The palaces of Crete and their builders . FIG. Io8.—TERRACOTTA FIGURE FOUND AT PETSOFA, NEAR PALAIKASTRO, BY MR. DAWKIXS. FOOTGEAR IX THE TIME OF MINOS 231 legs the fine greaves with silver buckles. ^ By a strange fancyof the poet the greaves of Achilles were of tin. When Agenorassailed Achilles he cast with vigorous hand his spear, andcaught him on the shin below the knee, the tin of the uninjuredgreave resounded, but the sharp steel rebounded from the divinelytempered metal without piercing fig. 109.—part of a vase found at mycex^ by dr. schliemann(about oxe-third of the actual size). L
The palaces of Crete and their builders . FIG. Io8.—TERRACOTTA FIGURE FOUND AT PETSOFA, NEAR PALAIKASTRO, BY MR. DAWKIXS. FOOTGEAR IX THE TIME OF MINOS 231 legs the fine greaves with silver buckles. ^ By a strange fancyof the poet the greaves of Achilles were of tin. When Agenorassailed Achilles he cast with vigorous hand his spear, andcaught him on the shin below the knee, the tin of the uninjuredgreave resounded, but the sharp steel rebounded from the divinelytempered metal without piercing fig. 109.—part of a vase found at mycex^ by dr. schliemann(about oxe-third of the actual size). Let us consider some discrepancies between poetry and does not resound when it is struck, and it is soft enough tobe cut by a hard thrust from a spear. We might suppose thatthe greaves of Achilles may have been of tinned copper. In factHelbig records that portions of copper belts, with traces of ^ Iliad, xix. 232 PALACES OF CRETE AND THEIR BUILDERS tinning, have been found in the tombs of But thisis not the case here, for we read in book xviii. of the Iliad thatwhen Hephaistos forged the armour of Axhilles the last piece ofwork was the making ot the greaves of pliant tin. These incon-gruities help us to trace the history of metal work. The singersol the Homeric lays were probably not well acquainted with themaking ot bronze, for weapons were imported, and the makersdid not explain how they were made. Hephaistos himself didnot know the secret when he prepared the bron
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublishe, booksubjectpalaces
