Chapter IV

CHAPTER IV.

EXCAVATIONS IN THE CITADEL OF MYCENÆ—continued.

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