[55] This idea gains probability from the fact that the remains of a key were picked up near the treasure, which we have reason to suppose belonged to Priam.
[56] The gold may have come from the mines of Astyra, not far from Troy.
[57] Electrum was the ancient name for amber, but was also given to an alloy of gold and silver, the yellow color of which resembles that of amber.
[58] Dr. Schliemann gives a very careful description of all these objects. See “Troy and its Remains,” Figs. 174 to 497, pp. 260 to 353.
[59] The χρήδεμνον or diadem of the wife of Menelaus is a narrow fillet from which hang several little chains formed of links alternating with small leaves, and ending in rather larger leaves, these leaves all representing the woman with the owl’s head, so characteristic of Trojan art. The golden objects are all soldered with the same metals, which modern goldsmiths seem unable to do. At Tiryns, which we believe to have been contemporary with Troy, the art of soldering was unknown, and ornaments were merely screwed together.
[60] Bastian, Zeitschrift der Berliner Gesellschaft für Erdkünde, vol. xiii., plates 1 and 2.
[61] If we accept 1200 B.C. as the date of the Trojan war and the eighth century as that of the foundation of Ilium, the towns that succeeded each other on the hill of Hissarlik only lasted four centuries altogether.
[62] In the Vedas the word swasti is often used in the sense of happiness or good-fortune.
[63] Comte Goblet d’Auriella, Bul. Acad. Royale de Belgique, 1889.
[64] G. Atkinson, Congrès Préhistorique, Lisbon, 1880, p. 466.