Chapter I: Excavations at Tiryns

Situation of the City--Description by Pausanias--Cyclopean
Walls: meaning of the epithet--The Quarry--The rock of Tiryns
and its bordering Wall--Galleries, Gate, and Tower--Walls and
Terraces of the Acropolis--Mythical traditions and History of
Tiryns--Its destruction by the Argives--Its connection with the
myth of Hercules--Morasses in the Plain of Argos--The Walls of
Tiryns the most ancient monument in Greece--Pottery a test of
antiquity--Beginning of the Excavations--Cyclopean house-walls
and conduits--Objects discovered--Terra-cotta cows, and female
idols with cow's-horns--Both represent the goddess HERA BOÖPIS--A
bird-headed idol--A bronze figure, the only piece of metal at
Tiryns, except lead--No stone implements found--Pottery--Hellenic
remains outside the citadel, which was the primitive city--Proofs
of different periods of habitation--The later city of Tiryns--The
archaic pottery of Tiryns like that of Mycenæ--Its forms and
decoration denote higher civilisation than the rude walls
would lead us to expect--Older pottery on the virgin soil,
but no cows or idols--Probable date of the second nation at
Tiryns, about 1000 to 800 B.C.; of the Cyclopean walls, about
1800 to 1600 B.C.--No resemblance to any of the pottery in
the strata of Hissarlik, except the goblets--A human skeleton
found--Whorls--Estimate of soil to be moved at Tiryns--Greater
importance of MYCENÆ.

Tiryns, August 6, 1876.

* * * * *

In the south-east corner of the Plain of Argos, on the lowest and flattest of a group of rocky hills, which rise like islands out of the marshy lowlands, only eight stadia or one mile from the Gulf of Argos, was situated the ancient citadel of Tiryns, now called _Palæocastron_.[29] It was celebrated as the birthplace of Hercules and was famous for its gigantic Cyclopean walls, of which Pausanias says, "The circuit wall, which is the only remaining ruin (of Tiryns) was built by the Cyclopes. It is composed of unwrought stones, each of which is so large that a team of mules cannot even shake the smallest one: small stones have been interposed in order to consolidate the large blocks."[30]

[Sidenote: THE CYCLOPEAN WALLS.]

The usual size of the stones is 7 feet long and 3 feet thick, but I measured several which were 10 feet long and 4 feet thick. Judging by the masses of fallen stones, I think it probable that the walls, when entire, were not less than 60 feet high. Had the circuit wall consisted of wrought stones it would doubtless have disappeared ages ago, because its stones would have been used for the buildings in the neighbouring cities of Nauplia and Argos. But the wall was preserved on account of the enormous size of the blocks, for the later builders found it much more easy and convenient to cut the material they needed at the foot of the rocks than to destroy the wall and break up the blocks.

I may here mention that the name "Cyclopean walls" is founded on an error, being derived from the mythic legend that the Cyclopes were distinguished architects. According to Strabo (VIII. 6), the Cyclopes, seven in number, came from Lycia and erected in the Argolid walls and other buildings, which were known under the denomination "Cyclopean walls." According to Apollodorus (II. 2, 1) and Pausanias (II. 16, 4) they built the walls of Tiryns and Mycenæ. Probably in consequence of this the whole of Argolis is called "Cyclopean land."[31] There is of course no historical foundation for calling walls of huge blocks "Cyclopean," after the mythical giant race of the Cyclopes. But as the word has come into general use, I cannot avoid employing it.

It must be distinctly understood that not every wall built of stones, without any binding material, may be called "Cyclopean;" and that under that denomination are only comprised, firstly, the walls of large unwrought blocks, the interstices of which are filled in with smaller stones; secondly, the walls composed of large polygonal stones well fitted together; and, thirdly, the very ancient walls (such as we see in the Lions' Gate at Mycenæ) where immense quadrangular blocks, rudely wrought, are roughly put together in horizontal layers, but the joints not being quite straight, there remain small interstices between the stones. House or fortress walls of well-cut quadrangular slabs, which are closely joined without mortar, can never be called "Cyclopean;" and thus, even the large subterranean Treasuries at Mycenæ and Orchomenus can in no way claim this denomination, though they may belong to the remotest antiquity.[32]

The quarry from which these walls were built can easily be distinguished at the foot of a rock one mile distant, which is crowned by a chapel of the prophet Elias. But this quarry does not form a pit, such as we see at Syracuse, Baalbec, or Corinth. At Tiryns, as at Mycenæ, the Cyclopean builders have contented themselves with cutting away the blocks from the rocky surface.

[Sidenote: THE CITADEL OF TIRYNS.]

