Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/416

 Tombs of the Her/Eum and Nauplia. 389 circuit-wall are still visible along the outer edge and the sides of the hill ; its primitive mode of construction takes us back to the by-gone days when the princes that held sway here were at deadly feud with Mycenae. Overlooking Port Tolon, south- eastward of Nauplia, very similar walls mark the site of the acropolis of Asina^, one of the coast-places of the Driopes.^ Then comes the enclosure of ancient Mideia, lying midway between Tiryns and Mycenae, now Palaeo-Kastro of Dehdra, whose area is strewn with broken Mycenian pottery. Finally, there is Epidaurus by the sea, with its massive circuit-wall built of huge irregular blocks, and many walls and towers scattered all over its territory, which one and all mount back to remote ages.^ No researches have been made among these ruins of late years, explorers who wished to study the art of fortification as it was practised in this corner of the world in those early days having had their attention turned to the more imposing and better-preserved defences of Mycenae and Tiryns, towards which, too, they were attracted by the hope of new discoveries. In conclusion, we would recom- mend to the attention of future observers two monuments that have long been known, and deserve to be studied by the light of recent discoveries ; namely, the pyramidal piles with rectangular chambers at Cenchreae and Ligourio : the former lies on the road leading from Tegea to Argos, and the latter near to Epidaurus.^ Are they tombs or watch-towers, as Curtius is inclined to think ? What is their age ? The walls, built of colossal stones, with tendency to horizontal courses, have led some to compare these erections with the buildings of Mycenae ; but at Cenchreae the units are bonded with lime mortar mixed with pounded brick or reddish sand, a fact which suggests a later age. Although there is no trace of such mortar at Ligourio, the impression which Dorpfeld took away with him does not make for a prehistoric period. It would be well to see if, perad venture, the rubbish does not contain scraps of Mycenian pottery. ^ E. Curtius, History of Greece, ^ Ibid. '* Expedition in the Morea ; Curtius, History of Greece.