Heinrich Schliemann

“ Had the first conclusions of Haug and Gomperz remained good, we should have had the very significant evidence that all the inscriptions were in the nature of dedications or invocations; but of course this question must now be held in suspense.
[16] See Max Müller’s Review of Schliemann in the Academy, Jan. 10th, 1874, p. 39; Schliemann’s Reply, entitled ‘Hera Boöpis and Athené Glaukopis,’ Ibid. Nov. 21st, 1874, p. 563, and Max Müller’s Rejoinder, Ibid. Nov. 24th, p. 585. ”

“ The mother of the holy fire is the divine Mâjâ, who represents the productive force in the form of a woman; every divine being has his Mâjâ. Scarcely has the weak spark escaped from its mother’s lap, that is from the 卐, which is likewise called mother, and is the place where the divine Mâjâ principally dwells—when it (Agni) receives the name of child. In the Rigvêda we find hymns of heavenly beauty in praise of this new-born weak divine creature. ”

“ In the large Cyclopean house, which tradition seems to have indicated as the palace of the Atridæ, immediately to the south of the circular Agora, were found Hera-idols of new forms: for example, a perfectly flat cow with only one big hind-leg and two fore-legs; [268] a female idol, with a very compressed bird's face, and with a Phrygian cap, instead of the usual "polos;" and a headless idol, with two protruding breasts, but with two long cow-horns. There was likewise found a terra-cotta cow-horn, 31⁄2 in. long, which shows that there must have been much larger idols than those hitherto found. ”

“ The Siphnian stone has the peculiarity that, being heated, it becomes black by the contact of oil and much harder, it being naturally soft. It can be turned and used for ornaments." The small cones of this stone have in the lower border two small holes on either side, which must have been made for the pins by which the object was fastened. A likeness of such a cone is No. 172; of another object of the same material, No. 169. The curious object, No. 171, which has almost the form of a Trojan idol, is of decomposed glass, but its use is inexplicable to me ”

“ On the other side of the tree, and leaning with her right arm against it, is sitting a tall woman, with noble Grecian features. Her eyes are large and her nose projects in a straight line with the forehead, just as we see it on the sculptures in the Parthenon; her head is covered with a turban running out into a point, from beneath which a tress of hair is hanging down on her back; just above this tress we see two ornaments on the turban. I call particular attention to the curious sign just above her forehead, which is no doubt meant to represent her diadem ”

“ Throughout all antiquity, this river was called the Simoïs, as is also proved by Virgil (Æn. III. 302, 305) . The map of M. Nikolaïdes equally ignores the river which flows from south to north through the Plain, the Kalifatli-Asmak, with its enormously broad bed, which must certainly at one time have been occupied by the Scamander, and into which the Simoïs still flows to the north of Ilium. The Scamander has altered its course several times, as is proved by the three large river-beds between it and the bed of the Kalifatli-Asmak. ”

“ There were further found in the Cyclopean house some beautiful axes of diorite or serpentine, [257] and many whorls of blue stone, and a great many painted terra-cottas, among which the fragments of a large vase, with two or three handles, the ends of which have been modelled into the shape of cowheads, deserve particular attention. Some of the fragments which I have been able to readjust represent six full-armed warriors, painted with a dark red colour on a light yellow dead ground ”

“ It seems quite natural for a simple and religious race, such as the early Aryans certainly were, to stamp religious emblems and sentences on objects in daily use, and then to consecrate them as ex voto offerings, according to Dr. Schliemann’s suggestion. The astronomical significance, which Schliemann finds in many of the whorls, is unmistakeable in most of the terra-cotta balls ”

“ The paradox—that Troy never existed and that Bunarbashi was its site—was so far confirmed by Schliemann that he dug at Bunarbashi, and found clear evidence that the idea of a great city having ever stood there is a mere imagination. The few remains of walls, that were found there, confirm instead of weakening the negative conclusion; for they are as utterly inadequate to be the remains of the “great, sacred, wealthy Ilium,” as they are suitable to the little town of Gergis, with which they are now identified by an inscription. ”

