The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1870-06-23
Greek and Phoenician Antiqui-
ties.
Remarkable Collection Exhumed by the Ameri-
can Consul at Cyprus.

Remarkable Collection Exhumed by the Ameri
} can Consul at Cyprus.
Athens Correspondent of the N Y. Advertiser.
! I have Just returned from Lareana, or
the Island of Cyprus, where have seen
me of the most interesting and extensive
collections of Greek and Phenician anti
quities yet discovered Gen. l.. p. di
Cesnola, who received honorable wounds
in our late civil war, was rewarded by
President LINCOLN with the U. S. Consul
late to Cyprus, on a salary of $1,000 a
year. Gen. O.. had been interested in an.
tiquities previous to his arrival at CIV.
I.prus, and was member of. the Archao-
/ logical Society at Turin.
One day towards the close OF 1868,
while taking drive with his family, he
stopped a mcmest at peasants house in
Dali, the ancient Idaliuiu. The peasant
told him he had secret to divulge.
While looking for some stones to be used
in the construction of his house, he had
exhumed two vases. AS natives are for
hidden to make excavations without a
! tirman, and as a firman would cost more
than he was able to pay, he buried his
vases and said nothing. As soon as Gen.
g. saw them, he recognized them as rare
and beautiful specimens of Phenician
work.
He then has ened to obtain frman
from QUO of the great Turkish govern
ments, and opened more than nine thou
sand tombs. The result was large col
lection of curiosities, consisting of marble
and limestone statues, statuettes and
vases antique Greek glassware, bronzes,
crusaders and oriental arms and orna-
ments Of gold, silver and engraved stones.
These were readily disposed of to the
British and Berlin Museums, Mr.. Lepsius,
of Berlin, taking over six hundred vases.
! Elated with his success the General
resolved to try once more. Cyprus is the
place from which Venus is said to have
emerged from the sea, and hundreds of
temples were there dedicated to her wor-
ship Especially at Golgos, there was a
very beautiful temple, mentioned by
Theocritus and Catullus; but Engel, in
his work on Cyprus, says that the posi-
ton of Golgos is not known.
| Tt has often been remarked that the
modern town of Atieno is built of the
remains of some ancient temple. A few
years since, Count de Vogue was at CIV.
prus, and eXcavated near Atieno, hoping
to find the temple, but went away with
out accomplishing his object General
Cesnola resolved to make another trial.
On the side of the hill he first found
tombs. After digging six or seven days,
the works of art which had been Phmni-
clan suddenly became Greek and Roman,
and were found three feet below the sur
face. On digging down six and seven
4 feet, he again found the remains of Phe-
nician art The occupants of the island
had all chosen the same site for their
cemetery, only that the Greeks and Ro-
mans, coming last, had buried their dead
above the remains of the Phenicians. On
approaching the foot of the hill, the
4 spades or the workmen struck the foun.
dations of an old wall, and 10 inside
the wall, all around the valley, were two
rows Of statues of life size, statuettes and
colossal statues, bronzes, heads, bass
reliefs, Greek inscriptions, and numerous
votive offerings. Besides settling the
position of ancient Golgos, and thus
making contribution to history, General
| G.. has a museum of over nine thousand
specimens of ancient art, many of them
illustrating religious rites and domestic
customs.
He has two hundred pairs of gold ear
rings, some of which a gentleman tried
in vain to purchase for Queen Victoria ;
some of the most beautiful rings and
bracelets that have ever been found,
showing that modern jewellers have not
yet carried the art of engraving to the
point it reached among the Greeks.
There are also Byzantine statues, rep
resentlng the three Graces; a garnet
head, beautifully engraved and set in
/ gold Phgnician inlaid vases statues of
Sappho and Venus some Phenician and
Assyrian statues, weighing between five
hundred and six hundred pounds each
Although these were exhumed as late as
March last, agents from both the British
and Berlin museums have already been
sent to make purchases for the compile
Etion of their collections. For single
vase the General has beeu offered e15O !;
tbut with desire, understood with diff
culty in our money getting age, that an.
tiquities found together should remain
together, he refuses to sell unless the
purchaser will take the lot entire. To
any responsible party General G. max, s
the following offer; "A vessel shall be
Isant to Cyprus, the collection taken
home and set up and the amount to be
paid shall be left to arbi ration. sse.
4 A yonng man named Reed, accidental
lily shot his mother on Monday of last
uaaL of R0liyar Nh He was IN ralocclv