Chapter 13

"The colours used in the painted relief, and on the stuccoes are black, blue, red, green, and yellow; these are always kept distinct and never blended. Of blue, they used both a darker and a lighter shade. Red was used to represent the human flesh, apparently from its being nearer the natural tint than any other simple colour; but many of their colours were evidently applied with a conventional meaning, for the representation of different races. The conquered people represented in the great temple of Abonsambel, or Ipsambul, have yellow bodies and black beards. In the grottoes of El Cab, the men are red, and the women yellow. Black men also sometimes appear in the paintings. The five colours above enumerated seldom occur all in one piece or picture; but in this matter there is perhaps no general rule. The Nubian temples have often a very rich colouring, as in the case of one at Kalapsché, where yellow, green, red, and blue, have all been used in painting the reliefs in one of the inner chambers; and in some single figures in this temple we may observe all these four colours.

"The materials of which the colours were made would no doubt change with the improvements in the arts; and after the Macedonian occupation of the country, new colours, both vegetable and mineral, may have been introduced. But the tombs of the kings at Thebes may undoubtedly be considered as containing specimens of ancient Egyptian colouring, as well as the painted reliefs in the oldest temples, and the colourings about the ancient mummies. By a careful examination of these specimens, we may attain a very adequate knowledge of the materials used, and of the mode of applying them." The first of these frescoes (169-170-1) are from the walls of a tomb of the western Hills of Thebes. The tomb is that of a scribe of the royal granaries and wardrobe, and the pictures represent the inspection of oxen by scribes, a scribe standing in a boat, the registration of the delivering of ducks and geese and their eggs. The fragment marked 175 represents an entertainment, with female instrumental performers; here (176) an old man is leaning upon a staff near a cornfield; there (177) is the square fish-pond woefully deficient in prospective; there is a second entertainment (179), where the wine is freely circulating; dancing is going on to music--the picture of a social evening enjoyed thousands of years ago; and here, at a third entertainment (181), servants are bringing in wine and necklaces--a kind of hospitality to which, as regards the latter object, modern ladies would in no way object. The ancient Egyptian ladies had their bouquets, their ornaments, and their couches, and exacted a plainness of costume from their servants, as in the present time. On passing south from the Egyptian Saloon, between the two great lions, the visitor at once gains the central saloon, but without pausing here, or turning to the right into the tempting Phigalian and Elgin Saloons, he should proceed rapidly on his way to the south-western extremity of the building, at which point he will find himself at the entrance to the

LYCIAN ROOM.

In a few preliminary words we may indicate the points of Lycian history. Situated in Asia Minor, Lycia is said to have taken its name from the Athenian prince Lycus, who conquered it, and laid it open to his countrymen. This Greek period of its history was interrupted by Cyrus, who added it to the Persian empire about five centuries and a half before our era; it was only regained about two centuries after by Alexander the Great. It subsequently became a Roman province, then yielded to the Byzantine empire, and now owns the rule of the Turk. This eventful history gives an interest to the country that has excited the curiosity of the learned for ages. The period of its greatest prosperity ensued upon its being reconquered by Alexander, when it included no less than seventy cities, of which Xanthus was the capital. Of all these cities, only scattered ruins under Turkish villages now remain. Of Lycian remains it may be said nothing was known before Sir Charles Fellows started on his exploring expedition in 1838. One or two travellers had made some scattered observations with regard to the sites of ancient Lycian towns before that time, and their hints first drew the attention of the learned in this direction; but, we repeat, it cannot be said that anything was known of Lycian remains before Sir Charles pressed the soil of Asia Minor, and looked about for the sites of some of the seventy towns mentioned in ancient history. He succeeding in fixing the sites of many of the cities, including Xanthus, and on his return to England prevailed upon the government to send out vessels to bring home the remains he saw scattered about the rocky site of the ancient Lycian metropolis. Messrs. Spratt and Forbes subsequently added eighteen sites of towns to the list made by Sir Charles. The collection of sculpture now popularly known as the Xanthian marbles, are a few ruins gleaned from the rocky eminence which is the site of ancient Xanthus. These fragmentary remains of an ancient people consist chiefly of sculptures from their temples and their tombs; upon which, like the Egyptians, they appear to have expended a vast amount of labour, and to have employed their greatest artists. The Greek mind is clearly traceable in these Xanthian marbles,--the Greek imbued with local traditions and feelings. The first object that will attract the visitor's attention on entering the room, is the most remarkable of

