Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/282

 TiRYNS. 259 cities doubtless occurred about the year 468 b.c.^ From that day travellers were solely attracted here for the sake of the grand and noble ruins, around which was cast the halo of tragic associations. In the opening years of this century, Leake, Gell, and Albert Blouet found them hardly changed from the time of Augustus and the Antonines, when they were visited by Pausanias and Strabo. The apparent portions of these buildings were forthwith described with pen and pencil, and the differences which distinguish them from those of the classical age were noticed ; but until Schliemann laid bare the virgin rock both here and at Mycenae, nobody knew or suspected the existence of the very peculiar art, the relatively advanced industry of the nation which had raised these walls ; no one then had an idea of the importance of the civilization which they implied, nor of the enormous gap parting this art from the later culture of Hellas. The calcareous rock which carries the ruins of Tiryns is about three hundred metres in length, by one hundred metres in breadth ; the height above the surrounding plain is eighteen metres, and twenty-six metres above sea-level (Fig. 69),^ The mass dips several feet from north to south, and consists, unlike the Athenian acropolis, terminating by a single plateau, of three platforms, which may be called the upper, middle, and lower citadel. The area covered by these three esplanades is of no great extent, and cannot therefore have enclosed the town de- pendent on the royal castle, whose situation must be sought in the plain. The prince, with his family, men-at-arms, and servitors, inhabited the impregnable stronghold above ; whilst the common people, labourers, shepherds, and artisans, lived under the shadow 1 On the destruction of Tiryns, Pausanias has the following entry: "After the Medic wars." Though no date is given, we may reasonably assume that the events to which he refers, namely, the razing to the ground of Tiryns, Mycenge, and Mideia, took place in the same year. The Argives wished to increase the population of their own city at the expense of the towns seated in the plain, historical Palace, 6-^., by H. Schliemann. Dr. Adler's preface and Dorpfeld's contributions — the fifth and sixth chapters are entirely written by him — singularly enhance the value of the book. The statements and conclusions of the latter may be safely relied on, based as they are on personal observation. An abridged exposition of the result of these excavations, written by Burnouf, appeared in the Revue des Deux Mondes, March 1887.
 * Our information for this chapter is taken from Dorpfeld, Tiryns, the Fn-