DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0090
TOMBS OP PETRA.
77
as we ascended, and I broke for a moment the still-
ness of the desolate city by the report of my gun*
All around the theatre in the sides of the moun-
tains were ranges of tombs; and directly opposite
they rose in long tiers one above another. Hav-
ing looked into those around the theatre, I crossed
to those opposite ; and, carefully as the brief time
I had would allow, examined the whole range*
Though I had no small experience in exploring
catacombs and tombs, these were so different from
any I had seen, that 1 found it difficult to distin-
guish the habitations of the living from the cham-
bers of the dead. The fa9ades or architectural
decorations of the front were everywhere hand-
some ; and in this, they differed materially from the
tombs in Egypt; in the latter the doors were sim~
ply an opening in the rock, and all the grandeur
and beauty of the work within ; while here the door
was always imposing in its appearance, and the in-
terior was generally a simple chamber, unpainted
and unsculptured.
I say that I could not distinguish the dwellings
from the tombs ; but this was not invariably the
case ; some were clearly tombs, for there were
pits in which the dead had been laid,, and others
were as clearly dwellings, being without a place
for the deposite of the dead. One of these last par-
ticularly attracted my attention. It consisted of
one large chamber, having on one side, at the?
foot of the wall, a stone bench about one foot high,,
and two or three broad, in form like the divans i&
77
as we ascended, and I broke for a moment the still-
ness of the desolate city by the report of my gun*
All around the theatre in the sides of the moun-
tains were ranges of tombs; and directly opposite
they rose in long tiers one above another. Hav-
ing looked into those around the theatre, I crossed
to those opposite ; and, carefully as the brief time
I had would allow, examined the whole range*
Though I had no small experience in exploring
catacombs and tombs, these were so different from
any I had seen, that 1 found it difficult to distin-
guish the habitations of the living from the cham-
bers of the dead. The fa9ades or architectural
decorations of the front were everywhere hand-
some ; and in this, they differed materially from the
tombs in Egypt; in the latter the doors were sim~
ply an opening in the rock, and all the grandeur
and beauty of the work within ; while here the door
was always imposing in its appearance, and the in-
terior was generally a simple chamber, unpainted
and unsculptured.
I say that I could not distinguish the dwellings
from the tombs ; but this was not invariably the
case ; some were clearly tombs, for there were
pits in which the dead had been laid,, and others
were as clearly dwellings, being without a place
for the deposite of the dead. One of these last par-
ticularly attracted my attention. It consisted of
one large chamber, having on one side, at the?
foot of the wall, a stone bench about one foot high,,
and two or three broad, in form like the divans i&