PLATE V.

THE TREASURY CLOSE TO THE LIONS' GATE. Excavated by Mrs. SCHLIEMANN. Frontispiece.

MYCENÆ
A NARRATIVE OF RESEARCHES AND DISCOVERIES
AT MYCENÆ AND TIRYNS.

BY DR. HENRY SCHLIEMANN

CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
AUTHOR OF 'TROY AND ITS REMAINS,' 'ITHAQUE, LE PÉLOPONNÈSE ET TROIE,'
AND 'LA CHINE ET LE JAPON.'

THE PREFACE

BY THE RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P.

MAPS, PLANS, AND MORE THAN 700 OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS.
A NEW EDITION, WITH IMPORTANT ADDITIONS AND NEW PLATES.

NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS,
1880.

PRESS OF J. J. LITTLE & CO.,
Nos, 10 TO 20 ASTOR PLACE, NEW YORK.

Dedicated

HIS MAJESTY DOM PEDRO II.,

EMPEROR OF BRAZIL,
WITH THE PROFOUND RESPECT OF
THE AUTHOR.

᾽Επὶ δ᾽ ἐγδούπησαν ᾽Ἀθηναίη τε καὶ ῞Ἥρη

Τιμῶσαι βασιλῆα πολυχρύσοιο Μυκήνης.

HOM. Il. XI. 45, 46.

Πρὸς ἡμῶν

κάππεσεv, κάτθανε, ἡμεῖς καὶ καταθάψομεν

οὐχ ὑπὸ κλαυθμῶν τῶν ἐξ οἴκων.

ÆSCH. Agam. 1552-1554.

῏Ω τοῦ στρατηγήσαντος ἐν Τροίᾳ ποτὲ

Ἀγαμέμνονος παῖ, νῦν ἐκεῖν᾽ ἔξεστί σοι

παρόντι λεύσσειν, ὧν πρόθυμος ἦσθ᾽ ἀεί.

Τὸ γὰρ παλαιὸν ῎Αργος ὁὺπόθεις τόδε,

τῆς οἰστροπλῆγος ἄλσος Ἰνάχου κόρης·

αὕτη δ᾽, Ὀρέστα, τοῦ λυκοκτόνου θεοῦ

᾽Αγορὰ Λύκειος· οὑξ ἀριστερᾶς δ᾽ ὅδε

Ἥρας ὁ κλεινὸς ναός· οἷ δ᾽ ἱκάνομεν,

ϕάσκειν Μυκήνας τὰς πολυχρύσους ὁρᾶν·

πολύϕθορόν τε δῶμα Πελοπιδῶν τόδε,

SOPHOCLES, Electra, 1-10.

PREFACE.

It has been with much reluctance that, at the persevering request of Dr. Schliemann, I have undertaken to write a Preface to his Mycenean volume. I have managed perhaps, though with long intermissions of the pleasant labour, to maintain a tolerable acquaintance with the text of Homer; and the due establishment of the points of contact between that text and the remains from Mycenæ is without question one of the essential aims, to which comment on this work requires to be addressed. But I have a horror of all specialism which travels beyond its proper province; and in this matter I am at best no more than a specialist, probably, too, not one of very high pretensions. I have not that practised skill, that comprehensive outlook over the whole field of Hellenic, and other than Hellenic archæology, which has conferred upon Mr. Newton his well-earned fame. The just conclusion from these premises appears to be, that I ought to have declined a charge quod ferre recusent humeri.[1] But there was, in ancient poetry, a Destiny stronger than the will of gods. To me, on this occasion, Dr. Schliemann is the vicegerent and organ of that Destiny. In view of the splendid services which he has conferred upon classical science, a power, that thrusts argument out of court, brings me to perceive, that I cannot but accede to his desire. I have however given the reader fair warning where and why he should be on his guard: and I shall make all the use I can of the landmarks laid down in the report which Mr. Newton, after an ocular inspection of these remains, published in the Times of April 20, 1877; and of the valuable papers of Mr. Gardner in the Academy (April 21 and 28). I believe that the interest, excited by Dr. Schliemann's discoveries, has been by no means confined to classical scholars. I shall therefore endeavour to be as little technical as possible, and to write, so far as may be, for a circle wider than that of the persons among us who are acquainted with the Greek tongue.

When the disclosures at Tiryns and Mycenæ were announced in England, my own first impression was that of a strangely bewildered admiration, combined with a preponderance of sceptical against believing tendencies, in regard to the capital and dominating subject of the Tombs in the Agora. I am bound to say, that reflection and a fuller knowledge have nearly turned the scales the other way. There are indeed, not only gaps to be supplied, but difficulties to be confronted, and to be explained; or to be left over for future explanation. Yet the balance, I will not say of evidence, but of rational presumption, seems as though it might ultimately lean towards the belief that this eminent explorer has exposed to the light of day, after 3000 years, the memorials and remains of Agamemnon and his companions in the Return from Troy. But let us endeavour to feel our way by degrees up to this question, gradually and with care, as a good general makes his approaches to a formidable fortress.

I find, upon perusing the volume of Dr. Schliemann, that the items of evidence, which connect his discoveries generally with the Homeric Poems, are more numerous, than I had surmised from the brief outline, with which he favoured us upon his visit to England in the spring.

1. He presents to us the rude figures of cows; and upon a signet ring (No. 531) and elsewhere, cow-heads not to be mistaken. He then points to the traditional worship, from the first, of Hera in Argolis; and he asks us to connect these facts with the use of Boöpis (cow-eyed) as a staple epithet of this goddess in the Poems; and he might add, with her special guardianship of Agamemnon in his interests and his personal safety (Il. I. 194-222).

This appears to me a reasonable demand. We know that upon some of the Egyptian monuments the goddess Isis, mated with Osiris, is represented in human figure with the cow's head. This was a mode of exhibiting deity congenial to the spirit of an Egyptian immigration,[2] such as might, compatibly with the text of Homer, have taken place some generations before the Troïca. But it was also a mode against which the whole spirit of Hellenism, according to the authentic type of that spirit supplied in the Poems, utterly revolted. We find there a Hera, who wore, so to speak, the mantle of Isis, besides carrying the spoils of one or more personages enrolled in the Golden Book of the old Pelasgian dynasties. Nothing could be more natural than a decapitation of the Egyptian Isis, not penally but for her honour. She might consequently appear with the human head; but, not to break sharply with the traditions of the people, the cow-head, and even the cow figure, might nevertheless be retained as symbols of religion. And the great Poet, who invariably keeps these symbols so to speak at arms' length, in order that he may prevent their disparaging the creed of which he was the great doctor, might nevertheless select from the bovine features that one which was suited to his purpose, and give to his Hera, who was never a very intellectual deity, the large tranquil eye of the cow. The use of the epithet for Hera in Homer is not, indeed, exclusive, and I admit that he may have inherited that use. But, though not exclusive, it is very special, and this speciality is enough to give a sensible support to the doctrine of our famous explorer.

2. The buildings improperly called Cyclopean, and still more improperly endowed with the alternative name of Pelasgian, have long been known, more or less, to exist in Argolis; but Dr. Schliemann has thrown some light on what I may perhaps be allowed to call their diversity of style. He admits three forms found in this kind of building. I have objected to the current names, the first because it does not inform; the second because it misleads, for these buildings have no true connection with the Pelasgian tribes. What they indicate is the handiwork of the great constructing race or races, made up of several elements, who migrated into Greece, and elsewhere on the Mediterranean, from the south and east, and who exhibit an usual, though perhaps not an invariable connection with the Poseidon-worship, a worship, with which the Cyclopean name is, through the Odyssey, perceptibly associated, and which is one of the main keys, as I have long been persuaded, wherewith in time to unlock, for Hellenic and Homeric regions, the secrets of antiquity. The walls of Troy were built by Poseidon; that is, by a race who practised the worship of the god. How far those walls conform to any of the minuter points of the descriptions of 'Cyclopean' architecture by Dr. Schliemann, (pp. 42, 123), I cannot say. But if he is right, as seems probable, in placing Troy at Hissarlik, it is important to notice that this work of Poseidon had a solidity, which bore it unharmed through the rage of fire, and kept it well together amidst all the changes which have buried it in a hill of rubbish and promiscuous remains. And of course the modes, used by the very same race in the business of building, could not but vary much with the circumstances of each case, and especially with the material at hand. I am tempted, at least until a better name can be found, to call this manner of building Poseidonian; at any rate, whatever it be called, to note it as a point of correspondence between the Poems and the discoveries, admitting at the same time that the matter is not sufficiently developed to warrant me in laying upon it any considerable stress.

3. The beehive-like building, which is rather loosely called the Treasury of Atreus, presents to us over the doorway (p. [43]) two enormous slabs, one of them supposed to weigh from 130 to 135 tons. I only refer to them for the sake of reminding the reader that, as I think, we must be prepared, in this and other matters, freely to recognise the hand of the foreigner at work; who brought with him into Greece attainments, not to be despised, of material civilisation. More pointedly I wish to observe that in the interior of the Treasury, from the fourth course upwards, there are visible (p. [44]) in each stone two bored holes, and in many of them the remains of 'bronze' nails still existing. Similar holes, it appears, are found (p. [45]) in the Treasury of Minyas at Orchomenos. The purpose of these nails, says our author, could only be to attach to the wall what in one place he calls the bronze, and in another the brazen plates, with which the whole interior was once decorated. On the secondary question, what was the exact material employed, let me here observe that of brass those ages knew nothing, and that bronze, particularly in that stage of material development, was wholly unsuited for sheeting. But, as to the structural point, we have here a remarkable point of contact with the Homeric text. For in the palace of Alkinoös, king of the Phaiakes, a splendour as of sun or moon dazzled the eye, for the walls were of chalkos (Od. VII. 86, cited p. 44), which I hope I may now boldly translate copper: a metal unlike bronze (a) in being readily malleable, (b) in being throughout the Poems most usually lustrous, a character I do not suppose we should assign to bronze. On the other hand, the comparative softness of copper was not well suited for the nails, so bronze might very well be employed. Nor does this conjunction of the two metals, pure and mixed, in the same work, carry us away from the text of Homer: for his wall-sheets of copper in Scheriè were crowned with a cornice of his dark kuanos, which I take to be bronze. This copper sheeting is a feature of the supreme Olympian Palace (Il. I. 426, Od. VIII. 321), built by Hephaistos of the skilful mind. I think I could show that it also adorned the palaces of Menelaos and Odysseus, and could point out, moreover, why all this is in accordance with the distinctly foreign and eastern character of the embellishment: but an exhibition of the evidence would lead me into too great length; and I note only for the present purpose the remarkable correspondence of the archæology with the Poems.

4. Passing from architectural to moveable objects, I observe that Dr. Schliemann found both knives and keys of iron in Mycenæ, but that from their form he assigns them to a later and strictly historic period. Old Mycenæ, therefore, in accordance with Hissarlik, has afforded us, up to the present time, no remains of this metal. In the Poems it is freely mentioned, but as a rare and valuable substance, used where great hardness was required, and for objects comparatively small and portable; except, indeed, in the case of the Gates of Tartaros (Il. VIII 15), where the Poet could dispose of as much material as he pleased. The aggregate quantity, then, was small; and the instruments were likely to be carried away on the abandonment or destruction of a city. Its absence may therefore be accounted for, in part by its value, but also, and more especially, because it so readily corrodes.[3] Therefore, although we cannot here establish a positive correspondence, neither have we any occasion to admit a discrepancy.

5. Neither need we, I think, suppose any variance between the chariot, as our author found it on the second tombstone of the Acropolis (p. 84), and the Homeric picture. True, he finds a wheel of four spokes, and the Olympian car of Hera had eight (Il. V. 723); but this diversity of structure is probably introduced, like the diversity of material, by way of divine distinction, and to show the superior elaboration and strength of the vehicle.[4]

6. We have at Mycenæ the Agora, or place of Assembly, in full agreement with the Poems on the two points, first of its circular form (pp. [338], [339]), and secondly of the smoothed horizontal slabs, bounding the circle, on which the Elders sate. I do not dilate upon these, as they are fully noticed in the text: but I shall return to the subject, in connection with the situation chosen for the tombs, and the inferences which are to be drawn from this important circumstance.

I will now hazard, before proceeding further with my list, one or two general remarks on the works of art and ornament, referring again to the reports of Mr. Newton and Mr. Gardner, as the most trustworthy comment on the text of our author concerning them.

First, I have to offer some reflections on the general character of the discoveries, and on its relation to the state of Art exhibited in the Poems. It seems reasonable to believe, especially after what has been shown by Mr. Gardner respecting the four tombstones, that they constituted the contemporary seal of a great deposit. It results, I think, from the evidence before us that it is impossible to reduce to one school or style or stage of art the whole of the objects exhumed. But on this I would observe first that, although they were simultaneously deposited in honour of the dead, they might have been the productions of more than one generation: secondly, that not only are we not required, but, in so far as we draw light from the Homeric Poems, we are hardly permitted, to refer them collectively to a domestic origin.

I gather from Mr. Gardner's report that the Art exhibited on the Pottery is more uniformly backward, than that exhibited by the works of metal. But this pottery, which was, whether wheel made or hand-made, of an early stage in the manufacture, was far more likely to be domestic; while the works in the precious metals might be imported. Or they might be the productions of foreign artists, attracted to the Court of Agamemnon; in the same manner as we find that Daidalos, whose name, however mythical, represents a foreign influence, executed in Crete, for Ariadne, the representation of a dance in metal.

The discovery, or the inspection, of the works must without doubt in the first instance suggest a reference of them to a local school of goldsmiths. But, considering the numerous points of contact between the discoveries and the Homeric Poems, it is important to know whether, and how far, they really favour such a supposition. This is not the place for an examination in detail of all the works of Art mentioned by Homer. I believe there is no one of them, of which the purely Greek origin can be established by proof from the text, while the manufacture abroad and importation are frequently mentioned. At the same time, there are some considerations which tend to show that, if there were local workmen in Greece capable of producing objects such as those now exhumed, it is at Mycenæ that we should expect to find them. First, on account of the wealth of the city, and of its position as the capital of the country. Secondly, on account of the wealth of Agamemnon personally, and his acquisitiveness if not his avarice, which made him eager to spoil those whom his spear had slain, and which is the subject of varied allusions in the Iliad. It must be remembered that in those days works of art were not merely ornamental, but were a favourite form, as their name (keimelia) shows, of stored wealth: and of these, even in Troas, Agamemnon possessed many (Il. IX. 330). Thirdly, an indication, perhaps, more significant, may be drawn from the remarkable passage in the Eleventh Book (15-46), which describes the arming of Agamemnon for the field. The first portion of the armour, that attracts observation, is an elaborately wrought breast-plate, which had come from Cyprus, a seat of Phœnician settlement. We next come to the sword, which I shall presently describe. This is followed by the shield, adorned with many bosses of metal, but also carrying a representation of the Gorgon with the heads or figures of Fear and Panic. This shield must be considered as a work of art; and the same may be said of its band or strap, which carried the figure of a three-headed snake. There is nothing said to connect these works with foreign manufacture. The family of Agamemnon was of a foreign origin comparatively recent; but it may remain an open question, whether these arms are presumptively referable, or not, to a domestic manufacture.

The deposits appear, again, to differ extremely in point of merit. I set aside the objects directly symbolical, because, where religion, or idolatry, is in question, excellence in workmanship becomes secondary, or even ceases to be desired. Among the other objects, I gather that none exhibit a very high order of technical qualities. But, if we may rely upon photographic representation, they surely exhibit lively and forcible movement, as well as many of the elements of nobleness, beauty, and fertility of invention; particularly in ornamentation, as distinguished from the representation of life, either animal or vegetable. Some of this diversity may be due to difference of date; some, perhaps much, to the superiority of the immigrant hand, or of imported works. That there were foreigners resident in Greece at the time of the Troïca, we have every reason to infer from one conspicuous case, that of Echepolos, a son of Anchises, who was allowed to present the mare Aithè to Agamemnon, as the price of his exemption (Il. XXIII. 296) from service against Troy. If there be anywhere in the Poems an account of a work of art produced in Greece or by a Greek, it is the bedstead of Odysseus,[5] wrought by himself (Od. XXIII. 190-201); and to him, after a good deal of consideration, I am inclined to ascribe a close connection with the immigrant or Phœnician stock; though this representation might also be due to his unequalled versatility and universality of accomplishment. There was indeed a Chrusochoös or gold-plater at the Court of Nestor (Od. III. 425); but the very same man goes by the name of Chalkeus or coppersmith (Ibid. III. 432). And it would even seem that working in metals cannot have been a principal or prominent employment in an Achaian community, for no such person is named in the remarkable passage of the Odyssey (XVII. 384) which supplies a sort of list, and where the wood-worker, or carpenter, appears.

The list of these objects, and of their ornaments, is on the whole richer and more diversified than the Poems, with the exception of the famous Shield of Achilles, would have led us to expect. Possibly a knowledge of the Mycenean treasures may have prompted or aided a vigorous imagination, in that wonderful anticipation of excellences which had not been realized in practice. The most remarkable feature, I think, of all Homer's delineations of art is the force and reality with which he confers animation on things inanimate. And perhaps the eye may be struck, in examining Schliemann's illustrations, with the vigour of life and motion which asserts itself in many of the Mycenean works, where the delineation is technically most imperfect. But we cannot compare the text with these remains alone; we are bound also to avail ourselves of such light as can be had from Hissarlik, whatever its effect upon our prepossessions or our arguments. Now I, for one, am struck with the wealth of Mycenæ, and the comparative poverty of what is probably Troy. I do not mean merely as to the small number of valuable remains, for this may be due to chance; though, indeed, fortune, for once renouncing her caprice, seems in both cases to have obeyed the dictates of archæological justice, and to have treated Dr. and Mrs. Schliemann as her favourite children. But I mean that there is far less of luxe in the ornamentation of the works at Hissarlik; I might, perhaps, say no representation at all of life, except in the rudest and most barbarous form. There seem to be very good forms in the gold and silver objects of Hissarlik, but always associated with plain work; no animal or even vegetable representation calling for notice from the present point of view, none of the repoussé work, nothing resembling the (apparently) beautiful cylinder (p. [287]), or the elaborate rings photographed in this volume. How are we to account for this? And does an argument hence arise, that the Hissarlik remains belong to a period different from, and anterior to, that which produced the works at Mycenæ? That the adverse case may be made as strong as possible, let it be borne in mind that while Homer indicates Orchomenos, and above all Egyptian Thebes, as the wealthiest cities of his little world, he seems designedly to assign the very same stage of opulence to Troy, which he gives to Mycenæ; for he describes by one and the same epithet, poluchrusos, which means gold-abounding, these two cities and these two alone. Troy has it in Il. XVIII. 289. For Mycenæ it was almost a formula; see Il. VII. 180, XI. 46; Od. III. 305.

We have now before us, as is not improbable, the choicest samples of what the two cities had to boast of; and the question is, can we account for the difference in opulence, and stage of art, between them? I conceive that we can, at least in a considerable degree; but it is only by that acknowledgment, which some are still indisposed to make, of the broad vein of historic reality, that runs through the delineations of the Iliad and Odyssey.

Three passages of the Iliad, in particular, convey to us that the city of Troy was suffering great impoverishment by the War. Indeed, if there be a grain of fact in the tale, it could not be otherwise. For the means of resisting the truly national attack of the Achaians, she was dependent neither on a good cause, nor on a soldiery commensurate with theirs. She had to seek strength from without; first from the grudging support of Dardania, secondly from the neighbouring tribes both of Europe and of Asia. It might even be inferred from the text that nine-tenths of the fighting power (Il. II. 123-33) were other than strictly domestic. But this support from without could only be got by paying for it. Accordingly Hector, in the Seventeenth Book speaks with the authority (220-32) of a general addressing allies, who are duly compensated for their services. So also we know that the great Eurupulos and his Keteians,[6] or Hittites (Od. XI. 520), fall in numbers on the plains of Troy, "serving for gifts." "I wear out the Trojans," says Hector, "with presents and with victualling for you." Again in the Twenty-fourth Book, Achilles, compassionately addressing Priam, says, "We hear that you once were prosperous, and exceeded in wealth, as well as in the number of your sons, all the neighbouring countries" (543-6). The inference is obvious; that at the time, though the city had not been captured, it was becoming comparatively poor. But the most express testimony is that of Il. XVIII. 288-92, when Hector stimulates his countrymen to sally out, by reminding them that they are already well-nigh ruined. Once, he says, all men were wont to celebrate the wealth of Troy; "but now the fine valuables have utterly disappeared from our mansions."

νῦν δὲ δὴ ἐξαπόλωλε δόομων κειμήλια καλά

And, under the wrath of Zeus, multitudes of their possessions had been sent in exchange to Phrygia and Mæonia; in exchange, that is, as I presume, for necessaries. But the great Mycenean deposit, if Schliemann be right in his view, was made before the time of any sack or depopulation of the city. Upon such an issue of life and death, as that offered to the Trojans, the best objects would naturally be parted with, as the most effective for their purpose (see Il. XXIV. 234-7); and accordingly, if we are comparing Troy and Mycenæ at all, we are comparing Troy in its exhaustion with Mycenæ in its prosperity.

We have among the remains in the precious metals from Hissarlik, I believe, no representation of an animal, either chased or in the round. But the Poems give us several examples of such works in the possession of Greeks; though commonly under presumptions of foreign production, as it would not be difficult to show.

It is true, indeed, that Troy, in immediate contact with the large fertile districts of Asia Minor, had means of material growth by land-trade, which Greece, split by her mountain chains into comparatively narrow tracts of cultivable soil, did not possess. But it seems likely that even in those days the maritime commerce, stimulated by Phœnician ships and settlements, may have compensated, or more than compensated, for this disadvantage. Of the trade in metals and in corn, carried on by their race, we have distinct information in the Poems (Od. I. 183-4, XIV. 333-5). They had, in all likelihood, already been followed by the Greeks. The voyage of the ship Argo seems to have been of a mixed character. The ships of the armament against Troy could hardly have been supplied by a people, who had not made a substantial beginning in maritime trade. The navigation of the coasts, without reference to purposes of war, is evidently a familiar idea in the Odyssey. But, in the Iliad, the construction of the ships of Paris is noted as the remarkable work of a remarkable man (Il. V. 59-64); nor do we, except in this one ill-omened case, ever hear of Trojan navigation.

Once more. We are given to understand [7] that signs of the art of writing have been discovered at Hissarlik; whereas the new volume supplies us with nothing of the kind for Mycenæ. But nothing, I apprehend, can be affirmed of its existence either in Greece or Troas during the Homeric age, except as the secret of a few; in Greece it was manifestly exotic, and perhaps it may have been the same in Troas. As long as the evidence remains in this state, we cannot infer from it with confidence any important proposition as to comparative advancement.

I now resume the list of points of contact between the Mycenean discoveries and the Poems, by noticing such of them as are found in movables.

1. As the first of these I take the free use of copper for large utensils (pp. [274]-[277]). We have also the analysis supplied by Dr. Percy of a sword and a vase-handle of bronze (pp. [372]-[5]). In my judgment, we have no sign whatever from the Poems of the fusion of metals together as a domestic practice; while we have abundant proof of the importation and foreign production of works of art and implements in bronze. This vase, then, may probably have been foreign. The same is likely with respect to the sword. We know that swords were exported and imported between different countries. Thrace was a seat of manufacture both for fine works of art (Il. XXIV. 234) and for weapons (Il. XXIII. 808): and we find a sword, "beautiful and long," from Thrace, in the possession of the Trojan Prince Helenos (Il. XIII. 577). Moreover, copper was an abundant metal, tin a rare one. Bronze weapons, therefore, must have been expensive. And the swords of bronze found in the tombs, in conjunction with all other costly objects, are just where we should have expected them. Even so at Hissarlik, two battle-axes found in the Treasure, and presumably belonging therefore to distinguished persons, were of bronze.[8] But axes made of pure copper may be seen in the Museum of the Irish Academy; and the great layer of copper-scoriæ at Hissarlik, without any tin, seems effectually to show that copper was the staple metal of the heroic period, and that our archæologists will have to insert a copper age in their lists, between their age of stone and their age of bronze. If weapons of copper were to be discovered in the tombs at Mycenæ, no circumstance could more enhance the proofs afforded by the Poems of the general use of copper; because the weapons in the tombs are weapons of the persons most likely to be able to command the use of bronze. I hope that the analysis, already begun, will be applied to a much larger number of objects. In the meantime, as to large utensils, I find the discoveries already in close correspondence with the Poems.

2. The most remarkable, perhaps, in themselves, of all the objects discovered at Hissarlik, were the two elaborate head-dresses of gold, which for the first time enabled us to construe, with reasonable confidence, the entire passage in the Iliad (XXII. 468-72), which describes the head-dress cast away by Andromachè in the agony of her grief. The print will not have been forgotten, which exhibits the plektè anadesmè.[9] It was a series of gold plaits, hanging down, over the forehead and the ears, from the broad band (ampūx) which ran round the head, and which constituted as it were the base of the ornament. With these objects, and with the Poems, Schliemann associates, incontestably as it would appear, the ornament No. [357] (p. [248]); a band or frontlet adorned "with rosettes and crosses. It has two perforations in the rim, a little way from either end, from one of which is still hanging the fragment of a very fine chain." The only variation in the fashion of the thing seems to be, that the plaits have not been continued over the forehead.

3. Hissarlik did nothing for us towards explaining the kredemnon; an article of head-dress worn by many or some women of the heroic age, who could not add to it the splendid decorations then reserved for princesses. But the definitions of this commodity are supplied for us by the Poems, piecemeal indeed, yet with adequate clearness. In the first place, it crowned the head like the battlements of a walled city; for the destruction of the walls of Troy is described as the ruin of its sacred kredemna (Il. XVI. 100).

It was not, however, a metallic or solid object; for the deified Ino, to save Odysseus from the fury of the storm, throws to him her own kredemnon and bids him bind it round his chest (Od. V. 346). It used to be made of delicate and glossy material (Od. I. 334), and was worthy even to be a marriage gift from Aphroditè to the bride of Hector (Il. XXII. 470). But finally, it had a long wing, tail, or lappet (I am not skilled or confident in this vocabulary), descending from behind, perhaps more than one. This is shown indirectly, but I think conclusively, by the information given us in Od. VI. 100, that the handmaidens of Nausicaä, when about to play at ball, first put away their kredemna, evidently lest the free movement of their arms should be embarrassed by the long lappets. Again, it is evident that Penelopè, when she used her kredemna to cover her face, brought the lappets round and employed them as a veil; on any other ground the use of the plural can hardly be explained (Od. I. 334). And now this part of the prehistoric lady's toilette is as complete as I can make it from the Poems.

I turn, then, to Dr. Schliemann's volume, and call attention to the signet ring at p. [354], which, though apparently not of a high order in art, combines so many objects of interest. On the extreme left of the picture stands a child, or small woman, who is picking fruit from a tree. Behind her head appear to descend long tresses of hair. What if these should prove on further examination to be lappets from a head-dress which the head seems to carry? Passing to the right of the tree, first comes a tall seated woman in a turban, which carries in front, says our author, a diadem and behind a "tress of hair" from the point into which the turban runs. I cannot but suppose this "tress" to be a lappet of the kredemnon. She offers poppies to another tall woman, again dressed in a turban running out into a point (p. [356]), "from which a long ornament hangs down on the back," a third time, in all likelihood, the lappet of the kredemnon. Below her outstretched right arm we have another small figure, probably of a child, again in a turban, and with "a long tress of hair, or some ornament, hanging down its back:" yet once more, I conjecture, the lappet indicated by Homer. There is also a fifth: we have still the figure to the right of the picture (p. [357]); and she, too, wears a turban terminating in a point "from which a long band-like ornament hangs down on her back." Now let us go aloft; and we find a small figure, towards the right of the picture. This figure (p. [357]) is described by Schliemann as female, from his observing breasts upon it: and again, "from the back project the long bands." Thus, in all the six cases, we appear to have the same remarkable form described for the main article of female head dress, which is also given us by Homer.

It may, however, be said that the female figures on this ring are foreign, rather than Hellenic, in their character and habiliments. But it happens that the evidence of the Poems more copiously establishes the use of the kredemnon among foreigners, than in Greece. We hear indeed of the kredemna of Penelopè; and Hera, when about to inveigle Zeus, assumes the kredemnon (Il. XIV. 184). But it is worn, as we have seen, by Andromachè in Troy; by Ino, a deity of Phœnician extraction; and by the maidens attendant on Nausicaä in Scheriè.

4. In the upper region, or what we might call the sky of the picture, are presented to us, apparently in very rough outline, the sun and a thinly horned moon.[10] Below them is an uneven band, forming rudely an arc of a circle. This, I am led to suppose, is an indication of mother-earth, with its uneven surface of land and its rippling sea, in the proper place, beneath the sun and moon. If this be so, it greatly confirms the conjecture of Mr. Newton respecting the six objects on the rim of the picture to the right. He asks whether these can be the teirea (Il. XVIII. 485), the stars of heaven, which are described by Homer as placed upon the Shield of Achilles, together with the sun, moon, sky, earth, and sea. Schliemann assigns to this sestetto heads and eyes: Mr. Newton says they are thought to be heads of lions. That they should be things animate is not, I imagine, in conflict with the conjecture that they may be stars. The spirit of Hellenism transmuted the older Nature-worship by impersonations, of which we have an Homeric example in the astral Orion (Il. XVIII. 486, Od. XI. 572). Should these conjectures be confirmed, the matter will be of peculiar interest: for we shall then have before us, in actual collocation, the very objects, which people the first compartment of the god-wrought Shield of Achilles: the earth (of land and sea), sun, moon, and all the stars of heaven. The ouranos or heaven itself, which the Poet also includes, is here in all likelihood represented by the curvature of the picture.

5. The goblet (No. 346 of the volume) has on each of its two handles, we are told, the carved figure of a dove in gold. Schliemann observes on the correspondence with the goblet of Nestor (Il. XI. 632-635). We are not indeed told that this was of gold; probably a different material is to be supposed from the mention of gold as the material of these parts or appendages. But it had four handles, and on each handle were two doves. We are also told that he did not get it in Troy, which may remind us of the argument already presented, but brought it from home. It was probably a foreign work; for the Phœnician associations of Nestor are attested by his descent from Poseidon (Od. XI. 254). This is fairly to be noted for an instance of equable development in art, as between the discoveries and the Poems.

6. We frequently hear in the Poems of the golden studs or buttons which were used as ornamental adjuncts. In many passages we have the silver-studded sword, xiphos or phasganon arguroëlon (Il. II. 45, III. 334 et al.). This, I say, is common. We have also studs, or bosses, of gold upon the staff or sceptre of Achilles (Il. I. 246), upon the cup of Nestor XI. 632-635: and upon a sword, only once it is true, but then that sword is the sword of Agamemnon, king of gold-abounding Mycenæ (Il. XI. 29). On this sword, says the Poet, there were gilt, or golden, bosses; and the expression he uses about them (pamphainon) is worthy of note. It is not easy to represent by any one English word. It means not merely shining brightly, but shining all over; that is to say, apparently, all over the sheath to which they were attached, so as to make it seem a shining mass. Is not this precisely what must have been the effect of the line of bosses found lying by the sword in p. 303, which lie closely together, are broader than the blade, and probably covered the whole available space along the sheath of wood, now mouldered away? And is it not now startling, to descend into the tombs with Dr. Schliemann, and to find there lying silently in rows these gold studs or bosses, when the wooden sheaths they were attached to have for the most part mouldered away, but by the very sides of the very swords which they adorned like binding on a book, and of the slight remains of warriors by whom, there need be little doubt, those swords were wielded?

"Expende Annibalem; quot libras in duce summo Invenies?"[11]

They also appear on the sword-handle knobs. The helos of Homer is commonly rendered a nail or stud, which has a head of small size; but the word probably includes the larger buttons or bosses, which lie in lines along some of the swords. (See on this point pp. [281], 2; [303], 5, 6.)

I will not attempt to pursue further an enumeration which, growing more and more minute, would be wearisome. If porcelain and glass have been found, I should at once assign them to foreign importation. The art of casting and tooling in the precious metals, of which the examples would appear, both from our author and from Mr. Newton, to be few, are probably to be referred to a like source. The hammer and the pincers are the only instruments for metallic manipulation, of which Homer appears to be aware (Il. XVIII. 477, Od. III. 434-5). As regards the pottery mentioned by our author, if some of the goblets were of light green (p. [285]), we have a colour developed in their manufacture of which Homer had certainly no distinct conception, though it may still be true that, as in nature, so in human art, objects bearing that colour may have met his eye. Of the scales in the third sepulchre there seems no reason to doubt that we may find the interpretation, by referring them to the Egyptian scheme of doctrine with regard to a future life (pp. [197], 8). In the Books of the Dead, we have an elaborate representation of the judgment-hall, to which the departed soul is summoned. Here the scales form a very prominent object;[12] and it seems very possible that the Poet, who was Greek and not Egyptian in his ideas of the future state, may have borrowed and transposed, from this quarter, the image of the balances displayed on high, which he employs with such fine effect in some critical passages of the Iliad. As regards the emblem of the double-headed or full-formed axe, I venture to dispense with the cautious reserve of Schliemann. As the usual form of a weapon familiar to the age, it seems to require no special explanation (p. [252]). But where we find it conjoined with the ox-head (p. [218]), or on the great signet ring in conjunction with a figure evidently representing Deity, I cannot hesitate to regard it as a sacrificial symbol. We have only to remember the passage in the third Odyssey, where the apparatus of sacrifice is detailed, and Thrasumedes, who was to strike the blow, brought the axe (III. 442):—

πέλεκυν δὲ μενεπτόλεμος Θρασυμήδης

ὀξὺν ἔχων ἐν χερσὶι παρίστατο, βοῦν ἐπικέψων.

The boar's teeth (p. [273]) supply a minor, perhaps, but a clear and significant point of correspondence to be added to our list (Il. X. 263-264). Another is to be noticed in the manner of attaching, by wire, lids and covers. On these subjects, I refer to the text of the volume.

By the foregoing detail I have sought to show that there is no preliminary bar to our entertaining the capital question whether the tombs now unearthed, and the remains exposed to view, under masks for the faces, and plates of gold covering one or more of the trunks, are the tombs and remains of the great Agamemnon and his compeers, who have enjoyed, through the agency of Homer, such a protracted longevity of renown. For the general character of the Mycenean treasures, I take my stand provisionally on the declaration of Mr. Newton (supported by Mr. Gardner), that, in his judgment, they belong to the prehistoric or heroic age, the age antecedent to his Greco-Phœnician period; and in important outlines of detail I have endeavoured to show that they have many points of contact with the Homeric Poems, and with the discoveries at Hissarlik. But this Preface makes no pretension whatever to exhibit a complete catalogue of the objects, or to supply for each of them its interpretation. We encounter, indeed, a certain number of puzzling phenomena, such as the appearance of something like visors, for which I could desire some other explanation, but which Schliemann cites as auxiliaries to the masks of the tombs, and even thinks to prove that such articles were used by the living, as well as for the dead (p. [359]).

Undoubtedly, in my view, these masks constitute a great difficulty, when we come to handle the question who were the occupants of the now opened sepulchres? It may be, that as Mr. Newton says, we must in the main rest content with the "reasonable presumption" that the four tombs contained Royal personages, and must leave in abeyance the further question, whether they are the tombs indicated to Pausanias by the local tradition; at any rate, until the ruins of Mycenæ shall have been further explored, according to the intention which the government of Greece is said to have conceived.

At the same time this is a case where the question before us, if hazardous to prosecute, is not easy to let alone.

It is obviously difficult to find any simple, clear, consistent interpretation of the extraordinary inhumation disclosed to us by these researches. Such an interpretation may be found hereafter: it does not seem to be forthcoming at the present moment. But the way towards it can only be opened up by a painstaking exhibition of the facts, and by instituting a cautious comparison between them and any indications, drawn from other times or places, which may appear to throw light upon them. For my own part, having approached the question with no predisposition to believe, I need not scruple to say I am brought or driven by the evidence to certain conclusions; and also led on to certain conjectures suggested by those conclusions. The first conclusion is that we cannot refer the five entombments in the Agora at Mycenæ to any period within the historic age. The second is that they are entombments of great, and almost certainly in part of royal, personages. The third, that they bear indisputable marks of having been effected, not normally throughout, but in connection with circumstances, which impressed upon them an irregular and unusual character. The conjecture is, that these may very well be the tombs of Agamemnon and his company. It is supported in part by a number of presumptions, but in great part also by the difficulty, not to say the impossibility, of offering any other suggestion which could be deemed so much as colourable.

The principal facts which we have to notice appear to be as follows:—

1. The situation chosen for the interments.

2. The numbers of persons simultaneously interred.

3. The dimensions and character of the graves.

4. The partial application of fire to the remains.

5. The use of masks, and likewise of metallic plates, to adorn or shelter them, or both.

6. The copious deposit both of characteristic and of valuable objects in conjunction with the bodies.

1. Upon the situation chosen for the interments, Dr. Schliemann opines that they were not originally within the Agora, but that it was subsequently constructed around the tombs (p. 340). His reasons are that the supporting wall, on which rest, in double line, the upright slabs, formerly, and in six cases still, covered by horizontal slabs as seats for the elders, is careless in execution, and inferior to the circuit wall of the Acropolis. But, if it was built as a mere stay, was there any reason for spending labour to raise it to the point of strength necessary for a work of military defence? Further, he finds between the lines of slabs, where they are uncovered, broken pottery of the prehistoric period more recent than that of the tombs. But such pottery would never have been placed there at the time of the construction; with other rubbish, it would only have weakened and not strengthened the fabric of the inclosure. Nor can we readily see how it could have come there, until the work was dilapidated by the disappearance of the upper slabs. If so, it would of course be later in date than the slabs were.

It appears to me that the argument of improbability tells powerfully against the supposition that the Agora was constructed round the tombs, having previously been elsewhere. The space within the Acropolis appears to be very limited: close round the inclosures are 'Cyclopean' houses and cisterns. When works of this kind are once constructed, their removal would be a work of great difficulty: and this is a case, where the earliest builders were followed by men who aimed not at greater, but at less, solidity. Besides which, the Agora was connected with the religion of the place, and was, as will be shown, in the immediate neighbourhood of the palace. In addition to these material attractions, every kind of moral association would grow up around it.

It can be clearly shown that the ancient Agora was bound down to its site by manifold ties, other than those of mere solidity in its construction. It stands in Mycenæ, says our author (p. [341]), on the most imposing and most beautiful spot of the city, from whence the whole was overlooked. It was on these high places that the men of the prehistoric ages erected the simple structures, in many cases perhaps uncovered, that, with the altars, served for the worship of the gods. In Scheriè, it was built round the temple, so to call it, of Poseidon (Od. VI. 266). In the Greek camp before Troy the Agora was in the centre of the line of ships (Il. XI. 5-9, 806-8). There justice was administered, and there "had been constructed the altars of the gods." Further, it is clear, from a number of passages in Homer, that the place of Assembly was always close to the royal palace. In the case of Troy we are told expressly that it was held by the doors of Priam (Il. II. 788, VII. 345, 6). In Scheriè, the palace of Alkinoös was close to the grove of Athenè (Od. VI. 291-3); and we can hardly doubt that this grove was in the immediate vicinity of the Posideïon, which was itself within the Agora. In Ithaca (Od. XXIV. 415 seqq.), the people gathered before the Palace of Odysseus, and then went in a mass into the Agora. While it was thus materially associated with those points of the city which most possessed the character of fixtures, it is not too much to say, considering the politics of early Greece, that it must, in the natural course, have become a centre around which would cling the fondest moral and historical associations of the people. Into the minor question whether the encircling slabs are the remains of an original portion of the work or not, I do not think it needful for me to enter.

But, while I believe that the Agora is where it was, the honour paid to the dead by the presence of their tombs within it is not affected by either alternative; but only the time of paying it. If this be the old Agora, they were honoured by being laid in it; if it is of later date, they were honoured by its being removed in order to be built around them; if at least this was done knowingly, and how could it be otherwise, when we observe that the five tombs occupy more than a moiety of the whole available space? We know, from the evidence of the historic period, that to be buried in the Agora was a note of public honour; we cannot reasonably doubt, with the five graves before us, that it was such likewise in the historic age.

It was a note of public honour, then, if these bodies were originally buried in the Agora. If we adopt the less probable supposition that the Agora was afterwards constructed around them by reason of their being there, the honour may seem even greater still.

2. Next, the number of persons simultaneously interred, when taken in conjunction with the other features of the transaction, offers a new problem for consideration. An argument in p. [337], to show that the burials were simultaneous, seems quite conclusive. They embraced (ibid.) sixteen or seventeen persons. Among the bodies one appears to be marked out by probable evidence as that of the leading personage. Lying in the tomb marked as No. 1, it has two companions. Now Agamemnon had two marshals or heralds (Il. I. 320), whose office partook of a sacred character. There might, therefore, be nothing strange in their being laid, if so it were, by their lord. The most marked of the bodies lay to the north of the two others, all three having the feet to the westward. It was distinguished by better preservation, which may, at least not improbably, have been due to some preservative process at the time of interment. It carried, besides a golden mask (p. [296]), a large golden breastplate (15⅗ by 9½ in.), and other leaves of gold at various points; also a golden belt across the loins, 4 ft. long and 1¾ in. broad. By the side of the figure lay two swords, stated by Dr. Schliemann to be of bronze (p. [302]), the ornamentation of one of them particularly in striking accordance with the description in the Iliad of the sword of Agamemnon (Il. XI. 29-31). Within a foot of the body, to the right, lay eleven other swords (p. [304]), but this is not a distinctive mark, as the body on the south side has fifteen, ten lying at the feet, and a great heap of swords were found at the west end, between this and the middle body.

