
terra-cotta idol of the same goddess, which, curiously enough, has on
its head a small, but very pretty vase with two handles; the owl’s face
of this last-mentioned idol has enormous eyes, and is very expressive.
Of terra-cotta vases and dishes we found an especially large number in
these depths. I can, however, only give drawings of a few of them, for
most were brought out in a broken condition, and I cannot have them
repaired till I return to Athens. Of those terra-cottas which were got
out unharmed, a small vase with two holes in the mouth, for being hung
up by a cord, is especially deserving of attention; it is surrounded by
figures in the shape of hearts with crosses; then saucer-shaped pots
with large handles; other little pots in the form of salt-cellars, and
several vases round at the bottom with three feet or without feet;
terra-cotta scoops in the form of cups with large handles; then a large
terra-cotta lid with a handle; it is of a very curious shape, and weighs
730 grammes. We also found several implements of copper.
[Illustration: No. 213. Fragment of a Trojan Idol of bright-red
Terra-cotta (6 M.).]
[Illustration: Nos. 214, 215. Terra-cotta Cups or Scoops (7 M.)]
[Illustration: No. 216. Vase Cover in Terra-cotta (8 M.).]
At a depth of 9 meters (29½ feet) we found a copper lance and a dozen
very large vases, brown and black. At the same depth I found a pretty
brilliant brown cup in the form of a flower-pot, with two large handles.
At a depth of 26 and 29½ feet I have found, since the 5th of the
month, eleven beautiful sling-bullets of loadstone and two of porphyry.
We met with very few stone implements, only two beautiful axes of
diorite, at the depths of 29½ and 33 feet. At the latter depth I
again found one of the brush-handles of terra-cotta, which are often
found, and some vases with three feet and rings at the sides for hanging
them up.
[Illustration: No. 217. Terra-cotta Handle of a Trojan Brush, with the
holes in which the bristles have been fixed. (10 M.).]
During the last eleven days I have collected 991 of the terra-cotta
whorls, 581 of which have symbolical signs, but only 79 have engravings
which are new to me. Long thin copper nails with rounded heads, which
must have been used as dress or hair pins, were met with at all depths.
During these eleven days I have found 20 exquisitely polished axes of
diorite.
At a depth of 1 meter (3¼ feet), we yesterday found in the Temple of
Athena, beside an inscribed pedestal of black slate, 3 feet 8 inches
high and 20¾ inches broad, the statue of a man, of fine white marble,
nearly 4 feet high. As is proved by the inscription, it was made by
Pytheas of Argos, and was erected by the Ilians in honour of Metrodorus,
the son of Themistagoras, of whom it is a representation. The figure was
in the position of an orator, as is proved by the footmarks on the
pedestal. The head and the feet are unfortunately wanting.
The inscriptions run as follows:--
ΟΔΗΜΟΣΟΙΛΙΕΙΩΝ
ΜΗΤΡΟΔΩΡΟΝΘΕΜΙΣΤΑΓΟΡΟΥ
And lower down, on the same side of the pedestal--
ΠΥΘΕΑΣΑΡΓΕΙΟΣΕΠΟΙΗΣΕ
Ὁ δῆμος ὁ Ἰλιείων
Μητρόδωρον Θεμισταγόρου
Πυθέας Ἀργεῖος ἐποίησε.
There were in antiquity many men named Metrodorus, but only two of them
were especially celebrated, and both were natives of Asia Minor. The
one, born in Lampsacus, was a pupil of Epicurus;[252] the other, a
native of Scepsis, was a philosopher, orator, and statesman, and was
held in high esteem by Mithridates VII., Eupator,[253] who afterwards
had him put to death in a horrible manner.[254] The name of the father
of this Metrodorus of Scepsis is unknown, and whether he was called
Themistagoras, or otherwise, is uncertain; but it is extremely probable
that the inscription and the statue were raised in honour of the
Scepsian orator, philosopher, and statesman. I find no mention whatever
of the sculptor Pytheas of Argos. Only one Pytheas, a silver-chaser, is
named by Pliny,[255] as being a contemporary of Pompey the Great: Pliny,
however, does not state his birthplace. Another Pytheas was a wall
painter and a native of Achaia. Neither of these can therefore be the
Argive sculptor who made the statue and put his name on the pedestal.
But as my learned and much esteemed friend, Professor Stephanos
Kummanudes of Athens, has remarked, it is not astonishing that the name
of an insignificant sculptor should be forgotten, seeing that the names
of so many great kings are lost.
In the same part of the Temple of Athena we found the fragment of a
marble slab, which has evidently been very long, with the inscription
given on the opposite page.
