DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.748#0043
INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1881. 33
these travellers were fully borne out by the interesting testi-
mony of one of the old men of Behratm, who remembers when
a youth to have seen the sculptured blocks lying upon the
surface, and to have watched the operations of the sailors in
carrying them to the sea-shore.
The search of the French was thorough. Only one frag-
ment was found by the present Expedition upon the declivity;
namely, the second sphinx from the western front, which lay
face downward at the spot marked E, Plate 2. This block,
though overlooked by Raoul Rochette, may have been seen
by Texier, who in his restoration correctly drew the shaft
upon which the fore-paws of the recumbent animals are sup-
ported, — a feature not evident from any of the reliefs in the
Louvre. As will be seen in the detailed consideration of the
sculptures, this sphinx accurately fits upon its mate now in
Paris, and could not have been purposely left behind.
The two blocks forming the far more beautiful sphinxes of
the eastern front were found in the wall, A A, at the north-
west of the Acropolis. This mass of masonry, from its relation
in plan and bonding to a Turkish semicircular tower abutting
upon it, as well as from the employment of mortar in its more
careful construction, is proved to be of comparatively early
date. The lime which covered and preserved the features of
the archaic heads had .become so hard that the stones could
only be loosened from their beds by iron wedges and sledge-
hammers. The broken metope and the small fragment on
which were the front legs of a centaur were found in the
vicinity.
The two important blocks of the bowman and centaurs, the
most valuable discovery of the year, were met with late in the
season, in the foundations of the rampart at the southwestern
angle of the citadel. They were not embedded in mortar, and
were lying near each other at a depth of 1.5 metres below the
3
these travellers were fully borne out by the interesting testi-
mony of one of the old men of Behratm, who remembers when
a youth to have seen the sculptured blocks lying upon the
surface, and to have watched the operations of the sailors in
carrying them to the sea-shore.
The search of the French was thorough. Only one frag-
ment was found by the present Expedition upon the declivity;
namely, the second sphinx from the western front, which lay
face downward at the spot marked E, Plate 2. This block,
though overlooked by Raoul Rochette, may have been seen
by Texier, who in his restoration correctly drew the shaft
upon which the fore-paws of the recumbent animals are sup-
ported, — a feature not evident from any of the reliefs in the
Louvre. As will be seen in the detailed consideration of the
sculptures, this sphinx accurately fits upon its mate now in
Paris, and could not have been purposely left behind.
The two blocks forming the far more beautiful sphinxes of
the eastern front were found in the wall, A A, at the north-
west of the Acropolis. This mass of masonry, from its relation
in plan and bonding to a Turkish semicircular tower abutting
upon it, as well as from the employment of mortar in its more
careful construction, is proved to be of comparatively early
date. The lime which covered and preserved the features of
the archaic heads had .become so hard that the stones could
only be loosened from their beds by iron wedges and sledge-
hammers. The broken metope and the small fragment on
which were the front legs of a centaur were found in the
vicinity.
The two important blocks of the bowman and centaurs, the
most valuable discovery of the year, were met with late in the
season, in the foundations of the rampart at the southwestern
angle of the citadel. They were not embedded in mortar, and
were lying near each other at a depth of 1.5 metres below the
3