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

Further upon the road from Argos to MycenÆ I passed another smaller river-bed, which seems to be the Cephisus mentioned by Pausanias.[97] In speaking of the rivers of the plain of Argos, I must further mention the two streams Eleutherion and Asterion, between which was situated the celebrated HerÆum on the lower slope of Mount Euboea. 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 Euboea 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 Euboea;[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 "?pp??t??."

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 p???d?????, "very thirsty," which Homer gives to the plain of Argos, agrees perfectly with its present condition, and also with the myth told by Pausanias:[100] "Poseidon and Hera disputed about the possession of the land (the plain of Argos), and Phoroneus, son of the river Inachus, Cephisus, Asterion, and Inachus himself, had to decide; they adjudged the plain to Hera, whereupon Poseidon made the waters disappear. Hence neither Inachus nor any other of the aforesaid rivers have any water, except when Jove sends rain (?e?? ?e?); in summer all the rivers are dry except the (springs of) Lerna." The epithet p???d?????, 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 ??st? ?????????,[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 Euboea, whence it commanded the upper part of the great plain and the important narrow pass, by which the roads lead to Phlius, CleonÆ, and Corinth. The Acropolis occupied a strong rocky height, which projects from the foot of the mountain behind it in the form of an irregular triangle sloping to the west.[106] This cliff overhangs a deep gorge, which protects the whole south flank of the citadel. Through the abyss below winds the bed of a torrent usually almost dry, because it has no other water than that of the copious fountain Perseia, which is about half a mile to the north-east of the fortress. This gorge extends first from east to west, and afterwards in a south-westerly direction. The cliff also falls off precipitously on the north side into a glen, which stretches in a straight line from east to west. Between these two gorges extended the lower city. The cliff of the citadel is also more or less steep on the east and west side, where it forms six natural or artificial terraces.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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 d?a ?e??p?d?? or 'residence of the Pelopids,' also ??????a te???, 'heavenly walls.' Euripides[117] also calls it, "stone Cyclopean heavenly walls," and further[118] "Cyclopean heavenly walls," and this must refer to the hugeness of the walls and towers. Strabo[119] justly observes that, on account of the close vicinity of Argos and MycenÆ, the tragic poets have made a confusion regarding their names, continually substituting the one for the other. But this is to be excused, because in antiquity travelling was both difficult and very unsafe. Besides, people were not archÆologists, and though every one took the very deepest interest in the ancient history of Greece, no one cared to submit to the trouble and hardship, or to incur the danger, of visiting even the places which had been the scene of his country's most glorious actions. This could not possibly be better proved than by the fact that no ancient author mentions the reconstruction of MycenÆ after its capture and destruction in 468 B.C.

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

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]

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]

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:

and again—

and in another passage[131]

Over the space of about a square mile to the west-south-west and south of this Acropolis, and exactly between the aforesaid deep ravines, extended the Lower City,[132] the site of which is distinctly marked by the remnants of numerous Cyclopean substructions of houses, by a Cyclopean bridge, by five Treasuries, and finally by the fragments of beautifully painted archaic pottery with which the ground is strewn. The site of the lower town is traversed in its whole length by a ridge, which to the right falls off gradually into the plain, and to the left more steeply into the deep ravine, which issues from between the south end of the citadel-cliff and the second peak of Mount Euboea. 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 great resemblance to ovens, are now called f?????? 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dodwell,[138] in speaking of this treasury and the smaller ones, says:—"There is moreover complete evidence that these structures were called ??sa????, 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 ?p??a?a ????d??ata, 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 ?????ta? 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 p??????s?? ??????, 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 ?????a? 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 p??????s??, 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 published in the Tripolis newspaper, "?e?t??s??," 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.

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

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