The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-04-05
DR.. Schliemann's Discoveries.

If the indefatigable DIR. Schliemann
does not succeed in reconstructing his
tory, and transferring the Homeric tale
from the region of fable to that of actual
fact, he will at least have achieved by
no means vain or useless purpose-that
of feeding and satisfying the eager and
commendable curiosity of mankind.
Never have the " finds y of antiquarian
delivers and diggers-not even those of
Layard in Assyria, or of his successor,
George Smith, Or of the slowly toiling ex
cavators of Pompeii-been SO full of
thrilling and romantic interest as the dis
coyeries which the devoted German has
made, or thinks he has made, on the
famed plain Of Troy, and now among the
ruins of the only less famed city of Per
seus and Agamemnon. Unlike NEST of
his countrymen, who are usually cautious,
cool, incfedulous, painfully weighing
evidence on this side and that, and watch
ing intently lest they should allow SEN
timent of poetry or tradition to color the
theories they construct, DR.. Schliemann
has perfect faith-we had. almost said
crcdulity-in the importance of his dis
covery, the identity of the antique OBJ
jects he unearths with those mentioned
by the blind bard, and in the historic ex-
istence of events hitherto regarded IS
legendary. 1t was German, we believe,
who proved that the heroic William Tell
never existed except in the lively lmagin-
alton of the Swiss; it is German who
now tells us that Troy certainly was, and
Priam, and Achilles, and Agamemnon,
and Hector; that an elopement, breeding
war, really took place on the part of Paris
and Helen; and that he has found the
treasure of the King. the citadel and MANY
other of the objects and places described
in the Iliad."
DR.. Schliemann has logically trans
ferred his researches from the Troad to
Argos, and, crossing the Kgean, has set
tied down to the excavation of the long
mysterious ruins of Mycena. Those ruins
are, not improbably, contemporaneous
with those of Troy and from MycenR
came the King who commanded the Hell
lcnic forces before the Asiatic city, the
brother of the outraged husband of Helen.
Substantial results have followed the
painful digging Of the German and his
devoted wife, which enthusiastic couple
may have been seen" squatting on the
ground under the rain, troweling up the
earth, and every now and then bringing
forth from oblivion golden diadems and
goblets, ear rings and necklaces.
Whether or not these ruins date as far
back as the warlike monarch who, accord
ing to Homer, was not the first of the
great men of earth, it seems at least clear
that they existed as stately edifices at
period when glass and iron were un-
known in Argos, that is, in the period
which psychologists designate az the
!" Bronze Age;" and the same may be said
of the Troy unearthed by Dr. Schliemann.
AS yet he has been able to find no writ
ings OF Inscriptions, from which it would
appear that the sepultures of the gorgeous
ly-arrayed bodies which he has found took
place, in all Likelihood, before the Greeks
had adopted the Phpnician alphabet Yet
the artistic beauty of the pottery and jew
elry which have so abundantly rewarded
DIR. Schliemann's delving shows to what
a high state of perfection the workman
ship of goldsmiths and potters had at
tanned in this unquestionably remote
period.
DIR. Schliemann is not, indeed, entitled
to the credit of discovering the site and
making the first researches at NJ yceDse, as at
Troy; for the Treasury of Atreus, the
Gate of the Lions, and the cyclopean walls
which once surrounded the city. were ex-
cavated many years ago. No doubt the
tombs which DR.. Schliemann has found
are those of an ancient linesof powerful
and wealthy Kings, who must have lived
in gorgeous fashion, to judge by hesplen-
dor Of their funereal ornaments; for one of
them, at least, was buried with acrown of
gold over two feet long, while their rings
and other jewels, adorned with precious
stones, further attest their luxury. We
have as yet, doubtless, but a small INSTALL
ment of the discoveries the interchangeable
doctor is destined to make at Mycen@;
and very likely, before he has competed
his task, he may come upon Inscriptions
which will prove incomparably more
precious to history than the golden treas
ures already found. -Appleton's Journal
fay MrreI 49,