CHAPTER XX.

Discovery of a large house upon the Tower--Marks of a great conflagration--Primitive Altar: its very remarkable position--Ruins of the Temple of Athena--A small cellar--Skeletons of warriors with copper helmets and a lance--Structure of the helmet-crests--Terra-cottas--A crucible with copper still in it--Other objects--Extreme fineness of the engravings on the whorls--Pottery--Stone implements--Copper pins and other objects.

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 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 (πίθοι) 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. 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 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 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. Unfortunately both helmets were broken; however, I hope to be able to put one of the two together when I return to Athens.

The upper portions of both helmets have, however, been well preserved; and these parts form the “φάλος,” or ridge, in which the “λόφος ἵππουρις,” or horse-hair plume, so frequently mentioned in the Iliad, was fixed.”[244] In both cases the φάλος 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. 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 λόφος ἵππουρις 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]

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 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.

The most interesting of the terra-cottas found this week, and the most important to archæology, are these:--the beautiful red vase-cover with the owl’s face and helmet of the Ilian Athena, which was found in a large red urn at a depth of 8 meters (27 feet):--then two vases, likewise adorned with the owl’s head of the tutelary goddess of Troy, but also with two breasts, a large navel, and two upraised arms. One of these vases was found upon the Tower, the other above it, at a depth of 4 meters (13 feet).

Among the other very remarkable terra-cottas found in one of the rooms of the subterranean house, at a depth of 7 meters (23 feet), there is a crucible with four feet, in which some copper is still to be seen; also a small brilliant black funnel. I also found in the house, at the depth of 7 and 8 meters (23 to 26 feet), several idols of ordinary stone or of marble; one also of bone, upon which are seen the two arms of the goddess; it is only upon one of the marble idols, and upon one of those of stone, that I find the two eyes. This week we met with only one idol of ordinary stone with a rude engraving of the owl’s face; it was discovered at a depth of 4 meters (13 feet). I must remark that the idols of common stone are always very roughly made.

Of the small terra-cotta whorls, both with and without symbolical engravings, we this week again met with 251 pieces; of these, however, only 31 had symbolical figures which I have not yet found. Several of the engraved decorations on these articles have been executed with a fineness which is truly astonishing, and more especially those which are engraved upon brilliantly black wheel-shaped pieces: they are so fine that I could only distinguish them through a magnifying glass.

At a depth of 6 and 8 meters (20 to 26 feet) we again met with very many ordinary plates, which had been turned on a potter’s wheel. At the same depth, and in the above-mentioned house, we found a curious vessel, exactly in the shape of a saucer to a flower-pot, ornamented with four triangles and two large crosses, one of which is formed by large dots, the other by lines. Several curious moulds were also found this week, one of which is of coarse terra-cotta for casting eight copper bars; the other moulds are made of mica-schist, and one was for casting an object in the form of a leaf with three long thorns on either side; the other mould shows three uniform furrows for casting oblong rings. This week we found only fragments of stone moulds for casting weapons and instruments. At a depth of from 10 to 26 feet we also discovered 27 small silex knives like saws, and six very pretty knife-blades made of black obsidian, which are sharp enough to serve as razors. We have found no copper knives this week, but, on the other hand, four copper dress or hair pins, from 2-1/3 to above 5 inches long; also thirteen needles for knitting or embroidering; likewise sixteen large bodkins made of staghorn, and a number of pointed boars’ tusks. Among the stone implements found during the week, there are two very pretty hammers of diorite and a very neat perforated prop of mica-schist with a small furrow at the top, for turning a spit, and other such things. (See No. 177, p. 261.)

In returning to the terra-cottas I must mention a square article, the upper part of which gradually becomes narrower and thinner: on the front side there are two small depressions in the form of eyes, and on one side it is perforated. I add a drawing of this curious article, the use of which is quite unknown to me. I may mention further a curious pot found in the house, at a depth of 7 meters (23 feet), with three feet, two small ears, and one handle; also those neat cups with one handle and three feet, which are repeatedly met with in the same house. At a depth of 3 meters (10 feet) we discovered a bright red polished little box, from the under side of which two small perforated rings project. The pattern on the bottom represents the sun with its rays; in the centre of the sun’s disc is a cross, which ends in four small circles, and these are probably intended to represent the heads of the nails which fastened the two crossed staves employed to produce the holy fire. In every one of the four spaces formed by the cross there is a 卐, one of which is represented by dots.

We also again met with one of those small perforated terra-cottas, consisting of two connected balls, and which somewhat resemble our shirt-studs; the upper part of the article in question shows three simple rising suns and six stars; the lower part represents three triple rising suns, and three stars in the circle round the central point.

During the week we have met with only one terra-cotta ball; it shows an encircling jagged streak and five small streaks, which may denote suns or moons.