DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1021#0111
THE PRIVATE HOUSE AND DOMESTIC LIFE 69
shield themselves withal, not to mention other matters
scarcely befitting a royal banquet-hall. Here at Mycenae
we can turn this untidy habit to account in draw- Mycenaean
ing up the old Achaean bill-of-fare. Thus, at dietary
least, we can make out their favorite meats and somewhat
of their sea-food. We find bones of the swine, goat, sheep,
ox, deer, hare. From the sea, there are shells of mussels
and other mollusks, but never fish-bones.1 The list might
doubtless he lengthened if the bones were examined by a
specialist, which has not yet been done. It may be safely
asserted, however, that the bones of swine exceed in quan-
tity those of any other animal, and only those of the goat
and sheep together equal them. Hence we may conclude
that the mountains rpund Mycenae were in early times
clothed with dense oak-forests affording covert and feeding-
ground for herds of wild boar; and in their glades we may
imagine many a glorious hunt like that upon Parnassus
which cost Odysseus his tell-tale scar. Indeed these now
naked hills with proper protection would still produce the
prinos and wild olive in abundance.2 Withal there are
found now and then hones of other animals — of the dog
certainly, apparently also of the horse and ass — the pres-
ence of which can hardly be accounted for on the food
theory.
1 We have other data for the dietary, as food seems to have been deposited
in the tomb with the dead. Thus in the first sepulchre (Grave II.), Dr. Schlie-
mana found a large quantity of oyster-shells, and among them several un-
opened oysters. — Mycenae, p. 332.
2 The destruction of forests in Greece, especially by careless shepherds*
fires, is an ever recurring national calamity. Often have we witnessed these
mountain fires, and we have even seen the whole Attic Plain down to the sea
shrouded with the. smoke of burning pine woods on Pentelicus and Parnes.
When the forests in sight of the capital are thus exposed to the torch of this
modern Fury it is no wonder the tree has a poor chance for its life in the
country at large.
shield themselves withal, not to mention other matters
scarcely befitting a royal banquet-hall. Here at Mycenae
we can turn this untidy habit to account in draw- Mycenaean
ing up the old Achaean bill-of-fare. Thus, at dietary
least, we can make out their favorite meats and somewhat
of their sea-food. We find bones of the swine, goat, sheep,
ox, deer, hare. From the sea, there are shells of mussels
and other mollusks, but never fish-bones.1 The list might
doubtless he lengthened if the bones were examined by a
specialist, which has not yet been done. It may be safely
asserted, however, that the bones of swine exceed in quan-
tity those of any other animal, and only those of the goat
and sheep together equal them. Hence we may conclude
that the mountains rpund Mycenae were in early times
clothed with dense oak-forests affording covert and feeding-
ground for herds of wild boar; and in their glades we may
imagine many a glorious hunt like that upon Parnassus
which cost Odysseus his tell-tale scar. Indeed these now
naked hills with proper protection would still produce the
prinos and wild olive in abundance.2 Withal there are
found now and then hones of other animals — of the dog
certainly, apparently also of the horse and ass — the pres-
ence of which can hardly be accounted for on the food
theory.
1 We have other data for the dietary, as food seems to have been deposited
in the tomb with the dead. Thus in the first sepulchre (Grave II.), Dr. Schlie-
mana found a large quantity of oyster-shells, and among them several un-
opened oysters. — Mycenae, p. 332.
2 The destruction of forests in Greece, especially by careless shepherds*
fires, is an ever recurring national calamity. Often have we witnessed these
mountain fires, and we have even seen the whole Attic Plain down to the sea
shrouded with the. smoke of burning pine woods on Pentelicus and Parnes.
When the forests in sight of the capital are thus exposed to the torch of this
modern Fury it is no wonder the tree has a poor chance for its life in the
country at large.