Mycenæ: a narrative of researches and discoveries at Mycenæ and TirynsSchliemann, Heinrich
History
Mycenæ: a narrative of researches and discoveries at Mycenæ and Tiryns
Schliemann, Heinrich
Mycenae (Extinct city); Tiryns (Extinct city)
In the foreground, below the feet of the workmen who stand upon it,
can be seen the great double parallel circular row of slanting slabs,
inclined inwards, which were covered with cross slabs, and served
as benches of the Agora and as its enclosure. In the same line with
this double circular row of slabs are the twelve small tomb-like
water-reservoirs which we see in the direction of the Lions' Gate, and
between which is the entrance to the Agora, 7 feet broad. Thence the
circle of slabs slopes to the left of the spectator, from the rock to
the Cyclopean wall (12 feet high), which has been built with no other
intention than to sustain it, and to raise it almost to the level of its
continuation on the rock; but as will be seen, nearly all the slabs in
this part have tumbled down, and only a few have remained _in situ_. The
wall which supports the parallel double row can be well seen, slanting
down at an angle of 15° from the perpendicular, to the left of the
spectator. The four sculptured _stêlæ_ are hidden behind the large
standing slab just in front; of the unsculptured tombstones, two can be
seen to the right, on the side of the entrance to the Agora, and two more
on the side of the two horses. Therefore the ancient Agora of Mycenæ
comprises the whole space which we see enclosed by the great circle of
slabs.
[Illustration:
PLATE VII.
PANORAMIC VIEW OF DR. SCHLIEMANN'S EXCAVATIONS IN THE ACROPOLIS OF
MYCENÆ, WITH THE CIRCULAR AGORA IN THE FOREGROUND, WITHIN WHICH CAN BE
SEEN FOUR OF THE TOMBSTONES; AS DESCRIBED IN CHAPTER VI.]
In the middle is seen, in the background to the left, part of the steep
slope of Mount Eubœa, on whose summit is the open chapel of the prophet
Elias. In front, more to the right, is the great interior Cyclopean
wall, crowned by the ruins of a tower, which gives to the Acropolis a
particularly grand aspect. It forms part of a second enclosure. To the
right there is a good view of the Mount of the Acropolis, on the slope
of which remnants of inner enclosures can be seen in many places. All
the walls which are seen lower down are those of Cyclopean houses,
except the large supporting wall of the double parallel row of slabs,
of which a small part may be seen in the lower left-hand corner. Below,
to the right, are the ruins of the vast Cyclopean house, to which I
have repeatedly referred, and which, though we cannot of course form a
definite opinion, may well represent to an imagination enlightened by
the vivid descriptions of Homer and the tragedians, the Royal Palace of
Agamemnon and his forefathers.
* * * * *
NOTE.--I call the reader's particular attention to the Sectional
Plan, B B, which shows the depths of the Five Royal Sepulchres,
which are described fully in the two following chapters, beneath
the surface of the soil, as it was before my excavations.
FOOTNOTES:
[266] See No. 153, p. 98.
[267] See 'Atlas des Antiquités Troyennes', Pl. 98, No. 2073.
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