Travels and Discoveries in the Levant/Volume 1/Letter II

by Charles Thomas Newton

II.

Athens, March 15, 1852.

The principal monuments of Athens have been so frequently delineated and described, that a traveller, on first arriving, recognizes on every side long-familiar forms, and his first impressions lose perhaps something of their vividness in proportion to this previous familiarity. But nothing that I had ever read or seen at all prepared me for the beauty of the Athenian landscape; nor can any one, without visiting Athens, understand how exquisitely the ancient edifices are designed in relation to this landscape, and how much the subtle charm of their proportions is enhanced by this combination.

The key-note of this harmony is the rock of the Acropolis.

When this great natural landmark became the impregnable citadel and hallowed sanctuary of the Athenian people, their genius converted it at the same time into the noblest base which has ever been employed in architecture. When our eye glances from the precipitous weather-stained sides of this rocky base to the marble columns standing in relief against the sky above, there is a sudden transition from the picturesque confusion of nature to the symmetry of art, from irregular to geometrical forms, from rugged surfaces to surfaces wrought to a polish like that of ivory, and jointed with the precision of the finest inlaid-work.

The suddenness of this transition does not shock, but, on the contrary, delights the eye; there is harmony in the apparent discord. But if we take away one of the two elements out of which this harmony is composed, the charm is dissolved.

If, for instance, such an edifice as the Parthenon were planted on a dead level, and mewed up in the hot bricky streets of a crowded city, much of the original effect of the design would be destroyed. So again, if the Acropolis were dismantled of all with which art has invested it, and despoiled of its crown of temples, it would remain a naked barren rock, unredeemed by human sympathies, just as it must have appeared to the first settlers who pitched their tents in the plain of Attica.

The attempt in modern Europe to transplant architecture from its natural soil, and to imitate it mechanically by line and rule, must necessarily fail, inasmuch as we cannot transplant with the architecture the climate and scenery which first inspired the genius of Greek architects, nor the peculiar habits of thought which blended the fortress and the sanctuary into one, and made the same spot the centre and rallying-point of religions and patriotic feelings.

One of the objects which interested me most on the Acropolis was an archaic figure of Pallas Athene, in Parian marble, placed near the lodge of the custode. The goddess is seated in a rude chair; her costume is a tunic reaching to the feet, over which a large asgis falls like a tippet to the waist. In the centre of this ægis is a smooth boss, on which, doubtless, has been painted a Gorgon's head; all round the edge of the ægis are holes, in which metallic ornaments, probably serpents, have been inserted; the studs by which the sleeves have been looped up on the arms have also been of metal, the holes for the insertion being left. The head and both arms from the elbows are wanting. The posture is formal and angular; the knees are close together, but the left foot a little advanced: the drapery is wrought in parallel channels. This statue is about 4 ft. 6 in. high. It is said to have been found at the grotto called Aglaurium, situated at the foot of the Acropolis, immediately below the temple of Athene Polias. It has been thought, therefore, that in this figure we have a reproduction of the original wooden idol, ξόανον of Athene Polias, which was worshipped in her temple on the Acropolis, and which the sacrilegious hand of Xerxes destroyed, with the other tutelary deities of Athens.⁵

The smaller fragments of sculpture and architecture found in the course of the excavations on the Acropolis have been carefully collected by M. Pittakys, and temporarily built up with mortar into low walls, of which they form the facing. This primitive way of arrangement has the great advantage of preventing the abstraction of portable objects, which is unfortunately an inveterate habit among travellers.

In the cisterns on the Acropolis are a number of fragments of the statues of the Parthenon, for a knowledge of the existence of which I was indebted to Comte De Laborde's beautiful work on the Parthenon.⁶

Among these remains are portions of the horses from the chariot of Athene in the western pediment, which was still intact when Morosini took Athens in 1687. After the siege he attempted to lower this matchless group, but unfortunately the tackle he employed gave way, and the sculptures were broken to pieces.

