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Title: Mycenæ: a narrative of researches and discoveries at Mycenæ
and Tiryns

Author: Heinrich Schliemann

Author of introduction, etc.: W. E. Gladstone

Release date: April 7, 2018 [eBook #56940]

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYCENÆ: A
NARRATIVE OF RESEARCHES AND DISCOVERIES AT MYCENÆ
AND TIRYNS ***

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.
(All Rights Reserved.)

Copyright, 1877,
SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO.

Copyright, 1880,
BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.

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

Dedicated

TO

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 1312·832 131¼ "
50 1968·54 1640·54 164 "
100 3937·08 3281·08 328 (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
To
PLATE I. THE ACROPOLIS OF TIRYNS 1
face
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
Frontispiece
MRS. SCHLIEMANN
PLATE VI. ICHNOGRAPHY OF THE ROYAL TOMBS WITHIN THE To
124
CIRCLE OF THE AGORA face
PLATE VII. Panoramic View of Dr. Schliemann's Excavations To
148
in the Acropolis of Mycenæ face
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
23
Mycenæ
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
32
the Citadel of Mycenæ
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
52
the Sepulchres in the Acropolis
No. 25. Terra-cotta Vase 64
No. 26. Terra-cotta Jug 65
No. 27. Vase of Yellow Ware, with black and yellow
66
lines
No. 28. Vase of Black and Yellow Ware 67
No. 29. Terra-cotta vase. The bands yellow and reddish,
67
the lines black
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
End of
PLATE XVI.—Nos. 90-93. Terra-cotta Idols
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
76
stone
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
81
in the Acropolis
No. 140a. Pattern of straight and spiral frets 83
CHAPTER IV.—MYCENÆ.
VIGNETTE.—No. 141. Third Tombstone, found above the
86
Sepulchres in the Acropolis
No. 142. Fourth Tombstone, found above the Sepulchres
91
in the Acropolis
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
97
Porphyry
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
103
the Treasury near the Lions' Gate
No. 158. Fragment of the same Pottery from the
103
"dromos"
No. 159. Idol of Terra-cotta, with a Cow's Head, on the
104
handle of a Vase
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
107
various ornaments
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
115
Inscription
No. 190a. Pattern of the Slabs forming the Double
117
Parallel Circle enclosing the Agora
CHAPTER V.—MYCENÆ.
VIGNETTE.—No. 191. The Village of Charvati, with the
118
ancient Quarry of Mycenæ
PLATE XX.—Nos. 192-197. { Fragments of Painted
Pottery from
{ the Approach to the
Treasury End Of
PLATE XXI.—Nos. 198-204. { near the Lions' Gate 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
133
Warriors
No. 213 a, b. A very frequent type of Mycenean Painted
138
Pottery
CHAPTER VI.—MYCENÆ.
VIGNETTE.—No. 214. Other Fragments of the Vase (No.
139
213)
Nos. 215, 216. Fragments of Friezes of blue and white
140
marble, found in the Treasury near the Lions' Gate
Nos. 217-220. Bronze Rings (two with intaglio
142
engravings), and a twisted Gold Wire
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
153
composition. Sepulchre I.
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
160
Vase. Sepulchre II.
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
164
together in the middle
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
174
Engravings in Intaglio
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
185
one of the three persons interred in the Third Sepulchre
No. 282. Golden Diadem, found on the head of another
186
body in the Third Sepulchre
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
196
Ornaments of Necklaces
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
201
Handles of Rock Crystal
Nos. 311-315. Beads of Agate and Lentoid Gems of
202
Sardonyx and Amethyst
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
211
Lion's Head

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
218
axes
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
229
head of one of the bodies in the Fourth Sepulchre
No. 338. Human Thigh-bone, with a Gold Ornament of
230
the greaves still attached to it
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
241
unknown use
No. 352. Alabaster Model of a sort of Scarf tied in a
242
noose
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,
246
recomposed from the Fragments
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
251
the handle of a sword or sceptre
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
256
Alabaster Vase
No. 376. Stag, of an alloy of silver and lead 257
Nos. 377-386. Buttons of Wood, covered with plates of 258,
gold, highly ornamented 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
268
thick Gold Plate
Nos. 427-434. Gold Covers of the Knobs of Sword-
269-271
handles
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,
280
and another weapon, probably a Dagger
No. 445 a, b, c. Two-edged Bronze Swords, and an
281
Alabaster Sword Knob
No. 446. Two-edged Bronze Sword 282
Nos. 447-449. Two-edged Bronze Swords, and an
283
Alabaster Sword Knob
No. 450. Human Jawbone 285

Nos. 451, 452. Golden Tube, and Golden Dragon with
scales of rock crystal, both being probably pieces of a 287
sceptre-handle
CHAPTER IX.—SEPULCHRE I.[27]
VIGNETTE.—No. 474. Massive Golden Mask of the body
289
at the south end of the First Sepulchre
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 297
discovery
No. 455. Golden Shoulder-belt, with a fragment of the
299
two-edged Sword
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
302
ornamented Gold Ribbon
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
305
ornamentation
Nos. 463-466. Bronze Battle-axe and Swords 306
No. 467. Sword-handle, plated with gold, richly
307
ornamented
Nos. 468, 469. Curious object of Gold, and Silver Tongs 308
No. 470. Gold Plate, with Intaglio of a Lion chasing a
309
Stag
No. 471. Gold Plate, with Intaglio of a Lion catching a
309
Stag
No. 472. Gold Plate, with a spiral ornamentation in
311
Intaglio

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
316
the First Sepulchre
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
333
at the north end of the First Sepulchre
CHAPTER XI.—TOMB SOUTH OF THE AGORA.[28]
VIGNETTE.—No. 528. Golden Goblet, with Dog's Head
350
Handles
No. 529. Gold Rings, Gold Wire (round and
353
quadrangular) in spirals, and one Silver Ring
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 362
and of the Heræum
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
375
a Bronze Handle of a Vase
Illustration to Appendix C—Egyptian Badge 384
Illustration to Appendix D—Two-edged Bronze Sword,
386
after cleaning
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 usual size of the stones is 7 feet long and 3 feet
thick, but I measured several which were 10 feet long THE CYCLOPEAN
WALLS.
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 flat rock of Tiryns, which is 900 feet long, from
200 to 250 feet broad, and from 30 to 50 feet high, THE CITADEL OF
TIRYNS.
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]

According to ancient tradition, Tiryns was founded
(about 1400 B.C.) by Prœtus, who was its first king, and HISTORY OF
TIRYNS.
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.
I perfectly agree with the common opinion that the
Cyclopean walls of Tiryns are the most ancient BEGINNING OF
WORK AT

monument in Greece; but, having the conviction that no TIRYNS.
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.
Among the objects discovered I must first mention
the small terra-cotta cows, of which I collected eleven, COWS OF
[50] TERRA-COTTA.
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.

At the same time I found nine female idols, seven of
IDOLS OF HERA.
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.

"It must, however, be borne in mind that the Egyptian
EXCAVATIONS AT
representation was not with the eyes, but with the full TIRYNS.
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.
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.
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 POTTERY AND
one side the head of Apollo with a COINS FOUND AT
TIRYNS.
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
No. 12. Bronze
for suspension by a string; the same fantastically-shaped
figure, small vases, jugs, pots, dishes, and cups—all made on the
from Tiryns. (3 potter's wheel, and usually presenting, on a light red dead
M.)
Actual size. 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.

All this splendid pottery denotes a high civilisation,
such as the men who built the Cyclopean city walls can PROBABLE DATE
OF THE
hardly have reached. Hence, all this beautiful pottery was POTTERY.
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."
I extract the following from my Paper on Troy,
read on the 24th of June 1875, before the Society of NOTE ON HERA
BOÖPIS.
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.
[See larger version]

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.
But as the Inachus plays so important a part in the
mythic legends of the Argolid, which make him the ROAD FROM
ARGOS TO
husband of Meleia and father of Phoroneus, the first king MYCENÆ.
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 epithet πολυδίψιον, "very thirsty," which Homer
gives to the plain of Argos, agrees perfectly with its THE PLAIN OF
ARGOS.
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.
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 SITUATION OF
part of the great plain and the important narrow pass, by MYCENÆ.
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.

I have made this division into three periods merely to
THREE KINDS OF
point out the different architecture of the walls, and with PRIMITIVE
no intention of maintaining that the one must be more WALLS.
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.

[See larger version]
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.
This niche is filled up by a triangular slab of the
same beautiful breccia of which the gateway and the GATE OF THE
LIONS.
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.

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[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 No. 23. Elevation and Plan of the
[118] Postern Gate.
Cyclopean heavenly walls," and further
"Cyclopean heavenly walls," and this must
refer to the hugeness of the walls and towers. Strabo[119] THE POSTERN
justly observes that, on account of the close vicinity of GATE.
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.

Homer himself is seemingly guilty of making a
confusion regarding the names of Argos and Mycenæ, MYCENÆ AND
ARGOS.
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."

Over the space of about a square mile to the west- THE LOWER
south-west and south of this Acropolis, and exactly CITY.
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.
Much more interesting than all the other buildings in
the suburb are the "Treasuries," which, owing to their TREASURIES IN
THE SUBURB.
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
[See larger version]
The "Treasury of Atreus," which is about 400 yards THE TREASURY
further south, was entirely subterranean, being OF ATREUS.
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]
The only other example extant of walls which had
once this kind of decoration is presented by the Treasury TREASURY AT
of Minyas in Orchomenus, which is built of beautiful ORCHOMENUS.
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.
Dodwell,[138] in speaking of this treasury and the
smaller ones, says:—"There is moreover complete PURPOSE TREASURY.
OF THE

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.
The Professor of Medicine in Athens, Johannes P.
Pyrlas, has kindly called my attention to an article he EXCAVATION BY
VELI PASHA.
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.