The entire number of bodies in the five tombs (p. [337]), which is stated at sixteen or seventeen, seems to have included three women and two or three children. The local tradition recorded by Pausanias (inf. p. 59) takes notice of a company of men with Agamemnon, and of Cassandra, with two children whom she was reported to have borne. This is only significant as testifying to the ancient belief that children were buried in the tombs: for Cassandra could only be taken captive at the time when the city of Troy was sacked, and the assassination immediately followed the arrival in Greece. But it is likely enough that these children may have been the offspring of another concubine, who may have taken the place Briseïs was meant to fill. This is of course mere speculation; but the meaning is that there is nothing in these indications to impair the force of any presumptions, which the discoveries may in other respects legitimately raise.

3. Like the site in the Agora, so the character of the tombstones, which is in strict correspondence with the style of many of the ornaments,[13] and the depth of the tombs, appear with one voice to signify honour to the dead. As I understand the Plans, they show a maximum depth of 25 feet (see, e.g., p. 155) below the surface, hollowed for the most part out of the solid rock. But then we are met with the staggering fact that the bodies of full-grown, and apparently (p. [295]) tall, men have been forced into a space of only five feet six inches in length, so as to require that sort of compression which amounts almost to mutilation.

We seem thus to stand in the face of circumstances that contradict one another. The place, the depth, the coverings of the tombs, appear to lead us in one direction; the forcing and squeezing of the bodies in another. But further, and stranger still, there seems to have been no necessity for placing the bodies under this unbecoming, nay revolting, pressure. The original dimensions of the tomb (p. [294]) were 21 ft. 6 in. by 11 ft. 6 in. These are reduced all round, first by an inner wall two feet thick, and secondly by a slanting projection one foot thick (at the bottom) to 5 ft. 6 in. and 15 ft. 6 in. Why, then, were the bodies not laid along, instead of across, it? Was not the act needless as well as barbarous? And to what motive is a piece of needless barbarism, apparently so unequivocal, to be referred? I hardly dare to mention, much less, so scanty is the evidence, to dwell upon the fact that their bodies lie towards the west, and that the Egyptian receptacle for the dead lay in that quarter.[14] The conflict of appearances, at which we have now arrived, appears to point to a double motive in the original entombment; or to an incomplete and incoherent proceeding, which some attempt was subsequently made to correct; or to both. But let us pay a brief attention to the remaining particulars of the disclosures.

4. We have next to observe (a) that fire was applied to these remains; (b) that the application of it was only partial; (c) that the metallic deposits are said to show marks [15] of the action of it (pp. [158], [165], [188], [198], [201], [208], [215], [218], [260], [266], [321], [330]): so do the pebbles (p. [294]). We see, therefore, that the deposition of the precious objects took place either at the same moment with the fire, or, and more probably I suppose, before it had entirely burned out.

The partial nature of the burning requires a more detailed consideration. In the Homeric burials, burning is universal. It must be regarded, according to the Poems, as the established Achaian custom of the day, wherever inhumation was normally conducted. And for burial there was a distinct reason, namely, that without it the Shade of the departed was not allowed to join the company of the other Shades, so that the unburied Elpenor is the first to meet Odysseus (Od. XI. 51) on his entrance into the Underworld; and the shade of Patroclos entreats Achilles to bury him as rapidly as may be, that he may pass the gates of Aïdes (Il. XXIII. 71). I think the proof of the universal use of fire in regular burials at this period is conclusive.

Not only do we find it in the great burials of the Seventh Book (429-32), and in the funerals of Patroclos (XXIII. 177) and Hector (XXIV. 785-800), but we have it in the case of Elpenor (Od. XII. 11-13), whom at first his companions had left uninterred, and for whom therefore we must suppose they only did what was needful under established custom. Perhaps a yet clearer proof is to be found in a simile. Achilles, we are told, wept while the funeral pile he had erected was burning, all night long, the bones of Patroclos, "as a father weeps when he burns the bones of his youthful son" (XXIII. 222-5). This testifies to a general practice.

In the case of notable persons, the combustion was not complete. For not the ashes only, but the bones, were carefully gathered. In the case of Patroclos, they are wrapped in fat, and put in an open cup or bowl (phialè) for temporary custody (XXIII. 239-44) until the funeral of Achilles, when with those of Achilles himself, similarly wrapped, and soaked in wine, they are deposited in a golden urn (Od. XXIV. 73-7). In the case of Hector, the bones are in like manner gathered and lodged in a golden box, which is then placed in a trench and built over with a mass of stones (Il. XXIV. 793-8). Incomplete combustion, then, is common to the Homeric and the Mycenean instances. But in the case of the first tomb at Mycenæ, not only was there no collection of the bones for deposit in an urn, but they had not been touched; except in the instance of the middle body, where they had simply been disturbed, and the valuables perhaps removed, as hardly anything of the kind was found with it. In the case of the body on the north side, the flesh of the face remained unconsumed.

But though the use of fire was universal in honourable burial, burial itself was not allowed to all. Enemies, as a rule, were not buried. Hence the opening passage of the Iliad tells us that many heroes became a prey to dogs and birds (Il. I. 4). Such says Priam, before the conflict with Hector, he would make Achilles if he could (XXII. 42); and he anticipates a like distressing fate (66 seqq.) for himself. In the Odyssey, the bodies of the Suitors are left to be removed by their friends (XXII. 448; XXIV. 417). Achilles, indeed, buried Eëtion, king of Asiatic Thebes, with his arms, in the regular manner. "He did not simply spoil him, for he had a scruple in his mind" (Il. VI. 417); and no wonder; for Eëtion, king of the Kilikes, was not an enemy: that people does not appear among the allies of Troy in the Catalogue. Thus there was a variance of use; and there may have been cases of irregular intermediate treatment between the two extremes of honourable burial and casting out to the dogs.

5. With regard to the use of masks of gold for the dead, I hope that the Mycenean discoveries will lead to a full collection of the evidence upon this rare and curious practice. For the present, I limit myself to the following observations:

(1.) If not less than seven of these golden masks have been discovered at Mycenæ by Dr. Schliemann, then the use of them, on the occasion of these entombments, was not limited to royal persons, of whom it is impossible to make out so large a number.

(2.) I am not aware of any proof at present before us that the use of such masks for the dead of any rank or class was a custom prevalent, or even known, in Greece. There is much information, from Homer downwards, supplied to us by the literature of that country concerning burials; and yet, in a course of more than 1200 years, there is not a single allusion to the custom of using masks for the dead. It seems to be agreed that the passage in the works of Lucian, who is reckoned to have flourished in the second half of the second century, does not refer to the use of such masks. This might lead us to the conjecture that, where the practice has appeared, it was a remainder of foreign usage, a survival from immigration.

(3.) Masks have been found in tombs, not in Greece, but in the Crimea, Campania, and Mesopotamia. Our latest information on the subject is, I believe, the account mentioned in Dr. Schliemann's last report from Athens (pp xlvii, xlviii), of a gold mask found on the Phœnician coast over against Aradus, which is of the size suited for an infant only. It is to be remembered that heroic Greece is full of the marks of what I may term Phœnicianism, most of which passed into the usages of the country, and contributed to form the base of Hellenic life. Nor does it seem improbable, that this use of the metallic mask may have been a Phœnician adaptation from the Egyptian custom of printing the likeness of the dead on the mummy case. And, again, we are to bear in mind that Mycenæ had been the seat of repeated foreign immigrations.

(4.) We have not to deal in this case only with masks, but with the case of a breastplate in gold, which, however, could not have been intended for use in war; together with other leaves or plates of gold, found on, or apparently intended for, other portions of the person.

6. Lastly, with regard to the deposit of objects which, besides being characteristic, have unchangeable value, the only point on which I have here to remark is, their extraordinary amount. It is such, I conceive, as to give to these objects, and particularly to those of the First Tomb, an exceptional place among the sepulchral deposits of antiquity. I understand that their weight is about one hundred pounds troy, or nearly that of five thousand British sovereigns. It is difficult to suppose that this deposit could have been usual, even with the remains of a King; and it is at this point that I, for one, am compelled to break finally and altogether with the supposition, that this great entombment, in the condition in which Dr. Schliemann found it, was simply an entombment of Agamemnon and his company effected by Ægisthus and Clytemnestra, their murderers.

So far, with little argument, I have endeavoured fairly to set out the facts. Let me now endeavour to draw to a point the several threads of the subject, in order to deal with the main question, namely, whether these half-wasted, half-burned remains are the ashes of Agamemnon and his company? And truly this is a case, where it may be said to the inquirer, in figure as well as in fact,

"et incedis per ignes

Suppositos cineri doloso."[16]

Let us place clearly before our eyes the account given by the Shade of Agamemnon, in the Eleventh Odyssey (405-434), of the manner of his death. No darker picture could be drawn. It combined every circumstance of cruelty with every circumstance of fraud. At the hospitable board, amid the flowing wine-cups, he was slain like an ox at the stall, and his comrades like so many hogs for a rich man's banquet; with deaths more piteous than he had ever known in single combat, or in the rush of armies. Most piteous of all was the death of Cassandra, whom the cruel Clytemnestra despatched with her own hand while clinging to Agamemnon; nor did she vouchsafe to her husband the last office of mercy and compassion, by closing his mouth and eyes in death. Singularly enough, Dr. Schliemann assures me that the right eye, which alone could be seen with tolerable clearness, was not entirely shut (see the engraving at p. [297]); while the teeth of the upper jawbone (see the same engraving) did not quite join those of the lower. This condition, he thinks, may be due to the superincumbent weight. But if the weight had opened the jaw, would not the opening, in all likelihood, have been much wider?

Now, as we are told that Ægisthus reigned until Orestes reached his manhood, we must assume that the massacre was in all respects triumphant. Yet there could hardly fail to be a party among the people favourable to the returning King, who had covered his country with unequalled glory. There might thus be found in the circumstances a certain dualism, a ground for compromise, such as may go far to account for the discrepancies of intention, which we seem to find in the entombments. There was this division of sentiment among the people, in the only case where we know the return of the prince from Troy to have been accompanied with a crisis or conflict, I mean the case of Ithaca.

The assassins proceeded in such a way, that the only consistent accomplishment of their design would have been found in casting forth the bodies of the slain like the bodies of enemies. But this may have been forbidden by policy. In the Julius Cæsar of Shakespeare, Brutus says (III. 1.)—

"We are contented Cæsar shall

Have all due rites and lawful ceremonies.

It shall advantage more than do us wrong."

Ægisthus was not Brutus. Even fury was apparent in the incidents of the slaughter. Yet there might be a desire to keep up appearances afterwards, and to allow some semblance of an honourable burial. There is one special circumstance that favours the idea of a double process, namely, that we readily find the agents for both parts of it; the murderers for the first, with necessity and policy controlling hatred; Orestes on his return for the second, with the double motive of piety and revenge.

We are now on the road not of history, but of reasonable conjecture. I try to account for a burial, which according to all reasonable presumption is of the heroic age, and of royal and famous personages, but which presents conflicting features of honour and of shame. That there is no conflicting hypothesis, is not a good reason for precipitate assent to the hypothesis which we may term Agamemnonian. Conjecture, to be admissible, ought to be consistent with itself, to meet the main demands of the known facts, and to present no trait at actual variance with any of them. In this view I present the hypothesis of a double procedure, and a double agency: and I submit, that there is nothing irrational in the following chain of suppositions for the First Tomb, while the others are probably included in the argument. That the usurping assassins, from the same policy, granted the honour of burial in the Agora; hewed the sepulchre deep and large in the rock; and built the encircling wall within it. That honour stopped with the preparation of the tomb, and the rest, less visible to the public eye, was left to spite or haste. That the bodies were consequently placed in the seemingly strange and indecent fashion, which the tomb has disclosed. That, as they were protected by the rock, and by the depth from the surface, their decomposition was slow. That Orestes, on his return, could not but be aware of the circumstances, and, in the fulfilment of his divinely ordered mission, determined upon reparation to the dead. That he opened the tombs and arranged the means of cremation. That, owing to the depth, it was imperfect from want of ventilation; we may remember that in the case of Patroclos the winds were specially summoned to expedite the process (Il. XXIII. 192-218). In calling it imperfect, I mean that it stopped short of the point at which the bones could be gathered; and they remained in situ. That the masks, breastplate, and other leaves of gold were used, perhaps, in part with reference to custom; in part, especially as regards all beside the masks, to replace in the wasted bodies the seemliness and majesty of nature, and to shelter its dilapidation. That the profuse deposits of arms and valuables were due to filial piety. That the same sentiment carried the work through even to the careful sculpturing of the four tombstones (others have been found (p. [100]), but without sculpture); and sought, by their means, to indicate for renown and reverence, and to secure from greedy violation, the resting-place of the dead.

A complex solution, perhaps; but one applicable to very complex facts, and one of which the ground at least is laid in those facts; one also, which I offer as a contribution to a most interesting scrutiny, but with no claim or pretension to uphold it against any other, that may seem better entitled to fill the vacant place.

W. E. G.
HAWARDEN, November, 1877.

DR. SCHLIEMANN'S ACCOUNT OF A TOMB AT SPATA, IN ATTICA.

Athens, 1st Oct., 1877.

For some months past it has repeatedly been asserted in the Press by travellers that there exists a very great similarity between the Mycenean antiquities and those recently discovered in a tomb at Spata. Having now visited the latter, in company with my esteemed friend Professor E. Castorches, of the University of Athens, and his daughter Helen, and having carefully examined the objects found in it, I think it in the interest of science to offer the following remarks on the subject. The village of Spata, which is exclusively inhabited by Albanians, lies about nine miles to the east of Athens, on the further side of Mount Hymettus, on the road to Marathon. Close to that village is a small mount, whose circular summit has evidently been artificially levelled; it is covered to a depth of about three feet with débris, in which we see now and then fragments of archaic vases with painted parallel horizontal bands. The villagers assert that until very recently the summit was surrounded by the ruins of fortress walls, which have now altogether disappeared, the stones having been used for the building of the new village. The name of the settlement which existed here in antiquity is altogether uncertain. Colonel Leake [17] recognises in the present name, Spata, a corruption of the ancient demos of Sphettus (Σϕῆττος or Σϕηττός), which is mentioned by Aristophanes,[18] Strabo,[19] Pausanias,[20] Stephanus Byzantinus,[21] and others.

In the south-west side of the mount, which slopes at an angle of 52 degrees, there occurred last winter in one place a sudden breaking down of the ground, and in the hollow thus formed there was discovered a sepulchre cut out in the sandstone rock. The Archæological Society had the place explored, and it was found that an inclined road, cut in the rock, 74 feet long, led into the tomb. The road is 8¼ feet broad up to the entrance, which is 10 feet long and 3⅓ feet broad. The sepulchre consists of three quadrangular chambers, which are united by two passages 6½ feet long and 3⅓ feet broad; and the ceilings of these chambers are cut out in the rock in the form of roofs with two slanting sides. The primitive architect had evidently intended to give to each of these three chambers exactly the shape of a house, because the slanting sides of the roof-like ceiling do not converge directly from the vertical walls, but hang over by 8 inches like the eaves of a house. The height of the first chamber is 16½ feet, its breadth 15, and its length 20 feet; the two other chambers are 12½ feet high, 12 feet long, and 11½ feet broad. Of the existence of wooden doors there are no traces, except in the passage from the first to the second chamber. Seen from the extremity of the "dromos" this tomb reminds us of the Egyptian sepulchres.[22]

In each of the three chambers was found a human skeleton, with a quantity of ashes and charcoal, which seems to prove that each body had been burnt on the pyre in the very spot where it lay, but so superficially that the bones were preserved. In this respect, as well regarding the burning of the bodies in the tombs, we find a resemblance to the mode of burial of the bodies in the five royal sepulchres at Mycenæ. But here the bones crumbled away on being exposed to the air. This tomb had evidently been already rifled in ancient times, for but a few objects were found with the bodies; nearly all of them lay dispersed in the débris, in and before the entrance. They consisted of bone or ivory, glass, bronze, stone, and terra-cotta. Only a few flowers of very thin gold-leaf having been found, whose aggregate weight cannot exceed the eighth part of a pound, it appears that the tomb-robbers only aimed at the golden ornaments, and that they threw away all the rest.

The few terra-cotta vessels found here are all wheel-made; among the number there is one which perfectly resembles the vase represented under No. 25, p. [64]; it is ornamented with red and black circular bands, and is in the shape of a globe with a flat foot; it terminates above in a very pretty narrow neck, without an opening, the top of which is joined on each side by a beautifully shaped handle to the upper part of the body. The real mouth of the vase is in the shape of a funnel, and near to the closed neck. There was also found the upper part of a similar vase. I remind the reader that forty-three vases of exactly the same form were found in a sepulchre at Ialysus in Rhodes, and are now in the British Museum; that they sometimes, though but seldom, occur in Attica, and that some specimens of them have also been found in the Egyptian tombs and in Cyprus.

Another vase found in the tomb of Spata is ornamented with black spirals.

I also mention among the findings at Spata the large quantity of small ornaments which Professor Landerer's analysis has proved to consist of glass alloyed with much protoxide of lead, the latter having the property of breaking the rays of light; these ornaments present a silvery mirror-like glimmer. Landerer observes that it is soda-glass (in German, Natrum-Glas), and that it has the property of dividing into small leaves or splinters. It is very remarkable that all these ornaments of glass have evidently been cast in moulds, and that many of them resemble more or less the types which we see in the Mycenean moulds represented under No. 162 and No. 163, p. [107] and p. [109]. On the reverse side of most of these objects are one, two, or three small holes, or tubular rings, for fastening them on other objects, probably on clothes. A most frequent object here is that which we recognise in the type on the lower side of the mould, No. 162, p. [107]. There also occur small cones of a much weather-beaten glass, which have the very greatest similarity to the type which we see in that side of the mould, No. 163, which is represented on page [109] in the upper row to the right of the spectator; it also resembles very much the small cone, No. 164, p. [109], of which a large number were found at Mycenæ; the only difference is that the cones of Spata have an impressed spiral line, whereas the cones of Mycenæ show impressed concentric circles. However, it deserves attention that the mould, No. 163, represents the type of such a cone with a spiral line. But then, again, there is the greatest difference in the substance, for whilst at Spata all these small ornaments are of glass, the Mycenean cones and other objects, such as Nos. 164, 165, 166 and 167, are of a hard-baked clay, which has been varnished with a lead glaze; no trace of glass having been found at Mycenæ except some small glass beads, the small object, No. 177, and the almost microscopical tubes of cobalt glass described at pages [157] and [158]. As, on the other hand, there have been found a large quantity of small ornaments of hard-baked clay varnished with a lead-glaze, we cannot reasonably doubt that the manufacture of glass at Mycenæ was only in its first beginning, that until the capture of the city (468 B.C.) it made no progress there, and that all the types contained in the Mycenean moulds served merely for the casting of similar ornaments of baked clay varnished with a lead-glaze.

But there also occur in the tomb at Spata objects of blue cobalt glass, some of which are identical in shape with the object of stone represented under No. 172, p. [111].

All these objects of glass lead us to the conclusion that the sepulchre of Spata belongs to a much later time than the royal tombs of Mycenæ. But we find a much stronger proof of this in the carved works discovered in the Spata sepulchre, which are generally thought to consist of ivory, but which by the investigation of Professor Landerer are proved to consist of common bone. All these carved works appear to belong to a late period of Assyrian art; perhaps the most remarkable object among them is a beardless man's head covered with a very high Assyrian mitre, the lower part of which is ornamented all round with a diadem, whilst the upper part is divided by three double bands into four compartments. As usual in the Assyrian hair-dress, the hair hangs down on the neck in three tresses, lying the one on the other. I also mention a comb 5·8 in. long, 3·4 in. broad, the upper part of which is divided by narrow borders into two horizontal compartments; the upper one containing in the midst a flower and on either side a female sphinx; the lower one containing three female sphinxes. There are also two bone plates with female sphinxes. All these sphinxes have very large and broad wings and exhibit a most excellent Assyrian style of art. In comparison with them the golden sphinxes of the Mycenean tombs, of which I have represented one under No. 277, on p. [183], show a most ancient and very primitive style of art.

Among the carved works found in the tomb at Spata particular attention is due to a plate of bone, on which is represented a lion devouring an ox; the whole body of the former is represented as hovering in the air, and his long outstretched hind-legs vividly remind us of the representation of the lions on the Mycenean goblets and plates of gold. On the other hand the lion's head and the ox which he devours most decidedly show an Assyrian style of art.

I repeat here that no trace of Assyrian art was found at Mycenæ.

Another of the carved works from Spata which deserves attention is a disk of bone of 4·6 in. in diameter, with a border formed by two double lines, the whole interior space being in the form of a net, divided by treble wave-like lines into small triangles.

Professor Landerer asserts that these large plates and disks of bone prove beyond any doubt that the art of softening bone in water, and pressing it, and thus preparing very large pieces of bone, was known in Attica at a remote antiquity.

I still call attention, among the objects found at Spata, to the small disks of stone, which have on one side in the centre a small tube, and may have been used as ornaments on the house doors. They are mostly similar to objects which I found at Mycenæ;[23] but they were also found in the sepulchre at Ialysus, and may be seen in the British Museum.

Of bronze arrow-heads several specimens were found in the sepulchre at Spata, but no trace of them occurred in the Mycenean tombs. On the other hand there were found in one of the latter the thirty-five arrow-heads of obsidian represented under No. 435, p. [272], and arrow-heads of the same stone also occurred in the débris above the tombs; it was only in the upper layers of débris at Mycenæ that I found some arrow-heads of bronze.[24]

Among the objects found at Spata I further mention the fragment of a vase of black granite, with two holes for suspension; fragments of similar vases occurred also at Mycenæ.

Close to this tomb was discovered another, consisting of but one small chamber, approached by a dromos which has but half the length of that which leads to the large tomb. In the small tomb was found the skeleton of a man which had evidently likewise been burned on a pyre on the very spot where it lay; there was also found the skeleton of a stag, but nothing more.

Colonel Leake is in all probability right in proclaiming the identity of Spata with the ancient demos of Sphettus (Σϕῆττος or Σϕηττός), and as, according to Plutarch,[25] the fifty Pallantides, sons of Pallas, the brother of Ægeus, marched from Sphettus against Athens; and as Colonel Leake, guided by an inscription published by Finlay, identifies the site of the demos of Pallenæ, which the Pallantides inhabited, with a spur of mount Hymettus, which bars the road to Probalinthus and Marathon, and is thus in the immediate neighbourhood of Sphettus—for all these reasons it has been supposed that the tombs of Spata might possibly belong to the Pallantides killed by Theseus. But this opinion is contradicted by the objects discovered, which make it impossible for us to attribute the large tomb to an earlier period than the eighth century, B.C., whilst the royalty at Athens belongs to a very remote antiquity, and must be contemporaneous with royalty at Mycenæ.

The use of masks in antiquity being a question very important for Archaeology, I cannot conclude without mentioning that my esteemed friend Professor A. Rhousopoulos, of the University of Athens, reminds me of a very small golden mask found last spring in a sepulchre on the coast of ancient Phoenicia, just opposite to the island of Aradus. It had been bought there by a trader in antiquities, who brought it first to Athens, and showed it to me at Boulogne-sur-Mer, on his way to London, where he intended to sell it. It is of thin gold plate, and so small that it could apparently only fit on the face of a new-born child. It represents a human face with shut eyes, in very rude repoussé work.

THE FALL OF MYCENÆ AS DESCRIBED BY DIODORUS SICULUS.

I give, at my worthy friend Professor F. A. Paley's suggestion, a literal translation of the account which Diodorus Siculus (xi. 65) gives us of Mycenæ's tragic end:

"In the seventy-eighth Olympiad (B.C. 468) a war was set on foot between the Argives and the people of Mycenæ, on the following grounds. The Myceneans, proud of the high renown which their own country had formerly enjoyed, refused to obey the Argives as the other cities in that territory had done, but took up an independent position and paid no regard to the Argives. They had disputes with them also about the worship of the goddess Hera, and put in a claim to have the sole conduct and management of the Nemean games. And still further they were at variance with them because, when the Argives had passed a resolution not to aid the Spartans at Thermopylae, unless they should be allowed a share in the command, the Myceneans alone of all the inhabitants of Argolis joined the ranks of the Lacedæmonians. The Argives had besides a general suspicion that some day their rivals might become too powerful and dispute with them the sovereignty, from the former greatness of their city. Such being the motives for hostility, they had long been watching an opportunity to raze Mycenæ to the ground; and they thought the fitting time had now arrived, as they saw the Lacedæmonians had been defeated and were unable to bring any aid to the Myceneans. Accordingly they collected a strong force from Argos and the other states in alliance, and led them to the attack. The Myceneans were beaten, driven into the walls of their city, and besieged. For some time they defended themselves with spirit against the besieging hosts; but at length, partly because they had been worsted in the war, partly because the Lacedæmonians were unable to aid them, from having wars of their own on hand, as well as through the disastrous effects of the earthquakes, and having no one now to help them, through mere deficiency of aid from without they were taken by assault. The Myceneans were thus made slaves by the Argives, a tithe of their property was consecrated to the service of religion, and their city was razed to the ground. Thus a state that had been great and wealthy in times of old, had numbered many illustrious men and performed many glorious actions, met with its final overthrow, and it has remained desolate up to our times" (i.e., to the time of Augustus).

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

[Preface], by the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone	Page	[v]
[Dr. Schliemann's Account of a Tomb at Spata], in Attica	"	[xli]
[The Fall of Mycenæ], as described by Diodorus Siculus	"	[xlviii]
[Table of French and English Measures]	"	[lviii]
[List of Illustrations]	"	[lix]

[CHAPTER I.]

EXCAVATIONS AT TIRYNS.

Situation of the City—Description by Pausanias—Cyclopean Walls: meaning of the epithet—The Quarry—The rock of Tiryns and its bordering Wall—Galleries, Gate, and Tower—Walls and Terraces of the Acropolis—Mythical traditions and History of Tiryns—Its destruction by the Argives—Its connection with the myth of Hercules—Morasses in the Plain of Argos—The Walls of Tiryns the most ancient monument in Greece—Pottery a test of antiquity—Beginning of the Excavations—Cyclopean house-walls and conduits—Objects discovered—Terra-cotta cows, and female idols with cow's-horns—Both represent the goddess HERA BOÖPIS—A bird-headed idol—A bronze figure, the only piece of metal at Tiryns, except lead—No stone implements found—Pottery—Hellenic remains outside the citadel, which was the primitive city—Proofs of different periods of habitation—The later city of Tiryns—The archaic pottery of Tiryns like that of Mycenæ—Its forms and decoration denote higher civilisation than the rude walls would lead us to expect—Older pottery on the virgin soil, but no cows or idols—Probable date of the second nation at Tiryns, about 1000 to 800 B.C.; of the Cyclopean walls, about 1800 to 1600 B.C.—No resemblance to any of the pottery in the strata of Hissarlik, except the goblets—A human skeleton found—Whorls—Estimate of soil to be moved at Tiryns—Greater importance of MYCENÆ Page [1]

NOTE A.—"HERA BOÖPIS" [19]

[CHAPTER II.]

TOPOGRAPHY OF MYCENÆ.

GATE OF THE LIONS AND TREASURY OF ATREUS.

The road from Argos to Mycenæ—The Plain of Argos: its rivers and hills, horses and vegetation—Myth regarding its arid nature—Swamps in the southern part; and fable of the Lernæan hydra—Early social develop-ment here—Legend of Phoroneus—The Pelasgian Argos—The Achæan states of Argos and Mycenæ—Situation of Mycenæ—The Citadel and its Cyclopean walls—The term defined—"Gate of the Lions"—The postern gate—Cisterns—Poetical confusion of Argos and Mycenæ.

The Lower City: its house-walls, bridge, treasuries, and pottery—Its partially enclosing wall—The undefended suburb, and its large buildings—Its extent—The only two wells in Mycenæ—Three Treasuries in the suburb—Treasuries in the Lower City—Description of the "Treasury of Atreus"—Dodwell's Argument for regarding the building as a Treasury—Uniqueness of these structures—Excavation of the Treasury by Veli Pasha [23]

[CHAPTER III.]

HISTORY OF MYCENÆ AND THE FAMILY OF PELOPS.

THE SEPULCHRES OF AGAMEMNON AND HIS COMPANIONS.

Traditional foundation of Mycenæ by Perseus—His dynasty succeeded by the Pelopids—The legend of their crimes unknown to Homer and Hesiod—The Homeric story of Agamemnon's murder by Ægisthus and Clytemnestra, avenged by Orestes—Cycle of crimes devised by the later bards—Dominion of Agamemnon—End of the Dynasty at Mycenæ with Ægisthus—Orestes and his sons—The Dorian invasion—Part taken by Mycenæ in the Persian wars—The Argives besiege and take Mycenæ—The walls of the citadel preserved from religious reverence—Homeric epithets of Mycenæ—Its "abundance of gold" confirmed by Thucydides—The Treasuries of the Pelopids mentioned by Pausanias—Treasury at the Heræum, near Mycenæ—Probable existence of another Treasury at Mycenæ.

The Royal Sepulchres described by Pausanias—General misinterpretation of the passage—Experimental shafts sunk there in February, 1874—Excavations begun, August 7, 1876—Porter's lodge at the Lions' Gate—The later habitation of the city after 468 B.C.—No coins of Mycenæ known—Remains below this first stratum—Painted archaic vases, like those at Tiryns—The vases almost all made on the Potter's wheel—Female idols and cows of terra-cotta—Other idols and animals—Iron knives and curious keys of a later period—Bronze knives and arrow-heads—Stone implements and other objects—A little gold and much lead found—Fragments of a lyre and flute—Plates of ornamented terra-cotta for lining walls—Cyclopean house-walls—A remarkable water-conduit—Twelve tomb-like reservoirs—Two tombstones with bas-reliefs, probably of the same epoch as that over the Lions' Gate [52]

[CHAPTER IV.]

EXCAVATIONS IN THE CITADEL OF MYCENÆ—continued.

Wages and worth of labour at Mycenæ—The double circle of slabs—Two more sculptured stêlæ—Unsculptured stêlæ—Ashes and bones, probably of sacrifices—Fragments of other sculptured tombstones—The style of these stêlæ unique—Their probable age about 1500 B.C.—A Cyclopean house filled with ashes, bones, &c.—Objects found there and in the twelve reservoirs—Great significance of the tombstones found in the Acropolis—They mark the Royal Tombs, mentioned by Pausanias from tradition only—Excavation of the Treasury close to the Lions' Gate: about as large as that of Atreus—Antiquity of the covering-up proved by the ancient vases, idols, &c. in the débris above—Hera-idols, and others, found in the dromos, and in the Acropolis—Their vast abundance—Cow-heads on handles of vases, as at Troy—Moulds for earrings and other ornaments of gold and silver, and curious clay cones—Other ornaments of glazed clay, potstone, &c.—Numerous objects of bronze—Curious wheels—Necklace beads of various stones, with intaglios of animals, and similar objects of other shapes—Two-handled goblets; the δέπας ἀμϕικύπελλον of Homer—Depth of the débris—Breach in the great Cyclopean wall, repaired by an ancient wall of small stones—The quarry of Mycenæ [86]

[CHAPTER V.]

EXCAVATIONS IN AND NEAR THE ACROPOLIS—continued.

THE LIONS' GATE AND THE AGORA.

The Treasury excavated by Mrs. Schliemann—Older and less sumptuous than that of Atreus—The entrance, its ornaments—Archaic pottery found in the passage—Necklace beads—Fragment of a marble frieze—Threshold of the Lions' Gate—The great double row of parallel slabs, probably not of a remote antiquity—The Acropolis only partly accessible to chariots—The gateway double, like the Scæan Gate at Troy—Corridors of Cyclopean house-walls—Hera-idols and arrow-heads of bronze and iron—Door-keeper's lodge—Retaining walls—Tower of the Acropolis resting on a massive wall—The double circle of slabs formed the enclosure of the royal tombs and the Agora—Arguments in proof of this view—Objects of interest found there—A vast Cyclopean house with cisterns and water conduit, probably the ancient Royal Palace—The spring Perseia—No windows in the house—Objects of art and luxury found there—An onyx seal-ring—Vase-paintings of mail-clad warriors—Hand-made pottery in the Acropolis [118]

NOTE [138]

[CHAPTER VI.]

The SECOND GREAT TREASURY; ACROPOLIS; AND CYCLOPEAN REMAINS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF MYCENÆ.

Further excavations of Mrs. Schliemann's Treasury—The dromos, doorway, and threshold—Objects found there—Hera-idols—Cyclopean water-conduits and cisterns in the Acropolis—Bronze rings—Pottery with marks like letters—Earrings like those found at Troy—Hand-made painted pottery—New forms of Hera-idols—Terra-cotta tripods and cradles, probably votive offerings—A comb, stilettos of opal, beads and buttons—A bronze sword—Iron tongs of late date—State of the débris left at the Lions' Gate—The excavations visited by the Emperor of Brazil—Ascent of Mount Eubœa—The Cyclopean enclosure on its summit; was probably a very ancient sanctuary—Other Cyclopean remains near Mycenæ—State of the excavations [139]

NOTE [149]

[CHAPTER VII.]

THE FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD TOMBS IN THE ACROPOLIS.

Discovery of the Tomb indicated by the three sculptured stêlæ—Curious gold-covered buttons, objects of ivory, baked clay, gold, glass, bronze, &c.—Pottery, both wheel and hand-made—Second Tomb below the unsculptured stêlæ—Discovery of three human bodies, which had been partially burnt where they lay—Fifteen diadems of thin gold plate found on the bodies—Also crosses of golden laurel-leaves—Other curious objects, proving a knowledge of the art of glass-working and colouring—Knives of obsidian—A silver vase with a bronze mouth plated with gold, and other objects—Terra-cotta vases—The horned Hera-idols found in the tomb, a proof of that symbolic worship in the earliest times at Mycenæ—Its duration to the last age of the city—Primitive painted wheel-made vases of terra-cotta—Further discovery of sepulchral slabs—Various objects found with them—The Third Tomb—Several skeletons of men, not burnt, and objects found with them—A curious double-bladed bronze dagger—Narrow escape from a falling rock—Internal walls of the tomb—Three skeletons of women in it, evidently burnt where they lay—Laden with jewels of gold—Layers of round plates of gold with ornamentation of repoussé work under and over the bodies—Description of their many types—The other jewels described—Other chased and embossed beads—Golden griffins—Legend of the griffins of Indian origin—Heart-shaped and lion-draped gold ornaments—Curious brooches formed of palm-trees, stags, and lions—Women with pigeons—Golden cuttle-fish, butterflies, swans, hippocampi, eagles, sphinxes, trees, and birds—The splendid gold crown on the head of one of the bodies—Signs upon it—The second gold crown—Five more diadems of gold—Crosses of double leaves of gold—Golden stars—A gold brooch, and other ornaments—Necklaces and bracelets—Two pairs of golden scales—Golden plates—A child's mask of gold—Other ornaments—Balls, &c. of rock crystal, silver, and bronze, probably the handles of sceptres—Lentoid gems of agate, sardonyx, &c., with intaglios—A lentoid gem of amethyst engraved with a cow suckling her calf, as on the old coins of Corcyra—Gold wheels—A gold comb with bone teeth, &c.—Amber beads—Other ornaments—Pieces of gold-leaf strewn below and about the bodies—A gold goblet—A curious gold box, and gold vases with lids fastened on by wires—A silver vase and golden sceptre-handle—Boxes of copper-plate filled with wood, perhaps pillows for the dead bodies—Other objects found in the third sepulchre—Hand-made and very ancient wheel-made pottery [150]

[CHAPTER VIII.]

THE FOURTH TOMB IN THE ACROPOLIS OF MYCENÆ.

Further search within the Agora, without the guide of tombstones—Discovery of an altar of Cyclopean masonry, over the centre of the great Fourth Tomb, containing the bodies of five men, burnt where they lay, laden with jewels, and covered with a layer of white clay—Objects found—Copper caldrons, one containing 100 gold-plated buttons with intaglio work—Homeric mention of caldrons—A silver cow's head with gold horns and a gold sun on its forehead: it represents Hera—Cow-heads with axes—Swords and lances of bronze—Gold-plated wooden sword-sheaths and hilts with gold pins—Three masks of gold covering the faces of the bodies—A fourth mask, representing a lion's head—Two seal-rings and a bracelet, with ornaments—The state of art corresponds with that described in Homer—Golden breastplates on two of the bodies—Golden crown by the head of another—Golden ornament of the greaves—Borax used then, as now, for soldering gold—More than one δέπας ἀμϕικύκελλον, and other vessels of gold and silver—The large gold goblet, with doves on the two handles, like Nestor's cup in the Iliad—Two-handled terra-cotta vases, hand-made, like those at Troy—Ornaments of alabaster—Gold shoulder-belts (τελαμῶνες)—Other objects found in the tomb, of rock crystal, amber, alabaster—Golden diadems, some seemingly for children; also a child's belt and frontlet, or "belle Hélène," and other ornaments of gold—Double edged battle-axes—Their use by the Greeks as a symbol, especially at Tenedos—A funeral fork of copper—Vase-lids of bone—Vessel of silver and lead in shape of an animal—Buttons of wood, plated with gold, splendidly ornamented—Their patterns and workmanship—Hundreds of gold flowers, plain buttons, and other ornaments of gold—Larger gold buttons, splendidly ornamented—Leaves of gold strewn under, over, and around the bodies—Wooden comb with gold handle—Gold models of temples—Many golden cuttle-fish—Gold knobs for sword hilts, highly ornamented—Arrow-heads of obsidian—Boars' teeth—Large copper vessels—Custom of placing such vessels in tombs—A copper tripod—Uses of tripods in Homer—Bronze swords, lances, and knives—Some swords with parts of their wooden sheaths, alabaster handle-knobs, golden studs, &c.—Remnants of linen sheaths—Oyster-shells and unopened oysters—Broken pottery, indicative of a still existing funeral custom—The bones of the deceased—Alabaster vases—Hand-made and very ancient wheel-made pottery—Fragments of a characteristic form of goblet, both of terra-cotta and of gold—Another type of goblets—Two whetstones—A handle of unique work, gold encrusted with rock crystal, "θαῦμα ἰδέσθαι." [211]

NOTE ON THE ROYAL PALACE [288]

[CHAPTER IX.]

THE FIFTH SEPULCHRE, AND THE FIRST AGAIN.

At length again a guard and watchfire on the Acropolis of Mycenæ—Exploration of the Fifth Tomb—Its sepulchral stêlæ—The tomb described; containing only one body—Golden diadem and other objects found in the tomb—Hand-made vases of terra-cotta; one with female breasts, like the prehistoric vases at Santorin and Troy—Wheel-made pottery—Excavation of the First Tomb completed—Its position and construction. Three bodies in it: the middle one has been disturbed and rifled of its ornaments—Large size of the bodies—Golden mask and state of the first—Wonderful preservation of the third—Its ponderous gold mask, face, and teeth—Description of the body—its remarkable compression—Golden breast-plate, and leaves of gold on the forehead, eyes, and breast—Excitement caused by the discovery—Measures taken to preserve and remove the body—Its shoulder belt and bronze sword with crystal ornament, and disks of gold for the sheath: all special funeral ornaments, and not for ordinary use—Description of the golden breast-covers of this and the first body—Highly-decorated bronze swords and other objects found with the third body—Ornamented golden leaves, a wooden comb, and bronze swords, with the second body—A large heap of broken bronze swords, with knives and lances—Other weapons, chiefly in fragments—Amber and gold beads, and various objects of gold and silver—An alabaster vase—Wonderful plates of gold—The two massive golden masks of the first tomb—The skilled work argues a long-trained school of artists—Several large goblets of gold and silver—Objects in this sepulchre—A silver vase, with copper and gold plating—A drinking-cup of alabaster—Plates of gold, in form of double eagles, &c.—Fragments of silver vases; one with a gold mouthpiece and handle—A splendidly ornamented plate of gold, covering a cylinder of charred wood—Hundreds of gold-button-plates, large and small, with various ornamentation—The new types shown—Gold plates, ribbons, and ornaments for greaves—Tubes and buttons of bone; their probable use—An ivory plate, and a curious object of glazed Egyptian porcelain—Hand-made and wheel-made pottery—Seven large copper vessels, caldrons and cans—A quadrangular wooden box, with most interesting reliefs Page [289]

[CHAPTER X.]

CONNECTION OF THE FIVE TOMBS WITH THE ROYAL HOUSE OF PELOPS; AND DATE OF THE AGORA.

