APPENDIX C.
(See page [243].)
Mycenæ must have had commercial relations with Egypt, especially as, according to Pausanias (IV. xxxv. 2), Nauplia was an Egyptian colony.
M. Hubert, professor in the gymnasium at Posen, Prussia, writes to me on this subject: "I find in the Deutsche Revue, edited by R. Fleischer (Berlin, Jaake publisher, second year, number for April 7, 1878, p. 42), the following passage at the end of an essay by Brugsch-Bey on the religious mysteries of the ancient Egyptians:—'It was customary for the Egyptians who had been initiated into the mysteries to carry a token or badge, which consisted of a ribbon tied in a running noose (as represented in the accompanying engraving). In visiting Egyptian museums, it will be noticed that a great many of the statues representing kings, priests, and other prominent personages, carry this mystic ribbon in the hand, to signify by this outward sign that they have been initiated into the mysteries.' The idea at once occurred to me that I had lately seen a similar ribbon elsewhere; and a search confirmed my recollection. It was in your work on Mycenæ (figs. 351 and 352, objects of Egyptian porcelain). In your engraving, it is true, the upper part of the noose is more curved, it being represented in the hieroglyph as entirely upright; still the forms of the two objects seem to present a close analogy. The three holes in figure 352 may have served to fasten the noose with nails to the hand of a statue; but no hand was found in the fourth tomb.
"It seems to me doubtful, but not impossible, that some connection may be established between these knots and the alabaster object in figure 325, which comes from the third tomb, and represents two hands placed side by side, leaving a hollow between them. This hollow may have held two of these alabaster nooses, and it might be important to see if there are any traces of nails.
"You, in your book, and Mr. Gladstone in his preface, show that your discoveries establish in many directions numerous relations between Mycenæ and Egypt. You will have determined a decisive point, if you can prove that your alabaster nooses are really the mystic Egyptian badges."