the men and animals, but above them, wherever the design affords room.  It is an example of the same naive perspective which seems to have been employed in the Tirynthian bull-fresco (Fig. 30).  The men, too, are of the same build here as there, and the bulls have similarly curving horns.  There are several trees on the cups, two of which are clearly characterized as palms, while the others resemble those in Fig. 37, and may be intended for olives.  The bulls are rendered with amazing spirit and understanding.  True, there are palpable defects, if one examines closely.  For example, the position of the bull in the net is quite impossible.  But in general the attitudes and expressions are as lifelike as they are varied.  Evidently we have here the work of an artist who drew his inspiration directly from nature.

Engraved gems were in great demand in the Mycenaean period, being worn as ornamental beads, and the work of the gem-engraver, like that of the goldsmith, exhibits excellent qualities.  The usual material was some variety of ornamental stone—­agate, jasper, rock-crystal, etc.  There are two principal shapes, the one lenticular, the other elongated or glandular (Figs. 40, 41).  The designs are engraved in intaglio, but, our illustrations being made, as is usual, from plaster impressions, they appear as cameos.  Among the subjects the lion plays an important part, sometimes represented singly, sometimes in pairs, sometimes devouring a bull or stag.  Cattle, goats, deer, and fantastic creatures (sphinxes, griffins, etc.) are also common.  So are human figures, often engaged in war or the chase.  In the best of these gems the work is executed with great care, and the designs, though often inaccurate, are nevertheless vigorous.  Very commonly, however, the distortion of the figure is carried beyond all bounds.  Fig. 40 was selected for illustration, not because it is a particularly favorable specimen of its class, but because it offers an interesting analogy to the relief above the Lion Gate.  It represents two lions rampant, their fore-paws resting on an altar (?), their heads, oddly enough, combined into one.  The column which figures in the relief above the gate is absent from the gem, but is found on another specimen from Mycenae, where the animals, however, are winged griffins.  Fig. 41 has only a standing man, of the wasp-waisted figure and wearing the girdle with which other representations have now made us familiar.

It remains to glance at the most important early varieties of Greek pottery.  We need not stop here to study the rude, unpainted, mostly hand-made vases from the earliest strata at Troy and Tiryns, nor the more developed, yet still primitive, ware of the island of Thera.  But the Mycenaean pottery is of too great importance to be passed over.  This was the characteristic ware of the Mycenaean civilization.  The probability is that it was manufactured at several different places, of which Mycenae may have been one and perhaps the