In the foreground, below the feet of the workmen who stand upon it, can be seen the great double parallel circular row of slanting slabs, inclined inwards, which were covered with cross slabs, and served as benches of the Agora and as its enclosure. In the same line with this double circular row of slabs are the twelve small tomb-like water-reservoirs which we see in the direction of the Lions' Gate, and between which is the entrance to the Agora, 7 feet broad. Thence the circle of slabs slopes to the left of the spectator, from the rock to the Cyclopean wall (12 feet high), which has been built with no other intention than to sustain it, and to raise it almost to the level of its continuation on the rock; but as will be seen, nearly all the slabs in this part have tumbled down, and only a few have remained in situ. The wall which supports the parallel double row can be well seen, slanting down at an angle of 15° from the perpendicular, to the left of the spectator. The four sculptured stêlæ are hidden behind the large standing slab just in front; of the unsculptured tombstones, two can be seen to the right, on the side of the entrance to the Agora, and two more on the side of the two horses. Therefore the ancient Agora of Mycenæ comprises the whole space which we see enclosed by the great circle of slabs.

PLATE VII.

PANORAMIC VIEW OF DR. SCHLIEMANN'S EXCAVATIONS IN THE ACROPOLIS OF MYCENÆ, WITH THE CIRCULAR AGORA IN THE FOREGROUND, WITHIN WHICH CAN BE SEEN FOUR OF THE TOMBSTONES; AS DESCRIBED IN CHAPTER VI.

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In the middle is seen, in the background to the left, part of the steep slope of Mount Eubœa, on whose summit is the open chapel of the prophet Elias. In front, more to the right, is the great interior Cyclopean wall, crowned by the ruins of a tower, which gives to the Acropolis a particularly grand aspect. It forms part of a second enclosure. To the right there is a good view of the Mount of the Acropolis, on the slope of which remnants of inner enclosures can be seen in many places. All the walls which are seen lower down are those of Cyclopean houses, except the large supporting wall of the double parallel row of slabs, of which a small part may be seen in the lower left-hand corner. Below, to the right, are the ruins of the vast Cyclopean house, to which I have repeatedly referred, and which, though we cannot of course form a definite opinion, may well represent to an imagination enlightened by the vivid descriptions of Homer and the tragedians, the Royal Palace of Agamemnon and his forefathers.

NOTE.—I call the reader's particular attention to the Sectional Plan, B B, which shows the depths of the Five Royal Sepulchres, which are described fully in the two following chapters, beneath the surface of the soil, as it was before my excavations.