Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/842

can be distingniished ; the building of great walls and many-roomed dwellings shows increased power in dealing with material; walls orna- mented in painted stucco, an increased use of bronze, and the intn^diiction of the potter's wheel and painted decoration on the vases mark the transition from the rude civilization of the end of the Stone Age to the real splendor of the suc- ceeding epoch. This period lias sometimes been designated as that of the '•Cycladic," or "Island." or "Carian" civilization, the former names being derived from the region where it has been best preserved, the last from a somewhat doubtful ethnological attribution. See Melos; Saxtobix ; Troy. In the West this period is represented by the pre-Sicel, and first Sicel graves in Sicily, and the earlier remains of Italy. It may be noted here that the developments of the Bronze Age in Italy are independent of the Jlycena'an Period. The products of Jlycenican art reached the West only as importations, and apparently late and in small quantities. II. MyCEN-55.N Period. The remains of this period were first brought prominently into view by the excavations of H. Schliemann at ily- tena>, and from this fact is derived the name adopted for this civilization. It is not to be sup- posed that Jlycenie was the centre from which the art spread, though the characteristic series of vases is more completely illustrated in Ar- golis than at any other single site. The char- acteristic products of this period have been found on the mainland of Greece in Bceotia (Orcho- menns. Ghal, Attica (Athens, Eleusis, Sparta, Thoricus), Thessaly (near Volo), and especially in Argolis and Laconia (Amychc) ; Delphi and the island of Cephalleniii have also yielded ily- cena'an remains. It will be noticed that these sites are for the most part in eastern and south- ern Greece. The same civilization is found on Melos, Thera, Amorgos, and at lalysus, on Rhodes : but the most splendid remains are in Crete, M'hieh plays a prominent part in the heroic legends, and is now known to have had cities and palaces far finer than anything yet found on the mainland. Troy is also a ilycen- S'an site; but with this e-xception Asia Minor has not been brought within this culture. The remains of this period fall naturally into .several groups: (1) The fortifications, repre- sented by the walls of the sixth city at Troy, a large part of those of Mycen.T, and especially the well-known wall surrounding Tiryns, as well as the defenses of many other less important sites. These walls are built of huge stones, roughly hewn, and laid in clay mortar. In general, there is only one great gate, though there are also smaller gates, or mere sally-ports. The gate is flanked by a large tower, and is often approached by a narrow and crooked passage. (2) The dwellings, chiefly the royal palaces. The latter are best seen at Tiryns. Myceuiv. and, above all, at Cnossus, in Crete. The usual plan shows a court, on one side of which is situated a great hall, containing the hearth, and approached through a vestibule. Around this hall and the coiirt is arranged a complex of lesser rooms, and the whole structure is carefully placed inside the great fortification, which in general seems to have contained little but the residence of the ruler and his immediate dependents. The palace was built of wood and sun-dried brick, but the walls were stuccoed and ]iaintcd, and metal in- crustations, and decorations of carved alabaster and glass paste were often employed. The palace at Cnossus has yielded remarkable specimens of wall painting, and its plan shows a much greater extent than is found in Greece, but it is not as yet (1902) wholly cleared. The smaller houses found in some places, as at Melos, Troy, Crete, and Mycence, also show the large hall and its vestibule, but as a rule no further rooms. Addi- tional accommodation seems to have been ob- tained by juxtaposition of unconnected buildings, rather than by a series of connected rooms. (3) The tombs form the third great class of Mycenaean buildings. The most important are the "bee-hive" tombs, of which the most notable examples are those of ilyceiiie. and the so-called "Treasui-y" at Orchomenus, in Boeotia. These tombs are built of huge, carefully squared stones, laid in regular circles, so arranged that each course projects inward beyond the course below, thus making the interior a dome. The whole structure is held together by the weight of the earth outside, and therefore the side of a hill is usually hollowed out to receive the building, which is wliolly concealed by the replaced earth. The a])proach is always by a long passage, with side walls of stone, and the facade of the tomb was richly decorated with columns and adorn- ments in colored stone, elaborately carved. The interior Aas carefully smoothed and decorated with metal plates or rosettes. In some cases a small side chamber for the dead is found. Be- sides the great tombs, a series of similar grave chambers, cut in the rock, or excavated in the hillsides, and approached by similar ))assages, sliow the common Mycenajan mode of disposing of the dead. Burning seems to have been un- known at this time. (4) It is, however, in the products of its art, even more than in its archi- tectural triumphs, that this period is sharply characterized. The excavation of Mycena- and Tiryns yielded a series of painted vases, which still occupy a place by themselves in the history of Greek ceramics. Made on the wheel, of grace- ful form, they are decorated with marine plants and animals, birds, and, in the later work, rude drawings of men .and animals. The decoration is by means of a "glaze" paint, varying from lirown to black, or under intense heat becoming red. (For details, see Vases.) Even more marked are the gems and gold work of this time. The drawing is often rude, but the spirit and vigor are astonishing. The gold cups of Va))hio, with scenes in relief representing the capture and taming of wild bulls, shows an art which is not that of Egypt or Assyria, but. whatever its ori- gin, has much of the quality which distinguishes the later Hellenic products. More Oriental in technique and decoration are the sword blades, inlaid with scenes of hunting and wild life, M-hich much resemble objects found in Egyidian tombs. Of larger works of art. the noble lions over the gate of Mycena". and the rudely carved slabs which once marked the site of shaft graves, wei'c for a long time the only representatives, if we omit the purely ornamental sjiirals and other motives forming part of the decoration of the facades. Crete, however, has yielded reliefs of bulls and other sculptures not yet published, which are said to show that the Mycena'an art did not confine its .skill to small objects only. Space does not permit a detailed de-