ANCIENT CHAMBERED TUMULI 41 



them in the Trojan War. Thus write? Homer in the 

 Iliad, vii., 89 : 



^rffjid re bi ykvaaHTLV ein TrXarei ' EWrjaTrövTO)' 

 Kdc 7T0Te ri? eirrjat, Kai o-^rL'ybvwv 'avOpcoircov, 

 Nr]i 7Tv\vk\i]IBi, 7t\£ü)v 'e7rl bivoira ttovtov, 

 'ApSpbs fj,ev rbSe crrjpba 7ra\ai Kararedv^wTO 1 ;. 



Another barrow is mentioned by Homer (Iliad ii., 60(j,) 

 in the prospect of Mount Cyllene, and spoken of as a 

 curious piece of antiquity, and as a landmark, even at the 

 time of the siege of Troy. Pausanias describes it as a 

 tumulus of earth, of no great size, surrounded at the 

 base with a circle of stones. (See also Archceologw, Vol. 

 ii v p. 236.) 



It is generally believed that the Celta? erected the me- 

 galithic monuments which are found in this and other 

 countries, being distributed from Scandinavia to India, 

 and found in America, especially in the north, for the 

 number of tumuli in Eoss County, Ohio, may be estimated 

 at 10,000. They are scarcely less numerous in Virginia 

 and the Kenhawas, and in other districts. " The same 

 types of construction and use," observes Mr. Lukis, " are 

 equally universal, and they are usually situated near the 

 sea, or the vicinity of some extent of water. It is evident, 

 from the universal distribution likewise of identical forms 

 of the stone implements accompanying them, that the 

 cromlech-building races sprang early from one central 

 typical stock. Central Asia, and the site of Nineveh, 

 produce genuine Celtic reliques." 



The date of these barrows will therefore extend from 

 the very earliest times ; indeed from the first dispersion of 

 the human race, or from as early a date as the Pyramids 

 of Egypt, to a comparatively very recent period. Nay, 



