18o0.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



Ill 



l'L"Hp!J!"f' 'r"^"'f'' f' ''i""''"",' *? *'"' *"■"'• "f Agamemnon, in 

 the Electi-a ol t^oplu-oles, leaves little doubt of its identity. The 



Gitcway of Aiieii'nt Kplii-iu^. 



entrance to the vault is a doorway of elaborate desi-n, scnlntured 

 in (,.reen basalt; a restoration fron, the fraj.nients%'emaininff is 

 pub , shed m the supplementary vidume of Stuart and Revett's 

 Antuiu.ties of Athens. 1 he doorn-ay was orig-inally approached 

 by steps, hu the earth luis now accumulated above the threshold. 

 It differs widely m design and detail from the Greek of after ages- 

 the door or jjate was brazen; the columns are decidedly Asiatic in 

 character; tlie capitals closely resemble the £ffvptian,'thou(?h the 

 bases approach the Greek in graceful outline; 'the peculiar^scroU 

 toinnng the princijial decoration is quite distinct from the Greek 

 meander, but is met with in some of the Effvi-tian tombs; the van- 

 dyke may have been suggested by a section 'of the palm. On the 



"relief" T.''''u''rV''''V"'''*'''-^ '"'^ ''""^ I"""'- «« '^"- <^'l 

 n relief. The vaulted chamber is circular, 48 feet in diameter- 



the present height ,s i'J feet, but it must originallv have been 

 much higher, as the ground has been raised by the earth and 

 stones fa ling m. This vault is formed in the usual Pelas..ic man- 

 ner, by the projecting courses of st.uies, afterwards hollowed out 

 and indicates no knowledge of the principle of the arch. The 

 stone used IS the hard breccia, found upon the spot: 36 re-nilar 

 courses are e.xposed to view; they are uncemented, but united'with 

 the greatest precision The wall of the building is is feet n 

 thickness; consequently, there is a passage 18 feet in length be- 

 tween the outer and inner door. The stones forming the roof of 

 this passage are of enormous size: the lintel of the inner door- 

 way IS composed of two blocks, the largest 27 feet in length 17 in 



ton'; ^bl"'^,'^•"':• '" '^''^"'''^ ""^ "•^'ff'^* '^^'"'-' about Ls 

 tons-, block only interior in size to those of Karnac and Baalbec 

 A small square chamber opens from the larger apartment '""^'• 

 A sepulchre of somewhat similar construction has been dis- 

 covered on the site of the ancient Ca^re, formerly the still m n-e 

 aiicient Agy la, one of the earliest Pelasgic settlements in Italy 

 This tomb (known by the name of its two discoverers, Regulin - 

 Galassi) IS entered by a Pelasgic archway: the chambers are ' 

 oblong, instead of circular, but vaulted in the manner already I 

 described. 1 his sepu chre was opened for the first time only a few 

 years ago: the funeral beds stood in their original places, with the 

 , armour and jewels upon them, though their" occupants had long 

 crumbled into dust; shields, spears, and other weapons, as well af 

 vases and patera- of various forms, were suspended from the walls : 

 by nails. As we know that the traditional rites of burial were 



na.lsinthe wall of Agamemnon's tomb were for the purpose of ' 

 attaching sepulchral furniture, rather than brazen plates -Mv- 

 cenai was destroyed by the Argnes, 500 B c ' • 



AtOrchomenes,in Ba;otia,-are other interesting Pelasffic re- ' 

 mains amongst which may be mentioned the Treasury of !U invas I 



l^;niemnon""ir "' '''" '"'^'' P™!-'"-- tlian tL Tomli of ! 

 Agamem ion. It was once covered by a dome, but the upper part 

 has now fa len in. This building was cuisidered by theTnciei s 

 F^vvt a I) """,1"^"^..*'"^ --Irf^ equally with the pyram d?of 

 Egypt and the wails of '1 n-yns, and is said to have bee. the woidv 

 of the celebrated Agamedes and Trophonius 



In Bceotia are the remains of the greatest" as well as the most 

 ancient engineering work achieved by the Greeks Betvvee"the ' 

