Another strange peculiarity of this Mycenæan civilization is the absence of religious subjects. Images and pictures of their gods abound on all the monuments of Egypt and Chaldæa. Every frieze and tablet, every seal and scarabæus, is full of representations of Osiris and Isis, of Thoth and Ammon; or in Chaldæa of Bel, Merodach, and Istar, and their other pantheon of gods, each under its own symbolical form, and innumerable little idols or figurines attested their hold on the population. But at Troy, Tiryns, and Mycenæ there is nothing of the sort. Animals and mortal men are freely depicted on the vases, and moulded as ornaments for domestic utensils, but religious subjects are so scarce that it is even doubtful whether a few scanty specimens bear this character or not. There is a pit in the central court of the palace at Mycenæ which has been thought to be a sacrificial pit under an altar, but this rather because such an altar is described in Homer, than for any positive evidence. There are also a very few figurines of terra-cotta, which have been thought to be idols, because they are too clumsy to be taken for representations of the human figure by such skilled artists, and because they bear some sort of resemblance to the rude Phoenician idols of the goddess Astarte. But, with this exception, there is nothing at Troy or Mycenæ to indicate a belief in the Homeric or any other mythology. As a question of dates, we know that the supremacy of Mycenæ and its civilization came to an end with the invasion of the Dorians, which is generally placed about 1000 B.C. We know also that it must have had a long existence, but for anything approaching to a date we must refer to the few traces which connect it with Egypt. A scarabæus was found at Mycenæ with the name of Queen Ti engraved on it who lived in the thirteenth century B.C. Mycenæan vases have been found of the older type with lines and spirals, in Egyptian tombs of about 1400 B.C., and of the later type with animals in tombs of about 1100 B.C., and Mr. Flinders Petrie, by whom they were discovered, says that any error in these dates cannot exceed 100 years. Mycenæan pottery has also been found at Thera under volcanic ashes which geologists say were thrown up about 1500 B.C.