XXVI

to excite admiration in his time as well as in our own. Itis difficult to ascertain the precise date of their erection :they were said to have been the work of Lycians under thedirection of Proetus, the brother of Acrisius'; this storywould carry us five or six generations higher than the eraof the Trojan war. In after times, however, from theirmassive and gigantic proportions, as well as from theabsence of authentic information respecting them, they weregenerally considered as having been raised by the Cyclops.The description given by Pausanias is to this day correct 2 .These walls are about a quarter of a mile in circuit, andembrace a rising ground of inconsiderable elevation, situatedin the plain of Argos. There are separate entrances, andleading from one of these may be seen a covered gallery orpassage, formed in the thickness of the wall, the course ofwhich it follows to some extent; the roof perfectly resemblesthat of the gallery in the great pyramid, being composed ofsingle stones inclined towards each other, forming an acuteangle by their junction.

In the vicinage of Tiryns, nearly coeval with it, hutfar surpassing it in extent, are the remains of Mycenae.This city, so distinguished at its first introduction to ournotice, remained during the flourishing ages of Grecianhistory in a state of ruin and desolation. Tradition namesPerseus as its founder, hut the execution of the walls, like

1 Strabo, lib. viii. p. 373. Pausan. Argol. c. 16. 25.

2 Pausan. Argol. c. 25.

irstfotrirai §h apycvy X&wv, p=y £ $o£ £ ^ wv ' , £Kas -o 5 A drt av'tujy dv

xtvyjfyyai roy fuxgorcctoy uffo gevy8$ ^joVojv SI hfyfAorai tfakat, cJ; p,«Aira

aurwy £*arov d^oyiav peyd\ot S A &qi$ Styat.