Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/322

 Mycenae. 297 early explorers easily found ruins of considerable extent, which coincide in every respect with the notion gleaned from historical data respecting the structures at Mycenae (Fig. 88). Apart from this, the description of Pausanias, though extremely brief, is of so distinct a character as to suit Mycenae and Mycenae alone. the principal gate, with the lions over it. These [the walls] were built by the Cyclopes, who made the wall at Tiryns for Praeteus. Among the ruins at Mycenae is the fountain called Perseia, and the subterraneous buildings of Atreus and his children, in which their treasures were stored." ^ The citadel wall is still extant, and betrays the hand and methods of the builders who worked at the Tirynthian rampart. Now as then, the lions, rigid and fierce, watch over the entrance to the fortress, and the spring which refreshed legendary heroes is no less copious or sparkling than of yore. Like Pausanias, the modern traveller notes admiringly the clever scheme and the building material of these lofty domed erections, wherein, said tradition, the Pelopidae hoarded their gold. Homer graphically describes Mycenae as lying " in the depth of the horse-feeding Argos."" It commands the north corner of the plain, and is not far from the pass overhung by Mounts Karneites and Euboea, where abutted the roads that led to Phlius, Cleonae, and Corinth (Fig. 67). Mycenae is ten kilo- metres (5*8 English miles) distant from Argos, on the lower spurs of Mount Euboea, and is flanked by its highest peaks, the Prophet Elias (2,646 feet) on the north, and the Zara (2,160 feet) on the south.^ The hill of the acropolis in height is 278 metres (911 feet); its length is about 300 metres, and 200 metres or thereabouts at the base; it forms an irregular triangle whose summit is turned to the east. On this side a narrow ridge con- nects the rocky mass with the Prophet Elias ; on the west a broader isthmus joins the citadel to one of the many platforms upon which rose the buildings of the lower town. To the north, and more especially southward, the cliff falls off precipitously into ^ Pausanias, II. ^ Odyssey, ii. 263 : kv fxvKf "Apytoc imrofioVoio. ^ In regard to the topography of Mycenae, see Capt. Steffen's two excellent maps drawn for the German Archaeological Institute, Karten von Mykenai, 6^r. The scale of the Mycenae map is of i : 12,500, and that of the acropolis of i : 750,
 * A portion of the enclosure wall," he says, ** still remains, and