History of Ancient Art

by Franz von Reber

The Tholos of Atreus offers a welcome commentary upon the thesauros of the royal palace at Ithaca, but only in respect to its construction. The purpose of the circular buildings still existing in Greece seems to have been entirely different from that of the treasure-house described in the Odyssey. It is true that eminent authorities deny this difference—and the analogies of the round Homeric building, of the treasure-vaults at Mykenæ mentioned by Pausanias, and of the treasury of Minyas in Orchomenos, lend their arguments some weight, and, at least, a greater probability than the suppositions that the structures of tholos form were intended for spring-houses (Forchhammer) or places of worship (Pyl). But there are reasons against all these assumptions. The treasure-houses of the Pelopidæ must have been upon the acropolis, inside the fortification walls, not at various distances outside their limits, as is the case with those of Mykenæ. Still less could such vaults for hoarded valuables have been as distant from the city as was the Tholos of Baphio from the ancient Amyclæ, which stood entirely isolated in the midst of an open plain, without the possibility of communication with any royal residence. The tumuli of earth above the crypts would have but ill suited them to form a part of the palace building; while for a cell which was only to receive precious goods—for a magazine of deposit—the rich overlaying of the interior walls with sheet metal, and especially the elaborate carving of the portal front, seem out of place. These peculiarities, not to mention some of less importance, point to another purpose, for which they are, one and all, fitted—namely, the destination of the structures as tombs. Their position, before the acropolis and without the city walls; the covering of the chamber with earth in a tumulus form; the impossibility of their having had any communication with other buildings; the elaborate decoration of the entrance, and the princely wealth of metals in the interior—all support, with the striking analogies beyond the Ægean, this conception of the tholos buildings advocated by Welcker and Mure. It is possible that it is to these structures that Pausanias refers as the treasure-houses of the Atridæ; but Pausanias, like us, knew Mykenæ only by its ruins. That patron of all ciceroni upon classic ground was not exacting for proofs of their legends. The hypothesis of Pyl may in so far be correct that the tholos itself did not serve as the place of sepulchre, which was provided by the small side chamber, but was a chapel for the funeral worship naturally to be assumed in connection with an heroic dynasty.

It is not possible to assign these tombs to individuals, like those of the early Persian monarchs, or even to dynasties: the questionable identification of the graves discovered in the agora of the acropolis, ventured by Schliemann, would here be inadmissible. It is reasonably certain, however, that the best-preserved tholos, that known by the name of Atreus, is about contemporaneous with the Gate of the Lions, and dates from the most flourishing period of the heroic age—before the downfall of the Atridæ upon the return of Agamemnon.

A small chamber, only of sufficient size to receive the cinerary urn, in the centre of an upheaval of earth, was sufficient for the graves of the heroes who fell before Troy. Several of these tumuli exist. The larger of them, those of Hector and of Achilles, had a considerable elevation, and, standing upon a low promontory, were visible far at sea. They were without architectural features or decoration, mere cones of earth and stones; terminated, as Homer relates concerning those of Ilos, Sarpedon, and Elpenor, by a monument like a column, which must have resembled the piers upon Lydian tumuli. It is questionable whether the trees which grew in later times upon the mounds of Protesilaos before Troy, and of Alcmæon in Arcadia, were originally and intentionally there placed, and are to be deemed characteristic of such works. Those planted upon the tumulus of Augustus in Rome may certainly be referred to his individual desire. From the account given by Pausanias of the tumulus of Æpytos at Pheneos, in Arcadia; from foundations remaining upon the island of Syme, and from later ruins at Kyrene—not to mention a well-preserved tumulus of very considerable dimensions, reveted with stone, which, from its situation in Algerian territory, might perhaps be ascribed to the Carthaginians, or even to the Romans—from all these examples, it is evident that such mounds, like the tumuli of Lydia and Etruria, were, for the greater part, elevated upon cylindrical foundations. But whether the interior were chambered or solid, whether the cone of earth rose directly from the earth or from a drum substructure, the tumulus appears to have been, in primitive times, the most customary form of monumental tomb for persons of high rank.

The common man was probably buried in pits, as at the present day, the grave being marked by an upright stone, with or without some slight ornament. Schliemann’s discoveries in the agora of Mykenæ show that, under certain circumstances, this procedure was adopted even for princes. The kingly importance of these sepulchres is assured by their position, and by the immense quantity of gold and valuables found within them. The decorative style of these objects dates them conclusively to the heroic age; but the assignment of the different graves to Agamemnon and his associates is a mere hypothesis.

A pyramidal form was only in isolated instances substituted for the tumulus. Of a pyramid, described by Pausanias as existing between Argos and Epidauros, there now remains a mass of masonry measuring 12 m. in the line of the diagonal. A second, near Kenchreæ, between Argos and Tegea, is better preserved. (Fig. 124.) Its plan is oblong, 14.5 m. long and nearly 12 m. broad; the two chambers of the interior are at present unroofed. The structure appears to have served as a common place of sepulchre for the fallen, and, at the same time, as a memorial of victory. This destination is also evident in two further pyramidal remains, in Laconia and near Lessa, which are described by Curtius and by Ross. The Greeks adopted both Asiatic and Egyptian forms for their funeral monuments; but in the construction of both tumulus and pyramid they introduced comparatively large chambers, early striving for ends foreign to those despotic lands:—a wise economy of material and labor and a gain of space.

Mausoleums and sepulchres are always among the first traces of civilization, and the most ancient examples of architectural art. In Greece, however, there are contemporaneous remains significant of other purposes. Chief among these are the fortifications of towns, although in general these works enclosed only the acropolis, which contained the residences of the rulers and the sanctuaries of the people. The true age of these defences can by no means be surely determined. Not all Cyclopean masonry is to be attributed to the earliest ages of Hellenic antiquity, for this manner of polygonal jointing remained in use long after a time when cut and squared stones were generally employed. On the other hand, immense rectangular blocks, laid in horizontal courses, frequently occur in city walls which are known to be of the greatest antiquity and even to have been totally ruined in the historical period, such monoliths being regularly used upon corners, the jambs of gates, etc., where especial strength and independent firmness were called for. When the surface of Cyclopean walls is perfectly smooth and exactly jointed, these may confidently be regarded as not of primitive antiquity; the erection of such masonry is a subtlety of greater difficulty than that of square blocks and horizontal beds. But walls built of enormous boulders, unhewn, and roughly piled up without calculation, the larger interstices being filled with smaller stones, are of extreme age. Such masonry appeared to later generations to be the work of giants, of Cyclops, and hence a name which might more fittingly be changed to Pelasgic than to Poseidonic, as suggested by Gladstone. The walls of Tiryns (Fig. 125) are of such gigantic blocks—bulwarks mentioned by Homer and Hesiod, and admired in their ruins by Pausanias. They are built upon a ridge of rock, which is over 190 m. long, only 70 m. broad, and elevated 10 m. above the surrounding plain. The masonry is from 7 to 15 m. thick; of its original height, estimated as 18 m., there remains from 10 to 12 m. The enormous stones vary from 2 to 3 m. in length and 0.9 to 12. m. in thickness. In its greatest breadth the wall is provided with galleries, roofed by projecting stones laid in horizontal beds and cut to the outline of a pointed arch. Such spaces are provided with loopholes upon the exterior, and, without doubt, served as magazines and casemates. Within these fortifications must have stood the royal residence, famed in the legends of Heracles and Eurystheus; of it no recognizable traces remain.