The Treasure further contained a small cup of gold alloyed with 20 per cent. of silver, that is, the mixed metal called electrum.[283] It weighs 70 grammes (2¼ oz. troy), and is above 3 inches high, and above 2½ inches broad. Its foot is only 4/5 of an inch high and nearly an inch broad, and is moreover not quite straight, so that the cup appears to be meant only to stand upon its mouth.
I also found in the Treasure six pieces of the purest silver in the form of large knife-blades, having one end rounded, and the other cut into the form of a crescent; they have all been wrought with the hammer.[284] The two larger blades are nearly 8½ inches long and 2 inches broad, and weigh respectively 190 and 183 grammes. The next two pieces are about 7¼ inches long and 1½ broad, and weigh respectively 174 and 173 grammes. The two other pieces are nearly 7 inches long and 1-1/5 inch broad, and weigh respectively 173 and 171 grammes.[285] It is extremely probable that these are the Homeric talents (τάλαντα), which could only have been small, as, for instance, when Achilles offers for the first prize a woman, for the second a horse, for the third a caldron, and for the fourth two gold talents.[286]
PLATE XVII.