The flat rock of Tiryns, which is 900 feet long, from 200 to 250 feet broad, and from 30 to 50 feet high, extends in a straight line from north to south, and its margin is lined by the aforesaid Cyclopean circuit wall, which is from 25 to 50 feet thick, and in a pretty good state of preservation; but it is not always massive, being traversed by interior passages or galleries with ogival vaults, of which four can easily be discerned. One of these galleries, which is 90 feet long and 7 feet 10 inches broad and high and free from _débris_, has in its external wall six gate-like recesses or window openings, which reach down to the bottom. Their pointed arches are formed like the angle in the passage, merely by overlapping the ends of the courses of the masonry.[33]

These niches were most probably intended for archers, whilst the galleries themselves must have served for covered communications leading to armouries, guard-chambers, or towers. Of the other three galleries, two are in the south-eastern corner and run parallel to each other; the third, which traverses the western wall, seems to have served as a sally-port, and was probably concealed in some way or other.[34]

On the eastern side is the only gate, which is 15 feet broad. It is approached by a ramp 20 feet wide, which is supported by a wall of Cyclopean masonry.[35] The right flank of the gate is defended by a tower 43 feet high and 33 feet broad, which may have procured for the Tirynthians the credit of having been the first to build towers.[36] In this place the walls are better preserved than anywhere else, and they rise considerably above the flat summit of the mount within the Acropolis or citadel.

This citadel consists of an upper enclosure on the south, and a lower one on the north side; both are of about equal size, and are divided by an abrupt slope, 14 feet high, which was fortified by a Cyclopean wall of minor proportions. In this wall I perceive some stones shaped by art, and some even rectangular, which leads me to think that it belongs to a later time than the Cyclopean circuit walls. In the upper enclosure are a number of terraces supported by Cyclopean walls.

Through all antiquity the Greeks themselves looked upon the walls of Tiryns as a work of the demons. Pausanias[37] regards them as a structure more stupendous than the Pyramids of Egypt; and Homer manifests his admiration of them by the epithet "τειχιόεσσα," which he applies to Tiryns.[38]

[Sidenote: HISTORY OF TIRYNS.]

According to ancient tradition, Tiryns was founded (about 1400 B.C.) by Prœtus, who was its first king, and whose son Megapenthes ceded the town to Perseus, the builder of Mycenæ. Perseus gave it to Electryon, whose daughter Alcmena, the mother of Hercules, married Amphitryon, who was expelled by Sthenelus, the king of Mycenæ and Argos. Hercules conquered Tiryns and inhabited it for a long time, in consequence of which he is often called the Tirynthian.[39] On the return of the Heraclidæ (80 years after the Trojan war) Mycenæ itself, as well as Tiryns, Hysiæ, Mideia, and other cities, were forced to increase the power of Argos, and were reduced to the condition of dependent towns. Tiryns remained nevertheless in the hands of its Achæan population, and, together with Mycenæ, took part in the battle of Platææ with 400 men.[40] In consequence of this event the name of Tiryns was engraved, among those of the other Greek cities which had fought there, on the bronze column with the golden tripod-stand, which the Spartans dedicated as the tithe of the booty to the Pythian Apollo at Delphi. The glory which Tiryns thus acquired excited the envy of the Argives, who had taken no part in the Persian war, and who also began to consider that city as a very dangerous neighbour; particularly when it had fallen into the hands of their insurgent slaves (Γυμνήσιοι), who maintained themselves for a long time behind its Cyclopean walls and dominated the country.[41] The insurgents were finally subdued, but soon afterwards (Ol. 78, 1; 468 B.C.) the Argives destroyed the city, demolished part of its Cyclopean walls, and forced the Tirynthians to emigrate to Argos.[42] But according to Strabo[43] they fled to Epidaurus. Pausanias[44] mentions that between Tiryns and the gulf are the "θάλαμοι" of the insane daughters of Prœtus, of which no vestige is to be seen now; they cannot have been underground buildings on account of the morass. Theophrastus[45] speaks of the laughing propensities of the Tirynthians, which rendered them incapable of serious work.[46]

The myth of the birth of Hercules at Tiryns and the twelve labours he performed for Eurystheus, the king of the neighbouring Mycenæ, may, I think, be easily explained by his double nature as hero and as sun-god.[47] As the most powerful of all heroes, it is but natural that he should be fabled to have been born within the most powerful walls in the world, which were considered as the work of supernatural giants. As sun-god he must have had numerous sanctuaries in the plain of Argos and a celebrated cultus at Tiryns, because the marshy lowlands by which it is surrounded, and which even at present are nearly unproductive from want of drainage, were in remote antiquity nothing but deep swamps and morasses, which extending far up the plain engendered pestilential fevers, and could only be made to disappear gradually by incessant human labour and by the beneficent influence of the sun.

For the existence of the immense morasses in the plain of Argos we have no less an authority than Aristotle, who says,[48] "At the time of the Trojan war, the land of Argos being swampy, it could only feed a scanty population, whilst the land of Mycenæ was good and was therefore highly prized. But now the contrary is the case, for the latter has become too dry and lies untilled, whilst the land of Argos, which was a morass and therefore lay untilled, has now become good arable land." Thus it will appear but natural that Hercules, as sun-god, should be fabled to have performed for Eurystheus, the king of Mycenæ, who possessed the whole plain of Argos, the twelve labours which have been long known to mean nothing else than the twelve signs of the zodiac, through which the sun appears to pass in the annual revolution of our globe.

