Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/105

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

FUNEREAL ARCHITECTURE. 89 which precisely the same arrangement is reproduced ; it is found in a fa9ade, which certainly belongs to the art and the people who created the Midas monument. It is the most westward specimen of Phrygian activity. As an advanced post, it rises alone of its kind on the slopes of Mysian Olympus, close to Harmanjik, in the middle valley of the Rhyndacus, and is called by the natives Delikli Tach (Holed Stone) (Fig. 50). On the information yielded by a passage of one of our predecessors we repaired thither, that we might observe it with the care it deserves. 1 We will describe it in this place, as help- ful to understand in what light one is tempted to view the Midas monu- ment, when obliged to abandon the notion of the niche being a funereal chamber. Delikli Tach stands towards the extremity of a rocky ridge twisted into the most fan- tastic shapes. The FlG. 51. Delikli Tach. Detail of doorway. Drawn by E. Guillaume. Explor. arche., Plate VI. thick mass advances like a promontory into a narrow gorge, at the bottom of which flows one of the many small affluents of the Rhyndacus. Its position over the path (probably an old road) which runs from Harmanjik to Mohimul, and the almost white colour of the cliff in which it is excavated, cause it to be seen at some distance. The broad massive rock has been rent into three unequal parts, with jagged outline of varying depth. The two 1 Researches, torn. i. p. 97. In Hamilton's book the Phrygian tomb is described in ten lines, and represented by one simple sketch.