Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-04-13
ANTIQUITIES OF ATHENS.

The attractions in Athens are already so
numerous, and antiquities are so common,
that little interest is felt in the work of dis
covering more.
Take, for instance, the ancient cemetery
in the suburbs. Operations are slowly pro
crossing there, and every week something
of value is exhumed As this was an i'm
mense burial ground, and as the greatest Of
the great were here inferred, it stands to
reason that the ground is full Of unsolved
mysteries The monuments exhumed are
magnificent specimens Of the highest type
of Grecian art-statues, bas relIeis, urns,
cwers, pottery jars, and sarcoghagi. On one
sarcophagus Of the puresG Pentellic marble
I translated: '"The mother of Alcibiades." !"
The natural inference would be that the ia
nous Alcibiades was meant. Another splen-
did tablet bore the simple word "Pythago-
ras."
The Inscriptions are as plain as when first
engraved. Here is a legless marble bull ly-
ing on his back, carved out ofa single colos.
group in bas relief representing dying
wife clasping the hand of her husband
while shades hover behind her about
abode. A great deal has been done in the
way of excavation, revealing vaults, walls,
aqueducts, monuments, and funeral en-
blems. But there are plenty of other places
where there are unmistakable evidences of
tombs, where the soil has been uudisturbed.
These things which have been unearthed
lie around promiscuously. This may he
we'll enough in general, for the student is
interested in seeing things just as they were
discovered; but at least the whole cemetery
should be properly inclosed and guarded,
while the monuments themselves should be
protected from accidents and the effects of
the weather.
So there are plenty of the most valuable
relics, including actual works of Phidias
stored in the venerable Theseum.
The Archaeological society, which has
charge Of the remains and the unworked
ground, is not blind to the needs in these
respects, but is crippled in it's usefulness by
want of funds. 1t does indeed attempt to
protect the ruins by means of guards and
guard houses, but the protection is not adj
equate.
Not all the antiquities are thus made
quatey protected Through the researches
and wealth of DR.. Schliemann there is il
Athons a splendid marble pile known as
the Polytechnic, where Il vast amount of
Grecian and Leyantine relics are stored.
This building is equipped with the best of
appointments. The cases are made Of olive
wood and superb plate glass, the floors are
laid in mosaics, and the architecture of the
whole is in the severcst type of the most
chaste Greek art, making it a fit temple for
the reception Of the treasures Of the past.
The Mycene collection is the chief glory
of the Polytechnic. was amazed at the
extent of this There are coins, arms, anti
que jewelry, pottery, vases, statuettes, and
household utensils in infinite variety. The
jars and weapons of copper, hardened BY
some lost art, are green with the rust of CEN
turies. The fragments of jars have been
put together with marvellous nicely, the va
can't places being filled with plaster of paris
The painting of the pieces seems as perfect
and fresh as when it was first applied, over
1000 years ago I suppose the intrinsic
value of the gold-foil, coins and drinking
service, simply as crude material, would
reach many thousands of dollars.
DIR. Schliemann, his wife and two child
rem, Agamemnon and Andromache, are
now summering in Germany,-Dardanelles
Letter.