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)
[129] _Hercules Furens_, 974-944:
πρὸς τὰς Μυκήνας εἶμι λάζυσθαι χρεὼν
μοχλοὺς δικελλας θ᾽, ὡς τὰ κυκλώπων
βάθρα
φοίνικι κανόνι καὶ τύκοις ἡρμοσμένα
στρεπτῷ σιδήρῳ συντριαινώσω πόλιν.
[130] See Plate II.
[131] _Epistul. Mor._ 66, 26.
[132] See Plan D.
[133] See No. 16, p. 23.
[134] All these Treasuries are indicated on Plan D.
[135] See Plate IV., "Treasury of Atreus."
[136] Thus we read in Homer (Od. VII. 84-87):
῞Ὡστε γὰρ ἠελίου αἴγλη πέλεν ἠὲ
σελήνης,
Δῶμα καθ᾽ ὑψερεφὲς μεγαλήτορος
᾿Αλκινόοιο,
Χάλκεοι μὲν γὰρ τοῖχοι ἐρηρέδατ᾿
ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα,
᾽Ες μυχὸν ἐξ οὐδοῦ· περὶ δὲ θριγκὸς
κυάνοιο.
"Like the sun or the moon beam in bright splendour, so beamed the
high palace of the magnanimous Alcinoüs; for the brazen walls
extended from the threshold of the gate to the innermost part of
the building; their entablature was of blue steel."
Further the palaces of the immortal gods on Olympus must have been
thought to be also ornamented with brazen plates, because Homer says
(_Iliad_, I. 426): Διὸς ποτὶ χαλκοβατὲς δῶ,
"To the brazen house of Jove."
We also read in Pausanias (II. 23):
῎Αλλα δέ ἐστιν ᾽Αργείοις θέας
ἄξια · κατάγαιον οἰκοδόμημα, ἐπ᾽
αὺτο δὲ ἦν ὁ χαλκοῦς θάλαμος,
ὃν ᾽Ακρίσιός ποτε φρουρὰν τῆς
θυγατρὸς ἐποίησεν. Περίλαος
δὲ καθεῖλεν αὐτὸν τυραννήσας
· τοῦτό τε οὖν τὸ οἰκοδόμημά
ἐστι. "In Argos there are
still other remarkable objects: a subterranean vault, over which
was the brazen chamber which Acrisius made for his daughter
(Danaë's) prison; it was destroyed under the dominion of
Perilaüs, but the building still exists."
Further in Horace (_Carm._ III. 16):
"Inclusam Danaën turris ahenea
Robustæque fores et vigilum canum
Tristes excubiæ munierant satis
Nocturnis ab adulteris."
"A bronze tower, solid doors, and the severe watch of the
dogs, had been for the imprisoned Danaë a sufficiently strong
protection against nocturnal lovers."
Another case is the temple of _Athena Chalciœcus_ at Sparta, where King
Pausanias was put to death. The name of this sanctuary can of course
refer to nothing else than to the brazen plates with which the walls were
decorated.
My esteemed friend, Mr. Chas. T. Newton, of the British Museum, calls my
attention to Colonel Mure's article in the _Rheinisches Museum_, VIII.
272, in which the author states that General Gordon told him he had in
his collection in Scotland fragments not only of the bronze nails, but
also of the brazen plates of the Treasury of Atreus. At the same time
Colonel Mure quotes the passage of Sophocles (_Antigone_, 944-947):
ἔτλα καὶ Δανάας οὐράνιον φῶς
ἀλλάξαι δέμας ἐν χαλκοδέτοις αὐλαῖς·
κρυπτομένα δ' ἐν τυμβήρει θαλάμω
κατεζεύχθη.
("The body also of Danaë endured to exchange the heavenly light
against the darkness in the halls covered with brazen plates;
hidden in a sepulchral chamber, she was fettered").
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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