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

"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.
[See larger version]

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.

Tradition attributes the foundation of Mycenæ to
Perseus, son of Danaë and Jove, who had by Andromeda THE PERSEIDÆ
a son Sthenelus, to whom he left the kingdom. Sthenelus AND ATREIDÆ.
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]
It appears from Homer[150] that Agamemnon had
brought under his sceptre nearly all the Peloponnesus. AGAMEMNON'S
DOMINION.
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.
Homer gives to Mycenæ the epithets of the "well-
built city,"[163] "with broad streets,"[164] and "rich in HOMERIC
EPITHETS OF
gold."[165] The second of these epithets can only apply to MYCENÆ.
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[172] writes: "Amongst other remains of the
wall is the gate, on which stand lions. They (the walls PAUSANIAS
THE ROYAL
ON

and the gate) are said to be the work of the Cyclopes, SEPULCHRES.
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.
For these decisive reasons, I have always interpreted
the famous passage in Pausanias in the sense that the MEANING OF
PAUSANIAS.
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.
But I have brought to light most positive proofs that
it had been again inhabited, and that the new town must REOCCUPATION
OF MYCENÆ.
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.

Below the comparatively modern Hellenic city I find
ARCHAIC
by thousands the fragments of those splendidly-painted PAINTED VASES.
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.

As there are almost as many varieties of painted
MYCENEAN
ornamentation as there are vases, and as in most PAINTED VASES.
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.
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
No. 80. Painted Vase. Ground yellow, ornamentation of spiral lines. In a
lines black, shields reddish.
(2 M.) Actual size. 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.

The greater number of the vases with a large opening
PAINTED
are painted both outside and inside; and in many POTTERY OF
instances the internal paintings by far exceed those on MYCENÆ.
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.

Since the 7th inst. I have been able to gather here
HERA-IDOLS IN
more than 200 terra-cotta idols of Hera, more or less TERRA-COTTA.
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.

Of idols in the form of a cow hundreds were found,
HERA-IDOLS IN
but all are more or less broken. It is very remarkable that TERRA-COTTA.
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.

Iron was already known to the Myceneans, for I
IMPLEMENTS OF
found some knives of this metal; also some curious BRONZE AND
keys, one of which is very thick, is 5·6 inches long, has STONE.
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.

The Myceneans
MUSICAL
seem to have been INSTRUMENTS.
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.

It was found at a depth of 12 feet; it has in the
VARIOUS
middle a hole for suspension with a string. I frequently OBJECTS
find here flat pieces of terra-cotta with painted or FOUND.
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.
At the north end of my trench I have brought to light
part of a Cyclopean water-conduit, which is still more SCULPTURED
TOMBSTONES.
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.

The lower part of the sculpture represents a warrior
MYCENEAN AND
in a chariot, rather in a sitting than in a standing posture, HOMERIC
for the lower part of his body is not visible; and whilst, CHARIOTS.
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."
On carefully examining the sculpture of the
tombstones, I find such a marvellous accuracy and CHARACTER OF
THE
symmetry in all the spiral ornamentation, that I feel SCULPTURE.
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.

Since the 19th of August I have continued the
excavations with an average number of 125 workmen WORK AND
WAGES AT
and 4 horse-carts, and have made good progress. As it MYCENÆ.
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]
I frequently found here, at a depth of from three to
four feet, ashes of burnt animal matter, also masses of THE THIRD
SCULPTURED
bones of animals, but no bones which I can identify as TOMBSTONE.
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.

At the foot of the sculptured tombstone first
ASHES OF
described I found a handful of black ashes, and among SACRIFICES.
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.

The third fragment (No. 144), 2 ft. 6 in. long, 2 ft.
FRAGMENTS OF
broad, and 6 in. thick, is evidently the upper right-hand STÊLÆ.
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.

I have also been fortunate enough to discover, only 3
COLUMNS OF
ft. below the surface, a piece of a quadrangular column PORPHYRY.
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.

Although, as Dr. Fr. Schlie thinks, the technical
STYLE OF THE
treatment of the low-relief of all these stêlæ may not be SCULPTURES.
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.
The presence of these numerous sepulchres near the
Lions' Gate, and thus in the most prominent part of the TOMBS IN THE
ACROPOLIS.
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.

It has been asserted that they were buried at the time
GEOMETRICALL
of the Dorian invasion; but did the excavation of the Y PAINTED
Treasury of Atreus in 1810 by Veli Pasha, the son of Ali POTTERY.
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.

In the Acropolis the most common idols are those of
HERA-IDOLS
Hera as a woman with horns or in the shape of a cow. In COMMON IN
fact, they are so abundant that up to this time I have ACROPOLIS.
been able to gather more than (say) 700 of them, but all
are more or less mutilated. Among the forms of the idols COW-HEADS ON
found abundantly in the Acropolis I must further VASE-HANDLES.
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])
Except the button with a gold plate, already
mentioned, no objects of gold or silver have been found ORNAMENTS OF
GLAZED CLAY.
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.

I also very often find small objects in the form of a
VARIOUS
cone or with points more obtuse, and in this case ORNAMENTS.
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.

There were also found a certain number of lentoid
LENTOID GEMS.
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.
Of combinations of signs resembling inscriptions, I
have hitherto only found three or four; one of them is on INSCRIPTIONS
AT MYCENÆ.
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 great quarry, whence all the stones for the
Cyclopean walls, the Treasuries, and other buildings, THE QUARRY AT
CHARVATI.
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 ‫( خراب‬ruins), 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.
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 MRS.
fastened; but I cannot avoid mentioning that on the inner SCHLIEMANN'S
TREASURY.
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.

The Archaeological Society in Athens has not yet
THRESHOLD OF
sent an engineer to consolidate the sculpture above the THE LIONS'
Lions' Gate, and to repair the Cyclopean wall close to it; GATE.
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.
Further on to the right I have brought to light, below
the foundations of an Hellenic house, quite a labyrinth of A CYCLOPEAN
HOUSE.
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]
It must be particularly observed that the whole CIRCULAR
arrangement of slabs slopes inwards at an angle of 75°; BENCH OF THE
so that, the ground within the circle being raised, as just AGORA.
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.
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). No. 210a. Bench of the Agora.
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]
Another esteemed friend also calls my attention to
the passage in Pausanias: "Here is the tomb of Opheltes, ROYAL TOMBS
IN THE AGORA
with an enclosure of stones and altars in the walls; (here) AT CYRENE.
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.
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 No. 211. A fish of Wood. (3½
already described; also some in the shape of a M.)
Actual size.
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 No. 212.
occurrence here; further, a number of small perforated A curious Idol.
glass necklace beads, and three whorls of terra-cotta. (4 M.) Actual size.

I frequently find here, in the prehistoric débris,
fragments of a wall-coating of chalk with painted CURIOUS IDOLS.
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.
Although there are no windows in the Cyclopean
house—and although the scanty daylight through the PROBABLE
ROYAL PALACE.
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.

There were further found in the Cyclopean house
A PAINTED VASE.
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.
From the fore part of the helmet rises a long and
very curious object, which forms a curve, and is much THE HOMERIC
HELMET.
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.
I now find here in the Acropolis numerous fragments
of hand-made pottery, but not in distinct layers as at HAND-MADE
POTTERY.
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.
I have explained on pp. 3 and 4 that the name
"Cyclopean walls" is founded on an error, being derived MYCENEAN
POTTERY.
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.
In the Acropolis I brought to light, at a few yards
from the second gate, a very curious Cyclopean water- WATER-
CONDUITS AND
conduit leading into one of the long narrow corridors. I CISTERNS.
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.
In the large Cyclopean house, which tradition seems
to have indicated as the palace of the Atridæ, OBJECTS FOUND
IN THE PALACE.
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.
To my very greatest annoyance and
displeasure, but by the most urgent demand THE LIONS'
GATE.
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.
Yesterday and to-day my excavations
have had the honour of being visited by his VISIT OF THE
EMPEROR OF

No. 221. Majesty Dom Pedro II., Emperor of Brazil. BRAZIL.
Bronze
Sword. Coming from Corinth, his Majesty rode
Size 1:6. 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.
The question now naturally arises, for what purpose
all these fortifications have been built. The mountain SANCTUARY OF
THE SUN-GOD.
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 (‫ הײלא‬or ‫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.
The present state of the excavations is represented by
the engraved Plate VII. First we see, to the left of the STATE OF THE
EXCAVATIONS.
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.
In the foreground, below the feet of the workmen
who stand upon it, can be seen the great double parallel PANORAMIC

circular row of slanting slabs, inclined inwards, which VIEW.
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 four sculptured tombstones having been
THE FIRST
removed to the village of Charvati, in order to be sent to SEPULCHRE.
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.

In digging lower down I found from time to time a
OBJECTS OF
very small quantity of black ashes, and in this very IVORY, BONE,
frequently some curious objects; such as a bone button ETC.
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.

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 THREE BODIES
IN THE SECOND
it when I began the excavations, I reached a layer of TOMB.
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.

