DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.794#0011
No. IX.
EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE TREASURY OF ATREUS.
Pausanias* says that the subterraneous chambers of Atreus and his sons, in which they kept their treasures, were
among the ruins of Myceiue; as also the sepulchres of Atreus and of all those who, together with Agamemnon, were
treacherously slain by JEgisthus after their return from Troy.
Pausanias does not enter into a description of the Treasury of Atreus; but his more particular account of the Treasury
of Minyas, at Orchomenos, in Bccotia, is perfectly applicable to that of Atreus, at Myceiue, which still remains entire. He
says it is of a circular form, with the ceiling terminating in a point, but not accumulated, and that it was one of the wonders
of Greece.
A space of twenty feet in breadth, between two parallel walls, leads to the Treasury of Atreus. This entrance is nine
feet and a half wide at the base,"and seven feet ten inches at top, and about nineteen feet in height. It leads, by a passage
of eighteen feet in depth, contrived in the solid mass of the wall, to the subterraneous circular apartment, which resembles
a Gothic dome, and is concentrated in a key-stone at the top. The Treasury of Minyas was of larger dimensions than this
of Atreus: the former was of white marble—this at iVIyccnre is composed of a hard and beautiful breccia, cut upon
the spot.
The portal and front of the great chamber (the only part not covered with earth) face the acropolis. Over the lintel is
a triangular niche—at present destitute of any ornament, though we must suppose that it originally displayed some
appropriate decoration. Its height is twelve feet, and its breadth eight feet seven inches. Some masses of rosso antico and
a columnar pilaster, with its base, arc lying among the ruins near the gate. These fragments are covered with spiral and
zig-zag ornaments: indeed the whole front of the edifice appears to have been sumptuously embellished, as several holes
are visible in the stones, to which ornaments were probably attached. The structure itself, as well as its decorative
appeudages, manifest so many striking lineaments of the Egyptian style, that we may reasonably suppose it to have been
constructed by the colony of the Belides, after the expulsion of the Inachida; from the Argolic territory.
It is si
the
side of I
No. X.
INTERIOR OF THE TREASURY OF ATREUS.
This Plate exhibits the interior form of the Treasury, which is that of a Gothic dome. Its present height is forty-nine
feet, but the earth is raised above its ancient level. Its diameter is forty-eight feet, but it must be rather more lower
EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE TREASURY OF ATREUS.
Pausanias* says that the subterraneous chambers of Atreus and his sons, in which they kept their treasures, were
among the ruins of Myceiue; as also the sepulchres of Atreus and of all those who, together with Agamemnon, were
treacherously slain by JEgisthus after their return from Troy.
Pausanias does not enter into a description of the Treasury of Atreus; but his more particular account of the Treasury
of Minyas, at Orchomenos, in Bccotia, is perfectly applicable to that of Atreus, at Myceiue, which still remains entire. He
says it is of a circular form, with the ceiling terminating in a point, but not accumulated, and that it was one of the wonders
of Greece.
A space of twenty feet in breadth, between two parallel walls, leads to the Treasury of Atreus. This entrance is nine
feet and a half wide at the base,"and seven feet ten inches at top, and about nineteen feet in height. It leads, by a passage
of eighteen feet in depth, contrived in the solid mass of the wall, to the subterraneous circular apartment, which resembles
a Gothic dome, and is concentrated in a key-stone at the top. The Treasury of Minyas was of larger dimensions than this
of Atreus: the former was of white marble—this at iVIyccnre is composed of a hard and beautiful breccia, cut upon
the spot.
The portal and front of the great chamber (the only part not covered with earth) face the acropolis. Over the lintel is
a triangular niche—at present destitute of any ornament, though we must suppose that it originally displayed some
appropriate decoration. Its height is twelve feet, and its breadth eight feet seven inches. Some masses of rosso antico and
a columnar pilaster, with its base, arc lying among the ruins near the gate. These fragments are covered with spiral and
zig-zag ornaments: indeed the whole front of the edifice appears to have been sumptuously embellished, as several holes
are visible in the stones, to which ornaments were probably attached. The structure itself, as well as its decorative
appeudages, manifest so many striking lineaments of the Egyptian style, that we may reasonably suppose it to have been
constructed by the colony of the Belides, after the expulsion of the Inachida; from the Argolic territory.
It is si
the
side of I
No. X.
INTERIOR OF THE TREASURY OF ATREUS.
This Plate exhibits the interior form of the Treasury, which is that of a Gothic dome. Its present height is forty-nine
feet, but the earth is raised above its ancient level. Its diameter is forty-eight feet, but it must be rather more lower