FROM PALACE OF PRIAM.[ToList]
"I also found in the Treasure three great silver vases, the largest of which is above eight and one-fourth inches high and nearly eight inches in diameter, and has a handle five and one-half inches in length and three and one-half in breadth. (No. 23.) The second vase is 6.9 inches high and nearly six inches in diameter; another silver vase is welded to the upper part of it (No. 22), of which, however, only portions have been preserved. No. 19 is a splendid Terra-cotta vase from the Palace of Priam. It is the largest vase of the type frequent in the ruins, with two small handles and two great upright wings. The cover was found near it.
LIDS AND METALS OF PRIAM.[ToList]
"On the south side of the hill, where, on account of the slight natural slope, I had to make my great trench with an inclination of fourteen degrees, I discovered, at a distance of 197 feet from the declivity, a Tower, forty feet thick, which I have uncovered on the north and south sides along the whole breadth of my trench, and have convinced myself that it is built on the rock at a depth of forty-six and a half feet.
"The Tower is at present only twenty feet high, but the nature of its surface, and the masses of stones lying on both sides, seem to prove that it was at one time much higher. For the preservation of what remains we have only to thank the ruins of Troy, which entirely covered the Tower as it now stands. It is probable that after the destruction of Troy much more of it remained standing, and that the part which rose above the ruins of the town was destroyed by the successors of the Trojans, who possessed neither walls nor fortifications. The western part of the Tower, so far as it is yet uncovered, is only from 121 to 124 feet distant from the steep western slope of the hill; and, considering the enormous accumulation of debris, I believe that the Tower once stood on the western edge of the Acropolis, where its situation would be most interesting and imposing, for its top would have commanded, not only a view of the whole Plain of Troy, but of the sea with the Islands of Tenedos, Imbros and Samothrace. There is not a more sublime situation in the area of Troy than this, and I therefore presume that it is the 'Great Tower of Ilium' which Andromache ascended because 'she had heard that the Trojans were hard pressed and that the power of the Achæans was great.'
"'But to the height of Ilion's topmost tower
Andromache is gone; since tidings came
The Trojan force was overmatched, and great
The Grecian strength.'
"After having been buried for thirty-one centuries, and after successive nations have built their houses and palaces high above its summit during thousands of years, this Tower has now again been brought to light, and commands a view, if not of the whole Plain, at least of the northern part and of the Hellespont. May this sacred and sublime monument of Greek heroism forever attract the eyes of those who sail through the Hellespont! May it become a place to which the inquiring youth of all future generations shall make pilgrimage to fan their enthusiasms for knowledge, and above all for the noble language and literature of Greece!