Some of the oldest monuments of primitive Greece have been found at Mycenæ, Troy (Hissarlik), and Tiryns. These consist of domed tombs, such as the tomb of Agamemnon, or the so-called “Treasure-house” of Atreus, and others, as the rock-cut tombs. The site of ancient “Troy divine” was discovered by Dr. Schliemann in the year 1875, under the mound of the modern Hissarlik, in the Trojan plain, in the north-west corner of Asia Minor. The character of the stone, clay, wood, and lime materials, and similarity of the construction, enable the archæologist to place the remains found at these three places as belonging to the same epoch of time and style of art which has been called Mycenian. The oldest monument of Greek sculpture yet discovered is supposed to be the Lion’s Gate of the Mycenian Acropolis (Fig. 277). [Illustration: Fig. 277.—Perspective View of the Lion’s Gate. (P. & C.)] [Illustration: Fig. 278.—Alabaster Frieze, Tiryns. (P. & C.)] [Illustration: Fig. 279.—Plan of Fig. 278, Alabaster Frieze. (P. & C.)] Pausanias thus alludes to Mycenæ and Tiryns:—"A portion of the enclosure wall still remains, and the principal gate, with the lions over it. These (the walls) were built by the Cyclops who made the wall at Tiryns for Præteus. Among the ruins at Mycenæ is the fountain called Perseia, and the subterraneous buildings of Atreus and his children, in which their treasures were stored." [Illustration: Fig. 280.—Ivory Plaque from Mycenæ. (P. & C.)] [Illustration: Fig. 281.—Fragment of Frieze from Mycenæ. (P. & C.)] The sculptured lions are still there, so is the spring Perseia, and the wonderful treasure-house of Atreus is still the best preserved of all the domed tomb buildings of Mycenæ. [Illustration: Fig. 282.—Mycenian Palace, Second Epoch. Architrave and Frieze. (P. & C.)] [Illustration: Fig. 283.—Mycenian Palace, Second Epoch. Restoration of Entablature. (P. & C.)] [Illustration: Fig. 284.—Entablature of C. Selinous Temple. (P. & C.)] From the remains of Mycenian architecture, Messrs. Perrot and Chipiez have ingeniously restored some of the wooden construction of the palaces of that early period, and have assumed that, from these early wooden constructions of Mycenæ, the Greeks developed the renowned order of Doric architecture. We have seen that, in most countries, stone architecture, in its earliest stages, was but copies of the earlier wooden construction. The Doric order seems to have been no exception to this rule, for here again the stone-cutter has borrowed from the carpenter. To go back for some of the supposed beginnings of the Doric frieze, the alabaster frieze, shown in plan and elevation at Figs. 278 and 279, has been found in the ruins of a palace at Tiryns. [Illustration: Fig. 285.—Vase of Woman’s Form, Troy. (P. & C.)]