There are also a number of arms and legs from the pedimental figures, and many fragments of the frieze.

Is is much to be regretted that the Greek Government does not provide a suitable place of shelter for the many precious sculptures which are lying about the Acropolis, exposed, not only to the weather, but to what is worse, the brutal violence of travellers, who would mutilate a fine work of art, merely for the sake of possessing an unmeaning relic. I saw with much concern the injury which had been inflicted on one of the finest slabs of the frieze,—one representing seated figures of deities, which has been discovered since Lord Elgin's visit, and of which a cast exists in the British Museum. The hand of one of the seated figures in this relief overhung the chair in a most easy and natural position; it was the more precious, because we have very few examples of hands from the finest period of Greek art. One day a foreign visitor, watching an opportunity when the custode's back was turned, broke off this hand. I regret that I cannot record the name of this miscreant; but I heard that he was a midshipman in the Austrian service, and that his Government punished this exploit with a heavy fine.

The inside of the Temple of Theseus has been converted into a temporary Museum, in which have been deposited a number of most interesting sculptures from various sites, so huddled together that none of them can be properly seen.

Here may be seen the celebrated figure in relief, of a warrior, found near Brauron, with the name of the sculptor, Aristokles, inscribed on the base. This name occurs on another base of a statue found at Athens, and it is supposed that the sculptor to whom it refers is one mentioned by Pausanias, as the father of Kleœtas. It has been thought, from the evidence of these two inscriptions, that his date might be between Olymp. 75 and 85, B.C. 480—440.

The name of the artist of this relief being known, and the date thus approximately fixed, the relief is consequently of the highest interest, as a specimen of archaic art, which may be assigned with probability to the Athenian school.⁷

In this figure, as in the pictures on archaic vases, the artist has attempted too literal a rendering of nature, and has thus crowded his work with details, rather to the detriment of the general effect. This over-minuteness is characteristic of Assyrian, as contrasted with Egyptian art. The details of the armour are very carefully given. The cuirass has been painted. On the shoulder-strap is a star; on the breast a lion's face, on a red ground; below this is a mæander band across the body, which is traversed obliquely by a crimson band, apparently a lace or stirng, knotted on the breast, and terminating at the side in an ornament like a thunderbolt. Below these ornaments and about the waist of the figure is another band, ornamented with zigzags. The ground on which the figure is relieved is red. The left hand holds a spear. On the head appears to be a skull-cap, only covering the crown : the hair falls in parallel rows of ringlets. The beard is channelled in zigzags.

It is interesting to compare this figure with another work of the archaic period in the Theseium, executed in a different school, and probably at an earlier epoch. This is a naked male figure broken off" at the knees. The face has the rigid smile and peculiar type of countenance which characterize the head of Pallas on the early coins of Athens; the corners of the eyes being turned up towards the ears. The hair, arranged in regular curls on the forehead, falls down the back in long tresses; the arms hang down at the sides in the Egyptian manner. The shoulders are broad, the waist pinched in, as if by stays; the line of the upper arm more varied and flowing than is at first sight reconcilable with the general archaic character of the face.

Thus the whole statue seems to exhibit a struggle between two schools—the Canonical, which worked according to prescribed types, and the Natural, which trusted more to individual observation than to rules. This statue probably represents an Apollo. It much resembles in style one transported from Athens to Vienna by M. Prokesch von Osten.⁸

In the Theseium I also saw a colossal female head of which a cast may be seen in the 1st Elgin Room of the British Museum (No. 106*). This is in a very grand style, and one of the few extant colossal heads which can be referred with probability to the school of Phidias. It has been fitted on in the clumsiest manner to a torso which does not belong to it, and which mars its beauty by ill-matched proportions. It is uncertain where this head was found. I have heard it stated that it was brought from Ægina, when the Museum there was broken up.

