IONIC AND CORINTHIAN TOMBS.

177

tombs of countless dead, all in full view as the spectators passed in or out of the splendid portico. The associations of the place might befit the Medea or the Edipus Tyrannus, but would seem wofully out of keeping with the keen satires of Aristophanes or the comedies of the Roman stage.

Descending the brook northward from the theatre two or three minutes, we issue into the area occupied by the city proper. Taking our stand at the point marked (G) in the Plan, we can look over the whole space. The eastern cliffs bear away to the right, presenting a slightly convex front upon the area. It is in these piles of sandstone that the most conspicuous tombs are to be found: the best specimens of these are given in Laborde's drawings. The first noticeable one is called the Ionic tomb, because it is flanked on each side by a low portico of corrupted Ionic columns. Entering this, we found it to consist of a large chamber, which had evidently been converted into a Christian church. Three recesses were excavated in the back wall for altars, in one of which is a Greek inscription in red paint, which seems to have been legible to Irby and Mangles, as they state that it records the date of the consecration of the church, but it was too dim to be made out by any of our party.

The next remarkable monument was called by Laborde the Corinthian tomb,* from the character of the columns which adorn its front. Its interior is principally remarkable for the number of niches for coffins which it contains. Still farther on is a very large tomb, having three ranges of columns, one above the other.† It occupies a prominent point of the cliff, and must formerly have been the most conspicuous object of the kind

*Plan No. 4.

† Plan No. 5.

178

UNFINISHED SEPULCHRE.

seen from the city. If once painted white, as Laborde supposes (and it is probable, from portions of the colouring matter which still appear in some places), it must have presented the singular appearance of a vast white tablet impressed upon the cliff, surrounded on all sides by the variegated sandstone. Still farther north, in an angle formed by the breaking down of the cliff on the edge of a ravine coming in from the east, is the tomb mentioned by Laborde with the Latin inscription. It notes the death of Quintus Prætextus Florentinus, who was governor of the province perhaps in the time of Hadrian. The general agreement of this with the other tombs suggests that most of the monuments date within the Christian era. The intermixture of Syrian, Egyptian, and Græco-Roman styles confirms this suggestion.

Farther to the northeast are isolated hills and rocks, sculptured with tomb fronts, and pierced with chambers; but as they are less imposing as the hills sink down, and open a way to the elevated plains of Sutûh Beida, I shall not mention them in detail, but pass across to the western cliffs, which are not so conspicuous from the city as the eastern, and, therefore, are not so rich in sepulchral monuments. It seems that the prevailing consideration in choosing the place for a tomb was, that it should be prominent, and visible from a distance; still, the western cliffs are full of plain tombs, and a few handsomer ones are found farther south, in the direction of Aaron's Plains. But there is one tomb remaining, near the point at which the brook enters the western cliff, that is especially worthy of notice, as, being unfinished, it exhibits the manner in which these great works were executed. The entablature and capitals are finished, but below them the rock remains. The first step was obviously to cut a deep recess in the rock, the sec

MODE OF BUILDING SEPULCHRES.

179

ond to smooth the surface carefully. The designs were then drawn on the smoothed surface, and the sculpture commenced at the top; thus the weight of the material rested on the ground until the whole was executed.

180

ASCENT TO EL-DEIR.

CHAPTER XIX.

PETRA.

Ascent to El-Deir.-The Temple.-Remarkable Ruin.-View from the Summit. Staircase in the Mountain Side.-City Proper.-Ancient Population of Petra.-Question as to the Excavations.-Historical Sketch.-Question as to Identity of Petra.-Scripture Prophecies Relating to Petra.-Their Fulfilment.-Causes of its Ancient Splendour.-Decay.-Overstraining of Prophecy.

Ir now remained for us, before ending our examination of the cliffs surrounding the city, to visit El-Deir, the most splendid monument at Petra except the Khuzneh. The reader will see that it lies in the northwestern extremity,* at a considerable elevation above the city area. Travellers generally ascend to it by means of a ravine, which descends irregularly from the heights into the northwest angle of the area, in which steps are hewn out of the rock for a great part of the way. We ascended, however, by the chasm through which the brook passes into the western cliff, and then, by a lateral ravine, marked somewhat too distinctly in the Plan, reached a part of the hill which we were able to clamber over with some difficulty. Dr. Robinson, remarks on this passage as follows: "We endeavoured to find the lateral chasm marked on Laborde's plan as leading up towards the right quite to the Deir. There are short chasms enough in that direction, but none extending to the Deir, which, indeed, seems to be inaccessible from this quarter, as we found by our own experience, and from the testimony of Arab shepherds on the spot." It is entirely correct that the gorge does not extend quite

* Plan No. 11.

THE TEMPLE.-REMARKABLE RUIN.

181

to the Deir; but yet we did obtain access from the hill in this direction, though with much toil and some danger. Gaining the summit, a pretty vale opened suddenly before us, imbosomed in the mountain, with a fair prospect west and south. We here obtained an oblique view of the temple, which is hewn out of the cliff on the northeast of the vale, and hastening forward, we sat down on the rocks opposite to it, with an esplanade richly covered with vegetation intervening between us and the façade.

El-Deir is, like the Khuzneh, a strong relief, sculptured out of a deep recess cut in the yellow sandstone of the cliff, which does not overhang it, however. Its general effect is very similar to that of the Khuzneh, but it is in inferior taste, and has not the advantages of position enjoyed by that remarkable monument. Its architecture is quite fantastic. I found the length of the front to be 136 feet the apparent elevation is not in proportion, as the bases of the columns are buried by soil brought down from the adjacent heights. The interior consists of a single room, about forty feet square and twenty-five high, without any kind of ornament; there is an arched recess in the back wall; a raised platform below, with steps leading up to it at each end. These were evidently cut long after the monument was finished, probably for the purpose of adapting the room to use as a Christian church.

Our attention was now attracted by a remarkable rock, covered with ruins, on the opposite side of the plateau from El-Deir, in the southwest. Crossing the esplanade, we found the hill perpendicular in front; but at the northwest corner are the remains of a broad stairway, partly cut in the rock, and partly built up with masonry, by which we ascended. At the top we found that VOL. I.-Q