I also found with the bodies many curious objects; TUBES OF
for example, small cylinders with a small tube COBALT GLASS.
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.
The most important objects found in this tomb are no
doubt the two two-horned Hera-idols previously ANTIQUITY OF
HORNED
mentioned, because they prove to us that the goddess FEMALE IDOLS.
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.
Encouraged by the success obtained in the second
tomb, I took out the two large unsculptured tombstones THE THIRD
SEPULCHRE.
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.
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
No. 235. height of 16½ ft. above its mouth. This sepulchre,
Piece of ornamented which in the Plan B I call the Third Tomb, is 16 ft. 8 in.
ivory. (5 M.) long, and 10 ft. 2 in. broad, and it is cut into the rock,
Size 3:4.
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.

Immediately to the north of the tomb in question,
ROCK IN
and thus in the centre of the Agora, I brought to light the CENTRE OF THE

before-mentioned rock which protrudes from the AGORA.
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.
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 SEVEN
HUNDRED GOLD
the fire on the pebbles below and around PLATES.
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. 238.
A large bronze
dagger,
with two blades
soldered
together in the
middle.
(6½ M.) Size
7:20.

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.

The ornaments of which the greatest number was
PLATES OF
found were the large, thick, round plates of gold, with a GOLD.
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.
In proceeding to describe the masses of other jewels
which had covered the bodies on the pyres and which HERCULES AND
THE NEMEAN
still lay partly on them and partly around them, I begin LION.
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.

The intaglio on the following smaller ornament (No.
ACHILLES AND
254) represents two warriors fighting a deadly duel. The HECTOR?
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.
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 No. 261. Golden Ornament.
Hesiod and Herodotus as A Griffin. Sepulchre III.
Actual size.
watcher of the gold in the far
north of Europe.[289] Pliny
describes the gryphi as ferarum volucre genus, which GOLDEN
mira cupiditate dig up the gold ex cuniculis and watch it, GRIFFINS.
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.

I further found on the three bodies of the third
sepulchre twelve ornaments of gold, each representing GOLDEN
two stags lying down, with long three-branched horns, BROOCHES WITH STAGS.
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.

I further found with the three bodies of the third
tomb two golden ornaments, representing two women, GOLDENWOMEN WITH
each having a pigeon on her head. One of them (No. PIGEONS.
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.

I further gathered in the same tomb eight golden
VARIOUS
ornaments in the form of butterflies, of which I represent GOLDEN
one under No. 275. Some of them have two, others have ORNAMENTS.
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.

On the head of one of the three bodies was found the
SPLENDID
splendid crown of gold (στέμμα, No. 281), which is one CROWN OF
of the most interesting and most precious objects that I GOLD.
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.
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 GOLDEN
DIADEM.
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
No. 282. Golden Diadem Nos. 283 and 284. Two of them (see No. 283) have
found on the head of an ornamentation similar to the foregoing, but less
another body in the Third rich. Both are piped with copper wire, and have no
Sepulchre.
Size 1:5, about. 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.

There are two other diadems with a still simpler
APHRODITE
shield-like ornamentation, and having in the middle two IDOLS WITH
vertical rows of spirals. Both these diadems consist of DIADEMS.
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.

I found further with the three bodies of the third
GOLDEN
tomb six crosses formed of double golden leaves, of CROSSES.
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.

No. 291. A Cross of Gold. Sepulchre III. Size 4:7, about.

In several places we see in the leaves of this latter cross very small
holes, which seem to prove that another ornament was attached in the
centre, probably a cross, as we see in No. 285, or a star, such as No. 288. I
also found in this tomb the two large and beautiful golden stars, of which I
represent one (No. 291). They consist of two differently-shaped crosses,
with a magnificent ornamentation in repoussé work; both crosses are
fastened together with a golden pin with a large round flat head, which is
still preserved on the one shown in the engraving. In the centre of the other
star there is only the impression which the pinhead, now lost, has made on
the gold plate. It is perfectly impossible for me to say how these crosses
served as ornaments of the dead, for I found none of them in situ.

No. 292. A Golden Brooch (πόρπη). Sepulchre III. Actual size.

On one of the bodies I found a gold brooch (πόρπη),
GIGANTIC GOLD
with a very thick silver pin, 8 in. long (see No. 292), BROOCH.
which, having seemingly been in contact with saline
matter, has been turned into chloride of silver, and has, therefore, broken in
two. Thus only the upper part of the pin is seen in the engraving. In the
brooch we see a woman with extended arms, turning her face to the left of
the spectator; her features are decidedly Greek. She has a long nose, which
protrudes straight from the forehead, and large eyes; her hair only reaches
down to the neck, which is ornamented with a necklace; her large breasts
are well shown. On her head we see a spiral ornamentation, from the middle
of which rises a beautiful palm-tree, and from this there hang down to the
right and left long tresses with tassels in the shape of flowers.

No. 293. Golden Ornament from the Third Sepulchre. Size
five-sixths.

I also found in this tomb the two very curious golden ornaments (see
No. 293), which are too large and heavy to have been worn as pendants of
earrings and have probably been used as breast ornaments. Each consists of
two pieces of repoussé work, which are soldered together, and thus these
objects present the same ornamentation on either side.
There was also found a small golden cross,
represented under No. 294, having an ornamentation of
spirals on either side. It deserves particular mention that
the last-named ornaments (Nos. 291-294), as well as
some of the smaller ornaments of this sepulchre,[293]
though of gold, have a reddish bronze-like colour, so
that, if I had found them alone, I should decidedly not
No. 294.
A Golden Cross.
have claimed for them a very remote antiquity; but the
Sepulchre III. conditions under which they lay in the sepulchre make it
Actual size. impossible to suppose that the objects found there were
of different ages.

There were also found on each of the three bodies
two golden ornaments (six in all) almost in the form of GOLDEN HAIR-
earrings, of which two are represented in the engravings HOLDERS.
Nos. 295 and 296. But as the two ends of each of these objects are in the
form of spirals turned round four or five times, they can, of course, not have
been used for the ears; besides they would be by far too heavy for that use,
because they are of solid gold. The only use which, in my opinion, can have
been made of them is to hold together the locks, and I think they perfectly
explain the passage in Homer:[294]—

"Those locks, that with the Graces' hair might vie,
Those tresses bright, with gold and silver bound,
Were dabbled all with blood."
LORD DERBY.

I also collected on the three bodies eleven very curious golden
ornaments, of which I give three engravings (Nos. 297, 298, and 299). All
of them have in the middle a narrow tube, by which they appear to have
been strung on a cord, for they can, in my opinion, only have been used for
necklaces. They were made in the following way: to both ends of a small
tube, which, as we see in the engravings, is ornamented with circular
incisions, was soldered a thin golden wire, which was on either side turned
eleven times round, and these spirals were soldered together, the outside
turn of each also being soldered to the tube. Of the same pattern were found
six bracelets like No. 300, each of which consists of twelve spirals made of
the same fine gold wire; they were fastened round the arm by the small
golden staff at the right, and by the spiral at the left extremity, which latter
served as a clasp.

Nos. 295-300. Golden Hair-holders, Bracelets, and Ornaments of
Necklaces. Size 5:6, about.

Nos. 301, 302. Golden Balances (τάλαντα). Sepulchre III. Size 5:7, about.

There were further found two pairs of golden scales,
GOLDEN
which I represent in the engraving (Nos. 301 and 302), BALANCES.
but I have been able to photograph the beam of only one
pair, the other beam being too much compressed and out of shape. Both
beams consist of tubes of thin gold-plate, through which was undoubtedly
stuck a wooden stick to give them more solidity; débris of charred wood
were even found in some pieces of the golden tubes. The beams were
attached to the scales by long and very thin straps of gold. Two of the scales
are ornamented with flowers, the others with beautifully-represented
butterflies. Of course these scales can never have been used; they were
evidently made expressly to accompany the bodies of the three princesses
into the grave, and they have, therefore, undoubtedly a symbolic
signification. I may here call attention to the scales in the wall-paintings of
the Egyptian sepulchres, in which are weighed the good and bad deeds of
the deceased. At all events these scales vividly recall to our remembrance
the beautiful passage of Homer,[295] where Jove takes golden scales and
weighs the "lots of doom" of Hector and Achilles.

"But when the fourth time in their rapid course
The founts were reached, the Eternal father hung
His golden scales aloft, and placed in each
The lots of doom, for great Achilles one,
For Hector one, and held them by the midst:
Down sank the scale, weighted with Hector's death,
Down to the shades, and Phœbus left his side."
LORD DERBY.

There were further found with the three bodies the CHILD'S MASK
golden ornaments here represented. The golden plate AND GOLD
(No. 303) must have been glued on something else, PLATES.
because otherwise its use is inexplicable. It has a
beautiful ornamentation of repoussé work, such as we have not seen before
in Mycenæ. The child's mask (No. 304) consists of very thin gold plate; the
places for the eyes are cut out, and even in the present crumpled condition
of the mask the nose is slightly protruding. It appears, therefore, very
probable that, together with the bodies of the three women, a child was
burnt and buried in this tomb, and this would perfectly agree with the
tradition cited by Pausanias.[296]

Nos. 303-306. Golden Ornaments. Sepulchre III. Half-size.