In the Theseium is a very numerous and interesting collection of sepulchral stelæ and reliefs, which have been carefully described by Professor Gerhard, in a valuable report on the remains of art at Athens.⁹

These sepidchral monuments consist of three classes: stelæ, marble vases, and reliefs on slabs. Many specimens of the first kind may be seen in the Elgin collection in the British Museum. The usual form of a stelé is a narrow flat slab of marble, with a height varying from one to twelve feet, and in shape somewhat resembling a modern Turkish tombstone, of which it probably suggested the form. The top generally terminates either in a floral ornament sculptured in relief, often very rich and flowing in its lines, or in a small pediment. Below this the name of the deceased person is inscribed, with or without a composition in relief. These designs are usually in very low relief set in a sunk square. In the stelæ which only bear an inscription, it is probable that a similar design was painted on the plain surface. The composition in these reliefs is usually very simple; not more than two or three figures are introduced, and all in the same plane. In this simplicity of treatment, these compositions remind us at once of the vase-pictures of the best period. In both cases, the limitation of space restricted the artist to few figures and to a single plane.

The scenes in these sepulchral reliefs seem to be for the most part domestic; and the mystic and symbolical import which some archaeologists have discovered in them seems for the most part far-fetched. It is probable that the figures represent the family of the person whom the stele commemorates; but no attempt seems to have been made to reproduce their individual likeness, as in the Roman sarcophagi. The most frequent scenes represent a seated female figure, surrounded by others, who are usually standing up, and who are evidently the surviving members of her family. In many of these compositions, one of these bystanders presents to the deceased a small casket containing funeral offerings. The ages and rank of the different members of the family are discriminated by inequality of height. In some cases the seated female figure is surrounded by others, who attend on her toilette. In the majority of these scenes, the dramatis personæ are female. The male figures are frequently youthful athletes, distinguished by the strigil, the small vase (lekythos) containing oil, and other attributes of the palæstra.

Old men are rarely represented. The evidence afforded by these designs leads to the conclusion that, while all the subjects have a funereal import, some represent the worship paid by the living to the dead, while in others the scene commemorates some incident in the life of the deceased, such as the memory would love to dwell on.

Hence in some of these designs the figures and symbols recall to us the associations of active life or of festive and joyous occasions, the idea of death being kept out of sight. In the same manner we find on the sarcophagi of the Roman period scenes representing the marriage of the deceased pair, or the military exploits of the husband.

Sometimes the sepulchral monument, instead of being fashioned as a stelé, takes the form of a lekythos, which vases were, as is well known, constantly deposited in and about the tombs at Athens. On the marble lekythi, the subject is usually a group or figure in very low relief, treated in the same simple manner as has been already noticed in the sculptures of the stelé.

Sometimes the vase itself, instead of being sculptured in the round, is itself represented in relief on the surface of a stelé. The handles of the vases are sometimes rich in ornament, as if the design had been copied from a work in bronze.

Among these vases I noticed one, remarkable for its great size, the beauty of the design, and the fact that it had been painted.

The scene represented on it is in very low relief. On one side is a youthful figure on horseback, very similar in type and attitude to many on the frieze of the Parthenon.

Behind him are two females, one seated, the other leaning in an affectionate attitude on her companion's shoulder, pointing with her right hand to a group of two youthful warriors in front. This pair are joining hands, as if taking leave of each other.

