Chapter III

HISTORY OF MYCENÆ AND THE FAMILY OF PELOPS.

THE SEPULCHRES OF AGAMEMNON AND HIS COMPANIONS.

Traditional foundation of Mycenæ by Perseus--His dynasty
succeeded by the Pelopids--The legend of their crimes unknown
to Homer and Hesiod--The Homeric story of Agamemnon's murder by
Ægisthus and Clytemnestra, avenged by Orestes--Cycle of crimes
devised by the later bards--Dominion of Agamemnon--End of the
Dynasty at Mycenæ with Ægisthus--Orestes and his sons--The Dorian
invasion--Part taken by Mycenæ in the Persian wars--The Argives
besiege and take Mycenæ--The walls of the citadel preserved
from religious reverence--Homeric epithets of Mycenæ--Its
"abundance of gold" confirmed by Thucydides--The Treasuries of
the Pelopids mentioned by Pausanias--Treasury at the Heræum, near
Mycenæ--Probable existence of another Treasury at Mycenæ.

The _Royal Sepulchres_ described by Pausanias--General
misinterpretation of the passage--Experimental shafts sunk there
in February, 1874--Excavations begun, August 7, 1876--Porter's
lodge at the Lions' Gate--The later habitation of the city after
468 B.C.--No coins of Mycenæ known--Remains below this first
stratum--Painted archaic vases, like those at Tiryns--The vases
almost all made on the Potter's wheel--Female idols and cows of
terra-cotta--Other idols and animals--Iron knives and curious
keys of a later period--Bronze knives and arrow-heads--Stone
implements and other objects--A little gold and much lead
found--Fragments of a lyre and flute--Plates of ornamented
terra-cotta for lining walls--Cyclopean house-walls--A remarkable
water-conduit--Twelve tomb-like reservoirs--Two tombstones with
bas-reliefs, probably of the same epoch as that over the Lions'
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