Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/95

 Primitive Greece: Mycenian Art. Remembering that the Mycenian shaft diminished from top to base, it is self-evident that we have here the upper portion adjoining the capital. In this case, however, the draughtsman has certainly exaggerated the downward tapering of the shaft ; were his presentation exact, we should have to assume that it reposed, not on the base seen here, but on some species of pedestal, a fantastic animal. Such an arrangement certainly Flc. zjS.— Tomb I. Green breccia fragment of shaft. Height, o in., Z79. Width, o m., 278. occurs in certain Assyrian columns, where they appear in low- reliefs ; but the case does not apply here, and the conjecture must be abandoned ; for the surface of the base is only thirty- three centimetres deep, and would not have lent itself kindly to carry a standing and far less a crouching animal or pedestal. Besides, the Hellenes never associated a pedestal with the column, which latter they carried down to the ground. Finally, there is a decisive reason why we should set aside the hypothesis under discussion; the shaft of the column in Tomb II. exhibits