d Civilisation_

_Hissarlik, April 5, 1872._ On the first of this month I resumed the
excavations which were discontinued at the end of November.

In the ruins of houses I find, amongst other things, a great number of
small idols of very fine marble, with or without the symbols of the
owl's head and woman's girdle. Many Trojan articles found in the ruins
have stamped on them crosses of various descriptions, which are of the
highest importance to archaeology. Such symbols were already regarded,
thousands of years before Christ, as religious tokens of the very
greatest importance. The figure of the cross represents two pieces of
wood which were laid crosswise upon one another before the sacrificial
altars in order to produce holy fire. The fire was produced by the
friction of one piece of wood against another.

At all depths we find a number of flat idols of very fine marble; upon
many of them is the owl's face, and a female girdle with dots. I am
firmly convinced that all of the helmeted owls' heads represent a
goddess, and the important question now presents itself, what goddess is
it who is here found so repeatedly, and is, moreover, the only one to be
found upon the idols, drinking-cups, and vases? The answer is, she must
necessarily be the tutelary goddess of Troy; she must be the Ilian
Athena, and this indeed perfectly agrees with the statement of Homer,
who continually calls her _thea glaukopis Athene,_ "the goddess with the
owl's face."

_Hissarlik, June 18, 1872._ I had scarcely begun to extend a third
cutting into the hill when I found a block of triglyphs of Parian
marble, containing a sculpture in high relief which represents Phoebus
Apollo, who, in a long woman's robe with a girdle, is riding on the four
immortal horses which pursue their career through the universe. Nothing
is to be seen of a chariot. Above the head of the god is seen about
two-thirds of the sun's disc with twenty rays. The face of the god is
very expressive, and the folds of his robe are exquisitely sculptured;
but my admiration is specially excited by the four horses, which,
snorting and looking wildly forward, career through the universe with
infinite power. Their anatomy is so masterly that I confess I have never
seen so masterly a work.

It is especially remarkable to find the sun-god here, for Homer knows
nothing of a temple to the sun in Troy, and later history says not a
word about the existence of such a temple. However, the