Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/426

The Domed-Tomhs of Attica. 399 hand to hand, without anybody being the wiser, and their loss has been our great gain. The most curious of these specimens will be dealt with and figured hereafter. For the present we may remark that stone objects, whether arms or implements, arc of rare occurrence in this hypogceuni, and arrow-heads are almost all in bronze. The vases, none of which can be completely restored, both in shape and decoration recall those from Mycena; and lalysos, in the island of Rhodes. On the other hand, from Spata has come quite an abundance of glass and broken ivory. Of the precious metals, gold and bronze, the trove-seekers have left us hardly any pickings. Generally, the decoration is less purely geometrical than that of the shaft- graves on the Mycenian acropolis. The Spatan ornamentist Fio. 144,— Section through a b of the principal tomb makes a larger use of the organic kingdom than his Mycenian colleague ; he not only derives his patterns from plants and the lower animals, but from great quadrupeds and even the human figure. The Spata tomb was cleared in 1877. Two years later, another grave at Menidi, towards the foot of Mount Parnes, a little way from ancient Acharnes, was uncovered by a second landslip, and excavated by MM. Lolling and the architect Bohn at the expense of the German Institute, M. Stamakis superintend- ing the work for the Greek Government ; of which a report, mainly written by Dr. Lolling, has been published.' If the arrangement of the tombs at Spata is reminiscent of the bee-hive graves in the lower city of Mycens, the Menidi hypogseum is a faithful copy of the domed-building with single chamber ; it • Das Kuppelgrab bet Menidi (DeutscAen arc}ueologischen Institute in Ai/ien).