Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/152

Fortified Towns and their General Characteristics. 117 doubtless shown a marked preference for materials of enormous size ; ^ but nothing has been found in Phoenicia which can fairly be compared with Tiryns, nor are monumental lacunae supple- mented by literary data. True, a certain resemblance is ob- servable between the chambers contrived in the thickness of the walls of Tiryns (Fig. 76) and the niches, cisterns, stores, or casemates for the necessities of the garrison which pervade the existing ramparts of Carthage ; but the resemblance, in our opinion, is fortuitous. To meet identical needs, the builders of either country elaborated plans that present real and unmistakable analogies ; the construction, however, is so widely different from one enclosure to another, as to render the presumption of a first and common model untenable ; whilst our knowledge of the habits of the Phoenicians, and the nature of their dealings with the primitive tribes of Hellas, permit us to discard the hypo- thesis under notice. Thousands of hands, curbed by long obedience to the will of a master, whose wish was law, were required to build these fortified enclosures. Would Syrian traf- fickers, whom Homer and Herodotus represent as unburdening their ships on the sea-shore, have been able to carry on such works as these in the teeth of hostile tribes entrenched on the heights which bound the plain of Argos at every point of the compass? If ever they tried to establish a fortified factory in these regions, it must have been at the extreme point of Nauplia, within sight of the plain, and at the foot of the cape, where they were sure of a safe anchorage. The same drawback, in an aggravated form, existed at Mycenae ; not only had the town no outlook upon the sea, but it had none of the features which characterize the trading settlements of Phoenicia. It is an inland and mountain city, the dominant idea of whose rulers was to establish their supremacy on the land stretching from their city gates to the Corinthian Gulf, as is abundantly proved by the many tracks, fenced by walls and towers, which form a perfect network. Moreover, the distinctive peculiarities of the Tirynthian palace, with walls which merge in the defences, both in plan and decoration bear the impress of a civilization far removed from Asiatic cultures. As to the Mycenian edifices and the ramparts, we feel, notably in the rebuildings these underwent and the marked progress they evince, that they were due to a 1 History of Art,