Of the older city in the ravine scarcely a remnant remains, although it is still possible to trace the foundations of the walls. On the other hand, several of the mausolea are still erect, and are distributed over a considerable space of ground. These, and extensive graveyards, are the monuments of that ancient city which have been spared by the ravages of war and the lapse of time. Among the tombs, there is one of particular excellence, reproduced in my illustration (Fig. 182). It would do honour to any school of architecture. It is one of the fine things in the world. A glance at the illustrations of the circular chapels of Ani (Vol. I. Ch. XVIII. Figs. 85, 86, 88), and at some of the elaborate stone traceries of the Armenian style (ibid. Figs. 73 and 77) will throw light upon the source of the inspiration which produced it, or contributed thereto in the greatest degree. This and the several similar tombs at Akhlat are all works of the latter portion of the thirteenth century. A later and less pleasing development is the tomb of Prince Bayindar, erected at an interval of two centuries. But who was Bayindar, and who the persons with the cacophonous names to whose memory these mausolea were built? The East, which ever opposes the type to the individual, leaves so little for busy History to explore. At a time when Dante was composing the Divine Comedy, and when the Italian cities were commencing to throb with a new life of which every impulse is reflected both in literature and in art, architects, whose names soon perished, were erecting these monuments to princes of whom the names alone remain. What little may be gleaned from the sources at my disposal of the history of Akhlat, may be summarised in the following short account. The place is first known under the name of Khlath, and as an important Armenian town. Literature thus confirms the surmise which is readily suggested by the little chapel in the gorge at Madavantz. Indeed, one feels that this village of caves is perhaps the oldest of these ancient sites, like the crypt upon which in Europe has risen the edifice of some Gothic cathedral, but which once served as a Druids' shrine. The shrine still remains; but the churches and monasteries have disappeared which, even as late as the end of the thirteenth century, were flourishing at Akhlat. [241] But the city does not appear to have again come into Armenian possession after its conquest by the Arabs during the era of the caliphs. Its close vicinity to the Kurdish mountains and to the passage of Bitlis explains the long sequence of Mussulman rule.