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GEOGKAPHIOAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 



the walls of the peribola of the fortress, and a 

 part of the wall which, on the eastern side, 

 sustained the acropolis, but also many relics 

 of the Carthaginian occupation. 



The publication by the British Museum in 

 1861 of foe-similes of a number of the most 

 important Assyrian and Babylonic inscriptions, 

 carefully prepared by Major-Gen. Rawlinson, 

 and E. Norris, in order to submit them to the 

 examination of the most eminent decipherers, 

 has led to some interesting results, and has 

 served to place the interpretation of the cunei- 

 form inscriptions on a firmer and more satis- 

 factory basis. There is very little difference 

 of opinion in regard to the proper reading of 

 most of these inscriptions among the learned 

 experts of England, Germany, and France, who 

 h ave furnished independent translations of them. 



The commission with which M. Ernest 

 Renan was charged by the French Govern- 

 ment in 1861 (see FRANCE), to investigate the 

 antiquities, tombs, mausolea, temples, and 

 dwellings of Syria, and report upon them, 

 was one of great interest to archaeological 

 science, and the results of his explorations 

 throw much light upon Phenician history 

 and character. The investigation was assigned 

 to most competent hands, and the extensive ex- 

 plorations made by M. Renan show how heartily 

 he entered into the work. In his report, pub- 

 lished in the Moniteur, the past year, after 

 stating that many of the so-called Phenician 

 antiquities are not Phenician, but Roman, or 

 even of the era of the Crusaders and Saracens 

 in some cases, he lays down as a principle that the 

 earliest Phenician temples, tombs, and dwell- 

 ings of which any remains exist have, as their 

 distinctive characteristics, the use of stones of 

 large size, without mortar or cement, of mono- 

 liths, and of works executed in the solid rocks 

 or ledges, like the rock dwellings of Petra, &c. 

 The most remarkable of these primitive struc- 

 tures are : the walls which surround the Island 

 of Ruad or Aradus, which are constructed of 

 huge quadrangular prisms of stone, from 16 to 

 20 feet in length, placed on bases of rock in 

 position, hewn for their reception ; the temple, 

 courts, sepulchral pyramids, mausoleum, am- 

 phitheatre, and stadium, with the colossal lions 

 and demi-sphere of Amrith ; the sepulchral 

 grottos and sarcophagi at Saida (Sidon) ; the 

 two colossal lions, executed upon huge rocks, 

 at Oum-el-Awamid ; and several colossal sta- 

 tues and figures, some of them in bas-relief, at 

 Kana, the gorge of Irapta, in the mountains of 

 Lebanon, near Douair (this is a bas-relief of 

 Baal and Astarte) ; at Gebeil, Sabsakik, Nei- 

 fedt, and Ruad. Besides these, he discovered 

 many statues, sculptures, temples, and dwell- 

 ings of the Greek, Roman, and early Christian 

 periods. 



In all parts of Europe, archaeological ex- 

 plorations have been prosecuted with great 

 zeal and enthusiasm the past year. In Greece, 

 the Archaeological Society of Athens, as well 

 as numerous English and French explorers, 



have been actively engaged in the search for 

 sculptures and edifices of the period of Grecian 

 high art, at Athens, Corinth, at Castri (the an- 

 cient Delphi), Salonica, Pydna, Philippi, La- 

 rissa, Pharsalia, Apollonia, Nicopolis, Cyrene, 

 and Gortigna in Crete. These researches have 

 been amply rewarded by the discovery of nu- 

 merous statues, bas-reliefs, terra-cotta figures, 

 and tombs adorned with sculptures illustrat- 

 ing many of the scenes described in the " Iliad." 

 The foundations of several temples, hitherto 

 unknown, have been traced, and in their ruins 

 statues of great beauty have been found. These 

 treasures of classic art have been deposited 

 in the museum of the Archaeological Society of 

 Athens, in the Archaeological Institute at Rome, 

 in the British Museum, and in the Palace of 

 Industry at Paris. 



In Rome, M. Guidgi has discovered a mag- 

 nificent statue of Venus, near the Porta Por- 

 tese,' as well as an altar of Mars, and a statue 

 of Bonus Eventus (Good Fortune). Several 

 aqueducts and other indications of the direc- 

 tion of the ancient roads and watercourses of 

 the city have been discovered by M. Rosa. The 

 Emperor Napoleon III has purchased the Pala- 

 tine Hill, in Rome, the site of the ancient Pal- 

 ace of the Caesars, and has disentombed many 

 relics, columns, pavements, mosaics, &c., of the 

 ancient grandeur of that palace. In other por- 

 tions of the city, other palaces have been dis- 

 covered which have elegant bas-reliefs, repre- 

 senting scenes of sacrifice, &c. The excava- 

 tions at Pompeii, under the new contractor, are 

 proceeding with extraordinary spirit, and have 

 brought to light several new dwellings, with fres- 

 coed walls of great beauty. At Herculaneum, 

 also, excavations have been commenced on a 

 grand scale, and have already resulted in the dis- 

 covery of some fine statues in marble, especially 

 two lions, evidently by a Greek sculptor. At 

 Vulci, and Schiavi (the ancient Armentum), and 

 Palestrina(Preneste), excavations have brought 

 to light statues and monuments in bronze, of 

 great beauty, and ornaments in gold and silver. 

 Spain has also been seized with the archaeo- 

 logical mania, and has discovered at Madrid a 

 fine bust of Cicero, a bronze statuette of a 

 young Ethiopian at Tarragona, and a noble 

 Hercules, also in bronze, at Almazaron, near 

 Carthagena. In France, the explorations made 

 by order of the emperor, to determine the 

 places mentioned by Caesar in his " Commen- 

 taries" (the emperor, it is well known, is pre- 

 paring a life of Caesar), have led to some im- 

 portant results. Many relics of the Roman 

 occupation of Gallia have been discovered, and 

 large quantities of Roman weapons and armor, 

 and, in several instances, statues and bas-reliefs. 

 Numerous tumuli, mostly of Celtic origin, have 

 also been opened, and the weapons, &c., buried 

 with their owners, exhumed. It is said that 

 these relics prove that in France the races 

 which used implements of stone, and those 

 which employed bronze knives, hatchets, ar- 

 rows, &c,, existed at the same time. 



