The use of these stones has been conjectured to be that of testing the innocence of persons accused of crime, the rocking of the stone being certain, unless wedged up by the judge of the tribunal, in cases where he knew the guilt of the criminal: but we think that such a purpose is highly improbable.

26. (6.) Tolmen or Colossal Stones.

The Tolmen, or hole of stone, is a stone of considerable magnitude, so disposed upon rocks as to leave an opening between them, through which an object could be passed. It is the general opinion in Cornwall that invalids were cured of their diseases by being passed through the opening above mentioned. "The most stupendous monument of this kind," (see fig. 8.) says Borlase, "is in the tenement of Mên, in the parish of Constantine, in Cornwall; it is one great oval pebble, placed on the points of two natural rocks, so that a man may creep under the great one, between the supporters, through a

passage of about three feet wide, by as much high. 33 ft., being in a direction due north and south.

The longest diameter of this stone is Its height, measured perpendicularly over the opening is, 14 ft. 6 in., and the breadth, in the widest part, 18 ft. 6 in., extending from east to west. I measured one half of the circumference, and found it, according to my computation, 48 ft., so that this stone is 97 ft. in circumference, lengthwise, and about 60 ft. in girt, measured at the middle; and, by the best information, it contains about 750 tons.' We close this section by the expression of our belief that the extraordinary monuments whereof we have been speaking are of an age as remote as, if not more so than, the pyramids of Egypt, and that they were the works of a colony of the great nation that was at the earliest period settled in central Asia, either through the swarm that passed north-west over Germany, or south-west through Phoenicia; for, on either route, but rather, perhaps, the latter, traces of gigantic works remain, to attest the wonderful powers of the people of whom they are the remains.

SECT. II.

PELASGIC OR CYCLOPEAN ARCHITECTURE.

21. Pelasgic or Cyclopean architecture, (for that as well as the architecture of Phoenicia, seems to have been the work of branches of an original similarly thinking nation) presents for the notice of the reader, little more than massive walls composed of huge pieces of rock, scarcely more than piled together without the connecting medium of cement of any species. The method of its construction, considered as masonry, to the eye of the architect is quite sufficient to connect it with what we have in the preceding section called Druidical or Celtic architecture. It is next to impossible to believe that all these species were not executed by the same people. The nature and principles of Egyptian art were the same, but the specimens of it which remain bear marks of being of later date, the pyramids only excepted. The Greek fables about the Cyclopeans have been sufficiently exposed by Jacob Bryant, who has shown that the Greeks knew nothing about their own early history. Herodotus (lib. v. cap 57. et seq.) alludes to them under the name of Cadmians, saying they were particularly famous for their architecture, which he says they introduced into Greece; and wherever they came, erected noble structures remarkable for their height and beauty. These were dedicated to the Sun under the names of Elorus and Pelorus. Hence every thing great and stupendous was called Pelorian; and, transferring the ideas of the works to the founders, they made them a race of giants. Homer says of Polyphemus,Και γαρ θαυμ' ετέτυκτο πελώριον, ουδε εώκει Ανδρι γε σιτοφαγῳ, αλλα ρίῳ ύληεντι.

sters.

Virgil, too, describes him " Ipse arduus, alta pulsat sidera." Famous as lighthouse builders, wherein a round casement in the upper story afforded light to the mariner, the Greeks turned this into a single eye in the forehead of the race, and thus made them a set of monOf the race were Trophonius and his brother Agamedes, who, according to Pausanias (lib. ix.) contrived the temple at Delphi and the Treasury constructed to Urius. So great was the fame for building of the Cyclopeans that, when the Sybil in Virgil shows Eneas the place of torment in the shades below, the poet separates it from the regions of bliss by a Cyclopean wall:

28. The walls of the city of Mycene are of the class denominated Cyclopean, thus denounced for ruin by Hercules in Seneca :

66

Quid moror? majus mihi
Bellum Mycenis restat, ut Cyclopea
Eversa manibus mcenia nostris concidant."

Hercules Furens, act. 4. v. 996.

29. The gate of the city and the chief tower were particularly ascribed to them (Pausanias, lib. ii. Argos had also the reputation of being Cyclopean. But, to return to Mycene, Euripides, we should observe, speaks of its walls as being built after the Phoenician rule and method:

30. Fig. 9. is a representation of a portion of the postern gate of the walls of Mycene, for the purpose of exhibiting to the reader the character of the masonry employed in it.