I also found thirteen splendidly-ornamented objects of gold plate, of
which one is represented under No. 305; their style of ornamentation has
never been seen by me here before. At the upper extremity we see a
perforation, which makes it probable that these objects have served as
pendants of earrings. The gold plate (No. 306) must also have been
cemented on some other object, for it shows no perforations. It represents in
defective repoussé work two men, of whom the one, who is winged and has
horse's-feet and appears to play the flute, stands with his right foot on the
head of the other, whose arms are extended and whose feet are wide apart.
Both men have two horns on the head, and those of the lower figure are
particularly conspicuous. To the right of the two men, and thus to the left of
the spectator, is a very strange ornament, which at first sight appears to
consist of written characters, but, on closer examination, we find that it is
mere ornamentation.

Nos. 307, 308. Objects of Rock Crystal. Sepulchre III. Actual size.

There was further found here the perforated ball of beautifully-polished
rock crystal (No. 307), which has evidently formed part of the handle of a
sceptre or some weapon, for we see in the perforation a long piece of metal
which appears to be gold, but which is probably only gold-plated bronze or
silver.
The object, No. 308, is also of well-polished rock crystal; it has a large
mouth, and a perforation on the opposite side; the interior has a lively
ornamentation painted in red and white. The use of this object is altogether
a riddle to me.
There were also found two objects of bronze, of which the one appears
to be a fragment and the other the handle of some weapon.
I also picked up there the two objects, Nos. 309 and
310, which appear to be sceptres. The silver staff of each CURIOUS
SCEPTRES.
has been plated with gold, as we see on that part of it
which sticks in the beautifully-turned knobs of rock crystal. The crystal ball
of No. 309 is ornamented with small vertical furrows and quite perforated,
and there are evident signs that another object, probably of gold, has been
attached to its lower end; and such a piece of gold was found lying
separately and is added in the engraving (a), the more so as its upper end
had evidently been broken off; it is ornamented on both sides with repoussé
work representing lions.

Nos. 309, 310.
Sceptres of silver plated with gold, with handles of rock-crystal.
Sepulchre III. Size 1:3, about.
a. A ball of gold found separately, but belonging to the handle.

I call the reader's attention to the size of these presumed sceptres, which
is here only about one-third of the actual size. I beg further to observe that
the enormous gold plated silver rods were doubtless stuck in wooden staves
covered with gold plate. For the abundance here of such staves with gold
covers we can have no better testimony than the numerous tubes of gold
plate found in these tombs, many of them still containing charred remnants
of the wood which they once covered; a few even contained remnants of the
wood pretty well preserved.
Further I found fifteen perforated beads of brown agate, like No. 311,
which evidently belong to a necklace; also a number of beads like No. 312:
further the magnificent lentoid gem of sardonyx (No. 313), on which are
represented two men, the one sitting, the other standing. The latter seems to
seize the former with his right hand by the hair, while he thrusts with his
left a long sword into his breast.

Very characteristic is the immense shield which we see on the standing
man's back, and which resembles two shields joined at the border; it is not
unlike the shield which we see on the fallen warrior, p. 174, No. 254.
No. 314 is a whorl-like ornament of black agate, with a spiral
ornamentation on its lower side; it has no perforation.

No. 311. Perforated bead of brown agate.—No. 312. Agate bead.—No. 313. Lentoid gem
of sardonyx, cut in intaglio.—No. 314. Ornament of black agate.—No. 315. Lentoid
gem of amethyst. All from Sepulchre III. Actual Size.

Very curious is the lentoid gem of amethyst, No. 315, which is of a
transparent violet-blue colour, with an intaglio, representing an animal
turning round its head to look at its calf, which is sucking the milk from its
udders. The body and legs of the animal, and even its head and horns, are
decidedly those of a stag; but I may remind the reader that the most ancient
didrachms of Corcyra represent in a similar style a cow turning her head
and looking at her calf, which sucks the milk from her udders.
I also found there six golden ornaments in the form
of wheels, of one of which I give the engraving (No. ORNAMENTED
GOLDEN
316). Like the wheels of bronze which we have passed WHEELS.
in review, these six wheels have only four spokes,
forming a cross around the closed axle, which is merely indicated; but the
spokes are here curved, so as to form four semicircles. All of them are
ornamented with horizontal incisions; the felloes are very broad, and have a
spiral ornament all round.

No. 316. A Golden Wheel.
Sepulchre III. Actual size.

I also found in this sepulchre a lady's comb of gold, with teeth of bone;
but the latter are so much damaged that I cannot give an engraving of them;
further, a large silver seal-ring, which, having been in contact with saline
matter, has become chloride of silver, so that the engraving on it has
disappeared. Also, twelve tubes of gold plate, which had evidently once
been filled with wood to give them solidity; in some of the tubes there were
still remains of charred wood. The use of these tubes is difficult to explain;
they may have belonged either to sceptres or to distaffs. Further, a large
quantity of small or larger gold beads of necklaces, and an enormous
quantity of amber beads, likewise from necklaces. These beads have grown
dark-brown, probably owing to their great antiquity, so that we at first
mistook them for resin, but the analysis of Professor Landerer has shown
that they consist of the purest amber. It will, of course, for ever remain a
secret to us whether this amber is derived from the coast of the Baltic or
from Italy, where it is found in several places, but particularly on the east
coast of Sicily; but it is highly probable that it was brought to Greece by the
Phœnicians, its name in Greek being electrum (ἤλεκτρον), and elek
signifying resin in Arabic, and probably also in Phœnician. Amber was well
known to Homer, who mentions it three times in the Odyssey, as fitted, in
lieu of precious stones, in gold ornaments.[297]

Amongst other objects found with the three bodies of the third tomb,
were a square leaf ornament, two golden breast-pins, a golden flower on a
silver stalk, many very small golden ornaments, a large number of beads of
a transparent red stone from a necklace, a gold-plated brooch of bronze;
seven ornaments of gold representing lions, of which, however, only two
are with heads; also, a golden ornament representing an ox attacked by two
lions. I collected there a large quantity of small pieces of very thin beaten
gold, with which the whole tomb, below and above the bodies, was strewn.
With the three bodies of the third sepulchre were
also found the gold goblet (No. 317) and the gold box GOLD GOBLET
AND BOX WITH
(No. 318). The goblet has only one handle, and its LID.
outside is divided, by a band in relief of three stripes,
into an upper and a lower compartment, and both are ornamented with
repoussé work of fish, which are very faithful to nature. Very curious is the
gold box (No. 318), with a well-fitting lid, which was fastened on it with
two gold wires, by means of four perforations, one wire being on either side
of the lid, and one on either side of the rim of the box. A similar contrivance
is found in the box which Arêtê, wife of King Alcinoüs, fills with presents
for Ulysses, for she recommends to him:—

"Look now thyself to the lid and tie quickly a knot on it, lest any
one should rob thee on the way, when thou reposest again in sweet
slumber, going in the black ship."[298]

Nos. 317, 318. A Goblet and a Box of Gold. Sepulchre III. Size 3:8, about.

Homer says in the verses immediately following:—

"But as soon as the much-enduring, divine Ulysses heard this, he
forthwith fitted on the lid, and quickly put upon it a manifold knot,
which venerable Circe had once prudently taught him."[299]

These passages can leave no doubt that chests and boxes with a similar
contrivance were in general use in the time of Homer. They were also in
general use at Troy, for I collected there hundreds of terra-cotta vases, and
also a box, which shows the same principle.[300] Similar terra-cotta vases
are also to be seen in the small collection of prehistoric pottery in the
French school at Athens. They were found in a prehistoric city on the island
of Thera, below a layer of pumice-stone and volcanic ashes, 60 ft. deep,
thrown out by that great central volcano, which, in the opinion of competent
geologists, must have sunk into the sea and disappeared about 1700-1800
B.C.

No. 319.
Golden Vase, with lid attached by a golden wire. Sepulchre III. Size 7:10.

Chests and boxes fashioned in the same way, namely, with perforations
in the rim and in the lid through which they were fastened by means of a
string, must have been in general use in Mycenæ, because all the gold
vessels with lids found here show exactly the same contrivance. The box
before us has no ornamentation.
The beautiful globular gold vase (No. 319) has a
handle on each side and one on the lid, in which latter GOLD VESSELS
WITH LIDS.
can be seen the golden wire by which it was attached to
the vase through the perforation in the rim. The only ornaments of this vase
are the two rope-like bands in relief, with which its upper part is encircled. I
also found with the three bodies of the third sepulchre the three gold vessels
here engraved, all of which have holes in the rim and in the lid, for tying
them together with a gold wire. No. 320 has a small handle on either side,
and a large one on the lid; it is decorated with curved lines in relief. The
handsome box (No. 321) has only a small handle on the lid, and no
ornamentation. The beautiful vase (No. 322) has a handle on each side, and
a very large one on the lid. It has no ornamentation. There can be seen
protruding from it the long golden wire, by which the lid was bound to the
rim of the vessel. All these and the former golden vases and boxes are of
repoussé work. I likewise found in this tomb a plain silver vase with one
handle.

Nos. 320, 321, 322. Three Golden Vessels. Sepulchre III. Size 2:3, about.

