Of idols of marble, it is only during these few days that we have found eight, only two of which had the engraved owl’s head of the Ilian Athena. Of vases with owl’s faces, two female breasts, and two upraised arms, I have found only one, at a depth of 15 meters (49¼ feet), and at a depth of 7 meters (23 feet) the upper portion of another, upon which the stump of one of the arms may still be recognised. At a depth of 10 feet we found two vases, with two female breasts and an immense navel, which are doubtless also intended to represent the tutelary goddess of Troy. Lastly, of vase-covers with an owl’s face and helmet, the first found was at a depth of 1 meter (3¼ feet), having a double handle in the form of a coronet; another, found at a depth of 3 meters (26 feet), has a simple handle. Among the other terra-cotta vessels I must specially mention an exceedingly remarkable cup in the form of a bugle-horn with three feet, which was found at a depth of 3 meters (10 feet); also a vessel with but two feet, which, however, as is proved by the broken places on the right side, has been attached to some other vessel of a similar form and description; this double vessel had a ring on either side for suspension by strings. Of the other earthenware I can only mention a small curious vase which has three long feet, one handle, and two others in the form of ears.
The round articles of terra-cotta in the form of volcanoes and humming-tops, with symbolical decorations, were met with in great quantities, as they always are. Four sling-bullets were discovered, one of which, made of copper, was brought out from a depth of 49 feet, one of alabaster from 23 feet, and two of diorite from a depth of from 20 to 23 feet. At a depth of 4 meters (13 feet) I found a splendidly ornamented flat piece of ivory, which must evidently have been part of a musical instrument.[216] Lastly, at the depth of 1 meter (3¼ feet) there was a fragment of a female statue of fine marble, executed in a masterly style. It not improbably represents the tutelary goddess of Ilium, whose temple, as we know, stood in the Pergamus.
Simultaneously with these excavations I had 22 men working in a north-westerly direction, from the south-eastern corner of the Acropolis, in order to lay bare the Great Tower still further on that side, an operation that has become impossible to effect from my great trench. But as the hill at this point has only a very gradual slope I was compelled to make the new cutting with a considerable slope, which renders the carting-off of the débris much more troublesome, but is absolutely necessary, to enable us to reach the requisite depth of 26 feet for arriving at the Tower. At the very commencement of this cutting, at a foot below the surface, I came upon two enormous walls, each of which is 10 feet thick. The first seems to belong to the Middle Ages,[217] and consists of large blocks of Corinthian pillars joined by cement and of other marble blocks taken from ancient buildings. The second wall, which follows immediately, must certainly belong to the town-wall built by Lysimachus, which was 40 stadia long.[218] It is composed of large and beautifully hewn blocks of limestone, which are laid one upon another without any kind of cement, and which generally bear a monogram. As the letter is not always the same, and as for instance upon one stone there is a Σ, and upon another an Υ or a Δ, I presume that they are the initials of the different builders. In the first wall I found a marble slab nearly a foot thick, 32½ inches broad, and 3½ feet long, with the following inscription:—
ΗΒΟΥΛΗΚΑΙΟΔΗΜΟΣ
ΓΑΙΟΝΚΑΙΣΑΡΑΤΟΝΥΙΟΝΤΟΥΣΕΒΑΣ
ΤΟΥΤΟΝΣΥΝΓΕΝΗΚΑΙΠΑΤΡΩΝΑΚΑΙΕΥ
ΕΡΓΕΤΗΝΤΗΣΠΟΛΕΩΣ
Ἡ βουλὴ καὶ ὁ δῆμος
Γάϊον Καίσαρα τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ Σεβασ-
τοῦ τὸν συνγενῆ καὶ πατρῶνα καὶ εὐ-
εργέτην τῆς πόλεως.