n the depths of an ancient town, which throughout antiquity was
called Ilium and declared itself to be the successor of Troy, the site
of which was regarded as identical with the site of the Homeric Ilium by
the whole world of that time. The situation of this town not only
corresponds perfectly with all the statements of the Iliad, but also
with all the traditions handed down to us by later authorities.

_Pergamus of Troy, March 22, 1873. _During this last week, with splendid
weather, and with 150 men on the average, I have got through a good
piece of work. On the north side of the excavation on the site of the
Temple of Athena I have already reached a depth of 26 feet, and have
laid bare the tower in several places.

The most remarkable of the objects found this week is a large knob of
the purest and finest crystal, belonging to a stick, in the form of a
beautifully wrought lion's head. It seems probable that in remote
antiquity lions existed in this region. Homer could not so excellently
have described them had he not had the opportunities of watching them.

_Pergamus of Troy, May 10, 1873._ Although the Pergamus, whose depths I
have been ransacking, borders directly on the marshes formed by the
Simois, in which there are always hundreds of storks, yet none of them
ever settle down here. Though there are sometimes a dozen storks' nests
on one roof in the neighbouring Turkish villages, yet no one will settle
on mine, even though I have two comfortable nests made for them. It is
probably too cold and stormy for the little storks on _Ilios anemoessa_.

My most recent excavations have far surpassed my expectations, for I
have unearthed two large gates, standing 20 feet apart, in a splendid
street which proceeds from the chief building in the Pergamus. I venture
to assert that this great double gate must be the Homeric Scaean Gate. It
is in an excellent state of preservation.

Here, therefore, by the side of the double gate, at Ilium's Great Tower,
sat Priam, the seven elders of the city, and Helen. From this spot the
company surveyed the whole plain, and saw at the foot of the Pergamus
the Trojan and Achaean armies face to face about to settle their
agreement to let the war be decided by a single combat between Paris and
Menelaus.

I now positively retract my former opinion that Ilium was inhabited up
to the ninth century after Christ, and I must distinctly maintain that
its site has been desolate and uninhabited sin