4 DB. SCHLIEMANN'S DISCOVERIES. 



is crowned by a small cliurcli dedicated to the Prophet Elias, is situated 

 the celebrated Acropolis of Mycense. It stands on a triangular shaped rock 

 132 feet in height and about 1,200 feet square, and is surrounded by cyclo- 

 pean walls from thirteen to forty feet in height. These walls are of three 

 different styles of architecture, and were doubtless built in three different 

 eras. One part is, like the walls of Tyrius, composed of large stones built 

 upon small ones ; another part composed of polj^gonal stones beautifully 

 joined. The third stj^le, situated near the Gate of Lions, is composed of 

 large square blocks of stone built in horizontal lines. The lower city was 

 situated to the south and southwest of the Acropolis, as is seen by the re- 

 mains of the cycloj^ean walls, houses and a bridge, all cyclopean ; also nine 

 treasure houses, and by the fragments of beautifully painted ancient clay 

 vases, with which the ground is literally covered. The position of the 

 town being principally on precipitous hills, the accumulation of earth is but 

 small ; and does not exceed eighteen inches in depth. 



Six of the treasure houses are shaped like farnaces, and are so called by 

 the inhabitants to-day. Five of them, it appears, were excavated in ancient 

 times; but the result was not, it is supposed, encouraging, as no attempt 

 was ever made to open a sixth, which was above ground, and could easily 

 have been excavated in a single day by a few workmen. Other two of 

 these treasure houses were conical in form, like the well-known one of 

 Atreus. One, situated near the Gate of Lions, is small, and was, it ap- 

 pears, excavated by the ancients. The one now being excavated seems to 

 be nearly as large as the treasure house of Atreus. Seven or eight work- 

 men were employed for about a fortnight before they succeeded in bringing 

 to light the upper part of the triangular opening into it, and about 1,000 

 cubic feet of earth had been removed before beginning to excavate the 

 treasure house itself. Twelve men were engaged for quite a fortnight in 

 opening the entrance of the Acropolis through the Gate of Lions. It was 

 blocked up by huge stones, which, it appears, were thrown down on to the 

 Argives when they were besieging the Acropolis, 468 years B. C. Such, 

 at least, is the opinion of Dr. Schliemann. At once to the left, after enter- 

 ing the gate, a small room has been found, the roof of which is formed of 

 a single large slab. It is so low one can hardly stand upright in it; though 

 so small, it must have been used by the doorkeeper. No ancient author 

 affirms that the ancient City of Mycenee was inhabited after its capture by 

 the Argives, when the inhabitants were driven away; but Dr. Schliemann 

 is convinced that it was again peopled, and that there was a new city exist- 

 ing for a long time, probably for more than tw^o centuries, because the sur- 

 face of the ground to a thickness of three feet is full of the remains of a 

 Greek age. This repeopling took place, according to Dr, Schliemann's 

 ideas, early in the fourth century B. C, and he thinks it was again devas- 

 tated in the second century B. C. This theory is sujoported by the fact 

 that matny coins of the Macedonian period have been found, and by the 

 entire absence of the coins of the Eoman epoch. The City of Mycenaj had 

 no coinage of its own. Under the comparatively modern Greek city quan- 

 tities of fragments of beautifully painted ancient vases have been found, 

 painted both inside and outside, the inside painting, from the variety of the 

 coloring and beauty of design, frequently far surpassing that of the out- 

 side. Some of the fragments have stags painted outside, and inside figures 

 of men and women. Perfect vases have frequently been met with having 

 two handles and a small pipe through which the liquids were poured in and 

 out. All these painted vases were made on a jiotter's wheel, except very 

 small ones, which were made by hand. Here were found, in August, more 

 than 200 figures of Juno, some entire, others broken. They are of baked 