The topography of the plain south of Tiryns appears not to have changed since the time of Aristotle, for the northern shore of the gulf consists of deep swamps, which even now extend for nearly a mile inland.

[Sidenote: BEGINNING OF WORK AT TIRYNS.]

I perfectly agree with the common opinion that the Cyclopean walls of Tiryns are the most ancient monument in Greece; but, having the conviction that no city or fortress wall can be more ancient than the most ancient pottery of the site it surrounds, I was very anxious to investigate the chronology of the Tirynthian walls by systematic excavations. I therefore proceeded to Tiryns on the 31st ultimo, in company with Mrs. Schliemann and my esteemed friends, Castorches, Phendikles and Pappadakes, Professors of Archæology in the University of Athens.

There I engaged fifty-one workmen, and dug a long broad and deep trench in the highest part of the citadel, and sank besides this thirteen shafts 6 feet in diameter.[49] I further sank three shafts in the lower part of the fortress, and four more at a distance of 100 feet outside the walls. In the higher citadel I struck the natural rock at a depth of from 11½ to 16½ feet; in the lower citadel, at from 5 to 8 feet; and outside the citadel I reached the virgin soil at from 3 to 4 feet.

In seven or eight of the shafts sunk in the upper citadel I brought to light Cyclopean house-walls built on the natural rock, and in three shafts I found Cyclopean water-conduits of a primitive sort, being composed of unwrought stones, laid without any binding material. Though these water-conduits rest on the rock, yet I cannot conceive how water can ever have run along them without getting lost through the interstices between the stones.

Neither in the long trench nor in the deep twelve or thirteen shafts did I find any stones at all. I conclude from this that the majority of the houses consisted of unburnt bricks, which still form the building material of most of the villages in the Argolid. The houses can hardly have been of wood, for, if so, I should have found large quantities of ashes. All my excavations in Tiryns remain of course open, and visitors are invited to inspect them.

Among the objects discovered I must first mention the small terra-cotta cows, of which I collected eleven,[50] for they seem to solve a great problem, and are, at all events, of capital importance to science. Nearly all of them are covered with painted ornaments of red colour; one only has a black ornamentation.

[Sidenote: COWS OF TERRA-COTTA.]

[Sidenote: IDOLS OF HERA.]

At the same time I found nine female idols, seven of which are painted with red and two with black or dark yellow ornaments.[51] They have a very compressed face, no mouth, and a "polos" on the head; of the idol No. 8 the head is missing, and the idol, No. 10, has a broader face and an uncovered head. The breasts of all these idols are in high relief, and below them on each side protrudes a long horn, in such a way that both horns together must either be intended to represent the moon's crescent or the two horns of the cow, or both the one and the other at the same time. I found cows and idols perfectly similar, three years ago, in the thirty-four shafts I sank in the Acropolis of Mycenæ, which city was close to the great Heræum and was celebrated for its cultus of Hera, whose cow-character and identity with the Pelasgic moon and cow-goddess Io, with the Bœotian goddess Demeter Mycalessia, and with the Egyptian moon-goddess Isis,[52] I have already sufficiently proved.[53] My opinion is also shared by the high authority of the Right Honourable W. E. Gladstone, who says in his celebrated work, 'Homeric Synchronism,' p. 249: "The goddess Isis, mated with Osiris, is represented with the cow's head on some of the Egyptian monuments.[54] She is identified by Herodotus with Demeter: but Demeter and Herè are very near, and Herè seems in Homer to be the Hellenic form which had in a great degree extruded Demeter from many of her traditions, and relegated her into the insignificance which belongs to her in the poems. The epithet Boöpis seems therefore possibly to indicate a mode of representing Herè which had been derived from Egypt, and which Hellenism refined.

No. 4. (2½ M.)

No. 5. (1½ M.)

No. 6. (2½ M.)

No. 7. (3 M.)

Nos. 3-7. Terra-Cotta Cows, from Tiryns. Actual size.]

No. 9. (2½ M.)

No. 10. (2 M.)

No. 11. (1 M.)

Nos. 8-11. Terra-Cotta Idols from Tiryns. Actual size.]

[Sidenote: EXCAVATIONS AT TIRYNS.]

"It must, however, be borne in mind that the Egyptian representation was not with the eyes, but with the full countenance and head, of the ox or cow; and further, that the Homeric epithet is not confined to Herè, but is applied to Klumené, one of the attendants of Helen,[55] and to Philomedousa, wife of Areithoos.[56] It is likewise given to Halié, one of the Nereid Nymphs.[57] The inference, probable though not demonstrative, would seem to be that in Homer's time the epithet had come to bear its later and generalised sense, and that the recollection of the cow had worn away."

I therefore do not hesitate to declare that both the cows and the horned female figures found at Mycenæ and Tiryns must needs be idols of Hera, who was the tutelar deity of both cities.

All the above idols, in the form of a cow and of a horned female, were found at a depth of from 3 to 11½ feet below the surface, and none at a greater depth.

