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Part IV. The Epano Phournos Tholos Tomb
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 October 2013
Extract
The tholos tomb, known as the Epano Phournos (see Plan, Fig. 42 and photographs Plate 24), is one of the five tholos tombs which were known at Mycenae when modern archaeological research began there with Schliemann's excavations in 1876. The other four are: the Treasury of Atreus, the Lion Tomb, the Kato Phournos, and the Tomb of Clytemnestra. All these are marked on Schliemann's plan and that of Steffen, and the first three with the Epano Phournos were seen by Leake and Gell. Thus the Epano Phournos, especially since it stands high on the top of the ridge, has probably been known for many centuries, and has often no doubt been subject to the activities of treasure seekers. It was first excavated by Tsountas in 1892, who says he cleared it. It is not absolutely certain that the Epano Phournos is the tomb referred to by Tsountas, but it is most probable. He seems to have cleared the dromos and the front of the doorway and to have dug into the centre of the ruined tholos. He makes no mention of any finds from the tomb, and no objects from it seem to be recorded in the National Museum at Athens. In 1922 in our re-examination and planning of the tholos tombs we cleared the dromos again and excavated the doorway as far as could be done with safety.
- Type
- Mycenae 1939–1952
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1953
References
1 Mycenae, pl. D.
2 Karten von Mykenai, pl. I.
3 Leake, , Morea, II, pl. 4Google Scholar; Gell, , Itinerary, pl. 3.Google Scholar
4 PAE 1892, 56 f.
5 BSA XXV 292 ff.
6 Wace, , Mycenae, pl. 67c.Google Scholar
7 BSA XXV 292.
8 These objects may have found their way in, not through the entrance, but from the other side after the collapse of the dome. This part of the doorway would have formed a sort of niche with the inside face of the blocking wall at its back.
9 No doubt after the first plundering and the collapse of the tholos the tomb must have been attacked from time to time by greedy men in search of treasure. Traces of this can be seen in the second and third lintel blocks from the front. The third block has been turned on its side, and the second block has been shifted. This suggests that after the collapse of the tholos the tops of the lintels were laid bare and attracted the attention of treasure seekers, who believed that such large slabs must conceal gold. Thus archaic and even later pottery could easily have fallen in then or in later times through the gaps so made between the lintel blocks. The lamps found in the tholos tomb at the Argive Heraion in the grave pit in the tholos together with a classical tile suggest a possible period for a plundering of that tholos, BSA XXV 337. A. J. B. W.
10 For a cult of the dead in chamber tombs in Mycenaean times, see Wace, , Mycenae 15Google Scholar, in the Geometric period and later see Blegen, , Prosymna 263Google Scholar, where mention is made of a deposit of early Greek cult material that might indicate a sanctuary on a terrace north-west of the Argive Heraion tholos tomb. There seems to have been no evidence of a cult in the Tomb of Aegisthus, , BSA XXV 296 ff.Google Scholar
11 Near the south-east edge of the lintel, see BSA XXV 294. They are only a few centimetres deep and measure about 0·30 by 0·15 m.
12 These cuttings otherwise might have had some purpose in connection with the upper construction of the façade above the lintel. They could not otherwise have been made until the whole upper part of the tholos façade above the lintels had been destroyed. A. J. B. W.
13 This must have often been burrowed into by tomb robbers. A. J. B. W.
14 A small area in the south-west quarter of the tholos itself had evidently been cleared right down to the floor level by Tsountas, whose workmen had left traces of their activities in the shape of the neck of a glass wine bottle, the iron blade of a pioneer's axe, and a coin of George I of Greece dated 1882.
