Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/58

 Genekal Characteristics of the Domed- Tomus. n^y here also built walls were set up against the rocky ones. Con- structed of rubble bonded in mud, they offered little resistance, and the staves and knives of visitors — shepherds and archae- ologists — may have brought about their destruction. Dr. Dorp- feld pointed out to me traces left at the angles of the entrance by the walls in question. Fragments of alabaster slabs, three to four centimetres thick, adorned by rosettes, which I saw in the museum at Charvati, may perhaps belong to the facing with which these rude walls could not dispense (Fig. 255). From identity of plan we may safely infer identity of destination for the side-chambers. But what manner of destination are we to suppose ? The prevailing idea from the very first was to the effect that the lateral chamber had served as a sepulture.' When it was proved that the whole edifice was but a sepulchre, the principal hall was forthwith recognized as a Hera;um. It is Fiu. 255,— l-'ragnient of alabaster ruselle. plain, then, that when the resources of the Mycenian builder 1 permitted him to give the tomb its full development, it consisted of two divisions, the grave strictly so called, and a roomy circular chamber, where all the objects which the defunct took with him were spread ; here, too, were performed funereal sacrifices both on the day of the interment, and until the final closing of the sepulchre, and again on certain anniversaries.^ M. Tsoundas does not share these views. His argument is this: Whenever rock-cut graves are provided with two chambers, human remains are found in both ; why should there be a difference in regard to cupola-tombs ? Nevertheless, given the difference of dimen- sions and aspect of the two sets of buildings, it seems natural to suppose that the difference also extended to the use to which • Expedition de Morh. One is tempted, therefore, to consider it as a vestibule, a kind of chapel in which the ceremonies connected with the dead were performed.
 * No bones have been found in the first chamber of the principal hypogteum.