Discussion of the identity of the five tombs with those mentioned by Pausanias as the tombs of Agamemnon and his companions—Opinions of scholars about the Trojan War—The ancients unanimous for its reality—The author's faith in the traditions led to his discovery of Troy and of the five Royal Tombs at Mycenæ—The civilisation of Mycenæ higher than that of Troy—The pottery of both very primitive—Alphabetic writing known at Troy, but not at Mycenæ—The different civilisations may have been contemporaneous—The appearances in the tombs prove the simultaneous death of those interred, certainly in each tomb, and probably in all the five—Traditional veneration for the sepulchres—Monuments repeatedly placed over them—No tombs between the two circular rows of slanting slabs which formed the enclosure of the Agora and its benches—Agora probably erected when the tombstones were renewed, and the altar built over the fourth tomb, under the influence of the enthusiasm created by the Rhapsodists—These monuments buried in the course of time, but the memory of the site was fresh by tradition long after the destruction of the new city of Mycenæ—Testimony of Pausanias—The enormous treasures prove the sepulchres to be royal, but royalty at Mycenæ ended with the Dorian invasion—This must have been much earlier than the received date, 1104 B.C.—An objection answered—Honours paid to the remains of murdered princes even by their murderers—Custom of burying the dead with their treasures—The sepulchral treasure of Palestrina—The sepulchre of Nitocris at Babylon—Case of Pyrrhus and the royal sepulchres at Ægeæ—The sepulchre at Corneto [333]

[CHAPTER XI.]

TREASURE OF THE TOMB SOUTH OF THE AGORA.

Discovery and description of another tomb in the Acropolis outside the Agora—Its Cyclopean masonry like that of the five sepulchres—The golden trinkets of this tomb—Double-handled goblets—A plain gold cup (φιάλη)—Spirals and rings of gold and silver wire, like those of the Egyptian tombs—A golden seal-ring covered with intaglio-work—Its full description—The face-covers of the female figures prove the use of masks during life—A figure meant for a Palladium—Six other rude figures resembling the Trojan idols: their likeness to the "Corinthian helmet" of Athena—The work of this ring calls to mind Homer's description of the shield of Achilles—A smaller golden signet-ring, with four Palladia and three Hera-idols—A beautiful lion of massive gold—Gold necklace beads—Bones of animals found in this tomb—The human remains probably removed when the water conduit was built, but the small jewel-recess escaped being rifled—Three curious lentoid gems of necklaces, one found on the site of Phœnicé, the others near the ancient Heræum—The first represents Phœnician figures—Description of the other two—The Cyclopean foundations of the ancient Heræum, probably as old as the walls of Tiryns and Mycenæ—It was destroyed by fire in 423 B.C., and its site deserted—Professors Sayce and Mahaffy on the Date of the Capture of Mycenæ—Views of M. Emile Burnouf [350]

Telegrams to and from the King of Greece—Conclusion [380]

ANALYSIS OF MYCENEAN METALS [387]

APPENDIX A. Tombs in the Agora [383]

APPENDIX B. Explanation of the objects in fig. 213 [383]

APPENDIX C. Possible connection between ornaments found at Mycenæ and the Badges worn by those initiated into the Egyptian mysteries [384]

APPENDIX D. Account of ornamentation on a bronze sword [385]

INDEX [397]

NOTE TO PAGE [145].

With reference to the visit paid to the excavation at Mycenæ by the Emperor of Brazil, I feel bound to mention the renewed mark of his Majesty's interest in the discoveries, when he did me the signal honour of visiting my lodgings in London on June 22, 1877. His Majesty spent two hours in examining with great attention my large Album of Mycenean photographs, and repeatedly congratulated me on the results of my excavations.
H. S.

COMPARATIVE TABLE OF FRENCH AND ENGLISH MEASURES, EXACT AND APPROXIMATE.

Metric.	Inches.	Ft.	Inch.	Approximate.
Millimètre	0·0393708	"	·03937	·04 or 1⁄25 of inch.
Centimètre	0·393708	"	·39371	4" ⅖ "
Décimètre	3·93708	"	3·9371	4 inches.
Mètre	39·3708	3	3·3708	3⅓ feet.
2	78·7416	6	6·7416	6⅔ "
3	118·1124	9	10·1124	10 "
4	157·4832	13	1·4832	13 "
5	196·8540	16	4·8540	16⅓ "
6	236·2248	19	8·2248	19⅔ "
7	275·5956	22	11·5956	23 "
8	314·9664	26	2·9664	26¼ "
9	354·3372	29	6·3372	29½ "
10	393·7089	32	9·7080	33 "
11	433·0788	36	1·0788	36 (12 yds.)
12	472·4496	39	4·4496	39⅓ feet.
13	511·8204	42	7·8204	42⅔ "
14	551·1912	45	11·1912	46 "
15	590·5620	49	2·5620	49¼ "
16	620·9328	52	5·9328	52½ "
17	669·3036	55	9·3036	55¾ "
18	708·6744	59	0·6744	59 "
19	748·0452	62	4·0452	62⅓ "
20	787·416	65	7·4160	65⅔ "
30	1181·124	98	5·124	98½ "
40	1574·832	131	2·832	131¼ "
50	1968·54	164	0·54	164 "
100	3937·08	328	1·08	328 (109 yds.)

N. B.—The following is a convenient approximate rule:—"To turn Metres into Yards, add 1-11th to the number of Metres."

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

		PAGE
PLATE I. THE ACROPOLIS OF TIRYNS	To face	[1]
PLATE II. THE WEST SIDE OF THE ACROPOLIS OF MYCENÆ"		[23]
PLATE III. THE GATE OF THE LIONS	"	[32]
PLATE IV. THE TREASURY OF ATREUS	"	[43]
PLATE V. THE TREASURY NEAR THE LIONS' GATE, EXCAVATED BY MRS. SCHLIEMANN	Frontispiece
PLATE VI. ICHNOGRAPHY OF THE ROYAL TOMBS WITHIN THE CIRCLE OF THE AGORA	To face	[124]
PLATE VII. Panoramic View of Dr. Schliemann's Excavations in the Acropolis of Mycenæ	To face	[148]

CHAPTER I.—TIRYNS.
VIGNETTE.—No. 1. Map of Argolis		[1]
No. 2. Terra-cotta Cow,	Tiryns	[10]
Nos. 3-7. Terra-cotta Cows,	"	[11]
Nos. 8-11. Terra-cotta Idols,	"	[12]
No. 12. Bronze Figure,	"	[14]
Nos. 13, 14. Terra-cotta Vessels,	"	[17]
No. 15. Stone Whorl, found at Mycenæ		[18]
CHAPTER II.—MYCENÆ.
VIGNETTE.—No. 16. Ruins of the Cyclopean Bridge at Mycenæ		[23]
No. 17. Walls of the First Period		[29]
No. 18. Walls of the Second Period		[30]
No. 19. Walls of the Third Period		[30]
No. 20. Entrance to the ogive-like Gallery in the Walls of the Citadel of Mycenæ		[32]
No. 21. Gate of the Lions		[32]
No. 22. Plan of the Gate of the Lions		[34]
No. 22a. Right and Left Door-posts of the Gate of Lions		[35]
No. 23. Elevation and Plan of the Postern Gate		[35]
No. 23a. Terra-cotta Vase		[51]
CHAPTER III.—MYCENÆ.
VIGNETTE.—No. 24. First of the Tombstones found above the Sepulchres in the Acropolis		[52]
No. 25. Terra-cotta Vase		[64]
No. 26. Terra-cotta Jug		[65]
No. 27. Vase of Yellow Ware, with black and yellow lines		[66]
No. 28. Vase of Black and Yellow Ware		[67]
No. 29. Terra-cotta vase. The bands yellow and reddish, the lines black		[67]
PLATE VIII.—Nos. 30-34. Fragments of Painted Vases.	End of Volume
PLATE IX.—Nos. 35-39. ""	"
PLATE X.—Nos. 40-47. ""	"
PLATE XI.—Nos. 48-54. ""	"
PLATE XII.—Nos. 55-61. ""	"
PLATE XIII.—Nos. 62-67. ""	"
PLATE XIV.—Nos. 68-72. ""	"
PLATE XV.—Nos. 73-78. ""	"
No. 80. Painted Vase		[68]
No. 81. Human Head on the Mouth of a Jug		[69]
No. 82. Human Head on a Potsherd		[69]
No. 83. Goblet of Terra-cotta		[70]
Nos. 84-89. Fragments of Painted Pottery		[71]
PLATE XVI.—Nos. 90-93. Terra-cotta Idols	End of Volume
PLATE XVII.—Nos. 94-98.	"
PLATE XVIII.—Nos. 99-102.	"
PLATE XIX.—Nos. 103-110.	"
No. 111. Terra-cotta Idol		[72]
Nos. 112, 113. Terra-cotta Figures		[73]
Nos. 114-119. Terra-cotta Figures of Animals		[74]
No. 120. Objects in Bronze, Lead, and Iron		[74]
Nos. 121-125. Bronze Knives		[75]
No. 126. Arrow-heads, Hatchets, and other objects of stone		[76]
No. 127. Fragment of a Lyre of Bone		[78]
Nos. 128, 129. Lower and Upper Ends of a Flute		[78]
No. 130a. Another part of the same Flute		[79]
Nos. 130-136. Combs and Needles of Terra-cotta		[79]
Nos. 137-139. Terra-cotta Ornaments		[79]
No. 140. Second Tombstone, found above the Sepulchres in the Acropolis		[81]
No. 140a. Pattern of straight and spiral frets		[83]
CHAPTER IV.—MYCENÆ.
VIGNETTE.—No. 141. Third Tombstone, found above the Sepulchres in the Acropolis		[86]
No. 142. Fourth Tombstone, found above the Sepulchres in the Acropolis		[91]
No. 143. Piece of a Tombstone		[92]
No. 144. "		[93]
No. 145. "		[94]
Nos. 146-148. Three Pieces of Tombstones		[95]
Nos. 149-150. Fragments of Tombstones		[96]
No. 151. Piece of a quadrangular Column of Red Porphyry		[97]
Nos. 152-154. Fragments of Friezes		[98]
No. 155. Jasper Weight, with a hole for suspension		[100]
No. 156. Fragment of a perforated Terra-cotta Vase		[101]
No. 157. Piece of a Painted Vase, from the "dromos" of the Treasury near the Lions' Gate		[103]
No. 158. Fragment of the same Pottery from the "dromos"		[103]
No. 159. Idol of Terra-cotta, with a Cow's Head, on the handle of a Vase		[104]
No. 160. Idol of Terra-cotta with a Cow's Head		[105]
No. 161. Cow-headed Idols of Hera		[106]
No. 162. Two faces of a Granite Mould for casting various ornaments		[107]
No. 163. Four faces of a six-sided Mould of Basalt		[109]
Nos. 164-166. Ornaments of Glazed Clay		[109]
Nos. 167-169. " "		[110]
Nos. 170-172. " "		[111]
No. 173. Double-edged Hatchet of Bronze		[111]
Nos. 174-181. Lentoid Gems		[112]
Nos. 182-189. Lentoid Gems, Cylinder, and Beads		[113]
No. 190. A Disk of Terra-cotta, with the appearance of an Inscription		[115]
No. 190a. Pattern of the Slabs forming the Double Parallel Circle enclosing the Agora		[117]
CHAPTER V.—MYCENÆ.
VIGNETTE.—No. 191. The Village of Charvati, with the ancient Quarry of Mycenæ		[118]
PLATE XX.—Nos. 192-197. { Fragments of Painted Pottery from { the Approach to the Treasury PLATE XXI.—Nos. 198-204. { near the Lions' Gate	End Of Volume
Nos. 205-209. Beads of Glass and Fluor-spar		[121]
No. 210. Threshold of the Gate of Lions		[121]
No. 210 a. Slanting Bench of the Agora		[125]
No. 211. A Fish of Wood		[129]
No. 212. A curious Idol		[129]
No. 213. Fragments of a Painted Vase representing armed Warriors		[133]
No. 213 a, b. A very frequent type of Mycenean Painted Pottery		[138]
CHAPTER VI.—MYCENÆ.
VIGNETTE.—No. 214. Other Fragments of the Vase (No. 213)		[139]
Nos. 215, 216. Fragments of Friezes of blue and white marble, found in the Treasury near the Lions' Gate		[140]
Nos. 217-220. Bronze Rings (two with intaglio engravings), and a twisted Gold Wire		[142]
No. 221. Bronze Sword		[144]
CHAPTER VII.—SEPULCHRES I. II. III.[26]
VIGNETTE.—No. 222. Fragment of a Wooden Box		[150]
No. 223. Plan of Tombstones in the First Tomb		[151]
Nos. 224-229. Objects of ivory, bone, or metallic composition. Sepulchre I.		[153]
No. 230. Foot of a black hand-made Goblet. Sepulchre I.		[154]
No. 231. Cross of Golden Laurel Leaves. Sepulchre II.		[157]
Nos. 232, 233. Fragments of a very ancient wheel-made Vase. Sepulchre II.		[160]
No. 234. Plan of Tombstones above the Third Tomb		[161]
No. 235. Piece of Ornamented Ivory		[162]
Nos. 236, 237. Hand-made Vases of Terra-cotta		[163]
No. 238. Large Bronze Dagger, with two blades soldered together in the middle		[164]
No. 239. Plate of Gold		[166]
No. 240. " " A Cuttle-fish		[166]
No. 241. " " A Flower		[167]
No. 242. " "		[167]
No. 243. " " A Butterfly		[168]
No. 244. " "		[168]
No. 245. " "		[169]
No. 246. " "		[169]
No. 247. Leaf in Gold Plate		[170]
No. 248. Leaf Pattern in Gold Plate		[170]
No. 249. " "		[171]
No. 250. " "		[171]
No. 251. Star in Gold Plate		[172]
No. 252. Plate of Gold		[172]
Nos. 253-255. Perforated Ornaments of Gold, with Engravings in Intaglio		[174]
Nos. 256-260. Golden Ornaments		[176]
No. 261. Golden Ornament. A Griffin		[177]
Nos. 262, 263. Golden Ornaments. Heart and Lion		[178]
Nos. 264, 265. Golden Ornaments		[179]
No. 266. Golden Ornament		[180]
Nos. 267, 268. Golden Ornaments. Women with Doves		[180]
No. 269. Golden Ornament		[181]
Nos. 270, 271. Two Golden Cuttle Fish		[181]
No. 272. Flying Griffin of Gold		[182]
No. 273. Golden Ornament		[182]
Nos. 274-280. Golden Ornaments		[183]
No. 281. Splendid Crown of Gold, found on the head of one of the three persons interred in the Third Sepulchre		[185]
No. 282. Golden Diadem, found on the head of another body in the Third Sepulchre		[186]
Nos. 283, 284. Diadems of Gold		[188]
No. 285. Cross in Gold Plate		[189]
Nos. 286-288. Ornaments of Gold		[190]
Nos. 289,290. Golden Crosses		[191]
No. 291. Cross of Gold		[192]
No. 292. Golden Brooch		[193]
No. 293. Golden Ornament from the Third Sepulchre		[194]
No. 294. Golden Cross		[194]
Nos. 295-300. Golden Hair-holders, Bracelets, and Ornaments of Necklaces		[196]
Nos. 301, 302. Golden Balances		[197]
Nos. 303-306. Golden Ornaments		[199]
Nos. 307, 308. Objects of Rock Crystal		[200]
Nos. 309, 310. Sceptres of Silver plated with Gold, with Handles of Rock Crystal		[201]
Nos. 311-315. Beads of Agate and Lentoid Gems of Sardonyx and Amethyst		[202]
No. 316. Golden Wheel		[203]
Nos. 317, 318. Goblet and Box of Gold		[205]
No. 319. Golden Vase, with lid attached by a golden wire		[206]
Nos. 320-322. Three Golden Vessels		[207]
No. 323. Box of Copper Plate, filled with wood		[208]
No. 324. Vessel of Terra-Cotta		[209]
No. 325. Object of Alabaster		[209]
CHAPTER VIII.—SEPULCHRE IV.
VIGNETTE.—No. 326. Golden Mask in the form of a Lion's Head		[211]
No. 327. Cow's Head of Silver, with Horns of Gold		[216]
No. 328. Another View of the Cow's Head		[217]
Nos. 329, 330. Two Golden Cow-Heads, with double axes		[218]
No. 331. Mask of Gold, found on the face of a body		[220]
No. 332. Gold Mask		[221]
No. 333 a, b. Two Gold Signet Rings		[223]
Nos. 334, 335. Intaglios on the Signet Rings		[223]
No. 336. Bracelet of Gold		[227]
No. 337. Splendid Crown of Gold found close to the head of one of the bodies in the Fourth Sepulchre		[229]
No. 338. Human Thigh-bone, with a Gold Ornament of the greaves still attached to it		[230]
No. 339. Golden Goblet with two handles		[231]
No. 340. Golden Goblet with one handle		[232]
No. 341. Golden Wine-Flagon		[232]
No. 342. Golden Cup		[233]
No. 343. Plain Massive Cup of Gold		[233]
No. 344. Large Massive Gold Goblet with two handles		[234]
No. 345. Gold Cup with one handle		[236]
No. 346. Golden Goblet with two doves on the handles		[237]
No. 347. Large Gold Cup		[239]
No. 348. Large Silver Goblet, richly plated with gold		[240]
No. 349. Hand-made Vase of Terra-cotta		[240]
Nos. 350, 351. Objects of Egyptian Porcelain, of unknown use		[241]
No. 352. Alabaster Model of a sort of Scarf tied in a noose		[242]
No. 353. Silver Flagon		[243]
No. 354. Gold Model of a Shoulder Belt		[244]
No. 355. Amber Necklace-beads		[245]
No. 356. Large three-handled Vase of Alabaster, recomposed from the Fragments		[246]
Nos. 357, 358. Belt and "Belle Hélène" of Gold		[248]
Nos. 359-365. Various Ornaments of Gold		[250]
No. 366. Highly-decorated Golden Cylinder, probably the handle of a sword or sceptre		[251]
Nos. 367-370. Golden Ornaments		[253]
Nos. 371, 372. Objects of Copper		[255]
Nos. 373-375. Two Bone Lids of Jars and a piece of an Alabaster Vase		[256]
No. 376. Stag, of an alloy of silver and lead		[257]
Nos. 377-386. Buttons of Wood, covered with plates of gold, highly ornamented		[258], [259]
Nos. 387-401. Plates of Gold		[263]
Nos. 402-413. Gold Buttons		[264]
Nos. 414-422a. " "		[265]
No. 423. Model of a Temple in Gold		[267]
No. 424. A Cuttle-fish in Gold		[268]
Nos. 425, 426. Two halves of a whorl-shaped object of thick Gold Plate		[268]
Nos. 427-434. Gold Covers of the Knobs of Sword-handles		[269]-[271]
No. 435. Arrow-heads of Obsidian		[272]
No. 436. Large Copper Vessel		[274]
No. 437. Two large Copper Vessels stuck together		[275]
No. 438. Large Copper Vessel with three handles		[275]
No. 439. Large two-handled Vessel of Copper		[276]
No. 440 Copper Tripod		[278]
No. 441. Lance-head of Bronze		[279]
Nos. 442, 442a. Small One-edged Bronze Swords		[279]
Nos. 443, 444. Fragment of a Two-edged Bronze Sword, and another weapon, probably a Dagger		[280]
No. 445 a, b, c. Two-edged Bronze Swords, and an Alabaster Sword Knob		[281]
No. 446. Two-edged Bronze Sword		[282]
Nos. 447-449. Two-edged Bronze Swords, and an Alabaster Sword Knob		[283]
No. 450. Human Jawbone		[285]
Nos. 451, 452. Golden Tube, and Golden Dragon with scales of rock crystal, both being probably pieces of a sceptre-handle		[287]
CHAPTER IX.—SEPULCHRE I.[27]
VIGNETTE.—No. 474. Massive Golden Mask of the body at the south end of the First Sepulchre		[289]
No. 453. Richly ornamented Cup of Gold. Sepulchre V.		[292]
No. 454. The upper part of a body found in the First Tomb. From an Oil Painting made directly after its discovery		[297]
No. 455. Golden Shoulder-belt, with a fragment of the two-edged Sword		[299]
No. 456. Small Jar of Rock Crystal		[300]
No. 457. Funnel-shaped object, of Rock Crystal		[300]
No. 458. Ornamented Breast-cover of Massive Gold		[301]
No. 459. Small Bone, with the fragment of a splendidly ornamented Gold Ribbon		[302]
No. 460. Two Bronze Swords with golden handles; Golden Buttons belonging to the destroyed Wooden Sheaths; two gold plates, &c.; found lying beside a body in Sepulchre I.		[303]
No. 461. Gold Sword-tassel		[304]
No. 462. Golden Covers of Sword-handles, with intaglio ornamentation		[305]
Nos. 463-466. Bronze Battle-axe and Swords		[306]
No. 467. Sword-handle, plated with gold, richly ornamented		[307]
Nos. 468, 469. Curious object of Gold, and Silver Tongs		[308]
No. 470. Gold Plate, with Intaglio of a Lion chasing a Stag		[309]
No. 471. Gold Plate, with Intaglio of a Lion catching a Stag		[309]
No. 472. Gold Plate, with a spiral ornamentation in Intaglio		[311]
No. 473. See Vignette to Chapter X.		[333]
No. 474. See Vignette to Chapter IX.		[289]
No. 475. Large Gold Cup		[313]
No. 476. Large Gold Cup		[314]
No. 477. Golden Goblet		[315]
No. 478. Top and lower part of a large Silver Vase, from the First Sepulchre		[316]
No. 479. Large Goblet of Alabaster		[317]
No. 480. Double Eagles in Gold Plate		[318]
No. 481. Gold Plate, with a pattern in repoussé work		[319]
No. 482. Golden Mouthpiece of a Vase		[320]
No. 483. Golden Vase-handle		[320]
No. 484. Cylinder of Gold Plate		[321]
Nos. 485-506. Ornamented Gold Buttons		[322]-[324]
Nos. 507-512. " "		[326]
Nos. 513-518. Ornamented Gold Ribbons		[326]
No. 519. Golden Ornament of the Greaves		[328]
Nos. 520-524. Bone Tubes and Buttons		[328]
No. 525. Piece of Ivory; perhaps the Handle of a Dagger		[329]
No. 526. Object of Egyptian Porcelain		[330]
No. 527. Wheel-made Vase of Terra-cotta		[331]
CHAPTER X.—THE ROYAL TOMBS.
VIGNETTE.—No. 473. Massive Golden Mask of the body at the north end of the First Sepulchre		[333]
CHAPTER XI.—TOMB SOUTH OF THE AGORA.[28]
VIGNETTE.—No. 528. Golden Goblet, with Dog's Head Handles		[350]
No. 529. Gold Rings, Gold Wire (round and quadrangular) in spirals, and one Silver Ring		[353]
No. 530. Gold Signet-ring		[354]
No. 531. Second Gold Signet-ring		[360]
No. 532. Golden Lion		[361]
Nos. 533-538. Gold Beads of a Necklace		[361]
Nos. 539-541. Three Lentoid Gems of Serpentine and Agate with intaglio-work, found on the site of Phœnicé and of the Heræum		[362]
APPENDIX.
ANALYSIS OF METALS. FROM SEPULCHRE IV.
No. 542. Piece of Argentiferous Gold Foil		[368]
No. 543. Piece of Sheet Gold		[369]
Nos. 544, 545. Fragments of a Silver Vase		[370]
No. 546. Piece of a Bronze Sword		[372]
Nos. 547-549. Plan, side elevation, and end elevation, of a Bronze Handle of a Vase		[375]
Illustration to Appendix C—Egyptian Badge		[384]
Illustration to Appendix D—Two-edged Bronze Sword, after cleaning		[386]

[COLOURED PLATES OF TERRA-COTTA FIGURES.]
(To follow Index.)
PLATE A. Figs. a, b. Terra-cotta Cows and Idols from Tiryns.
" " c, d. Terra-cotta Idols from Tiryns.
PLATE B. Figs. e, f, g. Terra-cotta Idols from Mycenæ.
" " h. A piece of Terra-cotta, with characters resembling letters.
PLATE C. Fig. i. The Head of an Idol from Mycenæ.
" " k. A Cow from Mycenæ.
" " l, m. Idols from Mycenæ. Actual size.
PLATE D. Figs. n, o, p. Fragments of Terra-cotta Cow-headed Idols from Mycenæ.
[PLANS.]
(At End of Volume.)
PLAN A. The Acropolis of Tiryns.
PLAN B. The Circular Agora, with the Five Royal Sepulchres, in the Acropolis of Mycenæ.
PLAN B B. Vertical Sections of the Hill of the Acropolis of Mycenæ and the Depths of the Five Tombs.
PLAN C. Plan of the Acropolis of Mycenæ, with Dr. Schliemann's excavations.
PLAN D. Plan of the whole City of Mycenæ.
PLAN E. Façade, Plan, and Section of the Treasury near the Lions' Gate.
PLAN F. Plan and Section of the Fourth Sepulchre, with the Funeral Altar above it.
PLAN G. Plan and Section of the Tomb South of the Agora, in the Acropolis of Mycenæ.

PLATE I.

THE ACROPOLIS OF TIRYNS. To face page 1.

No. 1. Map of Argolis.

[[See larger version]]

CHAPTER I.

EXCAVATIONS AT TIRYNS.

Situation of the City—Description by Pausanias—Cyclopean Walls: meaning of the epithet—The Quarry—The rock of Tiryns and its bordering Wall—Galleries, Gate, and Tower—Walls and Terraces of the Acropolis—Mythical traditions and History of Tiryns—Its destruction by the Argives—Its connection with the myth of Hercules—Morasses in the Plain of Argos—The Walls of Tiryns the most ancient monument in Greece—Pottery a test of antiquity—Beginning of the Excavations—Cyclopean house-walls and conduits—Objects discovered—Terra-cotta cows, and female idols with cow's-horns—Both represent the goddess HERA BOÖPIS—A bird-headed idol—A bronze figure, the only piece of metal at Tiryns, except lead—No stone implements found—Pottery—Hellenic remains outside the citadel, which was the primitive city—Proofs of different periods of habitation—The later city of Tiryns—The archaic pottery of Tiryns like that of Mycenæ—Its forms and decoration denote higher civilisation than the rude walls would lead us to expect—Older pottery on the virgin soil, but no cows or idols—Probable date of the second nation at Tiryns, about 1000 to 800 B.C.; of the Cyclopean walls, about 1800 to 1600 B.C.—No resemblance to any of the pottery in the strata of Hissarlik, except the goblets—A human skeleton found—Whorls—Estimate of soil to be moved at Tiryns—Greater importance of MYCENÆ.

Tiryns, August 6, 1876.

In the south-east corner of the Plain of Argos, on the lowest and flattest of a group of rocky hills, which rise like islands out of the marshy lowlands, only eight stadia or one mile from the Gulf of Argos, was situated the ancient citadel of Tiryns, now called Palæocastron.[29] It was celebrated as the birthplace of Hercules and was famous for its gigantic Cyclopean walls, of which Pausanias says, "The circuit wall, which is the only remaining ruin (of Tiryns) was built by the Cyclopes. It is composed of unwrought stones, each of which is so large that a team of mules cannot even shake the smallest one: small stones have been interposed in order to consolidate the large blocks."[30]

THE CYCLOPEAN WALLS.

The usual size of the stones is 7 feet long and 3 feet thick, but I measured several which were 10 feet long and 4 feet thick. Judging by the masses of fallen stones, I think it probable that the walls, when entire, were not less than 60 feet high. Had the circuit wall consisted of wrought stones it would doubtless have disappeared ages ago, because its stones would have been used for the buildings in the neighbouring cities of Nauplia and Argos. But the wall was preserved on account of the enormous size of the blocks, for the later builders found it much more easy and convenient to cut the material they needed at the foot of the rocks than to destroy the wall and break up the blocks.

I may here mention that the name "Cyclopean walls" is founded on an error, being derived from the mythic legend that the Cyclopes were distinguished architects. According to Strabo (VIII. 6), the Cyclopes, seven in number, came from Lycia and erected in the Argolid walls and other buildings, which were known under the denomination "Cyclopean walls." According to Apollodorus (II. 2, 1) and Pausanias (II. 16, 4) they built the walls of Tiryns and Mycenæ. Probably in consequence of this the whole of Argolis is called "Cyclopean land."[31] There is of course no historical foundation for calling walls of huge blocks "Cyclopean," after the mythical giant race of the Cyclopes. But as the word has come into general use, I cannot avoid employing it.

It must be distinctly understood that not every wall built of stones, without any binding material, may be called "Cyclopean;" and that under that denomination are only comprised, firstly, the walls of large unwrought blocks, the interstices of which are filled in with smaller stones; secondly, the walls composed of large polygonal stones well fitted together; and, thirdly, the very ancient walls (such as we see in the Lions' Gate at Mycenæ) where immense quadrangular blocks, rudely wrought, are roughly put together in horizontal layers, but the joints not being quite straight, there remain small interstices between the stones. House or fortress walls of well-cut quadrangular slabs, which are closely joined without mortar, can never be called "Cyclopean;" and thus, even the large subterranean Treasuries at Mycenæ and Orchomenus can in no way claim this denomination, though they may belong to the remotest antiquity.[32]

The quarry from which these walls were built can easily be distinguished at the foot of a rock one mile distant, which is crowned by a chapel of the prophet Elias. But this quarry does not form a pit, such as we see at Syracuse, Baalbec, or Corinth. At Tiryns, as at Mycenæ, the Cyclopean builders have contented themselves with cutting away the blocks from the rocky surface.

THE CITADEL OF TIRYNS.

The flat rock of Tiryns, which is 900 feet long, from 200 to 250 feet broad, and from 30 to 50 feet high, extends in a straight line from north to south, and its margin is lined by the aforesaid Cyclopean circuit wall, which is from 25 to 50 feet thick, and in a pretty good state of preservation; but it is not always massive, being traversed by interior passages or galleries with ogival vaults, of which four can easily be discerned. One of these galleries, which is 90 feet long and 7 feet 10 inches broad and high and free from débris, has in its external wall six gate-like recesses or window openings, which reach down to the bottom. Their pointed arches are formed like the angle in the passage, merely by overlapping the ends of the courses of the masonry.[33]

These niches were most probably intended for archers, whilst the galleries themselves must have served for covered communications leading to armouries, guard-chambers, or towers. Of the other three galleries, two are in the south-eastern corner and run parallel to each other; the third, which traverses the western wall, seems to have served as a sally-port, and was probably concealed in some way or other.[34]

On the eastern side is the only gate, which is 15 feet broad. It is approached by a ramp 20 feet wide, which is supported by a wall of Cyclopean masonry.[35] The right flank of the gate is defended by a tower 43 feet high and 33 feet broad, which may have procured for the Tirynthians the credit of having been the first to build towers.[36] In this place the walls are better preserved than anywhere else, and they rise considerably above the flat summit of the mount within the Acropolis or citadel.

This citadel consists of an upper enclosure on the south, and a lower one on the north side; both are of about equal size, and are divided by an abrupt slope, 14 feet high, which was fortified by a Cyclopean wall of minor proportions. In this wall I perceive some stones shaped by art, and some even rectangular, which leads me to think that it belongs to a later time than the Cyclopean circuit walls. In the upper enclosure are a number of terraces supported by Cyclopean walls.

Through all antiquity the Greeks themselves looked upon the walls of Tiryns as a work of the demons. Pausanias [37] regards them as a structure more stupendous than the Pyramids of Egypt; and Homer manifests his admiration of them by the epithet "τειχιόεσσα," which he applies to Tiryns.[38]

HISTORY OF TIRYNS.

According to ancient tradition, Tiryns was founded (about 1400 B.C.) by Prœtus, who was its first king, and whose son Megapenthes ceded the town to Perseus, the builder of Mycenæ. Perseus gave it to Electryon, whose daughter Alcmena, the mother of Hercules, married Amphitryon, who was expelled by Sthenelus, the king of Mycenæ and Argos. Hercules conquered Tiryns and inhabited it for a long time, in consequence of which he is often called the Tirynthian.[39] On the return of the Heraclidæ (80 years after the Trojan war) Mycenæ itself, as well as Tiryns, Hysiæ, Mideia, and other cities, were forced to increase the power of Argos, and were reduced to the condition of dependent towns. Tiryns remained nevertheless in the hands of its Achæan population, and, together with Mycenæ, took part in the battle of Platææ with 400 men.[40] In consequence of this event the name of Tiryns was engraved, among those of the other Greek cities which had fought there, on the bronze column with the golden tripod-stand, which the Spartans dedicated as the tithe of the booty to the Pythian Apollo at Delphi. The glory which Tiryns thus acquired excited the envy of the Argives, who had taken no part in the Persian war, and who also began to consider that city as a very dangerous neighbour; particularly when it had fallen into the hands of their insurgent slaves (Γυμνήσιοι), who maintained themselves for a long time behind its Cyclopean walls and dominated the country.[41] The insurgents were finally subdued, but soon afterwards (Ol. 78, 1; 468 B.C.) the Argives destroyed the city, demolished part of its Cyclopean walls, and forced the Tirynthians to emigrate to Argos.[42] But according to Strabo [43] they fled to Epidaurus. Pausanias [44] mentions that between Tiryns and the gulf are the "θάλαμοι" of the insane daughters of Prœtus, of which no vestige is to be seen now; they cannot have been underground buildings on account of the morass. Theophrastus [45] speaks of the laughing propensities of the Tirynthians, which rendered them incapable of serious work.[46]

The myth of the birth of Hercules at Tiryns and the twelve labours he performed for Eurystheus, the king of the neighbouring Mycenæ, may, I think, be easily explained by his double nature as hero and as sun-god.[47] As the most powerful of all heroes, it is but natural that he should be fabled to have been born within the most powerful walls in the world, which were considered as the work of supernatural giants. As sun-god he must have had numerous sanctuaries in the plain of Argos and a celebrated cultus at Tiryns, because the marshy lowlands by which it is surrounded, and which even at present are nearly unproductive from want of drainage, were in remote antiquity nothing but deep swamps and morasses, which extending far up the plain engendered pestilential fevers, and could only be made to disappear gradually by incessant human labour and by the beneficent influence of the sun.

For the existence of the immense morasses in the plain of Argos we have no less an authority than Aristotle, who says,[48] "At the time of the Trojan war, the land of Argos being swampy, it could only feed a scanty population, whilst the land of Mycenæ was good and was therefore highly prized. But now the contrary is the case, for the latter has become too dry and lies untilled, whilst the land of Argos, which was a morass and therefore lay untilled, has now become good arable land." Thus it will appear but natural that Hercules, as sun-god, should be fabled to have performed for Eurystheus, the king of Mycenæ, who possessed the whole plain of Argos, the twelve labours which have been long known to mean nothing else than the twelve signs of the zodiac, through which the sun appears to pass in the annual revolution of our globe.

The topography of the plain south of Tiryns appears not to have changed since the time of Aristotle, for the northern shore of the gulf consists of deep swamps, which even now extend for nearly a mile inland.

BEGINNING OF WORK AT TIRYNS.

I perfectly agree with the common opinion that the Cyclopean walls of Tiryns are the most ancient monument in Greece; but, having the conviction that no city or fortress wall can be more ancient than the most ancient pottery of the site it surrounds, I was very anxious to investigate the chronology of the Tirynthian walls by systematic excavations. I therefore proceeded to Tiryns on the 31st ultimo, in company with Mrs. Schliemann and my esteemed friends, Castorches, Phendikles and Pappadakes, Professors of Archæology in the University of Athens.

There I engaged fifty-one workmen, and dug a long broad and deep trench in the highest part of the citadel, and sank besides this thirteen shafts 6 feet in diameter.[49] I further sank three shafts in the lower part of the fortress, and four more at a distance of 100 feet outside the walls. In the higher citadel I struck the natural rock at a depth of from 11½ to 16½ feet; in the lower citadel, at from 5 to 8 feet; and outside the citadel I reached the virgin soil at from 3 to 4 feet.

In seven or eight of the shafts sunk in the upper citadel I brought to light Cyclopean house-walls built on the natural rock, and in three shafts I found Cyclopean water-conduits of a primitive sort, being composed of unwrought stones, laid without any binding material. Though these water-conduits rest on the rock, yet I cannot conceive how water can ever have run along them without getting lost through the interstices between the stones.

Neither in the long trench nor in the deep twelve or thirteen shafts did I find any stones at all. I conclude from this that the majority of the houses consisted of unburnt bricks, which still form the building material of most of the villages in the Argolid. The houses can hardly have been of wood, for, if so, I should have found large quantities of ashes. All my excavations in Tiryns remain of course open, and visitors are invited to inspect them.

COWS OF TERRA-COTTA.

Among the objects discovered I must first mention the small terra-cotta cows, of which I collected eleven,[50] for they seem to solve a great problem, and are, at all events, of capital importance to science. Nearly all of them are covered with painted ornaments of red colour; one only has a black ornamentation.

No. 2. Terra-Cotta Cow, from Tiryns. (1½ M.) Actual size.

IDOLS OF HERA.

At the same time I found nine female idols, seven of which are painted with red and two with black or dark yellow ornaments.[51] They have a very compressed face, no mouth, and a "polos" on the head; of the idol No. 8 the head is missing, and the idol, No. 10, has a broader face and an uncovered head. The breasts of all these idols are in high relief, and below them on each side protrudes a long horn, in such a way that both horns together must either be intended to represent the moon's crescent or the two horns of the cow, or both the one and the other at the same time. I found cows and idols perfectly similar, three years ago, in the thirty-four shafts I sank in the Acropolis of Mycenæ, which city was close to the great Heræum and was celebrated for its cultus of Hera, whose cow-character and identity with the Pelasgic moon and cow-goddess Io, with the Bœotian goddess Demeter Mycalessia, and with the Egyptian moon-goddess Isis,[52] I have already sufficiently proved.[53] My opinion is also shared by the high authority of the Right Honourable W. E. Gladstone, who says in his celebrated work, 'Homeric Synchronism,' p. 249: "The goddess Isis, mated with Osiris, is represented with the cow's head on some of the Egyptian monuments.[54] She is identified by Herodotus with Demeter: but Demeter and Herè are very near, and Herè seems in Homer to be the Hellenic form which had in a great degree extruded Demeter from many of her traditions, and relegated her into the insignificance which belongs to her in the poems. The epithet Boöpis seems therefore possibly to indicate a mode of representing Herè which had been derived from Egypt, and which Hellenism refined.

Nos. 3-7. Terra-Cotta Cows, from Tiryns. Actual size.

Nos. 8-11. Terra-Cotta Idols from Tiryns. Actual size.

EXCAVATIONS AT TIRYNS.

"It must, however, be borne in mind that the Egyptian representation was not with the eyes, but with the full countenance and head, of the ox or cow; and further, that the Homeric epithet is not confined to Herè, but is applied to Klumené, one of the attendants of Helen,[55] and to Philomedousa, wife of Areithoos.[56] It is likewise given to Halié, one of the Nereid Nymphs.[57] The inference, probable though not demonstrative, would seem to be that in Homer's time the epithet had come to bear its later and generalised sense, and that the recollection of the cow had worn away."

I therefore do not hesitate to declare that both the cows and the horned female figures found at Mycenæ and Tiryns must needs be idols of Hera, who was the tutelar deity of both cities.

All the above idols, in the form of a cow and of a horned female, were found at a depth of from 3 to 11½ feet below the surface, and none at a greater depth.

Several terra-cotta idols of a different form were found; one of them at a depth of 8 feet.[58] This also seems to be a female idol; its two hands are joined on the breast, as if in the attitude of prayer; the head, which is uncovered, exactly resembles a bird's head, and at the first glance one is involuntarily struck by the resemblance of this idol to those on one of the many painted figures of the Attic vases with geometrical patterns which are preserved in the small collection of antiquities in the Ministry of Public Instruction at Athens,[59] and which have been until now considered to be the most ancient pottery in Greece. But I hope to prove in the subsequent pages that this is a great mistake, and that they must belong to a later period.

Of the idol No. 11 there remain only the neck and the head, which very much resembles an owl's head.

No. 12. Bronze figure,
from Tiryns. (3 M.)
Actual size.

Except lead, the only piece of metal found was a beautiful archaic male figure of bronze, wearing a Phrygian cap, and seemingly in the attitude of throwing a lance (see No. 12). But copper or bronze at least, if not iron, must have been extensively used at Tiryns, for I did not find there a single implement of stone.

The surface of the citadel is scantily strewn with potsherds of the Middle Ages, and probably of the time of the Frank dominion, for that period seems to be indicated by the chalk floors of a villa and its dependencies. These potsherds, as well as entire vases of the same fabric, are sometimes found as far down as 3 feet, but immediately below them follow archaic potsherds, which are usually met with at as little as a few inches under the surface; and thus it is evident that the site of the citadel of Tiryns was never inhabited from the time of the capture of the city by the Argives (468 B.C.) to about 1200 A.D.

POTTERY AND COINS FOUND AT TIRYNS.

But in the four shafts which I sank outside the citadel I found nothing but remains of Hellenic household vessels, which, judging by the potsherds, I am inclined to attribute to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries B.C. I am confirmed in this conjecture by quite a treasure of small Tirynthian copper coins, discovered some years ago at the foot of the citadel, and evidently of the Macedonian time. These medals, which are of splendid workmanship, show on one side the head of Apollo with a diadem, on the other a palm-tree with the legend ΤΙΡΥΝΣ. Thus there can be no doubt that the most ancient city of Tiryns was confined to the small space within the walls of the citadel, and that a new city, with the same name, was built outside of it some time after the capture by the Argives, and probably in the beginning of the 4th century B.C. This city seems to have extended especially to the east and still more to the north side of the citadel, where a number of its house-walls may be seen on the road to Mycenæ. From the absence of pottery of a later period I conclude that the new town was already abandoned before the Roman rule in Greece. It seems to have been quite insignificant, for it is not mentioned by any ancient author.

