The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-12-21

geological treasures and numbers OF artl-
cles Of pure gold.
The treasure alone is sufficient to fill
large museum, and the most splendid in
the world. In succeeding ages am sure
it will attract to Greece thousands of
strangers from abroad. As l am laboring
simply for the love Of science waive all
claim tc the treasure, and offer it, with
intense enthusiasm, entirely to Greece.
Sire, may these treasures, with Gods
blessing, become the corner stone of an
immense national wealth.
DR.. HENRI SCHLIEMANN.
INvcente, November %, 1879.
IMPORTANCE OF THE DISCOVERIES.
The highest scientific authorities in
London declare DR.. Schliemann's discov-
cries to be the most important yet made
in the history of archaeological investiga-
tion. They go back to the Cyclopean era
in architecture and to the time of the
destruction of Troy or to the Greece of
almost 5000 years ago, when it was the
first city Of Hellenes.
NOT A MYTH.
Mycena, the town OF which DR.. Schlie.
mann 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 paramour Paris,
this city was q great centre OF govern
ment and civilization. Homer calls it
'tpopulous" and "broad-streeted," and it
was its King Agamemnon-the "King of
men"-who was chosen to command the
Grecian forces at Troy. DR.. Schliemann,
in digging up these relics and exposing
to view the tombs of these heroes of long
departed ages, carries us back far beyond
historic times, and to great extent over
turns the theories of several modern writ
ers on history. The stories which have
generally been considered almost myth
cal of the return of Agamemnon and his
murder by his wife Clytemnestra and her
lover, Egisthus, are now almost con-
frmed by the discovery of their tombs in
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.
Eschylus in his "Agamemnon," Sopho.
cles in his Electra" and Euripides in
his "Orestes" have each in turn drama
tized various phases of this remarkable
story. The legend, or, as we may now
term it, history, relates how Agamemnon,
on his return from the siege of Troy, was
foully murdered in his own banqueting
hall, and how his wife and paramour,
who had murdered him, afterwards in
termarried.
THE STORY OF AGAMEMNoN.
Agamemnon and Menelaus were sons
OF Plisthenes, and grand-sons of Atreus,
King of Mycene. They were brought
up, together with their cousin, Egisthus,
in the house of Arteus. After the mur-
der of. .Atreus by Egisthus and Thyestes,
the two brothers fed to Sparta, of which
place Menelaus afterward became King.
They married two sisters, the daughters
of Tyndarus, Agamemnon espousing Cly-
temnestra and Menelaus, the far-famed
Helen.
At the conclusion of the Trojan war,
whittier Agamemnon had gone to assist
his brother in recovering his wife, he re-
turned to Mycene. Before leaving Troy
he had obtained as his share in the spoils
Cassandra, the prophetic daughter of
Priam. She frequently foretold to him
the sad fate which awaited him should
he return; but, blind to fate, he insisted
Oh fastening to his "much loved" Myce-
nae. On his arrival there he found that
his cousin Egisthus, whom he had left
as the guardian of his kingdom and of
his wife, had basely betrayed his trust.
The guilty couple Immediately resolved
to add to their other crime by numbering
him, and took the opportunity of ban
quet given to celebrate his safe arrival.
It is related that as he came from the
bath Clytemnestra gave him tunic with
z the sleeves sewn up, and as he vainly at
tempted to put it on she felled him with
blows Of hatchet, while her lover,
Egisthus, assisted. At the same time
several of his companions perished, and
among them Cassandra, who had warned
him Of his fate.
This murder forms the plot of the
"Agamemnon" of Eschylus, the first Of
the great dramatic triumvirate, while the
return of Orestes and the death of Cly-
temnestra at his hands form those of the
electra" and "Orestes."
THE SITE OF THE EXPLORATIONS.
Mycene, the scene of this terrible
tragedy, was an ancient town in Argolis,
about six miles o.the northeast of Argos,
and is situated on little hill at the head
of narrow valley. During the reign of
Agamemnon it was considered the chief
city in the Peloponnesus, but after the
Dorian invasion it ceased to be place of
much Importance. 1t continued, how
ever, to be an independent town until
the year 1853 B. c., when it was attacked
by the Argives, who, having reduced the
inhabitants by famine, razed the town
level with the adjoining country. Strabo
states that the destruction of this famous
city was so complete that not a vestige of
it remained in his time. But Pausanius,
who lived after Strabos time, relates that
the ancient walls and tombs still existed
in his time, and these are the relics of
antiquity which DR.. Schliemann has now,
after much patient research, succeeded IN
unearthing. Pausanias states that when
he visited Mycen@ considerable part of
the wall still remained standing, and the
great gate, with its lions at either side, IS
there up to the present day. These works
were attributed to the Cyclops, who are
also said to have assisted Pretus in build
ing the walls of Tiryns. Hence this
massive style of architecture Is called
Cyclopean. Here Pausanias also saw the
underground chambers of Atreus and his
children, where they kept their treasure.
Also the tomb of Atreus and those of the
companions of Agamemnon, who were
slain by Egisthus. There was some
doubt whether the tomb of Cassandra
was there or not, but those of Agamem-