There were found on the eastern side of this sepulchre four boxes of
copper-plate (see No. 323) all filled with wood, which is pretty well
preserved, only the upper part of it being partly charred by the funeral fire.
Each of these boxes is 10 in. long, 5 in. high, and 4½ in. wide. The side
plates of the boxes are soldered together, and nowhere are nails visible
except in the rim of the upper side, which is open, where we see twenty
long copper nails beaten in from the outside and projecting far on the
inside; and the question naturally arises why they are there. I cannot explain
their presence in any other way than by supposing that there has been on
this side a thick wooden plate, which was fastened by the twenty nails, and
which has been burned in the funeral fire. I conjecture that these copper
cases, filled with wood, served probably as head-pillows for the dead, and
perhaps also for the living, because they are, at all events, not harder, and
even a little softer, than the pillows of alabaster or marble found in the
Egyptian tombs, of which several are in the British Museum. I at first
supposed that the wood in the boxes might be sandal-wood, which might
have served to perfume the sepulchre whilst the funeral pile was burning,
but I have given up this idea, considering that there would have been no use
in preserving the odoriferous wood in the boxes and shutting it up in them
with long nails; besides that, for such a purpose more of it would have
burned. But again, it may be that the sandal-wood has been imported from
India in these small boxes. In the present deteriorated state of the wood it is
utterly impossible to recognise the species of tree that it belongs to. All
these boxes were lying near the heads of the dead, but none under any of
them.

No. 323. A Box of Copper Plate, filled with wood. Sepulchre III. Size 3:10, about.

No. 324. Vessel of Terra-cotta. Sepulchre III. Size 7:10.

There were also found with the three bodies of the
HAND-MADE
third sepulchre the small hand-made vessel of terra-cotta VASE OF TERRA-
(No. 324), which shows, on a light yellow dead colour, COTTA.
the following ornamentation of a dark red colour: three
circular bands and a spiral line interlacing eight circles, each of which
contains a palm-leaf; every two circles are further intersected by two large
round spots.

No. 325. An object of Alabaster. Sepulchre III. Size 7:10.

No. 325 is of alabaster, but looks as if it were of shell; it represents two
hands joined together in juxtaposition and forming a hollow; all the fingers
are distinctly visible. The use of this object is difficult to explain, it being
too heavy to have served as a spoon or trowel.
In the same tomb I found a second piece of splendidly polished rock-
crystal; its form is more than a hemisphere; it has a perforation in the
middle of the bottom, and another on each side. Its interior has paintings of
a lively red colour. Its use is altogether inexplicable to me; were it not for
the paintings I should believe it to be the handle of a sceptre; but as it is, it
can never have served as such.
There were found in the same sepulchre an entire but quite plain silver
vase, with one handle; a broken silver vessel with a spiral ornamentation,
and a broken plain silver goblet; also a silver vase ornamented with a
horizontal row of twelve golden stars of repoussé work, but unfortunately

so much broken that it cannot be photographed. I may further mention a
large bronze knife with a wooden handle.
I also found in this third tomb the copper-plated mouthpiece of a large
vase, which consists, according to Professor Landerer, of a composition of
silver and lead; the mouthpiece has probably only been plated with copper
in order to plate this latter again with gold. Further, an alabaster cup, a
fragmentary bronze vase, two very large copper vases with two handles, a
large copper caldron (λεβης), with two handles, and two others with three
handles. All these objects are similar to those found in the fourth tomb, of
which the engravings will be given in the next chapter.
There were also found here a large mass of fragments of hand-made or
very ancient wheel-made terra-cotta vases; and lastly, a long well-polished
stone of nearly oval form, which, in the opinion of Mr. Eustratiades, may
have served as a weight to draw to a door.

No. 326. Golden Mask in the form of a Lion's Head. Sepulchre IV. Size 3/10, about.

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 ἀμφικύπελλον, 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.'
Mycenæ, December 6, 1876.

Encouraged by my success, I resolved upon excavating the whole
remaining space within the great parallel circle of slabs by which the Agora
is enclosed, and my attention was particularly directed to the spot
immediately west of the sepulchre last excavated, although the site was
marked by no tombstone. But, at marked variance with the colour of the soil
elsewhere, I found here only black earth, which, at a depth of 15 ft., was
already intermixed with nothing else than hand-made and most ancient
wheel-made pottery, showing that the site had not been disturbed since a
remote antiquity; and this increased my hopes of making an interesting
discovery.
At a depth of 20 ft. below the former surface of the mount I struck an
almost circular mass of Cyclopean masonry, with a large round opening in
the form of a well; it was 4 ft. high and measured 7 ft. from north to south,
and 5¼ ft. from east to west.[301] I at once recognised in this curious
monument a primitive altar for funeral rites, and was strengthened in this
belief by two slabs, in the form of tombstones, 2 ft. 9 in. long, and 1 ft. 6 in.
broad, and a short column, which lay in a horizontal position below the
altar, and which, in my opinion, must have once been erected on the spot to
mark the site of a sepulchre. Fragments of beautiful hand-made or very
archaic wheel-made pottery and knives of obsidian continued to be the only
objects of human industry I met with.

At last, at a depth of 26½ ft., and at a distance of
only 4 ft. 7 in. from the tomb last described, I found a AN ALTAR UPON
A TOMB.
sepulchre, 24 ft. long, and 18½ ft. broad, which had been
cut into the rock to the depth of 6 ft. on its west side, 10 ft. on the north
side, 8 ft. on the south side, and on the east side 6½ ft. deep, its bottom
being 33 ft. below the former surface of the mount.[302]
It deserves particular notice that the funeral altar marked precisely the
centre of this tomb, and thus there can be no doubt that it had been erected
in honour of those whose mortal remains reposed therein. All round the four
sides of the bottom of this tomb was, on a foundation of large common
stones, a slanting wall, 7 ft. 8 in. high, of large pieces of schist, of irregular
form, which had been joined with clay. This wall projected 4 ft., and thus
considerably diminished the size of the sepulchre. As in all the other tombs,
the bottom was covered with a layer of pebbles, on which, at about equal
distances from each other, lay the bodies of five men; three of them were
lying with the head to the east, and the feet to the west; the other two were
lying with the head to the north and the feet to the south. The bodies had
evidently been burned on the very spot on which each lay; this was shown,
as well by the abundance of ashes on and around each corpse, as by the
marks of the fire on the pebbles and on the wall of schist. The cremation of
all the bodies on the layer of pebbles on the very bottom of this, as well as
of all the other tombs, has been officially authenticated by the three
government clerks, whom the Director-General of Antiquities at Athens,
Professor Panagiotes Eustratiades, has sent here to assist me in guarding the
treasures, as well as by the Professor of Archæology, Phendikles, who
remained here two weeks with me, and by the thousands of people who
flock hither from all parts of the Argolid to see these wonders; and,
therefore, any one who doubts the exactness of my statements as to the
cremation is requested to apply to the said Director-General or to the
Ministry of Public Instruction at Athens.
The five bodies of this FOURTH TOMB were literally smothered in jewels,
all of which—as in the other tombs—show unequivocal marks of the
funeral fires.
Here, as well as in the first and third tombs, I have noticed that, for a
reason unknown to me, the burned bodies, with their golden ornaments, had
been covered, after the cremation, with a layer (3 in. to 4 in. thick) of the

same white clay which has been employed to join the pieces of schist of the
slanting internal wall. On this layer of clay was put the second layer of
pebbles. Down to about one foot above the upper layer of pebbles, the work
of excavation is not difficult, for we have merely to direct our labourers to
dig here or there. But from that point we have to do the work ourselves; the
task is exceedingly difficult and painful to us, particularly in the present
rainy weather, for we cannot dig otherwise than on our knees, and by
cutting the earth and stones carefully away with our knives, so as not to
injure or lose any of the gold ornaments.
Beginning the excavation of the lower strata of this
tomb from the south side, I at once struck on five large COPPER
VESSELS: NO
copper vessels (λέβητες, 'caldrons'), in one of which SOLDERING.
were exactly one hundred very large and smaller buttons
of wood, covered with plates of gold, with a splendid intaglio work of
spirals and other ornamentation. Three of the copper vessels measure 14 to
20 in. in diameter each, and have two upright handles; the fourth is of the
same form, but has three handles; the fifth is a can, 1 ft. 9 in. high, with two
handles, of which the one is nailed to the mouth-piece and the upper part of
the body of the vessel, and the other to its lower part. These five copper
vessels stood all upright, close to the southern interior wall.
We find copper vessels (λέβητες) continually referred to in the Iliad,
together with tripods, as prizes in the games or as presents.[303] But they are
generally referred to in the Odyssey as basins, in which the hands were
washed at the sacrifice or before dinner.[304] They were also used for the
foot-bath.[305] It deserves particular attention that three of the five copper
vessels, and particularly the large can, show unequivocal marks of long use
on the fire. It deserves particular attention that there is no soldering in any
one of the large copper vessels found in this or any other of the Mycenean
tombs; these large vessels consist merely of copper plates, solidly joined
together with innumerable small pins. All the handles are likewise attached
with broadheaded nails.
Close to the copper vessel with the gold buttons, I found a cow's head of
silver, with two long golden horns, which I represent in the engravings Nos.
327 and 328.

No. 327. The Cow's Head of silver, with horns of gold. Sepulchre IV. Size 7:20, about.
(NOTE.—The slight difference of size between this and No. 328 is merely accidental, the
engravings being by different hands.)

It has a splendidly ornamented golden sun, of 2⅕ in.
in diameter, on its forehead; in the middle of the head is WONDERFUL
COW-HEAD.
a round hole, which may have served for flowers. I here
remind the reader that the Egyptian Apis is represented with a sun between
its horns.

No. 328. Another view of the Cow's Head of silver, with horns of gold. Sepulchre IV.

