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
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
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
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 d?pa? ?????pe???? 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
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
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 Euboea—The Cyclopean enclosure on its summit; was probably a very ancient sanctuary—Other Cyclopean remains near MycenÆ—State of the excavations 139 NOTE 149
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
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 d?pa? ??????e????, 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 (te?a??e?)—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, "?a?a ?d?s?a?." 211 NOTE ON THE ROYAL PALACE 288
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
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
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 (f????)—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 PhoenicÉ, the others near the ancient HerÆum—The first represents Phoenician 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.
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