The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-05-09


which in those days resembled both in
shape ana material the mirrors Of later
historical Greece.
Many and various were the gems tboy
wore, both men and women. crystal, agate.
onyx, chalcodony, cornelian, jasper
amethyst. Scissors seem to have been un.
known; no wonder, then, that men prefer
red 10 wear their hair long The excava-
lions however. have furnished us with
several specimens Of ancient razors. They
are made OF bronze, and trials made in
modern times have shown that these In
struments take on a good edge. According
ly II Is not surprising to find that the old
Mykenaeans used to shave. However. The
monuments show that only In the second
period OF their greatness was the practice
of shaving general, and even then thew
usually shaved only the mustache. al
lowing the beard to grow down long into
| point.
We also learn what domestic animals
| these people had, chiefly the OK and the
| mule. sheep aud goats; chickens and other
, fowls they did not keep. This is not
strange. because, after all, 1t seems that
The goose was about tho only domestic
fowl even In as late as the time of Homer.
| These people lived on the produce of their
| fields and on the meat of goats. sheep, the
X, deer, hares, and especially the wild
boar. They seemed not to have cared for
| ish. but ate oysters and mussels. The
| fields which they titled produced various
kinds of grain Large casks of wheat
| have been found in the excavations, es-
| pecinlly at Thera. In the excavations on
the hill of Troy We're found large ouanti-
| ties of peas almost 5000 years old and
| yet SO freshly preserved that Don,held and
| his companions in 1893 enjoyed a soup
| made from some of them.
| These men could not only build strong
walls and Notifications, but also palaces,
utDrn n
| derstood the Use OF lead. brass and cop
| per. From bronze they II ado various and
accurate implements.
| Iron. however, WAS brt little used, and
| was so scarce that only ornaments were
| made from 1t: but from bronze and wood
and ivory. and kind of glass, and gold
| and silver they made many works OF
| art. Among the works OF art must be
| placed the beautiful cups found in q
| grave at Naphio, made of solid beaten gold
| with splenddly drawn representations OF
! cattle Among the gold ornaments may he
| classed the masks of gold found over the
faces of some of the corpses in graves at
| Mykcnae, and perhaps Intended TO be por-
! traits of the features Of the departed
| In accoutrcments Of war they seem to
| have made more progress In Weapons Tor
attack than in defensive arnor. Their
| weapons OF attack were swords. spear.
sling. bow ard arrow. Some fine speci-
| mems Of swords have been found, with
beautiful inlaid blades covered with en-
| cravings; these swords are about three
| feet long The hilt is remarkably short,
| being not more than three and one. third
| inches This shows bow email the hards
| of these old Mykenaenns must have been.
! In passing 1t is worth while to note also
that the hands of tie modern Greeks are
| usually quite small.
| The horse seems 10 have been an un-
usual animal. We did NOT expect 10 ma
| Mykenaeans employing cavalry III theil
| army E:en ages later, in the time OF
| Homer. horses were not used in battle
except merely to bring the heroes in
| their chariots from tho camp 10 the lent
ing place The heroes always Gisinounted
and fought on foot.
Much of our knowledge OF ms people
we owe to the happy fact that they We're
accustomed to put into the grave along
with tho coruse many articles that were
o, use 10 the person while alive ana we.
by opening these graves, discover these
ancient Implements and ornaments. Az
| Nvkenae We find two kinds OF tombs, name
Iv graves dur down perpendicular as Is
| The modern custom and secondly. graves
in thc form OF a suhterranean room, "ther
quadrangular and dome shaped, under 'he
slope of a hill with an entrance INTO IL
from the hillside. These last named tomns
| seem TO have bcrr butt 10y pepPie ~
fcrent from those who were buried IL the
Nor reasons that can not be mentioned
here II seems that the domod and chain- .
nor tornhs belonged to a i"oDle who had
lcng lived somewhere north OF olympus,
| while the ordinary grave tomps were 'he
last resting places Of people VINO were
one, lale dNclers at a previous lrrlou
of their existence. With ,hc h"li' OF t'o'y
we can build up a plausible theory. Homer
has given lis two names For the lnnablt-
ants of Observation-Disclosures ana Achaeai's
Tho Danaans seem TO have 1e"n the eailier
inhabitants. and were descended from 'pc
lake dwcllers that had lived do"h aiois
The shores of the Gulf If ARGOS. These
Danaans occupied Mykenae, under the
rule of their Persied Kings. until the Acha-
cans a tribe akin 10 them, came doWh
from Northern Greece, entered the Ie'op-
onnesos. and captured Mykehae about inc
year 1860 ID. c. ,, .,o
Although the Achaeans conquered the
Danaans. still the two people Ilvea lo-
en,hcr in harmony under Achaoan kings
for about 500 years. Then the l)orlans' Il
stronger tribe of Greeks. swept down upon
Mykenae and took it as their own inc
porians were at that time stiil haroatiahs'
The Danao- Achaoans fled from thelr buin
ing Nlykenae and went as eXiles INTO ASIA
Miner, carrying with them the traditions
of their past glory 49, .,,o.o ov
ACES later there arose among these eI =
lies n sweet voiced singer. who crystal
lied these faint grown traditions 'n'o
an Had and an odyssey.