Photo by A. S. and D. W. Iddii gs. Copyright by Keystone View Co. 

 THE GREEK OE TODAY 



Pardon the impious suggestion, ye who 

 worship only at the shrine of the classics, 

 but could it have been possible that Helen 

 of Troy was only a myth? Or, to put it 

 in another way, is it not possible, or even 

 probable, that the beautiful Helen was 

 only an impersonation, a figure of speech, 

 for these beautiful plains which the 

 Greeks coveted for their own sake ? The 

 valley of Argos, where ruled "Agamem- 

 non, king of men," the greatest monarch 

 of them all, could hardly have supported 



more than 10,000 farmers. Good, fertile 

 valley soil, accessible tc the sea, was cer- 

 tainly scarce in Greece and very desirable 

 to men like the sons of Atreus. 



Their stronghold, Mycenze, at the head 

 of the valley of Argos, where the famous 

 "Lion Gate of Alycense" still guards the 

 ancient threshold of Agamemnon and 

 Clytemnestra, was apparently the strong- 

 hold of a piratical race, whose vessels 

 roamed the seas. A people that could 

 send out expeditions after somebody's 



529 



