The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-03-10
The Schlieman Discoveries.

lrrom tne cologne GaZette.J
The following from letter received from
Athens, contains probably the first expression
OF opinion by experts who havel seen and ex-
amined the treasures found by DR.. Schlieman
at Mycen@. All accounts heretofore received
have emanated from the doctor himself:
The contents of one Of the four chests which
are filled with the golden treasures excavate d
at Mycenae have been displayed at the bank,
ana tne notabliltles OF the city invited to ex-
anime them. Tho judgment concerning them
Is Just now the comfaon topic of conversation,
10 the Swans of Athens the period of Again.
emnon appears to be too remote, and they refer
them to that of King Danaos. Others, while
willing to admit that some OF the pieces are of
great antiquity-as, for instance, the signet
rings-still find it impossible to recognize in the
great mass of the articles any of the features
distinctive of the early Asiatic period, such as
massiveness OF the metal and severity of STYLE
All OF the golden treasures are made of very
a thin metal, and their designs and shape give
= evidence rather of the decadence of a people
than of that primitive time when trinkets fash.
Toned by Phrygio-Lydian art were first brought
Sto the shores of Europe The place at which
they were found, toe, gives assurance of their
antiquity; for, although the cavities or pits in
ethe citadel wherein they were found are un-
1Nuestionably of great age, it has not yet been
uBroved that they were originally used for bur.
IA purposes. They may have been under
-tbmbs by later occupants of the citadel. These
newly eXcavated graves have nothing in com.
Ihpn with the burial places of the ancients, and
the unconsumed skeletons lying beneath the
AHberincumbent earth, certainly bear no marks
odthe Homeric period. Structures Of much
later time, however, are to be seen in the i'm.
msdiate vicinity. Hence it is likely that the
graves were used as such at some period be-
twaen the reign of Danaos and the Byzantine
fra0kish Middle Ages; but inasmuch as some
montha must elapse before all the recovered
treasures can be placed on exhibition, "a decisive
judgment as to their antiquarian value must be
postponed TILL that time and the public must
meanwhile possess itself in patience. Priam's
treasures were found four years ago. and today
itstil is doubtful what era they beionp to-
whether some OF them once graced the nacI Of
Andromeda. or were only the lost treasnres of
aTarkish harem, The gold of Ilum has a@a;n
disappeared from view; but the gold of Mycenn
being owned by the government is to be exhib.
tied publicly, scarcely, however, before April.
In Hlium, as in Mycene, no reasonable doubt
was expressed concerning the antiquity of the
excavated pottery and clay images; but the
gold treasures found in both places are of prob
lematic origin, and concerning their chronology
zeal value persons who have seen them differ
by thousands of years. The history of Mycene
Is commonly confined to the time of the At
Tloes, and is supposed to end about the year 400
DIV. Ihat this is an error is proved by the
MANY structures OF much later period still
Iouno tnere; and it is mistake to ignore the
existence OF Greece during the middle ages.
simply because its history is involved in oh,
scurity. Wv