15 Compare the tholos at Dendra, where the collapse of the dome during the eleventh century is inferred from the presence of sub-Mycenaean and protogeometric sherds at floor level, Persson, , Dendra 11, 66 f.Google Scholar
16 The tholos at Dendra—and apparently also that at Vaphio—had been entered and ransacked by plunderers before the collapse of the vault, but the pits below the floor had fortunately escaped their attention, Persson, op cit. 12; compare Tsountas, , AE 1889, 139 ff.Google Scholar; Tsountas-Manatt, , Myc. Age 130 f.Google Scholar
17 I.e., the Cyclopean and Panagia tombs and, so far as is known, the Tomb of Aegisthus, (BSA XXV 296 ff.)Google Scholar and Tholos B at Kakovatos, (AM 1908, 307 ff.).Google Scholar In the Treasury of Atreus and in the Treasury of Minyas at Orchomenos there are side chambers. As will be seen from the plan (Fig. 42), it was not possible to clear the floor of the tholos right up to the edge owing to the danger that the wall might collapse. It is therefore just possible, but hardly likely, that a small pit might lie concealed under the débris in the unexcavated area as in Tholos C at Kakovatos, where there is a single-shaft pit measuring 2·00 by 0·75 by 0·50 m. deep, close by the wall of the tomb (AM 1908, 311, fig. 5).
18 BSA XXV 333.
19 BSA XXV 388; Wace, , Mycenae 16, 45.Google Scholar
20 Notably the false spout of a large stirrup vase, the flat top of which (0·085 m. in diam.) has a red band painted round the edge.
21 Only two clay vases belong for certain to the period of the burial: a large stirrup jar and a beaked jug, the fragments of which were recovered partly from the floor of the tomb, partly from the pits. The kylikes mentioned (Persson, , Royal Tombs at Dendra 66Google Scholar) are nowhere to be found in the detailed inventory of the pit contents. They are not figured, but from comparison made with a Zygouries vase (Blegen, , Zygouries 153Google Scholar, fig. 143, Type 1c) they sound considerably later than and quite out of line with the other furniture of the tomb.
22 Wace, , Mycenae, 19Google Scholar; Persson, , Royal Tombs at Dendra, 68Google Scholar; Dörpfeld, , Ath. Mitt. 1908, 314.Google Scholar
23 Including the curious strainer spout, No. 17.
24 Abbreviations in addition to those ordinarily in use in the Annual:
Asine Frödin and Persson, Asine.
Chamber Tombs Wace, , Chamber Tombs at Mycenae (Archaeologia 82), 1932.Google Scholar
Gournia Boyd-Hawes, , Gournia, 1908.Google Scholar
Korakou Blegen, , Korakou, 1921.Google Scholar
Mycenae Wace, , Mycenae, an Archaeological History and Guide, 1949.Google Scholar
MP Furumark, , The Mycenaean Pottery, 1941.Google Scholar
New Tombs at Dendra Persson, , New Tombs at Dendra, 1942.Google Scholar
Prosymna Blegen, , Prosymna, 1937.Google Scholar
Schachtgräber Karo, , Die Schachtgräber von Mykenai, 1930–1933.Google Scholar
25 E.g. Gournia (Gournia, pl. VII 40; VIII 18; IX 1); Palaikastro (BSA Suppl. I 36, fig. 24; BMC Vases I, A 663, 2); Pseira (Seager, , Pseira 33Google Scholar, fig. 14). Cf. Phylakopi (JHS Suppl. 4, pl. XXXI 4). Banti, (Festos II (1951), fig. 290)Google Scholar makes this design characteristic of East Crete in L.M. I, but it has M.M. III antecedents at Knossos (MP 131, citing PM I, col. pl. VII.
26 For Knossos see PM II passim (esp. ibid. 549, fig. 349, from Gypsades well). Cf. Mallia (Et. Crét. I 53, pl. XXVI 1), Phaistos, (Festos II 391 ff.).Google Scholar As Banti points out (ibid. 501, 528), this type of spiral is rare in East Crete, although it occurs on such typical L.M. I vases as e.g. Gournia, (Gournia, pl. VII 26)Google Scholar, Palaikastro, (PM II 215, fig. 121 c)Google Scholar, Pseira (Seager, , Pseira 28, fig. 9Google Scholar, running round the lower part of a large amphora as in our case). There are a number of examples from Phylakopi, JHS Suppl. IV, pl. XXV 9; XXIX 1 etc.
