THĒSAURUS

( θησαυρός ), a treasure-house. Tradition points to subterranean buildings in Greece, of unknown antiquity and of peculiar formation, as having been erected during the heroic period, for the purpose of preserving precious metals, arms, and other property ( κειμήλια ). Such are the treasury of Minyas, at Or cho menus, of which some remains still exist, and those of Atreus and his sons at Mycenae, the chief one of which, the so-called Treasury of Atreus, still exists almost in a perfect state. It is, however, very questionable whether these edifices were treasuries at all: some of the best archaeologists maintain that they were tombs. In the historical times, the public treasury was either in a building attached to the agora , or in the opisthodomus of some temple. Respecting the public treasury at Rome, see Aerarium .