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.
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.