This design is very slightly and sketchily treated, but exceedingly graceful as a composition. The figures are loosely and freely drawn: the style, if we make due allowance for the essential difference between painting and sculpture, presents many analogies with that of the finest Athenian vase-pictures. The female figures are evidently meant to be in a more distant plane than the rest. The relief, therefore, of these figures sinks below the plane, instead of rising out of it, approximating to intaglio rilecato. To atone for the want of projection of the outline of the body, a channel is made all round them to strengthen their effect. The left hand of the seated female figure rests on the rail of a seat which is very slightly indicated. In front of this rail projects part of the hind-quarter of a horse, the tail dying away into the ground of the relief rather abruptly. It was probably finished with colour, and the rail must have been also coloured, as it is at present hardly distinguishable. So with the shield of the warrior on the left. This is represented in a side-view, the outline not being completed on the side most distant from the eye. The third class of sepulchral reliefs in the Theseium are small slabs, the subject of which is generally the well-known funeral feast, or leave-taking. Of these there are but few in the Theseium, and they seem of a later period than the rest. One of these reliefs probably commemorates some Athenian matron who had died in childbirth. The principal figure is seated in a chair, and holds a pyxis on her knees; her attitude is that of a person fainting from exhaustion. Before her stands a veiled female figure, perhaps the goddess Eileithya, who advances her right hand, as if in token of sympathy. Between these two, and in the back-ground, is a third female figure, holding in her arms a new-born babe, wrapped up in linen, on which the seated figure places her hand.

These sepulchral reliefs have a peculiar interest for us, because in the scenes which they represent, and in the sorrow which they so tenderly commemorate, we have a genuine expression of the feelings of the individual, which in Athenian art and literature are seldom permitted to have free utterance. Though their appreciation of domestic life was probably inferior to our own, it is not to be supposed that the Athenians were incapable of the affections and emotions natural to the human heart, because in the outward expression of these feelings they appear to us so reserved. It must be remembered that Athenian art and literature were essentially forensic, addressed to the whole body of male citizens, gathered together in the temple, the theatre, the Agora, the tribunals, or the Palæstra; while our art and literature, though addressed, in the first instance, to the public at large, finds its way into the homes and hearts of men in a way imknown in ancient life, and so appeals rather to the feelings of the individual as the member of a household, than to those which belong to him as a citizen.

It is in the tombs of the ancients, where so many objects consecrated by domestic affection are still stored, that we may best acquaint ourselves with traits of their private life.

With reference to the age when these sepulchral bas-reliefs were produced, I am inclined to think that the finest of them belong to the period when Athens was still an independent state, though M. Gerhard thinks that the practice of placing sculptured stelæ on graves did not become general till the time of the Roman empire.

In the library of the University I examined an interesting collection of silver coins of Alexander the Great, which had been recently discovered near Patras.¹⁰ The greater part of these coins seem to have been struck at Sicyon: they were all tetradrachms, and quite fresh, as if just issued from the mint: with them were found two tetradrachms of Philip Arrhidæus, one of Seleucus, and twelve Athenian tetradrachms; two tetradrachms of Ætolia; two silver tetradrachms of Sicyon; and also, it is said, some gold coins of Alexander the Great; but these last were not secured by the Government.

The Athenian tetradrachms in this hoard were of that well-known class which may be called Pseudo-Archaic, having been evidently imitated from the original thick coins of Athens, so celebrated in ancient commerce for the purity of their standard. This original currency was probably as much esteemed in the ancient Mediterranean as the Spanish dollar has been in more recent times, and the imitation of the archaic type and fabric may have arisen from an unwillingness to disturb the old commercial associations connected with these coins.

The twelve Athenian tetradrachms found in this hoard were much worn; on the other hand, the coins of Alexander were fresh as when they left the die. It is evident, therefore, that the Athenian money had been some time in circulation. Again, from the finding of coins of Seleucus Nicator, of Philip Arrhidæus, and of Ætolia, in the same company, it may be inferred that the time of the deposit of this treasure was some time in the third century B.C., and that the Pseudo-Archaic Athenian tetradrachms were circulating down to this late period. They were succeeded, as is well known, by a broad tetradrachm, slightly dished, which is evidently an imitation of the coinage of Alexander and his successors. This hoard was discovered by a peasant at Patras, in a vase. The coins are, I regret to say, still kept in bags, like the tribute of a Turkish Pasha.

In the hands of a jeweller at Athens I saw a very fine silver decadrachm of Athens. This is a coin of extreme rarity. I never saw but two; that in the British Museum, from Mr. Burgon's collection, and one belonging to the Due de Luynes. The one I examined at Athens had the appearance of being perfectly genuine.