The Tirynthian archaic pottery is of precisely the same fabric, and has the same painted ornamentation, as the pottery of Mycenæ. There are the same tripods, with from one to five perforations in each foot; the same large vases, with perforated handles and holes in the rim of the bottom for suspension by a string; the same fantastically-shaped small vases, jugs, pots, dishes, and cups—all made on the potter's wheel, and usually presenting, on a light red dead ground, the most varied painted ornamentation of a lively red colour, which seems to be quite indestructible; for the thousands of potsherds with which the site of Mycenæ is covered have lost nothing of their freshness of colour, though they have been exposed for more than 2300 years to the sun and rain.

I dug up at Tiryns a large quantity of fragments of terra-cotta goblets, which, like those found at Mycenæ, are of white clay, and without any painted ornaments;[60] but they are not found beyond a depth of 8 feet below the surface. At a depth of from 8 to 10 feet I found only goblets of a greenish or dark red colour. All of them have the form of the large modern Bordeaux wine-glasses.

PROBABLE DATE OF THE POTTERY.

All this splendid pottery denotes a high civilisation, such as the men who built the Cyclopean city walls can hardly have reached. Hence, all this beautiful pottery was either imported, or (and this appears more likely) it has been manufactured by the nation which succeeded the Cyclopean wall-builders, and to these latter must belong all the hand-made monochromatic pottery which I found in Tiryns on and near the virgin soil. The colour of this pottery is that of the clay itself, which on the vast majority of the smaller vases has been wrought by hand-polishing to a lustrous surface; nearly all the black vases have been hand-polished both on the inside and outside, and are very pretty. All the larger jars are bulky, as well as many of the other large vases; and many of them have on each side a very short handle placed horizontally, with a broad hole, which may have been used for suspension by a string. In this stratum I found neither cows nor female idols. Of this hand-made pottery I have been fortunate enough to take out, besides hundreds of fragments, two entire vases, of which I give the drawings annexed (Nos. 13 and 14).[61]

No. 13. Terra-Cotta Vessel, from Tiryns. (3 M.) About half-size.

No. 14. Terra-Cotta Vessel, from Tiryns. (3½ M.) Size 2:3 about.

With regard to the chronology of the Tirynthian pottery, if the date of about 1400-1200 B.C., generally attributed to the most ancient Attic vases, were correct, we might perhaps assign a like date to the establishment in Tiryns of the second nation; for to the same period must be ascribed the bird-headed idol described above,[62] and a quantity of fragments of very ancient painted vases with similar patterns. But for several reasons, which will hereafter be explained, I am unable to attribute these vases to a remoter age than from 1000 to 800 B.C., and I cannot therefore admit the settlement of the second nation at Tiryns to have taken place at an earlier epoch. It will probably for ever remain mere guesswork to what date belongs the stratum of hand-made pottery on and near the virgin soil; but if we suppose that the most ancient examples of this pottery are older, by 800 years, than the most ancient painted vases of the second nation, and that, consequently, the building of the Cyclopean walls of Tiryns was from 1800 to 1600 B.C., I think we shall be very near the right date. I have vainly endeavoured to recognise an affinity between the primitive Tirynthian pottery and that of any one of the four prehistoric cities of Troy. After mature consideration, I find that there is no resemblance whatever, except in the goblets whose form is also found in the oldest prehistoric city on Mount Hissarlik.

Not the least interesting object I discovered at Tiryns was the skeleton of a man at a depth of 16½ feet. The bones are partly petrified, but I attribute this merely to the nature of the soil in which the skeleton has been imbedded. Some of the bones had swollen considerably owing to the damp, and this may also be the case with the lower jawbone, which is enormously thick. Unfortunately I have been able to save only part of the skull.

I have still to mention that in all the prehistoric strata I found very small knives of obsidian; but, as before stated, no weapon or implement of stone. Many small conical whorls of blue or green stone [63] were found in the strata of the nation second in succession, but only two very rude ones of baked clay.

Taking the average depth of the virgin soil in the upper and lower citadels, as ascertained by my shafts, to be 11·66 feet, I find by accurate calculation, that the quantity of débris to be removed at Tiryns does not fall short of 36,000 cubic metres. From this, however, are to be deducted the cubic contents of the Cyclopean house-walls, of the curious water-conduits and of a couple of cisterns (only one of which, however, I have been able to find), on the south side. I hope to accomplish this work some day, but first of all I must finish the much more important excavation in the Acropolis of Mycenæ, and of the Treasury close to the Lions' Gate, which I intend to commence forthwith. I know that, after Troy, I could not possibly render a greater service to science than by excavating at Mycenæ; because if, as is probable, the Cyclopean walls of its Acropolis belong to the same remote antiquity as the walls of Tiryns, the architecture of its Treasuries is at all events more modern, and there can be no doubt whatever that such was in general use in the time of Homer, who describes it by the phrase θάλαμοι ξεστοῖο λίθοιο ("chambers of polished stone").

My esteemed friends, Professors Castorches, Phendikles, and Pappadakes return to-day to Athens.

NOTE A.—"HERA BOÖPIS."

NOTE ON HERA BOÖPIS.

I extract the following from my Paper on Troy, read on the 24th of June 1875, before the Society of Antiquaries in London.

It has been said by a great scholar,[64] that, whatever else the Homeric epithet γλαυκῶπις may mean, it cannot mean owl-headed, unless we suppose that Ἡρη Βοῶπις was represented as a cow-headed monster. I found in my excavations at Troy three splendid cow-heads with long horns of terra-cotta,[65] and I believe them to be derived from Hera idols, but I cannot prove it. But it is not difficult to prove that this goddess had originally a cow's face, from which her Homeric epithet βοῶπις was derived. When in the battle between the gods and the giants, the former took the shape of animals, Hera took the form of a white cow, "nivea Saturnia vacca."[66] We find a cow's head on the coins of the island of Samos, which had the most ancient temple of Hera, and was celebrated for its worship of this goddess.[67] We further find the cow's head on the coins of Messene, a Samian colony in Sicily.[68] The relation of Hera to the cow is further proved by the name Εὔβοια, which was at once her epithet,[69] the name of one of her nurses,[70] the name of the island in which she was brought up,[71] and the name of the mountain at the foot of which her most celebrated temple (the Heræon) was situated.[72] But in the name Εὔβοια is contained the word βοῦς. Hera had in Corinth the epithet βουναία,[73] in which the word βοῦς is likewise contained. White cows were sacrificed to Hera.[74] The priestess rode in a car drawn by white bulls to the temple of the Argive Hera.[75] Iö, the daughter of Inachus, the first king of Argos, was changed by Hera into a cow.[76] Iö was priestess of Hera,[77] and she is represented as the cow-goddess Hera.[78] Iö's cow-form is further confirmed by Æschylus.[79] The Egyptian goddess Isis was born in Argos, and was identified with the cow-shaped Iö.[80] Isis was represented in Egypt as a female with cow-horns, like Iö in Greece.[81]

The cow-shaped Iö was guarded in Hera's sacred grove at Mycenæ by the hundred-eyed Argus, who was killed by Hermes, by order of Zeus; and Hera next persecuted Iö by a gad fly, which forced her to wander from place to place.[82] Thus Prometheus says: "How should I not hear the daughter of Inachus, who is chased around by the gad fly?" But the wandering of Iö is nothing else than the symbol of the moon, which restlessly moves in its orbit. This is also shown by the very name of Iö (᾽Ιώ), which is derived from the root I (in εἶμι, I go). Even in classical antiquity Iö was still frequently represented as a cow; as at Amyclæ.[83] Iö continued to be the old name of the moon in the religious mysteries at Argos.[84] Apis, king of the Argive realm, was the son of Phoroneus, and thus the grandson of Inachus, and the nephew of Iö. From Apis, the Peloponnesus and also Argos were called Apia; after his death he was worshipped under the name Serapis.[85] According to another tradition, Apis ceded his dominion in Greece to his brother, and became king of Egypt,[86] where, as Serapis, he was worshipped in the shape of a bull. Æschylus makes the wanderings of Iö end in Egypt, where Jove restores her to her shape, and she bears Epaphus, another name for the bull-god Apis. The cow-horns of the Pelasgian moon-goddess Iö, who became later the Argive Hera and is perfectly identical with her, as well as the cow-horns of Isis, were derived from the symbolic horns of the crescent representing the moon.[87] No doubt Iö, the later Hera, had at an earlier age, besides her cow-horns, a cow's face. Hera, under her old moon-name Iö, had a celebrated temple on the site of Byzantium, which city was said to have been founded by her daughter Keroëssa—i.e., "the horned."[88] The crescent, which was in all antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages the symbol of Byzantium, and which is now the symbol of the Turkish empire, is a direct inheritance from Byzantium's mythical foundress, Keroëssa, the daughter of the moon-goddess Iö (Hera); for it is certain that the Turks did not bring it with them from Asia, but found it already an emblem of Byzantium. Hera, Iö, and Isis, must at all events be identical also with Demeter Mycalessia, who derived her epithet "the lowing," from her cow-shape, and had her temple at Mycalessus in Bœotia. She had as door-keeper Hercules, whose office it was to shut her sanctuary in the evening, and to open it again in the morning.[89] Thus his service is identical with that of Argus, who in the morning unfastens the cow-shaped Iö, and fastens her again in the evening to the olive tree,[90] which was in the sacred grove of Mycenæ, close to the ῾Ἡραῖον.[91] The Argive Hera had, as the symbol of fertility, a pomegranate, which, as well as the flowers with which her crown was ornamented, gave her a telluric character.[92]

In the same way that in Bœotia the epithet Mycalessia, "the lowing," a derivation from μυκᾶσθαι, was given to Demeter, on account of her cow-form, so in the plain of Argos the name of Μυκῆναι, a derivative from the same verb, was given to the city most celebrated for the cultus of Hera, and this can only be explained by her cow-form. I may here mention that Μυκάλη was the name of the mount and promontory directly opposite to and in the immediate neighbourhood of the island of Samos, which was celebrated for the worship of Hera.

In consideration of this long series of proofs, certainly no one will for a moment doubt that Hera's Homeric epithet βοῶπις shows her to have been at one time represented with a cow's face, in the same way as Athena's Homeric epithet γλαυκῶπις shows this goddess to have once been represented with an owl's face. But in the history of these two epithets there are evidently three stages, in which they had different significations. In the first stage the ideal conception and the naming of the goddesses took place, and in that naming, as my esteemed friend Professor Max Müller rightly observed to me, the epithets were figurative or ideal, that is, natural. Hera (Iö), as deity of the moon, would receive her epithet βοῶπις from the symbolic horns of the crescent moon and its dark spots, which resemble a face with large eyes; whilst Athena, as goddess of the dawn, doubtless received the epithet γλαυκῶπις to indicate the light of the opening day.

In the second stage of these epithets the deities were represented by idols, in which the former figurative intention was forgotten, and the epithets were materialised into a cow-face for Hera, and into an owl-face for Athena; and I make bold to assert that it is not possible to describe such cow-faced or owl-faced female figures by any other epithets than by βοῶπις and γλαυκῶπις. The word πρόσωπον for 'face,' which is so often used in Homer, and is probably thousands of years older than the poet, is never found in compounds, whilst words with the suffix ειδης refer to expression or likeness in general. Thus, if Hera had had the epithet of βοοειδής, and Athena that of γλαυκοειδής, we should have understood nothing else but that the former had the shape and form of a cow, and the latter that of an owl.

To this second stage belong all the prehistoric ruins at Hissarlik, Tiryns, and Mycenæ.

The third stage in the history of the two epithets is when, after Hera and Athena had lost their cow and owl faces, and received the faces of women, and after the cow and the owl had become the attributes of these deities, and had, as such, been placed at their side, βοῶπις and γλαυκῶπις continued to be used as epithets consecrated by the use of ages, and probably with the meaning "large-eyed," and "owl-eyed." To this third stage belong the Homeric rhapsodies.

PLATE II.

THE WEST SIDE OF THE ACROPOLIS OF MYCENÆ.

In the background is the principal summit of Mount Eubœa, 2500 feet high, crowned with an open Chapel of the Prophet Elias. To face page 23.

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No. 16. Ruins of the Cyclopean Bridge at Mycenæ.[93]

CHAPTER II.

TOPOGRAPHY OF MYCENÆ.

GATE OF THE LIONS AND TREASURY OF ATREUS.

The road from Argos to Mycenæ—The Plain of Argos: its rivers and hills, horses and vegetation—Myth regarding its arid nature—Swamps in the southern part; and fable of the Lernæan hydra—Early social development here—Legend of Phoroneus—The Pelasgian Argos—The Achæan states of Argos and Mycenæ—Situation of Mycenæ—The Citadel and its Cyclopean walls—The term defined—"Gate of the Lions"—The postern gate—Cisterns—Poetical confusion of Argos and Mycenæ.

The Lower City: its house-walls, bridge, treasuries, and pottery—Its partially enclosing wall—The undefended suburb, and its large buildings—Its extent—The only two wells in Mycenæ—Three Treasuries in the suburb—Treasuries in the Lower City—Description of the "Treasury of Atreus"—Dodwell's Argument for regarding the building as a Treasury—Uniqueness of these structures—Excavation of the Treasury by Veli Pasha.

Mycenæ, August 19, 1876.

I arrived here on the 7th inst. by the same road which Pausanias [94] describes. The distance from Argos is only 50 stadia, or 5·8 English miles. Pausanias saw, on that side of Argos which looked toward Mycenæ, the temple of Lucina (Εἰλείθυια), and next an altar of the Sun, which appears to have been on the bank of the Inachus. After having passed this river he saw, to his right, the temple of the Mysian Demeter, and further on to his left the mausoleum of Thyestes, the brother of Atreus and uncle of Agamemnon. This monument was crowned with a ram of stone, in commemoration of the adultery of Thyestes with his brother's wife. Still further on he saw, to his right, the temple (ἡρῷον) of Perseus, the founder of Mycenæ. But of all these monuments not a vestige now remains.

The first river I passed, in coming from Argos, was the ancient Χαράδρος, now called Rema, an affluent of the Inachus, on the banks of which, as Thucydides [95] informs us, the Argives were in the habit of holding a military court on the return of their armies from abroad, before allowing them to enter the city. Soon afterwards I passed the very wide bed of the famous river Inachus, now called Bonitza, which traverses the plain of Argos in its entire length. The beds of both these rivers are dry except when heavy rain falls in the mountains; and this appears to have been the case also in the time of Pausanias, who says [96] that he found the sources of the Inachus on Mount Artemisium, but that the quantity of water was very insignificant and it only ran for a short distance. This seems to prove beyond any doubt that the Arcadian mountains were then already as bare of trees as they are now.

ROAD FROM ARGOS TO MYCENÆ.

But as the Inachus plays so important a part in the mythic legends of the Argolid, which make him the husband of Meleia and father of Phoroneus, the first king of Argos, and of the moon-goddess Iö (the later Hera), there can be no doubt that in prehistoric times the Inachus was a river of some consequence. This, however, seems to be only possible if we suppose the Arcadian mountains to have been at that time overgrown with forests. That the Inachus was once, and for ages, an abundant river, is proved also by the fact that the whole plain of Argos has been formed by the alluvia of its rivers, but principally by those of the Inachus.

Further upon the road from Argos to Mycenæ I passed another smaller river-bed, which seems to be the Cephisus mentioned by Pausanias.[97] In speaking of the rivers of the plain of Argos, I must further mention the two streams Eleutherion and Asterion, between which was situated the celebrated Heræum on the lower slope of Mount Eubœa. Both are now dry and have no water except in heavy and long-continued rains, but they seem still in classical antiquity to have had an abundance of water all the year round, for the Eleutherion was the sacred water used in the religious ceremonies at the temple, whilst the water of the Asterion fed the asterion-plant (a kind of aster), sacred to Hera, from the leaves of which wreaths and festoons were made for the goddess. The very name also of Mount Eubœa seems to indicate that it was once a rich pasture ground, whilst now it is as completely barren of all vegetation as are the beds and banks of the two rivers.

The plain of Argos is enclosed on the west and north by the highlands of Artemisium, on the east by those of Arachnæon. From the former several parallel ridges of hills advance for some distance into the plain; the most northerly of them is Mount Lycone, which terminates in Mount Larissa, 900 feet high, with the Acropolis of Argos, the city itself being situated at the foot of the mount, in the plain. The second ridge is the Chaon, at the foot of which the river Erasinus issues in a copious stream and falls into the Argolic Gulf, turning many mills. This river was in all antiquity considered to be identical with the Stymphalus, which disappears by two subterranean channels under Mount Apelauron in Arcadia. The third parallel ridge is the Pontinus. On the east side much smaller and more detached hills slope gently into the plain. To the north the mountains are very rough and abrupt. On the north and south-east of the Acropolis of Mycenæ are the two highest peaks of Mount Eubœa;[98] the northern one, which is crowned with an open chapel of the prophet Elias, is 2500 feet high.

In all antiquity the plain of Argos was celebrated for the breeding of horses, and Homer,[99] seven times in the Iliad, praises its splendid horse-pasture grounds by the epithet "ἱππόβοτος."

Owing to the great dryness of the land, wine and cotton can now be grown only in the fertile lower plain, and a little corn and tobacco is all that can be produced in the highlands. Even as late as the Greek war of independence (1821) there must have been much more moisture here, because at that time the whole plain, and even a large portion of the highlands, were thickly planted with mulberry, orange, and olive trees, which have now altogether disappeared.

THE PLAIN OF ARGOS.

The epithet πολυδίψιον, "very thirsty," which Homer gives to the plain of Argos, agrees perfectly with its present condition, and also with the myth told by Pausanias:[100] "Poseidon and Hera disputed about the possession of the land (the plain of Argos), and Phoroneus, son of the river Inachus, Cephisus, Asterion, and Inachus himself, had to decide; they adjudged the plain to Hera, whereupon Poseidon made the waters disappear. Hence neither Inachus nor any other of the aforesaid rivers have any water, except when Jove sends rain (Ζεὺς ὕει); in summer all the rivers are dry except the (springs of) Lerna." The epithet πολυδίψιον, however, does not agree with the passage already cited from Aristotle,[101] which asserts that at the time of the war of Troy the land of Argos was swampy, whilst that of Mycenæ was good.

The most southern part of the plain of Argos has at all times had a great abundance of water, but with little or no profit to agriculture; for the sea-shore is lined with vast and almost impassable swamps, and the river Erasinus, which pours down from Mount Chaon, soon empties itself into the Gulf of Nauplia. Further, the springs at the foot of Mount Pontinus form the famous swamps of Lerna, where Hercules is fabled to have killed the Hydra. Probably this myth is the symbolic account of an attempt once made to drain the swamps and to convert them into arable land.

Owing to its exuberant fertility and exceptional situation on the splendid gulf, this plain has been the natural centre and the point of departure for the whole political and social development of the country, and for this reason it deserves the appellation "ancient Argos."[102] Here Phoroneus, son of the river Inachus and the nymph Meleia, was said, with his wife Niobe, to have first united the inhabitants, who till then had lived dispersed, into one community, and to have founded a city which he called ῎Αστυ ϕορωνικόν,[103] which was renamed by his grandson Argos, and became the centre of a powerful Pelasgic state.[104] Indisputable proofs of this Pelasgic settlement are found in both the names Argos and Larissa, which are Pelasgic, the former meaning "plain," the latter "fortress"; further, in the myth of the ancient Pelasgic moon and cow-goddess Iö, who, as has been said above, was fabled to have been born here, her father being the river Inachus. The Pelasgic state comes afterwards under the dominion of the Pelopids, under whom the country is divided into two states, as we find it still in the Iliad; the northern part, with the capital Mycenæ, being under the sceptre of Agamemnon; the southern, with Argos as its capital, under the dominion of Diomedes, who was, however, only a vassal of the former. At all events, at the time of the invasion of the Peloponnesus by the Dorians, Argos was the mightiest state in the peninsula, and thus tradition allots it to the Heraclid Temenus, the firstborn son of Aristomachus.

SITUATION OF MYCENÆ.

The situation of Mycenæ is beautifully described by Homer,[105] "In the depth of the horse-feeding Argos," because it lies in the north corner of the plain of Argos, in a recess between the two majestic peaks of Mount Eubœa, whence it commanded the upper part of the great plain and the important narrow pass, by which the roads lead to Phlius, Cleonæ, and Corinth. The Acropolis occupied a strong rocky height, which projects from the foot of the mountain behind it in the form of an irregular triangle sloping to the west.[106] This cliff overhangs a deep gorge, which protects the whole south flank of the citadel. Through the abyss below winds the bed of a torrent usually almost dry, because it has no other water than that of the copious fountain Perseia, which is about half a mile to the north-east of the fortress. This gorge extends first from east to west, and afterwards in a south-westerly direction. The cliff also falls off precipitously on the north side into a glen, which stretches in a straight line from east to west. Between these two gorges extended the lower city. The cliff of the citadel is also more or less steep on the east and west side, where it forms six natural or artificial terraces.

No. 17. Walls of the First Period.

The Acropolis is surrounded by Cyclopean walls, from 13 to 35 feet high, and on an average 16 feet thick. Their entire circuit still exists, but they have evidently been much higher. They are of beautiful hard breccia, with which the neighbouring mountains abound. They follow the sinuosities of the rock, and show three different kinds of architecture. By far the greater portion of them is built exactly like the walls of Tiryns, although not so massively; and as this kind of architecture is generally thought to be the most ancient, I have marked it on the adjoining cut (No. 17) with the words, "Walls of the first period." A large piece of the western wall I have marked on the accompanying cut (No. 18) as "Walls of the second period," because it consists of polygons, fitted together with great art, so that, in spite of the infinite variety of the joints, they formed as it were one solidly united and neat wall, as if of rock; and this sort of building, which can be seen in so many places in Greece and Southern Italy, is universally acknowledged to be generally of a later period than the former. I have marked here (No. 19) as "Walls of the third period" those walls to the right and left of the great gate, which consist of almost quadrangular blocks arranged in horizontal layers; but their joints are not always vertical and they present lines more or less oblique.

No. 18. Walls of the Second Period.

No. 19. Walls of the Third Period.

THREE KINDS OF PRIMITIVE WALLS.

I have made this division into three periods merely to point out the different architecture of the walls, and with no intention of maintaining that the one must be more ancient than the other. On the contrary, after mature consideration, I cannot think that the one kind of wall should be considered older than the other, for, after the circuit walls had once been built of rough stones of enormous size, it is hardly possible that in after times part of them should have been destroyed in order to replace them by walls of another type. Or if part of the primitive walls had been razed by an enemy, there could have been no reason why they should not be restored in the same style, which was quite as solid as the other, and was besides much cheaper and easier, because only the wall could have been destroyed, but not the stones, which lay ready to be put up again. It appears also to have been the custom of the primitive builders to pay a little more attention to symmetry and regularity in the more monumental portions of their work. I conclude, therefore, that the three kinds of architecture existed simultaneously in that remote age of antiquity when the walls of Mycenæ were built, but that in later times the style of architecture marked as of the "first period" went out of fashion, and the two other modes of building alone remained in use. Walls of polygonal blocks continued in use in Greece until the time of the Macedonian dominion; a proof of which is seen, for instance, in the masonry of the sepulchres at the Hagia Trias in Athens, as well as the fortifications on the island of Salamis, of which we know with certainty that they were erected in the fourth or fifth century, B.C.[107] Within the last sixteen years walls of polygonal blocks have come extensively into use in Sweden and Norway, particularly for the substructions of railway bridges.

The first western terrace is bordered on its east side, for a distance of 166 feet, by a Cyclopean wall 30 feet high, which is crowned by the ruins of a tower, and runs parallel with the great circuit wall; it is no doubt part of a second enclosure.[108] Remnants of other enclosures are visible a little higher up the mount to the left, as well as on the eastern side. A second interior tower appears to have stood at the south-western corner of the summit.

Near the north-western corner the circuit wall is traversed by an ogive-like passage 16½ feet long, like those of Tiryns (see No. 20). Traces of Cyclopean house-walls and foundations can be seen on all but the first eastern and western terraces.

No. 20. Entrance to the ogive-like Gallery in the Walls of the Citadel of Mycenæ.

Notwithstanding the remote antiquity of Mycenæ, its ruins are in a far better state of preservation than those of any of the Greek cities which Pausanias saw in a flourishing condition, and whose sumptuous monuments he describes (about 170 A.D.); and, owing to its distant and secluded position, and to the rudeness, magnitude, and solidity of the ruins, it is hardly possible to think that any change can have taken place in the general aspect of Mycenæ since it was seen by Pausanias.

No. 21. Gate of the Lions.

PLATE III.

GATE OF THE LIONS. The Principal Entrance to the Acropolis of Mycenæ. To face page 32.

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In the north-western corner of the circuit-wall is the great "Lions' Gate," of beautiful hard breccia.[109] The opening, which widens from the top downwards, is 10 ft. 8 in. high, and its width is 9 ft. 6 in. at the top, and 10 ft. 3 in. below. In the lintel (15 feet long and 8 feet broad) are round holes, 6 inches deep, for the hinges, and in the two uprights, which it roofs over, are four quadrangular holes for the bolts. Over the lintel of the gate is a triangular gap in the masonry of the wall, formed by an oblique approximation of the side courses of stone. The object of this was to keep off the pressure of the superincumbent wall from the flat lintel.

GATE OF THE LIONS.

This niche is filled up by a triangular slab of the same beautiful breccia of which the gateway and the walls consist: it is 10 feet high, 12 feet long at the base, and 2 feet thick. On the face of the slab are represented in relief two lions, standing opposite to each other on their long outstretched hind-legs, and resting with their fore-paws on either side of the top of an altar, on the midst of which stands a column with a capital formed of four circles enclosed between two horizontal fillets. The general belief that the heads of the lions are broken off is wrong, for on close examination I find that they were not cut out of the same stone together with the animals, but that they were made separately and fastened on the bodies with bolts. The straight cuts and the borings in the necks of the animals can leave no doubt as to this fact. Owing to the narrowness of the space, the heads could only have been very small, and they must have been protruding and facing the spectator. I feel inclined to believe that they were of bronze and gilded. The tails of the lions are not broad and bushy, but narrow, like those which are seen in the most ancient sculptures of Egypt.

No. 22. Plan of the Gate of Lions.

(a) Wall of Acropolis on E. side. (b) Face of projecting masonry on W. side. (c) Gateway and Cill. (d) Inner Gateway.

It is universally believed that this sculpture represents some symbol, but many different conjectures have been made as to its meaning. One thinks that the column alludes to the solar worship of the Persians; another believes that it is the symbol of the holy fire, and a pyratheion or fire altar, of which the lions are the guardians; a third conjectures that it represents Apollo Agyieus, that is, the "guardian of the gateway." I am of this last opinion, and firmly believe that it is this very same symbol of that god which Sophocles makes Orestes and Electra invoke when they enter their father's house.[110] As to the two lions, the explanation is still more simple. Pelops, son of the Phrygian king Tantalus,[111] migrated hither from Phrygia, where the mother of the gods, Rhea, whose sacred animal is the lion, had a celebrated worship. Most probably, therefore, Pelops brought with him the cultus of the patron deity of his mother-country, and made her sacred animal the symbol of the Pelopids. Æschylus compares Agamemnon himself to a lion;[112] he also compares Agamemnon with Ægisthus as a lion with a wolf.[113] Thus here above the gate the two lions, either as the sacred animals of Rhea or as the symbol of the powerful dynasty of the Pelopids, have been united to the symbol of Apollo Agyieus, the guardian of the gateway. To the left of the sculpture of the lions is a large quadrangular window in the wall.

No. 22a. The Right and Left Door Posts of the Gate of Lions.

No. 23. Elevation and Plan of the
Postern Gate.

The great gate stands at right angles to the adjoining wall of the citadel, and is approached by a passage, 50 feet long and 30 feet wide, formed by that wall and by another exterior wall, which runs nearly parallel to it, and which forms part of a large quadrangular tower erected for the defence of the entrance.[114] Within these walls the enemy could advance only with a small front of perhaps seven men, exposed on three sides to the arrows and stones of the defenders. A zigzag road on immense Cyclopean substructions, now covered with large blocks which have fallen from the wall, led up to the entrance of the gateway. Leake rightly says that the early citadel builders bestowed greater labour than their successors on the approaches to the gates, and devised various modes of protracting the defence of the interior by numerous enclosures and by intricacy of communication.

THE POSTERN GATE.

The postern-gate [115] consists likewise of three large slabs, namely, two uprights and the lintel by which these are roofed. The opening of this gateway likewise widens from the top downward; at the top it is 5 ft. 4 in. wide and 5 ft. 11 in. at the bottom. On the lintel stands a triangular slab, inclusive of which the gate is 14 feet high. The grooves for the bolts in the jambs of the door are square and of large dimensions. The situation of this gate is not very favourable, because the enemies who attacked it would have their left arm, which was guarded by the shield, on the side of the Acropolis. On the slope on the west side are several subterranean cisterns.

According to Plutarch, the first name of the mount of the citadel was Argion.[116] It is significant that it is never mentioned by ancient authors under the appellation of "acropolis." Sophocles (Electra) calls it δῶμα Πελοπιδῶν or 'residence of the Pelopids,' also οὐράνια τείχη, 'heavenly walls.' Euripides [117] also calls it, "stone Cyclopean heavenly walls," and further [118] "Cyclopean heavenly walls," and this must refer to the hugeness of the walls and towers. Strabo [119] justly observes that, on account of the close vicinity of Argos and Mycenæ, the tragic poets have made a confusion regarding their names, continually substituting the one for the other. But this is to be excused, because in antiquity travelling was both difficult and very unsafe. Besides, people were not archæologists, and though every one took the very deepest interest in the ancient history of Greece, no one cared to submit to the trouble and hardship, or to incur the danger, of visiting even the places which had been the scene of his country's most glorious actions. This could not possibly be better proved than by the fact that no ancient author mentions the reconstruction of Mycenæ after its capture and destruction in 468 B.C.

MYCENÆ AND ARGOS.

Homer himself is seemingly guilty of making a confusion regarding the names of Argos and Mycenæ, because he puts into the mouth of Agamemnon the words concerning Chryseis:

"Her I release not, till her youth be fled;

Within my walls, in Argos, far from home,

Her lot is cast, domestic cares to ply,

And share a master's bed...."—LORD DERBY.[120]

But by the name Argos Homer understands here the Argolid territory and perhaps the whole Peloponnesus; a sense of which another passage can leave no doubt:[121]

"O'er all the Argive coast and neighbouring isles to reign."

The same may be the case, more or less, with the later tragic poets, and at all events it must be so with Euripides, because he knew Mycenæ too well to mistake it for Argos. Thus he calls Mycenæ [122] "the altars of the Cyclopes;" "the Cyclopean Mycenæ";[123] and "the handiwork of the Cyclopes":—[124]

"Do you call the city of Perseus the handiwork of the Cyclopes?"

In other passages he says, "O Cyclopean houses, O my country, O my dear Mycenæ!"[125] Again, "Standing on (or at) the stone steps, the herald calls aloud 'To the Agora, to the Agora, ye people of Mycenæ, to see the portents and the terrific signs of the blessed kings."[126] Again, "O mother-country, O Pelasgia, O my home, Mycenæ."[127] Again, "Dear ladies of Mycenæ, first in rank in the Pelasgic settlement of the Argives.[128] Again, "I will go to Mycenæ; crow-bars and pickaxes will I take to destroy with twisted-iron the town, the foundations of the Cyclopes, which are well fitted together with the chisel and the purple rule."[129]

This description can only refer to Cyclopean walls composed of well-fitted polygons, such as we see in the western part of the great circuit walls.[130] Besides Euripides knew accurately that the Agora, with the Royal sepulchres, was in the Acropolis; and thus it appears certain that Euripides visited Mycenæ, and that the grand Cyclopean walls of the Acropolis, as well as the sacred enclosure of the circular Agora, with the mysterious tombs of the most glorious heroes of antiquity, made a profound impression upon him, for otherwise we cannot explain his so often speaking of the gigantic Cyclopean walls, describing also their structure and mentioning even the Agora situated in the Acropolis (see Chapter V.).

Seneca says of the walls of Mycenæ:

"majus mihi

Bellum Mycenis restat, ut cyclopea

Eversa manibus saxa nostra concidant."

and again—

"cerno Cyclopum sacras

Turres, labore majus humano decus."

and in another passage [131]

"Ulixes ad Ithacæ suæ saxa sic properat, quemadmodum

Agamemnon ad Mycenarum nobiles muros."

THE LOWER CITY.

Over the space of about a square mile to the west-south-west and south of this Acropolis, and exactly between the aforesaid deep ravines, extended the Lower City,[132] the site of which is distinctly marked by the remnants of numerous Cyclopean substructions of houses, by a Cyclopean bridge, by five Treasuries, and finally by the fragments of beautifully painted archaic pottery with which the ground is strewn. The site of the lower town is traversed in its whole length by a ridge, which to the right falls off gradually into the plain, and to the left more steeply into the deep ravine, which issues from between the south end of the citadel-cliff and the second peak of Mount Eubœa. The summit of this ridge has evidently been artificially levelled for two purposes; firstly, for the principal street of the town, which commenced at the Lions' Gate and ended at the Cyclopean bridge, an engraving of which forms the vignette to this chapter;[133] and secondly, for the city wall, which ran to the right of the street as far as the same bridge, and undoubtedly united it with the Acropolis at its north-west corner, near the Lions' Gate.

Another branch of this wall extended all along the western bank of the torrent which the bridge spanned, and doubtless connected the latter with the south-western corner of the Acropolis. Of both branches of this wall very numerous traces remain, though with difficulty perceptible. Thus a part of the lower town, but scarcely one-third of it, was enclosed by a circuit wall. This was very insignificant, because its thickness on the ridge is only 6 feet, and it is still less on the bank of the torrent; so that it cannot have been high, and it was probably intended only to impart greater strength to the great Cyclopean walls of the Acropolis, and to prevent the Lions' Gate leading directly into the open country. After carefully examining the remnants of this city wall in numerous places, I see, in consideration of its weakness, no reasonable ground to object to regarding it as of later date than the walls of the citadel.

The remaining part of the town has been, as the remnants of the house-walls show, a vast and well-built suburb, whence, when attacked by the enemy against whom their own means of defence were insufficient, the inhabitants could retire into the fortified part of the city and into the citadel. Some of the buildings of this suburb are very large, and show a most splendid Cyclopean masonry. I call particular attention to the vast building on the very bank of the deep glen in a westerly direction from the Lions' Gate, of which all the four walls are still visible. It is 93 feet long and 60 feet broad, and may have been a temple. I call attention also to the foundations of a large Cyclopean building, perhaps a temple, on the crest of a hill S.S.W. of the Acropolis and north of the village of Charvati. This hill appears to have been at the extremity of the suburb in this direction, for the Mycenean potsherds cease beyond it. I found there two well-polished axes of diorite.

In two glens in the immediate vicinity of this hill are the only two wells of Mycenæ. The ruins of Cyclopean buildings close to them, and the Mycenean potsherds which extend beyond them, can leave no doubt that both wells were within the suburb. Strange to say, Professor E. Curtius has thought the ancient quarry of Charvati to be ruins of the city wall, and he has therefore put this village on his map still within the site of Mycenæ; but this is a great mistake; the city never extended so far.

But not all the Cyclopean walls in the suburb are house-walls, for many of them are only intended for the support of the terraces.

TREASURIES IN THE SUBURB.

Much more interesting than all the other buildings in the suburb are the "Treasuries," which, owing to their great resemblance to ovens, are now called φοῦρνοι by the country people. One of them is just without the line of the town wall, on the slope of the hill near the Gate of the Lions. The doorway is visible, but it is nearly buried; the entrance is roofed with three large thick slabs; and the length of the passage is 18 feet, its width 7 ft. 9 in. Only a small part of the lower circular wall of the dome-shaped building can now be seen, the upper part having fallen in, probably ages ago.[134]

Descending the slope in a south-westerly direction, we come to a smaller Treasury, the entrance passage of which is 15½ feet long, and likewise roofed with three large slabs. The width of the door is 7½ feet; part of the lower circular wall of the dome-like building is here also above ground, and shows at the height of the top of the entrance a diameter of 25 feet; so that the diameter on the ground floor may be 32 feet. Turning thence to the south, and ascending the slope, we come, near the crest of the ridge, to a third Treasury, of which only the entrance passage remains. This is 20 feet long, and only 5 ft. 3 in. broad; and is roofed by five large slabs.

The whole site of the vast suburb being on slopes, and having been but scantily inhabited, on account of its vast extent, the accumulation of débris is everywhere small, and seldom exceeds a foot and a half in depth. A much greater accumulation is found only on the terraces immediately to the west and north-west of the Lions' Gate.

Though the site of the enclosed city is also on slopes, yet, as it is but small and must at all times have been more densely inhabited, the accumulation of débris is in general more considerable there, and particularly on the western and south-western side of the Acropolis. But at points more distant from the Acropolis, and particularly on the steeper slopes whence the remains of houses have been washed away by the rains, the accumulation does not exceed the quantity general in the suburb. It deserves particular attention that, except close to the western circuit-wall of the citadel, the site of the enclosed city shows far less of Cyclopean substructions or remnants of house-walls than the suburb; but immediately beyond the Cyclopean bridge on the opposite bank of the ravine are the ruins of two vast buildings which may have been forts and may have served for the defence of the bridge. I may here mention that traces of the ancient Cyclopean highway from Mycenæ to Tiryns are still visible for some distance beyond the bridge.

On the site of the enclosed city are the two largest Treasuries. One of these is the famous Treasury which tradition attributes to Atreus. The other, which is close to the Lions' Gate, appears to have been entirely under ground, and was therefore unknown in historical times; the upper part of its dome has fallen in, but I have not been able to ascertain whether, as some of the inhabitants of the Argolid affirm, this has occurred accidentally, or whether, as others maintain, it is the sacrilegious work of Veli Pasha, the son of the notorious Ali Pasha, who towards the end of 1820 attempted to force an entrance this way, but was prevented by the outbreak of the Greek revolution from proceeding much further.

PLATE IV.

THE TREASURY OF ATREUS. To face page 43

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THE TREASURY OF ATREUS.

The "Treasury of Atreus," which is about 400 yards further south, was entirely subterranean, being constructed under the eastern slope of the ridge which traverses the city, and towards the ravine of the same torrent which passes the south side of the cliff of the citadel. On the slope below the Treasury is a large platform of Cyclopean masonry, from which the dromos, or approach—20 ft. 7 in. broad, and lined with walls of wrought stones—leads to the doorway of the building, which is 8 ft. 6 in. wide at the top and 9 ft. 2 in. at the bottom. Its height is 18 feet; it is roofed by two enormous slabs, beautifully cut and polished, of which the inner one measures 3 ft. 9 in. in thickness, and 27½ feet in length on its lower and 29 feet on its upper surface; its breadth is 17 feet, and it is computed that it weighs approximately 300,000 English pounds.[135]

The great chamber, which resembles a dome or a vast beehive, is 50 feet high and 50 feet in diameter. It is built of well-wrought blocks of hard breccia, placed in regular layers, and joined with the greatest precision without any binding material. The stones, which on the inside are smooth and well-fitted, are on the outside very irregular, and, contrary to the general belief, they are not immediately covered with earth, but with enormous masses of stone, which, by their ponderous weight, keep all the stones of the circular layers of masonry in their position. Thus the principle of this construction is, as Colonel Leake justly remarks, that of an arch-shaped wall resisting a great superincumbent weight, and deriving its strength and coherence from the weight itself. The same idea, which suggested the circular shape to the Cyclopean architect, induced him also to curve the sides vertically, as they derived from that form an additional power of resistance to the lateral pressure.

The blocks of the lower courses are 1 ft. 10 in. high and from 4 to 7 ft. long; but towards the top of the dome the courses become gradually narrower. The floor of the vast chamber, which is entirely excavated, is the natural rock. A number of large stones, which have remained in the Treasury, make on travellers the erroneous impression that there is still a great deal of débris left.

From the fourth course of stones upwards there are visible in each stone two bored holes, and in many of these can still be seen remnants of bronze nails which, according to Sir W. Gell ("Argolis"), contain 88 per cent. of copper and 12 per cent. of tin. These nails, of which several have been found entire, had broad flat heads, and they can have had no other purpose than to retain the bronze plates, with which the whole interior was once decorated. We know by the testimony of the ancient authors that the Greeks in a remote antiquity ornamented their buildings in this manner, because in no other way can we explain the bronze houses and chambers which they mention.[136]

TREASURY AT ORCHOMENUS.

The only other example extant of walls which had once this kind of decoration is presented by the Treasury of Minyas in Orchomenus, which is built of beautiful white marble, but shows in other respects the very greatest resemblance to the Treasury of Atreus. It is constructed on the same principle, and appears to be of the same age and to have been erected for the same purpose. Each stone of this treasury likewise shows two or more holes, with frequent remnants of the bronze nails which once retained the brazen plates that decorated the inner walls of the edifice.[137] Thus it is certain that in a remote antiquity, before sculpture or painting came into use for wall decoration, polished metal plates were employed to give both splendour and dignity to the houses of the rich.

