The World's Greatest Books — Volume 11 — Ancient and Mediæval History
History
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 11 — Ancient and Mediæval History
History, Ancient; Middle Ages
Metals, at least gold, silver, and copper, were known to the Trojans,
for I found a copper knife highly gilded, a silver hairpin, and a number
of copper nails at a depth of forty-six feet. I found many small
instruments for use as pins; also a number of ivory needles, and some
curious pieces of ivory, one in the form of a paper-knife, the other in
the shape of an exceedingly neat dagger. We discovered one-edged or
double-edged knives of white silex in the form of saws in quantities,
each about two inches long; also many hand millstones of lava, and some
beautiful red vases, cups, vessels, jugs, and hand plates. In these
depths we likewise find many bones of animals; boars' tusks, small
shells, horns of the buffalo, ram, and stag, as well as the vertebræ of
the shark.
The houses and palaces in which the splendid terra-cottas were used were
large and spacious, for to them belong all the mighty heaps of stone,
hewn and unhewn, which cover them to the height of from 13 to 20 feet.
These buildings were easily destroyed, for the stones were only joined
with earth, and when the walls fell everything in the houses was crushed
to pieces by the immense blocks of stone. The primitive Trojan people
disappeared simultaneously with the destruction of their town. [Here, as
well as in what goes before, Dr. Schliemann writes on the supposition,
which he afterwards abandoned, that the remains in the lowest stratum
are those of the Trojans of the Iliad.]
Upon the site of the destroyed city new settlers, of a different
civilisation, manners, and customs, built a new town; but only the
foundation of their houses consisted of stones joined with clay; all the
house-walls were built of unburnt bricks. I must draw attention to the
fact that I have found twice on fragments of pottery the curious symbol
of the _suastika_, or crossed angles, which proves that the primitive
Trojans belonged to the Aryan race. This is further proved by the
symbols on the round terra-cottas. The existence of the nation which
preceded the Trojans was likewise of long duration, for all the layers
of _débris_ at the depth of from 33 to 23 feet belong to it. They also
were of Aryan descent, for they possessed innumerable Aryan religious
symbols. Several of the symbols belonged to the time when Germans,
Pelasgians, Hindoos, Persians, Celts, and Greeks still formed one
nation.
I found no trace of a double cup among this people, but instead of it
those curious cups which have a coronet below in place of a handle; then
those brilliant, fanciful goblets, in the form of immense champagne
glasses, and with two mighty handles on the sides; they are round below,
so that they can only stand on their mouths. Further, all those splendid
vessels of burnt earthenware, as, for instance, funeral, wine, or water
urns, five feet high; likewise, all of those vessels with a beak-shaped
mouth, bent back, and either short or long.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account