DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9184#0132
no
New Chapters in Greek History.
[Chap. IV,
customs of the Achaean heroes as described by Homer.
We shall return to the subject in the chapter which deals
specially with the Homeric questions raised by recent
excavation.
We must, however, pass on from the ground-plan of the
palace at Tiryns to one or two important discoveries of
detail. The dpuy/cbi icvdvoio, the cyanus frieze, which the
excavations brought to light in the vestibule of the men's
hall, probably adorned that chamber, at some height above
the ground. This beautiful frieze is made of alabaster,
carved in patterns of Egyptian character, with pieces of
blue glass inserted at intervals, to give it colour and
variety. In this case, too, recent archaeology had proved
the soundness of its methods, by giving an explanation very
near to the truth. Dr. Helbig had argued that the frieze
of cyanus could not be of steel, or any of the other metals
which have been suggested, but must have consisted of
small plates of blue enamel, inserted into some underlying
substance, and worked into the pattern of a frieze. This
is remarkably near the truth, and fresh proof that archae-
ology, having arrived at a capacity for divining what is not
yet discovered, has the right to be considered a fully
established science.
Scarcely inferior to the alabaster frieze in interest, and
very similar to it in design, are the mural paintings of
which fragments were found in many parts of the palace.
It is useless to attempt to describe their designs, for they
can only be studied or understood by turning to the plates
of Schliemann's Tiryns. Their style is perfectly unmis-
takable : every one who has turned over Rosellini's or
Lepsius' plates of Egyptian architectural designs will see
that their true parentage is Egyptian. No one who has
learned the lesson of Mycenae, or has seen a drawing of
the marvellous stone ceiling of purely Egyptian pattern
which was found by Schliemann in the conical tomb at
New Chapters in Greek History.
[Chap. IV,
customs of the Achaean heroes as described by Homer.
We shall return to the subject in the chapter which deals
specially with the Homeric questions raised by recent
excavation.
We must, however, pass on from the ground-plan of the
palace at Tiryns to one or two important discoveries of
detail. The dpuy/cbi icvdvoio, the cyanus frieze, which the
excavations brought to light in the vestibule of the men's
hall, probably adorned that chamber, at some height above
the ground. This beautiful frieze is made of alabaster,
carved in patterns of Egyptian character, with pieces of
blue glass inserted at intervals, to give it colour and
variety. In this case, too, recent archaeology had proved
the soundness of its methods, by giving an explanation very
near to the truth. Dr. Helbig had argued that the frieze
of cyanus could not be of steel, or any of the other metals
which have been suggested, but must have consisted of
small plates of blue enamel, inserted into some underlying
substance, and worked into the pattern of a frieze. This
is remarkably near the truth, and fresh proof that archae-
ology, having arrived at a capacity for divining what is not
yet discovered, has the right to be considered a fully
established science.
Scarcely inferior to the alabaster frieze in interest, and
very similar to it in design, are the mural paintings of
which fragments were found in many parts of the palace.
It is useless to attempt to describe their designs, for they
can only be studied or understood by turning to the plates
of Schliemann's Tiryns. Their style is perfectly unmis-
takable : every one who has turned over Rosellini's or
Lepsius' plates of Egyptian architectural designs will see
that their true parentage is Egyptian. No one who has
learned the lesson of Mycenae, or has seen a drawing of
the marvellous stone ceiling of purely Egyptian pattern
which was found by Schliemann in the conical tomb at