The Proconsul Caius Claudius Nero, the son of Publius, who is praised in
the above inscription, ruled over the province of Asia from 674 to 675
after the foundation of Rome. Hence he lived at the time of Cicero, who
mentions him in his orations against Verres.[256]
The Pœmanenians (Ποιμανηνοί) are the inhabitants of the fortress of
Pœmanenon, to the south of Cyzicus.[257]
To judge from the form and thickness of the stone, this inscription must
have been very long and have contained more than 70 lines. But even the
fragment is of historical value, and all the more as we know for certain
that it comes down to us from the year 80 B.C.
ΕΠΕΙΤΟΥΑΝΘΥΠΑΤΟΥΓΑΙΟΥΚΛΑΥΔΙΟΥΠΟΠΛΙΟΥΥΙΟΥΝΕΡΩΝΟΣΕΠΙΤΑΞΑΝΤΟΣ
ΤΟΙΣΠΟΙΜΑΝΗΝΩΝΑΡΧΟΥΣΙΝΕΞΑΠΟΣΤΕΙΛΑΙΠΡΟΣΗΜΑΣΕΙΣΠΑΡΑΦΥΛΑΚΗΝ
ΤΗΣΠΟΛΕΩΣΣΤΡΑΤΙΩΤΑΣΚΑΙΕΠΑΥΤΩΝΗΓΕΜΟΝΑΣΠΟΙΜΑΝΗΝΩΝ
ΟΝΤΕΣΗΜΩΝΦΙΛΟΙΚΑΙΕΥΝΟΩΣΔΙΑΚΕΙΜΕΝΟΙΠΡΟΣΤΟΝΔΗΜΟΝΗΜΩΝ
ΕΞΑΠΕΣΤΕΙΛΑΝΤΟΥΣΤΕΣΤΡΑΤΙΩΤΑΣΚΑΙΕΠΑΥΤΩΝΗΓΕΜΟΝΑΝΙΚ 5
ΔΡΟΝΜΗΝΟΦΙΛΟΥΥΙΟΣΚΑΙΠΑΡΑΓΕΝΟΜΕΝΟΣΕΙΣΤΗΝΠΟΛΙΝΗΜΩΝ
ΤΕΕΝΔΗΜΙΑΝΠΟΙΕΙΤΑΙΚΑΛΗΝΚΑΙΕΥΣΧΗΜΟΝΑΚΑΙΑΞΙΩΣ
ΡΟΥΔΗΜΟΥΚΑΙΤΗΣΕΑΥΤΟΥΠΑΤΡΙΔΟΣΤΗΝΤΕΤΩΝ
ΕΑΥΤΩΙΝΕΑΝΙΣΚΩΝΕΝΔΗΜΙΑΝΕΥΤ...ΟΝΠ
ΤΟΝΚΑΘΑΠΕΡΕΠΙΒΑΛΛΕΙΑΝΔΡ 10
ΧΕΙΡΙΣΜΕΝΗΝΕΑΤΩΙΠΙ
ΤΗΝΥΠΕΡΤΗΣΦΥΛΑΚ
ΕΙΣΦΕΡΕΤΑΙΣΠΟΥΔ
ΕΚΚΑΙΝΩΝΟΥΔΕΙ
ΜΟΝΚΑΙ 15
ἐπεὶ τοῦ ἀνθυπάτου Γαΐου Κλαυδίου Ποπλίου υἱοῦ Νέρωνος ἐπιτάξαντος
τοῖς Ποιμανηνῶν ἄρχουσιν ἐξαποστεῖλαι πρὸς ἡμᾶς εἰς παραφυλακὴν
τῆς πόλεως στρατιώτας καὶ ἐπ’ αὐτῶν ἡγεμόνας Ποιμανηῶν (οἱ;)
ὄντες ἡμῶν φίλοι καὶ εὐνόως διακείμενοι πρὸς τὸν δῆμον ἡμῶν
ἐξαπέστειλαν τούς τε στρατιώτας καὶ ἐπ’ αὐτῶν ἡγεμόνα Νίκ(αν-) 5
δρον Μηνοφίλου (υἱ)ὸς καὶ παραγενόμενος εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἡμῶν (τήν)
τε ἐνδημίαν ποιεῖται καλὴν καὶ εὐσχήμονα καὶ ἀξί(ως τοῦ τε ἡμετέ-)
ρου δήμου καὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ πατρίδος, τήν τε τῶν (ὑφ';)
ἑαυτῷ νεανίσκων ἐνδημίαν εὔτ(ακτ)ον π(αρέχεται καὶ ἑαυ-)
τὸν καθάπερ ἐπιβάλλει ἀνδρ(ὶ ...... καὶ τὴν ἐξουσίαν τὴν ἐγκε-) 10
χειρισμένην ἑατῷ πι(στῶς καὶ .............
τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς φυλακ(ῆς ..................
εἰσφέρεται σπουδ(ὴν
ἐκ καινῶν οὐδει
μον καὶ 15