Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/478

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

438 APPENDIX. Page 288. See the article of M. Max. Ohnefalsch Richter, entitled : A pre-historic building at Salamis, {Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. iv., pp. 1 1 i-i 16, with two plates). There also the chamber encloses a spring of excellent water. Mr. Delaval Cobham, who translated Herr Richter's paper into English, tells us, in a few lines of introduction, that in the mosque known as that of Oum-el-harem or Halite" Sultan Teke", on the western bank of the lagune at Larnaca, there are the remains of a similar con- struction. These consist of two stones supporting a third, which is of colossal dimensions. Tradition says that the three blocks travelled of themselves from Ramleh to Saffa, whence they floated by sea to the point where they now stand, there to form a fitting tomb for the foster-mother of the Prophet, who died on that spot. The sacredness of the spot and the draperies by which it is encumbered have so far prevented this little monument from being carefully compared with the others we have mentioned. Page 293. Judging from the brazen sea (i Kings, vii.), M. Renan is inclined to think that these great cauldrons were meant to hold the water for the sacrifices. The movable basins of Solomon, mounted on wheels, prove that a large quantity of water was consumed in the Semitic temples and that it was carried about as occasion required. Page 352. In the matter of the harbours and fortifications of Carthage, the posthumous work of M. CHARLES TISSOT will hereafter have to be consulted by every student (Geographic comparee de la province d'Afrique, vol. i., 4to, Paris, 1884). Chapter V. of the second part is headed Topo- graphie de Carthage. It gives a plan compiled from the researches of Falke and Daux ; the data gathered by Daux on the site of Carthage had never before been published. M. Tissot had at his disposal the map for which Daux obtained the materials by two successive explorations. As we have made liberal use of Daux's book in our pages on Carthage, Utica and Thapsus, and as that explorer has sometimes been severely criticised, it is perhaps well that we should here quote what is said of Daux and his work by a scholar so exacting in the matter of accuracy as M. Tissot (Geographic comparte, &c., vol. i. p. 576, note 2) ; " Daux has often told me (and his statements are confirmed from other sources) he was able to follow each enceinte course by course, clearing the walls down to the foundations, but according to the terms of his permit putting everything back into statu quo as he went along. But the walls he discovered soon afterwards began to be used as quarries, and before any long time had passed, he had the chagrin to see hollows take the place of the lines he had bared in relief. I should add that in all technical questions complete confidence should be felt in Daux. The map in which all his data are brought together must be looked upon as an original document of the greatest worth, a document the value of which has been immeasurably enhanced by the fact that seekers for building materials have caused so much of what he saw to finally disappear."