Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/360

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310
TRAVELS AND DISCOVERIES

"were several copper coins, arrow-heads, and glass astragali. Beyond this chamber are foundations of other Hellenic walls stretching to the S.W. from the angle IK. These I was unable to explore. The largest of the blocks which formed these courses measured 3 feet 10 inches by 1 foot 8 inches.

The foundations I have here described were in the same line as the angle of Hellenic wall which I had found to the W. of the temple, and probably formed part of the same series of buildings. "We know that within the precinct of an ancient temple were often buildings for various purposes, such as treasuries to contain votive objects, houses where the priests dwelt, and where strangers who visited the temple might be lodged.135 In the case of the Temple of Apollo, it is certain, from the evidence of an inscription, if I have rightly deciphered it, that a theatre stood within the precinct of the temenos.

This inscription records a grant of land decreed by the Senate and People of Calymnos to a public benefactor. The land is granted by the State to Aratokintos, the son of Aristias, to enable him to build in it, at his own expense and for the public benefit, a proscenium and Scene, and to surround the temenos, or sacred precinct, with a wall. The line which mentions that the theatre stood within the precinct of the temple is so nearly illegible that my reading of it may not be generally admitted; but it is confirmed by a very curious discovery which I made in the course of examining the church of Christos.

At the end of the decree, the form of the dedi-