remains if they are regarded as the authentic memorials of a period of which the Homeric poems only preserve a faint tradition.

Casts of some of the early Cretan sculptures are shown in the Cast Gallery, and in the First Vase Room (Case A).

Of Mycenae the most important monuments are the well-known 'Gate of Lions,' still in its original position (see the cast in the Cast Gallery) and the Doorway of the 'Treasury of Atreus' (otherwise known as 'the Tomb of Agamemnon'). The latter is a vaulted tomb formed in a hill-side, approached by a long horizontal passage. It once had a sumptuously decorated doorway of red marble and greenish limestone, with geometrical patterns in low relief. This is now broken and dispersed. The fragments in this Museum have been collected from several sources. Two pieces (nos. 1, 2) were a part of the collection of Lord Elgin. Two small fragments (nos. 3, 4), which are now incorporated in the right hand column, were presented by the Institute of British Architects in 1843. The fragment 4a (fig. 1) was discovered by Mr. Lethaby in

the porch of a London house (where it had stood for many years) in 1900, and was presented by Mr. G. Durlacher. The three important pieces of the shaft (Plate I.) were obtained at Mycenae by the second Marquis of Sligo in 1812, and were by him transported to Westport in Ireland, where their origin was forgotten, and they passed out of sight. They were again identified by the Earl of Altamont in 1904, and presented by the present Marquis to the British Museum. The tinted portion of the upper part of the right hand column is a cast from the original now at Athens. capitals are also restored from the two original capitals at Athens, with the insertion of casts of fragments at Carlsruhe and Munich. The breccia pedestals are copies of the originals, still in position at Mycenae.

The

7-18, etc. Sculptures from Branchidae. The massive seated figures, and the recumbent Lions (17 and 18), once stood at intervals along the Sacred Way of Branchidae as dedicatory offerings to Apollo. The Branchidae were a priestly clan, who held from time immemorial the temple and oracle of Apollo at Didyma, near Miletus, in Asia Minor. Their name thus came to be used for that

of the place. The temple was destroyed by the Persians, probably by Darius, on the suppression of the Ionian revolt, in 496 B.C., and it was not rebuilt before the time of Alexander. It is therefore certain that the sculptures of Branchidae are not later than 496 B.C., and probably they fall between 580 and 520 B.C. The group of sculptures was obtained by the late Sir Charles Newton, in 1858, in the course of a mission on behalf of the British Government in

Fig. 2 shows the entrance of the 'Treasury of Atreus' in its present condition,
except that the two columns are replaced in their original positions.

Asia Minor. Parts of five further figures were found by a German expedition in 1907.

In these statues the human forms are heavy and conventional, and such details as the folds and lower edges of the drapery are treated in a traditional way. Progress, however, towards refinement can be traced. In no. 9 only the outlines of the draperies are indicated, and their surfaces are without detail. In nos. 7, 10, 14 the folds are indicated in a conventional way, but there is no rendering of textures. In the remaining figures (8, 11, 12, 13, 15)

there is some indication of the heavy and light textures, and finally, in no. 16, there is a marked advance towards freedom and truth. No. 10 is inscribed :

E

ΘΜΟΣ ΜΕ ΕΓΟΤΑΝ

Ε[υ]δημός με ἐποίειν.

'Eudemos (?) made me.'

The cushion has a pattern of stars and maeanders to represent embroidery.

No. 14 is inscribed :

ΑΓΑ ΑΤΟΑΠΟΛΩΝΟΣ

Χάρης εἰμὶ ὁ Κλε(ί)σιος Τειχιο(ύ)σ(σ)ης αρχός. ἄγαλμα το(υ)
Απόλλωνος.

' I am Chares, son of Kleisis, ruler of Teichioussa. The statue is the property of Apollo.'

No. 17, Lion, is studied from nature in its pose, but the mane is strictly conventional. The inscription, now hardly legible,

runs :

ΤΑ ΑΓΑΓΜΑΤΑ ΤΑΔΕ ΑΝΕΘΕΤΑΝΟΙΩΡ

ΚΑΙ ΠΑΣΙΚΑ ΘΕΚΑ ΤΕΓΟΣ ΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΚΛΙΕΥ

ΠΩΓΩΝΙ

Τὰ ἀγάλματα τάδε ἀνέθεσαν οἱ Ωρ-
ίωνος παῖδες το(ῦ) ἀρχηγοῦ), Θαλῆς
καὶ Πασικλῆς καὶ Ηγήσανδρος καὶ Εὔ
βιος καὶ ̓Αναξίλεως, δε[κά]την τῷ ̓Α-
πόλ(λ)ωνι.

The sons of Orion, the governor, Thales, Pasicles, Hegesander, Eubios and Anaxileōs dedicated these statues as a tithe to Apollo.'

The base of another archaic dedication is inscribed on both sides

with the name of an early sculptor, Terpsicles, as well as with the names of the dedicators.

OIANAEIMANDRO PAIDES TOMANDDOMAX

Οἱ ̓Αναξιμάνδρου παῖδες τοῦ Μανδρομάχ[ου ἀνέθεσαν. ἐποίησε δὲ
Τερψικλῆς.

'The sons of Anaximander, son of Mandromachos, dedicated (this). Terpsicles made it.'

These inscriptions are written boustrophedon, that is, alternately from left to right, and from right to left, like the path of ploughing

oxen.

In these inscriptions the older form of the Greek Eta, □, is used in nos. 10 and 17, and the later form, H, in no. 14. This change is believed to have already taken place by the time of Croesus (about 561-546 B.C.: see below, p. 82). The older group must therefore be anterior to the middle of the sixth century B.C. The later group probably belongs to the latter half of the century, though we cannot fix the superior limit of time with precision.

No. 18. This figure has sometimes been described as a lionsphinx, but there is nothing distinctive, and it is probably a lion, treated in a highly conventional way.

80-97. Sculptures from Xanthos.-The following sculptures are the archaic portion of the collection of sculptures from Xanthos, a town some ten miles from the sea, in the south-west of Lycia. They were discovered in the successive journeys of Mr. (afterwards Sir) Charles Fellows, who visited Lycia in 1838, 1840, and 1842. In the year last mentioned a naval expedition was employed to ship the Xanthian marbles for transport to England.

The people of Lycia were a non-Hellenic race, and in 545 B.C. they were conquered by Persia. The sculptures, however, of Xanthos are distinctly archaic Greek works, though not without traces of Oriental influence (cf. no. 86). In the most important remains, especially in the Harpy Tomb (no. 94) we trace the manner of the Ionian School of Asia Minor, whose chief characteristics are an exaggerated fulness of form and languor of expression, which may be contrasted with the muscular vigour of the Doric sculpture, and the delicate refinement observed in a part of early Attic work.

The greater number of this important group of archaic sculptures may be assigned to the period shortly preceding the Persian conquest.

80. Sepulchral chest, adorned with reliefs on the four sides. This tomb was made of a single block of hard, coarse limestone. It was found by Fellows in its original position, on a shaft, which

Fig. 3.-View of the Lion Tomb at Xanthos. No. 80.

appears to have been about 9 feet high (see fig. 3). On the top of the chest there is a rebate to receive the lid, which was formed of a separate block and has not been found. On the sides are subjects in low relief, namely, a warrior and horseman with attendant; a man