Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1877-04-25

the ruins of the only less-famed city o.
Perseus and Agamemmon. Unlike mos
of his countrymen, who are usually
cautious. cool, incredulOus, painfully
weighing evidence on this side and that
and watching intently lest they should
allow a sentiment of poetry or tradition
to color the theories they construct, DR.,
Schliemann has a perfect faith-we had
almost said credulity-in the Importance
of his discovery, the indentity Of the
antique objects he unearths with those
mentioned by the blind bard, and in the
historic existence of events hitherto re-
garded as legendary. Itwas aGerman,
we believe, who proved that the heroic
William Tell never existed except in the
lively Imagination of the Swiss; it Is a
German who now tells US that Troy
certainly was, and Priam, and Achilles,
and Agamemmon, 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."
DIR. Sehliemann has logically trans
ferred his researches from the Troad to
Argos, and crossing the Egean, has
settled down to the excavation of the
lOng-mysterious ruins of Mycene.
Those ruins are, not improbably, con-
temporaneous with those of Troy; and
from Mycena came the king who COM
manded the Hellenic 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,
earrings and necklaces.
Whether or not these ruins date as far
back as the warlike monarch who, ac-
cording to Homer, was not the first of
the great men of earth, it seems at least
clear that they existed as stately editices
at period when glass and iron were
unknown in Argos, that is, in the Pc
riod which archaologists designate as
the "Bronze age;" and the same may be
said of the Troy unearthed by DIR. Schlie,
mann. As yet he has been able to find
no writings or inscriptions, from which
it would appear that the sepultures of
the gorgeously- -arrayed bodies which he
has found took place, in all likelihood
before the Greeks had adopted the Phe
nician alphabet. Yet the artistic beauty |
of the pottery and jewelry which have
so abundantly rewarded DIR. Schlie- !
mann's delving shows to what a high |
state of perfection the workmanship of |
goldsmiths and potters had attained in |
this unquestionably remote period.
DIR. Schliemann is not, indeed, enti-
tied to the credit of discovering the site
and making the first researches at N.Y. |
cena, as at Troy; for the Treasury of /
Aureus, the Gate of the Lions, and the /
cyclopean walls which once surrounded |
the city, were excavated many year
ago. No doubt the tombs which Drs
Schliemann has found are those of an
ancient line Of powerful and wealthy
kings, who must have lived in gorgeous
tojudge by the splendor of their
funeral ornaments; for one of them, at
least, was buried with a crown 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 small in
stalment of the discoveries the indefat-
igable doctor is destined TO make at My
cena; and very likely. before he has
his task, he may come upon
which will prove incompa-
rably more precious to history than the
golden treasures already found.-Apple-
.0n's Journal. .. ...