ABSTRACT
THE first thing to notice in connexion with those of the great heroic legends which form cycles is one which seems very obvious now that M.P. Nilsson 1 has had the sagacity to point it out. All of them, with the exception of the tale of Odysseus, which is not true saga, but märchen with saga-elements introduced, are closely connected with MinoanMycenaean sites. The original Argonauts are Minyai from Mycenaean Orchomenos; the Theban saga concerns two attempts to take a Mycenaean city; the tale of Troy has one end of its action at Argos and Sparta, the other at Hissarlik, and two out of three of those are classical sites of Mycenaean discovery. Herakles is lord of Tiryns, one of the oldest Mycenaean cities; Minos has given his name to the ancient civilization of Crete; Theseus plays his heroic part in Mycenaean Athens. The Kalydonian boar was hunted in a region not yet completely investigated, but it is known that Mycenaean remains exist there, and it would surprise nobody if the abode of King Oineus were one day to come to light and reveal the typical Mycenaean megaron, like those at Mycenae and Tiryns.
