Wichita eagle., 1890-01-08

through the gray air. and over the green
sea, and over the far flooded shell reefs
where the huge white dazzling flashes
are-sheet lightning of breakers-anc
over the awful, weird wash of corpse
coming in.
IL is the steam call of the relief boat
Fastening TO rescue the living, to gathel
in the dead.
The tremendous tragedy is ver.-Frop
Chita. by Lafcadio Hearn.
A TOMB OPENED NEAR SPARTA.
Results Which Recall the Mycenae Finds
of DIR. SchlieInann.
The Athens correspondent of The Lon
don Athenaum in recent letter says the
tomb opened by NJ Tsountas at Vaphio,
near Sparta, ''has yielded results which
far surpass any discovery of the sort
since the finding of the great treasures at
Mycene by DR.. Schliemann. Here, as
there, an undisturbed tomb of an ancient
chieftain has been opened, with all the
vessels in gold, silver and bronze, arms,
and engraved gems intact. And we
have not simply a repetition Of the same
discovery, for this tomb at Vaphio was
of treasury type, with a 'dromos' lead
ing into beehive shaped vault-a form
universally recognized as belonging to
later stage of the SO called 'Mycenean
culture than the simple pitlike graves Oh
the citadel of Mycenae.
''This view is fully borne out by the
nature of the objects discovered, which
in many ways occupy an intermediate
position between Mycerean work and
the earliest products of Hellenic art. N.
Tsountas has already published a short
account of his excavation. By his cour-
tesy | have been permitted to examine
his discoveries, and | may say few
words about them without anticipating
his final publication.
1.-THE vaulted tomb chamber and also
the avenue, or 'dromos,' were built of
stones. mostly of small size, from a
neighboring quarry on Taygetus. 1t is
remarkable that in the door and else
where the joints and even flaws in the
stone were concealed with lime mortar,
and the undisturbed state Of the tomb
shows that it must have remained buried
since primitive times. \ similar prac-
tCe was observed in the last treasury
tomb cleared by Mycenae But as that
was emptied and shown in ancient times
later repairs were there possible. Within
the vaulted tomb at Vaphio was shall
low grave lined and covered with stone
slabs The evidence that the corpse was
buried, not burned. seems to be mostly
inferential; no bones were found. The
treasures buried were scattered all about
the floor of the vaulted chamber.
The most important of all are two
gold cups, each made of two plates of
gold, the inner one plain and the cutter
decorated with 4 very fine design in re-
pousse work that fills the whole field.
The relief is fairly high; the drawing and
or inadequacies, are bold and successful,
but the execution lacks the exquisite
delicacy in details that marks the gold
work, and especially the inlaying work,
of Nycene.
THE subjects are most interesting
the hunting of wild balls and the leading
of tame bulls by men---and thus we see
carefully executed figures OF men about
two and half inches high, and in the
same costumes as we find on figures from
Mycena, Tiryro, etc.-a kind of loin
cloth depending from girdle, and
anklets, pointed shoes, etc. These are
all SO clear now that no further doubt is
,,cccil l,io ac TO tbeir oorY,ra opI .1,o y-or-
in hich they We're worn. The bulls,
which are rendered with great spirit, re-
semble in form that on the wall painting
from Tiryno; one, which is caught in a
net, is doubled up in a contortion which
recalls the strangely distorted animals on
early gems. 1t is remarkable that most
of the trees represented are palms.
''Another cup of silver has prettily
wrought gold rim. and numerous small
ornaments in gold, silver, amber, ETC.,
were found, including a delicate little
pair of gold fishes cut out Of fiat plate
with incised details. Some specimens of
fine granulated work in gold closely re-
semble later Greek technique. Various
strange bronze implements, large and
small, and two stone arrowheads, and
an iron ring were found, and there were
fragments, but no perfect specimens, of |
the beautiful inlaid swords. A bronze |
AK of peculiar form, with two apertures
between the edge and the haft, is of in |
terest and seems TO confirm Dr.. Wares |!
suggestion that it was through a line Of |
axes of this form that Ulysses shot his |
arrow.
The engraved gems, mostly OF the ISL |
and gem type, We're very numerous and |
had the usual representations of animals, |
monsters and men; the dress, both of |
men and women, is clear in several in
stances and of the well known types. |
There are two gems with the strange non
descript animal with head like goat !
(or horse) and a spiny back, carrying |
jug (Milchbofer Iris; one gem has pair /
Of these monsters face 10 face, another /.
has one. In many respects the Naphio /
treasure seems to be intermediate be-
tween Mycenean and primitive Greek
art; if it really helos 70 bridge this gulf
1t will be Of the utmost value and inter
est"
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