We are indebted to Mr. J. W. Lockhart for the following account of a double-spouted boat-shaped bronze vessel, used in a similar manner in the Chinese temples:—“In China there is a vessel of very nearly the same shape, but with ears prolonged till they rise an inch above the cup: the cup stands on three legs and is, in fact, a tripod. Such cups are used in the temples, especially in the ancestral temples of the real religion of China, when offerings are made to the manes of ancestors. The cups are filled with wine, when placed on the altar before the idol shrine, or before the ancestral tablet; and the wine is afterwards partly drunk and partly poured out as a libation.” Such vessels are used in pairs, and our drawing is made from one of a pair in Mr. Lockhart’s possession. It is of bronze, 6 inches long, and 6-1/2 inches high, including the legs. The width is 2 inches between the upright ears, and 2-3/8 inches at the broadest part. There is only one handle. Mr. Lockhart calls attention to the “key” ornament round the cup, which is so well known in the purest Greek art, as a sign of Chinese influence on the art of Western Asia and Europe. Mr. Lockhart also reads Chinese characters on some of the Trojan whorls. We are under a deep obligation to Mr. Lockhart for his spontaneous offer of this very interesting illustration of one of the most striking and (as we before supposed) unique objects discovered by Dr. Schliemann.—[Ed.]
[283] [Plate XVIII]., No. 248.
[284] See [Plate XVII]., No. 242.
[285] The two largest weigh, respectively, a little over and a little under 6 oz., and the other four are all a little over 5-1/2 oz., troy. The gramme is 15·43235 grains, that is, a little less than 15-1/2 grains.
[286] Iliad, XXIII. 262-270 (cf. vv. 612-616). The passage furnishes other striking parallels to Dr. Schliemann’s discoveries. The tripod with ears containing 22 measures, which is added to the woman for the first prize (καὶ τρίποδ’ ὠτώεντα δυωκαιεικοσίμετρον) calls to mind the vessel from the Trojan stratum, No. 199, p. 285. The fifth prize is a double-handled flat cup (or dish) untouched by fire, i. e. wrought with the hammer (ἀμφίθετον φιάλην ἀπύρωτον ἔθηκεν). The metal is not specified, but its coming next to the two gold talents suggests silver, and Dr. Schliemann found silver φιάλαι with side-rings in the Treasure and the Palace. The passage seems to confirm Schliemann’s interpretation of δέπας ἀμφικύπελλον, for what sort of a vessel can we conceive of as a double dish joined bottom to bottom? We know side-dishes with their covers can be used as two dishes, but what would be the use of joining them? Aristarchus, indeed, explained ἀμφίθετος as double, i.e. standing on both ends, after the supposed analogy of ἀμφικύπελλον, but Eustathius interpreted it as with handles on both sides, after the sounder analogy of ἀμφιφορεύς. These cumulative analogies between Hissarlik and Homer, gathered incidentally to a climax at the end of each work, are very striking.—[Ed.]
[287] See [Plate XVIII]., No. 249.
[288] Ibid., No. 250.
[289] Ibid., No. 251.
[290] For these four vessels see [Plate XVII]., Nos. 243-246. The silver bottles, with the caps and the side-rings to both, remind us of modern travelling flasks.—[Ed.]
[291] Iliad, XXIV. 228:—Ἦ, καὶ φωριαμῶν ἐπιθήματα κάλ’ ἀνέῳγεν, where the “beautiful lids” remind us of the terra-cotta pattern which Dr. Schliemann takes for the inlaying of a chest. (No. 77, p. 129). In the Iliad, XVI., 221, Achilles opens the lid of the beautiful decorated chest (χηλοῦ δ’ ἀπὸ πῶμ’ ἀνέῳγεν καλῆς δαιδαλέης), to take out the goblet for pouring his libation. The contents of Priam’s chests may also be well compared with the articles of the Treasure:—