It is to be regretted that the Greek Government does not build a museum capable of containing not only sculptures, but those more portable antiquities, such as vases, which are now dispersed, by being sold to strangers, all note of their discovery being carefully suppressed in the course of this contraband trade.

It is equally to be regretted that excavations are not carried on at Athens more vigorously. The Government seems to want either the power or the will to direct such researches; while, at the same time, it is unwilling that they should be undertaken by private enterprise. Still there exists at Athens, at present, as much interest in archseological studies as could perhaps be expected, considering that Greek civilization itself is of so recent a date; and this interest has been very much sustained by the residence of so accomplished a scholar as our present Minister at Athens, Sir T. Wyse.

The Archæological Society here, of which Messrs. Finlay and Hill, among the English, and MM. Rhangabé and Pittakys, among the Greeks, are members, has also done much useful work, by the publication of new discoveries in the Ephemeris Archceologike, a monthly periodical, written in modern Greek.

In the course of my stay, hearing that at Mavrodhihssi, near Kalamo, there were some Greek inscriptions which would repay examination, I visited this place, accompanied by Colnaghi. It is situated on the sea-coast very near Oropo, the ancient Oropos, a town on the Bœotian frontier, which was sometimes held by the Athenians, and sometimes by the Bœotians. Mavrodhilissi itself is a deep ravine near the sea-shore, situated between the villages of Markopulo, on the N.W., and Kalamo on the S. With the assistance of a guide from the neighbouring village of Kalamo, we had no difficulty in discovering the spot.

It is a picturesque and secluded glen, through which a brook flows to the sea. On the left bank of this stream I found ancient foundations, evidently those of a temenos or sacred precinct; within this enclosure were a number of large cubical blocks of marble, strewn about as if recently thrown down from some wall or edifice. On inquiry, I found that these had been till lately built up and united by leaden clamps, but that the masonry had been broken up to build a new church at Kalamo.

On examining the blocks, I found a number of interesting inscriptions containing decrees of proxenia granted by the city of Oropos to various persons. The magistrates whose names were set forth in the preambles to these decrees were the Archon of the Bœotian Congress of Confederate cities, the Priest of Amphiaraos, and the Archon of Oropos. I also found a list of Victors in the Amphiaraia, an Agonistic festival, which, as we are informed by ancient writers, was celebrated at Oropos. This inscription tells us that prizes were given in this festival for Epic, Dramatic, Lyrical, and Musical contests, also for a variety of athletic exercises and chariot-races. It should be observed that the introduction of the regular drama into festivals of this kind was an innovation which probably took place in the time of Alexander the Great, and such embellishments were thought by the ancient critics to have impaired the simplicity of the public festivals.

The date of the inscriptions probably ranged from Olymp. IIG to Olymp. 145.

There can be no doubt, from the evidence of the inscriptions, that the temenos at Mavrodhilissi was that of Amphiaraos, which is noticed by Pausanias. The cubes on which the inscriptions were placed must have originally formed part of the walls of this cella. It may be seen by the well-known example of the Parthenon that the Greeks were in the habit of covering the inner walls of their temples with inscriptions.

The Amphiaraïon, or Temple of Amphiaraos, of which I thus discovered the site, was of considerable celebrity in antiquity as an oracle which sick persons consulted for the treatment of their maladies. Here, as elsewhere in the temples of deities to whom the gift of healing was attributed, the mode of consultation was by the process called ἐγκοίμησις or incubation. The consultant, after undergoing lustration in honour of Amphiaraos and the other deities associated with him, sacrificed a ram, and, lying down on its skin, awaited the revelations made to liim in the dreams.

The cure, however, of the patient did not wholly depend on these miraculous communications, for there were medical baths in the temenos, which was agreeably situated in the midst of fountains and brooks.

In the British Museum is an inscription from the Amphiaraïon which was brought from Kalamo some years ago. It contains a decree ordering that some of the silver vessels belonging to the Amphiaraïon be repaired, and other vessels made by melting down old votive offerings, consisting of plate and coined money. A curious inventory of the objects melted down is annexed to the decree.