31. The walls of Tiryns, probably more ancient than those we have just named, are celebrated by Homer in the words Τίρυνθα τειχιόεσσαν, and are said by Apollodorus and Strabo to have been built by workmen whom Prætus brought from Lycia. The words of Strabo are, Τίρυνθι ὁρμητηριο χρησασθαι δοκεί Προιτος, και τειχισαι δια Κυκλώπων· οὓς ἑπτα μεν είναι, καλείσθαι δε Γαστερόχειρας, τρεφομένους εκ της τέχνης, Prætus appears to have used Tiryns as a harbour, und to have walled it by the assistance of the Cyclops, who were seven in number, and called Gastrocheirs (bellyhanded), heing by their labour. "These seven Cyclops," says Jacob Bryant, "were, I make no doubt, seven Cyclopean towers built by the people.' Further on, he adds, "These towers were erected likewise for Purait, or Puratheia, where the rites of fire were performed: but Purait, or Puraitus, the Greeks changed to Prætus; and gave out that the towers were built for Prætus, whom they made a king of that country." The same author says that the Cyclopeans worshipped the sun under the symbol of a serpent; thus again

connecting them with the builders of Abury.
Fig. 10. is a view of portions of the walls of
Tiryns, taken from the Rev. T. S. Hughes's
Trarels in Allania. Later works are named
on p. 14.

32. Mr. Hamilton (Archæologia) divides the specimens of Cyclopean buildings into four æras. In the first he includes Tiryns and Mycene, where the blocks composing the masonry are of various sizes, having or having had smaller stones in their interstices. Second, as at Julis and Delphi, masonry without courses, formed of irregular polygonal stones, whose sides fit to each other. Third, that in which the stones are laid in courses of the same height, but unequal in length of stones; of this species are specimens in Boeotia, Argolis, and the Phocian cities. Fourth and last, that in which the stones are of various heights, and always rectangular, whereof examples are found in Attica. It may be here mentioned that, in the Etrurian part of Italy we find examples of Cyclopean works of the class, which Mr. Hamilton places in the second æra; as at Norba in Latium, Cora, Signia, and Alatrium; in the three last whereof the walls resemble those of Tiryns, Argos, and Mycene; also at Fiesole, Arezzo, and other places.

33. We shall now return to some further particulars in relation to Tiryns and Mycene, from which a more distinct notion of these fortresses will be obtained; but further investigation of those in Italy will hereafter be necessary, under the section on Etruscan architecture. The Acropolis of Tiryns, a little to the south-east of Argos, is on a mount rising about fifty

N

feet above the level of the plain, the foundations of its inclosure being still perfect and traceable, as in the annexed figure (fig. 11.). The ancient city is thought to have sur

rounded the fortress, and that formerly the city was nearer the sea than at present. Bryant, with his usual ingenuity, has found in its general form a type of the long ship of Danaus, which, we confess, our imagination is not lively enough to detect. On the east of the fortress are quarries, which furnish stone similar to that whereof it is built. It had entrances from the east and the west, and one at the south-eastern angle. That on the east, lettered A, is pretty fairly preserved, and is approached by an inclined access, B, 15 ft. wide, along the eastern and southern sides of the tower, C, which is 20 ft. square and 40 ft. high, passing, at the end of the last named side, under a gateway, composed of very large blocks of stone, that which forms the architrave being 10 ft. long, and over which, from the fragments lying on the spot, it is conjectured that a triangular stone was placed; but thereon is no appearance of sculpture. D is the present entrance. The general thickness of the walls is 25 ft., and they are formed by three parallel ranks of stones 5 ft. thick, thus leaving

two ranges of galleries each 5 ft. wide and 12 ft. high. The sides of the galleries are formed by two courses of stone, and the roof by two other horizontal courses, sailing over so as to meet at their summit, and somewhat resembling a pointed arch. (See fig. 10.) That part of the gallery, fig. 12., now uncovered, is about 90 ft. long, and has six openings or recesses towards the east, one whereof seems to have afforded a communication with some exterior building, of whose foundation traces are still in existence. The interval between these openings varies from 10 ft. 6 in. to 9 ft. 8 in.; the openings themselves being from 5 ft. 6 in. to 4 ft. 10 in. wide. It is probable that these galleries extended all round the citadel, though now only accessible where the walls are least perfect, at the southern part of the inclosure. There are no remains of the south-eastern portal. It appears to have been connected with the eastern gate by an avenue enclosed between the outer and inner curtain, of which avenue the use is not known. Similar avenues have been found at Argos and other ancient cities in Greece. The northern point of the hill is least elevated, and smaller stones have been employed in its wall. The exterior walls are built of rough stones, some of which are 9 ft. 4 in. in length and 4 ft. thick, their common size being somewhat less When entire, the wall must have been 60 ft. high, and on the eastern side has been entirely destroyed The whole length of the citadel is about 660 ft., and the breadth about 180 ft., the walls being straight without regard to inequality of level in the rock.

