New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-01-29
SCHLIEMANN AND AGAMEMNON.
THE TROJAN WAR NOT A MYTH.

THE TROJAN WAR NOT MYTH.
FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH IN HoMER-sECRErs OF THE
FIVE ToMBs.
q DR. Schliemann in his last letter to The London
Times thus simply and clearly repeats his Homeric
faith and gives his reasons for believing the tombs
discovered at Mykene to be those OF Agamemnon
and his companions:
The Trojan war has for q long time past, by many
eminent scholars been regarded as my,h. OF r %c in
however they yany endcavored to ind the ORIGIN III
the Rgveda But all antiquity the siege aud co4ues.
of Hum by the Greek army under Agamehnoh nae n
considered as an undoueted historical ic ann az
The tradition has retained the memory oI MANY
d Tep y on pa S" have always firmly believed in Trojan
war; my firm faith in Homer and IN the TRADITION nas
faith am indebted FOR discovery OF Troy and It's
treasure However, the want OF ornameh,a4m y" with
impressed engraved COMMUNICATION ana, nna ahSt,
the want Of iron and glass convince me remote ,s
NykcnS the date of which Thought could FIX ey me
result of the 81 shafts which sank IN the Acropos III
February. 1874 therefore believed that Homer had
only known by an ancient 81 Trov and
thai, for Sy0Ts Geved ne bnt IN never S DOUBTED thai
King of Mykena, by game Aganemnon, his chaIfoteer
Eurymedon. Princess Cassandra, aud Their followers
Egsasus as Homer says, the bath by
the later tragic poets pretend and hTmy Deho0ed
in the statement Pausanas that the murdered persons
had heen inferred III the Acropois 1ineII1S III CUE
respect from NJ Lease W. MTre hd%atd peewc
who ai had misunderstood tho statement OF PauPanias
and thought he meant the murdered persons had
been buried in the lower town.
My firm faith IL the traditions made me undertake my
late the AcrOpolis, ard led To tic dscOv
cry of the five tOmbs, with their Immense treasures
Although found in these tombs, In tecnlcal point Oh
Wow, a very nigh civilization, yet, as III Hum, tounu
there ony handmade pottery ana no trace OF glass or OF
iron. Further, writing known in Troy; for found
there a number of short Crock inscriptions III very
ancient Cypriote characters tSee my Troy anu ts re
mains, PIP 3SSs72; whereas we have The certainty ly
been known, the Mykcn@n godsniths, VINO were always
ebdcavoTiug 10 invent some new commentators wonl
)Oyfuly have awaited themselves OF the novelty 10 mIe
weave the strange characters in Their decoration BE
sides in that remote antiquity 10 which the Homeric
rh;sOdeS aDd the tradition OF the Ny heiA lolhDs 70
fer there was as yet commercial intercourse, NO
body travelled except warke OF praical expeditions
Thus there may have been very high CIVILIZATION az
MyEcnp while the very same time The arts were Only
in their first in Troy, ana writing with CNrlutc
characters may nave been III use III ITO! luUrc Ina
600 years before any alphabet wUs known IN Greece
have not the slightest objection to admit that the tra
tio which assigns tODs In tie Acropolis AGaipch
non and Ills COMPANIONS, who, on then return from
Iliun trCacacrUuSly murdered ny CyVmncstla OF
lor parmouT. Aystbus may be perfectly correct ana
faithful am bound 10 admit this so mucn thG more az
We nave the certainty that to say the least, an me
bodies OF each tomb lad been burnt SIMULTANEOUSLY
Tie cacined pebbles below each OF thcn The marks OF
the .C the NIGHT and lett on the internal walls OF It
tomb the undstuTbcd state VI the ashes and tie ciired
wood around the bodies, give Us tne most niDa
taxable proofs in this respect OWING 10 te eloIno
de 9th puchers aud the close proximity oil inc
bodies each other, IL is quite Impossible thdt Jirc oi
five funeral piles could nave been iessed az die
ent intervals Of time the tomb. The Identity or
tie mode OF buril the perfect simalliy OF an lhe
torlbs their very close proximity, me lmpoSsluly OF
admitting that three or i've royal pefsULaSts Oi M
measurable wealth, who lad died natural d,ath ~ long
intervals OF time. should have been EuGdled together III
the tomb and finally the great rese nbAldc1 oi al
the ornaments, which exactly inc same sJlc "a all
that all tie twelve men and thIee women Au Ot'h ihui
cered simultaneously ana burnt at the same tlinc