DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5542#0054
44
CYCLOPIAN ARCHITECTURE.
[Chap, xxxiii.
and sometimes at right angles with, the front wall, the
whole space being divided into two chambers with a small
square-topped low passage between them, or on each side,
to contain the bodies. It is, however, uncertain how they
were entered, for great pains seem to have been taken to
conceal the entrance. In some cases it was probably through
a small aperture in the vaulted roof, in others I think it
was effected by removing a stone known only to a chosen
few, to which purpose, owing to its great irregularity, the
polygonal structure was well adapted. In one case we found
such a stone, which had been removed, leaving an opening
into a long and narrow passage. Such, perhaps, was the
foundation of the story of the architect * who, in build-
ing a treasury for Bhamsinites, contrived that a stone in
the outer wall could be removed and replaced without its
being perceived. I set to work to see whether I could not
find one so placed in one of the walls, that it might be
removed without interfering with those above; and hav-
ing discovered what appeared to be a similar instance, we
removed the stone with some difficulty, and found an en-
trance into a small passage, but the tomb had been already
opened by breaking through the roof. After penetrating
some way, the end of the passage was blocked up by a
large stone so fixed that we could not move it, and there-
fore determined to dig down behind it from the terrace
above, hoping to light upon another chamber; but we
were disappointed, and after going down five or six feet
we found nothing but solid rubbish. In some cases the
vaults were plaistered or stuccoed over inside, in others
the stones were left exposed; some had no vault or arch
at all, but like the one above described consisted merely of
a narrow passage with a flat roof, barely large enough for
a man to craw 1 in.
Besides the veneration paid at Cnidus to Apollo, both as
Triopian f and Carneus, $ this city was more peculiarly celc-
* Herod., lib. li. c. 121. t Herodotus, lib. i. c. 111.
J See Appendix, No. 287.
CYCLOPIAN ARCHITECTURE.
[Chap, xxxiii.
and sometimes at right angles with, the front wall, the
whole space being divided into two chambers with a small
square-topped low passage between them, or on each side,
to contain the bodies. It is, however, uncertain how they
were entered, for great pains seem to have been taken to
conceal the entrance. In some cases it was probably through
a small aperture in the vaulted roof, in others I think it
was effected by removing a stone known only to a chosen
few, to which purpose, owing to its great irregularity, the
polygonal structure was well adapted. In one case we found
such a stone, which had been removed, leaving an opening
into a long and narrow passage. Such, perhaps, was the
foundation of the story of the architect * who, in build-
ing a treasury for Bhamsinites, contrived that a stone in
the outer wall could be removed and replaced without its
being perceived. I set to work to see whether I could not
find one so placed in one of the walls, that it might be
removed without interfering with those above; and hav-
ing discovered what appeared to be a similar instance, we
removed the stone with some difficulty, and found an en-
trance into a small passage, but the tomb had been already
opened by breaking through the roof. After penetrating
some way, the end of the passage was blocked up by a
large stone so fixed that we could not move it, and there-
fore determined to dig down behind it from the terrace
above, hoping to light upon another chamber; but we
were disappointed, and after going down five or six feet
we found nothing but solid rubbish. In some cases the
vaults were plaistered or stuccoed over inside, in others
the stones were left exposed; some had no vault or arch
at all, but like the one above described consisted merely of
a narrow passage with a flat roof, barely large enough for
a man to craw 1 in.
Besides the veneration paid at Cnidus to Apollo, both as
Triopian f and Carneus, $ this city was more peculiarly celc-
* Herod., lib. li. c. 121. t Herodotus, lib. i. c. 111.
J See Appendix, No. 287.