In the Treasury of Atreus, the exterior of the door-lintel is decorated with two parallel mouldings, which are also carried down the jambs of the door. Above the lintel numerous holes can be discerned, to which bronze ornaments must have been attached. There are more such holes in the flat wall above the entrance, and all testify to the elaborate exterior ornamentation of the edifice. Above the entrance is an equilateral triangular niche, each side of which measures 10 feet. It is constructed like the triangular niche over the Lions' Gate; namely, the courses of masonry are shaped to the form of the niche, and it can have had no other purpose than to bear up the weight which would otherwise have pressed on the lintel.

On the outside, before each door-post, there stood formerly a semi-column, having a base and capital with fantastical sculptures in the Persepolitan style. In the middle of the doorway can be seen the holes for the bolts and hinges of the doors, and in the same line are a number of round holes, 2 inches in diameter and half an inch deep; in these are two small holes for bronze nails, of which fragments still exist, to fasten on ornaments of a circular form.

To the right of the great circular hall, a doorway, 9½ ft. high and 4 ft. 7 in. broad, leads to a second dark chamber, which is nearly square, being 27 feet long and broad, and 19 feet high. It is entirely cut out in the rock. Over the door is a triangular niche, which is likewise intended to bear up the weight of the masonry from the lintel. In this chamber is an accumulation of rubbish, from 3½ to 4 feet deep, mostly consisting of the detritus of bats' dung. By means of the two trenches, which I dug three years ago in this chamber, I found in the centre a circular depression, in the form of a large wash-bowl, 1 ft. 9 in. deep, and 3 ft. 4 in. in diameter. Near this I found some large wrought calcareous stones, which seem to indicate that some monument once existed in this chamber, for otherwise their presence is inexplicable.

This Treasury is the most important and the only complete monument of prehistoric times in Greece, and the interest attached to it is so much the greater, as tradition assigns it to Atreus, the father of Agamemnon, king of men.

PURPOSE OF THE TREASURY.

Dodwell,[138] in speaking of this treasury and the smaller ones, says:—"There is moreover complete evidence that these structures were called θησαυροί, and belong to ages prior to the origin of that architecture of which the Doric temple in Europe and the Ionic in Asia are the crowning invention. As this latter architecture advanced, temples served for treasuries, or, when buildings were erected solely for treasuries, they had the ordinary forms of that later style of architecture, as we learn from the description which Pausanias has given of the treasuries at Olympia and Delphi.[139] Nevertheless subterranean buildings, similar in construction to the treasuries of the heroic ages, continued to serve for containing oil or corn or water, and when attached to private houses might often be employed for depositing property of any kind. These are very numerous in Greece, but in no instance are they entered at the side. The largest I know of is in the Acropolis of Pharsala. But the strongest reason for designating the constructions at Mycenæ as treasuries is the evidence of Pausanias,[140] unless it be denied that he intended those buildings by the words ὑπόγαια οἰκοδομήματα, which can hardly be alleged, as the ruins agree too well with his words to render such a supposition reasonable. Seventeen hundred years ago, therefore, those buildings were believed to be the Treasuries of Atreus and his sons. Nothing had then occurred to interfere with the course of the mythology or history of Greece, as transmitted to the Greeks by their ancestors: and although on many occasions the reports received by Pausanias from the ἐξηγηταί may have been inventions of a date comparatively recent, no such suspicion can well attach to the principal traditions of Mycenæ, which accord with all that has reached us concerning that city in poetry or prose. The extant edifice was the largest of the treasuries, and bears proofs of having been a costly building, highly decorated at the entrance and lined within with metallic plates. To Atreus himself, therefore, the most opulent and powerful of the kings of the πολύχρυσος Μυκήνη, and not to either of his sons, this greatest of extant treasuries may, with a high degree of probability, be attributed. Agamemnon dissipated the wealth of Atreus in the expedition to Asia, passed the greater part of his reign abroad, and returned home poor and powerless, leaving Μυκῆναι to be, after his time, no more than a secondary town of Argolis. Nor is it likely, under these circumstances, that the sepulchre of Agamemnon was a monument of any great magnificence. Pausanias, who saw it, does not mention it as such, but gives us clearly to understand that the Treasury and the Gate of the Citadel were the most remarkable antiquities at Mycenæ."

I think that nothing could better prove the remote antiquity of this majestic underground Treasury and its companions, than their very singularity and dissimilarity to other ancient buildings in Greece and Asia Minor; besides, the barbarian method of securing treasures by burying them argues a very early state of society.

As a further proof of these underground buildings having been used as treasuries, I may mention that Mycenæ and Orchomenus are the only cities which can boast of such edifices, and also the only cities to which Homer gives the epithet πολύχρυσος, or to which he attributes great wealth.

EXCAVATION BY VELI PASHA.

The Professor of Medicine in Athens, Johannes P. Pyrlas, has kindly called my attention to an article he published in the Tripolis newspaper, "Βελτίωσις," of the 19th November, 1857, on the first excavation of the Treasury of Atreus (commonly called in the Argolid the "Tomb of Agamemnon"), of which I give here the translation with all reserve.

"THE TOMB OF AGAMEMNON IN MYCENÆ.

"In 1808, as old people relate, in the month of April, a Mahomedan of Nauplia presented himself before Veli Pasha, who was at that time governor of the Peloponnesus, and told him that he knew there were several statues hidden in the 'Tomb of Agamemnon.' Veli Pasha, who was energetic and ambitious, at once began to excavate the space in front of the tomb with forced labour. When he had dug down to a depth of three fathoms, the workmen descended by means of a ladder into the interior of the dome, and found there a great many ancient tombs, and having opened these they found in them bones covered with gold, which was no doubt derived from the gold embroidered drapery. They found there also other gold- and silver- ornaments, also precious stones in the form of those called 'antiques' (gems), but without any incised work. Outside of the tombs they found about twenty-five colossal statues and a marble table, all of which Veli Pasha transported to the Lake of Lerna (the Mills), and having got them washed and cleaned and wrapped up in mats, he sent them on to Tripolis, where he sold them to travellers and obtained for them about 80,000 gros (then worth about 20,000 francs). Having gathered the bones and all the débris contained in the tombs, he got these also transported to Tripolis, and entrusted them there to the most notable goldsmiths, D. Contonicolacos and P. Scouras, who, after having cleaned the débris and scraped off the gold from the bones, collected about 4 okes (4800 grammes) of gold and silver. The stones in form of antiques as well as the bones were thrown away. I had this account from the mouth of the two goldsmiths when they were still alive, and from my own father, who saw the statues at the Mills."

Now not to speak of the improbability that statues of the heroic age should have been found, the above account is in no way confirmed by the old men of Charvati, the village nearest to the site of Mycenæ, nor by those of the other villages of the plain of Argos, all of whom agree that the excavation took place in 1810, and that the sole objects found in the Treasury were some half-columns and friezes, a marble table, and a long bronze chain suspended from the top of the dome, at the end of which was hanging a bronze candelabrum.[141] I have heard this account repeated so many hundred times by the old people of the Argolid that I believe it to be perfectly correct, except, of course, as to the candelabrum; because, not to speak of candles, even lamps were totally unknown to Homer, and I never found them either at Troy, or at Tiryns or Mycenæ, in the strata of prehistoric house remains. Nay, lamps appear not to have existed at Tiryns or Mycenæ before their capture by the Argives in 468 B.C., because I only found them in the latter place in the débris of the more modern city, and none were found at Tiryns. Thus the object which the villagers had regarded as a candelabrum must necessarily have been something else.

Moreover, this whole story of the excavations by Veli Pasha seems to relate to a spoliation of the treasury which took place at a much more remote period; for Dodwell, who began his journeys in Greece in 1801, and ended them at all events not later than 1806, gives a description and plans of both the exterior and interior of the great chamber. Gell (Argolis), who visited Mycenæ about 1805, also gives exact drawings of the exterior and interior of the Treasury. Clarke (Travels), who visited Mycenæ at the same period, says of the treasury of Atreus (vi. 492): "This chamber has evidently been opened since its construction, and its interior thus revealed; but absolutely nothing certain is known as to the time when this may have occurred. To judge by the present appearance of the edifice, it must have been at a very remote epoch." Dodwell, Colonel Leake, and Ernst Curtius speak also of excavations made by Lord Elgin in the treasury of Atreus. But in the collection of Lord Elgin's drawings preserved in the British Museum, nothing is found which relates to this treasury.

No. 23a. A Terra-cotta Vase. (3 M.) Actual size.

OBJECTS FOUND AT THE ENTRANCE.

According to Professor E. Curtius ('Peloponnes,' II. p. 408), the following fragments of ancient ornaments were found before the entrance of the Treasury:—

"The basis of a semi-column of greenish marble with wreathed stripes in relief; further, the fragment of a half round column with a zigzag decoration; stone tables, the one of greenish, the other of lustrous red colour, a third of white marble, all with a relief ornamentation in the form of muscles, fans or spiral lines, which are distinguished by sharply and neatly chiselled outlines; finally, a red marble slab, which Gell found in a neighbouring chapel."

No. 24. The first of the Tombstones found above the Sepulchres in the Acropolis. Size 8:100.

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CHAPTER III.

HISTORY OF MYCENÆ AND THE FAMILY OF PELOPS.

THE SEPULCHRES OF AGAMEMNON AND HIS COMPANIONS.

Traditional foundation of Mycenæ by Perseus—His dynasty succeeded by the Pelopids—The legend of their crimes unknown to Homer and Hesiod—The Homeric story of Agamemnon's murder by Ægisthus and Clytemnestra, avenged by Orestes—Cycle of crimes devised by the later bards—Dominion of Agamemnon—End of the dynasty at Mycenæ with Ægisthus—Orestes and his sons—The Dorian invasion—Part taken by Mycenæ in the Persian wars—The Argives besiege and take Mycenæ—The walls of the citadel preserved from religious reverence—Homeric epithets of Mycenæ—Its "abundance of gold" confirmed by Thucydides—The Treasuries of the Pelopids mentioned by Pausanias—Treasury at the Heræum, near Mycenæ—Probable existence of another Treasury at Mycenæ.

The Royal Sepulchres described by Pausanias—General misinterpretation of the passage—Experimental shafts sunk there in February 1874—Excavations begun, August 7, 1876—Porter's lodge at the Lions' Gate—The later habitation of the city after 468 B.C.—No coins of Mycenæ known—Remains below this first stratum—Painted archaic vases, like those at Tiryns—The vases almost all made on the potter's wheel—Female idols and cows of terra-cotta—Other idols and animals—Iron knives and curious keys of a later period—Bronze knives and arrow-heads—Stone implements and other objects—A little gold and much lead found—Fragments of a lyre and flute—Plates of ornamented terra-cotta for lining walls—Cyclopean house-walls—A remarkable water-conduit—Twelve tomb-like reservoirs—Two tombstones with bas-reliefs, probably of the same epoch as that over the Lions' Gate.

Mycenæ, August 19, 1876.

THE PERSEIDÆ AND ATREIDÆ.

Tradition attributes the foundation of Mycenæ to Perseus, son of Danaë and Jove, who had by Andromeda a son Sthenelus, to whom he left the kingdom. Sthenelus married Nicippé, the daughter of Pelops, by whom he had a son Eurystheus, who succeeded him. The dynasty of Perseus ended with Eurystheus, who was succeeded by his uncle Atreus, the son of Pelops. The latter left the kingdom to his brother Thyestes, who left it to his nephew Agamemnon, son of Atreus.

According to tradition, Atreus and his brother Thyestes contended for the dominion of Mycenæ. Atreus was married to Aëropé, who was seduced by his brother Thyestes. Atreus, in revengeful fury at this, butchered the two (or three) sons of Thyestes, and served them up at a banquet to their father. When Thyestes learnt the fact, in his horror he overturned the table, vomited the dreadful meal, and ran off, cursing the whole race of the Pelopids.[142] Aëropé is thrown into the sea. Thyestes consults the oracle how he can revenge himself on his brother, and gets the answer that, if he begets a son by his own daughter, Pelopia, this son will avenge him. To avoid the incest, he intended to leave for Lydia; but when he was sacrificing in the night to Athena at Sicyon, his daughter joined him there, and unwittingly he begat by her the future avenger, Ægisthus, who, exposed by his mother immediately after his birth, was found by shepherds, and was nursed by a goat, whence his name.[143] He was afterwards sought for by Atreus, who brought him up as his son, for Atreus had married Pelopia in the very beginning of her pregnancy and thought the child belonged to him. But Ægisthus killed Atreus when he was sacrificing on the sea-shore, because Atreus, thinking him to be his own son, had ordered him to kill his brother Thyestes. Ægisthus then, with Thyestes, took possession of the realm.

But Homer knows nothing at all of the bloody brawl in the house of the Pelopids, for according to him [144] Jove sent the royal sceptre to Pelops, by Hermes, as a symbol of dominion; Pelops gave it to Atreus, who dying left it to Thyestes; Thyestes left it to Agamemnon, and there is not even an allusion to dispute or violence. Hesiod speaks of the proverbial wealth and the royal majesty of the Atridæ, but he knows nothing of their crimes. Homer knows only the outrage of Ægisthus and Clytemnestra. During Agamemnon's absence in Troy, Ægisthus had succeeded in seducing Clytemnestra, and he was insolent enough to make thank-offerings to the gods for having succeeded.[145] To avoid being taken unawares by Agamemnon, he stationed a watchman on the shore, and when at length he heard of the king's arrival, he invited him to a meal and, in concert with Clytemnestra, killed him at table.[146] Ægisthus then reigned seven years over Mycenæ, until in the eighth, as the gods had foretold to him,[147] Orestes appeared and avenged his father by killing Ægisthus and his own mother Clytemnestra.[148]

The later Homeric bards, who were followed by the tragic poets, seem to have formed the myths of the horrid deeds of Atreus and Thyestes by carrying back the outrages in the house of Agamemnon into the former generation; and, by the help of other traditions, and particularly from the history of the kings of Thebes, they devised a concatenation of crimes and mischief, which had its first origin in the murder of Myrtilus or in that of Chrysippus.[149]

AGAMEMNON'S DOMINION.

It appears from Homer [150] that Agamemnon had brought under his sceptre nearly all the Peloponnesus. But according to another passage [151] it would appear that he reigned only over its whole northern part. The dynasty of the Pelopids appears to have ceased in Mycenæ with the death of Ægisthus, for tradition says that Agamemnon's son Orestes reigned in Arcadia and Sparta, but not that he succeeded his father. According to Strabo,[152] he died in Arcadia. Pausanias [153] states that his tomb was at first on the roadside between Sparta and Tegea; at a later time his bones were buried in Sparta.[154] Neither of the two sons of Orestes, Penthilus and Tisamenus, seems to have reigned at Mycenæ. Strabo [155] says that they remained in the Æolian colonies in Asia Minor, which had been founded by their father. According to Pausanias,[156] the invasion of the Dorians had already occurred in the time of Orestes; according to Thucydides,[157] it took place eighty years after the Trojan war.

Pausanias seems probably to be in the right, because only a fearful political revolution and catastrophe can have prevented Orestes from becoming king in Mycenæ, which was the richest and most powerful state of Greece, and which belonged to him as only son to the glorious and universally lamented Agamemnon.

Strabo [158] confirms the statement that the decline of Mycenæ; began with the death of Agamemnon and particularly from the return of the Heracleidæ. But, though the city had decayed in power and population and had sunk to the rank of a small provincial town, yet it kept up a certain independence; and, inspired by the reminiscences of its glorious past, it equipped eighty men as its contingent at Thermopylæ,[159] and a year later, in conjunction with Tiryns, it sent 400 men to Platææ.[160] The name of Mycenæ was engraved, together with those of the other cities which had participated in this glorious campaign, on the brazen column representing three serpents sustaining a golden tripod, which the Spartans dedicated to the Delphian Apollo as a tithe of the booty taken from the Persians. This brazen column stands now on the old hippodrome (the present Maidan) in Constantinople, whither it was probably brought by Constantine the Great. The Argives, who had remained neutral, envied the Myceneans the honour of having participated in these battles, and they feared besides, considering the city's ancient glory, that Mycenæ might usurp the dominion of the whole Argolid.

For these reasons, in league with the Cleoneans and the Tegeatans, they besieged Mycenæ in Ol. LXXVIII. (468 B.C.). The powerful walls of the citadel, behind which the inhabitants had retired, withstood all assaults of the enemy, but at last the Myceneans were forced to surrender for want of food. It appears that, in consideration of the past glory of the city, the victors treated the Myceneans with clemency, for they allowed them to emigrate whither they pleased; and they settled partly at Cleonæ, partly in Cerynia in Achæa, but principally in Macedonia.[161] But this account is not quite confirmed by Diodorus Siculus,[162] who says that on the surrender of Mycenæ the Argives enslaved all the inhabitants. If this is correct, then it is to be supposed that the Argives forced the Myceneans to settle at Argos, because it was very material to them at that time to increase the population of their city. At all events, as Dodwell says, a religious fear seems to have prevented the Argives from destroying the huge Cyclopean walls of the citadels of Mycenæ and Tiryns, because these were considered as sacred enclosures, and were revered as sanctuaries of Hera, who was worshipped with equal adoration by all the inhabitants of the Argolid. The Argives therefore contented themselves with dismantling only a very small part of the walls of the citadel, whilst they razed those of the lower city completely to the ground.

HOMERIC EPITHETS OF MYCENÆ.

Homer gives to Mycenæ the epithets of the "well-built city,"[163] "with broad streets,"[164] and "rich in gold."[165] The second of these epithets can only apply to the wide street which led from the Lions' Gate, along the ridge, through the enclosed town, to the bridge over the torrent of the ravine; for all the remaining part of the town as well as the suburb being on slopes, the other streets must have been more or less steep, and cannot have been alluded to by the epithet εἐρυάγυια. Regarding the third epithet πολύχρυσος, we have the great authority of Thucydides [166] that Mycenæ had immense wealth under the dominion of the Pelopids, for he says: "Pelops, having brought from Asia large treasures to the indigent people (of the peninsula), soon acquired great power, and, though a foreigner, he nevertheless gave his name to the country, and his descendants (the Pelopids, Atreus and Agamemnon) became still much more powerful." Thucydides adds that it appears to him "that the other Greeks joined Agamemnon's expedition to Troy less out of good will than from fear of his power; for not only did he himself bring the greatest contingent of ships, but he also gave ships to the Arcadians, as Homer says, if he can be considered a trustworthy witness. But in speaking of Agamemnon's inheritance of the sceptre, he says that he (Agamemnon) reigned over many islands and over the whole Argolid (πολλῇσιν νήσοισι καὶ ῎Αργεï παντὶ ἀνάσσειν); but as he lived on the continent, he could not have reigned over islands, except those in the immediate neighbourhood (but of these there could not be many) if he had not had a fleet. From this expedition (to Troy) we must therefore form an opinion of the nature of those which preceded it. If Mycenæ was small, and if several other cities of that age do not appear to us now to be considerable, we could not cite this as a valid reason to doubt that the expedition was as great as the poets have represented it and as tradition confirms it to have been."

The port of Mycenæ was not Nauplia, but Eïones (Ηïόνες), which was likewise situated on the Gulf of Argos, to the south-east of Nauplia. It seems to have been destroyed as far back as the Dorian invasion. Strabo [167] mentions that it was entirely destroyed, and was no longer a port in his time. According to Homer,[168] ᾿Ηïόνες took part in the Trojan war, and belonged to Diomedes, the king of Argos and vassal of Agamemnon.

Of the power and riches of the Pelopids we see the most substantial and unmistakable proofs in the many vast subterranean buildings which Pausanias,[169] following the tradition, calls their Treasuries, and which cannot have served for any other purpose than to hoard up the royal wealth.

I must here mention that, besides the Treasuries before described in Mycenæ proper and in its suburb, there is still another Treasury close to the great Heræum, which is, according to Strabo,[170] 10 stadia, but according to Pausanias,[171] 15 stadia from Mycenæ. Besides, the conformation of the slopes between the Treasury of Atreus and the Lions' Gate leads me to think that there is still one more large treasury hidden about halfway between these two points.

PAUSANIAS ON THE ROYAL SEPULCHRES.

Pausanias [172] writes: "Amongst other remains of the wall is the gate, on which stand lions. They (the walls and the gate) are said to be the work of the Cyclopes, who built the wall for Proteus at Tiryns. In the ruins of Mycenæ is the fountain called Perseia and the subterranean buildings of Atreus and his children, in which they stored their treasures. There is the sepulchre of Atreus, and the tombs of the companions of Agamemnon, who on their return from Ilium were killed at a banquet by Ægisthus. The identity of the tomb of Cassandra is called in question by the Lacedæmonians of Amyclæ. There is the tomb of Agamemnon and that of his charioteer Eurymedon, and of Electra. Teledamus and Pelops were buried in the same sepulchre, for it is said that Cassandra bore these twins, and that, while as yet infants, they were slaughtered by Ægisthus together with their parents. Hellanicus (495-411 B.C.) writes that Pylades, who was married to Electra with the consent of Orestes, had by her two sons, Medon and Strophius. Clytemnestra and Ægisthus were buried at a little distance from the wall, because they were thought unworthy to have their tombs inside of it, where Agamemnon reposed and those who were killed together with him."

Strange to say, Colonel Leake,[173] Dodwell,[174] Prokesch,[175] Ernest Curtius,[176] and all others who have written on the Peloponnesus, have interpreted this passage of Pausanias erroneously; for they thought that, in speaking of the wall, he meant the wall of the city, and not the great wall of the Acropolis; and they therefore understood that he fixed the site of the five sepulchres in the lower city, and the site of the tombs of Clytemnestra and Ægisthus outside of it. But that such was not his intention, and that he had solely in view the walls of the citadel, he shows by saying that in the wall is the Lions' Gate. It is true that he afterwards speaks of the ruins of Mycenæ, in which he saw the fountain Perseia and the treasuries of Atreus and his sons, by which latter he can only mean the large treasury described above, which is indeed in the lower city, and perhaps some of the smaller treasuries in the suburb. But as he again says further on that the graves of Clytemnestra and Ægisthus are at a little distance outside the wall, because they were thought unworthy to be buried inside of it, where Agamemnon and his companions reposed, there cannot be any doubt that he had solely in view the huge Cyclopean walls of the citadel. Besides, Pausanias could only speak of such walls as he saw, and not of those which he did not see. He saw the huge walls of the citadel, because they were at his time exactly as they are now; but he could not see the wall of the lower city, because it had been originally only very thin, and it had been demolished 638 years before his time; nor was he an archæologist, to search for its traces or still less to make excavations to find them.

The site of Mycenæ presented in the time of Pausanias just the same bare wilderness of rugged pasture land, interspersed with slopes and precipitous cliffs, as at the present day. No change can have taken place there, and the remnants of the lower city wall were undoubtedly in his time as trifling as they are now. Nay, such is their insignificance, that only the traces of the wall on the ridge seem to have been remarked by travellers, and nobody before me appears to have ever noticed the traces of the wall on the opposite side, which runs along the bank of the ravine torrent.

MEANING OF PAUSANIAS.

For these decisive reasons, I have always interpreted the famous passage in Pausanias in the sense that the five tombs were in the Acropolis. I proved this in my work 'Ithaque, le Péloponnèse et Troie,' which I published in the beginning of 1869, page 97. In February, 1874, therefore, I sank there thirty-four shafts in different places, in order to sound the ground and to find out the place where I should have to dig for them. The six shafts which I sank on the first western and south-western terrace gave very encouraging results, and particularly the two which I dug within 100 yards south of the Lions' Gate; for not only did I strike two Cyclopean house-walls, but I also found an unsculptured slab resembling a tombstone, and a number of female idols and small cows of terra-cotta. I therefore resolved at once on making extensive excavations at this spot, but I was prevented by various circumstances which I need not explain here, and it is only now that I have found it possible to carry out my plan.

I began the great work on the 7th August, 1876, with sixty-three workmen, whom I divided into three parties. I put twelve men at the Lions' Gate, to open the passage into the Acropolis; I set forty-three to dig, at a distance of 40 feet from that gate, a trench 113 feet long and 113 feet broad; and the remaining eight men I ordered to dig a trench on the south side of the Treasury in the lower city, near the Lions' Gate, in search of the entrance. But the soil at the Treasury was as hard as stone, and so full of large blocks, that it took me two weeks to dig only as far down as the upper part of the open triangular space above the door, from which I could calculate that the threshold would be 33 feet lower.

I had also very hard work at the Lions' Gate, owing to the huge blocks by which the passage was obstructed, and which seem to have been hurled from the adjoining walls at the assailants, when the Acropolis was captured by the Argives in 468 B.C. The obstruction of the entrance must date from that time, for the débris in which the boulders are imbedded has not been formed by a series of successive habitations, but it has evidently been gradually washed down by the rain water from the upper terraces.

Immediately to the left, on entering the gate, I brought to light a small chamber, undoubtedly the ancient doorkeeper's habitation, the ceiling of which is formed by one huge slab. The chamber is only 4½ feet high, and it would not be to the taste of our present doorkeepers; but in the heroic age comfort was unknown, particularly to slaves, and being unknown it was unmissed.

No ancient writer mentions the fact that Mycenæ was reinhabited after its capture by the Argives and the expulsion of its inhabitants. On the contrary, Diodorus Siculus, who lived at the time of Julius Cæsar and Augustus, after having described the tragic fate of Mycenæ, adds: "This city, which was in ancient times blessed with wealth and power, which produced such great men and accomplished such important actions, was thus destroyed and remained uninhabited till the present time."[177] That Mycenæ was uninhabited at the time of Strabo (that is, under Augustus), we must conclude from his remark, "So that of the city of the Myceneans not even a vestige can now be found."[178] It was certainly also uninhabited at the time of Pausanias (A.D. 170), who describes its ruins.

REOCCUPATION OF MYCENÆ.

But I have brought to light most positive proofs that it had been again inhabited, and that the new town must have existed for a long period, probably for more than two centuries; because there is at the surface of the Acropolis a layer of débris of the Hellenic time, which goes to an average depth of three feet. Though I cannot fix by the fragments of pottery the precise period of the re-occupation of the town, yet as painted pottery of the best Hellenic period is missing, and as the numerous terra-cotta figures and fluted vases which I find are evidently of the Macedonian age down to the second century B.C., I presume that the new colony may have been founded in the beginning of the fourth, and may have been abandoned in the beginning of the second century B.C. These two limits seem to be confirmed by the bronze medals found, nearly all of which show on one side a Hera head with a crown, on the other a column, having to its left a helmet and to its right a

. This character is generally thought to be a

, and thus the coin is attributed to the Argolic city of Thyrea. But, in the opinion of my worthy friends A. Postolaccas and P. Lampros, which I accept, the

is the spiritus asper, and belongs to the still unknown word which records the value of the coin. This coin belongs to the city of Argos, and is of the Macedonian age, which makes it utterly impossible that the sign should be a

, the

with this meaning having only come into use at the time of the Roman conquest.

There was an entire absence of Roman or Byzantine coins. I may here remark that Mycenæ proper appears to have struck no coins; at least none has ever been found.

No. 25. Terra-cotta Vase. (3 M.) Size, 3:4, about.

ARCHAIC PAINTED VASES.

Below the comparatively modern Hellenic city I find by thousands the fragments of those splendidly-painted archaic vases, which I have already mentioned when speaking of Tiryns. The type of vase which I most frequently find here is in the shape of a globe with a flat foot, and terminating above in a very pretty narrow neck, without an opening, the top of which is joined on each side by a beautifully-shaped handle to the upper part of the body. The real mouth of the vase is in the shape of a funnel, and always near to the closed neck.[179] These vases always show the most variegated painted ornamentation of horizontal circular bands, spiral lines, or other fanciful decorations, which vary on each vase. In the centre of the flat top of the closed neck is usually a white point, surrounded by three, four, six or more red circles; but sometimes there is a cross painted in the middle of the circles.

No. 26. Terra-Cotta Jug. Ground yellow: lines black. (3 M.) Size, 7:9, about.

Vases of the same form sometimes occur in Attica; some specimens of them have also been found in Cyprus as well as in Egyptian tombs. Mr. Charles T. Newton has called my attention to forty-three vases of exactly the same form, which have been found in a tomb at Ialysus on the island of Rhodes, together with other objects which also occur in Mycenæ; but in the same tomb was also found an Egyptian scarabæus with the cartouche of Amunoph III., who is thought by Egyptologists to have reigned not later than B.C. 1400.

No. 27. Vase of Yellow Ware, with black and yellow lines. (3 M.) Actual size.

No. 28. A Vase of Black and Yellow Ware. (6 M.) Size 4:5, about.

No. 29. A Terra-Cotta Vase. The bands yellow and reddish, the lines black. (1·15 M.) Actual size.

MYCENEAN PAINTED VASES.

As there are almost as many varieties of painted ornamentation as there are vases, and as in most instances this ornamentation is most complicated and has never been found before, it would be a vain attempt on my part to describe it, and I therefore simply refer to the engravings.[180] But generally speaking, I may remark that the decoration with spiral lines prevails; that fragments like the so-called Attic vases with geometrical patterns are numerous; that flowers, branches, and leaves occasionally occur; and that bands of wedge-shaped signs, resembling fish-spines, are frequent, as well as zigzag lines and circular bands. The cross with the marks of four nails may often be seen; as well as the 卍, which is usually also represented with four points indicating the four nails, thus

. These signs cannot but represent the suastika, formed by two pieces of wood, which were laid across and fixed with four nails, and in the joint of which the holy fire was produced by friction by a third piece of wood.[181] But both the cross and the 卍 occur for the most part only on the vases with geometrical patterns.

No. 80. Painted Vase. Ground yellow,
lines black, shields reddish.
(2 M.) Actual size.

Representations of birds and quadrupeds sometimes occur on vases; all are very archaic, particularly the quadrupeds, of which it is sometimes difficult to find out what the artist intended to represent.[182] Thus there often occur animals with very long legs, a body resembling that of a horse and the head like the beak of a stork, but with two horns like those of a gazelle.[183] Usually these animals have a uniform red colour; but sometimes they have an ornamentation of spiral lines. In a few instances animals are represented which perfectly resemble gazelles or he-goats.[184] The bird, in the representation of which the Mycenean artist has succeeded best is the swan.[185] Of the other birds the species is difficult to discern.[186] In the representation of men also the artist may be said to have succeeded; but the vases are broken into so many fragments that there are but few entire painted human figures. The small vase (No. 80) shows warriors with large round shields; and on a fragment (No. 47) is represented a man with a helmet on his head, leading with his right hand a horse, and holding in his left a lance. On other fragments are only the bodies of men without heads. No. 81 is the mouth-piece of a jug, on which a human head is modelled. There is also a human head painted on a fragment of pottery (No. 82); it has a very large eye, and a head-dress in the form of a Phrygian cap. All these representations are very archaic.

No. 81. Human Head on the mouth of a jug.
(5 M.) Actual size.

No. 82. Human Head
on a potsherd.
(6 M.) Half size.

PAINTED POTTERY OF MYCENÆ.

The greater number of the vases with a large opening are painted both outside and inside; and in many instances the internal paintings by far exceed those on the outside in originality and profusion of colours. Thus, for example, I found the fragment of a vase decorated outside with representations of deer, and inside with those of men and women.

I often find fragments of tripods of terra-cotta with two large handles, of which the three feet as well as the handles have two, three, four, or even five perforations, which can only have served for suspension with a string. On many vases without feet, the rim of the base is perforated on either side as many times as the handles.

No perforated lids were found, but I have no doubt that they existed, and that, as with nearly all those found in Troy, the perforations in the vases served not only for hanging them up, but also for fastening the lids, so as to secure the contents.

All the painted vases hitherto found have been made on the potter's wheel, except the very small ones, which are evidently hand-made. It is true that I found two fragments of coarse hand-made pottery, which can only be compared to the rudest pottery of the Danish "kitchen-middens" (Kjökkenmöddinge); but they had evidently been transported hither from another place.

As at Tiryns, the goblets are for the most part of white clay, and in the shape of large Bordeaux wine-glasses; nearly all have one handle (see No. 83). But there are a great many other goblets of the same form which have a uniform bright red colour, and others which, on a light red dead ground, have an ornamentation of numerous parallel dark red circular bands (see Nos. 84, 88).

No. 83. A Goblet of Terra-cotta. (3 M.) Size 5:8, about.

It deserves very particular attention that goblets of perfectly the same form were found by me in Troy at a depth of 50 feet (see my 'Atlas des Antiquités Troyennes,' Plate 105, No. 2311); further, that fourteen goblets of exactly the same form were found in the tomb at Ialysus in Rhodes, already mentioned, and are now in the British Museum. Only the painted ornamentation of these latter goblets is different, for it represents mostly the cuttle-fish (sepia), but also spirals, or that curious sea-animal which so frequently occurs on the pottery of Mycenæ (see No. 213, a, b, p. 138), but never on the Mycenean goblets.

Nos. 84-89. Fragments of Painted Pottery. Half-size.

HERA-IDOLS IN TERRA-COTTA.

Since the 7th inst. I have been able to gather here more than 200 terra-cotta idols of Hera, more or less broken, in the form of a woman or in that of a cow.[187] Most of the former have ornaments painted in bright red on a dead ground of light red, two breasts in relief, below which protrudes on each side a long horn, so that both horns together form a half-circle; and, as I have said regarding the idols in Tiryns, they must either be intended to represent cow-horns, or the symbolic horns of the crescent moon, or both at once. The head of those idols is of a very compressed shape, and usually covered by a large "polos." The lower part is in the form of a gradually widening tube. It deserves particular attention that a terra-cotta idol of exactly the same form was found in the aforesaid tomb in Ialysus, and is now in the British Museum.

No. 111. Terra-cotta Idol. (4 M.) Actual size.

But there were also found idols of this sort with a very low polos (No. 111), and perhaps a dozen idols without any horns; the whole upper part of the body, as far as the neck, being in the form of a disk (Nos. 90, 91, 92, 93, 112 [188]); the head is uncovered, and the hair is often indicated by a long tress on the back. There have also been found some idols with a bird's head, covered or uncovered, large eyes, no horns, but two well-indicated hands joined on the breast (Nos. 99, 100, 101 [189]). I also found the terra-cotta figure (six inches high) of an old and ugly woman, probably a priestess (No. 113); the features are certainly neither Assyrian nor Egyptian; the hands are broken off, but they have evidently been protruding; the figure has a very rude ornamentation of black lines on a dead ground of strong red; the waist is ornamented with a number of zigzag lines, which may possibly represent fire. The fragment (No. 110) seems, from its attitude, to have represented a rider on horseback.

No. 122. Terra-cotta Idol. Actual size. No. 123. Terra-cotta Figure. (1 M.) Size 5:6.

HERA-IDOLS IN TERRA-COTTA.

Of idols in the form of a cow hundreds were found, but all are more or less broken. It is very remarkable that in the sepulchre at Ialysus there were also found two such cow-idols, which are now in the British Museum; they are very well preserved, and have the same painted ornamentation as the cow-idols from Mycenæ.

No. 114-119. Terra-cotta Figures of Animals.

No. 120. Objects in Bronze, Lead, and Iron. Size, 1:3.

IMPLEMENTS OF BRONZE AND STONE.

Iron was already known to the Myceneans, for I found some knives of this metal; also some curious keys, one of which is very thick, is 5·6 inches long, has four teeth, each 1·6 inch long, and has a ring at the other end (see No. 120). But judging by the form of these knives and keys, I make bold to express the opinion that they belong to a late period in the history of Mycenæ, and that they date even from the beginning of the 5th century B.C.

No. 121. (4 M.) No. 122. (3 M.) No. 123. (3½ M.) No. 124. (7 M.) No. 125.

Nos. 121-125. Bronze Knives. Actual size.

I also found a large number of button-like objects which seem to have served as ornaments in the house-doors or elsewhere.[190] They have a lustrous blackish colour, and according to the analysis of my esteemed friend Mr. Xavier Landerer, Professor of Chemistry at Athens, they consist of a strongly-burnt clay varnished with a lead glazing. Of bronze I discovered several well-preserved knives, one of which (No. 125) still has part of its bone handle; further, two arrow-heads of a pyramidal form without barbs (γλωχῖνες), like the Carthaginian arrow-heads, which I gathered last year in my excavations at Motyë, in Sicily.

No. 126. Arrow-heads, hatchets, and other objects of stone. (3 M.) Actual size.

Of stone implements, I found two beautifully-polished hatchets of serpentine (see No. 126, in the lower row); further, a number of weights of diorite and a number of hand millstones of trachyte, 8 inches long and 5¼ inches broad, in the form of an egg which has been cut lengthwise. The grain was bruised between the flat sides of two of these millstones; but only a kind of groats can have been produced in this way, not flour; the bruised grain could not have been used for making bread. In Homer,[191] we find it used for porridge, and also for strewing on the roasted meat.[192] Of gold only a small particle has been found; of silver none as yet; of lead a large quantity.

I also found a small and thick terra-cotta disk, with a furrow all round for suspension by a string; on one side, which is well polished, and seems to have been covered with wax, are engraved a number of 卍's, the sign which occurs so frequently in the ruins of Troy. Whorls are found here by hundreds; nearly all are of a beautiful blue stone without any ornaments (see No. 15, p. 17). Whorls of exactly the same kind were also found in the tomb at Ialysus. As yet only five whorls of terra-cotta have been found, and without any ornaments.

No. 127. Fragment of a Lyre of Bone. (3½ M.) Size, 7:8, about.

No. 128. (3 M.) No. 129. (6 M.)

Nos. 128, 129. Lower and Upper Ends of a Flute. Actual size.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

The Myceneans seem to have been musicians, for I found the beautifully ornamented fragments of a lyre of bone (No. 127), and a flute, of which we have the three pieces (Nos. 128, 129, 130), which were found at the same place, though at different depths, and evidently belong to the very same instrument. No. 129, which is the upper piece of the flute, consists, according to Professor Landerer, of bone; No. 128, which is the lower piece, consists of very hard-baked clay: both have a very symmetrical intaglio ornamentation. The fragment of the tube of the flute (No. 130a) consists of potstone, the lapis ollaris of Pliny, and we therefore have here a marvellous Mycenean flute consisting of bone, baked clay, and stone. But potstone seems to have been frequently used for flutes in antiquity, for I myself possess a flute of lapis ollaris found in a tomb in Ithaca: it bears the inscription ἱερῶθ,[193] and seems to belong to the 6th or 7th century B.C. Also a fragment of a crystal vase was found; and a comb (No. 130), which, by the analysis of Professor Landerer, consists of very hard white baked clay.

130. (3·6 M.) 130a. (2 M.) 131. (4 M.) 132. (3 M.) 133. (7 M.) 134. (3 M.) 135. (5 M.) 136. (3 M.)

Nos. 130-136. Comb and Needles of Terra-cotta. Size 5:8.

NOTE.—No. 130a is part of the Flute to which Nos. 128 and 129 also belong.

No. 137. (5 M.) No. 138. No. 139. (3 M.)

Nos. 137, 139. Terra-cotta Ornaments. Actual size. No. 138 is a Gold Button.

VARIOUS OBJECTS FOUND.

It was found at a depth of 12 feet; it has in the middle a hole for suspension with a string. I frequently find here flat pieces of terra-cotta with painted or impressed ornaments, which must have served for coating the interior walls of the houses (Nos. 137 and 139). At a depth of from 10 to 11 feet, and sometimes of only 6½ feet, below the surface, I am bringing to light Cyclopean house-walls, built of unwrought stones, joined without clay or cement, and founded on the natural rock, from 20 to 24 feet below the surface. The corner-stones of these mansions are remarkable for their massiveness.

SCULPTURED TOMBSTONES.

At the north end of my trench I have brought to light part of a Cyclopean water-conduit, which is still more remarkable than those of Tiryns, for there at least the water-conduit rests on the natural rock, while here it is imbedded in the débris, and, as the uncut stones are joined without any binding material, it is really wonderful how a current of water could have passed along them without being lost through the interstices. Close to the Cyclopean water-conduit are twelve recesses, consisting of large slabs of calcareous stone and covered by smaller ones; in my opinion they cannot possibly be anything else than small cisterns. A few yards south of these reservoirs I have brought to light two tombstones, which stand in a direct line from north to south, and are ornamented with bas-reliefs of the highest interest. Unfortunately the tombstone to the north consists of a soft calcareous stone, in consequence of which it is broken in several places, and its upper part has not been preserved. It is 6 inches thick, 4 feet high, 4 ft. 2 in. broad below, and 3 ft. 8½ in. above; it shows one undivided picture, encompassed below as well as on both sides by a broad border, which is formed in the simplest way into rows, and it represents a hunting scene.[194] On a chariot, drawn by one horse, stands the hunter, who holds in his left hand the reins, in his right a long broad sword. Owing to fractures in the stone the upper part of the chariot is not distinctly visible, but the wheel can be well seen, with its four spokes forming a cross. The outstretched fore and hind legs of the horse appear to indicate his great speed. Below to the left is a tolerably well-formed dog, with a curved tail, chasing a flying deer, probably a roe, whose tail however is by far too long. Just above the roe's back, and between the horse's feet, lies an object which cannot be recognised; it may equally well represent a man lying prostrate, or a cart with two wheels. On either side, in the broad border formed by two vertical parallel fillets, are three ovals or cartouches, containing a very curious ornamentation, which at first sight seems to have a symbolic signification; but on close examination one finds that it is nothing more than a beautiful ornamentation of spiral lines. At the base are three horizontal fillets. Behind the chariot is a row of signs resembling letters, but this also is probably nothing more than ornamentation.

