DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4266#0106
2(j SUBTERRANEOUS CHAMBER AT MVCEN.E.
" The circuit of the walls remains, and a gate over which are lions. These arc said to be the works
of the Cyclopes, who built for Prcctus the walls of Tirynthus." At the present time, three distinct
modes of construction are distinguishable in the walls of the Acropolis, all of which have indifferently
been called Cyclopean: but, as has been observed by the judicious Sir Wm. Gell, and the accurate
Col. Leake % the term Cyclopean can apply only to a very peculiar species, like that of Tirynthus",
composed of huge masses of rock roughly hewn, and piled up together with the interstices at the
angles filled up by small stones : the other polygonal constructions are of a later date. The gate
of the lions remains, and very possibly in the same state as at the time of Pausanias. The indestruc-
tible nature of the Cyclopean works, and the beauty of the construction of Mycenae and its citadel,
have induced ancient writers to apply to them many terms expressive of admiration, and epithets
highly poetical. Homer calls Mycenae well built, Yvyrl^ivov nro\U%govc, its streets wide, titgvetytHa*.
Euripides terms its walls heavenly, ovguvta ruyrf, and in reference to its builders iro~ki<T^a. Yli^iug
ILvkKwkIuv kovov fctgcov1, the city of Perseus, a Cyclopean work, as also KuxXa/Vav §v^Xu,gs, Kv»\mrihf
liTTia,ihi and KvxXcoirw (3a.0gu}.
In continuation of his description of the ruins, Pausanias thus pursues his narration. " In the
midst of the ruins of Mycenae, are to be observed various monuments ; the Fountain of Persee ; the
Subterraneous Chambers of Atreus and his sons, where they kept their treasures; the Tomb of Atreus ;
that of the persons who, on their return from Troy with Agamemnon, were slain by iEgisthus at the
banquet; that of Cassandra, which the Lacedemonians contend is not in this city ; the Tomb of
Agamemnon ; that of Eurymedon, his charioteer; and that which encloses Teledamis and Pelops, his
twins by Cassandra, who were slain while infants by iEgisthus. Lastly, the Tomb of Electra, given by
Orestes in marriage to Pylades, and by whom (according to Hellanicus) she had Strophius and Medon.
Clytemnestra and yEgisthus have been interred at a little distance without the walls ; being deemed
unworthy of beinginhumed in the same precinct with Agamemnon, and those who were slain with him."
At a few hundred paces distant from the gate of the Lions, on the declivity of the hill, are
several subterraneous chambers, circular in plan, and having domes of a parabolic form. The most
entire of these structures is the one forming our present subject of illustration, and which has been
considered by different modern travellers as the Tomb of Agamemnon, and the Treasury of the
Atridae. The latter opinion seems supported by the authority of Pausanias, for, although he does not
in the passage above quoted particularise its form, yet in his mention of the Treasury of Minyas at Or-
chomenus, he describes a building coinciding, in almost every particular, with the form and construc-
tion of the present monument". " But the Treasury of Minyas is not one of the least wonders either
of those in Greece or elsewhere. It is of marble, circular in its plan, the summit not very sharp-
pointed, and the top stone they say forming the key to the whole structure." By reference to Plate
III. of this Chapter the reader will perceive the great correspondence in every particular between
this subterraneous chamber and the detailed relation of the Treasury of Minyas by the ancient travel-
ler. At Orchomenus some vast fragments still remain on the side of the low hill, particularly the su-
percilium of a door exactly similar to the one at Mycenae. Its inner face is 1G feet, 4 inches long,
and 3 feet in height, concave on plan, and following in its profile the sweep of the dome ; its depth
varies from 7 to 8 feet : this vast block is supported on three courses of stone about 1 foot, 4 inches
high each ; the lower part of the building lies buried in its own ruins. Combining therefore the re-
lation of Pausanias with these fragments, and their similarity to the Subterraneous Chamber of Mycenae,
there appears every rational probability that both monuments were employed for a similar purpose.
On comparing the relative dates of the constructions at Orchomenus and Mycenae, a remarkable co-
a Topography of Athens. b Corin. c. XXV. c Iliad, ii. v. 569.
d Iliad. iv. v. 52. <= Electra v. 1158. f Iphig. in Aul. v. 1500.
8 Iphig. in Aul. v. 152, Hesvchius explains Su^s'au by U$> IXafof. b Iphig. in Taur. v. 845.
i Here. Fur. v. 946. k Bceotica, c. XXXVIII.