The Mycenean goldsmith evidently did not understand the art of plating
silver with gold, for, whenever he had to do it, he first plated the silver with
copper, and then plated the copper with gold. He has done so with this
silver cow-head, whose mouth, eyes and ears he had to plate, and, therefore,
he first plated them with copper and then plated the copper with gold. On
the mouth the gold plating is very well preserved, but from the eyes and
ears it has almost entirely disappeared. There can be no doubt that this cow-
head was intended to represent the goddess Hera, the patron deity of
Mycenæ.
There were also found here thirty-five cowheads of very thin gold plate,
like Nos. 329 and 330, which have a double axe between the horns. Six of
these heads are quite well preserved; the other twenty-nine are all more or

less mutilated. I also collected a great quantity of fragments of similar
cowheads.

Nos. 329, 330. Two Golden Cow-heads with double axes. Actual size.

I shall discuss hereafter the symbol of the double axe, which occurs
repeatedly in these tombs. I would here call particular attention to the three
cowheads with long horns, two of which are of gold, and one seemingly of
silver, which figure among the offerings in the wall paintings of an
Egyptian tomb in Thebes, conserved in the British Museum; the two of gold
are brought by Asiatics on golden vases, whilst the silver cow-head is
offered by Egyptians. I further call attention to Mr. G. A. Hoskins's 'Travels
in Æthiopia,' p. 330, where a copy is given of a wall painting of a tomb in
Thebes, representing a grand procession, in which, among other presents,
are rings and four cowheads with long horns, seemingly all of gold.
In further excavating from east to west I struck a
heap of more than twenty bronze swords and many HEAP OF
SWORDS AND
lances. Most of the former had had wooden sheaths and LANCES.
handles inlaid with wood, of which numerous remnants
could be seen. Lying all along and in the heap of swords I found a large
quantity of round plates of gold with beautiful intaglio work, and remnants
of flat round pieces of wood, which had once, in unbroken series, adorned

both sides of the sword-sheaths. The largest plate was at the broad end of
the sheath, the smallest at the opposite extremity. The wooden handles of
the swords had likewise been ornamented with large round plates, covered
with rich intaglio work. The remaining space has been studded with gold
pins, and gold nails can be seen in the large alabaster or wooden hilt-knobs
of the swords. On and around the swords and the remnants of the sheaths
could be seen a great quantity of fine gold-dust, which can leave no doubt
that the handles and sheaths had also been gilded.
Some of the lance-shafts seemed to be well preserved, but they
crumbled away when exposed to the air. Unfortunately the skulls of the five
bodies were in such a state of decomposition that none of them could be
saved; the two bodies with the head to the north had the face covered with
large masks of gold-plate in rude repoussé work, one of which,
unfortunately, has been so much injured in the funeral fire and by the heavy
weight of the stones and débris, and, besides, the ashes stick so firmly to it,
that it was impossible to get a good photograph of it. However, by looking
at it for some minutes, one gets a tolerable idea of the features. It represents
a large oval youthful face with a high forehead, a long Grecian nose, and a
small mouth with thin lips; the eyes are shut, and the hairs of both eyelashes
and eyebrows are well marked.

No. 331. Mask of Gold, found on the face of a body. Sepulchre IV. Size 1:3, about.

Quite a different physiognomy is represented by the second mask (No.
331), which shews a round face, with full cheeks and a small forehead, with
which the nose does not range in a straight line, as on the other mask; the
mouth is but small, and has thick lips; the eyes are shut, and the eyelashes,
as well as the eyebrows, which are joined, are tolerably represented.
A third mask of much thicker gold-plate was found covering the face of
one of the three bodies which lay with the head to the east.

No. 332. Gold Mask. Sepulchre IV. Size 3:8, about.

This mask, of which I give the engraving (No. 332),
GOLDEN
exhibits again a totally different physiognomy: the PORTRAIT
wrinkles to the right and left above the mouth, and the MASKS.
expression of the very large mouth with thin lips, can
leave no doubt that we have here the portrait of a man of more advanced
age. The forehead is very large and so are the eyes, which are open and
have neither lashes nor brows marked: the nose has been much pressed by
the stones and is out of shape. In this mask is preserved part of the skull of
the man whose face it covered.
The physiognomies represented by these three masks are so widely
different from each other, and so altogether different from the ideal types of
the statues of gods and heroes, that there cannot be the slightest doubt that
every one of them represents the likeness of the deceased whose face it

covered. Had it not been so, all the masks would have represented the same
ideal type.
A fourth heavy golden mask was found at the head of another of the
three bodies which had their heads turned to the east. This object was bent
double, and looked so little like a mask that I took it for a helmet, and
described it as such in my letter published in the Times of the 27th
December last; but, having unbent it, I see that it has nothing of the shape of
a cap and can only have been intended for a mask to cover the face of the
body: it had probably been accidentally removed in the process of
cremation. At first sight its engraving (No. 326, p. 211) resembles more a
jacket than anything else; but, on closer examination, we find that it
represents a lion's head, whose ears and eyes are distinctly seen. Being of
the purest gold, it is so soft that several pieces have been broken away, as,
for example, one from the vertex of the head, another from the nose, a third
from the jaws, and a fourth from the mane, to the left of the spectator; but
they are preserved, and can easily be added by an able goldsmith. But still,
even in its present defective condition, the nose and the large upper jaws of
the lion are distinctly seen. To the right of the spectator we see in the rim
two small round perforations, and there are similar perforations in the
missing piece of the left side. They must certainly have been used to fasten
the mask on another object. I call particular attention to the
disproportionately small and but very rudely represented eyes and ears of
the lion's head.
Neither in Homer nor in any of the later classics do we find any allusion
to the custom of burying the dead with masks representing their portrait, or
with any masks at all. Masks of wood, which however represent but an
ideal type and no portrait, are sometimes found in Egyptian tombs.[306] In a
tomb near Kertch there was also found the mask of a woman, which may
represent a portrait.[307] A bronze mask was found at Nola.[308]

Nos. 333, A, B. Two Gold Signet Rings. Sepulchre IV. Actual size.

Nos. 334, 335. Intaglios on the Signet Rings. Sepulchre IV. Actual size.

I further found, with the three bodies whose heads
ARCHAIC SEAL-
were laid towards the east, the two large golden signet RINGS.
rings (Nos. 334 and 335) and the large golden bracelet
(No. 336). Nos. 333 A and B show the inverse side of the rings. The
surfaces of both signets are slightly convex; the one (No. 334) represents in
very archaic intaglio a hunter with his charioteer in a chariot drawn by two
stallions, whose eight feet are in the air and in a line parallel with the
ground, to indicate the great speed with which they are dashing forward.
Their bushy tails are uplifted, and are very natural, as are also their bodies,
except the heads, which are more like camels' than horses' heads. There are
no straps visible to attach the horses to the chariot, which is of a different
shape from the chariots which we see on the Mycenean sculptures, for here
the sides are cut out in the form of a crescent and are consolidated by three
projecting beadings, which probably go round the chariot, at least on three

sides. But the wheel is exactly like those on the sculptures, for it has only
four spokes, which form a cross round the axle.
The two men are naked, and wear merely a belt round the loins; their
uncovered heads show thick but not long hair; both wear earrings; their
faces are much protruding, and are very archaic, particularly that of the
charioteer, of whose body we see the full front view, though his head is
turned to the right: his shoulders are too broad and angular, and are
disproportionate to the rest of the body. The hunter, who appears to be much
younger than his companion, leans over the chariot, holding in his left hand
a bow; with his right he has drawn the cord, and is just in the act of
shooting an arrow at a stag with long horns, which is running before the
chariot, and seems to turn its head back, full of anguish. It deserves
particular attention that the stag is represented in the air, and that its hind-
feet are on the same level with the men in the chariot, while its fore-feet are
much higher still. Otherwise the body of the stag is made true to nature. The
object just before the horses' feet is meant to represent the flat ground,
though it looks rather like a tree on account of the curve of the ring. The
object above the stag and above the archer is a mere ornament, and is
perhaps intended to represent the clouds; Mr. Newton thinks it represents
mountains.
Still more interesting is the battle-scene on the other
signet-ring (No. 335); where we see four warriors, of BATTLE SCENE
ON A RING.
whom the one has evidently vanquished the other three.
One of the latter, who is wounded, sits on the ground to the right of the
victor, supporting himself with his hands. He has only a short helmet
(κυνέη) on his head, and is otherwise completely naked. His beard is well
shown, and the Mycenean engraver has taken great pains to represent the
anatomy of the body; though he is sitting and with his feet stretched
sideways to the spectator, yet we see the full upper part of his body in front
without any perspective diminution.
The second vanquished warrior seems also to be wounded, for he is
kneeling on one knee before the victor, whilst his other foot is stretched on
the ground; but still he is fighting against his antagonist, whose breast he
has seized with his left hand, endeavouring to stab him with the long sword
which he holds in his right hand. I call particular attention to the large knob
at the end of the sword-handle.

