Page:Greek Buildings Represented by Fragments in the British Museum (1908).djvu/218

 202 THESEUM, ERECHTHEUM, AND OTHER WORKS Fig. 208. — Gem from Mycenae. Another slight sketch is of a piece of Mycenaean frieze, which he notes was "in a church near the Treasury," and of red material. This, I think, from the size which is figured on the sketch, may be the very piece described above which was found in London, and is now in the British Museum. (Fig. 207 B.) A few words may be added on the noble Lion Gate, so well known to us by the descriptions of English travellers of a cen- tury ago. The best general view I know is the coloured print of Dodwell, who also mentions that " the block of the lions is of a compact limestone of a green hue re- sembling in appearance the green basalt of Egypt." The examination of it by Thiersch showed that the heads of the lions had been pinned on in separate pieces, and that they faced outwards. Similar compositions are frequently found on early gems. (Figs. 208, 209.) Dr Evans has shown that the composition was a sacred pillar standing on an altar, or rather two altars, guarded by lions, which are the companions of a pillar- idol, " the pillar of the House," the pillar of Mycenze. It was a symbol of the stability of the fortified city. " The scheme of the pillar and guardian monsters, as it appears on the Lion Gate, is essentially of Egyptian deriv-ation." * There is in the Early Vase Room at the Museum a cast of a fragment of a small Mycenaean shaft decorated in a very similar way to the pillars of the Treasury of Athens. (Fig. 210.) It was found by the English exploring party at Enkomi, Cyprus, and comparisons show that it must be a portion Dr Evans found at Knossos such a large Fig. 209. — Gem at South Kensington. Fig. 210. — Fragment from Cyprus. of a marble lamp.
 * J. H. S., 1901.