Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/399

 372 Primitive Greece: Mycenian Art. on the summit of the hill, which must have been much more prominent in his day than before they were cleared by the late excavations. Be that as it may, ev roig Ipsurmg ('* among the ruins ") can only apply to the vast area covered all over with ruin and soil which surrounds the acropolis in every direction ; nor is. there any difficulty in identifying the *' subterranean buildings of Atreus and his sons, where they hoarded their treasures," with our domed-buildings. We know from Pausanias himself what notion was suggested to his mind by the word OritroLupog, ** treasury." Again : ** There is the tomb of Atreus, and the tombs of the companions of Agamemnon, who on their return from Ilium were slain at a banquet by i^gisthus. The authenticity of the tomb of Cassandra is denied by the Lacedaemonians of Amyclse, who claim that she is buried in their midst. Then, too, there is the grave of Agamemnon and that of Euremedon, his charioteer; and the same tomb covers Teledamus and Pelops, the twin babes of Cassandra, whom yEgisthus murdered together with their parents. Furthermore, according to Hellanicus, 495-411 u.c, Electra, whom Orestes gave in marriage to Pylades, lies buried here, by her two sons, Medon and Strophius. Clytemnestra and yEgisthus were entombed at a little distance from the wall, because they were deemed unworthy to have their burials within it, where Agamemnon and those who were murdered with him reposed."^ How are we to identify these tombs, and in which of the burial-places of Mycenae should we look for them ? In the study of ancient writers, no detail, however trifling, should be passed over. Thus, Pausanias connects the sentence ia90C oc tan /icv ArpftatCf tiai Ce icai oaovQ avv Ayafie^voyi €rrayt}i:orTa£ c4 lAiov CtiitVitraQ Karif^ovivtriv AiyiaQo^* row /iCf lii Kaatrdv^pas fi%'fifiaToc a/i^iioy yiviadai HvXdlrf iraihaQ c{ 'IIXcK-rpac. KXvrui- fiyrivrpa hi erdfprf Kci AiyiaOoc oXiyoy dnotlpta tov T€lovCf iyroQ he. aVc^ccuOfioai', uSa 'Ayqfic/ii'<kiy re ahro^ eKUTo Kal oi trvy ixely^ porevdeyng. Three words seem to have been dropped out by the scribe after the first 'HXcicrpac, relating to her marriage and progeny, quoted from Hellanicus ; yap has no business here and is meaning- less, unless, as Belger proposes, we re-insert in the text icai Twy iraihufy {Ber/imr phiL Wochenschrifty 1891).