No. 140. The Second Tombstone, found above the Sepulchres in the Acropolis. (4 M.)

About one-twelfth of the actual size.

At a distance of one foot from this sepulchral stêlé and in the same line with it is the other (No. 140), which is of much harder calcareous stone, and has been therefore much better preserved. It is only damaged at the top, where a piece 6 to 8 inches high may be missing; its breadth at bottom is 3 ft. 10 in., and at top 3 ft. 7 in.; its height is 6 feet. It is divided into an upper and a lower compartment, which are separated by a horizontal fillet, and enclosed on three sides by two parallel bands. The upper compartment shows four horizontal parallel rows, each of six spirals, two complete and two imperfect; making in all twenty-four spirals united with each other and representing a band in relief, which covers the whole field with a network, and which, as my friend the well-known archæologist, Dr. Fr. Schlie, rightly observes, is in principle the same as the filling up with straight lines, horizontally and vertically combined, into what is called a fret or key-pattern (see p. 83).

No. 140a. Pattern of straight and spiral Frets.

MYCENEAN AND HOMERIC CHARIOTS.

The lower part of the sculpture represents a warrior in a chariot, rather in a sitting than in a standing posture, for the lower part of his body is not visible; and whilst, in a very primitive manner, his head is represented in profile, the front side of his breast is given almost without any perspective diminution. He holds in his left hand a sword which is still in the sheath, its handle ending in a large knob. In his right he holds a long object, which ends at the horse's mouth, and which, being at first thick and becoming gradually thinner, resembles much more a lance than the reins; and it is difficult to say which of the two the artist intended to represent. The chariot is drawn by a stallion, whose outstretched legs seem to indicate that he is running at great speed.[195] The tail of the animal stands upright, and its end only forms a curve. The legs and the tail are so thick in proportion to the body that, were it not for the head, one would think that the sculptor intended to represent a lion; the stallion's ears also appear more like horns than like real horse-ears. Just before the horse is standing a warrior, apparently naked, who grasps the animal's head with his right hand, and holds in his uplifted left hand a double-edged sword; he seems to be full of anguish; his head is represented in profile, while the rest of his body is shown without the slightest perspective reduction.

To fill up the vacant space, there is represented below this figure and below the horse a pattern of volutes, whose second, third, and fourth spirals are much larger, in proportion to the space, than the other five spirals. Mr. Postolaccas calls to my notice that the curious relief-band above the horse resembles the pelta lunata of the Amazons on the ancient vases; this relief-band consists of two horizontal spirals opposite to each other. The chariot gives us a unique and most precious specimen of the Homeric chariot, of which we had before but a confused idea. The body of the chariot (πείρινς) does not form a semicircle, as we were wont to imagine from the sculptures of classical antiquity and from the ancient chariot preserved in the museum at Munich, but it is quadrangular; according to the Iliad,[196] the chariot-box was fastened on the chariot every time it was used. We see on three sides of the chariot-box a band or fillet, which is what Homer [197] doubtless means by the word ἄντυξ, translated by the Earl of Derby 'rail.'

Unlike Homer's chariot of the gods, the wheels of which (κύκλα) had eight spokes, the wheels of the chariot before us have only four spokes, which form a cross around the axle (ἄξονι ἀμφίς).[198] Just behind the warrior in the chariot there is a very curious sign, the lower part of which forms a long hook, the upper part a spiral line. M. Postolaccas reminds me that this same sign very frequently occurs on the medals of Roman families, as, for example, on those of Julius Cæsar, Marcus Antonius, and so forth, and in his opinion it is nothing else than the augur-staff, in Latin "lituus."

CHARACTER OF THE SCULPTURE.

On carefully examining the sculpture of the tombstones, I find such a marvellous accuracy and symmetry in all the spiral ornamentation, that I feel almost tempted to think such work can only have been produced by a school of sculptors which had worked for ages in a similar style. On the other hand, the men and the animals are made as rudely and in as puerile a manner as if they were the primitive artist's first essay to represent living beings. But still there is a great resemblance between the bodies of the animals and those of the two lions on the gate; there is the same style of art, and much of the coarseness in the animals on the tombstones may be due to the inferiority of the calcareous stone; probably the primitive sculptor who chiselled them would have produced something better if he had had to work on the beautiful hard breccia of which the sculpture above the Lions' Gate consists. I have therefore not the slightest objection to admit that the sculptured sepulchral slabs may be of nearly the same epoch as the lions over the gate.

No. 141. The Third Tombstone, found above the Sepulchres in the Acropolis. (4 M.)

About one-tenth of the actual size.

CHAPTER IV.

EXCAVATIONS IN THE CITADEL OF MYCENÆ—continued.

Wages and worth of labour at Mycenæ—The double circle of slabs—Two more sculptured stêlæ—Unsculptured stêlæ—Ashes and bones, probably of sacrifices—Fragments of other sculptured tombstones—The style of these stêlæ unique—Their probable age about 1500 B.C.—A Cyclopean house filled with ashes, bones, &c.—Objects found there and in the twelve reservoirs—Great significance of the tombstones found in the Acropolis—They mark the Royal Tombs, mentioned by Pausanias from tradition only—Excavation of the Treasury close to the Lions' Gate: about as large as that of Atreus—Antiquity of the covering-up proved by the ancient vases, idols, &c. in the débris above—Hera-idols, and others, found in the dromos, and in the Acropolis—Their vast abundance—Cow-heads on handles of vases, as at Troy—Moulds for earrings and other ornaments of gold and silver, and curious clay cones—Other ornaments of glazed clay, potstone, &c.—Numerous objects of bronze—Curious wheels—Necklace beads of various stones, with intaglios of animals, and similar objects of other shapes—Two-handled goblets; the δέπας ἀμφικύπελλον of Homer—Depth of the débris—Breach in the great Cyclopean wall, repaired by an ancient wall of small stones—The quarry of Mycenæ.

Mycenæ, Sept. 9, 1876.

WORK AND WAGES AT MYCENÆ.

Since the 19th of August I have continued the excavations with an average number of 125 workmen and 4 horse-carts, and have made good progress. As it may interest the reader to know what wages are paid here, I mention that the daily wages of a common labourer are 2½ drachmas,[199] the wages of my overseers 5 to 6 drachmas, and the cost of each cart 8 drachmas, but the labourers here work much better and are much more honest than those in the Troad.

In the trench close to the Lions' Gate I have been obliged to stop the work for a time, the Archæological Society of Athens having promised to send an engineer to repair the Cyclopean wall above and beside the gate, and to fasten the sculpture of the two lions with cramp-irons, so as to secure it against the shock of an earthquake.

In the large second trench I have brought to light a second wall of smaller stones, 12 feet high, which runs parallel with the great circuit wall, and thus forms a curve of about the third part of a circle. It enters the adjoining field, which is now being excavated, and its direction parallel with the great circuit wall seems to have been unintentional. It is not, however, vertical, but its western face slopes at an angle of 75 degrees with the horizon, like the great tower of Ilium. It deserves attention that here and there we see in this wall wrought flat slabs, which give the impression that the wall belongs to a later period than the Cyclopean circuit wall. On this wall are two parallel rows of large, closely-joined slabs of a calcareous stone, which show the same inclination as the wall, and appear to form, with the part in the adjoining field, a full circle. If so, the wall, on which these rows of slabs stand, can only have been built for the purpose of supporting them in this lower part of the Acropolis, and of raising them to the level of their prolongation on the much higher neighbouring ground. It deserves particular attention that on the inner side of the supposed circle, namely, on the side towards which the parallel rows of slabs incline, the vacant space has evidently been filled up with débris to the very top of the wall immediately after its completion.[200]

THE THIRD SCULPTURED TOMBSTONE.

I frequently found here, at a depth of from three to four feet, ashes of burnt animal matter, also masses of bones of animals, but no bones which I can identify as human, for no skull has turned up. The space between the two slanting parallel rows of slabs was filled with débris, mixed with innumerable fragments of beautiful archaic pottery, and a great many Hera-idols, but no bones were found there. Within the curve, and very near to the two parallel rows of slabs, I brought to light two more sculptured tombstones of a hard calcareous stone (see Nos. 141, 142), one of which is in the same line with the two sculptured slabs which I have already described, and only 1 ft. 5 in. south of them. It is 3 ft. 8¾ in. broad at the base, and 3 ft. 7½ in. at top; 6 in. thick, and 4 ft. 2 in. long; and thus the line of the three tombstones together is 13 ft. 8 in. long. This newly discovered third tombstone (No. 141) shows, like the two others, on its western side, a sculpture in bas-relief, which is divided by a horizontal fillet into two compartments, and is encompassed on all sides by two parallel fillets. Of the upper part of the stone a piece, apparently about one foot high, is missing. In the upper compartment is represented a warrior, whose head and neck are not now visible on account of the breaking of the stone. He is represented standing on a chariot drawn apparently by only one horse [201], the outstretched hind and fore legs and the uplifted tail of which seem to indicate that he is running with great velocity, just as on the two tombstones already described; the fore and hind legs of the horse are not separated, but appear as one broad leg. In this case the reins with which the warrior guides the horse are well indicated by one broad band; also the horse's tail is less bushy and better proportioned, but the rest of the animal's body is a perfect copy of that of the horse on the preceding bas-relief. The chariot-box is here exceedingly low, and very small when compared with that of the chariot on the other tombstone, but it is not less remarkable, because it is surrounded by a band or fillet (ἄντυξ), which is double on the lower part. Just behind this chariot-box is represented an enormously broad two-edged knife, the handle of which terminates in a very thick knob. As such a knife can never have existed, I presume that the artist intended to represent here a two-edged sword with a thick knob at the end of the handle, but that for want of space he made it very short, without however diminishing its breadth, for which there was room enough. The one wheel which is visible is much like that of the chariots on the other tombstones, for it has also only four spokes, forming a cross round the axle. The adversary on foot, who is visible on the right side, and whose upper part is likewise missing owing to the breaking of the stone, does not stand on the same level as the horse and the chariot, but he appears as if hovering in the air, on a level with the warrior in the chariot. He assaults the latter with a long lance, on which can be seen an object of a peculiar form, which much resembles one of the plain Trojan idols,[202] and must have served to attach the lance to the shoulder.

In the lower compartment we see two large circles, forming a figure of eight, lying horizontally, and in each of the two circles six spirals, of which the adjacent parts are linked together alternately, on the inside and outside, by curved bands in relief. Below the sculpture at the foot of the tombstone we see two spiral ornaments imperfectly scratched in the stone, as if the artist had made a trial sketch of what he was going to carve on the tablet. Our present artists make their sketches on paper, but the early Mycenean sculptor had neither paper and pencil nor pen and ink at his disposal, and so he made his trial sketch on the stone itself, but on its lower part, which was to be sunk into the ground and was therefore hidden from the eye.

No. 142. The Fourth Tombstone, found above the Sepulchres in the Acropolis. (4 M.)

About one-ninth of the actual size.

At a distance of only 10 feet south of the sculptured tombstone last described, and almost in a straight line with the three slabs, is the fourth tombstone (No. 142), carved with a bas-relief which likewise faces the west. This stêlé is also a trapezium, 6 in. thick, 6 ft. high, 4 ft. broad at the lower end, and 3 ft. 10½ in. at the upper end. Of the upper end a piece, probably about a foot long, is missing. That side of the stêlé which faces the west has a broad border to the right and left, and the remaining space is divided into three vertical compartments of equal breadth, which reach down to more than half the height of the stone. With the exception of two vertical lines, which form a border to the right and left, the middle compartment is left unsculptured, and was probably intended to represent a column. The two side compartments contain a broad wave-pattern, which represents the coils of a serpent, and descends vertically from the top to the bottom, following the direction of the fillets. Though it is only in low-relief, it appears to be vigorously carved. If, as Dr. Fr. Schlie observes to me, we had to show this pattern (a) by broken straight lines, we should do it in the manner shown by the pattern (b).

Immediately to the south of this tombstone, in the same line with it, and separated from it by only one foot, is another tombstone, unsculptured. Two more unsculptured sepulchral slabs stand close to each other, 23 feet to the east of the first three sculptured tombstones; and at a distance of 40 feet directly to the south of the former, stand two more unsculptured tombstones, 4 feet apart. All the unsculptured slabs likewise stand vertically and face the west.

No. 143.

Piece of a Tombstone. (4 M.) Size 1:5, about.

ASHES OF SACRIFICES.

At the foot of the sculptured tombstone first described I found a handful of black ashes, and among them a large button of wood, covered with a thick leaf of gold, on which is engraved · a circle, and within it a triangle containing the representations of three long broad knives, the handles of which are formed by beautiful spiral lines. I also found at the feet of most of the tombstones grey ashes of burnt animal matter, which I at first thought was from human bodies; but as I found together with them bones which on closer investigation turn out to be those of animals, I now think the ashes must be from sacrifices. There certainly appear to have been some more sculptured tombstones here, for I find in this and in the adjoining field, at a depth of 10 to 13 feet below the surface, a number of fragments of sepulchral stêlæ.

No. 144. Piece of a Tombstone. (4 M.) Size 1:7, about.

Of these the most interesting (No. 143) consists of hard calcareous stone, and is 15 in. long, 11 in. broad, and 6½ in. thick. It represents a boy, apparently naked, who had no doubt been made standing on a chariot, for he holds in his left hand the reins, indicated by a broad band: his right hand is also stretched out, but not holding anything: his head-dress is indicated by two curved lines on the head: the two vertical lines to the left were part of the border of the stêlé. A second fragment is 22 in. long, 17 in. broad, and 6 in. thick, and consists of a soft calcareous stone, in consequence of which the sculpture is much defaced and quite indistinct.

No. 145. Piece of a Tombstone. (3¾ M.) Size 1:5, about.

FRAGMENTS OF STÊLÆ.

The third fragment (No. 144), 2 ft. 6 in. long, 2 ft. broad, and 6 in. thick, is evidently the upper right-hand part of a stêlé. This also consists of a soft calcareous stone, and the sculpture is consequently much defaced. It is divided by broad fillets into three compartments, of which the upper one as well as that to the right contain spirals, whilst we see the fore-part of two horses in that to the left below.

Nos. 146, 147, 148. Three pieces of Tombstones. (3·4 M.) Size 1:6, about.

Another fragment (No. 145) is apparently the left upper part of a stêlé: it is 1 ft. 8 in. broad, 2 ft. 2 in. high, and 4 in. thick, and likewise consists of a soft calcareous stone. It has to the left a border of two fillets, at the top the slight remnant of one fillet, and is divided by a horizontal fillet into two compartments, of which the upper one has beautiful spirals, forming the same pattern as on No. 140, whilst of the lower compartment only a small part remains, the sculpture of which is effaced.

I also show three fragments of tombstones, all of a harder calcareous stone, and therefore better preserved. The upper one (No. 146), which is 1 ft. high, 10¾ in. broad, and 4¾ in. thick, has a border of two broad and three narrower bands, above which only the foot of a horse is visible. The two lower fragments (Nos. 147, 148) show spirals; the former is 10¾ in. long and broad, and 4¾ in. thick; the latter is 10¾ in. long, 10 in. broad, and 4¾ in. thick. Of two more fragments of stêlæ of a soft calcareous stone (Nos. 149, 150), the first represents to the left spirals, to the right a horse; the second, which has only spirals, is 1 ft. 6 in. high, 16 in. broad, and 4 in. thick.

Nos. 149, 150. Fragments of Tombstones. (3·4 M.) Size 1:12, about.

COLUMNS OF PORPHYRY.

I have also been fortunate enough to discover, only 3 ft. below the surface, a piece of a quadrangular column of red porphyry, 12⅔ in. long, 10⅔ in. broad, and 8 in. thick, ornamented with a splendid low relief of palmettos lying horizontally (No. 151). Two of these stand opposite to each other, and are united by a rectangular middle piece, which, within an upper and a lower horizontal border, is divided on both sides, to the right and left, by three vertical band-like cuts into seven upright rectangular fields, of which the middle one is as broad as the three on either side. This middle piece reminds one of the Doric triglyphs. To the right and left of the palmettos we see the fragments of other ornaments of a similar kind, and it seems that the whole column has been decorated in this way. Above the palmettos there is a row of denticles, and there has no doubt been a similar row below. The two middle palmettos resemble a saloon furnished with seats all round. I further found at a depth of about 11 ft. 6 in. the fragment of another column or frieze of red porphyry, 8¾ in. long, 10 in. broad, and 4¼ in. thick, carved with a beautiful spiral (see No. 152).

No. 151. Piece of a quadrangular Column of Red Porphyry. (1 M.) Size 1:4, about.

STYLE OF THE SCULPTURES.

Although, as Dr. Fr. Schlie thinks, the technical treatment of the low-relief of all these stêlæ may not be vastly different from a whole series of archaic reliefs of ancient Greek art, yet such figures and such an ornamentation have never been found yet on Greek sculptures. The stêlæ of Mycenæ are, therefore, unique in their kind. It is true that the manner of filling up with manifold beautiful spiral ornaments the space not covered by the forms of men and animals reminds us of the principles of the painting on the so-called orientalizing vases. But nowhere do we see on the sculptures of Mycenæ the ornamentation of plants, which is so characteristic of this class of ancient Greek representations. The whole style is rather a linear ornamentation with forms in powerful low-relief, and herein we obtain an interesting guide to that epoch in the development of Greek art, which preceded the so-called Græco-Phœnician period, that is the time when its course was determined by oriental influences. The beginning of this latter period Mr. Newton fixes with certainty not later than B.C. 800. But these Mycenean representations, which are decorated exclusively with linear ornamentation in relief, are again remarkable because we see in them living beings such as man, the horse, the dog, and the deer, which are not reduced to a more or less linear design, such as those on the Trojan whorls,[204] but which are given, though rudely, and in a puerile way, in full bodily form, precisely as the nature of the relief requires.

Nos. 151, 153, 154. Fragments of Friezes. Size 1:5, about.[203]

These reflections lead us to the conviction that the Mycenean reliefs must be brought into relation with the ancient architecture of Mycenæ. Let us compare with them only the preserved remnants of the ornamentation of the gateway of the "Treasury of Atreus" and its semi-column, as restored by Professor Donaldson.[205] Therefore it cannot appear an unfounded assumption, if we claim for these ancient monuments the middle of the second millennium B.C., and if we insert them for the future as an important link into the history of art. As Mr. A. S. Murray, of the British Museum, justly observed to me, the spiral ornamentation is no proof whatever of an orientalizing influence, because every wire must have given to the early artist the idea of the spiral ornamentation; nay, we find the spiral ornamentation even on the ancient Mexican and Peruvian monuments.

Close to the twelve small reservoirs on the north side of my second trench, is a Cyclopean house without a roof, which even now is on its south side 24 ft. high. It contains only one chamber, 17 ft. long and 9½ ft. broad; its east wall is 3 ft. 4 in., and its west wall 3 ft., thick. On the south side it has two walls, the inner one 3 ft. 4 in., the outer one 3 ft. 8 in., thick; against its north wall, which is 3 ft. thick, leans another, 6½ ft. thick; and thus the passage of the door, which is on this side, is not less than 9½ ft. long. I excavated in this house, and found it filled with ashes both of wood and of animal matter, intermixed with bones, particularly of swine, and with millions of fragments of painted archaic vases. But I found nothing worth mentioning, except a certain quantity of baked wheat and vetches, a weight of jasper with a perforated handle for suspension (No. 155), some well-preserved archaic vases, the fragment (No. 156) of a vase with sieve-like perforations, and a certain number of whorls of blue stone. One of these vases is particularly interesting for its painted ornamentation, showing two swans, which hold their heads together, much like the two eagles in the Russian arms.

No. 155. A Jasper Weight, with a hole for suspension. (5½ M.) Actual size.

I have not been more lucky with the twelve small reservoirs formed of four large slabs, for they contain nothing else than the remnants of household utensils, and particularly fragments of archaic vases.

The four sculptured and five unsculptured sepulchral slabs undoubtedly mark the sites of tombs cut deep in the rock, the exploration of which, however, I must needs delay until I have terminated all my excavations in the northern part of the Acropolis.

TOMBS IN THE ACROPOLIS.

The presence of these numerous sepulchres near the Lions' Gate, and thus in the most prominent part of the citadel, in a place where one would have expected to find the king's palace, is very significant; the more so, as the slabs of the two parallel rows perfectly resemble the five unsculptured tombstones and the slabs of the twelve small reservoirs, and all these monuments appear to have been erected simultaneously.

No. 156. Fragment of a perforated Terra-cotta Vase. (2½ M.) Actual size.

I know of no example in history of an acropolis having ever served as a burial place, except the small building of the Caryatides in the Acropolis of Athens, which was called the Sepulchre of Cecrops, the first king of Athens. But we now know with certainty that Cecrops is nothing else than Kacyapa or Cacyapa, who was a sun-god, and thus the story of Cecrops having been buried in the Acropolis is a pure myth. But here in the Acropolis of Mycenæ the tombs are no myth, they are a tangible reality. But who have the great personages been, and what immense services did they render to Mycenæ, to have received the signal honour of such a burial place?

I do not for a moment hesitate to proclaim that I have found here the sepulchres which Pausanias, following the tradition, attributes to Atreus, to the "king of men" Agamemnon, to his charioteer Eurymedon, to Cassandra, and to their companions. But it is utterly impossible that Pausanias should have seen these tombstones, because, when he visited Mycenæ, about 170 A.D., all the sepulchral monuments had for ages been covered by a layer of prehistoric débris, from 8 to 10 ft. thick, on which an Hellenic city had been built and had again been abandoned about four centuries before his time, after having added a layer of Hellenic ruins, 3 ft. thick, to the deep stratum of prehistoric remains. Thus he could only have known of the existence of these sepulchres by tradition.

In the Treasury close to the Lions' Gate the work advances but very slowly, the soil being as hard as stone, and only to-day has my trench reached a sufficient depth to enable me to begin the excavation of the triangular space above the door. My supposition that this Treasury would turn out to be nearly of the same size as the Treasury of Atreus seems to be confirmed by the width of the approach ("dromos"), which is in the latter 20 ft. 7 in., in the former 19 ft. 8 in., broad.

These conical buildings, 50 ft. high, were constructed under the slope of a hill, and were destined to remain subterranean: for, as before stated, the outside surface of the stones is quite irregular, and the whole building is covered all round with a thick layer of stones, the weight of which holds the masonry fast together. I feel certain that the tradition is correct which says that these mysterious buildings served as the store-houses of the wealth of the early kings; but there can be no doubt that as long as they served as treasuries the "dromos" and the entrance gate were unobstructed, and the great question, therefore, arises, why and when were the "dromos" and the gate hidden under the tremendous masses of débris?

No. 157. Piece of a Painted Vase, from the "dromos" of the Treasury near the Lions' Gate. (2½ M.) Half-size.

No. 158. Fragment of the same Pottery from the "dromos".
(5 M.) Half-size.

GEOMETRICALLY PAINTED POTTERY.

It has been asserted that they were buried at the time of the Dorian invasion; but did the excavation of the Treasury of Atreus in 1810 by Veli Pasha, the son of Ali Pasha, produce anything else than a stone table, a few sculptured slabs, and fragments of brazen plates? and was it worth while to bury empty treasuries? But it is a fact that they were buried, and, as to the chronology of the event, the pottery in the layer of débris, which covers the "dromos" of each, gives us fortunately some clue, for I find there continually very ancient painted pottery with geometrical patterns, resembling the Attic vases which until now have been considered as the most ancient terra-cottas in Greece; as well as very rude terra-cotta idols of Hera in the female and cow forms. The style of the pottery is seen in the annexed piece (No. 157), which shows to the right of the handle a 卍 of which only part is visible, and then follows a row of the frequently recurring animal in form of a crane, but which may have been intended to represent a horse, and after that follows a beautiful band of key-patterns. On another fragment (No. 158) is only a row of the same birds or horses between two bands, each of three parallel circular lines; also a small can, ornamented with vertical lines, was found there. Of course it is perfectly certain that the débris which covers the entrance has been brought there from other places, but as it contains solely fragments of very ancient painted terra-cottas nearly all of them with geometrical patterns, the filling-up of the entrance must have been already effected in a remote antiquity, and the Treasury itself is doubtless more ancient than the Treasury of Atreus.

No. 159. Idol of Terra-cotta, with a Cow's head, on the handle of a Vase. (4 M.) Actual size.

Of the idols found in the "dromos" before the Treasury now in question the most ancient Hera-idols, in the shape of a woman, are very rudely made, sometimes without painted ornaments, and they have a head either oblong or round, with or without a diadem, and large eyes. Some are with breasts, others without; the hands are either protruding or folded on the breast. To the same epoch no doubt belong the female idols with a very compressed bare head, large eyes, outstretched hands, and no breasts; or with two breasts, below which a horn protrudes on each side, so that both horns together form a semicircle;[206] also the male idol, with its head ornamented in front with a diadem, bearing a star, a long aquiline nose, large eyes, and a long protruding beard;[207] and some very archaic cow idols, with painted red or black ornamentation (see No. 118, p. 74); also the fragment of a vase of granite, and a small female figure in silver with long hair.

No. 160. Idol of Terra-cotta with a Cow's head.
(2 M.) Actual size.

No. 161. Cow-headed Idols of Hera. (1-5 M.) Half-size.

No. 163. The two faces of a Granite Mould for casting various Ornaments. (4 M.) Actual size.

HERA-IDOLS COMMON IN ACROPOLIS.

COW-HEADS ON VASE-HANDLES.

In the Acropolis the most common idols are those of Hera as a woman with horns or in the shape of a cow. In fact, they are so abundant that up to this time I have been able to gather more than (say) 700 of them, but all are more or less mutilated. Among the forms of the idols found abundantly in the Acropolis I must further mention that with a round uncovered bird's head,[208] and that with a very compressed head, with large eyes, and a polos in the form of a bowl, on which is often painted a cross; both these idols hold their hands on the breasts, and have no characteristic of the cow.[209] I may further mention the very frequently occurring idol, the whole middle part of which is in the form, or nearly so, of a disk,[210] and which may have been intended primitively to represent the full moon, because Hera was originally the moon-goddess, and her cow-horns, and subsequently her whole cow-character, cannot but be derived from the symbolic horns of the crescent moon. Lastly, I have to mention the less frequent female idol with a perfectly modelled cow-head; but this type is only found on the handles of vases, and the body of the woman is always incomplete, never reaching further down than the breast, and frequently finishing with the neck, on which the necklace is never forgotten.[211] By a strange coincidence the three or four terra-cotta cow-heads found in Troy were likewise on the handles of vases.[212] One headless Hera-idol was found, with two well preserved horns and two breasts. The head is not broken off, for it was never intended to have a head. I may also mention that many perfectly flat idols were found, showing on each side a head with a long muzzle and large eyes in profile, but no indication of horns. (See No. 161.[213])

ORNAMENTS OF GLAZED CLAY.

Except the button with a gold plate, already mentioned, no objects of gold or silver have been found yet; but that these metals were in extensive use cannot be doubted. I found a mould consisting, according to Professor Xavier Landerer, of very fine dark red granite; it shows on both sides together fourteen different fanciful types of earrings and other ornaments, all of which were probably cast in gold or silver (see No. 162). I found also a smaller mould, which consists, according to the same Professor, of basalt, and is in form of a cube (see No. 163): it has on all the six sides moulds for casting ornaments, of which the types may be seen in the engravings; amongst others, it has a type for casting small cones with parallel horizontal circles, of which I find here a large number. (See No. 164.) They consist of a lustrous blackish mass, which Professor Landerer has analysed and found to consist of a hard-baked clay which has been varnished with a lead glaze. Mr. Newton also kindly showed me, among the objects found in the tomb at Ialysus, very small cones with parallel horizontal circles of the very same composition as these Mycenean cones. I also very frequently find here small disks of the same composition, with impressed flowers or other ornamentation, which must have served as ornaments on the doors or elsewhere (No. 165), and these also figure in the British Museum among the objects from the tomb of Ialysus. The quadrangular piece (No. 166), on which may be seen a very well-represented cuttle-fish between two vertical borders with teeth-like cuts, has four perforations for attaching it with pins. As I have already mentioned, the object No. 167, which has the form of a mushroom, but a perforation in its whole length, is of the same material; this also must have served as an ornament, while the whole tube-like lower part was sunk into the object which was to be ornamented, so that the head alone protruded, and may have served to put in a flower or something else. Of the same baked clay with a varnished lead glaze there was further found a large perforated bead (No. 168).

No. 163. Four faces of a six-sided Mould of Basalt. (5 M.) Actual size.

Nos. 164, 165, 166. Ornaments of Glazed Clay. (3-4 M.) Actual size.

Nos. 167, 168, 169. Ornaments of Glazed Clay. (3-4 M.) Actual size.

VARIOUS ORNAMENTS.

I also very often find small objects in the form of a cone or with points more obtuse, and in this case perforated; they are turned from a mineral, which, according to Professor Landerer, is the Siphnian stone (lapis ollaris), commonly called potstone. The same scholar calls my attention to a passage of Pliny, who says: "On the island of Siphnos there is a stone which is hollowed out and turned for vases; these latter are very useful for cooking victuals or for the preservation of eatables, which, as we know, is the case with the Comnes stone in Italy. The Siphnian stone has the peculiarity that, being heated, it becomes black by the contact of oil and much harder, it being naturally soft. It can be turned and used for ornaments." The small cones of this stone have in the lower border two small holes on either side, which must have been made for the pins by which the object was fastened. A likeness of such a cone is No. 172; of another object of the same material, No. 169. The curious object, No. 171, which has almost the form of a Trojan idol, is of decomposed glass, but its use is inexplicable to me; it has on its lower side a tubular hole for fastening it to something else, and may have served as an ornament. The little ball, No. 170, on which we see curious incised drawings, is of very hard baked clay. I also find very frequently button-like objects, like those already shown under No. 126,[214] which, according to Professor Landerer, have been turned out of a stone called "lapis serpentinus." I cannot explain the use of them otherwise than that they have served as ornaments in the doors and on the walls, like No. 167. There was also found a large perforated bead of white glass, and further a large block of diorite, with circular moulds for casting various objects.

Nos. 170, 171, 172. Ornaments of Glazed Clay, &c. (3-4 M.) Actual size.

No. 173. A double-edged Hatchet of Bronze. (3 M.) Half-size.

A treasure of bronze objects was found at a depth of 13 feet. It consists of five knives (like Nos. 121-125),[215] two small wheels and an inexplicable object with a ring,[216] two lances, two double-edged hatchets (No. 173), hair-pins, two vases, and remnants of four others, and a tripod. It is incomprehensible to me for what purpose the wheels may have served; they can never have been intended for rotation, for, as may be seen by the engraving,[217] there is attached to them a quadrangular handle, which proves that they can never have been turned round. From one of the wheels [218] this handle is broken off; as for the rest, the wheels perfectly resemble those represented on the chariots in the sculptures, for there are four spokes, which form a cross round the axle. Also two very small and exceedingly curious wheels of lead were found, the one at the depth of 11 ft. 8 in., the other at 16½ ft.[219]

Nos. 174-181. Lentoid Gems. (4-7 M.) Actual size.

LENTOID GEMS.

There were also found a certain number of lentoid gems of steatite, onyx, or agate, polished, nearly round, and somewhat convex, with intaglios of animals, which are very archaic, but show in several instances an advanced art; all of these have evidently belonged to necklaces. No. 176 is of steatite (lapis ollaris); it gives us a very rude and primitive representation of an animal with a very long tail, long legs, and a pointed head, which is turned backward, and on which we see a horn standing vertically: probably we must understand that this horn covers the second horn: the body of the animal resembles the body of a horse, the head that of an antelope. No. 178 is of red agate, and this also gives a rude representation of an animal with its head turned backward; above its hinder part is a trident, and it is difficult to distinguish whether the primitive artist intended to represent by this the animal's uplifted tail or something else. The most beautiful of all the intaglios is of red onyx (No. 174), showing an antelope perfectly true to nature. Both horns are well represented, and the head and body are beautiful; the animal seems to kneel on its two fore-legs; the tail is lifted sideways above the back. I call particular attention to the object above the back of this animal; it looks like an overturned flower-pot, with a long plant lying horizontally. The object on the lentoid gem (No. 183) cannot be recognised; this gem consists of serpentine. On No. 184, which is of black agate, we again see a very rudely-engraved animal with the head turned back, but without horns. No. 185 is a bead.

No. 182-185. Lentoid Gems and a bead. (3-6 M.) Size 3:4.

Nos. 186-189. Lentoid Gem, cylinder and beads. (3-6 M.) Size 3:4.

Another beautiful intaglio (No. 186), on black serpentine, represents an animal with the head turned back and very large eyes; it seems to run with great speed. The object No. 189 is also of black serpentine, and has no intaglio. Similar lentoid gems, with rudely-incised animals, found in the Greek islands, are in the gold room of the British Museum, and I call particular attention to them, as well as to the lentoid gem of rock crystal, representing in intaglio a goat, which turns her head. This gem, again, was found in the repeatedly-mentioned sepulchre of Ialysus, and is also in the British Museum. Very pretty is the small parallelopiped (No. 182), likewise of serpentine, ornamented on two sides with fourteen lines which cross each other, and on the other two sides with two incised squares, in each of which we see a small circle with a point in the centre. No. 187 represents a light green cylinder of opal, on which a human head is rudely carved, with closed eyes, a very broad nose, a large mouth, and a necklace, and very much in the ancient Egyptian style of art. It is cylindrical, and has no hole, and it seems therefore not to have served as a stick-handle. No. 188 is a bead of white glass; No. 180 is an object of blue glass cast in the form of a long but narrow mussel-shell, surrounded by horizontal parallel cuts; it is coloured with cobalt; No. 179 is a small bead of blue glass twice perforated. There is also a well-polished brown onyx, without any intaglio, and it deserves attention that a similar one was found in the tomb of Ialysus. No. 181 is of an artificial glass paste. I repeat that, with the exception of Nos. 175, 180, 187, all these objects are perforated and are beads or lentoid gems of necklaces.

INSCRIPTIONS AT MYCENÆ.

Of combinations of signs resembling inscriptions, I have hitherto only found three or four; one of them is on both sides of a mutilated Hera-idol in the form of a woman (see No. 102); another inscription is on a mutilated cow-idol [220]; and a third is on a disk (No. 190). Of all of them I have sent copies to Professor Max Müller, who considers them too indistinct and fragmentary to warrant any expression of opinion for the present.

No. 190. A Disc of Terra-Cotta, with an uncertain appearance of an Inscription. (5 M.) Actual size.

I found at a depth of 6 feet a short Greek inscription:

TOHEROOS

for which, however, I cannot claim a higher antiquity than the 6th century B.C.; in fact, the fragment of a vase on which it is scratched is of the usual black Hellenic pottery, which is so widely different from the archaic pottery of Mycenæ that I could not venture to attribute it to a remoter epoch than the 5th century, were it not for the archaic characters which are decidedly of the 6th century. But this fragment of black pottery again gives us an idea of the age of the ancient Mycenean pottery. I suppose that the first Ο stands for ΟΥ, the second Ο for Ω and that the sign ] is merely a comma. I read it thus: τού ἥρωός εἰμ(ι), "I belong to the heros."

Besides the goblets already mentioned in the form of large Bordeaux wine-glasses with one handle,[221] which continue to be found in enormous quantities, there are also frequently found goblets of the same form with two handles. Although these goblets have not the slightest resemblance to the splendid Trojan goblets,[222] yet, like the latter, those with two handles can fully claim to represent the Homeric δέπας ἀμφικύπελλον. I think Aristotle [223] is wrong in his theory that the ἀμφικύπελλον had the shape of a bee's cell. The best judge, nay, the highest authority, for the form of the Homeric δέπας ἀμφικύπελλον must necessarily be Homer himself; and according to him the δέπας ἀμφικύπελλον is always synonymous with ἄλεισον ἄμφωτον,[224] which latter cannot possibly mean anything else than a simple goblet with a large handle on each side. In speaking of the shape of the Homeric δέπας ἀμφικύπελλον, Athenæus [225] does not even mention the opinion of Aristotle, but he cites the opinion of Asclepiades of Myrlea, who says that ἀμφικύπελλον does not mean anything else than that the goblet is ἀμφίκυρτον. But the following phrase leaves no doubt that the latter word signifies "with two handles," and this is confirmed by Passow's Greek Lexicon (ed. Rost and Palm).

As far as my excavations have proceeded, I nowhere find an accumulation of débris exceeding 26 ft.; and even this depth is only found near the great circuit wall. Thence the rock rises rapidly, and further on the depth of the débris is not more than from 13 to 20 ft. On the west side the Cyclopean wall has been nearly demolished for a distance of 46 ft., and on its interior side a wall of small stones joined with earth has been built to sustain its ruins. It must remain mere guesswork when the Cyclopean wall was destroyed and the small wall built, but at all events this must have occurred long before the capture of Mycenæ by the Argives in 468 B.C., because the small wall was buried deep in the prehistoric débris.

THE QUARRY AT CHARVATI.

The great quarry, whence all the stones for the Cyclopean walls, the Treasuries, and other buildings, were cut, is on the site of and around the village of Charvati, a little over a mile from this place; but the rock has in no instance been cut away deeper than the surface. I give a view of this village, in which the greater part of the ancient quarry is visible.[226] The name Charvati is no doubt derived from the Arabic word خراب (ruins), which has passed over into the Turkish language.

Mrs. Schliemann and I superintend the excavations from morning till dusk, and we suffer severely from the scorching sun and incessant tempest, which blows the dust into the eyes and inflames them; but in spite of these annoyances, nothing more interesting can be imagined than the excavation of a prehistoric city of immortal glory, where nearly every object, even to the fragments of pottery, reveals a new page of history.

No. 190a. PATTERN OF THE SLABS, FORMING THE DOUBLE PARALLEL CIRCLE ENCLOSING THE AGORA.

A. One of the vertical inner and outer slabs, both being inclined inwards, towards the enclosed space of the Agora, at an angle of 75°.

B. One of the cross slabs with the tenons, b, b, to drop into the notches a, a.

N.B.—The slabs are not all of the dimensions here shown, but vary in size in different parts of the circle. (See p. [124].)

The slabs of the double circle, which serves both as the enclosure of the Agora and for its benches, are in a slanting position from the entrance on the north side all along the east side until a few yards before the point on the south side where the double circle passes from the rock on to the wall which supports it in the lower part of the Acropolis. At this point the slabs have the maximum size, which seems to have been maintained by all the slabs which stood on the supporting wall, and which have now nearly all fallen; but their inclination can be recognised by observing those still standing on the north-west side of the circle. On the north, on both sides of the entrance, where the Agora is bordered by those tomb-like recesses in which we have recognised small reservoirs, the slabs of these recesses are of necessity all perpendicular, because, had they been slanting, they would not have sustained the pressure of the water.

No. 191. The Village of Charvati, with the ancient Quarry of Mycenæ.

CHAPTER V.

EXCAVATIONS IN AND NEAR THE ACROPOLIS—continued.

THE LIONS' GATE AND THE AGORA.

The Treasury excavated by Mrs. Schliemann—Older and less sumptuous than that of Atreus—The entrance, its ornaments—Archaic pottery found in the passage—Necklace beads—Fragment of a marble frieze—Threshold of the Lions' Gate—The great double row of parallel slabs, probably not of a remote antiquity—The Acropolis only partly accessible to chariots—The gateway double, like the Scæan Gate at Troy—Corridors of Cyclopean house-walls—Hera-idols and arrow-heads of bronze and iron—Door-keeper's lodge—Retaining walls—Tower of the Acropolis resting on a massive wall—The double circle of slabs formed the enclosure of the royal tombs and the Agora—Arguments in proof of this view—Objects of interest found there—A vast Cyclopean house with cisterns and water conduit, probably the ancient Royal Palace—The spring Perseia—No windows in the house—Objects of art and luxury found there—An onyx seal-ring—Vase-paintings of mail-clad warriors—Hand-made pottery in the Acropolis.

Mycenæ, Sept. 30, 1876.

Since the 9th inst. I have continued the excavations with the greatest energy, employing constantly 125 workmen and five horse-carts, and the weather being beautiful I have made excellent progress. In the Treasury, in which Mrs. Schliemann is excavating, we work with thirty labourers and two horse-carts, and find the very greatest difficulty in removing the hundreds of huge wrought stones which have fallen from the vault.

MRS. SCHLIEMANN'S TREASURY.

The interior walls of this Treasury have never been covered with brazen plates like the Treasury of Atreus here and the Treasury of Minyas in Orchomenus; at least, I see nowhere in the stones the holes of the bronze nails by which the metal plates were fastened; but I cannot avoid mentioning that on the inner east side of the Treasury, there protrudes from between the stones the fragment of a bronze plate, which sticks so fast that it cannot be drawn out; I therefore suppose that it was fastened there when the Treasury was built. It appears hardly possible that this could have happened merely by accident, but on the other hand I find it difficult to believe that this bronze plate could be a remnant of an ancient wall-coating of bronze plates, which were not fastened to the stones with nails but were attached in the joints between them, because in this case, I presume, we ought to find remnants of those plates in many places.