“ And perhaps the eye may be struck, in examining Schliemann's illustrations, with the vigour of life and motion which asserts itself in many of the Mycenean works, where the delineation is technically most imperfect. But we cannot compare the text with these remains alone; we are bound also to avail ourselves of such light as can be had from Hissarlik, whatever its effect upon our prepossessions or our arguments. Now I, for one, am struck with the wealth of Mycenæ, and the comparative poverty of what is probably Troy. ”

“ But Schliemann’s work consisted in a series of transverse cuttings, which laid open sections of the various strata, from the present surface of the hill to the virgin soil. The work of one day would often yield objects from almost all the strata; and each successive trench repeated the old order, more or less, from the remains of Greek Ilium to those of the first settlers on the hill. ”

“ But in Tiryns as well as here in Mycenæ, where I am surrounded by the grandest Cyclopean walls in the world, I am, for brevity's sake and in order to avoid misunderstandings, bound to use the name "Cyclopean" even for the smallest walls of houses or water conduits which show the same kind of masonry. But it must be distinctly understood that I should of course not think of calling them so if I found them in places where there are no huge walls of that kind, for the name "Cyclopean" can only be applied to the gigantic. ”

“ All these objects of glass lead us to the conclusion that the sepulchre of Spata belongs to a much later time than the royal tombs of Mycenæ. But we find a much stronger proof of this in the carved works discovered in the Spata sepulchre, which are generally thought to consist of ivory, but which by the investigation of Professor Landerer are proved to consist of common bone. All these carved works appear to belong to a late period of Assyrian art ”

“ Now not to speak of the improbability that statues of the heroic age should have been found, the above account is in no way confirmed by the old men of Charvati, the village nearest to the site of Mycenæ, nor by those of the other villages of the plain of Argos, all of whom agree that the excavation took place in 1810, and that the sole objects found in the Treasury were some half-columns and friezes, a marble table, and a long bronze chain suspended from the top of the dome, at the end of which was hanging a bronze candelabrum. ”

“ If γλαυκῶπις were merely a common attributive, signifying “bright-eyed,” it is very remarkable that Homer should never apply it to mortal women, or to any goddess save Athena. We are expressing no opinion upon the accuracy of Schliemann’s identification in every case; but the rudeness of many of his “owl-faced idols” is no stumbling-block, for the oldest and rudest sacred images were held in lasting and peculiar reverence. The Ephesian image of Artemis, “which fell down from Jove,” is a case parallel to what the “Palladium” of Ilium may have been. ”

“ But the great Mycenean deposit, if Schliemann be right in his view, was made before the time of any sack or depopulation of the city. Upon such an issue of life and death, as that offered to the Trojans, the best objects would naturally be parted with, as the most effective for their purpose (see Il. XXIV. 234-7) ; and accordingly, if we are comparing Troy and Mycenæ at all, we are comparing Troy in its exhaustion with Mycenæ in its prosperity.
We have among the remains in the precious metals from Hissarlik, I believe, no representation of an animal, either chased or in the round. ”

“ I perfectly agree with the common opinion that the Cyclopean walls of Tiryns are the most ancient monument in Greece; but, having the conviction that no city or fortress wall can be more ancient than the most ancient pottery of the site it surrounds, I was very anxious to investigate the chronology of the Tirynthian walls by systematic excavations. I therefore proceeded to Tiryns on the 31st ultimo, in company with Mrs. Schliemann and my esteemed friends, Castorches, Phendikles and Pappadakes, Professors of Archæology in the University of Athens. ”

