DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4619#0004
ments, the sculpture and the language,—all character-
ized as peculiar to this country ; the coins, sculptured
legends and mythology all helong to the same people.
These are the earliest works seen in the country*.
The ancient city of Arina stood principally upon a
bold rock rising abruptly from the river Xanthus. It is
upon this Acropolis that we find exclusively the ruins of
the monuments of the early inhabitants. The walls, the
towers, the peculiar stelef, the gothic-shaped tombs, and
tombs sculptured to imitate wood-work, are all still to
be seen on this site. It is surprising, and highly in-
teresting, that we should have been made so well ac-
cpaainted with the appearance, character and architecture
of the cities of this early people, by the numerous views
of the ancient cities of Pinara, Tlos, and even of Arina
or Xanthus itself, sculptured in bas-relief; from the
sculpture we also learn the costume,—the loose robe,
the beard, the short sword, the bow-case, the construc-
tion of their chariots and peculiar typings of their
horses; we have also presented to us their poetic le-
gends, recorded in the poems of Homer, and the often-
repeated mythological allusions in the funereal ceremo-
* The rocks of Lycia are scaglia or Apennine limestone, extremely
hard and flinty, and difficult to cut; but when sculptured they retain a
sharp edge for an interminable period. Many of the earliest sculptures
retain their painted surface to the present day. It is therefore impos-
sible to conceive the works of a former people passing entirely away,
when those of twenty-five centuries ago appear as of yesterday.
t ' Lycia,' p. 104.
ized as peculiar to this country ; the coins, sculptured
legends and mythology all helong to the same people.
These are the earliest works seen in the country*.
The ancient city of Arina stood principally upon a
bold rock rising abruptly from the river Xanthus. It is
upon this Acropolis that we find exclusively the ruins of
the monuments of the early inhabitants. The walls, the
towers, the peculiar stelef, the gothic-shaped tombs, and
tombs sculptured to imitate wood-work, are all still to
be seen on this site. It is surprising, and highly in-
teresting, that we should have been made so well ac-
cpaainted with the appearance, character and architecture
of the cities of this early people, by the numerous views
of the ancient cities of Pinara, Tlos, and even of Arina
or Xanthus itself, sculptured in bas-relief; from the
sculpture we also learn the costume,—the loose robe,
the beard, the short sword, the bow-case, the construc-
tion of their chariots and peculiar typings of their
horses; we have also presented to us their poetic le-
gends, recorded in the poems of Homer, and the often-
repeated mythological allusions in the funereal ceremo-
* The rocks of Lycia are scaglia or Apennine limestone, extremely
hard and flinty, and difficult to cut; but when sculptured they retain a
sharp edge for an interminable period. Many of the earliest sculptures
retain their painted surface to the present day. It is therefore impos-
sible to conceive the works of a former people passing entirely away,
when those of twenty-five centuries ago appear as of yesterday.
t ' Lycia,' p. 104.