Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/63

42 Primitive Greece: Mycenian Art. of large blocks well jointed and dressed fair, set out in corbelled courses until the top is reached. If the vault of the so-called tumulus of Tantalus has no exit, one of the adjoining sepultures is approached by a passage, and though it does not extend outside the mound, it yet recalls the dromos of the Mycenian graves. It is not impossible, therefore, that we have here the first stage of a type which, transferred by the Tantalidse to the land of their adoption, was domiciled and developed there into the shape seen in the domed-graves of Hellas. However fasci- nating may be the juxtaposition, there is not much hope that the question of origin and transmission will ever be settled with certainty. This much is clear : our domed-tombs are distinct from the Asiatic specimens with which they have been compared, by marked and numerous peculiarities. Thus, the mounds, instead of rising cone-like on the spurs of some hill, are hidden in their flanks ; they stand, therefore, mid-way between the tumulus and the hypogseum. The most intimate point of resemblance between the two sets of buildings is that all are constructed on a circular plan. Finally, two at least of the Mycenian domed-sepulchres, and probably the corresponding edifice at Orchomenos, are given a frontispiece and a stately portal, in imitation of the palatial facade. Whether the Mycenian architect derived his inspiration from ^Phrygian models for the setting up of his cupolas, the facade is his own invention ; nothing like it appears in the Tantalidian tomb or in the adjacent tumuli. To find aught approaching it, we must turn to the rock-excavated graves of Sangarius-Phrygia, and the similar buildings of Persia, where above and around the door the chisel has simulated, here a house front with a triangular loft, there the main porch of the palace.^ These tombs, whether in Magna-Phrygia or Persepolis, are all much younger than the Mycenian ones. Hence, in this partial resemblance we have one of those coincidences which are best accounted for by the very restricted number of combinations to which the materials employed lend themselves.^ ^ History of Art, - It is curious to note how man repeats himself. In the Antiquarium at Edinburgh is deposited a plan of the sections and elevation of a tomb discovered in a mound near to Marshowe, the arrangement of which is within a little that of the Treasury of Atreus. Here as there, the vaulted or domed-chamber occupies the centre of the area, and is entered by a long covered passage akin to the dromos. Three other apartments open on the principal one.