Chapter VIII

THE FOURTH TOMB IN THE ACROPOLIS OF MYCENÆ.

Further search within the Agora, without the guide of
tombstones--Discovery of an altar of Cyclopean masonry, over
the centre of the great _Fourth Tomb_, containing the bodies of
five men, burnt where they lay, laden with jewels, and covered
with a layer of white clay--Objects found--Copper caldrons, one
containing 100 gold-plated buttons with intaglio work--Homeric
mention of caldrons--A silver cow's head with gold horns and
a gold sun on its forehead: it represents Hera--Cow-heads
with axes--Swords and lances of bronze--Gold-plated wooden
sword-sheaths and hilts with gold pins--Three masks of gold
covering the faces of the bodies--A fourth mask, representing a
lion's head--Two seal-rings and a bracelet, with ornaments--The
state of art corresponds with that described in Homer--Golden
breastplates on two of the bodies--Golden crown by the head
of another--Golden ornament of the greaves--Borax used then,
as now, for soldering gold--More than one
δέπας ἀμϕικύκελλον,
and other vessels of gold and silver--The large gold goblet,
with doves on the two handles, like Nestor's cup in the
_Iliad_--Two-handled terra-cotta vases, hand-made, like
those at Troy--Ornaments of alabaster--Gold shoulder-belts
(τελαμῶνες)--Other objects found in the tomb, of rock
crystal, amber, alabaster--Golden diadems, some seemingly for
children; also a child's belt and frontlet, or "belle Hélène,"
and other ornaments of gold--Double edged battle-axes--Their
use by the Greeks as a symbol, especially at Tenedos--A funeral
fork of copper--Vase-lids of bone--Vessel of silver and lead in
shape of an animal--Buttons of wood, plated with gold, splendidly
ornamented--Their patterns and workmanship--Hundreds of gold
flowers, plain buttons, and other ornaments of gold--Larger gold
buttons, splendidly ornamented--Leaves of gold strewn under,
over, and around the bodies--Wooden comb with gold handle--Gold
models of temples--Many golden cuttle-fish--Gold knobs for
sword hilts, highly ornamented--Arrow-heads of obsidian--Boars'
teeth--Large copper vessels--Custom of placing such vessels in
tombs--A copper tripod--Uses of tripods in Homer--Bronze swords,
lances, and knives--Some swords with parts of their wooden
sheaths, alabaster handle-knobs, golden studs, &c.--Remnants
of linen sheaths--Oyster-shells and unopened oysters--Broken
pottery, indicative of a still existing funeral custom--The bones
of the deceased--Alabaster vases--Hand-made and very ancient
wheel-made pottery--Fragments of a characteristic form of goblet,
both of terra-cotta and of gold--Another type of goblets--Two
whetstones--A handle of unique work, gold encrusted with rock
crystal, "θαῦμα ἰδέσθαι." 211

NOTE ON THE ROYAL PALACE 288