The wounded man is not quite naked, because we distinctly see on him
a pair of trousers, which, however, reach only down to the middle of the
thighs. His head would, no doubt, have been quite well proportioned had
not the artist forgotten to remove a small particle of gold; by this a small
white line is produced in the photograph, which makes it appear as if there
were only a helmet and no head. If we imagine this small white line
removed, we at once recognise the true proportions of the head, with its
small helmet, which has an upper part (φάλος), but no λόφος or crest.
Though this man is also kneeling sideways to the spectator, still we see his
whole body in front without any perspective diminution.
The third warrior seems to have taken to flight; we see only his head
and his feet, the rest of his body being hidden by an enormous shield, of a
peculiar form, which, if the man were standing upright, would cover his
whole body from head to foot. We see a border all around this shield, and
there appears to be also some ornament on it, which, however, is difficult to
distinguish. It is only owing to the curve of the ring that he is not shown
standing upright. This shield represents to us, no doubt, one of the large
Homeric shields, which were so enormous that the poet compares them to
towers:[309]

"Ajax approached; before him, as a tower,
His mighty shield he bore, seven-fold, brass-bound,
The work of Tychius, best artificer
That wrought in leather; he in Hyla dwelt."
LORD DERBY.

This warrior's head is covered with a helmet, having a broad border and
a large φάλος and attached to it the λόφος, from which a long and well-
represented crest (ἵππουρις) is waving. He appears to have stopped in his
flight, and, having turned his head, he is trying to thrust his long lance at the
victor. This latter is of gigantic proportions, and has on his head a helmet
similar to that of the other man with the tower-like shield; only the crest is
different, consisting here of three straps which may represent ostrich
feathers. He appears to wear a broad belt, because four long straps are
hanging down from his loins: his body is the best proportioned of all. He
seizes with his left hand the vanquished man before him, whilst with his

uplifted right hand he deals him a deadly blow with a broad two-edged
sword, on the handle of which we again see one of those very large knobs,
of which we find here so many of alabaster or wood. The posture of the
victor is perfectly faithful to nature; he is stepping with his left foot forward
and leaning on it the whole weight of his body, in order to strike a more
powerful blow. Above the four warriors is an ornament in which Mr.
Newton may be right in seeing a rude representation of mountains. I may
here add that both signet-rings are but very small, and could only fit on
ladies' fingers.
When I brought to light these wonderful signets, I involuntarily
exclaimed: "The author of the 'Iliad' and the 'Odyssey' cannot but have been
born and educated amidst a civilisation which was able to produce such
works as these. Only a poet who had objects of art like these continually
before his eyes could compose those divine poems." Mr. Gladstone has
already proved beyond any doubt in his celebrated 'Homeric Synchronism'
that Homer was an Achæan, and I am constantly bringing to light in the
depths of Mycenæ thousands of additional proofs that he is perfectly right.

No. 336. A Bracelet of Gold. Sepulchre IV. Actual size.

Highly interesting is also the very heavy, massive,
MASSIVE
golden bracelet, which I represent under No. 336. In GOLDEN
remarkable contrast with the size of the signet-rings, it is BRACELET.
so enormously large that it would fit on the loins of an
ordinary man. It is ornamented with vertical strokes between two margins

formed by two circular bands; and further with a beautiful flower of gold,
which is not soldered directly on the bracelet, but is fastened with a silver
pin to a plate of the same metal, and this latter is soldered on the ring. The
silver plate, part of which is broken off all round, appears to have
represented four flowers, and there are signs of its having been plated with
copper, which has no doubt been plated with gold; because, as I have before
stated, the Mycenean goldsmiths did not know the art of plating silver with
gold.
The two bodies which are turned with the head to the east, whose faces
were covered with gold masks, had also the breasts covered with large
golden breast-plates. The one is of massive gold, but without any
ornamentation; the other is of a much thinner gold plate and decorated with
a repoussé work of two borders of small circles, within which are five rows
of shield-like ornaments with concentric circles. This latter breast-cover
has, at each of its extremities, a hole for fastening it to the body. Close to
the head of another body, I found the beautiful golden crown (στέμμα, No.
337), but it must be distinctly understood that it is represented here head
downward, because to that side which is shown here as the lower, were
attached, with very small pins, of which six can be seen, a number of
leaves, a few of which still remain; and if, therefore, the crown had been put
round the head as it is shown here, the leaves would have hung over the
eyes, which can never have been the case.[310] Thus, this crown had on its
upper side the leaves, and on its lower a small border with small oblique
strokes, the intervening space being filled up in the middle with three
rosettes, intersected by vertical rows of very small shield-like circles, and at
both ends with similar circles or with larger ones. At each extremity, there is
a very small perforation, through which the crown was fastened by means
of a thin gold wire. This crown resembles the one already shown (see No.
281), but its ornamentation is much less sumptuous.

No. 337. A splendid Crown of Gold found close to the head of one of the bodies in the fourth
Sepulchre. Size 1:4, about.

No. 338 represents the
thigh-bone of one of the SPLENDID
GOLDEN
bodies of this sepulchre, CROWN.
around which was still
attached the golden band, which served both
for fastening and ornamenting the greave
(κνημίς). The band consists of two parts, the
lower horizontal and the upper vertical; the
former being attached by a fine gold wire, the
latter by means of the ring which we see at its
extremity and which must have been fastened
to a button fixed to the short trousers, of which
we have seen a specimen on the ring (No.
335). We have already seen[311] that the
greaves were attached above the knee, and the
existence of this greave-holder on the thigh-
bone can leave no doubt that such was the
general custom. The lower band is decorated
all round with an imitation of leaves, and in
front with two rosettes. On the upper band we
see soldered a smaller and thicker one, with
the unmistakeable intention to give it more
substance.
No. 338.

A Human Thigh-bone, While speaking of
with a gold ornament of the
greaves still attached to it.soldering, I may mention GOLD
Sepulchre IV. Size 1:4, about.that Professor Landerer SOLDERED
BORAX.
WITH

informs me that the
Mycenean goldsmiths soldered gold with the help of borax (borate of soda),
which is still used at the present day for the same purpose. He adds that he
was lucky enough to discover this salt on the border of an ancient false
medal from Ægina; that it was called in antiquity χρυσόκολλα ("gold
cement"), and that it was imported from Persia and India under the name of
Baurac-Pounxa-Tinkal. In the Middle Ages, it was imported by the
Venetians from Persia to Venice, where it was purified and exported under
the denomination of Borax Venetus.

No. 339. A Golden Goblet with two handles (δεπας αμφικυπελλον). Sepulchre
IV. Size 5:8 about.

No. 340. Golden Goblet with one handle. Sepulchre IV. Size 5:6, about.

No. 341.
A Golden Wine-Flagon (οἰνοχόη). Sepulchre IV. Size 7:10.

There were further found with the five bodies of this
CURIOUS
sepulchre nine vessels of gold; the first (No. 339) being GOLDEN
a large massive golden goblet with two handles, and, GOBLETS.
therefore, an Homeric δέπας ἀμφικύπελλον; it has no
ornamentation. The two golden goblets, one of which is shown (No. 340),
are, as Professor A. Rousopoulos observed to me, of the pattern called in
Greek αὐλακωτά ("furrowed"), each of them being encircled by nine
parallel furrows; each has only one handle. Another gold vessel (No. 341)
found in this sepulchre, is a beautiful œnochoë, with a large handle, and
decorated in repoussé work, with three parallel horizontal rows of spirals,
united with each other and forming an interwoven ornamentation, which
fills the whole body of the flagon with a net-work, and which, as Dr. Schlie
remarked to me regarding the perfectly similar spiral net-work on the
sepulchral stêlé (No. 140)[312] is in principle the same as the filling up with
frets or spirals combined horizontally and vertically. The foot of the
œnochoë is ornamented with small slanting strokes. I also found a gold

goblet with one handle (No. 342), the body of which is encircled with a
broad band of a plain ornamentation in repoussé work, resembling blades of
knives. Further, a plain massive golden goblet of a new shape (No. 343)
having one handle, which, like all the other handles, is fastened to the
vessel with gold nails with broad convex heads, which can be seen on the
inner side of the rim. If we take away the handle, this goblet resembles our
present water-glasses, but its cup is larger and its foot smaller.

No. 342. A Golden Cup. Sepulchre IV. Size 4:5.

No. 343. A plain massive Cup of Gold. Sepulchre IV. Size 2:5, about.

No. 344. A large massive Gold Goblet with two handles (δέπας ἀμφικύπελλον), weighing 4 lbs.
troy. Sepulchre IV. Half-size.

I would here call very particular attention to the fact that this golden
goblet more or less exactly represents the form of all the goblets of terra-
cotta found at Mycenæ (see No. 83, p. 70, and Nos. 84 and 88 on p. 71). It
further deserves special notice that, as before stated, the British Museum
contains, of perfectly the same shape, fourteen terra-cotta goblets found in
the tomb of Ialysus. It is also worthy of particular notice that exactly the
same form of goblet was found by me at Troy (Hissarlik), in a depth of 50
feet, in the most ancient of the four prehistoric cities.[313]
But the most remarkable of the vessels deposited in
this sepulchre is an enormous massive golden goblet WONDERFUL
DEPAS
with two handles—δέπας ἀμφικύπελλον—weighing four AMPHIKYPELLO
pounds troy (No. 344).[314] It is one of the most splendid N.
jewels of the Mycenean treasure; but, unfortunately, it
has been crumpled up by the ponderous weight of the stones and débris,
and its body has been compressed upon the foot, so that the spectator
cannot fully realise from the engraving the magnificence of this royal cup.
Any goldsmith might easily restore it to its former shape, but I think it

would be far better to leave it as it is, because it has thus a far higher value
to science; and, as a general rule, I may remark that the less ancient jewels
of gold are touched and handled, the better, because their great value lies in
the tarnish of antiquity—the "patina"—which no human hand can imitate,
and which, when once lost, can never be restored.
The body of this costly goblet is encircled by a row of fourteen splendid
rosettes, between an upper band of three lines, and a lower one of two; the
foot, by a band of large protruding globular points. Not only the flat sides of
the handles, but even their edges, are ornamented. Here also may be seen
the heads of the golden pins with which the handles are attached to the rim
and body.
No. 345 (p. 236) represents a plain, large, massive golden goblet, with
one handle, of which the side turned to the spectator is much crumpled and
compressed; it has no other ornament than a thick, protruding band, by
which the body is encircled.
The splendid massive golden goblet (No. 346, p. 237) is also defaced,
having been pressed over to the left side of the spectator. It has two
horizontal handles, each formed by thick plates, which are joined by a small
cylinder. The lower plate of each of these handles is attached to the large
round foot by a long broad thick gold band, whose upper part is
embellished with a long opening, the upper end of which is pointed, the
lower being round. The lower part of the band is, for a like purpose, cut out
into three straps, which join again on the foot of the goblet, where the band
is fastened with two golden pins, with broad flat round heads, which can be
seen in the engraving. On each upper plate of the two handles is soldered a
beautiful little golden pigeon, apparently of cast-work, with the beak turned
towards the goblet, so that the two pigeons are looking at each other. This
goblet vividly reminds us of Nestor's cup.[315]

No. 345. Gold Cup with one handle. Sepulchre IV. Size 11:12, about.

