646 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. II., No. 41. 



THE AMERICAN EXPLORATIONS AT 

 AS SOS. 



The excavations in the ruined Greelc city of Assos, 

 in tlie southern part of tlie Troad in Asia Minor, 

 have been completed ; and tlie members of the expe- 

 dition have returned to this country. This gave 

 occasion recently to call in Boston a special meeting of 

 the Archaeological institute of America, under whose 

 auspices the work had been carried on, at which 

 Mr. J. T. Clarke, the leader of the expedition, was 

 to give an account of his investigations. Unfortu- 

 nately, Mr. Clarke was prevented by illness from at- 

 tending; but this was less to be regretted, because it 

 gave the president of the institute. Prof. C. E. Nor- 

 ton, an opportimity to express, more fully than he 

 could otherwise have done, his sense of the extremely 

 satisfactory manner in which Messrs. Clarke and 

 Bacon had conducted the investigations at Assos. 



Too strong terms could not be used to describe the 

 devotion and self-sacrifice, as well as energy, which 

 they had brought to the work, almost to the point of 

 denying themselves the necessaries of life, that the 

 resources of the institute might be diverted as little 

 as possible from the work in hand. They had also 

 labored in a spirit of enthusiasm and intelligence, 

 bringing to bear the methods of modern scientific 

 research, which gave to the results obtained an accu- 

 racy and value far beyond that of most of the archeo- 

 logical work of the past. No better archeological 

 work had been done anywhere. He felt sure, that, 

 when the final report upon the explorations at Assos 

 should be pulilished, it would be not merely up to 

 the level of such publications, but would mark an 

 advance in the science, and would take high rank 

 among standard archeological works. This final re- 

 port would require deliberate preparation: it was 

 desirable that it shonld be exhaustive, and be pub- 

 lished in a fitting style, as a monumental work. 



The investigations had. been carried out in the 

 most thorough manner; nothing had been left undone 

 which it was desirable to do ; and, even had unlimited 

 funds been at the disposal of the expedition, the 

 excavations would not have been carried farther than 

 they had been. The results were mainly architectu- 

 ral. A far more thorough knowledge of the civic 

 buildings of a Greek city than was before possessed 

 had now been obtained. Few marbles had been found 

 (most of them having been previously destroyed), 

 but a large number of terra-cottas were secured. 

 The accession to the body of Greek inscriptions was 

 real, though its importance was not to be exaggerated. 

 In numismatics the expedition had been very success- 

 ful ; a very large number of coins having been found, 

 and the number of types of Assian coins known, 

 largely increased. In all, forty or fifty cases of anti- 

 quities would be brought home as the share of the 

 institute. These included the best of the temple 

 sculptures; the Hercules block and the best sphinx; 

 all of the inscriptions, with the exception of the bronze 

 tablet; a large number of terra-cottas; most of the 

 coins, and a considerable number of minor objects, 

 found in the tombs. Among the many architectural 



fragments, there would be enough to erect a complete 

 order of the temple at the Museum of fine arts. The 

 two thousand dollars which that institution had voted 

 to api^ropriate for the purchase of a portion of thft 

 antiquities belonging to the Turks would fortunately 

 not be called for, as the latter absolutely refused to- 

 sell any thing. Hope is, however, entertained, that a 

 gift of these articles may be made by the sultan. It 

 was pleasant to be able to announce that the whole 

 work had been carried on with absolute honesty, and 

 that the Turks had been dealt with in every way as 

 strictly as if they had been Americans. 



The final report would embody the results of all 

 this work, published in an authoritative and reliable 

 form. In the mean time a preparatory report would 

 be issued, giving an account of the work done sub- 

 sequently to the publication of the first volume on 

 Assos. To prepare this report, it would be neces- 

 sary for Mr. Clarke to go to London in order that he 

 might have access to the British museum, the only 

 place where the necessary materials could be obtained. 

 It was desirable that the institute should retain both 

 Mr. Clarke and Mr. Bacon in its employ until the 

 Assos material had been entirely worked up. 



The treasury of the institute was very nearly empty; 

 and it was proposed to hold a gener.al public meeting, 

 at which Mr. Clarke, and other gentlemen interested 

 in the subject, should speak, with a view to awaken- 

 ing such an interest in the community as should en- 

 able the institute to raise the sum of money required. 



At this meeting, held Oct. 31, Prof. W. W. Good- 

 win read a report of the first year's woi-k of the 

 American school for classical studies at Athens, 

 founded a year since by the Archaeological institute 

 in connection with sever.al of our colleges, and of 

 which Professor Goodwin was last year the director. 

 As this report affects rather the philological than the 

 archeological student, and will be printed elsewhere, 

 we proceed at once to the main feature of the even- 

 ing, the address of Mr. J. T. Clabke, who spoke 

 substantially as follows: — 



Assos was a small town, — small even for anti- 

 quity, when cities were very far from the enormous 

 dimensions of modern capitals. The number of its 

 inhabitants can never have greatly exceeded twelve 

 or fifteen thousand ; but its interest and importance 

 can by no means be judged by that of modern 

 towns of equal size. Athens itself, at the time of 

 its greatest extent and power, is known to have had 

 only ten thousand houses, and twenty-one thousand- 

 free citizens; and this figure included the entirely 

 separate harbor-cities of Munychia and the Piraeus. 

 To take a more recent example: the imperial city 

 of Augsburg, at the epoch of its chief historical 

 fame, under Maximilian, h.ad only sixteen thousand 

 inhabitants, — was only about the same size as Assos. 



Our work gives as perfect a picture of the life of a, 

 qiriet provincial Greek capital as the recent brilliant 

 excavations at Olympia display the character of a great 

 place of public festal assemblage. The investigations 

 differ in scope ; but I trust that ours has been not in- 

 ferior as regards thoroughness, and, in some important 

 respects, not as regards the nature of its results. 