Several terra-cotta idols of a different form were found; one of them at a depth of 8 feet.[58] This also seems to be a female idol; its two hands are joined on the breast, as if in the attitude of prayer; the head, which is uncovered, exactly resembles a bird's head, and at the first glance one is involuntarily struck by the resemblance of this idol to those on one of the many painted figures of the Attic vases with geometrical patterns which are preserved in the small collection of antiquities in the Ministry of Public Instruction at Athens,[59] and which have been until now considered to be the most ancient pottery in Greece. But I hope to prove in the subsequent pages that this is a great mistake, and that they must belong to a later period.

Of the idol No. 11 there remain only the neck and the head, which very much resembles an owl's head.

Except lead, the only piece of metal found was a beautiful archaic male figure of bronze, wearing a Phrygian cap, and seemingly in the attitude of throwing a lance (see No. 12). But copper or bronze at least, if not iron, must have been extensively used at Tiryns, for I did not find there a single implement of stone.

The surface of the citadel is scantily strewn with potsherds of the Middle Ages, and probably of the time of the Frank dominion, for that period seems to be indicated by the chalk floors of a villa and its dependencies. These potsherds, as well as entire vases of the same fabric, are sometimes found as far down as 3 feet, but immediately below them follow archaic potsherds, which are usually met with at as little as a few inches under the surface; and thus it is evident that the site of the citadel of Tiryns was never inhabited from the time of the capture of the city by the Argives (468 B.C.) to about 1200 A.D.

[Sidenote: POTTERY AND COINS FOUND AT TIRYNS.]

But in the four shafts which I sank outside the citadel I found nothing but remains of Hellenic household vessels, which, judging by the potsherds, I am inclined to attribute to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries B.C. I am confirmed in this conjecture by quite a treasure of small Tirynthian copper coins, discovered some years ago at the foot of the citadel, and evidently of the Macedonian time. These medals, which are of splendid workmanship, show on one side the head of Apollo with a diadem, on the other a palm-tree with the legend ΤΙΡΥΝΣ. Thus there can be no doubt that the most ancient city of Tiryns was confined to the small space within the walls of the citadel, and that a new city, with the same name, was built outside of it some time after the capture by the Argives, and probably in the beginning of the 4th century B.C. This city seems to have extended especially to the east and still more to the north side of the citadel, where a number of its house-walls may be seen on the road to Mycenæ. From the absence of pottery of a later period I conclude that the new town was already abandoned before the Roman rule in Greece. It seems to have been quite insignificant, for it is not mentioned by any ancient author.

The Tirynthian archaic pottery is of precisely the same fabric, and has the same painted ornamentation, as the pottery of Mycenæ. There are the same tripods, with from one to five perforations in each foot; the same large vases, with perforated handles and holes in the rim of the bottom for suspension by a string; the same fantastically-shaped small vases, jugs, pots, dishes, and cups--all made on the potter's wheel, and usually presenting, on a light red dead ground, the most varied painted ornamentation of a lively red colour, which seems to be quite indestructible; for the thousands of potsherds with which the site of Mycenæ is covered have lost nothing of their freshness of colour, though they have been exposed for more than 2300 years to the sun and rain.

I dug up at Tiryns a large quantity of fragments of terra-cotta goblets, which, like those found at Mycenæ, are of white clay, and without any painted ornaments;[60] but they are not found beyond a depth of 8 feet below the surface. At a depth of from 8 to 10 feet I found only goblets of a greenish or dark red colour. All of them have the form of the large modern Bordeaux wine-glasses.

[Sidenote: PROBABLE DATE OF THE POTTERY.]

All this splendid pottery denotes a high civilisation, such as the men who built the Cyclopean city walls can hardly have reached. Hence, all this beautiful pottery was either imported, or (and this appears more likely) it has been manufactured by the nation which succeeded the Cyclopean wall-builders, and to these latter must belong all the hand-made monochromatic pottery which I found in Tiryns on and near the virgin soil. The colour of this pottery is that of the clay itself, which on the vast majority of the smaller vases has been wrought by hand-polishing to a lustrous surface; nearly all the black vases have been hand-polished both on the inside and outside, and are very pretty. All the larger jars are bulky, as well as many of the other large vases; and many of them have on each side a very short handle placed horizontally, with a broad hole, which may have been used for suspension by a string. In this stratum I found neither cows nor female idols. Of this hand-made pottery I have been fortunate enough to take out, besides hundreds of fragments, two entire vases, of which I give the drawings annexed (Nos. 13 and 14).[61]

With regard to the chronology of the Tirynthian pottery, if the date of about 1400-1200 B.C., generally attributed to the most ancient Attic vases, were correct, we might perhaps assign a like date to the establishment in Tiryns of the second nation; for to the same period must be ascribed the bird-headed idol described above,[62] and a quantity of fragments of very ancient painted vases with similar patterns. But for several reasons, which will hereafter be explained, I am unable to attribute these vases to a remoter age than from 1000 to 800 B.C., and I cannot therefore admit the settlement of the second nation at Tiryns to have taken place at an earlier epoch. It will probably for ever remain mere guesswork to what date belongs the stratum of hand-made pottery on and near the virgin soil; but if we suppose that the most ancient examples of this pottery are older, by 800 years, than the most ancient painted vases of the second nation, and that, consequently, the building of the Cyclopean walls of Tiryns was from 1800 to 1600 B.C., I think we shall be very near the right date. I have vainly endeavoured to recognise an affinity between the primitive Tirynthian pottery and that of any one of the four prehistoric cities of Troy. After mature consideration, I find that there is no resemblance whatever, except in the goblets whose form is also found in the oldest prehistoric city on Mount Hissarlik.

