Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-01-31

i
Briton whom he sees and the typical
Briton Of the pictures.
The work Of excayating among the
ruins of classic antiquity has Of late
brought 10 light some matters OF very
great interest. Whatever may be the
final judgment Of acheologists upon
Settlements discoveries on the site Of
Troy, there can be no doubt OF the
value of what he has done at Tiryns
in uncovering the foundations Of its
citadel and palace. Tiryns was one Of
the oldest cities in Greece, and its walls
were said to have been built by the Cy-
clops. II has been generally held that
it was destroyed about the time Of the
Persian wars, but from the record Of its
remains, now laid bare, it becomes evil
dent that its overthrow was as far back
as the time of Homer. Axes and knives
OF stone were found, but none Of metal,
and among a quantity Of remains of
pottery all are Of sorts belonging to
1000 or 100 B. G. The remains Of
the palace Of the King, which was
burned and entirely destroyed down
nearly to the ground, have been cleared
out, and the whole ground plan is
brought to view and exhibits just such
a shape as described by Homer: the
vestibule, the principal hall, with the
hearth in the centre, paved with small
stones, and beyond smaller chambers
and bathroom. The floor Of the lat
ter is made Of one huge fat stone, with
a rim around it to confine the water,
which escaped by a drain-hole in the
corner. When the hero had taken his
bath in q terra-cotta tub he upset the
tub and let the water run off the floor.
On the other side Of the great hall are
the women's apartments, just like those
Of the men. but smaller. In every re-
spect, in the arrangement Of all its parts
and in the character Of its decoration,
this palace answers to the descriptions
which Homer gives of these Of his kings
and heroes, and it is an extraordinary
thing to find ourselves thus brought
into the very domestic life, as it were,
of the Greeks Of prehistoric period.
Another equally remarkable dis
'covery is that of large part of the Law
code of Minos. All Greek authors
agree in assigning to the laws Of Crete
the greatest antiquity, and they were
generally regarded as having been given
directly from heaven. Scion, Lycurgus,
and other famous law-givers were be-
lieyed to have visited Crete for the pur-
pose Of studying its system. But no
copy of these laws of Minos have come
down to us, and they were only known
by the scant quotations Of Plato
and other philosophers. Yet now,
within a short time past, large
part Of these laws have been
discovered in a most remarkable
way. Near Gortyna. a city Of the
Island Of Crete, an archH Geological en-
thusiast, DIR. Halbherr, observed some
letters cut into the face of a wall which |
made part of mill. Digging trench |
along the inner side Of the wall, he dis
covered that the inscription comprised |
four columns on the mill, but that the |
wall extended into field beyond, into
which it proved to be difficult to get
permission to dig. This wall was,
however, finally entirely uncovered and
proved to be part Of circular structure
which, ifthe circle were complete, would
have diameter ofone hundred feet, and
it is conjectured that it may have been
some sort Of temple of Justice, on the
walls Of which were inscribed the law of
the land. The portion Of wall remaining
contains twelve columns Of words, each
Of about fifty lines, of an extremely
ancient form Of words. 1t is very diff
cult to decipher and has not yet been
entirely read, but enough is known to
make it certain that here is the whole
body of Cretan laws which relate to
family affairs-such as marriage and
divorce, the inheritance of children, the
rights of widows, and the care of slaves.
How extraordinary that here should
again be brought to view another phase
Of the life Of Greece in the earliest ages.
Still another very interesting exca-
walton is that of the famed temple Of
Eleusis, the scene of the Eleusinian
mysteries. It's found that the temple,
as rebuilt by Pericles after the destruc-
ton of the earlier one by NerXes, was
in the form of a hall, $50 feet square,
divided by eight rows Of columns and
surrounded by portico, the whole
elevated on a lofty foundation and
built of white marble. The columns
were somewhat rude in workmanship
and parts of the old building were used
in the construction Of the new, which,
however. was on larger scale. Behind
the temple arose the acropolis of Eleu-
sis. No sculpture Of any value seems
to have been recovered. There is one
thing very striking in all Of these re-
coyeries of antiquities in Greece, and
that is the way in which the words Of
the historians and poets have been yeri-
fed. In nearly every case in which
building or statue have been recover
ed which had been described by any of
the Greek writers it has been found to
correspond exactly with the description.
The remains of this temple Of EleusiS,
as now laid bare, agree entirely with
Plutarch's account Of it.
r. Hs..I..