RUINS OP THE PLAIN OF TKOY. 537 



of Zechariah and Absalom, and nbove these, almost to the lop of 

 the Mount of Olives, the Jews resident in the city bury their 

 dead, adhering still to the cent' tr) of their ancestors: but having 

 loii^- lost the art of construe tin., the immense sepulchres now 

 descrihed, th<y content themselves in placing Hebr-'w inscriptions 

 upon small ; (riaht siahs of mar! le, or of common limestone, 

 rai-od after the manner at present generally in use throughout the 

 East. [Dr. Clarke. 



SECTION XIII. 



Interesting Ruins of (he Plain of Troy. 



WE crossed the Mender by a wooden bridge, immediately after 

 leaving Koum-ka'e : and ascertained its breadth, in that part, to 

 equal an hundred and thirty yards. We then entered an immense 

 plain, in which some Turks were engaged hunting wild boars. 

 Peasants were also employed in ploughing a deep and rich soil of 

 vegetable earth. Proceeding towards the east, and round the bay 

 distinctly pointed out by Strabo, as the harbour in which the 

 Grecian fleet was stationed, we arrived at the Sepulchre of Ajax, 

 upon the antient Rhcetean Promontory. Concerning this tumulus 

 there is every reason to believe uur information correct. If we 

 had only the text of Strabo for our guidance, there would be little 

 ground for incredulity ; and, by the evidence afforded in a view 

 of the monument itself, we have the best comment upon this 

 accuracy. It is one of the mo*t interesting objects to which the 

 attention of the literary traveller can possibly be directed. In- 

 stead of the simple Stele, usually employed to decorate the sum- 

 mit of the most antient sepulchral mounds, all writers, who have 

 mentioned the tomb of Ajax, relate, th:( it was surmounted by a 

 bhrine, in which a statue of the hero was preserved. Religions 

 regard for this hallowed spot continued through so many ages, that 

 even to the time in which Christianity decreed the destruction of 

 the Pagan idols, the sanctity of the A'ianteum Mas maintained and 

 venerated. Such importance was annexed to the inviolability of 

 the monument, that after Anthony had carried into Egypt the 

 consecrated image, it was again recovered by Augustus, and 

 restored to its pristine shrine. These facts may possibly serve to 

 account for the present appearance of the tomb, on whose sum. 

 mil that shrine itself, and a considerable portion of the super. 