Not the least interesting object I discovered at Tiryns was the skeleton of a man at a depth of 16½ feet. The bones are partly petrified, but I attribute this merely to the nature of the soil in which the skeleton has been imbedded. Some of the bones had swollen considerably owing to the damp, and this may also be the case with the lower jawbone, which is enormously thick. Unfortunately I have been able to save only part of the skull.

I have still to mention that in all the prehistoric strata I found very small knives of obsidian; but, as before stated, no weapon or implement of stone. Many small conical whorls of blue or green stone[63] were found in the strata of the nation second in succession, but only two very rude ones of baked clay.

Taking the average depth of the virgin soil in the upper and lower citadels, as ascertained by my shafts, to be 11·66 feet, I find by accurate calculation, that the quantity of _débris_ to be removed at Tiryns does not fall short of 36,000 cubic metres. From this, however, are to be deducted the cubic contents of the Cyclopean house-walls, of the curious water-conduits and of a couple of cisterns (only one of which, however, I have been able to find), on the south side. I hope to accomplish this work some day, but first of all I must finish the much more important excavation in the Acropolis of Mycenæ, and of the Treasury close to the Lions' Gate, which I intend to commence forthwith. I know that, after Troy, I could not possibly render a greater service to science than by excavating at Mycenæ; because if, as is probable, the Cyclopean walls of its Acropolis belong to the same remote antiquity as the walls of Tiryns, the architecture of its Treasuries is at all events more modern, and there can be no doubt whatever that such was in general use in the time of Homer, who describes it by the phrase θάλαμοι ξεστοῖο λίθοιο ("chambers of polished stone").

My esteemed friends, Professors Castorches, Phendikles, and Pappadakes return to-day to Athens.

[Sidenote: NOTE ON HERA BOÖPIS.]

NOTE A.--"HERA BOÖPIS."

I extract the following from my Paper on Troy, read on the 24th
of June 1875, before the Society of Antiquaries in London.

It has been said by a great scholar,[64] that, whatever else the
Homeric epithet γλαυκῶπις may mean, it cannot mean
owl-headed, unless we suppose that Ἡρη Βοῶπις was
represented as a cow-headed monster. I found in my excavations at
Troy three splendid cow-heads with long horns of terra-cotta,[65]
and I believe them to be derived from Hera idols, but I cannot
prove it. But it is not difficult to prove that this goddess
had originally a cow's face, from which her Homeric epithet
βοῶπις was derived. When in the battle between the gods and the
giants, the former took the shape of animals, Hera took the form
of a white cow, "nivea Saturnia vacca."[66] We find a cow's
head on the coins of the island of Samos, which had the most
ancient temple of Hera, and was celebrated for its worship of
this goddess.[67] We further find the cow's head on the coins of
Messene, a Samian colony in Sicily.[68] The relation of Hera to
the cow is further proved by the name Εὔβοια, which was at once
her epithet,[69] the name of one of her nurses,[70] the name of
the island in which she was brought up,[71] and the name of the
mountain at the foot of which her most celebrated temple (the
Heræon) was situated.[72] But in the name Εὔβοια is contained
the word βοῦς. Hera had in Corinth the epithet
βουναία,[73] in which the word βοῦς is likewise contained.
White cows were sacrificed to Hera.[74] The priestess rode in a
car drawn by white bulls to the temple of the Argive Hera.[75]
Iö, the daughter of Inachus, the first king of Argos, was changed
by Hera into a cow.[76] Iö was priestess of Hera,[77] and she is
represented as the cow-goddess Hera.[78] Iö's cow-form is further
confirmed by Æschylus.[79] The Egyptian goddess Isis was born
in Argos, and was identified with the cow-shaped Iö.[80] Isis
was represented in Egypt as a female with cow-horns, like Iö in
Greece.[81]

[Sidenote: NOTE ON HERA BOÖPIS.]

