DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4377#0171
LIOX TOMB. 501
The height from the ground to the top of the
vault is 11'. The sides are composed of large slabs
G' long and 4' wide, with fine well-fitted joints.
It seems most probable that the lion, lying near
this tomb, formed part of its design.
In both of the Miletus tombs the motive of the
desism mav have been borrowed from the earlier
Cnidian monument. It may be remarked, as a
singular coincidence, that, both at Cnidus and
Miletus, the lion was the prevailing and familiar
type on the coinage in Hellenic times; and hence,
it may be thought, this symbol Avas made so marked
a feature in the design of sepulchral monuments
in both cities; but the testimony of the ancients
themselves as to the motive which led them to
adopt the lion so generally as the epithema of
tombs is so distinctly given, that I do not think
there is any need to seek for a less obvious expla-
nation of this symbol by connecting it with the
local myth of any individual city.
On the land side, the view from the Lion Tomb
at Cnidus presents a wild and barren tract of
mountain scenery.
At the distance of about half an hour inland,
in the direction of the ancient road, another tomb
similar in structure stands on an elevated spot.
This tomb has a square basement of fine polygonal
masonry, which had been surmounted by a circular
pyramid now thrown clown. The whole Avas built
of massive blocks of limestone.
Looking inland from the summit of this second
tomb, I discovered on the next considerable emi-
The height from the ground to the top of the
vault is 11'. The sides are composed of large slabs
G' long and 4' wide, with fine well-fitted joints.
It seems most probable that the lion, lying near
this tomb, formed part of its design.
In both of the Miletus tombs the motive of the
desism mav have been borrowed from the earlier
Cnidian monument. It may be remarked, as a
singular coincidence, that, both at Cnidus and
Miletus, the lion was the prevailing and familiar
type on the coinage in Hellenic times; and hence,
it may be thought, this symbol Avas made so marked
a feature in the design of sepulchral monuments
in both cities; but the testimony of the ancients
themselves as to the motive which led them to
adopt the lion so generally as the epithema of
tombs is so distinctly given, that I do not think
there is any need to seek for a less obvious expla-
nation of this symbol by connecting it with the
local myth of any individual city.
On the land side, the view from the Lion Tomb
at Cnidus presents a wild and barren tract of
mountain scenery.
At the distance of about half an hour inland,
in the direction of the ancient road, another tomb
similar in structure stands on an elevated spot.
This tomb has a square basement of fine polygonal
masonry, which had been surmounted by a circular
pyramid now thrown clown. The whole Avas built
of massive blocks of limestone.
Looking inland from the summit of this second
tomb, I discovered on the next considerable emi-