Both the urns found at a depth of 46 feet and those at from 26 to 33 feet, as well as all the funereal urns and large wine or water vessels which I formerly discovered, were standing upright, which sufficiently proves that the colossal masses of _débris_ and ruins were gradually formed on the spot, and could not have been brought there from another place in order to increase the height of the hill. This is, moreover, a pure impossibility in regard to the immense numbers of gigantic blocks of stone, hewn and unhewn, which frequently weigh from 1 to 2 tons.
In the strata at a depth of from 7 to 10 meters (23 to 33 feet), I found two lumps of lead of a round and concave form, each weighing about two pounds; a great number of rusted copper nails, also some knives and a copper lance; further very many smaller and larger knives of white and brown silex in the form of single and double-edged saws; a number of whet-stones of green and black slate with a hole at one end, as well as various small objects of ivory.[109] In all the strata from 4 to 10 meters (13 to 33 feet) deep I found a number of hammers, axes and wedges of diorite, which, however, are decidedly of much better workmanship in the strata below the depth of 7 meters (23 feet) than in the upper ones. Likewise at all depths from 3 meters (10 feet) below the surface 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; upon one there are in addition two female breasts.[110] The striking resemblance of these owls’ faces to those upon many of the vases and covers, with a kind of helmet on the owl’s head, makes me firmly convinced that all of the idols, and all of the helmeted owls’ heads represent a goddess, and indeed must represent one and the same goddess, all the more so as, in fact, all the owl-faced vases with female breasts and a navel have also generally two upraised arms: in one case the navel is represented by a cross with four nails.[111] The cups (covers) with owls’ heads, on the other hand, never have breasts or a navel, yet upon some of them I find long female hair represented at the back.[112]
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 θεὰ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη, “the goddess Athena with the owl’s face.” For the epithet “γλαυκῶπις” has been wrongly translated by the scholars of all ages, because they could not imagine that Athena should have been represented with an owl’s face. The epithet, however, consists of the two words γλαῦξ and ὠπή, and, as I can show by an immense number of proofs, the only possible literal translation is “with an owl’s face”; and the usual translation “with blue, fiery or sparkling eyes” is utterly wrong. The natural conclusion is that owing to progressive civilization Athena received a human face, and her former owl’s head was transformed into her favourite bird, the owl, which as such is unknown to Homer. The next conclusion is that the worship of Athena as the tutelary goddess of Troy was well known to Homer; hence that a Troy existed, and that it was situated on the sacred spot, the depths of which I am investigating.