DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5073#0394
THE TOMBS.
381
sculptured: and on the highest story of all, a row of
small pillars and a cornice.
Outside the second story of another Tower was an
arched recess, with a fine hand of vine-leaves and grapes
moulded round it. Within the recess lay the figure of
a mummy, reposing on a carved sofa; and above that
another figure, in a half-reclining posture, with three
other figures standing behind it, all in good relief,— the
heads had been knocked off every one. A Palmyrene
inscription is here carved under the couch; these in-
scriptions, containing the names of the dead and a date,
are usually placed outside the Tombs, and are very fre-
quently both in Palmyrene and in Greek. All that
have been found are prior to the date of Aurelian's con-
quest, and many of them date about the commencement
of our era. The Tombs are mostly lined with white
stucco, on which a good deal of colouring remains.
The score of tower Tombs, scattered among the under-
ground Tombs in the other cemetery, near the Eas el
'Ain, are believed to be of older date than these; but
they are so much ruined, and so much encumbered with
sand, that they are scarcely comprehensible — many of
them have been patched with more modern construc-
tions. In one of them we discovered two headless sta-
tues, life-size, represented on one stone — husband and
wife, as it were, sitting together—the male leaning back
in a carved arm-chair; the female in a more reclining
position, as if on a sofa, her left hand on the shoulder
of her husband, and holding in her right a pine-cone
like those so common in the Xineveh marbles; both are
attired in graceful many-folded drapery, with rich bands
of embroidery and jewels down the fronts and round
the shoulders and necks of the dresses; the drapery is
gathered lower down into embroidered boots.
381
sculptured: and on the highest story of all, a row of
small pillars and a cornice.
Outside the second story of another Tower was an
arched recess, with a fine hand of vine-leaves and grapes
moulded round it. Within the recess lay the figure of
a mummy, reposing on a carved sofa; and above that
another figure, in a half-reclining posture, with three
other figures standing behind it, all in good relief,— the
heads had been knocked off every one. A Palmyrene
inscription is here carved under the couch; these in-
scriptions, containing the names of the dead and a date,
are usually placed outside the Tombs, and are very fre-
quently both in Palmyrene and in Greek. All that
have been found are prior to the date of Aurelian's con-
quest, and many of them date about the commencement
of our era. The Tombs are mostly lined with white
stucco, on which a good deal of colouring remains.
The score of tower Tombs, scattered among the under-
ground Tombs in the other cemetery, near the Eas el
'Ain, are believed to be of older date than these; but
they are so much ruined, and so much encumbered with
sand, that they are scarcely comprehensible — many of
them have been patched with more modern construc-
tions. In one of them we discovered two headless sta-
tues, life-size, represented on one stone — husband and
wife, as it were, sitting together—the male leaning back
in a carved arm-chair; the female in a more reclining
position, as if on a sofa, her left hand on the shoulder
of her husband, and holding in her right a pine-cone
like those so common in the Xineveh marbles; both are
attired in graceful many-folded drapery, with rich bands
of embroidery and jewels down the fronts and round
the shoulders and necks of the dresses; the drapery is
gathered lower down into embroidered boots.