Bk. IV. Ch. V. TOMBS. 357 The so-cailcd Tuiub ol Absalom. One of the remarkable j^oints in these tombs is the curious jumble of the Roman orders which they present. The pillars and pilasters are Ionic, the architrave and frieze Doric, and the cornice Egyptian. The capitals and frieze are so distinctly late Roman, that we can feel no hesi- tation as to their date being either of the age of Herod or subsequent to that time. In an arcliitectural point of view the cornice is too plain to be pleas- ing if not painted ; it probably therefore was so treated. Another class of these tombs is represented by the so-called Tomb of the Judges (Woodcut No. 240). These are ornamented by a tympanum of a Greek or Roman temple filled with a scroll-work of ricli but debased pattern, and is evidently de- rived from something similar, though Grecian in design. In age it is certainly more recent than the so-called Tomb of Zechariah, as one of precisely similar design is found cut into the face of the rock out of which that monument was excavated. The third grouj) is that of Cyrene, on the African coast. Notwithstanding the researches of Admiral Beechey and of M. Pacho,! and the still more recent explorations of Messrs. Smith and Porcher, above re- ferred to (p. 277), they are still much loss perfectly known to us than they should be. Their num1)er is immense, and they almost all have architectural fa9ades, generally consisting of two or more columns between pilasters, 239. Angle of Tomb of Absalom. De Saulcy.) (From 1 '« Voyage dans la Marmarique, la Cyrenaique, etc." Didot, Paris, 1827-29.
