I was firmly convinced that this splendid street, paved with large flags of stone, must proceed from the principal building of the Pergamus, and I therefore confidently carried on the excavation in order to bring that edifice to light. To accomplish this, I was most unfortunately compelled to break down three of the large walls of the more recent house. The result has, however, far surpassed my expectations, for I not only found two large gates, standing 20 feet apart, but also the two large copper bolts belonging to them, of which I give drawings. The first gate is 12¼ feet broad, and is formed by two projections of the wall, one of which stands out 2½ feet, the other 2¾ feet; both are 3¼ feet high, and 3¾ feet broad. The street paved with the large flags of stone ends at the first gate, and the road from this to the second gate, which is situated a little more than 20 feet further to the north-east, is very roughly paved with large unhewn stones. The pavement has probably become uneven through the walls of the more ancient house having fallen upon it. (See [Plan II]., and Plates [XII]. and [XIII].)
The second gate is likewise formed by two projections in the wall, which are 2 feet high, above 3 feet broad, and project about 2½ feet.
I have cleared the street as far as 5 feet to the north-east of the second gate, but I have not ventured to proceed further, as this could not be done without breaking down more of the walls of the second house, the preservation of which is of the greatest interest to archæology. For, although it must be of a much more recent date than the lower one upon the ruins of which it stands, yet, as is proved by the terra-cottas and the idols with owls’ heads, as well as by its position at a depth of from 6 to 7 meters (20 to 23 feet) below the surface, it was built centuries before the time of the Greek settlement, the ruins of which extend only to a depth of 6½ feet. This upper and later house is therefore certainly older than the Homeric poems.
In my last report I expressed the firm conviction that the Tower-road, which inclines abruptly towards the Plain to the south-west, must lead to the Scæan Gate, which I thought could at most be 492 feet distant. I now venture positively to assert that the great double gate which I have brought to light must necessarily be the SCÆAN GATE. For in the mound, which runs out for to the south-west from the foot of the Pergamus and in a straight line with the Tower-road—which mound I had supposed to contain the great city wall of Ilium and the Scæan Gate,—in this mound, close to the main hill, I have sunk a shaft, nearly 6 feet broad and 11 feet long. Here I found exclusively Greek fragments of pottery, and I came upon the rock at the small depth of 7½ feet; thus I convinced myself that ancient Troy can never have extended so far towards the Plain. A second excavation, 11¼ feet long and 6½ feet broad, which I made exactly 443 feet further to the east up the plateau, had a similar result, for I came upon the rock at a depth of 16½ feet, and here also I found exclusively fragments of Hellenic pottery (which in the Pergamus I meet with only at a depth of 6½ feet), and no trace of Trojan pottery.
This sufficiently proves that the ancient city cannot even have extended as far as this point, and its area must have been connected with the Pergamus still further eastwards.[258] I am at present occupied in making fifteen other shafts in this direction, and I hope, in spite of the great depth I have to sink them, that I shall succeed, at least to some extent, in determining the topography of Troy. I shall leave all the shafts open, so that every visitor may convince himself about the truth of my statements.
Meanwhile the two shafts described above have gained this much for archæology, that the street which runs down abruptly at an angle of 65 degrees towards the Plain, in a south-western direction from the double gate and the Great Tower, cannot possibly have led to a second gate, so that the double gate which I have laid bare must necessarily have been the Scæan Gate; it is in an excellent state of preservation, not a stone of it is wanting.
Here, therefore, by the side of the double gate, upon Ilium’s Great Tower, at the edge of the very abrupt western declivity of the Pergamus, sat Priam, the seven elders of the city, and Helen; and this is the scene of the most splendid passage in the Iliad.[259] From this spot the company surveyed the whole Plain, and saw at the foot of the Pergamus the Trojan and the Achæan armies face to face about to settle their agreement to let the war be decided by a single combat between Paris and Menelaus.