"'Ajax approached; before him, as a tower, His mighty shield he bore, seven-fold, brass-bound, The work of Tychius, best artificer That wrought in leather; he in Hyla dwelt. Of seven-fold hides the ponderous shield was wrought Of lusty bulls; the eighth was glittering brass.' "It is equally striking to compare the shield of the Treasure with the description of Sarpedon's shield, with its round plate of hammered copper (or bronze), and its covering of ox-hides, fastened to the inner edge of the rim by gold wires or rivets (_Iliad_ xii. 294-297): "'His shield's broad _orb_ before his breast he bore, Well wrought, _of beaten brass_, which the armorer's hand Had beaten out, and lined with stout bull's hide With golden rods, continuous, all around.' "The second object which I got out was a copper caldron with two horizontal handles. It is sixteen and one-half inches in diameter and five and one-half inches high; the bottom is flat, and is nearly eight inches in diameter. In the Iliad this vessel is used almost always as a caldron, and is often given as a prize at games; in the Odyssey it is always used for washing the hands or feet. This one shows the marks of a fearful conflagration, and near the left handle are seen two fragments of copper weapons (a lance and a battle-ax) firmly molten on. (See No. 25.) "The third object was a copper plate two-fifths of an inch thick, six and one-third inches broad, and seventeen and one-third inches long; it has a rim about one-twelfth of an inch high; at one end of it there are two immovable wheels with an axle-tree. This plate is very much bent in two places, but I believe that these curvatures have been produced by the heat to which the article was exposed in the conflagration; a silver vase four and three-fourths inches high and broad has been fused to it; I suppose, however, that this also happened by accident in the heat of the fire. (See No. 14.) "This remarkable object lay at the top of the whole mass, and I suppose it to have formed a hasp to the lid of the wooden chest in which the Treasure was packed. The fourth article I brought out was a copper vase five and one-half inches high and four and one-third inches in diameter. Thereupon followed a globular bottle of the purest gold, weighing 6,220 grains, or above one pound troy; it is nearly six inches high and five and one-half inches in diameter, and has the commencement of a zigzag decoration on the neck, which, however, is not continued all round. Then came a cup, likewise of the purest gold, weighing seven and one-fourth oz. troy; it is three and one-half inches high and three inches broad. (See Nos. 4 and 12.) [Illustration: PART OF MACHINE OF PRIAM.] [Illustration: JEWELRY OF GOLD AND STONES.]