Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/277

 254 Primitive Greece: Mycenian Art. of populations that succeeded one another on this hillock, most of which lived and died after a humble and obscure existence — one, however, touched and illumined by a ray of light, of poetry and art, stands out from the shadow which shrouds its less gifted fellows. Though we cannot give it a name, it has survived and will live for all time in those of Pergamus, Ilium, and Troy. Despite conflicting evidence and certain discrepancies noticeable in the account which Schliemann gives of his dis- coveries ; despite, too, subtle and plausible arguments put forward against his conclusions, unless it is proved to me that I dreamt whilst wide awake at Hissarlik, never can I be persuaded that I did not tread the ground of a primitive settlement there, the cradle of that oldest civilization which went before that of classic Greece in the Mediterranean. Tiryns. The indefatigable explorer whose name recurs on every page of this history, will take us from the plain where once was Troy, across the iEgean, on to the coasts of Argolis (Fig. 67). Following on Schliemann's track, we shall expound the main results of his discoveries in pretty much the same order as they occurred. As it happens, this order, broadly speaking, corresponds with that of the early settlements, the industry and art of which are now known to us by monuments at once numerous and of great interest. The excavations at Hissarlik led to those at Mycenae and Tiryns. These cities, compared with Troy, represent a decidedly more advanced stage of culture, a later phase in the development of the same art and industry. In the Argian myths, Tiryns is called the elder sister of Mycenae ; both cities claimed descent from the sons of Danaiis ; Praeteus at Tiryns, and Perseus, his great grand- son, at Mycenae. Danaiis, said the same myth, had come from Egypt ; and Praeteus and Perseus had had close dealings with Lycia. In the sequel of this study we shall inquire how far the evidence furnished by monuments coincides with that supplied by the mythical cycle. The site of neither city is in dispute. When modern explorers began to search the soil of Greece for traces of ancient cities, the localization of Tiryns was one of the first