This Treasury is less sumptuous, and appears to be more ancient, than the Treasury of Atreus here, or the Treasury of Minyas at Orchomenus.

The entrance, which is 13 ft. long and 8 ft. broad, is roofed with four slabs 18½ ft. in length; the holes for the upper door-hinges are 5 in. deep. From certain traces in the walls it appears that the entrance has been ornamented on the right and left with two semi-columns, which we hope to find by digging deeper. A remnant of an ornamentation with semicircles is visible on the slab above the entrance, and the same can easily be distinguished in the engraving of the Treasury.[227] After having been buried for ages in the damp débris, the large wrought stones of the walls of the approach (dromos) and of the façade of this Treasury have contracted by exposure to the sun, and, as may be seen from the engraving, a great number of them have crevices.

As in the Treasury of Atreus and in the Lions' Gate, the triangular space above the entrance is formed by an oblique approximation of the ends of the courses of stone. On all three sides of this triangle can be seen cuttings, which make it highly probable that it has once been filled up by a triangular piece of sculpture similar to that above the Lions' Gate.[228]

Among the archaic pottery found in the "dromos" before the Treasury, the very rudely modelled men on horseback holding the horse's neck with both hands, of which also several were found in the tomb at Ialysus, deserve particular attention; further, the fragments of large painted vases profusely covered with an ornamentation of key patterns, zigzag lines, stripes of ornaments like fish-spines, bands with very primitive representations of cranes or swans, or circles with flowers, and occasionally with the sign 卍.[229] Vases with such geometrical patterns are sometimes found in Athens, and have hitherto been universally considered to be the most ancient pottery of Attica, but I perfectly share my learned friend Mr. Chas. T. Newton's opinion, that the vases with geometrical patterns are later than all the different sorts of terra-cottas found in the five Royal tombs, and hereafter to be described. Of vases with other patterns I have found but very few fragments. Together with these fragments of pottery there was found part of a necklace with a large bead of white glass (No. 205), two beads of fluor-spar of a transparent bluish, and three of a red-bluish colour, all perforated and strung on a thin copper wire (Nos. 206, 207, 208, 209); also the fragment of a white marble frieze with an ornamentation.[230] Just above the lower part of the "dromos" are the foundations of an Hellenic house, apparently of the Macedonian period.

Nos. 205-209. Beads of Glass and Fluor-spar. (4 M.) Actual size.

No. 210. Threshold of the Gate of Lions.

THRESHOLD OF THE LIONS' GATE.

The Archaeological Society in Athens has not yet sent an engineer to consolidate the sculpture above the Lions' Gate, and to repair the Cyclopean wall close to it; but they intend still to do so. Meanwhile they have allowed me to continue the excavations at the Lions' Gate on the condition that I leave to the right and left of it a considerable portion of the débris in situ in order to facilitate the raising of the blocks which are necessary for the repairs. Therefore I have been able to resume the excavations at the Lions' Gate, and I have brought to light its enormous threshold. Two exact drawings of this are appended. It consists of a very hard block of breccia 15 ft. long and 8ft. broad. The ruts caused by the chariot-wheels, of which all guide books speak, exist only in the imagination of enthusiastic travellers, but not in reality. The immense double parallel row of closely joined slabs, which I have brought to light in close proximity to the Lions' Gate, would now altogether bar the access of chariots to the Acropolis. But as I cannot ascribe a very remote antiquity to the wall which sustains the double row of slabs in the lower part of the Acropolis, so neither can I claim a high antiquity for the circle of slabs itself, and before its erection chariots could certainly have had access to the Acropolis. But on account of the precipitous slopes of the cliff, it is impossible that chariots should ever have penetrated further than the first or lowest of the six natural or artificial terraces. Thus it is obvious that chariots were but little in use here, and that beasts of burden, horses, mules, or asses, were employed in their stead. No doubt the fifteen small straight parallel furrows, which are cut all along the surface of the threshold to prevent the beasts of burden from slipping, might have been mistaken for ruts of chariot-wheels. But again, the threshold having been deeply buried in the débris for ages, and at all events since the capture of the Acropolis by the Argives (468 B.C.), no mortal eye can have seen it for more than 2300 years.

There is a quadrangular hole, 1 ft. 3 in. long and 1 ft. broad, in the middle of the threshold, where the two doors of the gate met. The threshold further shows on its east side a straight furrow, artistically cut, 1 ft. broad, and on its west side another which forms a curve. Both these seem to have served as channels for rain water, the rush of which must have been great, the threshold being lower than the natural rock forming the floor of the passage, which rises gradually. In the side of the threshold which faces the north is a long artificial hole of a peculiar form, which must have been connected with the gate in some way or other, for a cutting of exactly the same form exists in the large flat stone in the middle of the gate at Troy. At a distance of 11½ ft. from the threshold on either side of the passage there is, as at Troy,[231] a quadrangular mass of Cyclopean masonry, 2 ft. broad and high, and 3 ft. long, which marks the site of a second gate of wood.

A CYCLOPEAN HOUSE.

Further on to the right I have brought to light, below the foundations of an Hellenic house, quite a labyrinth of Cyclopean house-walls, forming a number of parallel corridors from 4 ft. to 6½ ft. broad, filled with stones and débris, which I am now clearing out. One of the corridors leads straight into the Cyclopean house already described.[232] In several places the walls retain traces of their clay-coating. I found here many Hera-idols, also three arrow-heads, all of bronze; two have barbs (γλωχῖνες); the third has the form of a pyramid, like the Carthaginian arrows which I found last year in my excavations in Motyë in Sicily.

To the left of the entrance is, first, the small chamber of the door-keeper, and then follows a wall of huge stones, intended merely to sustain the masses of débris (24 ft. to 26 ft. high) which have been washed down from the mount in the course of ages. Further on, in the same line, is a Cyclopean wall (166 ft. long and 30 ft. high) of enormous stones joined together with small ones, which, as already mentioned, is crowned by the ruins of a tower, and gives the Acropolis a peculiarly grand aspect.[233] This wall was imbedded from 10 ft. to 12 ft. deep in the débris, and has now been brought to light down to the rock on which it is founded.

My supposition that the double parallel row of large slabs would be found to form a complete circle has been proved correct. One-half of it rests on the wall which was intended to support it in the lower part of the Acropolis, the other half is founded on the higher flat rock, and touches the foot of the Cyclopean wall before mentioned; the entrance to it is from the north side.[234]

At first I thought that the space between the two rows might have served for libations or for offerings of flowers in honour of the illustrious dead. But I now find this to be impossible, because the double row of slabs was originally covered with cross-slabs, of which six are still in situ; they are firmly fitted in and consolidated by means of notches, 1¼ to 3⅓ in. deep, and 4 in. broad, in the upper edges of the aslant standing slabs of the two parallel rows, which received similar projections on the cross stones, forming a mortice and tenon joint.[235] As these latter exist on all the slabs, there can be no doubt that the whole circle was originally covered in the same way. The vertical slabs are from 4 ft. 2 in. to 8 ft. 2 in. long and 1 ft. 8 in. to 4 ft. broad, and the largest are in the two places where the double row descends from the rock to the supporting wall. Inside, there is first a layer of stones 1 ft. 4 in. thick, for the purpose of holding the slabs in their place; the remaining space is filled up with pure earth mixed with long thin cockle shells in the places where the original covering remains in its position, or with household remains, mixed with innumerable fragments of archaic pottery wherever the covering is missing. This circumstance can leave no doubt that the cross slabs were only removed after the city had been captured and deserted, because all the fragments of archaic pottery must necessarily have been washed down by the rain from the five natural or artificial upper terraces of the Acropolis, and this can of course only have taken place after Mycenæ had been abandoned by its inhabitants.

PLATE VI.

ICHNOGRAPHY OF THE ROYAL TOMBS WITHIN THE CIRCLE OF THE AGORA. To face page 124.

[[See larger version]]

CIRCULAR BENCH OF THE AGORA.

It must be particularly observed that the whole arrangement of slabs slopes inwards at an angle of 75°; so that, the ground within the circle being raised, as just described, the horizontal slabs formed a continuous bench, on which people could sit, looking towards the enclosure, the inclination leaving convenient room for the feet, as is the case also with the stone seats for the priests in the theatre of Dionysus at Athens.

No. 210a. Bench of the Agora.

My esteemed friend, Professor F. A. Paley, has been the first to advance the opinion, accepted by Mr. Charles T. Newton and by myself, that the double parallel circle of slabs, having been in the most solid way covered with cross slabs, must necessarily have served as a bench to sit upon and as the enclosure of the Agora of Mycenæ. He thinks that the first idea for the form of an Agora was given by the circular-dances (κύκλιοι χοροί) and the recitation of the dithyrambs.[236] The assembled people sat in a circle, and the orator stood in the centre, as we see in Homer,[237] and in Sophocles [238]; and just in the centre of this enclosure at Mycenæ I found a rock forming a slight elevation, which might well have served as the platform (βῆμα), from which the speakers addressed those sitting on the circular bench.[239]

We therefore know with certainty, in the first place, that the Agora was round, and, secondly, that people used to sit there. The circular form of the Agora is also proved by Euripides,[240] who speaks of the "circle of the Agora" (ἀγορᾶς κύκλον). Professor Paley infers from the passage of Euripides already cited (Electra, 710), that the poet had known this Agora in the Acropolis of Mycenæ from personal inspection, and that by πέτρινα βάθρα he means the enormous circular stone bench by which the Agora is enclosed, and that consequently on this bench he makes the herald stand, when in a loud voice he calls the people of Mycenæ to the Agora; he also believes that Euripides had perhaps in mind the βῆμα in the Athenian Pnyx. I should not hesitate to accept Professor Paley's opinion, had I not found the Agora deeply buried in the prehistoric débris. But it may very well be that at the time of Euripides the Agora was not yet entirely covered, and that the greater part of the prehistoric débris, with which I found it covered, was only after his time washed down by the heavy winter rains from the five upper natural or artificial terraces of the Acropolis. At all events it appears from the pottery of the later Hellenic city that the latter was not built till after the time of Euripides.[241]

Mr. Charles T. Newton calls my attention to the passage in Thucydides, who says of Corcyra, "the houses which lie in a circle around the Agora."[242] Also to the following passages in Pausanias, which prove that the heroic tombs were in the Agora of Megara. "Here they built the place for council in order that they might have the tomb of the heroes within the place for council;"[243] for there can be no doubt that this βουλευτήριον was in the Agora. (It must be borne in mind that this was done at Megara by the advice of the Delphic oracle.) Further: "also the tomb of Coroebus is in the Agora of the Megarians."[244]

ROYAL TOMBS IN THE AGORA AT CYRENE.

Another esteemed friend also calls my attention to the passage in Pausanias: "Here is the tomb of Opheltes, with an enclosure of stones and altars in the walls; (here) is also the tumulus, the sepulchre of Lycurgus, the father of Opheltes."[245] But Opheltes was a son of the Nemean King Lycurgus and Eurydice, and he was killed by a serpent whilst his nurse, Hypsipyle, showed a spring to the seven heroes when on their expedition to Thebes. Owing to this event the people of Nemea founded in his honour the Nemean games, and he, as well as his father, was interred in the sacred grove of the Nemean Jove, where their tombs were seen by Pausanias, who mentions nothing of an Agora.[246]

Professor Paley reminds me of Pindar's Pythian Ode (V. 69-98), in which we read:[247] "(Apollo) caused the valorous descendants of Hercules and Aegimius to dwell in Lacedaemon, and at Argos, and at sacred Pylos. Now they say that from Sparta came my own much cherished race. Sprung from thence the heroes called Aegidae came to Thera, even my ancestors,—not indeed without the guidance of the god, but a certain destiny brought thither a festive rite attended with much sacrificing; and from thence receiving thy Carnea, Apollo, we honour at the banquet the grandly built city of Cyrene, possessed as it is by the brass-loving strangers, Trojan descendants of Antenor. For they came thither with Helen, after they had seen their native city become a smoking ruin in the war. And the horse-driving race is religiously received with sacrifices, and propitiated by offerings (at their tombs), by the men whom Aristoteles (Battas) brought, when he opened the deep highway of the sea for his swift vessels. He founded also larger groves of the gods, and laid down a paved road, cut straight through the plain, to be smitten with the feet of horses in processions to Apollo for averting evil from mortals; and there he lies in death, apart from the rest, at the furthermost end of the Agora. Happy did he live while among men, and afterwards he was blessed as a hero worshipped by the people. And away from him, in front of their palaces [but of course also in the Agora], lie other consecrated kings that have their lot with Hades."

From this passage in Pindar we see that Battas, also called Aristoteles, the founder of Cyrene, 640 B.C., and its first king, descended from Hercules, and that his ancestors, the Heracleids or Dorians, had emigrated from Sparta to Thera. As Pindar saw his tomb, as well as those of other consecrated kings (probably the successors of Battas), in the Agora of Cyrene, Professor Paley thinks that it was an ancient Doric and not an Achæan custom to bury the kings in the Agora. But this is in contradiction with the above statement of Pausanias (I. 43, §§ 4, 8), that the Megarians had the sepulchres of Coroebus and other heroes in their Agora, because Coroebus was an Elian Olympic victor in the stadium (Ol. I.), and, according to tradition, he killed Ποινή, sent by Apollo to the Argives.[248] Besides the Megarians had nothing whatever to do with Doric customs.

In like manner as at Megara and Cyrene, so in the Acropolis of Mycenæ, in honour of the illustrious personages who lie buried here, the Agora was erected in a circle around their tombs. Had the circle of slabs served only as an enclosure for the five royal tombs there would have been no necessity either to make it double and slanting and to cover it horizontally, or to build a huge wall for the sole purpose of sustaining it in the lower part of the Acropolis, and of raising it to the level of that part which rested on the rock in the higher part of the Acropolis; nay, one single circular enclosure, following the sinuosities of the rock, would in my opinion have done just as much honour to the five royal sepulchres as the artificially levelled and covered double row.

No. 211. A fish of Wood. (3½ M.)
Actual size.

No. 212.
A curious Idol.
(4 M.) Actual size.

CURIOUS IDOLS.

It deserves particular notice that between and on both sides of the double circular row of slabs, there were found many objects of interest, such as a fish of wood (No. 211), and a large number of Hera-idols of the various forms already described; also some in the shape of a standing or a sitting cow without horns, but with a female head-dress,[249] or with the neck perforated for suspension with a string,[250] which seems to indicate that they were worn as amulets. Also a female idol having two feet instead of a tube as usual; it has an uncovered bird's head, no mouth, very large eyes, protruding hands, and a necklace; the hair is well represented on the back; the dress is marked with a red colour.[251] There was also found an unpainted male figure of clay, with large eyes, an aquiline nose, and no mouth; the head is covered with a cap in form of a turban. I doubt if this is an idol. There was also found a very primitive idol, with an uncovered bird's head and two ears; the hands are on the breast, but not joined; the head is turned towards heaven (No. 212). I here call attention to the large number of idols of Aphrodite in the British Museum, which are represented touching both breasts with the hands, probably as symbols of fecundity.

There were also found two knives of lever-opal and three arrows of obsidian,[252] which are of rare occurrence here; further, a number of small perforated glass necklace beads, and three whorls of terra-cotta.

I frequently find here, in the prehistoric débris, fragments of a wall-coating of chalk with painted archaic ornamentations of red, blue, green, or yellow spiral lines. As no trace of chalk is found in any of the Cyclopean houses, I cannot claim for these wall-coatings a remote antiquity; and I fancy they are derived from frame houses of the last century before the capture of the city by the Argives.

To the south of the circular double row of slabs my excavations have brought to light a vast Cyclopean house, which, so far as it has been uncovered, contains seven chambers intersected by four corridors of four feet in breadth (see Plans B and C). Here and there the walls still retain their clay coating, which, however, nowhere shows a trace of painting. The walls are from 2 to 4½ ft. thick, and the same wall is in some places 6 to 8 in. thicker than in others. The largest room is 18½ ft. long by 13½ ft. broad, and its east side is cut out in the rock to a depth of 16 in.

Below this and the adjoining room is a deep cistern cut out in the rock. Into it runs a Cyclopean water-conduit, which comes down the hill, and probably brought water from the spring Perseia, half a mile east of the Acropolis, which has a well-deserved celebrity in the plain of Argos for its purity and its salubrious properties. Pausanias (II. 16) saw this spring in the ruins of Mycenæ; but the city never extended so far east. I suppose, therefore, that what he saw of the water of the Perseia was nothing but the discharge of an artificial conduit from the natural source above the citadel. This would also perfectly agree with the word κρήνη, which he constantly employs with that meaning, in opposition to πηγή, a natural spring.

PROBABLE ROYAL PALACE.

Although there are no windows in the Cyclopean house—and although the scanty daylight through the doors must have been still further diminished by the Cyclopean circuit-wall, which is only separated from the west side of the house by a corridor 4 ft. broad—yet there can be no doubt that it served as a dwelling-house, and further as the dwelling house of the most prominent family of Mycenæ, for it is only such a house that we can imagine close to the Agora in the most imposing part of the Acropolis, within which the space was very scanty and therefore precious. Professor Paley thinks that the passage so often cited from Euripides (Electra, 710) proves beyond any doubt that it must be the Royal Palace, because the people of Mycenæ are there called to the Agora to see the wonderful lamb with the golden fleece. But this lamb (which was a portent symbolical of the monarchy) had been conveyed to the palace by Aëropé, wife of Atreus. Thyestes then and there told the people that he had it in his house (ἔχειν κατὰ δῶμα), consequently the palace was close to the Agora.

If at the time of Euripides the Agora was still partly visible above the débris, such must have been still much more the case with the ruins of that Cyclopean house, and it is more than probable that tradition pointed to it as the Palace of the Atridæ, in which Agamemnon and his companions had been murdered, and that it was shown under this denomination to Euripides. The objects discovered in this house prove that its inmates had pretensions even to luxury; for in one of the chambers, at a depth of 20 feet below the surface, was found a finger-ring cut out of a splendid white onyx, with a seal, on which are represented in intaglio two animals without horns. At first sight they certainly appear to be hinds, but on attentive examination we see that the artist's intention has been to represent cows; both have their heads turned round looking at their calves, which suck the milk from their udders.[253] Though in a very archaic style, the intaglio is nevertheless well wrought; the anatomy of the animal is tolerably observed, and one feels astonished how it could have been possible to do the work without a magnifying glass. On seeing this intaglio, and reflecting that it belongs to an antiquity preceding Homer by centuries, we are ready to believe that all the works of art mentioned by Homer, such as the wonderful shield of Achilles,[254] the dog and the deer in the mantle-brooch of Ulysses,[255] Nestor's goblet,[256] and others, all existed in his time, and that he merely describes what he saw with his own eyes. Mr. Achilles Postolaccas calls my attention to the most ancient didrachms of Corcyra, of the 7th century B.C., on which a cow is giving milk to her calf, this representation being similar in style to the cows and calves on the onyx ring.

No. 213. Fragments of a painted Vase, representing armed Warriors. (5 M.) Size 1 : 3, about.

A PAINTED VASE.

There were further found in the Cyclopean house some beautiful axes of diorite or serpentine,[257] and many whorls of blue stone, and a great many painted terra-cottas, among which the fragments of a large vase, with two or three handles, the ends of which have been modelled into the shape of cowheads, deserve particular attention. Some of the fragments which I have been able to readjust represent six full-armed warriors, painted with a dark red colour on a light yellow dead ground; they are evidently setting out on a military expedition, and all wear coats of mail which reach from the neck down to below the hips. (See No. 213). These coats of mail consist of two distinct parts, which are fastened round the waist by a girdle, and their lower edge is fringed with long tassels. Each warrior's back is covered with a large round shield, which seems to be fastened on the left shoulder, for, though the shield protrudes far on both sides, it does so much more on the left than on the right. Its lower end is cut out in the form of a crescent. In their right hands the warriors hold long lances, to each of which is attached that curious object resembling a Trojan idol, which I have already mentioned in describing one of the bas-reliefs.[258] Though it certainly appears to us that this curious object can have served for no other purpose than for fixing the lances on the right shoulder, yet it deserves particular attention that the primitive Mycenean artist has taken care to represent it a little above the shoulder, in order that it might be seen separately, for had he represented it leaning on the shoulder, it would have been confounded with, and partly covered by, the shield, and it would have been impossible to recognise its shape. For the rest, the shape of the lances is such as we were led to expect from the Homeric "δολιχόσκιον ἔγχος,"[259] for they are very long. We further see that the spear-head has a tube in which the shaft is fixed, and this appears also to have been the case with the Homeric lances.[260]

Very peculiar are the greaves (κημῖδες) which appear to be of cloth, and reach from a little above the knee down nearly as far as the ankles; their upper end is attached by means of a string, which is turned three times round the lower part of the thigh. In my opinion this string is in itself a proof that the greaves are of cloth. All the warriors wear sandals fastened on by straps reaching as far up as the greaves. Of the highest interest are the helmets, dotted all over with a large number of points, which may be intended to represent the lustre of the bronze. The lower part of the helmets is nearly in the form of a crescent, and protrudes both in front and behind; the upper part of the helmet is no doubt the Homeric φάλος.[261] On the top of this φάλος was the λόφος or tube, in which the horsetail crest (ἵππουρις) was fastened.[262] But unfortunately no space was left for this λόφος, and thus the artist has been obliged to leave it out and to represent the crest as fastened on the φάλος itself. What this crest consists of is not clear, but as it is here shewn in the form of a long leaf, it is highly probable that the artist meant to represent it as a horsetail.

THE HOMERIC HELMET.

From the fore part of the helmet rises a long and very curious object, which forms a curve, and is much like a horn. It is altogether inexplicable to me what it can have been used for, and there is no word in Homer which might be interpreted so as to indicate its existence on the Homeric helmet.

Now, with regard to the physiognomy of the six warriors, it is most decidedly not Assyrian or Egyptian. All have exactly the same type—very long noses, large eyes, small ears, and a long well-dressed beard, which ends in a point. Thus, except the beard, there is nothing Asiatic about them. Five of the warriors are followed by a woman, seemingly a priestess, who is dressed in a long gown fastened at the waist by a girdle; her forehead is ornamented with a diadem, and she seems to wear some kind of a head-dress. Only her right arm remains, which is uplifted, and by the curve it forms it appears that the woman has lifted her joined hands and is praying to the gods to be propitious to the departing warriors, and to grant them a safe return. This custom of lifting both hands when praying is continually found in Homer.[263]

On other fragments of the same vase (No. 214 [264]) are represented two warriors, who cover their left side with their shields and hold in their uplifted right hand a lance, which they thrust at their enemies, of whom, however, the figure of only one is partly preserved. The armour of the two warriors and that of the opponent is perfectly identical with that of the six warriors described before, except the head-dress, which, instead of bronze helmets, consists here seemingly of a low helmet of boarskin, with the bristles outside. In fact, these helmets vividly remind us of the low helm of oxskin which Ulysses put on his head when he and Diomed went in the night as spies to the Trojan camp.[265] I may here remark that the word κυνέη means dogskin, and that consequently the low helmets must originally have been made of dogskin. But at the epoch of Homer the original conception of the word had long disappeared, and he not only uses κυνέη for a low helm, but also for a large bronze helmet. Behind the warrior to the left is seen part of the coat of mail and the shield of another man, and behind the other warrior is seen a shield; thus it seems that many warriors were here represented fighting together. Below the first handle is represented a flying bird. On the two cow-heads, in which the handles terminate, only the place of the horns is marked, because the artist knew that, if he made them, they would at once break when the vase was to be used. The clay of this vase, which has been made on the potter's wheel, is unusually bad and mixed with coarse sand; the fabric also is extremely rude; inside it is painted red.

There were further found in the Cyclopean house other vases of excellent fabric, and ornamented with rows of circles, containing numerous signs which at first sight appear to be written characters, but from the continual repetition of the same signs one soon sees the mistake. There were also found in the Cyclopean house two copper vessels, one of which is a tripod of very large size.

HAND-MADE POTTERY.

I now find here in the Acropolis numerous fragments of hand-made pottery, but not in distinct layers as at Tiryns. It is evident that the layer of prehistoric hand-made pottery (for there must have been such a layer) has been disturbed; and I think it probable that it was disturbed when the huge wall was built, which sustains the circular double parallel enclosure of the Agora in the lower part of the Acropolis, because this wall is at all events later than the hand-made pottery. What I find of this pottery has usually an ornamentation of black horizontal bands or spiral lines on a light green dead ground; but fragments of monochromatic lustrous black vases also occur.

MYCENEAN POTTERY.

I have explained on pp. 3 and 4 that the name "Cyclopean walls" is founded on an error, being derived from the mythic legend that the Cyclopes were distinguished architects, but that the name having come into use, we cannot help employing it for the different kinds of walls of huge blocks which I have specified. But in Tiryns as well as here in Mycenæ, where I am surrounded by the grandest Cyclopean walls in the world, I am, for brevity's sake and in order to avoid misunderstandings, bound to use the name "Cyclopean" even for the smallest walls of houses or water conduits which show the same kind of masonry. But it must be distinctly understood that I should of course not think of calling them so if I found them in places where there are no huge walls of that kind, for the name "Cyclopean" can only be applied to the gigantic.

No. 213 a, b. A very frequent type of Mycenean painted Pottery. Half-size.

NOTE.—The pattern on the two fragments here shown, evidently representing a sea animal, a sort of cockle, is the most common pattern at Mycenæ; but it never occurs either in the five royal tombs, or in the dromos before the Treasury, which circumstance leads me to conclude that it came into use at Mycenæ both after the epoch of the tombs and after the covering up of the dromos of the Treasury. The pottery with this pattern has nearly always a light yellow dead ground, only in a few instances a light red dead ground, and the pattern itself is always of a black (or dark red) colour. Now it is a remarkable fact that this pattern, which has never been found yet elsewhere, is to be seen, of exactly the same form, on nearly all the terra-cotta goblets, and on some of the terra-cotta vases from the sepulchre of İalysus, which are now in the British Museum. At the same time I remind the reader that these İalysus goblets have exactly the same shape as all the terra-cotta goblets of Mycenæ, and that this form has never yet been found elsewhere, except in the first and most ancient of the four prehistoric cities at Hissarlik. But then again it deserves particular notice that this pattern never and in no instance occurs on the Mycenean goblets, and solely on the Mycenean vases.

No. 214. Other Fragments of the Vase (No. 213). (5 M.) Size 1:6.

CHAPTER VI.

THE SECOND GREAT TREASURY; ACROPOLIS; AND CYCLOPEAN REMAINS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF MYCENÆ.

Further excavations of Mrs. Schliemann's Treasury—The dromos, doorway, and threshold—Objects found there—Hera-idols—Cyclopean water-conduits and cisterns in the Acropolis—Bronze rings—Pottery with marks like letters—Earrings like those found at Troy—Hand-made painted pottery—New forms of Hera-idols—Terra-cotta tripods and cradles, probably votive offerings—A comb, stilettos of opal, beads and buttons—A bronze sword—Iron tongs of late date—State of the débris left at the Lions' Gate—The excavations visited by the Emperor of Brazil—Ascent of Mount Eubœa—The Cyclopean enclosure on its summit; was probably a very ancient sanctuary—Other Cyclopean remains near Mycenæ—State of the excavations.

Mycenæ, October 30, 1876.

Since the 30th of September I have continued the excavations with the utmost vigour, employing constantly 125 labourers and 5 horse-carts. In the Treasury the difficulties were far greater than I had anticipated, particularly as the delegate of the Greek Government opposed the removal of the foundations of the Hellenic house just above the lower part of the "dromos," which I have mentioned before. Thus we have been unable to clear the latter of the débris, 9 ft. deep, which still covers its pavement, and have only succeeded in clearing out the entrance passage, which is 13 ft. long and 8 ft. broad, and the central part of the Treasury; but we have left a border of huge stones and rubbish, 7 ft. to 9 ft. high, and 10 ft. to 15 ft. broad.

The two semi-columns to the right and left of the entrance were fluted; one of them (4 ft. 3 in. high and 1 ft. 4 in. broad) was found in the passage near the door. At 9½ ft. before the latter the "dromos" is shut up by a wall of square blocks of calcareous stones, 5 ft. high. The door of the Treasury has the enormous height of 18 ft. 5 in., and is 8 ft. 4 in. broad. On the threshold, which consists of a very hard breccia, and is 2 ft. 5 in. broad, we found a very thin round leaf of gold. The floor of the Treasury is the levelled rock covered with a coating of sand and chalk, traces of which are visible in many places; it slopes towards the centre, which is 1 ft. lower than the threshold.

Nos. 215, 216. Fragments of Friezes of blue and white marble, found in the Treasury near the Lions' Gate. Size 1:4 about.

There was found in the Treasury a large fragment of a frieze of blue marble, carved with a circle and two rows of a wedge-like ornamentation in the form of fish-spines; it is 9 in. high, 10 in. broad, and 2 in. thick (No. 215). There was further found the fragment of a beautiful frieze of white marble, which is 1 ft. 4 in. long, 8 in. broad, and 3½ in. thick. The engraving here given (No. 216) represents the broad side of the frieze with an ornamentation of spirals between two small borders. We have already given the small face, on which we see, between two fillets on each side, an ornamentation of the same kind of spirals, which are, however, deeper cut and better preserved.[266] There were further found five unornamented blades of copper or bronze, 5½ to 6½ in. long, and a Hera-idol of the usual form, with two horns.

Treasure may be hidden in the large border of stones and débris which I have been forced to leave behind, but I scarcely believe it. Considering that very ancient fragments of pottery with geometrical patterns were found exclusively in the "dromos," and, on the other hand, a variety of potsherds of different ages in the Treasury itself, I am convinced that only the "dromos" and the entrance were covered up in remote antiquity, that the Treasury remained empty, and that the fragments of vases now found in it were contained in the thick layer of rubbish which covered the upper vault when, fifty-six years ago, Veli Pasha tried to force an entrance by this way.

WATER-CONDUITS AND CISTERNS.

In the Acropolis I brought to light, at a few yards from the second gate, a very curious Cyclopean water-conduit leading into one of the long narrow corridors. I therefore suppose that at least one, and perhaps two, of these are nothing else than cisterns. There is another Cyclopean water-conduit and another cistern immediately south of them; and the latter seems to be connected with the twelve recesses, in which I also recognize nothing but six small cisterns. These water-conduits, like that which runs into the two cisterns below the Cyclopean house, have doubtless brought the water from the copious spring "Perseia," whose name seems to be derived from Perseus, the founder of Mycenæ.

In clearing out the masses of débris, 13 ft. to 20 ft. deep, which obstructed the passage of the gate, I found three bronze rings. Two of these (Nos. 217 and 219), which were found close to the surface, may be of the Hellenic time, but it is impossible to say this with certainty. The former (No. 217), as shown by the hollow, has had a stone, which is now missing. The third ring is a seal-ring, and the intaglio is too archaic not to be derived from a period preceding the conquest of the city (468 B.C.). On it we see a young woman in a sitting posture, with extended arms; her head, which is turned aside, has luxuriant hair; to the right, a little further down, is a male figure, with a broad chest and extended arms.

Nos. 217-220. Bronze Rings (two with intaglio engravings), and a twisted Gold Wire. Actual size.

There were also found many Hera-idols in the form of a cow or a horned female, and among the former a fragment showing on a light yellow dead ground a number of dark red signs, which may be letters, like those shown on the coloured plate B, fig. h; also large quantities of melted lead; further a very primitive golden earring (see No. 220), consisting of a quadrangular golden wire turned twice round. Mr. Chas. T. Newton concludes from the sharp angles of this and all the other quadrangular gold wires which I shall hereafter describe, that they have been a strip or riband cut out of a plate. But it is altogether inexplicable to me how the primitive goldsmith can have performed this operation, particularly as his knives must necessarily have been of bronze. The same form of earrings occurs also in the second of the four prehistoric cities at Troy,[267] with the sole difference that the wire there is round.

There were also found here, in a hollow of the rock, a great many fragments of hand-made vases, coloured either of a plain black or red, both inside and outside, or, on the outside only, of a light green, with black spiral ornamentation. At only 6 ft. behind the Cyclopean wall, on the east side of the passage, I have brought to light the remnants of an evidently much more ancient wall of huge blocks.

OBJECTS FOUND IN THE PALACE.

In the large Cyclopean house, which tradition seems to have indicated as the palace of the Atridæ, immediately to the south of the circular Agora, were found Hera-idols of new forms: for example, a perfectly flat cow with only one big hind-leg and two fore-legs;[268] a female idol, with a very compressed bird's face, and with a Phrygian cap, instead of the usual "polos;" and a headless idol, with two protruding breasts, but with two long cow-horns. There was likewise found a terra-cotta cow-horn, 3½ in. long, which shows that there must have been much larger idols than those hitherto found. I further collected there a number of small terra-cotta tripods in the form of arm-chairs and cradles, in one or two instances even cradles containing children: all are gay-coloured and may have served as offerings. Among the other objects found there I may mention two perforated parallelopipeds of variegated colours, 4 in. long, the use of which I cannot explain;—a comb, which, according to Professor Landerer, consists of a very hard white clay paste;—several pointed sticks (stilettos) for female needlework,[269] which the same scholar recognises to consist of opal;—six small perforated round flat transparent beads of white stone, belonging to a necklace; and a large button of alabaster, which seems to have been on the handle of a sword. There was also found the bronze sword (No. 221). A pair of tongs of iron was found near the Lions' Gate close to the surface, and may be of the Macedonian period.

No. 221.
Bronze Sword.
Size 1:6.

THE LIONS' GATE.

To my very greatest annoyance and displeasure, but by the most urgent demand of the Greek Archæological Society in Athens, I have been forced to leave in the Acropolis, on either side of the Lions' Gate, a large block of débris untouched in situ, because this Institution has not yet sent, as it intended to do, an engineer to consolidate the sculpture of the two lions with cramp-irons, and to repair the Cyclopean walls to the right and left of it. But they still intend to do this work sooner or later, and they believe that the two masses of débris will facilitate the raising of the blocks and their insertion in the walls. I hope that this work will be done promptly, so that the two blocks of débris may not have long to wait for their removal, for they give the excavations a miserable aspect, and particularly the mass of débris to the right on entering, because this latter consists of loose ashes, and, should it be left for a few years more as it is, it will be washed away by the rains and spread over my excavations. I call particular attention to this, because every visitor will naturally attribute the leaving behind of these two blocks of débris to my negligence.

VISIT OF THE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL.

Yesterday and to-day my excavations have had the honour of being visited by his Majesty Dom Pedro II., Emperor of Brazil. Coming from Corinth, his Majesty rode direct up to the Acropolis, and remained for two hours in my excavations, which he attentively examined and re-examined. The immense double parallel circle of slanting slabs, within which are the three lines of tombstones, and particularly the four sculptured ones, seemed to be of paramount interest to him, and he requested me to send him photographs of them to Cairo. The great Lions' Gate, through which the king of men (ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν) passed when he left for the most glorious expedition of the heroic age, the wonderful threshold of this gate, the large Cyclopean house, the three Cyclopean water-conduits, the immense Cyclopean circuit walls and all the other monuments of prehistoric times, seemed also to be of very great interest to his Majesty, who went thence to the Treasury which we have excavated, and afterwards to the Treasury of Atreus, where dinner was served. This meal, in the midst of the mysterious, dome-like underground building nearly forty centuries old, seemed to please his Majesty exceedingly. He afterwards examined with the deepest interest, in the village of Charvati, the large collection of prehistoric Mycenean antiquities produced by my excavations, and he particularly admired the enormous mass of differently-shaped Hera-idols, the intaglios, the marvellous Mycenean pottery, and the archaic sculptures. His Majesty also examined attentively, in and around Charvati, the ancient quarry whence all the stones for the Cyclopean walls, the Treasuries, and other buildings, have been extracted, and went thence to Argos and Nauplia. His Majesty called here again to-day, to see once more the Mycenean museum and the excavations, and returned hence by Corinth and Calamaki to Athens.

After the departure of his Majesty, Mrs. Schliemann and I ascended, not without the very greatest difficulty, the very steep northern peak of Mount Eubœa, now called Hagios Elias, which is situated immediately north of the Acropolis, and is crowned by an open chapel of the prophet Elias (see Plate II.). The summit forms a very small triangle, the eastern side of which is 35 ft., the two other sides, which converge due west, each 100 ft. long. It is full of rugged and pointed rocks, between which it is difficult even to move, and it can therefore never have been inhabited by men, the more so as there is no water. The only even and level place on the summit is in the south-east corner; it is but 10 ft. broad and 23 ft. long, and is occupied by a very small open shrine, dedicated to the prophet Elias. But in spite of its small dimensions, the summit is surrounded by Cyclopean walls, which are on an average 4 ft. 2 in. thick, and from 3 ft. to 6½ ft. high; but the masses of stones which lie beside them can leave no doubt that they were once much higher.

The entrance, which is on the eastern side, leads to a short passage. In the large stone which forms the threshold of the door is still visible the hole in which the lower hinge turned. At a distance varying from 16 ft. to 53 ft. lower are, on all the three sides by which the summit is accessible, Cyclopean walls, varying from 133 ft. to 266 ft. in length, and 5 ft. thick, which are still now on an average 10 ft. high, and appear to have once been much higher. From between the stones of all these walls I have been able to collect a large number of fragments of hand-made light green vases with black ornaments, which I consider as old as the walls of Tiryns and Mycenæ, because in the former place I found them in situ on and near the virgin soil, in the latter in situ only on the natural rock in the recesses of the gate-passage, and in the tombs. I conclude from this that the Cyclopean fortifications on Mount Eubœa (Hagios Elias) must be contemporaneous with the walls of both cities, and may perhaps claim even a still higher antiquity.

SANCTUARY OF THE SUN-GOD.

The question now naturally arises, for what purpose all these fortifications have been built. The mountain being so high and steep, and the summit so exceedingly small and encumbered by protruding rocks, it can never have served as a fortress. Therefore the only explanation I venture to give of the origin of these Cyclopean walls is that there must have existed on the summit a small temple of great sanctity and immense importance, and by a curious coincidence we may even find in the present cultus on the summit the name of the deity who was worshipped there in antiquity. In times of great drought the inhabitants of the surrounding villages are in the habit of going thither on a pilgrimage in large crowds, the priests leading, to invoke the prophet Elias to give rain. And it appears likely that the very site of the present open shrine of the prophet Elias was in ancient times occupied by a sanctuary of the Sun-god, who had a celebrated cultus there, and who has given way to the prophet Elias, with hardly any change in the orthography or pronunciation of the name, the Sun-god having been originally called ᾽Ηέλιος, pronounced Eëlios. This is a wonderful coincidence, because, as the name of the prophet is purely Hebrew (הײלא or יהולא, meaning "Jehovah is God") it can have no affinity with the Homeric name of the Sun-god, ᾽Ηέλιος' which is probably derived from the primitive name of the moon's husband (perhaps Σείριος) and is at all events purely Greek.

Only half an hour's walk in a westerly direction from the Lions' Gate, and close to the village of Phichtia, are the ruins of a small Cyclopean building, in the same style of architecture as the walls to the right and left of that gate, and probably belonging to the same epoch. This also appears to have been a temple. We likewise see, at an hour's distance in a north-westerly direction from the Lions' Gate, in a secluded valley, on the border of a deep glen, the well-preserved ruins of a quadrangular Cyclopean tower, of which every side measures 40 ft. in length; the walls are 10 ft. to 11 ft. high. At the south-westerly corner is the door, which leads into a small corridor and two chambers. On the outer walls are seen two gutters. The architecture is also very similar to that of the walls close to the Lions' Gate. Most likely this tower served the Myceneans for dominating the narrow pass by which the road leads from Argos to Corinth.

STATE OF THE EXCAVATIONS.

The present state of the excavations is represented by the engraved Plate VII. First we see, to the left of the spectator, the inner side of the great Cyclopean circuit wall, which is terminated in the background by the Lions' Gate, of which, however, there is only visible the reverse side of the great triangular slab, on the exterior side of which is the famous bas-relief of the two lions. The Cyclopean wall seen in the background to the right was part of an interior enclosure.

Further down, just behind the last man, is a Cyclopean wall, of which, however, only the small portion close to the Lions' Gate, with the chamber of the ancient door-keeper, can claim the age of the circuit walls; the remainder is much later, but anterior to the capture of the city by the Argives (468 B.C.). Before this wall is the labyrinth of corridors, two of which, at all events, are cisterns. To the left, close to the circuit wall, is the small Cyclopean house so often referred to, containing only one chamber.

PANORAMIC VIEW.

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.

[[See larger version]]

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.

No. 222. Fragment of a wooden Box (νάρθηξ). (5 M.) Size 6:7.

CHAPTER VII.

THE FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD TOMBS IN THE ACROPOLIS.

