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

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

In the foreground, below the feet of the workmen who stand upon it, can be seen the great double parallel circular row of slanting slabs, inclined inwards, which were covered with cross slabs, and served as benches of the Agora and as its enclosure. In the same line with this double circular row of slabs are the twelve small tomb-like water-reservoirs which we see in the direction of the Lions' Gate, and between which is the entrance to the Agora, 7 feet broad. Thence the circle of slabs slopes to the left of the spectator, from the rock to the Cyclopean wall (12 feet high), which has been built with no other intention than to sustain it, and to raise it almost to the level of its continuation on the rock; but as will be seen, nearly all the slabs in this part have tumbled down, and only a few have remained in situ. The wall which supports the parallel double row can be well seen, slanting down at an angle of 15° from the perpendicular, to the left of the spectator. The four sculptured stêlæ are hidden behind the large standing slab just in front; of the unsculptured tombstones, two can be seen to the right, on the side of the entrance to the Agora, and two more on the side of the two horses. Therefore the ancient Agora of Mycenæ comprises the whole space which we see enclosed by the great circle of slabs.

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.

CHAPTER VII.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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:—

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 height of 16½ ft. above its mouth. This sepulchre, which in the Plan B I call the Third Tomb, is 16 ft. 8 in. long, and 10 ft. 2 in. broad, and it is cut into the rock, on the west side 2 ft. 4 in., on the south side 3 ft. 4 in., on the east side 7 ft., and on the north 5 ft. deep.[277] These different depths find their explanations in the slope and in the unevenness of the rock, because the bottom of the tomb is of course perfectly horizontal. At about 9 ft. above the mouth of this tomb I discovered close to it, on the slope of the rock, at a depth of 21 ft. below the former surface, a number of skeletons of men, which had evidently not been on the funeral pyre, but were so much destroyed by the moisture that none of the skulls could be taken out entire. The only objects I found with them were knives of obsidian and five very pretty hand-made vases, two of which are of plain light yellow, the three others of a light green colour, with a rude black ornamentation (see Nos. 236, 237).

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

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

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

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

The ornaments of which the greatest number was found were the large, thick, round plates of gold, with a very pretty decoration of repoussé work, of which I collected 701. I found them as well below as above and around the bodies, and there can consequently be no doubt that part of them were strewn all over the bottom of the sepulchre before the funeral pyres were dressed, and that the rest were laid on the bodies before the fire was kindled. In the following engravings[278] I give all the different types of these wonderful plates. It is difficult to say how the Mycenean goldsmiths executed the repoussé work. Professor Landerer thinks they laid the gold-plate on a block of lead, and hammered and pressed the ornamentation into it. No. 239 contains broad round waving bands much resembling those on the fourth sculptured tombstone.[279] The curious ornamentation in the centre, which so often recurs here, seems to me to be derived from the , the more so as the points which are thought to be the marks of the nails, are seldom missing; the artist has only added two more arms and curved all of them. No. 240 represents an octopus or cuttle-fish (sepia), whose eight arms have been converted into spirals, the head with the two eyes being distinctly visible. No. 241 represents a flower; No. 242 a splendid spiral ornamentation; No. 243, a beautiful butterfly; this type is exceedingly frequent. Whether, as in the later Greek art, the butterfly is here the symbol of immortality, as Mr. Chas. T. Newton reminds me, I do not dare to decide. No. 244 presents a curious ornamentation of spirals in the form of six serpents, round a central circle. In No. 245 we at once recognise again the ornamentation of the sepulchral stêlé (No. 142), as in No. 239, which this one very much resembles. No. 246 has a most curious pattern, which shows within a broad circular border six spirals, all very cleverly finished off, each of them surrounding seven concentric circles, and all united around an ornament likewise of seven concentric circles, which the artist seems to have vainly tried to unite at the upper part. Each of the spirals separately very much resembles the hair-springs of our watches, at least at the first glance, but on closer examination we find that all the interior lines form separate circles. Nos. 247-250 represent beautiful leaves, all of a kindred pattern. No. 251 represents a beautiful star-flower; No. 252 shows within a border of three circles a splendid ornamentation of spirals and concentric circles, such as we have not seen yet on the Mycenean antiquities.

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

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

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