“ Finally, we see near the top two waving lines which cannot possibly represent anything else than the sea, which is represented in like manner on the coins of Tarentum. From the sea rises to the left the sun in full splendour, the rays being well represented, and to his left (to the right of the spectator) rises the crescent of the moon. On seeing this marvellous ring, Mrs. Schliemann and I involuntarily exclaimed, "This ring must have been seen by Homer before he described all the wonders which Hephæstus wrought on the shield of Achilles." ”

“ If the legend of the Trojan War preserves the tradition of a real conquest of the city by a kindred race, the very nature of the case forbids us to accept literally the story, that the conquerors simply sailed away again. ”

“ Among the patterns engraved upon the whorls and other terra-cottas, many were soon found, as Dr. Schliemann has fully shown, to be the most ancient sacred emblems of the Aryan race; and the discovery of these at all depths, below the ruins of Greek Ilium, attested the common Aryan descent of all the nations that had dwelt successively on the hill before the historic Grecian colony. The absence of any trace of Egyptian influence, and almost equally of Assyrian, seemed to attest an independent and very ancient Aryan civilization ”

“ I remind the reader that this lentoid gem, as well as the other with the two horses, was found close to the ancient Heræum, of which the foundations, consisting of various courses of Cyclopean masonry of enormous uncut blocks, still exist, and may be as old and even older than the walls of Mycenæ and Tiryns. But my explorations on the site, in February, 1874, have shown that the accumulation of débris there does not exceed 11⁄2 to 3 ft. in depth, and consequently excavations there are impossible. ”

“ Ces trésors suffisent à eux seuls à remplir un grand musée, qui sera le plus merveilleux du monde, et qui, pendant des siècles à venir, attirera en Grèce des milliers d'étrangers de tous les pays. Comme je travaille par pur amour pour la science, je n'ai naturellement aucune prétention à ces trésors, que je donne, avec un vif enthousiasme, intacts à la Grèce. ”

“ I still think with horror of what would have become of the discovery of Ilium and of myself, had the six men been crushed by the wall which gave way; no money and no promises could have saved me; the poor widows would have torn me to pieces in their despair—for the Trojan women have this in common with all Greeks of their sex, that the husband, be he old or young, rich or poor, is everything to them; heaven and earth have but a secondary interest. ”

“ We cannot sympathize with the sentimental objection that, in proportion as the conviction grows that the Troy of Homer has been found, his poetry is brought down from the heights of pure imagination. Epic Poetry, the very essence of which is narrative, has always achieved its noblest triumphs in celebrating events which were at least believed to be real, not in the invention of incidents and deeds purely imaginary. ”

“ A rude pre-historic people could by no means have made the beautiful terra-cottas which are found here immediately below the ruins of the Greek colony, and still less could they have manufactured the splendid pottery which shows such a high degree of artistic taste, and which I meet with here at a great depth. ”

“ I have no hope of finding plastic works of art. The single object of my excavations from the beginning was only to find Troy, whose site has been discussed by a hundred scholars in a hundred books, but which as yet no one has ever sought to bring to light by excavations. If I should not succeed in this, still I shall be perfectly contented, if by my labours I succeed only in penetrating to the deepest darkness of pre-historic times, and enriching archæology by the discovery of a few interesting features from the most ancient history of the great Hellenic race. ”

“ The heads of both are crowned with a diadem. Each has a hollow in the left cheek, which is alone visible; both touch their breasts with the hands, and this must be a symbol of fertility or abundance. I call attention to the resemblance in the attitude of these women to that of the numerous terra-cotta idols of Aphrodite from Cyprus, as well as to the so-called statue of Niobe on the rock of Sipylos, which also touch their breasts with both hands. The four pigeons are represented with spread wings, as if they were flying. ”

“ Two points are becoming clearer every day, the early existence of members of the Greek race on the shores of Asia, and the essential truth of those traditions about the Oriental influence on Greek civilization, which, within our own remembrance, have passed through the stages of uncritical acceptance, hypercritical rejection, and discriminating belief founded on sure evidence. ”