LYCIAN TOMBS,

called the Harpy Tomb. This tomb, which occupied the highest point of the hill on which Xanthus stood, is described by Sir Charles Fellows in his account of the Xanthian marbles, published in 1843. The tomb was a square shaft, in one solid block, weighing no less than eighty tons. "Its height," says Sir Charles, "was seventeen feet, placed upon a base, rising on one side six feet from the ground, on the other but little above the present level of the earth. Around the sides of the top of the shaft were ranged bas-reliefs in white marble, about three feet three inches high; upon these rested a capstone, apparently a series of stones, one projecting over the other; but these are cut in one block, probably fifteen or twenty tons in weight. Within the top of the shaft was hollowed out a chamber, which, with the bas-relief sides, was seven feet six inches high, and seven feet square. This singular chamber had probably been, in the early ages of Christianity, the cell of an anchorite, perhaps a disciple of Simeon Stylites, whose name was derived from his habitation, which, I believe, we have generally translated as meaning a column, but which was more probably a _stele_ like this. The traces of the religious paintings and monograms of this holy man still remain upon the backs of the marble of the bas-reliefs." By reference to the model of the tomb, of which the bas-reliefs are in the room (1), the visitor may verify the remarks of Sir Charles, who goes on to say that the monument was never finished, having been only half polished, and that it bears the traces of a shake from an earthquake. The general conjecture is that the tomb is the labour of a Lycian Greek sculptor. The subjects of the bas-reliefs have been variously interpreted: they decorated, as the visitor will perceive by reference to the model, the four sides of a square shaft. First, let the visitor turn to the western face, marked (B). Here the scene represented is supposed to be Juno holding a cup before the sacred cow Io, and Epaphus, Aphrodite, and the three Charites, which have been interpreted also as the three Seasons, and the Erinnyes or Furies. The eastern side marked (A), is supposed to represent Tantalus, bringing the golden dog stolen from Crete to Pandarus in Lycia: Neptune seated, with a man leaning on a crutch, and a boy offering a bird before him, and Amymone and Amphitrite behind him; and AEsculapius seated with Telesphorus in front, and two of the Graces behind him. The northern side (C), shows at the corners, two Harpies making off with two of the daughters of Pandarus, while their sister Aedon, on her knees, is deploring their abduction. Here, too, is a god seated, conjectured to be Pluto, holding a helmet with the help of another figure, and having a wild animal under his chair. The south side (D), discloses two Harpies bearing off the daughters of Pandarus; and in the centre is a god, to whom a female figure is offering a dove. By the side of these bas-reliefs, the visitor cannot fail to remark the tomb of a Satrap of Lycia from Xanthus. From the fact of horses being clearly traceable among the figures sculptured upon this interesting relic, Sir Charles Fellows christened it the Horse Tomb, and by this appellation it is popularly known. Its strange shape, with its highly decorated roof and plain base, makes it an object of curiosity to most visitors. It appears to be of the time of the Persian dominion in Lycia, and was, as two inscriptions record, erected by the satrap Paiafa. Upon the roof are groups of fighting warriors, and at each side are figures in chariots and four. Sphinxes occur in the lower sculptures, and on the north side below, is a mixed combat of foot and horse soldiers; and the Satrap Paiafa himself, attended by four figures, is here represented. The roof is drained by water-spouts in the shape of lion's heads. The visitor, having now examined the two most remarkable remains of Lycian tombs in the room, should rapidly notice the fragments of sepulchres placed here and there, but legibly numbered. First, let him remark (17-21), a frieze conjectured to be from a tomb found inserted in the wall of the Acropolis of Xanthus. Here he will find in bas-relief a procession consisting of a horse and horseman, priest and priestesses with wands, an armed female figure, and two