The cow-shaped Iö was guarded in Hera's sacred grove at Mycenæ
by the hundred-eyed Argus, who was killed by Hermes, by order
of Zeus; and Hera next persecuted Iö by a gad fly, which forced
her to wander from place to place.[82] Thus Prometheus says:
"How should I not hear the daughter of Inachus, who is chased
around by the gad fly?" But the wandering of Iö is nothing else
than the symbol of the moon, which restlessly moves in its
orbit. This is also shown by the very name of Iö (᾽Ιώ), which
is derived from the root I (in εἶμι, _I go_). Even in classical
antiquity Iö was still frequently represented as a cow; as at
Amyclæ.[83] Iö continued to be the old name of the moon in the
religious mysteries at Argos.[84] Apis, king of the Argive
realm, was the son of Phoroneus, and thus the grandson of
Inachus, and the nephew of Iö. From Apis, the Peloponnesus and
also Argos were called _Apia_; after his death he was worshipped
under the name Serapis.[85] According to another tradition,
Apis ceded his dominion in Greece to his brother, and became
king of Egypt,[86] where, as Serapis, he was worshipped in
the shape of a bull. Æschylus makes the wanderings of Iö end
in Egypt, where Jove restores her to her shape, and she bears
Epaphus, another name for the bull-god Apis. The cow-horns of
the Pelasgian moon-goddess Iö, who became later the Argive Hera
and is perfectly identical with her, as well as the cow-horns
of Isis, were derived from the symbolic horns of the crescent
representing the moon.[87] No doubt Iö, the later Hera, had
at an earlier age, besides her cow-horns, a cow's face. Hera,
under her old moon-name Iö, had a celebrated temple on the site
of Byzantium, which city was said to have been founded by her
daughter Keroëssa--i.e., "the horned."[88] The crescent, which
was in all antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages the symbol
of Byzantium, and which is now the symbol of the Turkish empire,
is a direct inheritance from Byzantium's mythical foundress,
Keroëssa, the daughter of the moon-goddess Iö (Hera); for it is
certain that the Turks did not bring it with them from Asia, but
found it already an emblem of Byzantium. Hera, Iö, and Isis, must
at all events be identical also with Demeter Mycalessia, who
derived her epithet "the lowing," from her cow-shape, and had her
temple at Mycalessus in Bœotia. She had as door-keeper Hercules,
whose office it was to shut her sanctuary in the evening,
and to open it again in the morning.[89] Thus his service is
identical with that of Argus, who in the morning unfastens the
cow-shaped Iö, and fastens her again in the evening to the olive
tree,[90] which was in the sacred grove of Mycenæ, close to the
῾Ἡραῖον.[91] The Argive Hera had, as the symbol of fertility,
a pomegranate, which, as well as the flowers with which her
crown was ornamented, gave her a telluric character.[92]

In the same way that in Bœotia the epithet Mycalessia, "the
lowing," a derivation from μυκᾶσθαι, was given to Demeter, on
account of her cow-form, so in the plain of Argos the name of
Μυκῆναι, a derivative from the same verb, was given to the city
most celebrated for the cultus of Hera, and this can only be
explained by her cow-form. I may here mention that Μυκάλη was
the name of the mount and promontory directly opposite to and in
the immediate neighbourhood of the island of Samos, which was
celebrated for the worship of Hera.

In consideration of this long series of proofs, certainly no one
will for a moment doubt that Hera's Homeric epithet βοῶπις shows
her to have been at one time represented with a cow's face, in
the same way as Athena's Homeric epithet γλαυκῶπις shows this
goddess to have once been represented with an owl's face. But
in the history of these two epithets there are evidently three
stages, in which they had different significations. In the first
stage the ideal conception and the naming of the goddesses took
place, and in that naming, as my esteemed friend Professor Max
Müller rightly observed to me, the epithets were figurative
or ideal, that is, natural. Hera (Iö), as deity of the moon,
would receive her epithet βοῶπις from the symbolic horns of the
crescent moon and its dark spots, which resemble a face with
large eyes; whilst Athena, as goddess of the dawn, doubtless
received the epithet γλαυκῶπις to indicate the light of the
opening day.

In the second stage of these epithets the deities were
represented by idols, in which the former figurative intention
was forgotten, and the epithets were materialised into a cow-face
for Hera, and into an owl-face for Athena; and I make bold to
assert that it is not possible to describe such cow-faced or
owl-faced female figures by any other epithets than by βοῶπις
and γλαυκῶπις. The word πρόσωπον for 'face,' which
is so often used in Homer, and is probably thousands of years
older than the poet, is never found in compounds, whilst words
with the suffix ειδης refer to expression or likeness in general.
Thus, if Hera had had the epithet of βοοειδής, and Athena that
of γλαυκοειδής, we should have understood nothing else
but that the former had the shape and form of a cow, and
the latter that of an owl.

To this second stage belong all the prehistoric ruins at
Hissarlik, Tiryns, and Mycenæ.

The third stage in the history of the two epithets is when, after
Hera and Athena had lost their cow and owl faces, and received
the faces of women, and after the cow and the owl had become the
attributes of these deities, and had, as such, been placed at
their side, βοῶπις and γλαυκῶπις continued to be used
as epithets consecrated by the use of ages, and probably with the
meaning "large-eyed," and "owl-eyed." To this third stage belong
the Homeric rhapsodies.

THE WEST SIDE OF THE ACROPOLIS OF MYCENÆ.

In the background is the principal summit of Mount Eubœa, 2500 feet high, crowned with an open Chapel of the Prophet Elias.

