Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/278

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TRAVELS AND DISCOVERIES

tion of inscriptions and fragments of sculpture in his house. One of these inscriptions is a decree of the people of Cos in reference to arbitrators whom they had invited from some neighbouring city to decide matters in litigation, according to a frequent practice among the ancient republics. The name of one of the Egyptian Ptolemies appears in this inscription, probably that of Philadelphus, who was born at Cos. Another fragment of an inscription contains part of a list of contributors to some public loan. Among the fragments of sculpture was the right thigh of a statuette of Perseus, against which the head of Medusa rests, grasped by the hair in his right hand. This is in a very good style. There was also the torso of a Venus tying her sandal, similar to that in the British Museum.105

I purchased at Cos a round buckler of marble 14 inches in diameter, with a hole behind, by which it has been fastened by an iron pin, probably to the wall of a temple. It is inscribed "Hegesikrates, the son of Hegesikrates, (dedicates this) to the gods who led the army." I also purchased the torso of a statuette of an hermaphrodite, of Parian marble, and in a good style. But my great prize was a silver coin of Termera, in Caria, the only one known of this town.

On one side is a kneeling figure of Herakles, with the letters ΤΥΜΝΟ. On the reverse, the legend