562 



REMARKS ON THE THESAURI OF THE GREEKS. 



it, you find on the right hand, am adjoining chamber excavated in the 

 rock about 20 feet square. The whole of the large building was 

 lined or rivetted with masonry ; in the adjoining chamber the solidity 

 of the natural rock precluded the necessity of an artificial substitute. 

 The principal building is nearly 60 feet high ; the top is enclosed by 

 a single stone, and is level with the surface of a low height, on the 

 east side of which is the entrance into the treasury through a passage 

 lately opened by the means of Lord Elgin, leading to a gateway 

 eleven feet wide, and eighteen feet in height ; over the entrance is a 

 triangular opening for the admission of light ; the sides of which 

 rest on a stone shaped like that at Orchomenus. Its dimensions are 

 27 feet long, 16 wide, and four feet six inches in height. 



With respect to the treasury of Minyas at Orchomenus, mentioned 

 by Pausanias as a wonder of art, we find the form and structure of it 

 described by him in these words : " It was made of marble ; the 

 shape was round ; the building was not very much pointed at the 

 summit, and the uppermost stone was said to bind or keep together 

 the whole edifice." AlQou 'iipyotcrjcci, £r%^jtta 7re^cpe^eg efjiv durtf, 

 x.opv(P'/j <5s ovk eg oiyav oPo ccvvjyfAevvif tov amje»]a rcov Xiduv (putriv ot^ovlav 

 m-ccvfi elvoct tw otKoScfjL^ccJi. From the version of Amasaeus of the last 

 part of this passage no meaning can be collected ; " supremum lapidem 

 toti cedificio modidum convenienticE esse dicunt but the sense I have 

 given to d^ovU may be determined by the commentary of Ruhnkenius 

 on Longinus, sect. x. 



We collect from Pausanias the purposes for which these ancient 

 Thesauri were erected ; they were built eg vttoloxw x^W°^ uv ( HD ' * x *) > 

 and that of Minyas, now in ruins at Orchomenus, was the first, he 

 says which was raised in Greece. From some circumstances belong- 

 ing to the history of this state in very early times, a considerable 

 quantity of wealth of different kinds was collected ; ir^oa-o^ot eywoflo tu 

 Mivua peytQog, and the Thesaurus was built to receive these revenues. 

 A distinction is clearly laid down by Pausanias between sacred edifices 

 and G^o-aupo): he says, " that Agamedes and Trophonius were skilled 

 in building 9eo7$ re tepa, %u\ f-aa-lxeia, uv6pu>7rois ; therefore they erected a 



