Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1876-12-16
A GREAT DISCOVERY,

Dr. HenriSchliemann. This enthusiast,
arcbmlogist has been at work upon tn
site Of tho ancient city OF Myoene II
tho Pelopohhesls, and his work has beer
crowned with the most complete sue
cess. Tho doctor has telegraphed Il
tho king OF Greece as follows:
A MAGNIFICENT OFFERING.
TO His Majesty King Geor0e
With unbounded joy l announce t.
your majesty that have discovered thu
monument which the tradition related
by Pausanius indicates the tombs O.
Agamemnon, Cassandra, Eurymedor
and their companions who We're killed
while feasting at banquet by Clytem
nestra and her lover Egisthus.
These tombs AFRO surrounded by .
double parallel circle, with tablets un
doubtedly erected in honor of Tho victims
In these tombs have found immense
archaeological treasures and nun bers oil
articles of pure gold.
The treasure alone is sufficient to All
q large museum, and the most splendid
in the world. In succeeding agou am
sure it will attract to Greece thousands
Of strangers from abroad. As l am
laboring simply for the love of science
l wave all claim to the treasure and
offer it, with enthusiasm, entirely to
Greece.
Sire, may these treasures, With Gods
blessing, become the corner stone of
M immense national wealth.
DIR. HENRI SoHLEMANN.
MYcENE. November %, 1876.
IMPORTANCE OF THE DISCOVERIES.
The highest scientific authorities in
London declare DR.. Schliemann's dis.
coveries to be the most important vet
made i'll the history of archaeological in
vestigation. They 60 back to the Cy-
ctopean era in architecture and to tho
time Of the destruction of Troy or to
the Greece OF almost 5000 years ago,
when it was the first city of the Hell
lenes.
| NOT MYTH.
MycepW, the town of which DIR.
Schliemann speaks in this letter, is one
of the most ancient in the world. Long
before The Greeks joined together to
avenge the wrongs of Menelaus and to
recover the beautiful Helen from her
pramour Paris this city was great
center OF government and civilization.
Homer calls it "populous and
"broad ,lreeted," and it was its King
Agamcmnou the "Kipg OF Men -
who was chosen to command the Grecian
forces at Troy. DIR. Schliemann, in dig
ging up these relics and exposing to
view tho tombs OF these heroes of long
departed ages, carries us back far be-
yonA historic times, and to great OK
tent overturns the theories OF several
modern writer's on history. The stories
which have generally boen considered
almost mythical of the return OF Aga
memnopland his murder by his wife ely
temnestra and her lover Egisthus are
now almost confirmed by the discovery
OF their tombs i'll positions which tend
to prove the truth of the legend.
This story is one of the most tragical
that has been treated by the great poets
Of the golden age of Greek tragedy.
E'chylus in his "Agamemnon," Sophie.
cles in his " Electra" and Euripides in
his " Orestcs have each in turn drama
tiled various phases of this remarkable
story. The legend, or, as we may now
term it, history, relates how Agamem-
non, on bis return from the siege of
Troy, was foully murdered in his own
banquet hall, and how. his vito and pa
ramour, who had murdered him, after
ward intermarried.
THE STORY OF AGAMEMNON.
Agamemnon and Menelaus were sons
of Plisthenes and grandsons of Aureus,
king of Mycen@. They were brought
up, together with their cousin AZ 5isthus,
in tho house of Atreus. After the muir
der of Aureus by Egisthus and Thyestes
the two brothers fled to Sparta, Of which
place Menelaus afterward became king.
They married two sisters, the daughters
of Tsndarus, Agan emnon espousing
famed Helen. At the conclusion of the
Trojan war, whittier Agamemnon had
gone to assist his brother in recovering
his wife, he returned to Mycepe. Be-
fore leaving Troy he had obtained as
his share in the spoils Cassandra, the
prophetic daughter of Prian. She fire.
quently foretold to him tho sad fate
which awaited him should he return
but, blind to fate, he insisted on hasten
ing back to his "much loved" Mycen@
On his arrival there he found that his
cousin Egisthus, whom he had lett as
the guardian of his Kingdom and of his
wife, had basely betrayed his trust and
was living in adultery with Clytemnes-
ira. The guilty couple Immediately re-
solved to add to their crime by murder
ing him, and took the opportunity of a
banquet given to celebrate his safe
arrival. 1t is related that as he came
from the bath Clytemnestra gave him a
tunic with the sleeves sewn up, and as he
vainly attempted to put it on she felled
him with blows of Ratchet. while her
lover, Egisthna, assisted. At the same
time several of his companions persisted,
and among them Cassandra, who had
warned him of his fate.
The murder forms the plot of the
"Agamemuon of E 'chylus, the first
of the great dramatic trirmvirate, while
the return of Orestes and the death OF
Clytemnestra at his bands form those of
the "Electra and " Orestes."
THE SITE OF THE EXPLORATIONS,
Mycen@, the scene of this terrible
tragedy, was au ancient town in Argolis,
about six miles to the northeast of Ar
Cos, and is situated o. little hill at the
head of narrow valley. During the
reign of Agamemuon it was considered
the chief city in the Peloponnesus, but
after the Dorian invasion it ceased to be
place of much Importance. It con-
tiuued, however, to DO an Independent
town until the year 46S B, G, when it
was attacked by the Argives, who, hay
ing rcIuc> d the Inhabitants by famine,
razed the town level with tue adjoining
country. Strabo states that the de-
struction of this famous city was so
complete that not vestige of it remain
ed in his time. But Pausanias, who
lived after Starbo's time, relates that
the ancient walls and tombs still existed
in his time, and these are the relics of
antiquity which DR.. Scbliemann has
now, after much patient research, sue
ceeded in uncarthing. Pausanias states
that when he visited Myce &c consid-