DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9187#0094
ASIA MINOR : EARLY
67
Between them, the two classes of monuments seem to occupy
the period between the eighth century, or earlier, and the age
of Croesus and Cyrus.
That there was some not distant relation between the
sepulchral art of Phrygia and that of Mycenae cannot be denied.
It would however be a mistake hence to leap to the conclu-
sion that the art of Mycenae wras of Phrygian origin. It appears
that the remains which come to us from Mycenae are earlier
by several centuries than those which we find in Phrygia. It
might even be suggested that the stream of art flowed rather
in the opposite direction, from Mycenae to Phrygia. A more
reasonable view, however, is that the art of Phrygia and that
of Mycenae were not mother and daughter, but rather cousins,
derived alike from some stem of Asiatic art which has yet
to be traced out.
More interesting, because more full of human meaning,
are the sculptural adornments of the early tombs of the district
of Lycia in southern Asia Minor. Early Greek tradition shows
a close relation subsisting between Lycia and Peloponnesus.
There is a well-known Homeric story which tells how Bellero-
phon, the descendant of Aeolus, was sent to Lycia by Proetus,
who desired that he should there be slain at the hands of the
Lycian king, his father-in-law ; and how nevertheless Bellerophon
prospered in Lycia in all that he undertook, slaying the
Chimaera, and overcoming the hosts of Solymi and Amazons.
Glaucus, the grandson of Bellerophon, and Diomedes of Argos
meet under the walls of Ilium as cousins. And tradition
connected the name of the Lycian Cyclopes with the mighty
walls of Tiryns and of Mycenae. The genealogies of the
legends are no doubt quite untrustworthy, yet they are often
confirmed as indications of race by other evidence. And there
is, as we shall see, so near an analogy between the monuments
of Lycia and those of Peloponnesus that we are obliged to
assume between the two countries also some connexion.
67
Between them, the two classes of monuments seem to occupy
the period between the eighth century, or earlier, and the age
of Croesus and Cyrus.
That there was some not distant relation between the
sepulchral art of Phrygia and that of Mycenae cannot be denied.
It would however be a mistake hence to leap to the conclu-
sion that the art of Mycenae wras of Phrygian origin. It appears
that the remains which come to us from Mycenae are earlier
by several centuries than those which we find in Phrygia. It
might even be suggested that the stream of art flowed rather
in the opposite direction, from Mycenae to Phrygia. A more
reasonable view, however, is that the art of Phrygia and that
of Mycenae were not mother and daughter, but rather cousins,
derived alike from some stem of Asiatic art which has yet
to be traced out.
More interesting, because more full of human meaning,
are the sculptural adornments of the early tombs of the district
of Lycia in southern Asia Minor. Early Greek tradition shows
a close relation subsisting between Lycia and Peloponnesus.
There is a well-known Homeric story which tells how Bellero-
phon, the descendant of Aeolus, was sent to Lycia by Proetus,
who desired that he should there be slain at the hands of the
Lycian king, his father-in-law ; and how nevertheless Bellerophon
prospered in Lycia in all that he undertook, slaying the
Chimaera, and overcoming the hosts of Solymi and Amazons.
Glaucus, the grandson of Bellerophon, and Diomedes of Argos
meet under the walls of Ilium as cousins. And tradition
connected the name of the Lycian Cyclopes with the mighty
walls of Tiryns and of Mycenae. The genealogies of the
legends are no doubt quite untrustworthy, yet they are often
confirmed as indications of race by other evidence. And there
is, as we shall see, so near an analogy between the monuments
of Lycia and those of Peloponnesus that we are obliged to
assume between the two countries also some connexion.