230 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud^a. rough uneven surface of the stone is due to the action of wind and rain. We will now turn to Herodotus, and compare his description with that of modern travellers.
- By far the greater proportion of the stelas set up by Sesostris
to commemorate his conquests in Asia Minor have been destroyed. Nevertheless, I found rock-cut carvings of this prince in Palestine and Syria; as well as two figures in Ionia chiselled on the hill-side. One may be seen on the road which runs from Ephesus to Phocoea, and the other on the shorter route from Smyrna to Sardes. These figures are four cubits and a half in height ; they hold a javelin in the dexter hand, and a bow in the sinister ; the rest of the equip- ment is partly Egyptian, partly Ethiopian. Across the breast are hieratic Egyptian characters, which read thus: 'This country I have subdued with the power of my arm! Some have thought that this figure was intended as a representation of Memnon, wherein they have greatly erred." ^ It should be noticed that Herodotus, as though he had doubts respecting the parentage and country of his hero, does not specify them ; and is not so confident of the Egyptian origin of these bas-reliefs as he was at Nahr-el-Kelb. We may conclude from this that he had not seen the sculptures under notice, and that his account was from information he had received. On the other hand, it is possible that he may have seen them, but, owing to some cause or other, he had no time to take notes, and his narrative therefore was written from memory, which played him false. Hence the dis- crepancy between the figure as we find it and his description. True, there is the other bas-relief, but unfortunately its mutilated state will not allow us to compare it with the Greek text, and note in what respects it coincides or disagrees with it. This was not discovered until long after the first, which is far away the best preserved, or, to speak correctly, the least corroded of the two. It is that described by Texier and visited by subsequent travellers. Like the Sesostris of Herodotus, he is armed with spear and bow ; the measurement of four cubits and a half (equal to 2 m. 50 c.) may ^ See note 2, p. 379, vol. i. of this work, and Herodotus, ii. 102, upon the proper reading of //.eye^os iriy^-KTiq^ o-TnOajuLTJs. The stelas seen by the Greek writer in Syria are doubtless the rock- carvings at Nahr-el-Kelb, near Beyrouth, of which we gave an account in the earlier part of this work.
