268 
W. Theobald — Notes on some of the symbols, ^c. 
[No. 3, 
variant of this symbol is seen in the centre of the elaborate gold button 
already alluded to (1. c. 382) where in place of six spheres, we find six 
hexagons similarly arranged in form of a triangle, and round about in 
the interspaces are six small spheres. 
Fig. 9. The Balance or scales. 
That the balance has always been an object of deep symbolical 
import may be judged from the fact of two miniature gold balances 
being found by Schliemann in the third tomb at Mycenae. The beams 
of these balances were formed of tubes of gold, strengthened by a stick 
inside, while the scales were ornamented with a butterfly in one case and 
a six-petalled flower-like ornament in the other. Dr. Schliemann re- 
marks : “ Of course these scales can never have been used, they were 
evidently made expressly to accompany the bodies of the three princesses 
into the grave, and they have therefore, undoubtedly, a symbolic signifi. 
cation. I may hero call attention to the scales in the wall-paintings of 
the Egyptian sepulchres, in which are weighed the good and bad deeds 
of the deceased.” 
Fig. 157. 
This symbol is seen conspicuously on the splendid gold diadem 
found on the head of one of the three bodies interred in the third 
sepulchre at Mycense. The main fillet of which this diadem con- 
sists was 25 inches long, ornamented with 12 bosses identical in design 
with Fig. 157, three in a row above, five in a central row, and four below, 
each such ‘ boss ’ alternating with others representing a ‘ lotus ’ or other 
flower, with from 9 to 12 petals, almost identical with Fig. 147 only with 
more numerous petals, (vide Scbliemann’s Mycen®, p. 145, Fig. 281.) 
A curious example of the deliberate prominence given where possible to 
the number seven in ancient symbolism is afforded by the golden cuttle- 
fish obtained at Mycense and figured by Schliemann in his great work 
(p 268, Fig. 424). These cuttle-fish fifty-three in number and all per- 
fectly alike, are remarkable tor possessing not eight arms (as one might 
have expected from the number of arms which furnish the name of the 
Family Octojiodida’), but seven only, and there can be no question, that 
these old gold-workers of Mycense wei-e aware that, as a matter of fact, 
cuttle-fish are at certain seasons found with seven, instead of eight 
arms, and that they deliberately selected the mystical number of seven 
arms, rather than the more usual one of eight. We of course know that 
it is the male cuttle-fish only, which is reasonably deprived of one of its 
arms, a loss which is repaired before the following year, but which 
curious ‘ moult ’ did not escape the observation of the Greek fisherman, 
or the quick appreciation of the prehistoric worker in gold. 
