Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/422

The Domed-Tombs of Laconia. 395 tomb, and the higher one, now Palaeo- Pyrgos, the acropolis (Fig. 139). Its name — and the site would not have been ill- chosen for a citadel — implies the existence of ancient ramparts ; yet the denuded summit of the hill shows no signs of construc- tions.^ Pharis disappeared early, and its territory was doubtless given to Amyclae. The question may now be asked, whether the tomb seen here, which bears so close a resemblance to the domed-graves of Mycenae and Orchomenos, is not the sepulchre which the Amyclaeans showed as that of Cassandra, in honour of whom they had raised a temple and a statue ? ^ The detail is of no great consequence. What is of real importance and self- evident at the same time, is that we are in presence of another sepulture of those Achaean chiefs who before the invasion of northern tribes held sway over hollow Lacedaemon, as Homer has it. M. Tsoundas has opened quite recently (1890) another tomb; this time on the western side of Taygetus, in sight of the Mycenian Bay. It lies in the demos of Abbia, two hours or so northward of Kardamyle, close to the site of ancient Gerenia.*^ It is in a very dilapidated state ; the passage, the entrance, and the wall surrounding the chamber, still standing to the height of three metres, are all that remains of it. Its walls are meanly built of irregular stones, the gaping interstices being closed with smaller ones ; the only blocks of considerable size are the stone beams over the doorway. The cupola must have been broken open and the vault rifled in antiquity. This excavation has brought but little profit to the explorers. The objects are small and of no value, and must either have been discarded or overlooked by the thieves ; they number glass ornaments, gold leaves, a bone comb, beads of marble, engraved stones, and bits of plain pottery. The most interesting items in this find are the statues, representing one a man and the other a woman, twelve centimetres and eight and a half centimetres respectively. Curious details of costume are said to go with these statuettes ; no drawing, however, has as yet been published of them. There are literary evidences, those of Herodotus and Strabo for example, to the effect that in consequence of the descent of Thessalian tribes in Bceotia, Minyans and other sections of 1 *E^i;/iepfC. 2 PaUSANIAS. ^ 'E^i;/i€piC, 1 89 1.