Ancient Troy Bayard Taylor. 



ner rises a second plateau, 26 feet higher that) thj 

 first (100 feet above the plaiu), and nearly 1,000 by 

 700 feet ill length and breadth. Schliemann iu- 

 Btanfcly decided that the latter must be the citadel 

 of Priam, and felt more than ever sure that its ac- 

 cumulated rubbish might cover some distinct re- 

 mains of " Troy town." He was further strength- 

 ened in this belief by the discovery of an ancient 

 bed of the Scamander, much nearer the plateau of 

 Hissarlik than the present one. The presumed 

 Simois had united with it at a point about two- 

 thirds of a mile from the foot of the mound, thus 

 forming just the battle-field, described in Homer as 

 being bounded by the Scamander, the Samois, and 

 the walls of Troy. Hiring a few laborers, he began 

 to dig at the north-western corner of the 

 higher plateau, aud at a depth of 16 feet 

 came upon a wall six feet thick, which 

 Ls now conjectured io have beeu a small 

 fortification of the time of Lysimachus (306 B. C.). 

 Hardly had this been reached, when the owners of 

 the soil, two Turkish, farmers in a neighboring vil- 

 lage, who used the plateau as a sheep pasture, pro- 

 hibited Schliemann from digging further, unless he 

 would pay them 12,000 piasters (about $500) as dam- 

 ages, and bind himself to rill up the excavations again 

 after he had finished. He offered to buy the laud, 

 but they positively refused to sell it at any price. In 

 this dilemma he turned for help to Safvet Pasha, one 

 of the most enlightened members of the Sultan's 

 Cabinet, in whom he found a man capable of under- 

 standing his object and ready to render assistance. 

 The result was that the ground was despotically 

 P"rchased by the Turkish Government for 3,000 pias- 

 ters ($12o) ami Schlieruauu obtained permission to 

 make r^ searches. 



Here, however, a new difficulty arose. The newly- 

 established Museum of Antiquities in Constantinople 

 claimed possession of every object which might 

 thenceforth be exhumed throughout the Turkish 

 Empire ; and Sohlieiaaan was too experienced a man 

 of business to go on with a great undertaking at his 

 own risk and cost, and lose his chance of treasure- 

 trove. The tirraau which he asked for, before begin- 

 ning his labors, was only obtained, finally, through 

 the aid of Mr. J. P. Brown, for twenty or thirty years 

 Secretary of the American Legation at Constantino- 

 ple. All these matters, however, were not settled 

 before the beginning of October, 1871 ; and even then 

 the Turkish Government ordered that all excavations 

 should be made underthe eyes of an officer appointed 

 for the purpose, whom Schliemann was obliged to 

 pay SI per day. 



On the llth of October the -work was begun with 

 eight men, but on tua second day afterward 74 men 

 were employed in removing the upper soil. Firmly 

 belie vina that the remains of the famous temple of 

 the Trojan Minerva were under ths higher plateau, 

 which he already called the Citadel of Priam, Schlie- 

 mann relinquished his excavation at the north- 

 western corner, chose a starting-point further east, 

 and laid out a broad cut from north to south across 

 the highest part of the plateau. His plan was to 

 cleave the upper and lower plateaus down to the 



original soil, believing that the ruins of the ancient 

 Trojan city would be found under all the accumu- 

 lated rubbish of the subsequent ages. Immediately 

 under the surface the workmen came upon the foun- 

 dations of a building of massive hewn stones, be- 

 longing to the first century of our era. These were 

 removed with, great labor and hurled down the 

 steep northern slope of the mound. Under this ma- 

 sonry, which ceased at a depth of six or seven feet, 

 the soil was composed of pottery, ashes, and debris of 

 all kinds, filled with relics of the past of the most; 

 unexpected character. The excavations were carried 

 on until the 20th of November, by which time tha 

 cut had reached an average depth of 33 feet. After 

 penetrating about 25 feet below the surface remains 

 of massively constructed houses appeared, and the 

 antiquarian yield assumed a very different chrractcr. 

 The Winter rains, which set in toward the end of 

 November, obliged Schliemann to suspend labor un- 

 til the following Spring. 



OPPER PLATEAU 



OF 



H1SSARIIK. 



SITE OF THE EXCAVATION?. 



1. Scbliemann's Excavation in 1870. 2. Same in 1371. Roman 

 Walls. 



So far, no positive indication of Troy as he then 

 supposed, had beeu brought to light ; but the relics 

 which had been unearthed were so various and so 

 remarkable, that the time and expenditure had been 

 richly repaid. The results of this beginning may bo 

 briefly stated as follows: At a depth of from 3 to G 

 feet were found copper coins aud medals of Sigoutn, 

 Alexandria Troas and Ilium, au enormous quantity 

 of ornamented terra-cotta disks, and substructions 

 of houses built with/Kojnan cement: from 6 to 13 

 feet no hewn stones/^ashes and calcined soil, witli 

 traces of fires everywhere, quantities of oyster and 

 mussel shells, tusks of wild boar, vertebra? of .sharks 

 (which are not now found in the JEgean), and some 

 rude specimens of pottery; at the depth of 13 feet, 

 great quantities of stone axes, lances, weights and 

 other implements sudjleuly appear: a little lower, i 

 pottery of very elegant form and fine quality, deco- 

 rated with the owl's-head, phallic emblems, knives 

 of Hint, needles and spoons of bone, a few copper , 

 nails, and a great quantity of curious terra-cotta 

 disks, with a hole in the center, and adorned with au 