chariots, with youthful charioteers and old men. A triangular fragment of a tomb will next occupy his attention (23); this has distinct vestiges of colour, and represents a male and female figure separated by an Ionic column, surmounted by an harpy, and other fragments in the immediate neighbourhood; (24-27) have representations of the Sphinx, with a woman's head, wings, and the body of a lion, as the daughter of the Chimaera, from the Xanthian Acropolis. A curious relic is the _Soros_, discovered placed on the top of one of the Xanthian pillar tombs. Here, amongst the bas-reliefs, the visitor will notice a man stabbing an erect lion; a lion playing with its young; and a figure on horseback followed by a pedestrian; and on the next fragment (32), a lioness is again represented fondling her progeny. The roof of a tomb (143), closely resembling that which covers the Horse Tomb, is worth observing. It is part of the tomb of an individual named Merewe, from Xanthus, and the scenes represented include that of an entertainment, divinities, and sphinxes, warlike encounters, and on the sides Bellerophon attacking the Chimaera. Those casts marked (145-149), may next engage the visitor's attention. They were taken from a tomb carved in solid rock at Pinara, and include the frieze, upon which warriors are carved leading captives, the walls representing a walled city, and the Gorgons' heads which decorated the extremities of the dentals. The three next casts that demand particular remark (150-152), were taken from the decorations of a rock tomb at Cadyanda. To the learned these groups are particularly interesting, because the figures are accompanied with inscriptions in the Greek, as well as the pure Lycian language. The first cast is that from the panel of the tomb door, upon which Talas is represented standing: the second represents a group of females; and the third an ancient entertainment with figures reclining on couches with children; a figure playing the double flute, and to the right a nude figure called Hecatomnas. Six casts from tombs hereabouts (153-6), exhibit inscriptions, two of which are in two languages--the Lycian and the Greek, declaring that the owners have built the tombs for themselves and their relations; the second marked 156, in the Lycian language, expresses a threat that a fine will be imposed on any person who may violate the tomb. Bellerophon, riding on Pegasus, may be remarked launching his dart at the Chimaera, upon the cast (158); nymphs are dancing upon the gable end marked (160); and upon that marked (161), which is a cast from the gable end of a tomb discovered at Xanthus, near the Chimaera tomb, two lions are represented devouring a bull. The casts of the sculptures which decorate an ancient rock tomb at Myra, are interesting. Here a young man, attended by a boy, is offering a flower to a veiled woman, attended by two women; in another part a boy attends with wine upon a figure, conjectured to be that of Pluto, and a veiled female form, supposed to be either Proserpine or Venus, is draped by an attendant, in the vicinity of a nude youth. The remains of sarcophagi are marked (168-171). The first of these are the relics of a Roman sarcophagus, discovered in a mausoleum, containing three other sarcophagi, at Xanthus. On the top have been reclining figures of a male and female, and at the sides combats of warriors. The next relic is a fragment of a sarcophagus, amongst the ornaments of which boys are shown at play; and the third fragment discovers the lower part of the representation of a hunt. An exceedingly explicit inscription is that marked (176,) and found at Uslann, near the mouth of the Xanthus, which informs modern generations that some two thousand years ago, Aurelius Jason, son of Alaimis, and Chrysion, daughter of Eleutherus, purchased a tomb for themselves, in the thirteenth month Artemisios, during the priesthood of Callistratus, and dwelling upon this piece of information, which is striking as a voice from the tomb of unknown people speaking to us of the present century, not from any remarkable deed achieved by Aurelius Jason, but simply because his name occurs upon his tomb, plainly written in his own language. A strange immortality! Having examined these relics of the ancient tombs of Lycia, the visitor should take a general glance at

