PELASGIAN ARCHITECTURE. The vast masses of unhewn and uneemented masonry forming the walls of Tiryns,—the ancient Tirynthus, about two miles from Nauplia, on the road to Argoa,—the oldest human constructions in Greece, were by ancient tradition attri buted to the fabulous Cyclopes. They, and similar masses of masonry, have hence come to be generally termed Cyclopean. There can ho little doubt that they are of pro-historic date ; but they are most probably of PeLasgie origin : the oldest examples of a mode of con struction which is found not only in various parte of Greece, but on the western coasts of Asia Minor and in Italy,—wherever, in fact, the Pelasgi settled. [Pstasiot.] According to Greek tradition, the walls of Tiryns were built by the Cyclopes for Proetus, 88 a protection from the attacks of Acrisiva ; and the date has been, with a vain affectation of precision, fixed at 1379 B.C. All that can with confidence be said of these walls is, that they were in existence when Homer wrote, since lie designates Tirynthus as the " (TiptIvea vu selx(eeertrap, ii. 559); and from the mention of them by later Greek writers, and their character, there cannot be any doubt that the existing remains are a portion of the walls referred to by Homer.
The distinguishing character of the walla of Tiryns (and similar walls occur in Lyeia), is that they are built of immense polygonal blocks of stone, irregular in size and form, which are laid together with a certain amount of art, and are held in their places by their own weight, no cement of any kind having been employed to fasten them : the inter stices between the large blocks are filled by smaller pieces. Some of the largest stones are 9 feet long, 4 feet wide, and nearly as deep; but a more common size is 7 feet by 3 feet.
At Myeenre, about 12 miles from Nauplia, are extensive walls of a similar character, and which, like those of Tir3ma, were also said by the ancient Greeks to be the work of the Cyclopes; but they, as well, as those at Epirus, are obviously of a later date than those of Tiryus, on which they are a marked improvement. In this mac, though the blocks are still large, irregular, polygonal masses, they are fitted care fully to each other, and present a smooth exterior surface.
Walls of this kind are found in many parts of Greece, and are of great antiquity. 3Iyeeme was designated the" well-built" by Homer ; but its massive walls were neglected and ruinous when Pausanias and even when Thucydides wrote. A later and more improved style of Pelasgian masonry is that seen in many of the older fortified portions of Greek cities, and in some of the cities of Etruria. In this mode the blooka are still irregular in size, and more or least polygonal, but they are laid with an approximation to horizontality. From this the next step was comparatively easy to the so-called Cyclopean masonry of the ancient Etrurians, which consisted of squared blocks laid with out cemcot in horizontal courses. [ETRUSCAN ARCHITECTURE.) The walls of Cosa, near Orbitella, afford a good example of the latest form of Pelasgic masonry, with, in the upper part, the earliest Etruscan. Cost, there can be little doubt, was a Pelasgian city before it was colonised by the Etruscans.
Besides the principal entrance, which was reached by a zig-zag flight of steps, there were postern gates ; passages connected the upper and lower fortresses, and there were semicircular bastions and projecting defences with retirements in the walls which served to cover the approaches. But the most remarkable constructive features remaining are galleries formed in the walls; that in the eastern wall consisting of two parallel passages, the centre of which has six recesses or niches in the exterior %vall.
Of Pelasgian buildings, properly no called, the examples remaining are few, and comparatively unimportant. Of their palaces, which judging from Homer's description of that of Odysseus, and indications in other early writers, must have possessed a certain amount of splen dour, no remains exist. They were probably built for show rather than permanency, and may, as has been conjectured, have been con structed chiefly of wood : at any rate they have long perished. Nor are any temples or religious edifices extant. The most remarkable of the existing structures are the subterranean domed buildings called treasuries, but which were more probably tombs, of which that at Mycelia, is the oldest and moat important example. This is now usually called the Treasury of Atreua ; but its local name appears to be the Tomb of Agamemnon. Constructed under the slope of a hill, the approach to it is by a passage 20 feet wide. The doorway was flanked by highly ornamented semi-columns, portions of which Estill remain. The interior consists of two domicular chambers. The dome of the largest is 47 feet 6 inches in diameter, and 50 feet high. A doorway leads from it to a smaller chamber, which is about 23 feet in diameter. The domes are formed by horizontal courses of atones, each course projecting beyond that beneath. The walls, of course, gradually approach towards the top, which is closed by a large single slab, thus forming an equilateral pointed Instead of a aemicireular vault. Therm are the largest structures of that kind known. The walla of the larger chamber have numeroua nail-holes, in horizontal rowa, and near the apex of the dome several nails still project from the surface. These are believed to be the fastenings of the brazen plates with which the walla were covered : this being probably one of those " brazen chambers " of which mention is frequently made by Greek writers. The entrance doorway, like nearly all Pelasgian doorways, is formed by two large upright blocks of atone, or jambs, which incline slightly inwards towards the top, and a larger block, or lintel, laid on them. The opening is 18 feet high, 11 feet wide at bottom, and some what less at top; the lintel is formed by a block of stone 27 feet long and 16 broad. Over the doorway is a triangular opening. The facade Wad ornamented with semi-columns and (slabs of coloured marbles, with peculiar zigzag carvings in an essentially Oriental style. The characteristic Ionic scroll also occurs. Two similar but smaller and less elaborate structures occur at blyccnx. Remains of another, known as the Treasury of 31inyas, are found at Scrips, the site of the Boeotian Orchomenos; and others in a more or leas perfect condition elsewhere.