Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/382

 MvcEN/E. 355 generally named after her (Fig. ii8)/ and again by M. Tsoundas in 1891, who however did not clear it completely (Fig. 88, No. 2). M. Tsoundas' unpublished account of his excavations, and Dorpfeld's willingness to oblige, have enabled us to set forth the main results yielded by their explorations. Though scarcely inferior in size to the Treasury of Atreus, it had no lateral chamber ; its front, however, was decorated. Without the rampart, on the north-west and eastern slopes of the outskirts of the city, are four other tombs, seemingly of considerable size, and also built of large stone blocks. All the roofs have fallen in ; the only visible section is the upper portion of the fa9ade, all the rest lies buried under accumulations. Much then remains unex- plored at Mycenae. In 1888, the Greek excavations cleared another and smaller grave, bringing up their number to seven. It is built in inferior style ; the wall is composed of rubble, the stones of the front being alone dressed fair (Fig. 119). Despite the interest which, at the beginning of this century, the descrip- tions of Gell, Dodwell, Leake, Mure, etc., had caused to centre around the Treasury of Atreus, it was left in precisely the state to which savagery and the elements had reduced it. It is not unlikely that the cavity seen on the top of the tomb is due to a peasant who wished to get into the chamber from above, when the door and passage leading up to it had already been choked up by drift heaped there by wind and rain ; a natural and frequent occurrence in front of all these graves when left to themselves. The passage would seem to have been re-opened and partially cleared to admit the earliest visitors whose account has come down to us. They found the door-frame buried up to the middle, and dirt inside the vault, for shepherds were wont to use it as a shelter, and drive in their flocks in stormy weather and the noon-day heat. The drawing figured below (Fig. 120) shows the building as it appeared in 1856, when I saw it for the first time ; whilst Fig. 121 is a faithful representation of it after the excava- tions of 1878, when door-frame, chambers, and passage were laid bare down to the regular soil by Stamakis, at the expense of the Archaeological Society.^ The scanty remains of columns, ^ SCHLIEMANN, MycefUE. 2 IIpaicTij.'d. Schliemann does not seem to have touched the Treasury of Atreus strictly so called, for he only mentions having opened in 1873 a couple of trenches in the side-chamber {Mycena^ p. 102).