LYCIAN SCULPTURE.

The time during which the Lycians may be said to have enjoyed their highest civilisation dates from about five centuries before our era, up to the period of the Byzantine empire. During this long interval, most of the monuments of which this room contains some remarkable specimens were conceived and executed. Of the sculpture, not immediately illustrative of tombs, in the Lycian room, the most interesting, undoubtedly, is that gleaned from the site of an ancient building on the Acropolis of ancient Xanthus, by Sir Charles Fellows. Passing a few fragments, including that marked (33), from Xanthus, which represents the foreparts of two lions issuing from a square block, the visitor should pass at once to the model of a Xanthian Ionic peristyle building, surrounded by fourteen columns and ornamented with statues, made under the direction of Sir Charles Fellows, from the remains found on the site of the original building, which lie about the room, and which the visitor is about to examine. The original building was thirty-five feet in height, measuring from the pediment to the base. Its object has been variously stated, but cannot be said to be clearly and satisfactorily known. Of the conjectures which have obtained certain credit, we may mention that which described it as a trophy raised, in 476 B.C., to celebrate the subjugation of Lycia by the Persians; and that which describes the subject of the decorative sculptures as that of the suppression of the revolt of the Cilicians by the Persian Satrap of Lycia. The remains of this mysterious building are ranged in groups about the room; and the visitor will observe indications of the flow of the lines, and the artistic grace, which subsequently marked Grecian sculpture from every other on the face of the earth. Here it is not impossible to recognise the Greek mind: far below that of the decoration of the Parthenon, it is true; but yet elegant and thoughtful. The groups of sculpture marked (34-49) are the sculptures of the broader frieze which, it is conjectured, surrounded the base of the building. Here are represented a series of warlike encounters in which the Greek arms are prominent--their helmets, crests, and Argolic bucklers; while other soldiers are represented nearly nude, and in some instances wearing the Asiatic pointed cap. This frieze undoubtedly represents the Greeks at war with Asiatic tribes. The fragments of the narrow frieze which bordered the upper part of the frieze are marked from 50 to 68. The first four fragments represent the attack of a town, supposed to be the Lycian town Xanthus. Here the besiegers may be observed scaling the wall, and the officers cheering on the men. The five following fragments represent various scenes of warfare between Greeks and Asiatics. Then a walled city is represented, with the heads of a besieged party looking over the ramparts; then a figure of a Satrap occurs (62), supposed to be that of the Persian conqueror of Lycia, Harpagus, who is screened with an umbrella held by a slave, which is the emblem of his sovereignty, and is in the act of receiving a deputation from the besieged city. The next two fragments represent a sally from the besieged town; and upon the 67th fragment is some carving supposed to illustrate the retreat of the besieged to their city. The groups marked (69,70,74) are fragments of the capping-stones of the east front of the base, and columns and fragments of columns from the peristyle. Those groups, however, marked (75-84), which consist of the statues originally placed in the intercolumniations of the building, are figures of divinities, with various symbols at their feet, as the dolphin, the halcyon, &c., and are meant to represent, by the flow of the drapery, that they are flying through the air. They have been variously interpreted, but never satisfactorily; some authorities asserting that they were meant to celebrate the arrival of Latona at Xanthus, and others that they symbolise the great naval victory over Evagoras. Passing over one or two unimportant groups of fragments, the visitor should next examine the remains of the narrow frieze (95-109), upon which an entertainment is represented--the guests, perfectly used to luxuries, reclining upon couches, and taking wine to the strains of female musicians; also, a sacrifice of various animals. Passing the coffers of the ceiling (106-109), the visitor should next examine the remains of another narrow frieze, where a Satrap is represented receiving presents; and bear and boar hunting scenes occur. The fragment marked (125) is the eastern pediment, sculptured in relief with various figures; and that marked (126) is half of the western pediment sculptured with figures of six foot-soldiers. The groups numbered (132-135) are fine specimens of Lycian sculpture: on the first a draped female figure is shown in rapid flight; and on the second, youths are shown bearing off women. The group marked (138) is one of the samples of the roof-tiles with which the building was covered in. Two crouching lions (139, 140), supposed to have occupied intercolumnar space in the building, are the last of the fragments. These fragments, however, together with Sir Charles's interesting model, and the landscape (also in the room), realise more vividly to the mind of the general spectator the ancient Xanthus, than all the other detached and solitary fragments. Near the two lions just mentioned are the paws of another lion, and a fragment, found near the Harpy Tomb, of a crouching warrior and bull. Having noticed these, the visitor may occupy himself for a few minutes with the fragments of Byzantine architecture (177-183). These remains were discovered amidst the ruins of a Christian village; and, it is conjectured, were buried by an earthquake. These objects being discussed, the visitor should repair to the glass case at the end of the room, and examine some small curiosities from the Xanthian Acropolis, which are placed therein. These consist chiefly of a Parian-marble torso of a Venus; the left elbow of a female, and the left side of a female head, in Parian marble, found built into the walls of the Acropolis; leaden and iron cramps found in the oldest sculptures of the Acropolis; four small lamps; vases; a cup; fragments of glass vessels; fragment of a vase of the Byzantine period, stamped with a cross; bronze vessels; lead grating for a drain pipe; a fragment of a terra cotta amphora, inscribed, in the Doric dialect, with the name of Hippocrates; fragments of painted cement from early Christian buildings--all found in the excavations made for the ruins of the building of which the model and fragments have lately been noticed. Some sickles, a leaden weight, fragments of glass windows, and terra cotta fragments, also included in the glass-case, were discovered among the ruins of the houses, buried by the fall of the great building. And in this case, also, are some curiosities from Pinara, including fragments of human bones, tiles, and cement, all amalgamated by a deposit of lime filtering through the rock of a tomb; cement used to line a water cistern, and to block up the door of a rock-tomb. With an examination of these relics, the visitor will close his inspection of the Lycian remains, and proceed at once to the

ASSYRIAN REMAINS.