Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 2 of 2). Charles Bucke
it came into the family of Pelops.
Tisamenes and Penthilus, sons of Orestes, reigned after their father, and were at last driven out by the Heraclidæ.
The length of the Acropolis of Mycenæ, is about four hundred yards,5 and its breadth about two hundred. The whole circuit of this citadel can still be made out; and, in some places, the walls remain to the height of fifteen or twenty feet. They are constructed of huge stones, and belong to that style of building commonly called Cyclopean. This description of wall building is recognised by its massy materials, and by a certain style of rudeness; in which, however, different epochs are easily distinguished. The oldest part of the walls of Mycenæ, resembles the Cyclopean walls of Tiryns, a place to the south, about seven miles distant, which are apparently nothing more than huge masses of unwrought stone, placed one above another, with the interstices filled up by smaller materials.
The citadel of Mycenæ is of an irregular oblong form, and is now chiefly an object of curiosity for the gate, or great entrance, to the north and west angle. The approach to this gate is by a passage of fifty feet long, and thirty wide, formed by two parallel and projecting walls, which was a part of the fortification, and were obviously designed to command the entrance, and annoy any enemy who might venture to attack the place. The door is formed of three stones, two upright, and a cross-stone, forming a soffit. This last is fifteen feet long, four wide, and six feet seven inches thick in the middle, but diminishes towards each end. On this stone stands another of a triangular shape, which is twelve feet long, ten high, and two thick. Two lions are cut in relief on the face of this stone, standing on their hind legs, on opposite sides of a round pillar, on which their forepaws rest.
The kingdom of the Argives6 was divided into two portions, by Acrisius and his brother Prœtus. Argos and Mycenæ were their capitals. These, as belonging to the same family, and distant only about six miles and a quarter from each other, had one tutelary deity, Juno; and were, jointly, proprietors of her temple, the Heræum. This renowned temple was adorned with curious sculpture, and numerous statues. The image was very large, made by Polycletus, of gold and ivory, sitting on a throne. Among the offerings was a shield, taken by Menelaus, from Euphorbus, at Ilium; an altar of silver, on which the marriage of Hebe with Hercules was represented; a golden crown and purple robe, given by Nero; and a peacock of gold, set with precious stones, dedicated by Hadrian.
Near it were the remains of a more ancient temple, which had been burned; a taper setting some garlands on fire, while the priestess was sleeping.
The cause of the destruction of Mycenæ is said to have been this: – Eighty of its heroes accompanied the Spartans to the defile of Thermopylæ, and shared with them the glory of their immortal deed. This is said so to have excited the jealousy of their sister city, Argos, that it was never afterwards forgiven. The Argives, stung by the recollection of the opportunity they had thus lost of signalising themselves, and unable to endure the superior fame of their neighbours, made war against Mycenæ, and destroyed it. This event happened about five centuries before Christ. We cannot, however, believe that the Argives, who were an exceedingly mild and benevolent people, could have done such an act of atrocity as this.
Strabo could not imagine where Mycenæ could have stood. He says, that not a single vestige remained. Pausanias, however, who lived at a much later period, found its colossal ruins, and described them as they are seen at this very day.
“It is not,” says Dr. Clarke, “merely the circumstance of seeing the architecture and the sculpture of the heroic ages, which renders a view of Mycenæ one of the highest gratifications a literary traveller can experience; the consideration of its remaining at this time, exactly as Pausanias saw it in the second century, and in such a state of preservation, that an alto-relievo, described by him, yet exists in the identical position he has assigned for it, adds greatly to the interest excited by these remarkable ruins: indeed, so singularly does the whole scene correspond with his account of the place, that, in comparing them together, it might be supposed, a single hour had not elapsed since he was himself upon the spot.”
Everything7 conspires to render these ruins pre-eminently interesting; whether we consider their venerable age, the allusions made to them in such distant periods, when they were visited by Sophocles, Euripides and other poets and historians of Greece, as the classical antiquities of their country; or the indisputable examples they afford of the architecture, sculpture, mythology and customs of the heroic ages.
The walls consist of huge unhewn masses of stone, so fitted and adapted to each other, as to have given rise to an opinion, that the power of man was inadequate to the labour necessary in building them.
One of the first things that is noticed is a tumulus of an immense size. This has been opened, and the entrance is no longer concealed. This sepulchre has been erroneously called the “treasury of Atreus;” and the “monument of Agamemnon.” “That this sepulchre,” says Clarke, “could not have been the treasury of Atreus, is evident from Pausanias‘s description, because it was without the walls of the Acropolis; and that it cannot be the monument of Agamemnon, because it was within the citadel.”
In regard to the tomb of Agamemnon, the following account has been given by Mr. Turner: “I entered by a subterraneous passage, opened by Lord Elgin, and was surprised to find myself in an immense dome, about ninety feet high, and fifty round the bottom. It had two doors, one into the open air, and another into an interior chamber, which was thoroughly dark, and, I was told, very small. It was built of immense stones, and was in excellent preservation. The tomb being subterraneous, there are no traces above-ground, and you might walk over it for years, without suspecting that you were walking over so interesting a ruin.”
The other antiquities must remain for the more attentive examination of future travellers; who, as it is hoped, will visit the ruins provided with the necessary implements for making researches, where, with the slightest precaution, they will be little liable8 to interruption, the place being as destitute of inhabitants, and almost as little known, as it was in the time of Strabo; when it was believed that not a vestige could be found9.
NO. III. – MILETUS
This celebrated city was the capital of Ionia, situated, in the time of Pausanias, ten stadia from the mouth of the Meander; but that river accumulated its deposit, afterwards, so closely, that the town was removed, in process of time, more than three miles within the land. Of its origin there are two accounts: some ascribing it to a colony from Crete, under the conduct of Miletus; some to Sarpedon; and others to Neleus, the son of Codrus, king of Athens, who died there, and whose tomb was in existence for many ages.
“Alyattes, king of Sardis, made war upon the Milesians in the following manner,” says Herodotus. “As the time of harvest approached, he marched an army into their country to the sound of the pastoral pipe, harp, and flutes, played upon by women as well as men. On his arrival in their territories, he neither hunted, nor in any respect injured their edifices, which stood in the fields; but he totally destroyed the produce of their lands, and then returned. As the Milesians were securely situated near the sea, all attacks upon their city would probably have proved ineffectual. His motive for not destroying their buildings was, that they might be induced again to cultivate their lands, and that on every repetition of his excursions, he might be secure of plunder.”
In this manner the war was protracted during a period of eleven years; the Milesians receiving no succour from any of their neighbours, except the natives of Chios. In the twelfth year of the war the enemy again set fire to the corn, and a sudden wind springing up, the flames caught the temple of Minerva and burnt it to the ground. Alyattes, supposing that the Milesians must be destitute of corn from these repeated conflagrations, sent word that an ambassador would be at Miletus to make a truce, until he had rebuilt the temple. When Thrasybulus, king of Miletus, heard this, he directed all the corn that could be in any way collected, to be brought into the public market-place; and at an appointed time ordered the Milesians to commence a scene of feasting and dances. When Alyattes heard of this festivity, convinced that he had been mistaken as to the hope of starving
Knight.
Chandler.
Clarke.
Clarke.
Strabo; Pausanias; Rollin; Wheler; Barthelemy; Chandler; Turner; Clarke.