DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4328#0040
CHAPTER III
MYRA AND LYCIAN SCULPTURE
The monuments of Myra, one of the chief centres of Lycian art, are illustrated in several plates
(XL-XXXL). At Myra there is a large and remarkable group of the curious rock-cut tombs, the
fronts of which are carved into forms which frankly imitate wooden structures. Here also are examples
of an interesting local school of sculpture which, drawing its inspiration from the best Athenian work,
was at the same time subject to Oriental influences, and long remained fresh and playful without falling
into marked decadence. And here, too, are fine monuments of the Roman imperial regime which never
quite smothered the free art of Ionia under its massive officialism. Our plan on page 17 is reduced
from the proof of an engraving made in 1837 for the then projected volume ; the plate itself is now
missing. On it will be found laid down the chief points referred to by Fellows in the following
condensed extract :
Myra was amongst the most important of the Lycian cities, and its ruins appear to be little injured by age. The theatre
is amongst the largest and best built in Asia Minor; and much of its fine corridor and corniced proscenium remains. The tombs
are generally very large, and all appear to have been for families. Within the porticoes of several are bas-reliefs, some retaining
the colours with which they were painted. The letters of the inscriptions were painted alternately blue and red.1 The sculpture
of the tombs is of the finest age for ease, simplicity, and beauty. On the plain are scattered ruins. One pile nearer the sea is
known from inscriptions to have been a granary built in the time of Hadrian. A Greek priest alone remains within the holy
walls [of the convent], formerly the object of pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Nicholas. St. Paul visited Myra on his voyage
to Rome.2
The TJieatre.—The Roman theatre was first illustrated in the second part of the Antiquities of
Ionia, but under the title of Patara. This fact is pointed out in a letter from Wilkins to Hamilton,
and he was certainly right. It will be seen from the list of drawings that plans and elevations of
the theatre were made by the second Mission, but these have been lost. Plans and details of this
structure and of several of the tombs were engraved by Texier in his large work on Asia Minor.3
The ruins of the theatre are represented in our plates by two general views—the originals of which,
drawn by Gell, are now in the Library of the Royal Institute of British Architects—and by details
of the fine composite order which adorned the scene-front.
Scharf, who twice accompanied Fellows in his tours in Asia Minor and kept diaries which are
now in the British Museum, says: " The Theatre is the largest I have yet seen, and though the
upper parts are wanting it is in very fine preservation. It has two ranges of corridors running
round under the seats, beneath which is a colonnade [arcade rather], which reminded me of the Coliseum.
At the back in a niche I found a statue with a Greek inscription over it stating that it was built
for the good of the city.4 Some parts are so perfect that one might expect the crush when the play
is over. ... It is a glorious place for a romantic mind. The number of seats below the diazoma can
be traced to twenty rows, seven is the extreme of those above ; many of them have been displaced
showing the swell of the vaulted lobby [or corridor]. . . . The centre door of the proscenium has
jambs of enormous scale and adorned with fanciful mouldings, etc. A fine tragic mask in a soffit
lies close without, with a massive cornice of foliage and lions." What Scharf described as a " colonnade
like the Coliseum" was on the exterior of the semicircular part where at the two ends it projected
beyond the backing of rocks which supported the central part of the auditorium (Plate II-)- According
1 This fact appears also on one of the drawings now at the Institute of Architects.
2 Asia Minor and Lycia, p. 355.
3 Many of the original drawings from which the plates in those handsome volumes were prepared are now in the Library of the Royal Institute of
British Architects, and they show how slight the sketches in many cases were from which the seemingly accurate plates were made. This is worth
pointing out, as most of the earlier engraved plates of Greek architecture rest on hurried and confused notes, which were interpreted at home sometimes
after a long interval of time. It was on data so untrustworthy that commentators built up their elaborate theories of architectural proportions.
