Perry, Walter Copland: Greek and Roman sculpture: a popular introduction to the history of Greek and Roman sculpture (London, 1882)

MYTHICAL ARCHITECTS.

2 3

sanias,1 ' no yoke of mules could move.' According to Strabo,2
the city of Tiryns3 was fortified by an ancient guild of architects
called GasterocJieircs (literally, 'filling their stomachs by their hands'),
who came from Lycia at the invitation of King Prcetus, and who
also fortified Mycenae.4 To the same hands ancient writers would
probably ascribe the subterraneous treasuries of Minyas and
Atreus,5 the latter of which is almost in a perfect state of preserva-

Fig. 4.

tion, and answers exactly to Pausanias'6 description of the former :
' The treasury of Minyas, a marvellous structure, not inferior to any
work of Grecian or other art, is built thus: it is of stone, round in
form, and its apex does not end in a very sharp point. They say that

1 ii. 25. 8.
I ^ !>- 373'

M.Om. //. ii. 559, Tipvvs Tox'offftra.
4 Pausan. vii. 25, 5. Coof. Kurip. fftfC.
Fur. 943*-

/noxAovy fi«f'AA«? 6% ws tu KuirAamwi' fia&pa
&%pwnf atiijptijffvi'Tpiaii'wow 7raAiv.

* Pausan. ii. 16. 8. ■ ix. 38. i.