Nos. 447-449.
Two-edged Bronze Swords and an Alabaster Sword-Knob.
Sepulchre IV. Size 1:8, about.
MYCENEAN SWORDS LIKE RAPIERS.
Another fragment of a large beautiful bronze sword has the blade plated with gold in its entire length, the handle being also thickly plated with gold and adorned with magnificent intaglio work. But it has suffered so much in the funeral fire, and it is so dirty from the smoke and ashes, that the ornamentation cannot be discerned in the photograph, and, therefore, I cannot give an engraving of it. Mr. Newton justly remarks regarding the Mycenean swords: "The ridge or thread on some of the swords is raised so high down the centre of the blade as to suggest the idea that this weapon was used like a rapier, only for thrusting."
I here call particular attention to the extreme narrowness of nearly all the Mycenean swords, and to the enormous length of most of them, which seems in a great many cases to have exceeded 3 feet; in fact, they are, in general, not broader than our rapiers. So far as I know, swords of this shape have never been found before.
With some of the swords I found traces of well-woven linen, small particles of which were still attached to the sword-blades; and there can consequently be no doubt that many swords had sheaths of linen.
I further collected in this tomb a large quantity of oyster-shells and many entire oysters, which had never been opened, from which I conclude that, as in the funeral customs of ancient Egypt, food was laid in the tombs of the deceased. There was found in this sepulchre, as well as in all the other tombs, a large quantity of broken pottery, on seeing which, Mr. Panagiotes Eustratiades, Director-General of Antiquities, reminded me of the habit still existing in Greece, of breaking vases filled with water on the tombs of departed friends. Mr. Eustratiades also mentioned to me that copper kettles and vases were the great ornaments of the houses, not only in antiquity, but throughout all the Middle Ages until the Greek revolution. This is, so far, very well; but, except these Mycenean sepulchres, the cemetery of Hallstatt, and the tombs of Corneto and Palestrina, we have not yet found an example to prove that they served to ornament the abodes of the dead.