4 Mr. A. H. Smith points out that this was a statue of Fortune which has been described in lieisen in Lvkie.n. vol. ii.
16
MYRA AND LYCIAN SCULPTURE
The monuments of Myra, one of the chief centres of Lycian art, are illustrated in several plates
(XL-XXXL). At Myra there is a large and remarkable group of the curious rock-cut tombs, the
fronts of which are carved into forms which frankly imitate wooden structures. Here also are examples
of an interesting local school of sculpture which, drawing its inspiration from the best Athenian work,
was at the same time subject to Oriental influences, and long remained fresh and playful without falling
into marked decadence. And here, too, are fine monuments of the Roman imperial regime which never
quite smothered the free art of Ionia under its massive officialism. Our plan on page 17 is reduced
from the proof of an engraving made in 1837 for the then projected volume ; the plate itself is now
missing. On it will be found laid down the chief points referred to by Fellows in the following
condensed extract :
Myra was amongst the most important of the Lycian cities, and its ruins appear to be little injured by age. The theatre
is amongst the largest and best built in Asia Minor; and much of its fine corridor and corniced proscenium remains. The tombs
are generally very large, and all appear to have been for families. Within the porticoes of several are bas-reliefs, some retaining
the colours with which they were painted. The letters of the inscriptions were painted alternately blue and red.1 The sculpture
of the tombs is of the finest age for ease, simplicity, and beauty. On the plain are scattered ruins. One pile nearer the sea is
known from inscriptions to have been a granary built in the time of Hadrian. A Greek priest alone remains within the holy
walls [of the convent], formerly the object of pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Nicholas. St. Paul visited Myra on his voyage
to Rome.2
The TJieatre.—The Roman theatre was first illustrated in the second part of the Antiquities of
Ionia, but under the title of Patara. This fact is pointed out in a letter from Wilkins to Hamilton,
and he was certainly right. It will be seen from the list of drawings that plans and elevations of
the theatre were made by the second Mission, but these have been lost. Plans and details of this
structure and of several of the tombs were engraved by Texier in his large work on Asia Minor.3
The ruins of the theatre are represented in our plates by two general views—the originals of which,
drawn by Gell, are now in the Library of the Royal Institute of British Architects—and by details
of the fine composite order which adorned the scene-front.
Scharf, who twice accompanied Fellows in his tours in Asia Minor and kept diaries which are
now in the British Museum, says: " The Theatre is the largest I have yet seen, and though the
upper parts are wanting it is in very fine preservation. It has two ranges of corridors running
round under the seats, beneath which is a colonnade [arcade rather], which reminded me of the Coliseum.
At the back in a niche I found a statue with a Greek inscription over it stating that it was built
for the good of the city.4 Some parts are so perfect that one might expect the crush when the play
is over. ... It is a glorious place for a romantic mind. The number of seats below the diazoma can
be traced to twenty rows, seven is the extreme of those above ; many of them have been displaced
showing the swell of the vaulted lobby [or corridor]. . . . The centre door of the proscenium has
jambs of enormous scale and adorned with fanciful mouldings, etc. A fine tragic mask in a soffit
lies close without, with a massive cornice of foliage and lions." What Scharf described as a " colonnade
like the Coliseum" was on the exterior of the semicircular part where at the two ends it projected
beyond the backing of rocks which supported the central part of the auditorium (Plate II-)- According
1 This fact appears also on one of the drawings now at the Institute of Architects.
2 Asia Minor and Lycia, p. 355.
3 Many of the original drawings from which the plates in those handsome volumes were prepared are now in the Library of the Royal Institute of
British Architects, and they show how slight the sketches in many cases were from which the seemingly accurate plates were made. This is worth
pointing out, as most of the earlier engraved plates of Greek architecture rest on hurried and confused notes, which were interpreted at home sometimes
after a long interval of time. It was on data so untrustworthy that commentators built up their elaborate theories of architectural proportions.
4 Mr. A. H. Smith points out that this was a statue of Fortune which has been described in lieisen in Lvkie.n. vol. ii.
16