The discovery of this work of art upon the steep declivity of the hill—whereas it must necessarily have stood on the opposite side above the entrance to the temple—can only be explained by the fact that the Turks who came here in search of monumental pillars despised this sculpture because it represented living creatures, the imitation of which is strictly forbidden in the Koran.
Beneath the ruins of this temple I hope to discover the remains of that little temple which Alexander the Great found here. I do not, however, think it likely that I shall discover in its depths the old Trojan temple in which Hecuba caused the priestess Theano to lay her costly robes on the knees of Athena.[152] To judge from the débris of the ashes of animal sacrifices, which is as hard as stone, and which gives me such exceedingly great trouble along an extent of 82 feet at the eastern end of my large platform, the area of the very ancient temple cannot possibly be identical with the one built by Lysimachus; it must certainly be somewhat more to the west, and must commence somewhere near its western end.
After my report of the 23rd of last month, I began to loosen the lower earthen wall, which is as hard as stone, by means of those immense iron levers which I have already described. However, I was unfortunate; for, after having worked for three hours with 40 men and with the huge levers and windlasses in loosening an earthen wall 16 feet high, 16 broad and 10 thick, which had been already prepared by shafts and mines, only just succeeded after the strongest chains had given way several times, when the adjoining earth-wall fell of its own accord, and buried Georgios Photidas and a workman who were engaged in the lower excavations, believing that they were perfectly safe under thick logs of wood 23 inches high and 10 thick, which were covered with planks 3 inches thick. All of us naturally thought that the two men must have been crushed beneath the enormous mass of 100 cubic yards of stone and earth, which had dashed the thick planks to pieces. Our fright was terrible, but without losing a moment we set to work to rescue the unfortunate men. We had scarcely begun when we heard them moaning beneath the weight of earth, for the logs had only been upset, and, lying lengthwise, they still partly supported the vault, so that the men had breathing space left. But their release could not be effected without the greatest danger, owing to several large gaps in the cracked earthen wall, and the men had to be cut out. I myself cut out Georgios Photidas with my knife; the other man was cut out by my men.
In consequence of this accident, I have decided in the first place to cut a trench 98 feet broad at the top and 65 below, commencing at the platform, which is to be carried along the primary soil through the entire hill, and not to cut through the other portion of the great platform until this is finished; for I shall then be in a position to judge how we can best accomplish the former work. I am having the whole length of this trench commenced at the same time on a breadth of 98 feet, and I hope thus to have it ready in two months. In digging this trench I found that, at about 69 feet from the steep side of the hill, the primary soil gradually rises about 2 meters (6½ feet), and as the cutting must necessarily follow the primary soil, I have from this point again had the débris thrown upon the great platform, and have thus formed an embankment 65½ feet broad and 6½ feet high, as far as the steep slope.
