BOOK III, Chap. IV. ANOTHER GROUP OF GISTS AND people quite distinct from those of the many fine Lycian remains. Two of my days have been spent in the tedious, but, I trust, useful occupation, of copying the Lycian inscription from the obelisk I mentioned in my former volume that I had seen this will be of service to the philologist. Having, with the assistance of a ladder, ascended to a level with the top of the monument, I discovered a curious fact: the characters cut upon the upper portion are larger and wider apart than those on the lower, thus counteracting the effect of diminution by distance, as seen from the ground. As the letters are beautifully cut, I have taken several impressions from them, to obtain fac-similes. By this inscription I hope to fix the type of an alphabet, which will be much simplified, as I find upon the various tombs about the town great varieties, though of a trifling nature, in the forms of each letter; these varieties have hitherto been considered as different characters. This long public inscription will establish the form of all the letters of an alphabet, one form only being used throughout for each letter: if this should be deciphered, it may be the means of adding information to history. The inscription exceeds two hundred and fifty lines. It is to be regretted that the obelisk is not perfect; time or an earthquake has split off the upper part, which lies at its foot. Two sides of this portion only remain, with inscriptions which I could copy; the upper surface being without any, and the lower facing the ground: its weight of many tons rendered it immoveable. I had the earth excavated from the obelisk itself, and came to the base, or probably the upper part of a flight of steps, as in the other obelisk-monuments of a similar construction. The characters upon the north-west side are cut in a finer BOOK III, Chap. IV. and bolder style than on the others, and appear to be the most ancient. Should any difference of date occur on this monument, I should decide that this is the commencement ARCHEOLO or original inscription upon it. GROUP OF GISTS AND This, which I must consider as a very important monument, appears to have on the north-east side a portion of its inscription in the early Greek language; the letters are comparatively ill cut, and extremely difficult at such an elevation to decipher; seizing favourable opportunities for the light, I have done my best to copy it faithfully, and glean from it that the subject is funereal, and that it relates to a king of Lycia; the mode of inscription makes the monument itself speak, being written in the first person. Very near to this stands the monument, similar in form, which I described in my last Journal as being near the theatre, and upon which remained the singular bas-reliefs of which I gave sketches. On closer examination I find Journal of an these to be far more interesting and ancient than I had before deemed them. They are in very low relief, sembling in that respect the Persepolitan or Egyptian basreliefs. re 'I have received,' continues Sir Charles FELLOWs, 'from Mr. Benjamin GIBSON of Rome a letter in reference to these bas-reliefs his interpretation of this mysterious subject appears far the best that I have yet heard; and from finding the district to have been in all probability the burial-place of the kings, it becomes the more interesting. Mr. GIBSON writes "The winged figures on the corners of the tomb you have discovered in Lycia, represented flying away with children, may with every probability be well supposed to have a reference to the story of the Harpies flying away with the daughters of King PANDARUS. This fable we find related by HOMER in the Odyssey, lib. xx, where they are Excursion in Asia Minor, &c. (2nd Appendix. Edit.), BOOK III, GROUP OF GISTS AND stated to be left orphans, and the gods as endowing them with various gifts. Juno gives them prudence, Minerva instructs them in the art of the loom, Diana confers on them tallness of person, and lastly Venus flies up to Jupiter to provide becoming husbands for them; in the mean time, the orphans being thus left unprotected, the Harpies come and 'snatch the unguarded charge away.' STRABO tells us that PANDARUS was King of Lycia, and was worshipped particularly at Pinara. This tomb becomes thus very interesting; which, if it be not the tomb of PANDARUS, shows that the story was prevalent in Lycia, and that the great author of the Iliad derived it from that source. With this clue, we have no difficulty in recognising Juno on the peculiar chair assigned to that goddess, and on the same side is Venus and her attendants; upon another is probably represented Diana, recognised by the hound. The seated gods are less easily distinguished. In the Travels and Harpies, at the four corners of the tomb, we have the Researches