Ancient history from the monuments: Greek cities & islands of Asia MinorVaux, W. S. W. (William Sandys Wright)
History
Ancient history from the monuments: Greek cities & islands of Asia Minor
Vaux, W. S. W. (William Sandys Wright)
Greeks -- Turkey; Turkey -- History
We must, however, add that the measurements of the height and tread of
the blocks of marble believed to have been the steps of the pyramid,
formed an essential feature of the calculation. The results arrived at
were mainly due to the ingenuity and mathematical knowledge of Lieut.
Smith, R.E., who was also able to distribute Pliny’s 36 columns over a
circumference of 412 feet, so as to preserve a uniform intercolumniation
on each side of the building.
[Illustration:
STEPS OF THE PYRAMID.
]
The difficulty of Lieutenant Smith’s theory is that so large a space
from the centres of the columns to the walls of the cella is left
unsupported; but the plan of support he has suggested occurs in other
and nearly contemporaneous structures, as, for instance, in a tomb at
Mylasa. Again the great height, 65 feet, between the bases of the
columns and the ground, is found to agree with the proportions of other
tombs, as in Lycia and at Souma in Algeria. In all probability, this
lofty basement was ornamented by one or more friezes, while the lions,
of which Mr. Newton found remains of no less than fourteen, may have
stood between the columns or at the corners, looking out on the plain.
Since their arrival in England, great skill has been shown in uniting
the innumerable fragments into which some of the slabs and statues had
been broken; and visitors to the British Museum are now able to form a
good idea of the grandeur and beauty of the equestrian or Amazonian
figure, whose costume resembles that of the Persians on the temple of
the Wingless Victory at Athens; and of the two great statues it has been
agreed to call Mausolus and Artemisia. In the same room, there may,
also, now be seen the whole of the frieze that has been recovered; and
it is interesting to observe how much less injured are the portions
excavated by Mr. Newton, than those which, built into the castle wall,
have for four centuries, at least, been exposed to the corroding action
of the sea-breezes.
We take next CNIDUS, at the S.W. end of Asia Minor, and, after
Halicarnassus, the most celebrated city of Caria. The description of its
position by Strabo and Pausanias coincides exactly with the observations
of modern travellers. Thus, Strabo speaks of its two ports, one of which
can be closed; and of an island (now Cape Krio) in front of the city,
lofty, in the form of a theatre, and joined by a causeway to the
mainland; both of which statements are completely confirmed by Beaufort
and Hamilton. Pausanias adds that the island was connected by a bridge.
The whole district is covered by ruins, the northern wall being,
according to Hamilton, nearly perfect: he adds, that “there is a round
tower of great beauty at the extremity of the peninsula, near the
northern harbour” (ii. 40). Some of the most important architectural
features of the town may be seen in the “Ionian Antiquities.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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