x>fFeifa^ a City edcavatedjrom the solid Rock, Ml 



^nd arrangements, but all sepulchral, and without any com* 

 munication between them. In one were three recesses, which 

 seem to have been ornamented with marble or some other ex- 

 traneous material. Almost contiguous to this extensive front 

 is another somewhat smaller, but equally rich, whose design 

 has a great analogy, especially in the circumstance of the half 

 pediment, and the circular lantern in the centre, to the beau- 

 tiful temple of the eastern approach. Though a general vsym- 

 metry pervades this species of architecture, yet there are ir- 

 regularities observable in its doors and windows, which may 

 be explained by the circumstance of their opening into apart- 

 ments no way connected with each other, and intended appa- 

 rently for different families. A little farther to the south-east, 

 an area is gained upon the slope of the mountain by excavat- 

 ing it, so as to form three sides of a square. Two of these 

 have been formed into Doric porticos ; the third, which is the 

 loftiest, as being that which abuts against the body of the 

 mountain, is occupied by a lofty front, decorated with four 

 engaged columns of the same order, but without triglyphs. A 

 pediment surmounts the frieze, supporting an urn, in all re- 

 spects similar to that on the temple of the eastern approach. 

 A door-way with a window over it fills the centre, and there 

 are three windows in the attic, the centre one of which exhi- 

 bits two half-length figures in basso-relievo. In the approach 

 to this tomb, there were arched substructions of great extent 

 now fallen into ruins. It is surprising to reflect, that monu- 

 ments of so vast a scale should be executed subsequent to the 

 Roman conquest, since after that period we can look upon 

 them as no more than the tombs of private individuals. 

 Whence should come so much wealth, and with a taste for 

 magnificence, after the country had lost its independence, it is 

 difficult to conceive. It is possible, however, that a trade by 

 the Red Sea with India, or even the caravan trade with the 

 spice country, may have imported such riches into the place, 

 as to give the inhabitants the same fondness for ostentation and 

 ornament observable at Palmyra, which owed its wealth to 

 the same source. Yet to consider a mausoleum of upwards of 

 seventy or eighty feet high, with lateral porticos and flights of 

 terraces upon arched work leading up to it, as the effeet ^f 



