On the right side of the body I found a lance-head with a ring on either side, like that already shown;[352] also, two small bronze swords and two long knives of the same metal. On its left was found the gold drinking-cup now represented (No. 453). It has only one handle, and its ornamentation in repoussé work exhibits four horizontal bands, joined two and two, and ornamented with slanting strokes which converge in the form of wedges, so that the ornamentation of every two bands conjointly resembles fish-spines; and in order to enhance still more the beauty of these bands, the wedges of each two bands point in opposite directions. The whole upper part is ornamented with a continuous row of pointed arches, the joined sides of which are adorned with nine horizontal strokes. The handle is fastened with four nails to the rim and the body of the goblet. With the swords were found small rags of beautifully-woven linen, which, doubtless, belonged to the sheaths of these weapons.
No. 453. A richly ornamented Cup of Gold. Sepulchre V. Size 9:10, about.
In the same tomb was found a fragmented light green vase, 6½ in. high, of Egyptian porcelain, ornamented with two rows of protruding bosses, three in each row; also fragments of a light red vase of terra-cotta, ornamented with black spiral lines, and with two female breasts surrounded by circles of black strokes. Professor Landerer, who has examined and analysed a fragment of the former vase, writes me that the porcelain is very calcareous, and would be called in mineralogy "Thonmergel-schiefer" (clay-marl-slate); that the borders, examined with a magnifying glass in the sun, exhibit a gold-like and silvery glaze, produced by a lead varnish with which the vase was covered and which was afterwards burned in.
VASE LIKE THOSE OF THERA.
With regard to this vase with the female breasts, similar vases were found on the islands of Thera (Santorin) and Therassia, in the ruins of the prehistoric cities which, as before stated, were covered by an eruption of that great central volcano which is believed by competent geologists to have sunk and disappeared about 1,700 to 1,800 B.C. They are also very frequent in the ruins of Troy, where, however, most of them have also a navel and an owl-face.[353]
There were further found in this tomb, besides a mass of fragments of hand-made pottery, fragments of beautiful wheel-made pottery, ornamented with plants turned into spirals; and other fragments, which present on a light yellow dead colour a magnificent ornamentation of dark red spirals.
The mud in the First Sepulchre, whose site had been marked by the three stêlæ with low reliefs, having dried up in the fine weather, I continued the excavation there, and struck at last the bottom of the tomb, which is cut out in the rock, 17½ ft. deep on the north side, and 17 ft. deep on the south-east side. But from these points the slope is so abrupt that, although the upper breadth of the sepulchre does not exceed 10 ft. 10 in., yet the greater part of its west side needed only to be cut 11 ft. deep into the rock to make a level bottom. This west side is close to the Cyclopean wall, with the parallel double row of large calcareous slabs, which forms the enclosure and benches of the Agora, and rises vertically over the sepulchre. (See Plans B and C.) For all these reasons it appeared to me, on first excavating this tomb, that the wall passed through its north-west angle. But, by propping up with planks and beams the earth and stones which cling to the wall and overhang the north-west corner of the tomb, I have now cleared the latter in its entire length, and visitors will perceive that the wall does not pass through the tomb but merely touches its brink in the north-west corner.
The length of the tomb is 21 ft. 6 in., its breadth at the bottom is 11 ft. 6 in., and thus 8 in. more than at the top. The four inner sides were lined with a Cyclopean wall, 3 ft. high and 2 ft. broad; and this had superposed on it a slanting wall of schist plates joined with clay, which reached to a height of 6½ ft., and projected on all sides a foot more than the Cyclopean wall, and thus in all 3 feet on the bottom of the tomb. The latter was covered with the usual layer of pebbles, which were, however, more irregularly strewn than in the other tombs, there being places without any pebbles; which circumstance made me at first believe that there was no layer of pebbles at all in this tomb. But on careful examination, I found such a layer, and below the bodies I found it just as regular as in any other tomb, which circumstance appears to give an additional proof that those layers of pebbles were merely intended to procure ventilation for the pyres.
The three bodies which the sepulchre contained lay at a distance of about 3 ft. from each other, and had been burnt in the very same place where I found them. This was evident from the marks of the fire on the pebbles and on the rock below and also around the bodies, and to the right and left of them on the walls, as well as from the undisturbed state of the ashes. Only with the body which lay in the midst the case was different. The ashes had evidently been disturbed; the clay with which the two other bodies and their ornaments were covered, and the layer of pebbles which covered the clay, had been removed from this body. As, besides, it was found almost without any gold ornaments, it is evident that it had been rifled. This opinion is also confirmed by the twelve golden buttons, the small golden plates, and the numerous small objects of bone, which had been found together with small quantities of black ashes at different depths below the three sculptured tombstones which adorned this sepulchre. It is further confirmed by the fragments of the usual Mycenean pottery of later times, which in this tomb were mixed up with the very ancient hand-made or wheel-made vases. Most likely some one sank a shaft to examine the tomb, struck the body in question, plundered it recklessly, and for fear of being detected, carried off his booty in such a hurry that he only thought of saving the large massive gold ornaments, such as the mask, the large breast-cover, the diadems and the bronze, swords, and, in remounting to the surface, dropped many of the smaller objects, such as the twelve golden buttons, etc., which I found at intervals in digging down. There can be no doubt that this larceny occurred before the capture of Mycenæ by the Argives (468 B.C.); for, if it had been committed while the later Greek city stood on the top of the prehistoric ruins, I should also have found fragments of Greek pottery in the tomb; but of these I saw no vestige.