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)
Of objects of gold there were further found in this tomb two ornaments
for greaves (κνημίδες), of which I represent one under No. 519. It
consists of an upper golden band, terminating in a ring which must have
served to attach it to a button, and a lower golden band, broad in the
middle and gradually diminishing in breadth towards the two extremities,
which has served to fasten the greave round the thigh. There is no
ornamentation on the upper band, where we see only a thicker tube-like
gold plate, which, being soldered to the rim of the ring, becomes
gradually smaller, and is fastened with small pins to the lower end
of the upper band, which it is intended to make more solid. The lower
horizontal band is decorated with _repoussé_ work, showing in the middle
three ornaments, composed of treble concentric circles of protruding
points, and at each end a branch with leaves.
[Sidenote: OBJECTS OF BONE AND IVORY.]
I have further to mention among the objects found in this tomb the
three tubes of bone, Nos. 520, 521, and 522, and the two bone buttons,
Nos. 523 and 524, the latter still having a fragment of the bone-stick,
which must have served as a syringe-handle in the three tubes, which
have undoubtedly been fastened together. We therefore have here in all
probability an ancient Mycenean clyster-pipe.
[Illustration: No. 525. Piece of Ivory: perhaps Handle of a Dagger.
Sepulchre I. Actual size.]
The object, No. 525, is a thick flat piece of ivory, and may have served
as handle to an ornamental dagger. The upper rounded end is slightly
concave, and we see engraved on it a double concentric circle with that
beautiful type of spiral ornamentation which so often occurs here. Below
it are four treble concentric circles and a band of three horizontal
lines.
The object, No. 526, in the form of a horse-shoe, is, according to
Professor Landerer, of Egyptian porcelain, which has been rubbed with
a lead-glazing before being put into the oven; by this process it has
got a glancing greenish colour. On the reverse side it is hollow, and
must therefore have been fastened on something else. All the objects now
described have evidently been much exposed to the funeral fire.
[Illustration: No. 526. An object of Egyptian Porcelain. Sepulchre I.
Actual size.]
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