DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9184#0119
Chap. IV.] The Palace at Tiryns.
97
us a curious problem as to the position of the husband in
regard to the wife.
A moment's reflection will show us that the thing which
is really by far the most surprising in all this is the fact
that the site is in Greece proper. If in the lands of
Phrygia or Lycia, or among the hills of Etruria, we had
found the same proofs of the ancient existence of wealthy
and powerful and civilised nobles, we should have been far
less surprised. We should expect the Mermnadae of
Lydia, or the Phrygian princes of the line of Midas, to live
in this royal fashion. But we are accustomed to think of
Greece as a land of political communities, of little self-
governing states with agora, and harbour, and senate-
house, and with an acropolis covered not with a palace,
but with the temples of the gods. Such is the Greece of
history. But utterly different was pre-historic Greece.
There is a broad line dividing mythical from political
Hellas, a line which seems to coincide with the great break
made in the continuity of Hellas by the Dorian invasion.
On the older side of that line we see the castles of magni-
ficent princes standing amid the huts of their dependants,
but no trade, no high art, curiously enough, no temples of
the gods, though rude images of them. On the more
recent side of the line we see vigorous communities,
choosing their own governments, carrying on trade with all
parts of the Mediterranean and Euxine, and planting
colonies on all shores, full of the highest artistic feelings,
and building on the heights where the royal castles had
stood those magnificent temples to Apollo and Athene,
Zeus and Poseidon, which were the centres of all the
higher life of Hellas, so long as Hellas lived. But the
tendency to revert to an original type is as strong in
nations as in breeds of animals. So in Greek history we
find constant instances of reversion towards the early
organisation in the rise of those tyrannies which were a
H
97
us a curious problem as to the position of the husband in
regard to the wife.
A moment's reflection will show us that the thing which
is really by far the most surprising in all this is the fact
that the site is in Greece proper. If in the lands of
Phrygia or Lycia, or among the hills of Etruria, we had
found the same proofs of the ancient existence of wealthy
and powerful and civilised nobles, we should have been far
less surprised. We should expect the Mermnadae of
Lydia, or the Phrygian princes of the line of Midas, to live
in this royal fashion. But we are accustomed to think of
Greece as a land of political communities, of little self-
governing states with agora, and harbour, and senate-
house, and with an acropolis covered not with a palace,
but with the temples of the gods. Such is the Greece of
history. But utterly different was pre-historic Greece.
There is a broad line dividing mythical from political
Hellas, a line which seems to coincide with the great break
made in the continuity of Hellas by the Dorian invasion.
On the older side of that line we see the castles of magni-
ficent princes standing amid the huts of their dependants,
but no trade, no high art, curiously enough, no temples of
the gods, though rude images of them. On the more
recent side of the line we see vigorous communities,
choosing their own governments, carrying on trade with all
parts of the Mediterranean and Euxine, and planting
colonies on all shores, full of the highest artistic feelings,
and building on the heights where the royal castles had
stood those magnificent temples to Apollo and Athene,
Zeus and Poseidon, which were the centres of all the
higher life of Hellas, so long as Hellas lived. But the
tendency to revert to an original type is as strong in
nations as in breeds of animals. So in Greek history we
find constant instances of reversion towards the early
organisation in the rise of those tyrannies which were a
H