27 In Crete a covering of spirals already appears on the L.M. IA pithoid jar from the North-east House at Knossos, (PM II 422Google Scholar, fig. 245. Cf. PM II 549, fig. 349 d, from the Gypsades well). Compare Seager, , Pseira 28Google Scholar, fig. 9, and for later examples, PM IV, fig. 248.
28 To Furumark's list add Prosymna, fig. 106, no. 412, from the floor level in tomb xvii.
29 But such loops are also found in Crete, e.g. the little amphora from Phaistos dating from the Second Palace at the latest (Festos II 65, fig. 29). Compare the one-handled jug from the Maket tomb at Kahun, in Egypt, (PM II 2Google Scholar, figs. 291 ƒ, 315 d) classified by Evans as L.M. IB, -but which is more likely to be a product of the Mainland (Kantor, , The Aegean and he Orient in the Second Millennium (1947), 35Google Scholar; Klio XXXII (1939–40), 146 E 1).
30 See the two oval-mouthed amphorae with similar bold spiral decoration round the upper part of the body from Kakovatos Tholos B (AM 1909, XXIV 8, 9). Cf. another from Mycenae, T. 518 (Chamber Tombs, pl. XLII 5). This type of vase appears to be rare on the Mainland, and is evidently derived from Crete, where it is common from M.M. II onwards (MP 19, note 4). There are many examples from M.M. III–L.M. IA deposits at Knossos; although most of these are larger and fatter than the three from the Mainland cited above. For tall, slender amphorae resembling those from the Mainland, see PM II 436, fig. 253 A, from the House of the Frescoes (M.M. IIIB–L.M. IA), which affords a very close parallel to that from Mycenae T. 518.
31 E.g. the splendid series of L.M. II weapons from Knossos, (BSA XLVII 261 ff.).Google Scholar Note especially the spear head II (4) where the slit, which runs diagonally instead of straight up the socket, is so fine as to be hardly visible. According to Montelius, (La Grèce Préclassique I 156, fig. 482)Google Scholar, one of the spear heads from the Acropolis Hoard at Athens has no slit.
32 For rivet holes at the base of the blade see a spear head from Olympia, (Olympia IV, pl. LXIV, no. 1034).Google Scholar This is rather larger than our javelin owing to the length of the socket, which in the drawing at least shows no sign of a slit. The rounded tip in the drawing may be the effect of corrosion (but cf. ibid. no. 1035). For the rounded tip of the blade compare a spear head from Ialyssos, (Annuario XIII–XIV 344, fig. 95).Google Scholar Rounded tips are found on some Bronze Age spear heads from Egypt and the Near East (e.g. Petrie, , Tools and Weapons, pl. XXXVII 57Google Scholar).
33 These do not seem to me to have any resemblance to the Spartan lead figurines. A. J. B. W.
34 I am much indebted to Mr. R. Higgins and to Mr. R. V. Nicholls for referring me to the Amyklaion head and the bronze statuettes, and to Mr. R. V. Nicholls for providing photographs of the head.
35 Wace, , Chamber Tombs at Mycenae 124 f.Google Scholar
36 BSA XXV 289, 330, 361; Wace, , Mycenae 37, 43, pl. 53a, 63a.Google Scholar
37 AE 1895, 224.
38 Wace, , Chamber Tombs at Mycenae, 132 f.Google Scholar
39 BSA XXV 333.
40 Ibid., 322, 325, 378.
41 AM 1908, 307 ff.
42 Persson, , Royal Tombs at Dendra 23.Google Scholar
43 AM 1908, 311, fig. 5.
44 AE 1889, 139 ff.
45 BSA XXV 287 ff.; Wace, , Mycenae 42 f.Google Scholar
46 BSA XXV 296 ff.; Wace, , Mycenae 38 f.Google Scholar
47 Wace, , Mycenae 16.Google Scholar
48 JHS 1904, 317 f., pl. XI; SMC no. 551.
49 AE 1895, pl. 11.
50 AM 1909, 269 ff., pls. XVI–XXIII.
51 E.g. the Tomb of Aegisthus, , BSA XXV 309, 314, pls. XLIX–LI.Google Scholar