Among those metallic offerings are enumerated hands, breasts, and other parts of the human body, dedicated by those who had been cured of diseases by means of the oracle; just such offerings as may be seen executed in marble in the Sculpture-gallery of the British Museum.

The inventory also mentions a number of tetradrachms and other coins which appear to have been fastened to the anathemata.

Pausanias mentions that near the temple was a spring called the Fountain of Amphiaraos, into which persons relieved from disease by consulting the oracle threw gold and silver coins by way of a thank-offering or fee to Amphiaraos.

These pieces of money were doubtless collected by the priests and placed in the treasury of the temple as anathemata.

Following the course of the brook, I found near the temenos a fountain, which is probably the one mentioned by Pausanias. Close to this fountain is a statue in white marble lying across the bed of the stream. It represents a male figure draped to the feet in a tunic, over which is a mantle, which he is throwing over the left shoulder, with an action very usual in representations of Muses; on the feet are sandals. The statue is fairly executed, and its surface is well preserved; but the head and both arms are gone. Under the base is a square socket, in which an iron clamp has been inserted to fasten the statue to its pedestal. This may be the statue of Amphiaraos himself which Pausanias saw.

The name of this hero is one very celebrated in the mythic history of Bœotia. He was distinguished both as a warrior and a soothsayer, and was one of the seven chiefs who fought against Thebes. On the defeat of this expedition, he fled, pursued by Periklymenos, and before his enemy could overtake him, the earth opened and swallowed him up, together with his chariot; after which he was worshipped with divine honours.

Traditions differed as to the precise spot where he disappeared in the earth, and several places in Bœotia and Attica claimed this distinction. But of all these sites none was so celebrated as the Amphiaraïon near Oropos.

The picturesque ravine in which the temenos at Mavrodhilissi is situated, narrows as it approaches the sea, presenting the appearance of a chasm in the earth; and these strongly-marked physical features probably influenced the ancients in their choice of this spot for the site of the Temple of Am- phiaraos, suggesting the belief that it was here that he disappeared,

Αὐτοῖσιν ὅπλοις καὶ τετραορίστῳ δίφρῳ

The secluded character of this glen, and the beauty of the scenery, would present many attractions to the invalid; and, doubtless, like the temples of Æsculapius and other healing divinities, this temenos must have served in antiquity as a kind of hospital and watering-place.

The picturesque character of the spot and the abundance of fresh water probably led the ancients to associate with the worship of Amphiaraos in this site that of Pan and the Nymphs. It may be presumed that this temenos was once very rich in inscriptions, for many fragments have been used in the construction of houses at Kalamo and Mavrodhilissi.

The peasants spoke of the speedy destruction of those still remaining as a probable event, and, there- fore, on my return to Athens, I made a report on the subject to Sir T. Wyse, and also to M. Rhangabé, in the hope that through their representations the Greek Government might be induced to take steps for the preservation of these interesting monuments.

As it rained during most of the time of our visit to Mavrodhilissi, I had great difficulty in copying the inscriptions, and found it impossible to explore the site properly. Excavation here would probably lead to interesting discoveries.

In the 3rd century before the Christian era, the geographer Dicæarchus in his account of Greece describes the Amphiaraïon as situated at a distance of a day's journey for an active walker from Athens. The fatigue of the journey, he says, was agreeably relieved by the number of inns and halting-places by the wayside.¹¹

In the second half of the 19th century the traveller on his way from Athens to Mavrodhilissi passes over a desolate and half-cultivated country, not always free from robbers, and at the end of his journey he finds in the sinister and unwlling hospitality of the Albanian peasant of Kalamo a sorry substitute for the inns of Dictearchus.

