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REMARKS ON THE THESAURI OF THE GREEKS. 



[BY THE EDITOR.] 



The style of building adopted in the heroic ages of Greece for the 

 construction of the ancient Thesauri may be seen by consulting the 

 plates in Sir W. Gell's Argolis, which represent the treasury of 

 Atreus at Mycenae. We find this edifice described in Col. Squire's 

 Journals in the following manner. 



" Among the remarkable monuments of antiquity at Mycenae, is a 

 large conical subterraneous building of stone. From what we read 

 in Pausanias *, respecting the Thesaurus of Minyas, and from the 

 large stone over the entrance, compared with that now seen at 

 Orchomenus in Bceotia, it may be fairly presumed that this under- 

 ground building was the treasury of Atreus ; a conjecture in some 

 degree confirmed by small hooks of brass j* which are still seen in the 

 walls ; and on which were probably suspended ornaments or articles 

 of value belonging to the King of Mycenae. The building is of a 

 bee-hive form, 45 feet in diameter in the lower part ; and on entering 



* M. Bartholdy has since examined this singular structure, and has drawn the same 

 conclusion as Colonel Squire respecting the purpose for which it was erected, from com- 

 paring Pausanias's account of the Treasury at Minyas, with the actual building at 

 Mycenae. Une preuve plus que suffisante est celle qui se tire de la parfaite analogie de 

 ce monument avec le tresor de Minyas a Orchomene. Pausanias dit, " que ce tresor est en 

 pierre, et de forme ronde; la coupole ne s'eleve pas fort en pointe; la pierre la plus elevee 

 parait servir de clef a toute la voute;" toutes circonstances qui cadrent textuellement avec 

 la voute de Mycenes. — Voyage en Grece, i. 268. 



f Pausanias dit que l'on voit a Mycenes des chambres souterraines ou Atree et ses fils 

 gardoient leurs tresors. Ces cloux de bronze pourroient meme avoir servi a suspendre des 

 ecus et des armes, ou des tapis et de riches habits. — Bartholdy. 



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