Discovery of the Tomb indicated by the three sculptured stêlæ—Curious gold-covered buttons, objects of ivory, baked clay, gold, glass, bronze, &c.—Pottery, both wheel and hand-made—Second Tomb below the unsculptured stêlæ—Discovery of three human bodies, which had been partially burnt where they lay—Fifteen diadems of thin gold plate found on the bodies—Also crosses of golden laurel-leaves—Other curious objects, proving a knowledge of the art of glass-working and colouring—Knives of obsidian—A silver vase with a bronze mouth plated with gold, and other objects—Terra-cotta vases—The horned Hera-idols found in the tomb, a proof of that symbolic worship in the earliest times at Mycenæ—Its duration to the last age of the city—Primitive painted wheel-made vases of terra-cotta—Further discovery of sepulchral slabs—Various objects found with them—The Third Tomb—Several skeletons of men, not burnt, and objects found with them—A curious double-bladed bronze dagger—Narrow escape from a falling rock—Internal walls of the tomb—Three skeletons of women in it, evidently burnt where they lay—Laden with jewels of gold—Layers of round plates of gold with ornamentation of repoussé work under and over the bodies—Description of their many types—The other jewels described—Other chased and embossed beads—Golden griffins—Legend of the griffins of Indian origin—Heart-shaped and lion-draped gold ornaments—Curious brooches formed of palm-trees, stags, and lions—Women with pigeons—Golden cuttle-fish, butterflies, swans, hippocampi, eagles, sphinxes, trees, and birds—The splendid gold crown on the head of one of the bodies—Signs upon it—The second gold crown—Five more diadems of gold—Crosses of double leaves of gold—Golden stars—A gold brooch, and other ornaments—Necklaces and bracelets—Two pairs of golden scales—Golden plates—A child's mask of gold—Other ornaments—Balls, &c. of rock crystal, silver, and bronze, probably the handles of sceptres—Lentoid gems of agate, sardonyx, &c., with intaglios—A lentoid gem of amethyst engraved with a cow suckling her calf, as on the old coins of Corcyra—Gold wheels—A gold comb with bone teeth, &c.—Amber beads—Other ornaments—Pieces of gold-leaf strewn below and about the bodies—A gold goblet—A curious gold box, and gold vases with lids fastened on by wires—A silver vase and golden sceptre-handle—Boxes of copper plate filled with wood, perhaps pillows for the dead bodies—Other objects found in the third sepulchre—Hand-made and very ancient wheel-made pottery.

Mycenæ, December 6, 1876.

No. 223. Plan of Tombstones in the first Tomb.

THE FIRST SEPULCHRE.

The four sculptured tombstones having been removed to the village of Charvati, in order to be sent to Athens, I excavated on the site of the three with the bas-reliefs representing the warriors and the hunting scene,[270] and found a quadrangular tomb, 21 ft. 5 in. long and 10 ft. 4 in. broad, cut out in the slope of the rock. The earth in this tomb consisted of the detritus of house remains mixed with natural soil, which latter had been brought here from another place. At a depth of 3 ft. 3 in. below the place where the tombstones had stood I found a curious sort of monument, consisting of two long and narrow slabs 5 ft. long, 7 in. thick, and 12 in. broad, lying the one upon the other, and at their south end a smaller slab 2½ ft. long in an oblique position, as if to serve for a pillow to the corpse laid down on the upper slab. (See No. 223.) The latter stone had a border, and belongs evidently to another monument, of which the other two slabs may likewise have formed part. Most probably there was once on this tomb a large monument, ornamented with the three sculptured tombstones which now marked its site.

Nos. 224-229. Objects of ivory, bone, or metallic composition. Sepulchre I. Size 7 : 9.

OBJECTS OF IVORY, BONE, ETC.

In digging lower down I found from time to time a very small quantity of black ashes, and in this very frequently some curious objects; such as a bone button covered with a golden plate, with a beautiful intaglio ornamentation, or an imitation of a ram's horn cut out of ivory, having one flat side with two holes, by which the object must have been attached to something else, or other ornaments of bone or small plates of gold. I collected in this way twelve gold buttons covered with gold plates ornamented with intaglio work, one of which is as large as a five-franc piece. The ornamentation of the gold plates consists either of spiral lines or that curious cross

, with the marks of four nails, which so frequently occurs on the whorls in Ilium, and which I believe to be the symbol of the holy fire.[271] All the buttons are in the form of our shirt-buttons, but larger, and similar to those shown in a later part of this work. I collected there, besides the buttons, two objects of ivory in the form of ram's-horns, like No. 225; and four pieces of ivory in the form of a crescent, one side being convex, the other flat, in which are four holes for fixing it to something else (see No. 224); six long and narrow pieces of ivory, like 227, having for ornamentation five vertical incisions, and in the reverse side two deep vertical cuts for attaching them on another object. Very probably all these objects have served as ornaments on horse-trappings. There was found besides the ivory needle, No. 229; further, six buttons of hard white stone with a circular hole in the centre, into which is stuck a small blue stone (No. 226). The round hole in the centre as well as the presence of the small stones in it are inexplicable to me. There were also found a small button of the same sort, the gold-plated head of a bronze nail, eight long thin pieces and four large disks of thin gold plate, two small tube-like pieces of a glassy substance, containing in the interior a small tube of real blue glass, of which I shall have occasion to speak hereafter. I also found there the green object (No. 228), which has small horizontal flutings all round: according to Professor Landerer it consists of an artificial substance containing oxide of copper, which has been pressed into its present form. The earth was intermixed with numerous fragments of very ancient wheel-made pottery, with a variegated painted ornamentation, and others of hand-made monochromatic lustrous black or red or light green pottery with black spiral ornamentation; but to my astonishment I found also from time to time some fragments of painted vases made on the potter's wheel, of those sorts which are found even in the upper prehistoric strata, and which most decidedly belong to a much later period.

No. 230. Foot of a black hand-made Goblet. Sepulchre I. Size 6:7.

Among the most interesting of the hand-made pottery are the large lustrous black goblets, with a hollow foot and horizontal flutings in the middle (No. 230), which are frequent in the first prehistoric city of Troy; also the light green or yellow ones, with a most fantastical black ornamentation; and the larger vases of a light red dead colour, with dark red circles, or with two protruding female breasts surrounded by circles of small black strokes.

Having dug down to a depth of 10½ ft., I was stopped by heavy rain, which turned the soft earth in the tomb to mud, and I therefore took out the two unsculptured tombstones of the second line, which stood due east of the three sculptured ones, and at a distance of 20 ft. from them. One of these tombstones was 5 ft., the other 5 ft. 4 in., long. In excavating around them I found another tomb cut in the rock, 11 ft. 8 in. broad, and in length 21 ft. 3 in. on one side, and 19 ft. 8 in. on the other. It was entirely filled with unmixed natural earth, which had been brought from another place. At from 2 to 2½ ft. below the two tombstones I found the fragments of two other tombstones, also unsculptured, which appeared to be older.

THREE BODIES IN THE SECOND TOMB.

At a depth of 15 ft. below the level of the rock, or of 25 ft. below the former surface of the ground, as I found it when I began the excavations, I reached a layer of pebbles, below which I found, at a distance of three feet from each other, the remains of three human bodies, all with the head turned to the east and the feet to the west. They were only separated from the surface of the levelled rock by another layer of small stones on which they were lying, and they had evidently been burned simultaneously in the very same place where they lay. The masses of ashes of the clothes which had covered them, and of the wood which had partially or entirely consumed their flesh, as well as the colour of the lower layer of stones and the marks of the fire and the smoke on the stone wall, which at the bottom of the sepulchre lined all the four sides—can leave no doubt whatever on this point; nay more, there were the most unmistakable marks of three distinct funeral piles. The wall, which at the bottom of the tomb lined its four sides, consisted of pretty large stones joined without any binding material; it was 5 ft. high and 1 ft. 8 in. thick. The small stones with which the bottom of the sepulchre was strewn can, in my opinion, have had no other object than to procure ventilation to the funeral pyres. These could not have been large, and had evidently been intended to consume merely the clothes and partly or entirely the flesh of the deceased; but no more, because the bones and even the skulls had been preserved; but these latter had suffered so much from the moisture, that none of them could be taken out entire.

On every one of the three bodies I found five diadems of thin gold-plate, like those to be presently described,[272] each 19½ in. long, and 4 in. broad in the middle, from which it gradually diminishes to a point at both ends. The pointed ends have been broken off, but, as several of the other diadems have such points, there can be no doubt that all had been fashioned in the same way. All the diadems were piped with copper wires in order to give them more solidity, and a great many fragments of those copper wires were found. All the fifteen diadems show the very same ornamentation of repoussé work, consisting of a border of two lines on either side, between which we see a row of treble concentric circles, which increase or diminish in size according to the breadth of the diadem, the largest circle being in the middle. Between these treble circles is on either side a row of smaller double concentric circles, which likewise increase or diminish in size in proportion to the breadth of the diadems. As well in the larger treble as in the smaller double circles, the central or innermost circle is always hammered so as to protrude, which gives to the diadems a splendid aspect. The diadems had at one end a pin (ἔμβολον), and at the other a tube (αἀλίσκος) by means of which they were fixed round the head; of course in such a way that the largest treble circle was just in the middle of the forehead.

I further found with two of the bodies ten very thin golden crosses (five with each body), formed of laurel leaves (No. 231); with the third body there were only four of them. Each of these crosses is 7½ in. long; the breadth of the leaves is 1⅔ in. The leaves of all the fourteen crosses have also been piped with thin copper wire, to give them more firmness. The ornamentation of the leaves is likewise of repoussé work. It presents all round the leaves a small border formed by a line, on which lies an uninterrupted row of double concentric ovals in a slanting position, which are probably also meant to represent leaves. In this way the whole leaf is encircled by a broad band of such double ovals or leaves, and the space left is filled up with three double concentric circles.

No. 231. A cross of golden laurel leaves. Sepulchre II. Size 4:5, about.

TUBES OF COBALT GLASS.

I also found with the bodies many curious objects; for example, small cylinders with a small tube throughout their length, as well as square pieces composed of four such cylinders, of which however only those at the two extremities have perforations. All these things have a greyish-white colour, and consist of a very soft matter, which falls into dust when pressed but softly with the hand. In the interior of each cylinder there is a hard, blue transparent tube, which Professor Landerer has analysed and found to consist of cobalt glass. Within the blue tube again is a small thin white tube, which shines like silver, and Professor Landerer has found it to consist of a glassy substance containing lead (bleihaltig). According to Professor Landerer, this discovery proves that the ancient Myceneans knew the colouring of glass as well as the art of encompassing a tube of glass with a second and a third one.[273] He assures me that the analysis of Egyptian glass has given the same result, and he supposes that the cobalt-glasses were derived from Egypt. He further mentions that all present blue-coloured glasses are of such cobalt-glass. All these cylinders and square pieces of four cylinders must have served as ornaments of the corpses.

The fabrication of glass was evidently in its very beginning at the time the tombs were constructed; but it seems to have made no progress here, for, except a few white glass pearls and some small ornaments of a glass paste, nothing was found of this article even in the upper strata, and it appears certain that at the capture of Mycenæ by the Argives (468 B.C.) even the small glass bottles, often found elsewhere, were still entirely unknown.

I further found a number of small knives of obsidian, many fragments of a large silver vase with a mouth of copper, which is thickly plated with gold and splendidly ornamented with intaglio work; unfortunately it has suffered too much from the funeral fire to be photographed. It appears that the Mycenean goldsmiths found it much easier to plate on copper than on silver; hence they made the mouth of this silver vase of copper. I also found a long and a short rusted bronze knife; a silver cup (φιάλη) with one handle, much damaged by the fire; four long perforated necklace-beads (two of agate and two of a glassy composition); a bronze vase handle; two horned Hera-idols of terra-cotta, of the usual form; and finally, many fragments of beautiful hand-made and of very ancient wheel-made pottery, among which was part of a vase with two tubular holes on either side for suspension with a string, like the vases in the lowest prehistoric city of Ilium.[274] There are also fragments of terra-cotta tripods, of which I found such an enormous quantity at Troy,[275] but which are less frequent at Mycenæ, nearly all the vases having a flat bottom. In this tomb was also found the fragment of a vase, ornamented with a sign which is nothing else than a 卍, the four arms of which have merely been converted into a spiral form.

ANTIQUITY OF HORNED FEMALE IDOLS.

The most important objects found in this tomb are no doubt the two two-horned Hera-idols previously mentioned, because they prove to us that the goddess was already worshipped, in this shape, in that remote antiquity to which the sepulchre belongs. As the very same type of the idol is found in all the strata of prehistoric ruins, and even in the débris of the houses which just preceded the later Hellenic city, it appears certain that it was still in use at the time of the capture of Mycenæ by the Argives (468 B.C.), and consequently it remained here unchanged for more than a thousand years. It is true that in all the prehistoric strata of débris above the tombs there are also found female idols of a different shape, which we cannot but assign to Hera; but, as their number is only very small as compared to the mass of horned idols, we may take it for granted that the horned idol was the most ancient, and that therefore the Myceneans clung with tenacity to that form.

The most remarkable wheel-made terra-cottas found in this tomb represent the lower parts of birds, in black colour on a light yellow dead ground. I also found two fragments of a hand-made vase belonging to the upper part of the bulge, with two female breasts; a large fragment of a most ancient wheel-made vase, presenting on a light yellow dead ground a beautiful and fantastic ornamentation of plants, circles or wave-like lines, painted in a very dark red colour (see Nos. 232, 233). These two fragments give a good illustration of Mr. Chas. T. Newton's remarks on the 9th June in the Royal Institution of London: "The floral ornaments of the Mycenean vases have a certain vague freedom and straggling lawless luxuriance, which seems to imply the facility of hand which long practice gives. The animal forms are ungainly and constrained in action, and the anatomy is for the most part entirely ignored or most feebly rendered. The floral and animal patterns seem to be the result of impressions from nature sufficiently vivid to awaken the mimetic faculty in an uncultivated mind, but which the untrained hand was unable to render in art."

Nos. 232, 233. Fragments of a very ancient wheel-made Vase. Sepulchre II. Size 1:3, about.

I also found here five fragments of very ancient wheel-made vases, having an ornamentation, in similar colours, of network, waving lines, plants, lines of points, &c.; and finally some fragments of very ancient wheel-made vases. Six of these fragments, which evidently belong to the same vase, have, on a light red dead ground, an ornamentation of crosses with four points. One has in its pointed bottom a perforation, and may have served as a sort of funnel. Another has the most curious ornamentation of all; it shews above what appears to be intended for the head of a serpent; to the right is a circle surrounded by points, and in its centre a crescent and six points; to the left of this is another circle, filled with and surrounded by points.

THE THIRD SEPULCHRE.

Encouraged by the success obtained in the second tomb, I took out the two large unsculptured tombstones of the third line, which stood almost due south of the former. One of them is 6 ft. 4 in. long, and 4 ft. broad; the other is 4 ft. 10 in. long and 4 ft. 4 in. broad. They were extremely well fastened by square blocks, so that they could not be got out without great efforts. These tombstones stood precisely 13 ft. 4 in. below the surface, as I found it when I began the excavations. Two feet below them, and thus 15 ft. 4 in. below the former surface, I found two large slabs in the form of sepulchral monuments, lying horizontally. At a depth of 5 ft. lower I brought to light three more slabs, the one lying, the other two standing, as follows:—

No. 234. Plan of Tombstones above the Third Tomb.

The soil consisted of black earth, intermixed with fragments of hand-made and very ancient wheel-made pottery, and masses of small knives of obsidian. Besides a small number of Hera-idols, I found there a solid piece of ivory, one inch high and broad, in the form of a beehive, having in the lower flat side a tubular hole for suspension with a thread; while on the convex or globular side is an engraved cross, embellished with five gold pins with flat heads, each of which has a small hole in the centre of its head (see No. 235); also a piece of wood, 4 in. long and 2 in. broad, with beautifully carved spiral lines (No. 222),[276] which seems to belong to a box (νάρθηξ); also two well-polished pieces of wood with sharp points, but otherwise almost in the form of long thin cones.

No. 235.
Piece of ornamented
ivory. (5 M.)
Size 3:4.

In digging deeper I found that, at a distance of 33 ft. from the east side of the circular double parallel row of large slabs which encloses the Agora, the rock suddenly slopes, for a space of 30 ft. in length and width, at an angle of 30 degrees, the perpendicular height of the slope being 16½ ft. Further to the west the rock forms a platform 30 ft. long and broad, with two sepulchres, of which I shall first describe the smaller one, because the aforesaid two tombstones stood at a height of 16½ ft. above its mouth. This sepulchre, which in the Plan B I call the Third Tomb, is 16 ft. 8 in. long, and 10 ft. 2 in. broad, and it is cut into the rock, on the west side 2 ft. 4 in., on the south side 3 ft. 4 in., on the east side 7 ft., and on the north 5 ft. deep.[277] These different depths find their explanations in the slope and in the unevenness of the rock, because the bottom of the tomb is of course perfectly horizontal. At about 9 ft. above the mouth of this tomb I discovered close to it, on the slope of the rock, at a depth of 21 ft. below the former surface, a number of skeletons of men, which had evidently not been on the funeral pyre, but were so much destroyed by the moisture that none of the skulls could be taken out entire. The only objects I found with them were knives of obsidian and five very pretty hand-made vases, two of which are of plain light yellow, the three others of a light green colour, with a rude black ornamentation (see Nos. 236, 237).

Nos. 236, 237. Hand-made Vases of Terra-cotta. Depth 20 ft. Half-size.

ROCK IN CENTRE OF THE AGORA.

Immediately to the north of the tomb in question, and thus in the centre of the Agora, I brought to light the before-mentioned rock which protrudes from the plateau, and has, in my opinion, served as the platform or pulpit (βῆμα) for the orators. It had been split and was overhanging the great hollow in which are the two tombs just referred to. Below this rock, at a depth of 22 ft. below the surface, many Hera-idols, whorls, and other objects were found; also a very curious sort of bronze dagger (No. 238), consisting of two separate two-edged blades, which had been soldered together in the middle, so that the four edges are separated from each other by a quarter of an inch; both blades are 10 in. long, the whole dagger being 13 inches long. The handle has evidently been inlaid with wood or bone, fastened by three small nails of bronze, which are preserved. As I considered one of the overhanging rocks particularly dangerous, I did all I could to keep my workmen back from it; however, as, in order to stimulate the workmen to be very attentive, I am in the habit of giving them a drink-penny for all objects, even the most trifling, which have any interest for science, and as so many small objects were found just below the dangerous rock, two of my workmen always returned to the spot. But seeing that the rock had a crack which widened, I literally dragged the two men from their perilous position, when all at once the rock fell with a thundering crash, and we were all three knocked down by its splinters, but none of us was injured.

The four walls of the tomb which now occupies us were lined with pieces of schist of irregular size, which were joined with clay, and formed a slanting wall 5 ft. high and 2 ft. 3 in. broad.

I found in this sepulchre the mortal remains of three persons who, to judge by the smallness of the bones and particularly of the teeth, and by the masses of female ornaments found here, must have been women. As the teeth of one of these bodies, though all preserved, were evidently much used and were very irregular, they appear to belong to a very old woman. All had the head turned to the east and the feet to the west. As in the former tomb, the bodies lay at a distance of 3 ft. from each other; they were covered with a layer of pebbles and reposed on another layer of similar stones, on which the funeral piles had been raised; this last stratum lay on the bottom of the tomb, which, as is shown on Plan B B, was 29 ft. 8 in. deep below the former surface of the mount.

No. 238.

A large bronze dagger,
with two blades soldered
together in the middle.

(6½ M.) Size 7:20.

SEVEN HUNDRED GOLD PLATES.

Precisely as in the former tomb, all the three bodies had been burnt simultaneously, but separately and at equal distances from each other, nay, in the very place where they now lay. This was proved by the evident marks of the fire on the pebbles below and around every one of the bodies, as well as by the marks of the fire and the smoke on the walls to the right and left, and by the masses of wood ashes which lay on and around the bodies. The bodies were literally laden with jewels, all of which bore evident signs of the fire and smoke to which they had been exposed on the funeral piles.

No. 239. Plate of Gold. Sepulchre III.

No. 240. Plate of Gold: a Cuttle-fish. Sepulchre III.

No. 241. Plate of Gold: a Flower. Sepulchre III.

No. 242. A Plate of Gold. Sepulchre III.

No. 243. Plate of Gold: a Butterfly. Sepulchre III.

No. 244. Plate of Gold. Sepulchre III.

PLATES OF GOLD.

The ornaments of which the greatest number was found were the large, thick, round plates of gold, with a very pretty decoration of repoussé work, of which I collected 701. I found them as well below as above and around the bodies, and there can consequently be no doubt that part of them were strewn all over the bottom of the sepulchre before the funeral pyres were dressed, and that the rest were laid on the bodies before the fire was kindled. In the following engravings [278] I give all the different types of these wonderful plates. It is difficult to say how the Mycenean goldsmiths executed the repoussé work. Professor Landerer thinks they laid the gold-plate on a block of lead, and hammered and pressed the ornamentation into it. No. 239 contains broad round waving bands much resembling those on the fourth sculptured tombstone.[279] The curious ornamentation in the centre, which so often recurs here, seems to me to be derived from the

, the more so as the points which are thought to be the marks of the nails, are seldom missing; the artist has only added two more arms and curved all of them. No. 240 represents an octopus or cuttle-fish (sepia), whose eight arms have been converted into spirals, the head with the two eyes being distinctly visible. No. 241 represents a flower; No. 242 a splendid spiral ornamentation; No. 243, a beautiful butterfly; this type is exceedingly frequent. Whether, as in the later Greek art, the butterfly is here the symbol of immortality, as Mr. Chas. T. Newton reminds me, I do not dare to decide. No. 244 presents a curious ornamentation of spirals in the form of six serpents, round a central circle. In No. 245 we at once recognise again the ornamentation of the sepulchral stêlé (No. 142), as in No. 239, which this one very much resembles. No. 246 has a most curious pattern, which shows within a broad circular border six spirals, all very cleverly finished off, each of them surrounding seven concentric circles, and all united around an ornament likewise of seven concentric circles, which the artist seems to have vainly tried to unite at the upper part. Each of the spirals separately very much resembles the hair-springs of our watches, at least at the first glance, but on closer examination we find that all the interior lines form separate circles. Nos. 247-250 represent beautiful leaves, all of a kindred pattern. No. 251 represents a beautiful star-flower; No. 252 shows within a border of three circles a splendid ornamentation of spirals and concentric circles, such as we have not seen yet on the Mycenean antiquities.

No. 245. A Plate of Gold. Sepulchre III.

No. 246. A Plate of Gold. Sepulchre III.

No. 247. A leaf in Gold Plate. Sepulchre III. Actual size.

No. 248. A leaf-pattern in Gold Plate. Sepulchre III.

No. 249. A leaf-pattern in Gold Plate. Sepulchre III.

No. 250. A leaf-pattern in Gold Plate. Sepulchre III.

No. 251. A Star in Gold Plate. Sepulchre III.

No. 252. A Plate of Gold. Sepulchre III.

I suppose that all these golden leaves are miniature copies of shields, for though there were shields with a central boss,[280] yet the majority of them were smooth (ἐΐση)[281]: further most shields were round (εὔκυκλος),[282] and many of them, if not all, were works of art and beautifully ornamented.[283] We further find around the Homeric shields a border (ἄντυξ), which may have been sometimes single, but which certainly was usually treble,[284] and such a border we also find represented on several of these golden plates.

HERCULES AND THE NEMEAN LION.

In proceeding to describe the masses of other jewels which had covered the bodies on the pyres and which still lay partly on them and partly around them, I begin with three perforated massive ornaments of gold, belonging to necklaces, of which the first (No. 253) appears to represent, in intaglio, Hercules killing the Nemean lion. The hero is represented here with long hair (καρηκομόων) and with a long beard; his dress appears to reach only from the waist to the middle of the loins, and the rest of the body seems to be naked. Having stepped forward with his left foot, he leans the whole weight of his body on it to deal a deadly blow at the lion with a sword which he holds in his uplifted right hand, whilst with his left he seizes the lion's throat. The animal stands before him on his hind-legs, and has pounced with his fore-feet on the left leg of the hero, whom he is going to bite in the breast when he receives the deadly blow. The body of the lion appears to me to be faithful to nature, but not the head, which resembles more a bear's head; the mane is engraved with true art. I call particular attention to the large round knob at the end of the handle of the sword, because many such, all of alabaster or wood with golden nails, and frequently plated with gold, were found in the tombs successively discovered.

Nos. 253, 254, 255. Perforated Ornaments of Gold, with engravings in intaglio. Sepulchre III. Actual size.

ACHILLES AND HECTOR?

The intaglio on the following smaller ornament (No. 254) represents two warriors fighting a deadly duel. The one to the left of the spectator is a tall, powerful beardless young man with an uncovered head, whose loins only are covered, the rest of the body being naked. He leans with all the weight of his body on his advanced left leg, and with his uplifted right hand he has just plunged his double-edged sword into the throat of his antagonist, who falls mortally wounded. This latter is represented with a long beard. His head is covered with a helmet, over which we see a half-circle, which appears to be fastened into the fore-part of the helmet and to represent the long curved horn which we see protruding from the fore-part of the helmets of the five warriors (No. 213).[285] The horn seems here to be nothing else than a λόφος, into which the crest was sunk, for this appears also to be visible. But should this conjecture not be correct, then we can only explain the half-circle above the warrior's helmet by supposing that the middle part of the crest was fastened on the top of the φάλος of the helmet, so that there were properly two crests waving. On the wounded man's body we see a round shield with a circle of small points, probably meant to represent the glitter of the brass. The shield being divided into an upper and a lower compartment, it may be that the artist intended to represent two shields, of which the lower one belonged to the wounded man, who had just let it fall, and that the upper shield belonged to the victor, whose left hand still holds it. The anatomy of the two warriors is represented clearly, though rudely, and we wonder how this was at all possible without the aid of magnifying glasses. I ask whether we do not see here in the young, powerful, handsome man, Achilles, the most beautiful man in the Greek army; and in his antagonist, "Hector of the dancing helmet-crest;"[286] for, just as we see represented on this bead, Hector was slain by Achilles by a stab in the throat. It is true that the fatal stab was given, according to Homer,[287] with a lance, but the artist may have substituted a sword for want of space.

The third ornament (No. 255) represents, in good intaglio, a lion kneeling with his fore-feet on an uneven rocky slope, and turning his head round to the right; though, like the two other ornaments, this intaglio is very archaic and rude, it is, like them, tolerably executed, and the anatomy of the animal is carefully observed. Mr. Achilles Postolaccas calls my attention to the fact that this lion in its style perfectly resembles the fore-part of the lion which we see on the gold staters of Sardis in Lydia, which Borrel attributes to Crœsus (560 B.C.).

Nos. 256-260. Golden Ornaments. Sepulchre III. Actual size.

Of the other golden ornaments here shown, No. 256 represents a butterfly of gold, which has, no doubt, served as an ornament on the dress; but, as it has no perforation, it is not clear to me how it may have been fastened; probably it has been glued or pasted on the drapery. Further, ten golden grasshoppers [288] with chains, of which Nos. 259 and 260 represent two; they appear to have been used as ornaments of the breast or hair. I collected also eleven very curious large globular ornaments, of which Nos. 257 and 258 give the engravings of two; all have a tubular hole at the top, and are evidently from necklaces. These ornaments, as well as the crickets, are of repoussé work, and consist of two halves, which were soldered together.

No. 261. Golden Ornament.
A Griffin. Sepulchre III.
Actual size.

GOLDEN GRIFFINS.

I further collected there three griffins of gold, of which I represent one (No. 261); the upper part of their bodies is that of an eagle, the lower that of a lion; the wing is ornamented with spirals. Each of these objects has three perforations, which can leave no doubt that they have been sewn on the clothes as ornaments. The griffins are mythic animals belonging to India, whence they came over to the West. We find the griffin on the most ancient fictile vases of a rude Egyptianising style, in company with sphinxes and winged lions. This fantastical animal has become the central point of a curious legendary cycle, for we find it already mentioned in Hesiod and Herodotus as watcher of the gold in the far north of Europe.[289] Pliny describes the gryphi as ferarum volucre genus, which mira cupiditate dig up the gold ex cuniculis and watch it, likewise in the north of Europe, that is, in the land of the Scythians.[290] Damis Olear [291] maintains that the griffins have been derived from India, and gives the following description of them: "The gold which the griffins dig up consists of stones incrusted with golden drops like fiery points, which they beat off by the power of their hard beak. These animals are found in India, where they are sacred to the sun, whence the Indian painters represent Helios riding on teams of four griffins. The griffin has the size and strength of the lion, but is superior to the latter by its wings, and vanquishes even elephants and large serpents. But he cannot overpower the tiger, who excels by his rapid motion." Böttiger [292] explains these monsters as simple productions of the Indian carpet-manufacture, because from a remote antiquity the Indians delight in compounding their sacred animals. It appears certain that the griffin came in the retinue of Dionysus from India to Greece, and that it therefore became here the symbol of wisdom and enlightenment.

Nos. 262, 263. Golden Ornaments. Heart and Lion.

Sepulchre III. Actual size.

I further found with the three bodies of the third tomb three ornaments in the shape of hearts, of which I give the engraving of one (No. 262). As they have no perforations, they must have been glued on to the drapery. There were also found four golden ornaments (see No. 263) representing crouching lions, with four or five perforations in the margin for sewing them on the clothes or drapery. Though rather roughly made, the body of the animal is true to nature, and particularly the head. The passion of the Mycenean artist for spirals is shown in the form of the lion's tail. As Mr. A. S. Murray, of the British Museum, justly observed to me, the spiral is no proof whatever of oriental influence, because it is a form which every curling wire would naturally suggest, and its general existence and independent use is attested by the spiral ornamentations of the ancient Mexicans, Peruvians, and Egyptians.

Nos. 264, 265. Golden Ornaments. Sepulchre III. Actual size.

GOLDEN BROOCHES WITH STAGS.

I further found on the three bodies of the third sepulchre twelve ornaments of gold, each representing two stags lying down, with long three-branched horns, leaning with the necks against each other and turning the head in opposite directions, but so that the horns of both touch each other and seem intended to form a sort of a crown. The two stags repose on the top of a date-palm tree with three fronds, of which the two to the right and left extend below the bodies of the animals, whilst the third stands upright. Two of these ornaments, with double stags, were soldered together, and in the hollow thus formed at the lower end was stuck a thick silver pin, with circular horizontal flutings, which represented the stem of the palm-tree, and which was fastened by a pin. The hole through which this pin was stuck is seen at the bottom of No. 264, and part of the silver pin in No. 265, where we also recognise the horizontal flutings, which seem to have been intended to imitate the rough bark of the palm-tree. Thus we see before us a beautiful brooch, presenting on either side two stags lying on a palm-tree. But, the brooch being rather heavy, the silver pin was perforated, as we see at the lower end of No. 265, to be fastened with a thread or otherwise. Two of these ornaments had besides two perforations. Reckoning two such ornaments as one brooch, there were found in this sepulchre in all six brooches with a pair of stags on either side. There were also found two golden ornaments (see No. 266), representing a similar date-tree with three larger fronds, on which two lion-cubs sit opposite each other and are holding their muzzles together; the tails of the four cubs form spirals, just as the ornaments with the double stags. These two ornaments with the cubs were also stuck together, either by soldering or by pins, through the two perforations which we see in each of them; and in the hollow below was fixed a silver brooch, and thus this ornament, like the former, served as a breast-pin (πόρπη).

No. 266. Golden Ornament. Sepulchre III. Actual size.

Nos. 267, 268. Golden Ornaments. Women with Doves. Sepulchre III. Actual size.

GOLDEN WOMEN WITH PIGEONS.

I further found with the three bodies of the third tomb two golden ornaments, representing two women, each having a pigeon on her head. One of them (No. 268) has also a pigeon attached to each arm. Both women are of the same type and have a long pointed nose, which protrudes in a straight line from the forehead, and large eyes. The heads of both are crowned with a diadem. Each has a hollow in the left cheek, which is alone visible; both touch their breasts with the hands, and this must be a symbol of fertility or abundance. I call attention to the resemblance in the attitude of these women to that of the numerous terra-cotta idols of Aphrodite from Cyprus, as well as to the so-called statue of Niobe on the rock of Sipylos, which also touch their breasts with both hands. The four pigeons are represented with spread wings, as if they were flying. The first woman (No. 267) has four perforations and her bird has two, by which this ornament was sewn on the clothes or drapery. On the other hand, the woman with the three pigeons has evidently been fixed to something else with two small gold pins, the broad heads of which we see, the one between the knees of the woman, the other on her belly.

No. 269. Golden Ornament. Sepulchre III. Actual size.

Nos. 270, 271. Two Golden Cuttle Fish. Sepulchre III. Actual size.

I further found in the same tomb golden ornaments like No. 269, but I find it difficult to explain whether the artist intended to represent a horse, a hippocampus, or a dog. Of golden ornaments in the form of cuttle-fish, or sepias, I found not less than twenty-seven of the shape of those represented under Nos. 270 and 271. All of them are double, that is to say, two sepias are always soldered together, so that the ornament represents a sepia on either side. The Mycenean goldsmith, always eager to convert everything into spirals, has done so here with all the feet of the sepias, every one of which forms a beautiful spiral. Some of the sepias, like No. 270, have in addition four perforations for fixing them with thread. How these ornaments may have been used is altogether a riddle to me. No. 272 represents a flying griffin of gold. Like No. 261, it has the body of a lion, the head and wings of an eagle, and is ornamented with spirals. As it has no perforations, it must have been fastened with glue on the drapery.

No. 272. A Flying Griffin of Gold. Sepulchre III. Actual size.

No. 273. Golden Ornament. Sepulchre III. Actual size.

Of the highest interest are two little golden figures, one of which is given under No. 273, each having four perforations in exactly the same places; they appear, therefore, to have been attached to each other, so that the same figure appeared on either side. They exactly resemble each other. Regarding the type of the features nothing can be said with certainty, for it may as well be Hellenic as Asiatic. Nor is there any indication whether the figures represent men or women, though their rich female dress leads us to suppose the latter to be the case. Both have the hands joined on the breast like Aphrodité, but below them we see an object in the form of a disk, which seems to be suspended from the neck. On each side of the breast, as well as on the lower part of the gowns, we see a number of straps, which probably represent ribbons or gold lace; also two rows of twelve small circles in each, which are no doubt intended to represent gold buttons with intaglio work, like those of which such large quantities were found, as we shall see, in two of the tombs.

Nos. 274-280. Golden Ornaments. Sepulchre III. Actual size.

VARIOUS GOLDEN ORNAMENTS.

I further gathered in the same tomb eight golden ornaments in the form of butterflies, of which I represent one under No. 275. Some of them have two, others have four, perforations; and, as all are exactly of the same size and shape, I presume that these also have been fastened together in pairs with pins, so that there was a butterfly on each side. This supposition seems to be warranted by the reverse side, which is hollow. I think the same must have been the case with the other objects here engraved, of which duplicates were found, but not with No. 274, which represents two eagles. Very curious are the ornaments represented by No. 279, of which four were found; two of them have two perforations each, the other two have none. All of them represent two swans standing opposite each other with the heads joined. There is something between the feet of the two swans which has the shape of a table, but I cannot say what it may be. There were found seven golden ornaments like No. 280, representing hippocampi; all have the head turned backward, and the tail is curved; all have perforations.

The golden ornament (No. 274) has also perforations for attachment to another object; it represents, as before mentioned, two eagles, which stand opposite each other with the heads turned round. There were found in the same tomb six sphinxes, like No. 277. They are winged lions, with beardless human heads, covered with a Phrygian cap, from which a long crest seems to stretch out; but it cannot be distinguished here whether the artist intended to represent a female or a male sphinx. I may here observe that, according to Hesiod, Apollodorus, and Euripides, the Sphinx is a daughter of Typhon and the Echidna or the Chimæra, or of Orthos and the Chimæra, and that it has, at all events, been imported from Egypt into Greece. But the Egyptian Sphinx is male, being the symbol of a king, while the sphinx in the Theban legend of Œdipus is female. The golden ornament (No. 278), of which four were found, seems to represent a tree; all of these have two perforations. Of the small golden jewels of this tomb, I may mention No. 276, representing two birds, the species of which cannot be distinguished. They stand against each other, their heads leaning over in opposite directions, the two being joined by spirals.

No. 281. The splendid Crown of Gold found on the head of one of the three persons interred in the Third Sepulchre. Size, rather more than 1:4.

SPLENDID CROWN OF GOLD.

On the head of one of the three bodies was found the splendid crown of gold (στέμμα, No. 281), which is one of the most interesting and most precious objects that I collected at Mycenæ. It is 2 ft. 1 in. long, and profusely covered with shield-like ornaments. The work being repoussé, all the ornaments protrude and appear in low relief, giving to the crown an indescribably magnificent aspect, which is still further augmented by the thirty-six large leaves, ornamented in a like manner, which are attached to it. It deserves particular attention that the crown was bound round the head so that its broadest part was just in the middle of the forehead, and of course the leaves were standing upright around the upper part of the head, for had it been otherwise it would have shaded the eyes and the greater part of the face. Near each extremity can be seen two small holes, through which the crown was fastened by means of a thin golden wire. I call particular attention to the curious signs between the shield-like ornaments of the lowest row; five of these signs resemble beautiful flowers, the heads of which give an additional proof that the crown was worn with the leaves upwards, and so I found it on the head of one of the bodies. The four other signs resemble the κηρύκειον, or caduceus, the herald's staff of Hermes.

No. 282. Golden Diadem found on the head of
another body in the Third Sepulchre.
Size 1:5, about.

GOLDEN DIADEM.

Around the head of another of the three bodies was found the magnificent golden diadem (No. 282), to which was still attached part of the skull; it is finely worked. It has a border, formed by parallel lines and a line of protruding points, which is broadest in the middle and gradually diminishes towards both ends. This border is ornamented with spiral signs, accompanied by small lines of deep or protruding points. The space between the two borders is filled up with a row of shield-like ornaments, the size of which varies according to the breadth of the diadem, containing a number of concentric circles around a central boss. The space between the circles is filled up, in the five larger ones, with a circular row of small leaves or of protruding points. We also see between the shield-like ornaments all along the border two rows of small bosses encircled by protruding points. At each end of the diadem is a perforation, which must have served to fasten it round the head by means of a thin wire of gold or copper. This diadem being of thick gold plate, it was not piped.

I further found with the three bodies five diadems of gold, of which I represent two under Nos. 283 and 284. Two of them (see No. 283) have an ornamentation similar to the foregoing, but less rich. Both are piped with copper wire, and have no border; and both consist of two halves, which seem not to have been soldered together, but merely joined by the piping wire. As neither of them has perforations in the extremities, there must have been attached to them thin wires of copper or gold, now broken off, by which they were fastened around the head. Both these diadems have suffered much from the funeral fire, which has blackened them so that the photographs could not take well. The diadem (No. 284), though not piped, has no border; it is also ornamented with shield-like circles representing beautiful flowers. We see an ornamentation in the form of a star at each end, and small shield-like bosses on both sides between the circles. At the right extremity is still preserved part of the gold wire with which the diadem was fastened round the head. On all these six diadems we recognise the fine black ashes of the funeral pyre sticking to the gold. I may here mention that we find round shields with an ornamentation of crescents and stars represented on Macedonian coins; but these can, of course, have no relation whatever to the Mycenean diadems, which may be twelve centuries older. Although similar diadems with an ornamentation of rosettes have never been found before, yet there can be no doubt that they were in extensive use in a remote antiquity, for the British Museum contains six idols of Aphrodite from Cyprus, two of terra-cotta and four of marble—all of which have the head ornamented with similar diadems. I see further in the Assyrian collection of the same museum four figurettes of ivory representing Hercules, whose head is likewise ornamented with such diadems.

Nos. 283, 284. Diadems of Gold. Sepulchre III. Size 2:9, about.

No. 285. A Cross in Gold Plate. Sepulchre III. Actual size.

APHRODITE IDOLS WITH DIADEMS.

There are two other diadems with a still simpler shield-like ornamentation, and having in the middle two vertical rows of spirals. Both these diadems consist of halves, which were seemingly joined only by the copper wire with which they are piped. The thin wires at the extremities are here also broken off.

Nos. 286, 287, 288. Ornaments of Gold. Sepulchre III. Size 3:4, about.

GOLDEN CROSSES.

I found further with the three bodies of the third tomb six crosses formed of double golden leaves, of which I give engravings of four. The richest ornamentation is on those represented by No. 285; the leaves resemble laurel leaves, ornamented with beautiful flowers in repoussé work; and there is an ornamentation of spirals at both ends of each leaf. In the centre of each of these crosses is fixed a cross of small unornamented gold-plate. The cross (No. 286) shows a similar pattern, and I suppose it has been fixed in the centre of the star-like golden ornament (No. 288); but, not being quite certain in this respect, I give separate engravings of both. No. 287 represents a small golden ornament with three flowers. Very curious is the small golden cross (No. 289), whose leaves show a magnificent ornamentation of circles and spirals, and in the centre of which is attached another cross of small richly-ornamented gold leaves. The large gold cross (No. 290) shows a shield-like ornamentation, and also at the end of each leaf three small circles containing two inner ones.

Nos. 289, 290. Golden Crosses. Sepulchre III. Size 4:5.

MYCENÆA NARRATIVE OF RESEARCHES AND DISCOVERIESAT MYCENÆ AND TIRYNS.

PREFACE.

DR. SCHLIEMANN'S ACCOUNT OF A TOMB AT SPATA, IN ATTICA.

THE FALL OF MYCENÆ AS DESCRIBED BY DIODORUS SICULUS.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

COMPARATIVE TABLE OF FRENCH AND ENGLISH MEASURES, EXACT AND APPROXIMATE.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VII.

MYCENÆ
A NARRATIVE OF RESEARCHES AND DISCOVERIES
AT MYCENÆ AND TIRYNS.