No. 346. A Golden Goblet (δέπας ἀμφικύπελλον) with two doves on the handles. Sepulchre IV.
Size 3:8.

Homer's description of this Nestorian goblet fully
THE NESTORIAN
answers to the vase before us, except that the former is GOBLET.
much larger and has four handles, each with two
pigeons, instead of only two handles, each with but one pigeon, as our
engraving shows. The Nestorian goblet had two bottoms, and so has our
goblet, because it is impossible to understand by "two bottoms" anything
else than the bottom of the goblet and the bottom of its foot. The usual
explanation of the Nestorian goblet, as having an upper and a lower cup
(the form also attributed to all the Homeric δέπα ἀμφικύπελλα), is
altogether erroneous. A goblet of such a shape would have only one bottom
common to its two cups, and it could not, therefore, answer the
requirements of the Homeric description. Further, as such a double goblet
could at all events be filled only on one side at a time, there would be no
raison d'être for the two cups in opposite directions. Besides, whenever a
goblet with wine is presented by one person to another, Homer clearly
always means it to be understood that it is a δέπας ἀμφικύπελλον, namely,
that it is double-handled, and that, being presented with the one handle, it is

received by the other. I may mention, besides, that no goblet with an upper
and a lower cup has ever yet been found, while I found twenty differently-
shaped goblets with two handles at Troy, and a large number of double-
handled goblets at Mycenæ, all of which can be nothing else than δέπα
ἀμφικύπελλα.
Athenæus[316] lays great weight on the explanation of the Nestorian
goblet, as given by a certain Apelles, who maintained that it was nothing
else than a goblet with a foot, on two sides of which latter were soldered
two bands (of metal), which had a common base, and stood vertically not
far from each other. These bands reached to above the mouth of the goblet,
and were bent over and joined again in one sole piece, which was soldered
to the rim. Apelles maintained that by the four handles of the Nestorian
goblet, Homer could mean nothing else than these handles, which were
properly but two, but were called four, in consequence of being divided.
Thus, as there were only two pigeons at the juncture of each of those two
metal bands, the Nestorian goblet had in all only four pigeons. This
explanation of Apelles very nearly answers to the shape of the goblet before
us.
I would also suggest that the shape of the Nestorian goblet may be
imagined as perfectly similar to the goblet before us, because this really has
four handles; namely, the two horizontal ones, on which the pigeons lie, and
the two lower ones which are produced by the thick vertical straps, which
join them at the foot. If so, the only difference would be that Nestor's goblet
had one more pigeon on each of these double handles. But the question is
what that goblet was made of. Probably it was of wood and studded with
gold nails; because, if it had been of gold or some other metal, it is difficult
to suppose that it could have been studded with gold nails.
I further picked up in this tomb the beautiful large
golden goblet represented by No. 347. It has a broad SPLENDIDLY
ORNAMENTED
handle, which is attached to the rim and body by three CUP.
pins with large flat heads. The outside of the goblet is
divided by vertical lines into seven compartments, in each of which is
represented, in magnificent repoussé work, a flower which fills the whole
space between the rim and the bottom. I found in this tomb still another
large golden goblet with splendid repoussé ornamentation, but, by a mistake
quite inexplicable, it has not been photographed.

No. 347. A large Gold Cup. Sepulchre IV. Size 4:5.

No. 348. Large Silver Goblet, richly plated with gold. Sepulchre IV. Size 4:7.

No. 349. Hand-made Vase of Terra-cotta. Sepulchre IV. About half-size.

With the five bodies of the fourth tomb was further found the beautiful
heavy massive silver goblet (No. 348) which is exceedingly well preserved,
and has only one handle, in the form of the golden handle of the cup No.
346. This handle is fastened to the rim and body of the goblet by four gold
nails having large round flat heads. The piece of metal, which we see on the
body of the vessel, was accidentally soldered to it by the fire of the funeral
pile, and does not belong to it. The whole body was plated with copper, and
this plating was again plated with gold, and the gold was covered with a
splendid ornamentation of intaglio work, which seems to be very well
preserved, but only very little of it can be seen, on account of the dirt with
which the goblet is covered. Mr. A. Postolaccas reminds me that the spiral
band, of which a small part is visible in the engraving, is also found on the
medals of Tarentum, and represents there the waves of the sea.

Nos. 350, 351. Objects of Egyptian Porcelain, of unknown use. Sepulchre IV. Size 2:5.

There were further found in the same tomb three
hand-made terra-cotta vases with two handles, one of OBJECTS OF
EGYPTIAN
which is represented (No. 349); this form is very PORCELAIN.
common in Troy, but it is very often set on three small
feet.[317]

No. 352. Model of a sort of scarf tied in a noose. Egyptian porcelain. Sepulchre IV. Size 2:3,
about.

I also found the two objects (Nos. 350 and 351) which Mr. Newton
holds to be of Egyptian porcelain; their use is altogether unknown to me.
The smaller piece has an ornamentation of white and black parallel lines;
the other has, on a dead green ground, parallel bands of four white lines,
which cross each other so as to form a number of small squares. The lower
part of No. 351 has an impressed ornamentation, representing tassels
painted black, in each of which we see a noose perfectly similar in form to
the object represented in No. 352, which is also of Egyptian porcelain. The
perforations show this object to have been an ornament nailed on something

else. These scarfs also have, on a light-green dead ground, an
ornamentation, now nearly obliterated, of parallel bands of two white lines,
which cross each other at right angles and form small squares. At the lower
end of the front piece of both are represented tassels in very low relief,
which are painted black. Both these objects can be nothing else than
ornaments, but the question is how they have been used as such.[318]

No. 353. A Silver Flagon (οἰνοχόη). Sepulchre IV. Nearly half-size.

The silver flagon, or œnochoë (No. 353), has a long
SILVER WINE-
vertical handle and a beautiful form, but no FLAGON.
ornamentation, at least none that is visible; but there
may be some in repoussé below the dirt with which the vessel is covered.
There were further found three shoulder-belts (τελαμῶνες) of gold, of
which I represent one. Of the other two, the one is a broad but thin band,
without any ornamentation, and it appears to have been expressly made for
the funeral, for it is not solid enough to have been used by living men; its
length is 4½ ft., its breadth is 2 in. to 2⅓ in.

The golden shoulder-belt here shown (No. 354) is much thicker and
more solid; it is 4 ft. 1½ in. long and 1⅞ in. broad, and has on either side a
small border produced by the turning down of the gold plate, and is
ornamented with an uninterrupted row of rosettes. At one extremity are two
apertures in the form of keyholes, which served to fasten the clasp which
was attached to the other extremity, as is shown by two small cuts and a
small hole. The third golden shoulder-belt presents exactly the same model
and ornamentation, as well as the same keyhole-like apertures at one end,
and cuts where the clasps were fastened at the other extremity; only this one
has suffered much from the fire, and therefore the ornamentation is less
distinct. There were further found in the same tomb fourteen objects of very
pure rock crystal, but their use is unknown; also a thin disc of alabaster,
which must have been the bottom of a vase.

No. 354. Gold Model of a shoulder belt (τελαμών). Sepulchre IV. Size 3:16, about.

At the left side of the head of the middle body of the
three which lay with the heads turned to the east, I found AMBER BEADS.
a heap of more than 400 large and small beads of amber,
of which I represent eight (No. 355). About the same number of similar
amber beads were found with one of the bodies the head of which lay to the
north. All these amber beads had, no doubt, been strung on thread in the

form of necklaces, and their presence in the tombs among such large
treasures of golden ornaments seems to prove that amber was very precious
and was considered as a magnificent ornament in the time of the early
Mycenean kings.

No. 355. Amber Necklace-beads. Sepulchre IV. Actual size.

Among the finest objects found in this tomb were a vase and three
handles of alabaster, which are put together in the engraving (No. 356).
Each of the handles has two or three perforations by which they were
attached to the vase, on which similar perforations are found. But, judging
by the smallness of the perforations, which are only large enough for slight
pins, the fragility of the elaborate handles, and the heaviness of the vase
itself, we become convinced that it can never have been used for anything
else than an ornament, and that it can never even have been lifted up by the
handles.