The Portland daily press., 1877-12-29
Recent Publications.
ArchmoIogy and Ancient Art.

people generally by the publication, three years
ago, of DR.. Schliemann's "Troy and it's Re-
| MAINS" will eagerly look forward to perusal
of the account of his discoveries in the tombs of
| the Atreda. (Mycena; a Narrative of Re-
| searches and Discoveries at Mycen@ and Tiryns.
| By DR.. Henry Schliemann. The Preface by
| the Right Hon. w. E. Gladstone. New York:
Scribner Armstrong & Co. Portland: Lor-
ing, Short & Harmony "Troy and its Re-
mains" provoked storm OF angry criticism;
and Dr. Schiemann's intinatian that Helen
| was flesh and blood, not dawn-nymph whom
| Paris, the robbsr of the daylight, carried away
| and held captive until her rescue by the SUM-
| god, was regarded as far worse than blasphemy
| by those who hold that all myths and od-time
| customs, from the ten-years' combat on the
windy plains of Troy to the dance about the
| May-pole, are forms and "reminiscences of the
| worldwide sun-myth. Itmattered not to them
| that the rehabilitation of Troy in the belief of
men did not in the least affect their theory, but
merely showed the error of their most far.
| fetched Illustration; they only saw man who
| had presumed-to oppose the new school of
myth-nterpretation and they attacked him
with all the bigotry of which scientists are cap
ab'e-and they are quite equal to their antago-
| nists. the theologians, in that regard. They
reasoned-apparently-th way: We must
| put down this man or he may go on and dis
cover still worse things-discover perhaps that
| Zeus, the Dyaus Pitar itself, was but Cretan
King, or that Red Ridiug- Hood was really eaten
| by the Wolf. Where then would be our per-
sonifed sky and our dawn-nymph with her
robs of crimson twilight? But Schliemann
Ia L a.
aud at last brought to light the treasure of
Priam. Since then the scholars have been di-
vided, bat he has, as the politicians say, the
people with him. Encouraged by the success
of his researches in the mound of Hissari he
turned to the excavation of the ruins of the an
cent Mycene on the lplaius of Argos. There
he has brought to light great tomb which he
firmly believes to be the grave of the mighty
"Anax Andron" himself. The strength of his
claim we may leave to be discussed by the
scholars; but this is certain: he has found at
Mycsn@ and Tiryns the relics of civilization
of SO great historic value that the antiquarans
would do well to hush their quarrels and study
it. This much may however be said by the lay
man: DR.. Schliemann has found the remains
of an ancient city and civilization where Homer
q
and civilization on the spot to which tradition
| pointed as the home Of Aureus and his children.
| To all this his critics can only oppose theory
| which has been stretched to include Troy an
| inclusion based altogether upon suppositions
| He has fairly established the probability that
the Leading tragic theme in Greek literature,
| the woes of the house Of Atreus, is not wholly
| fictitious in its origin. What he did by his re-
| searches in the Troad for the epic mythology
he has done By his discoveries on the Argive
1ddgsd Wholly fo6ls II We Believe that Aga
memnon was lord of Mycena and horse-pas-
| turing Argos, and in the vengeance exacted by
| the unforgetful gods through Klytamnestra
| and Egisthos for the horrid feast set before
| Thyestis.
This is what DR.. Schliemann has dons: TAX
| ing lesson from the fate of Herodotus who,
| after having been called for some generations
| the father of lies, has at last come to be &C.
| knowledged as generally trustworthy, he put
| faith in Pausanus and governed his researches
| by the following passage:
| Amongst other remains of the wall is the
| gate, on which stand lions. They (ths walls
aud the gate) are said to be the work of the
| Cyclopes, who built ths wall for Proteus at
l
| tain called Perseia and the subterranean build
| ings OF Asreus and his children, in which they
| stored their treasures There is the sepulehre
| OF Atreus, and the tombs of the companions of
| Agamemnon who. on their return from Ilium
| were killed at banquet by Egsthus. The
| identity of the tomb of c. sssandra is
mans Of Amycl@. II There 1' is ne'O'snI the tomb
| Of AgamemnOn and that of his charioteer
| Eurymedon, and of Electra. Tsledamus and
| Pelops were buried in :the same sepulchre, for
| it is said that Cassandra bore these twins and
that. while as yet infants, they were slaughtered
by Agisthus, together with their parents. Hell
| 1anicus (495-4e1 B. c. writes that Pylades,
who was married to Electra with the consent
OF Orestes, had by her two soDs, Medon and
| Strophius. Clytemnestra and E gsthus were
buried at little distance from the wall, be-
cause they were thought unwor. ny to have
their tombs inside of it, where Agamemnon
reposed, and those who were killed together
| with him.
Taking this as guide, and assa ming that the
wall referred to was the great wall of the citadel
he began, after one or two spasmodic attempts,
systematic explorations at Myceu@, in August,
1876. His enthusiastic faith was not long in
meeting a generous reward. After digging
through the remains of later Hellenic city he
struck upon the evidences of pre- historic civil
lzatou, terra Gotta vases and nplements of
stone and bronze, and finally upon sculptured
tombstones in what was evidently forum or
sgora-thus justifying Pausanius who had writ
ten: "Here they built the place for council in
order that they might have the tomb of the
heroes within the place for con neil" About
these slabs were strewn frag meats IF porphyry,
| agate gems, bronze hatchets, s. u 80 ic designs,
| (among them the cross) and may of the cow
headed Here idols-eidola or images. TMyce-
nae was celebrated for its cul - If Here, and
| DR.. Schliemanu assumes that h-s lentty with
the Pelasgic moon-goddess Io, with the Beotan
Demeter Micalessia, the Egyptian Isis and
Phenecian Ashtoreth is abandantly proved,
holding that the Hometc epithet bo6pts means
literally cow-headed as he has before claimed
that glaukopis as applied to Athene means OWL
headed, aud that Hare was at first worshipped
under the form of a COW. 10 proof of this he
instances the cows head on the Samian coins,
Samos being the seat of the most ancient tenn
| pie of Here, and gives many other seeming
corroborations of his theory.] The tombs, five
in number, which were found thirty feet below
the surface, go far to confirm the old legends
of the Atrda. Along with gold and silver
fagons and vases of alabaster were in the first
| tomb the bodies Of men and women; and upon
this discovery chiefly the explorer bases his ar
.gument The vast wealth there, the archaic
ornaments, the impossibiity of admitting that
royal personages who had died natural death
| at long intervals of time should have been
huddled together n one burial-place the agree
ment of the discoveries.with the tradition and
| with the account of PausaDius, are proofs not
to be disregarded. Even if the Myceu@
''ahounding in gold" OF Homer has not been
unearthed there have certainly been brought
| to light the remains of prehistoric ciViliza-
| ton which must comm and the study of schol.
ars and do away with or greatly modify not a
few of the theories now held by students of the
| past. In this review no more than mention
can be made of the nature of the discoveries.
For full description Of them the reader must
go to the book itself, an elegantly bound and
| printed quarto the text elucidated with maps,
plans, and nearly thousand illustrations of
he objects found. Despite DIR. Schiemann's
discursive style the work is entertaining as vel
as valuable. Mr.. Gladstone's preface is an ex