To face page 23.]

FOOTNOTES:

[29] See Plan A. and Plate I. The etymology of the name Tiryns (probably a Pelasgic word) is difficult to explain. It is very probable that the city was originally called Licymnia, for Strabo (VIII. p. 373) says that a citadel with that name is twelve stadia from Nauplia, and this distance perfectly agrees with that of Tiryns from the latter city. He does not distinctly say that he alludes to Tiryns; but this is very probable, because Pindar says (_Olymp._ 7, v. 47):

καὶ γὰρ ᾽Αλκμήνας κασίγνητον νόθον
σκάπτῳ θένων,
σκληρᾶς ἐλαίας ἔκταν᾽ ἐν Τί-
ρυνθι Λικύμνιον, ἐλθίντ᾽ ἐκ θαλάμου
Μιδέας,
τῖς δέ ποτε χθονὸς οικιστὴρ χολωθείς.

'Because he (Tlepolemus) killed in wrath with a stick of the hard olive-tree Alcmena's bastard brother Licymnius, who descended from Midea's nuptial chamber and was the builder of the city.' Apollodorus (II. 8, 2) confirms this, but says that he killed him accidentally: Τληπόλεμος οὖν, κτείνας οὐχ ἑκὼν Λικύμνιον τῇ βακτηρίᾳ γὰρ αὐτοῦ θεραπεύοντα πλήσσοντος ὑπέδραμε, 'Tlepolemus involuntarily killed Licymnios, who approached him when he was chastising his servant with a stick.'

Eustathius (_ad loc._) says that the first name of Tiryns was Haliis or Haleis, fishermen having been the first settlers on the rock; this is also confirmed by Stephanus Byzantinus (_s.v._ Τίρυνς). Pausanias (II. 25, 8) says that the city received its name from the hero Tiryns, a son of Argos.

[30] Paus. II. 25, 8. Τὸ δὴ τεῖχος, ὃ δὴ μόνον τῶν ἐρειπίων λείπεται, κυκλώπων μέν ἐστιν ἔργον, πεποίηται δὲ ἀργῶν λίθων, μέγεθος ἔχων ἕκαστος λίθος ὡς ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν μηδ᾽ ἂν ἀρχὴν κινηθῆναι τὸν μικρότατον ὑπὸ ζεύγους ἡμιόνων· λίθια δὲ ενήρμοσται πάλαι ὡς μάλιστα αὐτῶν ἕκαστον ἁρμονίαν τοῖς μεγάλοις λίθοις εἶναι.

[31] γᾶ κυκλωπία (Euripides, _Orestes_, 965).

[32] Cf. Ch. II. p. 28. It should also be observed that these forms of construction do not invariably denote successive steps of antiquity and the art of building. Unhewn boulders, rough quarried stones, and those which had a polygonal cleavage due to their nature, were often used for convenience by builders who were quite able to work quadrangular blocks, as is proved by walls in which the former kinds are placed _above_ the last. See Mr. E. H. Bunbury's "Cyclopean Remains in Central Italy," in the 'Classical Museum,' 1845, vol. ii. pp. 147. _seqq._, and the article MURUS in Dr. Smith's 'Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.'

[33] See the margin of Plan A.

[34] Dodwell ('A Classical and Topographical Tour through Greece') and Prof. Ernst Curtius (_Peloponnes_) consider this gallery to be a second gate, which I think impossible, as it leads straight out into the plain.

[35] Colonel Leake states ('Travels in the Morea,' Vol. II. p. 351) that the principal entrance of Tiryns is on the south side, adjacent to the south-east angle. He is right if he speaks of the present day, for there has indeed been made at that point in modern times a zigzag roadway, leading up the steep slope; but there was most decidedly no gate or entrance whatever here in ancient times.

[36] Aristotle and Theophrastus, _ap._ Plin. _H. N._ VII. 56. Pliny says that the former of these authors attributes the building of towers to the Cyclopes, the latter to the Tirynthians.

[37] Paus. IX. 36.

[38] _Iliad_, II. 559:--Οἳ δ᾽ ῎Αργος τ᾽ εἶχον Τίρυνθά τε τειχιόοεσσαν.

[39] Pind. _Ol._ XI. 40; Ovid, _Met._ VII. 410; Virgil, _Æn._ VII. 662.

[40] Herodot. IX. 28.

[41] Herodot. VI. 83.

[42] Paus. II. 17, 5; VIII. 27, 1.

[43] VIII. p. 373.

[44] Il. 15, 9.

[45] _Apud_ Athenæum, VI. 261.

[46] Theophrastus adds that, desirous to get rid of their propensity to laugh, the Tirynthians consulted the oracle at Delphi, and got the god's answer that, if they could sacrifice an ox to Poseidon and throw it into the sea, without laughing, the evil would at once cease. The Tirynthians, who feared to fail in the execution of the god's command, forbad the children to be present at the sacrifice. But one of them having heard this, and having mixed in the crowd, they cried out at him to drive him away, on which he exclaimed, "How, are you afraid that I shall upset your sacrifice?" This excited universal laughter, and they became convinced that the god intended to show them by experience that an inveterate evil custom cannot be remedied.

