APPENDIX. April 1844. To the Honourable the Trustees of The British Museum. Gentlemen, In order to register an account of the late researches in Lycia, and of the position in which the several works of art have been found amidst the ruins of the ancient city of Xanthus, I adopt the mode of this communication that you may use the information as may be deemed best to forward an endeavour to throw light on history, and upon the arts of the early Lycians. I have embraced the opportunities within my power to obtain, by casts, measurements, and drawings, several points peculiar in the architecture, sculpture, and language of the earliest inhabitants of Lycia, and of which specimens are not found in the ancient metropolis; to these I shall add any facts which may have struck me, and by placing this collection with the results of the late expedition within our National Museum, I trust ere long much important knowledge may be developed. I shall as much as possible confine myself to the information derived from the various monuments in the country, without any endeavour to illustrate these works by history. Many of the works are in themselves history, and I know will in several instances testify to the truth of much of the scanty records that have been handed down to us in the writings of the ancients. I shall begin by noticing the works of the earliest people who have left vestiges in Lycia; and fortunately they are numerous. In the ground-plan of the city of Xanthus* the sites of these are pointed out with blue paint: they are so peculiar that it is not difficult to distinguish them from all others. The walls, stoas, and buildings are beautifully constructed, in various modes of what has been called Cyclopean. Of these, as well as of numerous other architectural monuments, Mr. Rohde Hawkins lays drawings before you. The existence of these walls alone would not be to me evidence of the age we must ascribe to the people of whom I am speaking, as these walls are not peculiar to any nation or age; but in Lycia these are found surmounted and built in with architecture, inscriptions, or sculpture which is peculiar to them, and therefore must be coeval. The massive capped shafts, which we learn by inscriptions upon them were termed "stele" (ETHAH), are peculiar to Lycia, and almost to the city of Xanthus. These are seen in the tomb which was surmounted by the frieze illustrating the legend of the Harpies with the daughters of King Pandarus; in the inscribed stele; and in others which are shown in various drawings laid before you by Mr. George Scharf, jun. The shafts of all of these are formed of a single stone, some weighing above eighty tons: they are built upon bases equally heavy, or placed upon the rock, sculptured to add steps or a basement for the monument. The Gothic-formed tombs, of which the finest existing specimens are now about to be placed in the Museum, and the monuments in imitation of wooden constructions, of which the drawing alone can give an idea-these forms are repeated and varied in the surrounding rocks, which are in many cities perfectly honeycombed with the exquisite art of this early people. The finest specimens, you will see from the drawings, are at Myra, Pinara, Telmessus, and Tlos. I think that there cannot be a doubt that the whole of these are the works of the early inhabitants, who occupied the country. before the sixth century preceding the Christian æra. Accompanying the whole of these monuments I find the early language, which, by way of distinguishing it from the Greek, has been called the Lycian, although * The whole of the plans and drawings referred to in this paper, forming a part of the Lycian Collection, are in the British Museum, and are of course accessible to the public. it will be seen hereafter it was that of the Tramelæ* and of the Trooes. The sculpture which adorns these monuments is also peculiar, and equally marks these peoples. I have often seen sculpture and Greek inscriptions upon the tombs in the rocks, but from their position upon the tombs, the form of the letters, and even the Christian devices, I cannot be mistaken in attributing these to the people using the tombs of the past nations. Of the particular works of this early people I shall speak hereafter in enumerating the sculptures obtained for the Museum, but shall leave unnoticed the evidence of coeval inscriptions and coins, which can be seen in the Museum, and which would complete the chain of the history of their arts. Amongst the next works in point of date I place the sculpture fallen from a building whose basement is marked red upon the plan, indicating its being of Greek workmanship; although this basement may, as I have before observed, be equally ascribed to an earlier people. The superstructure has been in the style of its architecture pure Greek. I find no trace of any other art of this age amidst the ruins of Xanthus. Widely differing from the last in scale, style of architecture, material, and execution, are the great mass of the ruins of the city: long walls, massive buildings, large Corinthian columns, pedestals, a triumphal arch, and very numerous sarcophagi, extending two miles from the city, are to be seen. Many of these buildings must have been bold and imposing, but in detail of execution are coarse and bad, and would at once fix their own date as late in the Eastern Empire; but this is not left in doubt. In looking over the numerous inscriptions I scarcely find one referable to an earlier date than about the Christian æra†, and mention is made of proconsuls of the reigns of Vespasian and his * The frequent occurrence of the words TPAMEAE and TPONES, with their derivatives, in the Lycian inscriptions, has been shown by Mr. Daniel Sharpe in the Appendix to my Lycia,' as well as in his paper in the Transactions of the Philological Society.-We also learn from Herodotus (B. C. 445) that the early inhabitants of this country were called Tramele, Termele, and Termile; and in Homer, that Pandarus led the Troes to battle. See inscription in Lycia,' pp. 166 and 409. successor. The coins of these periods are also found commonly amidst the ruins*. I have industriously sought, but cannot find, any work or trace of a people existing here between the period when the Lycian language was in use and that of our ærat. The materials of the city of this period have been the quarry for the inhabitants occupying the same site during the ages of the early Christians. Several large churches built of the old Lycian and Greek materials are now in ruins; a large monastery or religious establishment has stood upon the heights; and the whole of this extended city has been surrounded by walls, also formed of the columns and inscribed pedestals of the earlier Greeks. The theatre, which was built by the Greeks upon and over the ruined Lycian tombs, was in its turn destroyed to build fortifications for the succeeding people: numerous crosses, tiles, and Byzantine ornaments are scattered about, and traces of slight walls, which appear of as late an age as that of the Knights of Rhodes, are seen in every direction. Within the last century several buildings have owed their origin to the Turk: amongst these are the remains of an extensive khan or establishment of a Derebbe now in ruins. One hut and two barns constituted the whole city at the time we erected the necessary accommodation for our party, which will probably become a nucleus of a village for the peasants who now live in tents around. * I have found the coins of Claudius, Trajan, the Antonines, Commodus, Severus, Gordian, Aurelian, Constantine, and Julian. + History would disprove this; and I have one inscription in the sixth year of the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, but no coins or architectural remains. 493 AN ACCOUNT OF THE COLLECTION IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. In enumerating the works of the Tramelæ, I commence with what has been called the Harpy Tomb. It may be amongst the most ancient of their remaining works, but I am inclined to believe the difference is in style alone, and that it may probably be coeval; it is archaic in manner, while the sculptures of the monument are in a free flowing style, but the form of the monument, its position, as well as its unfinished state, would link it with the inscribed “stele” and others around, which may again be ranked with the works to be spoken of hereafter. The shaft, frieze, and cap of this monument, weighing more than a hundred tons, has been by earthquake moved upon its pedestal eighteen inches towards the north-east, throwing to the ground two stones of the frieze towards the south-west: in this state I found it in 1838. In 1841 the eight stones of this frieze were placed in the MuThe only similar art which I know in Europe is in the Albani Villa near Rome. This slab is described by Winckelmann* as being of earlier workmanship than that of the Etruscant. I shall not dwell upon these works, as they were found in situ, and will therefore be as well understood in England as if seen at Xanthus. I may draw attention to the blue, red, and other seum. * Winckelmann, Werke, vol. iii. p. 194. + Thinking that no opportunity should be omitted of illustrating this carliest age of Greek art, I have had casts made from those in Rome, and hope to see them placed with the marbles in the Museum. |