in illustration of those beings as described by the classic writers.' Asia Minor, pp. 336-340. MANY SUB SEQUENT DISCOVE RIES; (THE DETAILS HERE NECES SARILY PASSED OVER). THE DIFFI CULTIES OF Jan., 1842. Every lateral excursion made by Sir C. FELLOWS, and by his companions in travel, added to his collection rich works of sculpture, and not a few of them added many varied and most interesting minor antiquities. But I must needs resist all temptation to enlarge on that head, though the temptation is great. The twentieth and subsequent chapters of the book itself (I refer to the collective but abridged 'Travels and Researches in Asia Minor' of 1852) will abundantly repay the reader who is disposed to turn to them-whether it be for a renewed or for a new reading. When the task of removal had to be undertaken, difficulties of transport were found, under certain then existing circumstances, to be graver obstacles than had been Turkish Chap. IV. GROUP OF ARCHEOLO EXPLORERS. 1841, prejudice or Turkish apathy at an earlier stage of the busi- Book III, ness. The maritime part of the duty had been entrusted to ANOTHER Captain GRAVES, of H.M. Ship Beacon. The captain left his ship at Smyrna; sailed with FELLOWS for the Xanthus, GISTS AND in a steam-packet; but omitted to provide himself with the needful flat-bottomed boats. When they reached the site of the marbles which were to be carried away, Captain February. GRAVES said he would not have any of the stores taken down the river; that stores must be obtained from Malta; and that he would take all hands away from the diggings at the beginning of March. The reader may imagine the reflections of the eager discoverer at this sudden check,- Ibid., pp. 440, coming, as it did, at the very beginning of the burst. He took a solitary walk of many hours, he tells us, before he could resolve upon his course of action. He saw before him, to use his own words, a mine of treasure.' He had willing hands to work it; ample firmans to stave off opposition; nothing deficient save boats and tackle. A year might possibly pass in awaiting them from Malta; and, meanwhile, the ignorance of the peasantry, the indiscreet curiosity of travellers, or the sudden growth of political complications, might destroy the enterprise irrecoverably. He resolved, in his perplexity, to construct by his own exertions tackle that would suffice for the removal to the coast; got native help in addition to the willing effortshowever unscientific-of the honest sailors of the Beacon; succeeded in getting a portion of the precious objects of his quest to the waterside, before the arrival of the ship; and got them also strongly cased up. Then he sailed with GRAVES for Malta. The worthy captain resigned the honourable task-to him so unwelcome-into the hands of Admiral Sir Edward OWEN. A new expedition started from Malta at the end of April, and brought away seventy seqq. BOOK III, GROUP OF GISTS AND EXPLORERS. eight cases of sculpture in June; leaving the splendid but too-heavy winged-chariot-tomb' -so called by its discoverer in one place, and elsewhere called horse-tomb,' but since ascertained to be the tomb of a Lycian satrap named PAIAFA; it is adorned with figures of Glaucus, or ENGLAND OF perhaps of Sarpedon, in a four-horse chariot-until next year. The seventy-eight cases were brought to England by the Queen's ship Cambridge in the following December. ARRIVAL IN THE FIRST SERIES OF Dec., 1841. On the fourteenth of May, 1842, the Trustees of the British Museum thus recorded their sense of Mr. FELLOWS' public services:-The Trustees desire to express their sense of Mr. FELLOWS' public spirit, in voluntarily undertaking to lend to so distant an expedition the assistance of his local knowledge and personal co-operation. They have viewed with great satisfaction the decision and energy evinced by Mr. FELLOWS in proceeding from Smyrna to Constantinople, and obtaining the necessary authority for the removal of the marbles; as well as his judicious directions at Xanthus, by which the most desirable of the valuable monuments of antiquity formerly brought to light by him, together with several others, of scarcely less interest, now for the first time discovered and excaof the British vated, have been placed in safety, and-as the Trustees 14 May, 1842. have every reason to hope-secured for the National Minutes of the Trustees Museum; (Appendix to Fellows). Museum.' This hope was more than realised. It shows the energy of FELLOWS, that the expedition to Lycia of 1841 was his third expedition. In 1846 he made a fourth. It was rich in discovery; but I fear somewhat exhausting to the strength of the explorer. He lived a good many years, it is true, after his return to England; but how easily he yielded when a sudden attack of illness came, I shall have the pain of showing presently. |