34. The Acropolis of Mycene was probably constructed in an age nearly the same as that of Tiryns. Pausanias mentions a gate on which two lions were sculptured, to which the name of the Gate of the Lions has been given (fig. 13.) These are still in their original position. It is situate at the end of a recess about 50 ft. long, commanded by projections of the walls, which are here formed of huge blocks of square stones, many placed on each other without breaking joint, which circumstance gives it a very inartificial appearance. The epistylium of the gate is a single stone 15 ft. long and 4 ft. 4 in. high. To the south of the gate above mentioned the wall is much ruined. In one part something like a tower is discernible, whose walls, being perpendicular while the curtain inclines a little inward from its base, a projection remained at the top by which an archer could defend the wall below. The blocks of the superstructure are of great size, those of the substructure much smaller. The gates excepted, the whole citadel is built of rough masses of rock, nicely adjusted and fitted to each other, though the smaller stones with which the

interstices were filled have mostly disappeared. The southern ramparts of the citadel and all the other walls follow the natural irregularity of the precipice on which they stand. At

its eastern point it is attached by a narrow isthmus to the mountain. It is a long irregular triangle, standing nearly east and west The walls are mostly of welljointed polygonal stones, although the rough construction occasionally appears. The general thickness of the walls is 21 ft., in some places 25; their present height, in the most perfect part, is 43 ft. There are, in some places, very slight projections from the walls, resembling towers, whereof the most perfect one is at the south-east angle, its breadth being 33 ft. and its height 43 ft. The size of the block whereon the lions are sculptured is 11 ft. broad at the base, 9 ft. high, and about 2 ft. thick, Fig. 13. of a triangular form suited to the ecess made for its reception. This block, in its appearance, resembles the green basalt of Egypt.

35. In this place we think it proper to notice a building at Mycene, which has been called by some the Treasury of Atreus, or the tomb of his son Agamemnon mentioned by

Pausanias. This building at first misled some authors into a belief that the use of the arch was known in Greece at a very early period; but examination of it shows that it was formed by horizontal courses, projecting beyond each other as they rose, and not by radiating joints or beds, and that the surface was afterwards formed so as to give the whole the appearance of a pointed dome, by cutting away the lower angles (fig. 14.). It is probably the most ancient of buildings in Greece; and it is a curious circumstance that at New Grange, near Drogheda, in Ireland, there is a monument whose form, construction, and plan of access resemble it so strongly that it is impossible to consider their similarity the result of accident. A repre

Fig. 14.

TREASURY OF ATREUS.

fi in

48.C

sentation of this may be seen in the work by Mr. Higgins which we have so often quoted, and will, we think, satisfy the reader of the great probability of the hypothesis hereinbefore assumed having all the appearance of truth. By the subjoined plan (fig. 15.) it will be seen that a space 20 ft. wide, between the two walls, conducts us to the entrance, which is 9 ft. 6 in. at the base, 7 ft. 10 in. at the top, and about 19 ft. high. The entrance passage is 18 ft. long and leads to the main chamber, which, in its general form, has some resemblance to a bee-hive, whose diameter is about 48 ft. and height about 49. (fig. 16) The blocks are placed in courses as above shown, 34 courses being at present visible. They are laid with the greatest precision, without cement, and are unequal in size. Their average height may be taken at 2 ft., though to a spectator on the floor, from the effect of the perspective, they appear to diminish very much towards the vertex. This monument has a second chamber, to which you enter on the right from the larger one just described. This is about 27 ft by 20, and 19 ft. high; but its walls, from the obstruction of the earth, are not visible. The doorway to it is 9 ft. high, 4 ft. 7 in. wide at the base, and 4 ft. 3 in. at the top. Similar to the larger or principal doorway, it has a triangular opening over its lintel. The stones which fitted into these triangular openings were of enormous dimensions, for the height of that over the principal entrance is 12 ft., and its breadth 7 ft. 8 in. The vault has been either lined with metal or ornamented with some sort of decorations, inasmuch as a number of bronze nails are found fixed in the stones up to the summit. The lintel of the door consists of two pieces of stone, the largest whereof is 27 ft. long, 17 ft. wide, and 3 ft. 9 in. thick, calculated, therefore, at 133 tons weight; a mass which can be compared with none ever used in building, except those at Balbec and in Egypt. The other lintel is of the same height, and probably (its ends are hidden) of

Fig. 15. PLAN OF TREASURY OF ATREUS.

the same length as the first.

Its exterior has two

Its breadth, however, is only one foot. parallel mouldings, which are continued down the jambs of the doorway.

Fig. 16.

36. The stone employed is of the hard and beautiful breccia, of which the neighbouring rocks, and the contiguous Mount Eubora, consist.

It is the hardest and compactest breccia which Greece produces, resembling the antique marble called Breccia Tracagnina antica, sometimes found among the ruins of Rome. Near the gate lie some masses of rosso antico decorated with guilloche-like and zigzag ornaments, and a columnar base of a Persian character. Some have supposed that these belonged to the decorations of the doorway; but we are of a different opinion, inasmuch as they destroy its grand character. We think if this were the tomb of Agamemnon, they were much more likely to have been a part of the shrine in which the body or ashes were deposited.

37. It is conjectured that the trea sury of Minyas, king of Orchomenos, whereof Pausanias speaks, bore a resemblance to the building we have just described; and it is very probable that all the subterranean chambers of Greece, Italy, and Sicily were very similarly constructed. Fig. 17. represents the entrance to the building fron the outside. The architecture of the early races of which we have been speaking will be further noticed in investigating other monuments. See the publications by Fergusson, Rude Stone Monuments in all Countries, 8vo., 1872; and Schliemann,

Fig. 17.

TREASURY OF MINYAS.