DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9184#0138
n6
New Chapters in Greek History. [Chap. IV.
from Tiryns, all betray native Greek ideas and art. In
this connexion we must mention also the pipes used in the
drainage of the Tirynthian palace, which closely resemble
those used in the aqueduct constructed at Samos by
Eupalinus. It seems therefore most probable, judging
from the evidence at present available, that the walls and
palaces of the Argolid were not merely raised by Greek
hands, but also designed by a Greek brain, though we may
trace in them the influence of several of the peoples which
surrounded the Greeks, and which were probably at the
time more advanced than they in material civilisation.
The palace walls of Tiryns and of Mycenae, combined
with the rich treasures of the Mycenaean tombs, serve well
to make our notion of the life of the heroes of Greek
legend more complete and more vivid.
These discoveries prove that the summits of the hills
of Greece, which in the historic age were covered with the
temples of the gods, and with works of art dedicated to
them, were at an earlier period dedicated not to gods but
to men. There rose the noble palaces of the ancient kings
of the cities of Greece, god-descended monarchs on whose
luxury and prowess, on whose immoderate pride and
ruinous crimes the legends told in later Greece loved to
dwell, and whose memories furnished subjects to Sophocles
and Euripides, as well as to the earlier epic poets. On
high they dwelt, fenced in by strong walls, like our own
barons of the Middle Ages ; while around the foot of their
Acropolis-rocks clustered the dwellings of the common
people whom they ruled with a rod of iron. Sidonian
merchants brought them slaves, or the rich products of
Egypt and Cyprus ; while they lived, thousands of obedient
serfs toiled on their lands or reared their fortress-walls ;
and when they died they were buried in chambers lined
with plates of bronze, and filled with the richest offerings
that could be found in Greece, or brought from lands of
New Chapters in Greek History. [Chap. IV.
from Tiryns, all betray native Greek ideas and art. In
this connexion we must mention also the pipes used in the
drainage of the Tirynthian palace, which closely resemble
those used in the aqueduct constructed at Samos by
Eupalinus. It seems therefore most probable, judging
from the evidence at present available, that the walls and
palaces of the Argolid were not merely raised by Greek
hands, but also designed by a Greek brain, though we may
trace in them the influence of several of the peoples which
surrounded the Greeks, and which were probably at the
time more advanced than they in material civilisation.
The palace walls of Tiryns and of Mycenae, combined
with the rich treasures of the Mycenaean tombs, serve well
to make our notion of the life of the heroes of Greek
legend more complete and more vivid.
These discoveries prove that the summits of the hills
of Greece, which in the historic age were covered with the
temples of the gods, and with works of art dedicated to
them, were at an earlier period dedicated not to gods but
to men. There rose the noble palaces of the ancient kings
of the cities of Greece, god-descended monarchs on whose
luxury and prowess, on whose immoderate pride and
ruinous crimes the legends told in later Greece loved to
dwell, and whose memories furnished subjects to Sophocles
and Euripides, as well as to the earlier epic poets. On
high they dwelt, fenced in by strong walls, like our own
barons of the Middle Ages ; while around the foot of their
Acropolis-rocks clustered the dwellings of the common
people whom they ruled with a rod of iron. Sidonian
merchants brought them slaves, or the rich products of
Egypt and Cyprus ; while they lived, thousands of obedient
serfs toiled on their lands or reared their fortress-walls ;
and when they died they were buried in chambers lined
with plates of bronze, and filled with the richest offerings
that could be found in Greece, or brought from lands of