New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-12-17
THE MYCENEAN AGE.
PRE-. HISTORIC GREECE: THE WORLD
OF HOMER.

E9iy WI" nm XXI Sx ~ Houghton. Mifiln & Co.
creek fingers and its great epcs
re ATTEMPTED In our schools the world Will nave
-. interest IN the word Mycena. And yet IL is
,cix, within the memory Of living man that My
conae has BEEN in the tourists SENSE p'"Ve'
even: and within score OF years th"' "ie ''
rotation of the word still further mas "'ue"eu
,tycene is now not only place. but cutus'
toto ~ things How this has come aoout the
y.oyks Of schliemann. many polemic ar'io'es ~
the archaeological reviews. and now the piese"'
hook declare. As the work or Dr. Isoutae' 'N
conable Greek continuer Of Schemanns iaools
AT Mvcenn and OF DR.. Marratt. OF Bruhh CHi-
versty who is responsible for Its Ene"sn uie'"
a ,oucb additional information. II presents
With great accuracy all that Is yet cel'aii''
known Of the Mycenaan civilization. aho' iuI-
Their. come strongly taken positions Oh ''0 ''
mooted points
The book will perhaps. bring some surprise'
10 even the well-informed general feauei' Az
will learn that the life that the spaue Hoe
covered for us at Mycense, crude as soiio "a "
material manifestations are was not "a'0
civilization cropping with clumsy hanos ih.o '"e
unknown for mastery over stone anu '00'' '-
rather the close of such an efrort-a i"oiAe"'
when mastery had really been ATTAINED ~.
works OF beauty and He will learn 'ha'
or,v q casual or coincidental influence 10 the
vrode,s NJ the East; that the life as now known
IN MS not only by many minute correspond
ences. but broadly by its typical nooo' can NC
said to be Homeric The tale OF Mycen@ Is inc
tale Of a people srikingly feudal IN theil iaoi''
soldier inhabitants of walled towns Win suo-
urbs budding about the steep acropoiis' Ie'NiAe
their life OF watchfulness and danger peiole
true epic background of bloodshed ana io'a!.
Arms was the profession OF the puiioers u
Mvcene: and their arms were buried with them,
In the grave too, the noble dead lay appareHeo
in barbaric panoply host of objects. ooth
stately and familiar, placed beside them cum
n,nglv wrought Of gold. Sacrifices there were al
the tomb often funeral fires: and unless the
evidence lies. woman slave was sometimes
inundated beside her master The fortress
home was strongly built against siege ano SUD-
den assault; II had drainage and hidden water
supplies; and, for use In less trouolous times
a radiating system Of military roads
OF the private life Of the Myceneans this BOOK
has a store Of details Their dress tools, mousse
hold furniture, even the bones that still remain
from their Homeric banquets or oeeVes anu
swine are faithfully catalogued. Many Oh the
srt,cles-such as pins. brooches and strangely
eaough, the bathtub-are surprisingly mooefn
,r form The problem OF house Illumination Is
stju a vexed one Only few lamps have been
found at Mycena, whereas In later remains
they are one Of the most frequent discoveries
This fact, and the common occurrence Oh char-
coal In the soil, lead the authors unwiiiingy 10
the conclusion that Mycen@ was but dim
town O. nights. 1t seems probable that the nre
and the pine knot alone lighted the rude ana
smoky halls. or windows there are no EVIL
dences The archeologist is thus driven 10 the
theory Of a hypethral roof one that should at
md eft N "a
vice known to have been practised In later creek
buildings. II not In the Parthenon itself
A. dealing with almost new branch OF SCI
ence. inevitably the book contains much po-
. lemic These controversies centre. perhaps,
J about two great questons-quer1es as to the
construction OF the great subterranean cham
Der tombs Of which the so-called Treasury OF
Athens" is a type, and the problem OF the use
of letters or hierogyphics by the Mycenaan
age The latter question has been greatly
widened and complicated by the recent discovery
In Greece by Mr.. A. ]. Evans an English
scholar, Of small stones with curious
marks incised on them The origin OF these he
traced 10 Crete and, upon several visits to that
island, came across many more In his book
about the subject Mr.. Evans reaches the con-
clusion that AN elaborate system OF writing
did exist within the limits Of the Mycen@an
world" This was Of two kinds; "the one picto-
graphic in character. like Egyptian HERO
glyphcs, the other linear and quasi-alpha-
bette" Those who are familiar with archeo-
logical matters will surrnise what discussion
80 bold and novel statement Will precipitate.
After an exhaustive treatment Of the question
our authors retort that, however frequent such
stones may be in Crete and the isles Of the sea,
at Mycen@ only three inscribed objects have
been found This is negative but seemingly
valid proof.
The quarrel of the tombs is about matter
much less con1ectural The Treasury Of
Athens has been known since the days Of
Pausanias who described Il In the second CEN
fury Of our era Since then many others Of the
kind have been discovered at Mycena and else
where. After describing the massive structure
and the evidences OF rich decoration. particu-
larly OF tn, entrance. that characterize the
Mycenean tomb the authors come naturally
to the real question at issue. In most cases the
dromos or formal approach 10 the door. has been
found filled In with earth. so that no sign Of the
tomb was apparent at the surface Were, then
portals so deliberately wrought purposey covered
by tons Of earth especially since at each sue
cessive death the tomb must have been opened
again7 For the bones found within prove the
fact that these family sepulchres. not
mausolea. The obvious reply Is that the deposit
was accidental detritus washed in by time The
aesthetic argument is repugnant to this hypothe-
sis But by his knowledge of the actual re-
mains Dr. Tsountas has ingeniousy countered
against the aesthetics. 1T is familiar fact" he
says, that In dumping from higher level. the
stones roll to the edge Of the mound so formed.
while the earth stays In the centre. This is
1ust what happened in the dromos In question,
and 4 proves beyond doubt that the filling
was not due to the action of the elements as as
sumed" He further shows that remains Of a
wall TO retain the earth thus filled In have been
found not only at Mycen@. but In three other