It is impossible to determine when this new colonisation took place, but it must have been much earlier than the visit of Xerxes reported by Herodotus, which took place 480 years before Christ.  The event may have taken place 700 B.C.

III.—­Homeric Legends Verified

Pergamus of Troy, August 4, 1872.  On the south side of the hill where I made my great trench I discovered a great tower, 40 feet thick, which obstructs my path and appears to extend to a great length.  I have uncovered it on the north and south sides along the whole breadth of my trench, and have convinced myself that it is built on the rock at a depth of 46-1/2 feet.

This tower is now only 20 feet high, but must have been much higher.  For its preservation we have to thank the ruins of Troy, which entirely covered it as it now stands.  Its situation would be most interesting and imposing, for its top would command not only a view of the whole plain of Troy, but of the sea, with the islands of Tenedos, Imbros, and Samothrace.  There is not a more sublime situation in the whole area of the plain of Troy than this.

In the ashes of a house at the depth of 42-1/2 feet I found a tolerably well preserved skeleton of a woman.  The colour of the bones shows that the lady, whose gold ornaments were near by, was overtaken by fire and burnt alive.  With the exception of the skeleton of an infant found in a vase, this is the only skeleton of a human being I have ever met with in the pre-Hellenic remains on this hill.  As we know from Homer, all corpses were burnt and the ashes placed in urns, of which I have found great numbers.  The bones were always burnt to ashes.

Pergamus of Troy, August 14, 1872. In stopping the excavations for this year, and in looking back on the dangers to which we have been exposed between the gigantic layers of ruins, I cannot but fervently thank God for his great mercy, not only that no life has been lost, but that none of us has been seriously hurt.

As regards the result of my excavations, everyone must admit that I have solved a great historical problem, and that I have solved it by the discovery of a high civilisation and immense buildings upon the primary soil, in 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.