On the west side of the Great Tower, which I laid bare last year, I am likewise making an excavation 47 feet long and 48 feet broad, so as to bring to light more of this side, and to see how the walls of Ilium are connected with it. It is worth a journey round the world to see this Tower, whose site was at all events so high, that it not only commanded a view of the Plain, but also of the plateau lying to the south of it, whereas its summit now lies a great many feet below the level of the plateau. According to this it seems that the accumulation of débris on the site of the city is as large as it is in the Pergamus.[235]
In the western excavation, already mentioned, I found the ruins of a very large house of the Greek period. It extended to the depth of 6½ feet, and must have belonged to a rich man, for the floors of the rooms are made of large red slabs splendidly polished. In it I found two small and very pretty female heads of terra-cotta, as well as two extremely remarkable pieces of hard brittle black stone, like glass, in the form of mushrooms, but with a tube running through the centre. The heads of the two pieces have decorations similar to those on the round terra-cottas in the form of humming-tops and volcanoes, and I therefore believe that both pieces belong to the pre-Hellenic period.
Below the foundations of the Greek house I found, at the depth of 3 and 4 meters (9¾ to 13 feet), many of the whorls with the usual decorations of four, five, or six double or treble rising suns; or four flaming altars; or four Rosæ mysticæ; or four or five 卐 in the circle around the central sun. I likewise found, at a depth of 10 feet, one of these articles, upon which there is a very rude and inartistic engraving of the Ilian Athena, with the owl’s head and outstretched arms. By the side of this representation there are two crosses, and at the four ends of each are the marks of the nails with which our forefathers fastened the two pieces of wood which were laid crosswise for igniting the holy fire. In the same circle with the image of the goddess there are two symbols of lightning. A faithful drawing of this terra-cotta is given in the cut.
Of the earthenware found in this excavation there is one piece especially deserving of attention. This is a vessel in the form of a helmet, with a round hole at the bottom; it may have served as a kind of funnel.