DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1021#0442
IN ATTICA AND SALAMIS 387
cus, while at Athens not even an ordinary chamber-tomb has yet come to
light. On the other hand, the domes of Thoricus were probably much
poorer in treasure than the chamber-tombs of Spata. We infer this from
the trifling value of the furniture found in the circular tomb, the largest
and best of the Thoricus " beehives," which does not apjiear to have been
rifled in earlier times,1 as has been supposed.
The second noteworthy fact is that entire cemeteries, with grave fur-
niture more valuable than the usual pottery, have not yet been found in
Attica; for the tholos at Menidi and the chamber-tombs of Spata, the
richest of the Attic sepulchres, stand isolated and must have belonged to
princely houses. But it is only the graves of the common people that
can teach us the average social condition, and the cemeteries, as known
to us to-day, show that this was a state of comparative poverty. This
becomes more clear if we compare the cemeteries of HaliUe and the Attic
Midland (the graves of Spata excepted) with the outlying graveyards at
Mycenae. In the Attic graves not only the precious metals, but even the
glass-paste ornaments, are very rare. At Mycenae, on the other hand,
these last abound in almost every tomb, large or small, and even orna-
ments of solid gold and gold plate and objects of ivory are of frequent
occurrence.
The natural inference from these facts squares with the received tradi-
tion of the pre-Thesean times, namely, that Attica was then divided into
a number of independent states with their several apxovrhTt kcu TrpvTa.v€ia
(Thucydides, ii. 15). These states were of course small, and the citizens,
most of them tillers of the soil, were poor. Even their archons or kings
seem to have been no richer than the well-to-do Mycenaean burgher ; for,
in the value of their treasures, many of the burgher tombs about Mycenae
do not suffer by comparison with the tholos at Menidi. This comparison,
with others that might he made, shows that Mycenae was indeed a
TroXvxpvo-os TrdXts, owing its riches no less to its power than to its relations
with the East; while, at the same period, the feeble states of Attica could
not afford their subjects means and opportunity of acquiring wealth
either by war or in peace.
In the immediate neighborhood of Attica, Salamis and Aegina—the
cradle of the Aeacids — have made fresh contributions to our knowledge
of Mycenaean civilization.
In 1893 Mr. Kabbadias, the General Ephor of Antiquities, discovered
on the island of Salamis, near the Navy Yard and not far from the
ancient town, a cemetery of more than a hundred graves, arranged in
seven parallel rows. A brief account of these excavations was published
by Mr. Kabbadias in his " Catalogue des Musees d'Athenes " (Athens,
1895), and from this our information is mainly derived.
1 But Staea maintains that all had been plundered (Epk. Arch., 1895, 223 ff.)
cus, while at Athens not even an ordinary chamber-tomb has yet come to
light. On the other hand, the domes of Thoricus were probably much
poorer in treasure than the chamber-tombs of Spata. We infer this from
the trifling value of the furniture found in the circular tomb, the largest
and best of the Thoricus " beehives," which does not apjiear to have been
rifled in earlier times,1 as has been supposed.
The second noteworthy fact is that entire cemeteries, with grave fur-
niture more valuable than the usual pottery, have not yet been found in
Attica; for the tholos at Menidi and the chamber-tombs of Spata, the
richest of the Attic sepulchres, stand isolated and must have belonged to
princely houses. But it is only the graves of the common people that
can teach us the average social condition, and the cemeteries, as known
to us to-day, show that this was a state of comparative poverty. This
becomes more clear if we compare the cemeteries of HaliUe and the Attic
Midland (the graves of Spata excepted) with the outlying graveyards at
Mycenae. In the Attic graves not only the precious metals, but even the
glass-paste ornaments, are very rare. At Mycenae, on the other hand,
these last abound in almost every tomb, large or small, and even orna-
ments of solid gold and gold plate and objects of ivory are of frequent
occurrence.
The natural inference from these facts squares with the received tradi-
tion of the pre-Thesean times, namely, that Attica was then divided into
a number of independent states with their several apxovrhTt kcu TrpvTa.v€ia
(Thucydides, ii. 15). These states were of course small, and the citizens,
most of them tillers of the soil, were poor. Even their archons or kings
seem to have been no richer than the well-to-do Mycenaean burgher ; for,
in the value of their treasures, many of the burgher tombs about Mycenae
do not suffer by comparison with the tholos at Menidi. This comparison,
with others that might he made, shows that Mycenae was indeed a
TroXvxpvo-os TrdXts, owing its riches no less to its power than to its relations
with the East; while, at the same period, the feeble states of Attica could
not afford their subjects means and opportunity of acquiring wealth
either by war or in peace.
In the immediate neighborhood of Attica, Salamis and Aegina—the
cradle of the Aeacids — have made fresh contributions to our knowledge
of Mycenaean civilization.
In 1893 Mr. Kabbadias, the General Ephor of Antiquities, discovered
on the island of Salamis, near the Navy Yard and not far from the
ancient town, a cemetery of more than a hundred graves, arranged in
seven parallel rows. A brief account of these excavations was published
by Mr. Kabbadias in his " Catalogue des Musees d'Athenes " (Athens,
1895), and from this our information is mainly derived.
1 But Staea maintains that all had been plundered (Epk. Arch., 1895, 223 ff.)