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Stephani on the Tombs at Mycenae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2012

Extract

In the Compte rendu of the Russian Imperial Archaeological Commission for 1877, which has just made its appearance, Dr. Stephani, one of the most learned and experienced of archaeologists, has boldly attacked the antiquity of the graves discovered by Dr. Schliemann at Mycenae. The circumstances of that discovery will be fresh in the memory of our readers. As soon as English archaeologists had an opportunity of examining the various objects discovered by Dr. Schliemann in the graves, they at once gave their verdict, all but unanimously, that what was found belonged to the pre-historic times of Greece. And in this country it is now commonly assumed that the antiquities of Mycenae must form the subject of the first chapter of any account of Greek artistic production. But the reputation of Dr. Stephani is deservedly so great that his entry into the controversy compels us to a reconsideration of the whole problem, and a careful examination of the new light which he has to offer.

This task I have undertaken, not without reluctance. And whatever may be my inferiority to M. Stephani in the matter of learning and experience, I have over him the great advantage that whereas he judges of the Mycenaean treasures from engravings and photographs, I have seen them not once, but many times, have examined them with utmost care, and have for years been seeking in all quarters for anything to throw light on their date and origin.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1880

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References

page 94 note 1 See Edinburgh Review, 1878 (Mr.Newton, )Google Scholar; Quarterly Review, 1878; Contemporary Review, 1878 (Mr.Poole, )Google Scholar; Proceedings of Society of Antiquaries, March 22, 1877 (Mr.Evans, John)Google Scholar; May 17, 1877 (Mr. Newtonand Mr. Watkiss Lloyd). An important exception to this unanimity is Mr.Murray, A. S. (Nineteenth Century, 1879)Google Scholar.

page 96 note 1 No doubt the Egyptian porcelain was imported, and the ostrich-shell found in one grave. See Appendix to the German edition of Schliemann's Mycenae.

page 96 note 2 Dr. Schliemann does in some cases speak of soldering, as at p. 236. But this appears to be a misuse of the term; he informs me in a letter that he did not find in the case of any vase an instance of the process. At the same time I should not regard the occasional use of the soldering process as proof of late date.

page 98 note 1 See the Ἀθήναιον, vol. 6.

page 98 note 2 Proceedings, May, 17, 1877.

page 98 note 3 Mykenische Thongefässe.

page 98 note 4 Conze, Melische Thongefässe.

page 98 note 5 By Prof.Sayce, , in the St. Petersburg Herald, June 23, 1880, &c.Google Scholar

page 99 note 1 Academy, July 3, by Mr. Murray.

page 99 note 2 Engraved at p. 243 of the English edition of Schliemann.

page 99 note 3 Page 217.

page 99 note 4 Page 160.

page 99 note 5 Page 307.

page 99 note 6 See Contemporary Review, xxxi. pp. 346–59.

page 100 note 1 See Benndorf, Gesichtshelme und Sepuleralmasken.

page 101 note 1 Professor Sayce says that a gold mask now in the Louvre was actually ound on the face of an Egyptian king of the eighteenth dynasty, Academy, July 17.

page 102 note 1 Syncellus, , Chronogr. p. 382 C, ed. Par, Google Scholar. Pollio, Trebellius, Gallienus, 13.Google Scholar

page 102 note 2 Zosimus, Hist. v. 6, 8Google Scholar.

page 103 note 1 Les origines de l'orfévreric cloisonnée, II. pp. 135, seqq.

page 104 note 1 Engraved at p. 287.

page 104 note 2 SirLubbock, J., Prehistoric Times, pp. 7—12.Google Scholar

page 104 note 3 Antiq. du Bosphore Cim., Introd. p. 27.

page 104 note 4 Page 69.

page 104 note 5 Page 73.

page 106 note 1 Antiq. du Bosphore Cim., Introd., p. 39.