" The circuit of the walls remains, and a gate over which are lions. These arc said to be the works
of the Cyclopes, who built for Prcctus the walls of Tirynthus." At the present time, three distinct
modes of construction are distinguishable in the walls of the Acropolis, all of which have indifferently
been called Cyclopean: but, as has been observed by the judicious Sir Wm. Gell, and the accurate
Col. Leake % the term Cyclopean can apply only to a very peculiar species, like that of Tirynthus",
composed of huge masses of rock roughly hewn, and piled up together with the interstices at the
angles filled up by small stones : the other polygonal constructions are of a later date. The gate
of the lions remains, and very possibly in the same state as at the time of Pausanias. The indestruc-
tible nature of the Cyclopean works, and the beauty of the construction of Mycenae and its citadel,
have induced ancient writers to apply to them many terms expressive of admiration, and epithets
highly poetical. Homer calls Mycenae well built, Yvyrl^ivov nro\U%govc, its streets wide, titgvetytHa*.
Euripides terms its walls heavenly, ovguvta ruyrf, and in reference to its builders iro~ki<T^a. Yli^iug
ILvkKwkIuv kovov fctgcov1, the city of Perseus, a Cyclopean work, as also KuxXa/Vav §v^Xu,gs, Kv»\mrihf
liTTia,ihi and KvxXcoirw (3a.0gu}.
In continuation of his description of the ruins, Pausanias thus pursues his narration. " In the
midst of the ruins of Mycenae, are to be observed various monuments ; the Fountain of Persee ; the
Subterraneous Chambers of Atreus and his sons, where they kept their treasures; the Tomb of Atreus ;
that of the persons who, on their return from Troy with Agamemnon, were slain by iEgisthus at the
banquet; that of Cassandra, which the Lacedemonians contend is not in this city ; the Tomb of
Agamemnon ; that of Eurymedon, his charioteer; and that which encloses Teledamis and Pelops, his
twins by Cassandra, who were slain while infants by iEgisthus. Lastly, the Tomb of Electra, given by
Orestes in marriage to Pylades, and by whom (according to Hellanicus) she had Strophius and Medon.
Clytemnestra and yEgisthus have been interred at a little distance without the walls ; being deemed
unworthy of beinginhumed in the same precinct with Agamemnon, and those who were slain with him."
At a few hundred paces distant from the gate of the Lions, on the declivity of the hill, are
several subterraneous chambers, circular in plan, and having domes of a parabolic form. The most
entire of these structures is the one forming our present subject of illustration, and which has been
considered by different modern travellers as the Tomb of Agamemnon, and the Treasury of the
Atridae. The latter opinion seems supported by the authority of Pausanias, for, although he does not
in the passage above quoted particularise its form, yet in his mention of the Treasury of Minyas at Or-
chomenus, he describes a building coinciding, in almost every particular, with the form and construc-
tion of the present monument". " But the Treasury of Minyas is not one of the least wonders either
of those in Greece or elsewhere. It is of marble, circular in its plan, the summit not very sharp-
pointed, and the top stone they say forming the key to the whole structure." By reference to Plate
III. of this Chapter the reader will perceive the great correspondence in every particular between
this subterraneous chamber and the detailed relation of the Treasury of Minyas by the ancient travel-
ler. At Orchomenus some vast fragments still remain on the side of the low hill, particularly the su-
percilium of a door exactly similar to the one at Mycenae. Its inner face is 1G feet, 4 inches long,
and 3 feet in height, concave on plan, and following in its profile the sweep of the dome ; its depth
varies from 7 to 8 feet : this vast block is supported on three courses of stone about 1 foot, 4 inches
high each ; the lower part of the building lies buried in its own ruins. Combining therefore the re-
lation of Pausanias with these fragments, and their similarity to the Subterraneous Chamber of Mycenae,
there appears every rational probability that both monuments were employed for a similar purpose.
On comparing the relative dates of the constructions at Orchomenus and Mycenae, a remarkable co-
a Topography of Athens. b Corin. c. XXV. c Iliad, ii. v. 569.
d Iliad. iv. v. 52. <= Electra v. 1158. f Iphig. in Aul. v. 1500.
8 Iphig. in Aul. v. 152, Hesvchius explains Su^s'au by U$> IXafof. b Iphig. in Taur. v. 845.
i Here. Fur. v. 946. k Bceotica, c. XXXVIII.