CHAPTER VII.

THE FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD TOMBS IN THE ACROPOLIS.

Discovery of the _Tomb_ indicated by the three sculptured _stêlæ_--Curious gold-covered buttons, objects of ivory, baked clay, gold, glass, bronze, &c.--Pottery, both wheel and hand-made--_Second Tomb_ below the unsculptured _stêlæ_--Discovery of three human bodies, which had been partially burnt where they lay--Fifteen diadems of thin gold plate found on the bodies--Also crosses of golden laurel-leaves--Other curious objects, proving a knowledge of the art of glass-working and colouring--Knives of obsidian--A silver vase with a bronze mouth plated with gold, and other objects--Terra-cotta vases--The horned Hera-idols found in the tomb, a proof of that symbolic worship in the earliest times at Mycenæ--Its duration to the last age of the city--Primitive painted wheel-made vases of terra-cotta--Further discovery of sepulchral slabs--Various objects found with them--The _Third Tomb_--Several skeletons of men, not burnt, and objects found with them--A curious double-bladed bronze dagger--Narrow escape from a falling rock--Internal walls of the tomb--Three skeletons of women in it, evidently burnt where they lay--Laden with jewels of gold--Layers of round plates of gold with ornamentation of _repoussé_ work under and over the bodies--Description of their many types--The other jewels described--Other chased and embossed beads--Golden griffins--Legend of the griffins of Indian origin--Heart-shaped and lion-draped gold ornaments--Curious brooches formed of palm-trees, stags, and lions--Women with pigeons--Golden cuttle-fish, butterflies, swans, _hippocampi_, eagles, sphinxes, trees, and birds--The splendid gold crown on the head of one of the bodies--Signs upon it--The second gold crown--Five more diadems of gold--Crosses of double leaves of gold--Golden stars--A gold brooch, and other ornaments--Necklaces and bracelets--Two pairs of golden scales--Golden plates--A child's mask of gold--Other ornaments--Balls, &c. of rock crystal, silver, and bronze, probably the handles of sceptres--Lentoid gems of agate, sardonyx, &c., with intaglios--A lentoid gem of amethyst engraved with a cow suckling her calf, as on the old coins of Corcyra--Gold wheels--A gold comb with bone teeth, &c.--Amber beads--Other ornaments--Pieces of gold-leaf strewn below and about the bodies--A gold goblet--A curious gold box, and gold vases with lids fastened on by wires--A silver vase and golden sceptre-handle--Boxes of copper-plate filled with wood, perhaps pillows for the dead bodies--Other objects found in the third sepulchre--Hand-made and very ancient wheel-made pottery 150