Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/415

 388 Primitive Greece : Mycenian Art, common people. The number of the objects found in them is not large. Potsherds from vases neither remarkable for size nor workmanship are plentiful ; then come small terra-cotta figures, bits of necklets, some gold ornaments, and above all glass paste, shaped into large beads or small squares coloured white or blue. This, although not much, suffices to show that the graves are contemporaneous with those of Spata and Menidi, in Attica. The significance of the Nauplian cemetery was not fully understood until Schliemann's discovery of the shaft- graves at Mycena;, when comparison of the two groups revealed the fact of the close analogy existing between them, whether architecturally or from the nature of the objects they contain ; with this difference, that in regal and wealthy Mycen.-e all the Fm 136 — Section thro gh H— e of lomb near Niupl a graves are ampler, some are more richly decorated, and make a braver show of the precious metals, than could be expected of a small fishing-town such as Nauplia. As the observer stands under the oft-rebuitt walls of Palamidi, accounted as one of the strongest fortresses of Greece in medijeva! and modern times, which was taken and retaken more than once, he perceives, here and there, traces of fortifications that creep back to the period of the early graves above described. This is no solitary instance ; ancient enclosures and substructures in Cyclop3ean or polygonal masonry may be said to everywhere cover the ground of Argolis. Pro- minent among these Is the citadel which in by-gone days was called Larissa, but has now yielded up its old name for the Pelasgic one of Argos. It looks down on the city lying at its base from a height of 300 metres. Remains of the old