DAUGHTERS OF EVE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 218, 13 September 1924, Page 19

DAUGHTERS OF EVE.

LIPS OF LOXO AGO. One hundred and sixty ancient Greek tombs of striking design and rare archaeological interest have been unearthed In the dead city of Olyva, near Odessa, by Profeisor Semenov Zusscr, distinguished Russian archaeologist Among tho articles found ln the tombs was a email linen bag containing a lady's mirror, and believed to bo the forcrunm.r of the present-day vanity case. In tho bag there also were a rouge stick for the lips and a charcoal pencil for the eyes. The bag was found in a woman's grave, together with tufts of false hair and a number »r silver bracelets, earrings, beads, and other 1 jewels.

In other tombs were discovered pottery of exquisite workmanship, multi-colourea vases, amulets, knives and various articles of bronze and copper, all in a perfect state of preservation.

The excavations, which have been in progress for many months, thus far hay« yielded more than 1700 articles of surpassing antiquarian Interest.

Olyva, which means " merry," was once a centre of Greek learning, culture and trade, and it flourished about 600 B.li Later, it became known among Russians as the " Pompeii of the Black Sea."

Greek emigrants of Asia Minor selected Olyva, Herodotus records, because ' It Is free from malaria and Its air is pure ana transparent as crystals." Firom a thriving, prosperous port for the rich goods of the East, it became In the course of centaries a pauper colony, existing solely on the revenue from occasional, traders.

Originally, the population of the city worshipped the Greek gods, in whose honour they erected temples. To-day, the city 1* a mass of ruins and the tombs excavated by Semenov Zusser are the only wltnessua to its past greatness.