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)
No. 473 represents the massive golden mask of the same body at the
north end of the first tomb;[361] unfortunately, the lower part of the
forehead has been so much pressed upon the eyes and the nose, that the
face is disfigured, and the features cannot be well distinguished. Highly
characteristic is the large round head, the enormous forehead, and the
small mouth with the thin lips.
In a perfect state of preservation, on the other hand, is the massive
golden mask of the body at the south end of the tomb (No. 474).[362]
Its features are altogether Hellenic and I call particular attention to
the long thin nose, running in a direct line with the forehead, which
is but small. The eyes, which are shut, are large, and well represented
by the eyelids; very characteristic is also the large mouth with
its well-proportioned lips. The beard also is well represented, and
particularly the moustaches, whose extremities are turned upwards to a
point, in the form of crescents.[363] This circumstance seems to leave
no doubt that the ancient Myceneans used oil or a sort of pomatum in
dressing their hair. Both masks are of _repoussé_ work, and certainly
nobody will for a moment doubt that they were intended to represent the
portraits of the deceased, whose faces they have covered for ages.
The question now naturally arises:--have they been made in the lifetime,
or after the death, of the persons? Probably after their death: but then
we wonder again how the masks can have been made so quickly; because
here, as in all hot climates, the dead are buried within twenty-four
hours after their decease; and this must have been the custom here at
all times. If Homer leaves the bodies of Patroclus and Hector for ten
or twelve days unburied, it was owing to peculiar circumstances; and if
they remained well preserved, it was that Thetis dropped ambrosia into
the veins of the former, and Apollo into those of the latter. However
that may have been with the bodies before us, we are amazed at the skill
of the ancient Mycenean goldsmiths, who could model the portraits of men
in massive gold plate, and consequently could do as much as any modern
goldsmith would be able to perform.
But this skill of the early Mycenean goldsmiths shows a great practice
in similar work, and it can leave no doubt that they were preceded by a
school of artists which had flourished for ages before such work could
be produced.
[Sidenote: CURIOUS GOLD CUPS.]
There was further found to the right of the body at the north end of the
sepulchre the very large gold drinking-cup, with one handle, represented
under No. 475. It is 6 in. in diameter, and as much in height; it has
a beautiful ornamentation in _repoussé_ work, divided by a rope-like
horizontal band into two compartments. The upper one represents a row
of arches, founded as it were on high pilasters of square cut stones,
and much resembling a Roman aqueduct; the lower compartment contains a
wedge-like ornamentation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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