DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4608#0210
A TURKS IDEA OF PROTESTANTS.
175
where he was quartered, and paid me a visit. Being a
good Turk, he refused coffee, but accompanied me to the
works to see the ' wonders' he had heard of. On my
showing him the drums of the large columns, and the
capitals, he asked me to what building they had belonged.
I told him they were the remains of an ancient mosque or
church, in the time of the ancient Greeks, when they did
not worship the one true God, but had many gods, male
and female, and that this church was dedicated to the
worship of a female, whose statue, forty or fifty feet high,
was set up inside it. ' Ah,' said the Mudir, as if a new
light had broken in upon him, ' they were Protestants! I
did my best to undeceive him, and to make him under-
stand that we (Protestants) were not worshippers of idols,
but he evidently did not understand how Protestant
worship could be anything but idolatrous, since we had
not Mahomet as our prophet, and the whole thing
remained a mystery to him.
December 16.—This day the celebrated Dr. Schlie-
man, the discoverer of Troy, visited the excavations. He
was kindly enthusiastic in his congratulations when he
planted his foot upon the 'veritable' pavement of the
Temple. He had been digging in theTroad, but had been
stopped by the Turks, and he now asked my opinion,
whether he could get a firman to dig in the Troad in
search of the city of Troy. I expressed my doubts, as
the Turks had made known their determination to grant
no more firmans for excavations. He said they might
have what was found, as lie was anxious only to prove
by excavations his own theory about the position of Troy,
Ancient
Greeks
and
modern
Protes-
tants.
Dr.
Sclilie-
man.
175
where he was quartered, and paid me a visit. Being a
good Turk, he refused coffee, but accompanied me to the
works to see the ' wonders' he had heard of. On my
showing him the drums of the large columns, and the
capitals, he asked me to what building they had belonged.
I told him they were the remains of an ancient mosque or
church, in the time of the ancient Greeks, when they did
not worship the one true God, but had many gods, male
and female, and that this church was dedicated to the
worship of a female, whose statue, forty or fifty feet high,
was set up inside it. ' Ah,' said the Mudir, as if a new
light had broken in upon him, ' they were Protestants! I
did my best to undeceive him, and to make him under-
stand that we (Protestants) were not worshippers of idols,
but he evidently did not understand how Protestant
worship could be anything but idolatrous, since we had
not Mahomet as our prophet, and the whole thing
remained a mystery to him.
December 16.—This day the celebrated Dr. Schlie-
man, the discoverer of Troy, visited the excavations. He
was kindly enthusiastic in his congratulations when he
planted his foot upon the 'veritable' pavement of the
Temple. He had been digging in theTroad, but had been
stopped by the Turks, and he now asked my opinion,
whether he could get a firman to dig in the Troad in
search of the city of Troy. I expressed my doubts, as
the Turks had made known their determination to grant
no more firmans for excavations. He said they might
have what was found, as lie was anxious only to prove
by excavations his own theory about the position of Troy,
Ancient
Greeks
and
modern
Protes-
tants.
Dr.
Sclilie-
man.