of capital importance from an architectural point of view, for I have proved for the first time that, in the remote antiquity to which the ruins of Troy belong, not only the walls of the city, but even the walls of the large edifices were made of raw bricks, and were artificially baked in situ after having been completely built; and that the antae or parastades, which in later ages fulfilled only a technical purpose, were nothing else than a reminiscence or "survival" of the ancient wooden parastades, which had two important constructive purposes; for they served both to consolidate and secure the front faces of the lateral walls, and to render them capable of supporting the ponderous weight of the superincumbent cross-beams and the terraced roof.
My work at Troy is now ended for ever, after extending over more than the period of ten years, which has a fated connection with the legend of the city. How many tens of years a new controversy may rage around it, I leave to the critics: that is their work; mine is done. I content myself with recalling to the memory of my readers the words which I wrote from Hissarlik in the first year of my excavations[1] (Nov. 3, 1871):
"My expectations are extremely modest; 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 iny labours I succeed only in penetrating to the deepest darkness of prehistoric times, and enriching archaeology by the discovery of a few interesting features from the most ancient history of the great Hellenic race."
Such was my simple purpose in beginning the great work: how it has been performed I now leave finally to the judgment of candid readers and honest students: to those of another spirit—how provoked I leave to their own conscience—I hope, as I can well afford, henceforth to be indifferent.
- ↑ Troy and its Remains, p. 80.
