Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/345

 592 IPrimitive Greece: Mycenian Art. warriors are artistically grouped in the field. The action culmi- nates in the centre, where a warrior, striding forward, has seized his opponent, who sinks on his knee before him, by the hair and neck, and is in the act of dealing him his death-blow. The prostrate man still tries to protect himself with his raised sword. From the right, one of his brethren-in-arms rushes to the rescue. He approaches under cover of his huge, semi-cylindrical shield, and brandishes a long spear against the victor. His head-dress is a helmet, with a long waving plume. On the other side of the group a disabled combatant sits on the ground, and supports himself on his right hand. His left knee is bent up close to his body, his right leg stretched out; a pose which Greek statuary will reproduce more than once. As in the former intaglio, here also the men appear to be clothed only with a loin-cloth or short drawers.* In the gold quadrangular ornaments from the third grave, which at first were supposed to have been strung together to form necklaces,*^ we recognize movable bezels, analogous to those usually seen on Egyptian rings.^ They help us to understand why the engraving of the figures was so careful and finished ; they were seals set on pivots. One face of the bezel only is engraved. The first seal shows the struggle between a man and a lion. The hunter has seized the beast round the neck with his left hand, whilst with his right he thrusts his sword into the beast's throat. The animal's front claws have fastened upon the outstretched leg of his destroyer. The man wears the usual garment, loin-cloth, apron, or drawers. His attitude is amazingly natural, spirited, and vigorous (Fig. 415). The artist shows no less skill in the second intaglio, repre- senting a hand-to-hand fight between two warriors (Fig. 416). The one is dashing forward from the left, and plunges his sword 1 H. Klugk {Vorhomerisc/ie Abbildungen Homerischcr Kampfscenen^ in the Neue Tahrbilcher^ 6^r., 1892) and OiTO Rossbach {Zum dltestcti Kriegswesen^ in the Phiio- logus^ 1892) have brought in juxtaposition this and similar combat scenes figured on the intaglios, with episodes analogous in character to those found in the Homeric narrative. The conclusion to be drawn from these coincidences, some of which are truly striking, is that the fundamental element of the Epos goes back to an earlier epoch than many of the cantos ; a conclusion which we have reached independently. Moreover, the poet had probably before his eyes monuments akin to those that have been discovered at Mycenae. - ScHLiEMANN, Myccfice, 3 History of Art.