 Kopaic lake and the sea, is a mountain of calcareouf Sone 



called .Mount Ptoon : the river Kpsephus is formed by the over- 

 fioiving writers of the lake finding or forcing their w'ay through 

 the hssi.res of the nKumtain. These did not, however, afford a 

 sufficient channel, and frequent inundations were the consequence, 

 lo remedy this evil, artificial tunnels were cut through the whole 

 breadth of Mount Ptoon. The north-eastern tunnel is rather 

 more than .Si miles in length, with about twenty vertical shafts let 

 down into it along the whole distance. The shafts are now choked 

 up, but the aj.ertures are yet visible, and are about 4 feet sipiare- 

 the deepest is supposed by Forchhammer to be about 150 feet, 

 iliese shafts are thought to have been for the purpose of allowing 

 a greater number of workmen to be emjiloyed at the same time, 

 so as to carry on the work more quickly— just for the same reason 

 that we sink shafts at present. It is said that these tunnels were 

 cleared out and repaired by Crates of Chalcis, who, according to 

 btrabo, presented a report to liis employer, Alexander the Great 

 stating that the remains of several ancient cities had been brought 

 to^light, formerly submerged by the overflowing of the Kopaic 



There are many more Cyclopean and Pelasgic remains in Greece 

 and tlie neighbouring islands, but they merely consist of huge 

 walls, with here and there a gateway more or less perfect. 



Asia Minor, that beautiful peninsula thrown (as Laborde ob- 

 serves) like a bridge between Asia and Eurojie, notwithstanding 

 the genius of its people, never formed a great kingdom: its des- 

 tiny was to become a battle-field, where a succession of heroes 

 struggled for the dominion of the world. The names of Cra>sus 

 Cyrus, Xerxes, Xenophon, Alexander the Great, Mithradate< hal- 

 low every spot of ground with a thousand historical associations 

 even before the foundation of the Christian churches gave a still 

 more vivid interest to the land. It was anciently divided into 

 several small kingdoms, that sometimes successfully struggled 

 against and sometimes succumbed, before the power of Persia 

 After the check given to the Persian dominion by the defeat of 

 Aerxes, the numerous cities on the coast of Ionia, yl-^tolia, and 

 L.aria. founded by emigrants or exiles from Greece, increased in 

 power and iiuportance, and rivalled the mother country in art in 

 science, and in literature. After the battles of the G/anicus and 

 ls^sus won by the great Alexander. Asia Minor was united to the 

 Macedonian kingdom, but again dissevered at his death, when his 

 successors, Antigonus, Eumeues, and Lysimachus, obtained posses- 

 sion of different provinces. In the year 133 b.c, Attalus Piiilo- 

 pater, Icing of Pergamus, bequeathed his kingdom to Rome; but 

 the peninsula was not completely subjected to this mighty empire 

 till after the defeat of Mithradates, the great king of Pontus 



(05 B.C.) 



In each of the small kingdoms of Asia Minor, a distinct style of 

 architecture seems to have prevailed; though of this variety, the 

 tombs alone remain to bear witness. Truly, as Shelley says ' 



' lU'iid men 



, i'(.viu II. en 



H..ii|; Ihcir mute thmij.|Us nil the mute wills ar.m d i" 



and the abodes of the dead frequently bear record of a race whos 

 living habitations have long disappeared. In each little kingdom 

 the ancient mode of sepulture seems to have been religi.uisly ad- 

 hered to, whether under Greeks or Romans, to as late\a date as 

 the Christian era. From the innumerable excavations in the rocky 

 districts of Asia ]\Iinor, it has been supposed that they were not 

 only used for sepulchral purposes, but had in still moi-e ancient 

 times been the retreat of some Troglodytic or cave-dwellinif tribe 

 like the ancient Edom. It is possible that the rocks may originally 

 have afforded shelter to such a race, and their caves have been con- 

 verted into sepulchres by subsequent inhabitants: but this is ail 

 conjecture. In Cappadocia, Phrygia, and other provinces, many 

 chains of rocks are completely honeycombed with excavations-^ 

 perforated with thousands of chambers, niches, and passages 



Ihrygia, being an inland kingdom, was further removed from 

 the influence of the Greek colonies, and approaches more nearly 

 to the 1 ersian in architectural style. The characteristic of Phry- 

 gian tombs IS the sculptured fa; ade chiselled on tlie surface of th» 

 ^ru k^ '"'""' /i't i-ude and simple, others elaborately decorated. 

 1 he tomb of Midas is one of the most richly ornamented This 

 sepulchre takes us back to the fabulous ages: we at once remember 

 Aliilas, king of Phrygia, son of Gorgias, that miser of the olden 

 time, who prayed that whatever he touched niisht be turned into 

 gold; and when his prayer was granted, would have starved to 

 death in the midst of his riches (every morsel being transmuted as 

 Untouched las hungry lips), had it not been for the tender mercy 

 of Bacchus, who ordered him to bathe in the river Pactoliis when 

 Its sands were changed into gold, and Mi-las was relieved from his 

 fatal gift. Thus cleansed and purified from his golden fever, he 



16* 