[47] Max Müller, 'Essays,' II. 79.

[48] Aristot. _Meteorol._ I. 14.

[49] The exact depths are indicated by the proportional numbers appended to the sectional plans of the excavations in the margin of Plan A.

[50] See Nos. 2-7, and the coloured Plate A, figs. a, b.

[51] See Nos. 8-11 on p. 12, and the coloured Plate A, fig. d.

[52] To these may be added the Syrian and Phœnician Ashtoreth.

"Astarte, _queen of heaven, with crescent horns_,
To whose bright image nightly, _by the moon_,
Phœnician virgins paid their vows and songs."--

Milton, _Par. Lost_, Bk. I. vv. 439-441.

[53] See note A.--"HERA BOÖPIS," at the end of this chapter.

[54] See Bunsen's 'Egypt,' Vol. I. p. 420 (Transl.).

[55] _Il._ III. 144.

[56] _Il._ VII. 10.

[57] _Il._ XVIII. 40.

[58] See the coloured Plate A, fig. c.

[59] Published by Dr. G. Hirschfeld ('Vasi Arcaici Ateniesi, estratto dagli Annali dell' Instituto di Corr. Archeol.,' 1872. Roma).

[60] Such as the goblet represented on p. 70, No. 83.

[61] _To each object is attached a number denoting the exact depth in meters at which it was found; so e.g. 3½ M. means 3½ meters; each meter has about 3⅓ feet. I call particular attention to this._ In order to retain the precision of these numbers, and to avoid the labour and chance of error in converting them into feet and inches, a comparative table of French and English measures is prefixed to the book.

[62] See p. 13, and the coloured Plate A, fig. c.

[63] These are exactly like the whorls found at Mycenæ. See No. 15.

]

[64] Professor Max Müller, in the 'Academy,' January 10, 1874.

[65] See 'Troy and its Remains,' p. 294.

[66] Ovid, _Metam._ V. 330.

[67] Mionnet, 'Descr. des Méd. Ant.' pl. lxi. 6.

[68] Millingen, 'Anc. Coins of Greek Cities,' tab. ii. 12.

[69] Pausanias, II. 22, 1, 2.

[70] Plut. _Quæst. Conviv._ III. 9, 2; Etym. Mag. 388, 56.

[71] Plut. Fr. _Dædal._ 3.

[72] Paus. II. 17, 1.

[73] Paus. II. 4, 7.

[74] Paus. IX. 3, 4; Hesych. _s. v._ ἄγαν χαλκεῖος.

[75] Herod. I. 31.

[76] Lucian, Θεῶν Διάλ. 3; Diod. Sic. I. 24, 25; Herod. II. 41.

[77] Æsch. Suppl. 299; Apollod. II. 1, 3--

Κληδοῦχον Ἡρας φασὶ δωμάτων ποτὲ
᾽Ιὼ γενέσθαι τῇδ ἔν ᾽Αργείᾳ
χθονί,--.

[78] Creuzer, 'Symbolik,' II. 576.

[79] _Prom._ 573, seq. and Hygin. _Fab._ 145.

[80] Diod. Sic. I. 24, 25; Apollod. II. 1, 3; Hygin. 145.

[81] Herod. II. 41.

[82] Apollod. II. 1, 3; Æschyl. _Prom._, 585: πῶς δ'οὐ κλύω τῆς οὶστροδινήτου κόρης τῆς ᾽Ιναχείας.

[83] Paus. III. 18, 13.

[84] Eustath. _ap._ Dionys. Perieg. 92, 94, Ιὼ γὰρ ἡ σελήνη κατὰ τὴν τῶν ᾽Αργείων διάλεκτον, on which Heyne, _ad_ Apollod. p. 100, says: "fuisse suspicor nomen hoc caputque feminæ cornutum symbolum Lunæ apud Argivos antiquissimum." See also Jablonsky, _Panth._ II. p. 4 ff.

[85] Apollod. II. 1, 1; Schol. Lykophr. 177; Schol. Apoll. Rhod. IV. 263; Steph. Byz.

[86] Euseb. _Chron._ Pars I. pp. 96, 127, 130, ed. Aucher; Augustin. _de Civit. Dei_, XVIII. 5.

[87] Diod. Sic. I. 11; Plut _de Is. et Os._ 52, compare c. 39; Macrob. _Sat._ I. 19; Ælian, _Hist. Anim._ X. 27.

[88] O. Müller, _Dorier_, I. 121; Steph. Byz. _s.v._ Βυζάντιον.

[89] Paus. IX. 19, 4.

[90] Ovid. _Metam._ I. 630

[91] Apollod. II. 1, 3.

[92] Panofka, 'Argos Panoptes,' tab. ii. 4; Cadalvène, 'Recueil de Méd. Gr.' Pl. III. 1; Müller, 'Denkmäler,' XXX. 132; Duc de Luynes, 'Études Numismat.' pp. 22-25.

]