We had just time, before leaving Athens, to pay a hurried visit to Mycenæ, where I had the satisfaction of gazing on those famous lions which still guard the gateway of the city of the Atridæ, and which Pausanias saw over this gateway seventeen centuries ago. All that he tells us about them is the tradition, current in his time, that they, together with the walls of Mycenæ, were the work of the same Cyclopes who made the walls of Tiryns for Prœtus. Such a legend has, of course, no historical value, except as evidence that the ancients believed this gateway to be a work of the heroic ages, and one of the most ancient monuments in Greece, a belief in accordance not only with all that we know of the history of Mycenæ, but also with the character of the lions themselves as works of art. The heads of these animals, which in the time of Pausanias were probably still entire, are now wanting, so that it is difficult to form an accurate judgment as to the style of the sculpture. Enough, however, of the original surface remains to show that these two lions are the work of a school already awakened to the observation of anatomical structure.

In the modelling of the shoulders and fore legs more knowledge and skill is shown than at first sight appears; the general proportions are well calculated to produce the effect of massive grandeur required for the decoration of such a gateway. It has indeed been objected that the hind legs of the lions are inordinately thick; but the artist, probably, fell into this exaggeration, not so much through ignorance of the natural proportions, as from the endeavour to produce an impression of colossal size in harmony with the Titanic scale of the masonry in which the lions are set as in a frame. And in this endeavour I think that he has succeeded; for in looking at these lions, the disproportionate thickness of the hind legs does not at all disturb the eye or mar the grand impression of the whole composition.

Dodwell thought that they had an Egyptian character, but to me they appeared more like the work of an Asiatic school; and if we ascribe this gateway to the Pelopid dynasty, the traditional descent of this dynasty from Tantalus may be taken quantum raleat, as ground for the conjecture that the art of Mycenæ may have been derived from Lydia.

The two lions stand on their hind legs, resting their fore paws on plinths in front of them. This position is peculiar, and suggests at once the idea that they are accessories, or, to speak heraldically, supporters in reference to the object between them, which appears to be a kind of term diminishing towards its base. Such an arrangement of a pair of animals reminds us of several of the primitive types of Asiatic Deities, and especially of the figure called by Pausanias, the Persian Artemis.

On the other hand, it is certain that the archaic type under which the Greeks represented their deities was that of a term or column, with or without a head. It is therefore probable that the object between the two lions is such a sacred symbol. It has been justly remarked, that the lions' heads, now broken away, must have looked outward, not at each other, as there would not otherwise be room for them within the angular recess in which they stand. Such an attitude at once suggests the idea that they are placed over the gate as sentinels to keep watch and ward; and it is through this motive that the ancients constantly placed hons at the entrance to tombs.

Hence it seems probable that the term placed between these two lions is the symbol of some tutelary deity, the guardian either of the city gate or of the city itself. Mure and several of the German archaeologists suppose this term to represent Apollo Agyieus, "the guardian of ways." Göttling suggests that it may be Hermes Pyledokos, or "the door-keeper."¹²

In illustration of this question it may be observed that over a gateway of the Carian city Mylassa may still be seen, sculptured on the keystone, the battle-axe, labrys, which was the special symbol of Jupiter Labrandensis, the tutelary deity of the Carian race, and which was placed in the hand of his statue in the temple at Labranda.

With regard to the vexed question whether the singular conical chamber at Mycenæ is to be considered as a treasury or a tomb, I think that the old traditional name "Treasury of Atreus," given to it by Pausanias, should be retained, if only for convenience, though there is much to be said in favour of the theory that it is a tomb. Perhaps, as Dodwell suggests, this building may have been at once a tomb and a treasury. From the few fragments of the sculptured decorations of the doorway, which have been found on the spot, and which are now in the British Museum, it may be inferred that it was inlaid with marbles of several colours, and that the ornaments were like those on the earliest Greek fictile vases. The style of decoration seems more like that of the doorways of the tombs at Doganlu, in Phrygia, than anything we know of in Greek architecture; and this is an additional ground for connecting the early art of Mycenæ with Asia Minor.¹³