504 PELOPONNESUS. 
C \ui.' erected before the War of Troy. The use of 
* "y ' the triangular aperture above the portal is satis- 
factorily explained by the appearance of the 
Gate of Mycerue, where a similar opening is 
filled by a triangular piece of sculpture in alto- 
Useofthe relievo. The cause of placing such tablets in 
Triangular 
Carity such situations may be shewn by reference to 
above the . . . . 
Entrance, existing superstition : they were severally what 
a Russian of the present day would call the 
Obraze or Bogh ; an idolatrous type or symbol 
of the mythology of the country. Sophocles, in 
the description he affords of Mycente, alludes 
to this antient custom, as will afterwards 
appear. Having passed the entrance, and 
being arrived within the interior of the tomb, 
we were much struck by the grandeur of its 
internal appearance. Here we found that what 
appears externally to be nothing more than a 
high conical mound of earth, contains within it 
inner a circular chamber of stone, regularly built, and 
Chamber. 
terminating above m a conical dome, corre- 
sponding with the exterior shape of the tumulus. 
Its form has been aptly compared to that of an 
English bee-hive 1 . The interior superficies of 
the stone was once lined either with metal or 
(1) The Greek bee-hives have a different form: they arc generally 
cylindrical. 
