Strabo

(viii, 6) says that the Cyclopés (“round faced” men) of Karia built the walls of Mycena, The chiefs of Mycene were apparently illiterate in the earliest age, and we find only a few signs of the “ Asianic syllabary” on pottery, and short texts of about the 6th or 7th century B.c., such us Hvaros, aud To Heroos Emi (“I am a hero's”). The designs and subjects on gems are Greek. The civilisation is the same as at Troy, and traditionally the descendants of Perseus, from Nauplia and the coasts of Argolis, founded Mycene and Tiruns (Herod., vi, 53), being succeeded by the sons of Pelops from Thrakia, akin to the Phrygian Aryans; so that Teucer told Agamemnon that “his grandfather was a Phrygian barbarian.” [Further discoveries were made at Mycene in 1886, after those of Dr Schliemann, a sixth tomb being discovered in the Akropolis (see Mycenw by Dr H. Schliemann, 1878, and Schliemann’s Excavations by Dr C. Schuchhardt, English translation, 1891). The lion gateway is found to resemble 8 similar instances in Asia Minor, in which two lions flank a pillar. The burials in the tombs (of both men and women) may have been succe ive. The bodies were cremated in the grave (see Dead); but near Tomb 3 were found many unburned bodies, po ibly of slaves killed at the grave of a chief. The amount of gold, in the form of breastplates (for men), large diadems for women, masks, ribbons, shield-bo es, bracelets, etc., amounted to 100 lbs, Troy weight. The religion of the artists is shown by figures of the naked Venus (as among Hittites and Akkadians), with doves, gems representing Héraklés and the lion, the garden of the Hesperides, and such figures as the sphynx, gryphon, and double eagle; one design represents a winged man with horse’s feet, playing a flute; in another a pole is borne by three human figures having the heads of lions with the ears of the a : these recall not only the a -ears of Midas, but also those of A yrian demons. The fylfot cro (see Svastika) is often found on the pottery, as at Troy. and the art generally is the same as that of Hittites and Minyans, or that found in Thera, Cyprus; Krete, Sicily, Etruria, and Asia Minor. ‘The materials used include obsidian (from Asia Minor), amber (from Sicily), alabaster, diorite (for axes), gla beads and charms (from Egypt), and precious metals and stones; but iron only occurs in the latest remains, There are no lamps (and lamps are unnoticed by Homer), nor any early swords, but only daggers. The gold masks which covered the faces of the dead (even of children) resemble some from Egypt, but such a mask has also been found at Arvad in Pheenicia, and a bronze mask at Nola in Italy, while a stone one was discovered in Palestine. The butterfly is represented in gold (see Butterfly), and doves appear on cup handles (see Jliad, xi, 632), while a lion hunt is shown in color. 602