CHAPTER VIII.

THE FOURTH TOMB IN THE ACROPOLIS OF MYCENÆ.

Further search within the Agora, without the guide of tombstones--Discovery of an altar of Cyclopean masonry, over the centre of the great _Fourth Tomb_, containing the bodies of five men, burnt where they lay, laden with jewels, and covered with a layer of white clay--Objects found--Copper caldrons, one containing 100 gold-plated buttons with intaglio work--Homeric mention of caldrons--A silver cow's head with gold horns and a gold sun on its forehead: it represents Hera--Cow-heads with axes--Swords and lances of bronze--Gold-plated wooden sword-sheaths and hilts with gold pins--Three masks of gold covering the faces of the bodies--A fourth mask, representing a lion's head--Two seal-rings and a bracelet, with ornaments--The state of art corresponds with that described in Homer--Golden breastplates on two of the bodies--Golden crown by the head of another--Golden ornament of the greaves--Borax used then, as now, for soldering gold--More than one δέπας ἀμϕικύκελλον, and other vessels of gold and silver--The large gold goblet, with doves on the two handles, like Nestor's cup in the _Iliad_--Two-handled terra-cotta vases, hand-made, like those at Troy--Ornaments of alabaster--Gold shoulder-belts (τελαμῶνες)--Other objects found in the tomb, of rock crystal, amber, alabaster--Golden diadems, some seemingly for children; also a child's belt and frontlet, or "belle Hélène," and other ornaments of gold--Double edged battle-axes--Their use by the Greeks as a symbol, especially at Tenedos--A funeral fork of copper--Vase-lids of bone--Vessel of silver and lead in shape of an animal--Buttons of wood, plated with gold, splendidly ornamented--Their patterns and workmanship--Hundreds of gold flowers, plain buttons, and other ornaments of gold--Larger gold buttons, splendidly ornamented--Leaves of gold strewn under, over, and around the bodies--Wooden comb with gold handle--Gold models of temples--Many golden cuttle-fish--Gold knobs for sword hilts, highly ornamented--Arrow-heads of obsidian--Boars' teeth--Large copper vessels--Custom of placing such vessels in tombs--A copper tripod--Uses of tripods in Homer--Bronze swords, lances, and knives--Some swords with parts of their wooden sheaths, alabaster handle-knobs, golden studs, &c.--Remnants of linen sheaths--Oyster-shells and unopened oysters--Broken pottery, indicative of a still existing funeral custom--The bones of the deceased--Alabaster vases--Hand-made and very ancient wheel-made pottery--Fragments of a characteristic form of goblet, both of terra-cotta and of gold--Another type of goblets--Two whetstones--A handle of unique work, gold encrusted with rock crystal, "θαῦμα ἰδέσθαι." 211

NOTE ON THE ROYAL PALACE 288