Buried Cities, vol 3, Mycenae | Page 4

to work. When a man
struck some new thing with his spade, he called out. Then the
excavators ran to that place and dug with their own hands. When
anything was found, Dr. Schliemann sent it to the village. There it was
kept in a house under guard. At night Dr. Schliemann drew plans of
Mycenae. He read again old Greek books about the city. As he read he
studied his plans. He wrote and wrote.
"As soon as possible, I must tell the world about what we find," he said
to his wife. "People will love my book, because they love the stories of
Homer."
There had been four months of hard work. A few precious things had
been uncovered,--a few of bronze and clay, a few of gold, some carved
gravestones. But were these the wonders Schliemann had promised?
Was this to be all? They had dug down more than twenty feet. A few

more days, and they would probably reach the solid rock. There could
be nothing below that. November was rainy and disagreeable. The men
had to work in the mud and wet. There was much disappointment on
the hilltop.
Then one day a spade grated on gravel. Once before that had happened,
and they had found gold below. They called out to Dr. Schliemann. He
and his wife came quickly. Fire leaped into Schliemann's eyes.
"Stop!" he said. "Now I will dig. Spades are too clumsy."
So he and his wife dropped upon their knees in the mud. They dug with
their knives. Carefully, bit by bit, they lifted the dirt. All at once there
was a glint of gold.
"Do not touch it!" cried Schliemann, "we must see it all at once. What
will it be?"
So they dug on. The men stood about watching. Every now and then
they shouted out, when some wonderful thing was uncovered, and
Schliemann would stop work and cry,
"Did not I tell you? Is it not worth the work?"
At last they had lifted off all the earth and gravel. There was a great
mass of golden things--golden hairpins, and bracelets, and great golden
earrings like wreaths of yellow flowers, and necklaces with pictures of
warriors embossed in the gold, and brooches in the shape of stags'
heads. There were gold covers for buttons, and every one was molded
into some beautiful design of crest or circle or flower or cuttle-fish.
And among them lay the bones of three persons. Across the forehead of
one was a diadem of gold, worked into designs of flowers. "See!" cried
Schliemann, "these are queens. See their crowns, their scepters."
For near the hands lay golden scepters, with crystal balls.
And there were golden boxes with covers. Perhaps long ago, one of
these queens had kept her jewels in them. There was a golden drinking
cup with swimming fish on its sides. There were vases of bronze and
silver and gold. There was a pile of gold and amber beads, lying where
they had fallen when the string had rotted away from the queenly neck.
And scattered all over the bodies and under them were thin flakes of
gold in the shapes of flowers, butterflies, grasshoppers, swans, eagles,
leaves. It seemed as though a golden tree had shed its leaves into the
grave.
"Think! Think! Think!" cried Schliemann. "These delicate lovely

things have lain buried here for three thousand years. You have
pastured your sheep above them. Once queens wore them and walked
the streets we are uncovering."
The news of the find spread like wildfire over the country. Thousands
of people came to visit the buried city. It was the most wonderful
treasure that had ever been found. The king of Athens sent soldiers to
guard the place. They camped on the acropolis. Their fires blazed there
at night. Schliemann telegraphed to the king:
"With great joy I announce to your majesty that I have discovered the
tombs which old stories say are the graves of Agamemnon and his
followers. I have found in them great treasures in the shape of ancient
things in pure gold. These treasures, alone, are enough to fill a great
museum. It will be the most wonderful collection in the world. During
the centuries to come it will draw visitors from all over the earth to
Greece. I am working for the joy of the work, not for money. So I give
this treasure, with much happiness, to Greece. May it be the corner
stone of great good fortune for her."
The work went on, and soon they found another grave, even more
wonderful. Here lay five people--two of them women, three of them
warriors. Golden masks covered the faces of the men. Two wore golden
breastplates. The gold clasp of the greave was still around one