JEWISH, PH@NICIAN, AND HARLY GREEK ART, BTC. By) 
gradually contracting to a point at the top. The holes in the 
masonry and fragments of broad-headed nails still remaining 
show that it was originally coated internally with plates of 
metal, most probably bronze ; and in this respect it resembled 
the gold-covered shrine of Solomon’s Temple. Plates of 
polished metal, as I shall presently show from some striking 
descriptions of Homer, were employed by the early Greeks to 
give splendour and dignity to their palaces and sanctuaries, 
just as they were employed by the Israelites during the reign 
of Solomon. Gold and silver, when they could be obtained, 
were lavishly used in interior decoration, and in the manu- 
facture of household utensils. The enormous quantities found 
by Di Cesnola in a few tombs and subterranean chambers in 
Cyprus and the rich collection made by Schliemann in 
Mycenz and Troy are proofs of these statements. The 
magnificent Mausoleum of Caria; the tombs found and 
described by Sir C. Fellows in Lycia, especially those along 
the Xanthus, many of which are cut out of the rock in the 
form of little temples; the long ranges of tombs which are 
being opened year after year in the road leading from the 
gate of Athens towards the Pireus, all testify to the 
importance attached by the ancient Greeks to their places of 
sepulture. They, though they sometimes burned their dead, 
were almost as lavish in their expenditure on the remains of 
departed worthies as the Phcenicians, Jews, and Egyptians. 
Their or7jAa, “ tablets,’ and xiovee, ‘‘ columns,” outside the 
tombs were tasteful and attractive ; while the statues and other 
works of art inside were often executed in the highest style. 
I have thus shown that Phoenicia was the connecting link 
between Palestine and Greece, both in architecture and art. 
It was, in fact, the England of antiquity, uniting by means of 
its restless enterprise, its vast commerce, its manufactures, 
and its widespread colonies, all the countries of the known 
world. Phoenicia itself was but a narrow strip of land hemmed 
in by the Mediterranean and the mountain-range of Lebanon. 
The sea was its natural highway to the outer world, and how 
eagerly and successfully the people took advantage of it 
history tells. It speedily colonised Cyprus, various parts of 
Asia Minor, Greece, Crete, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, and 
even distant Britain. Carthage, its most famous colony, for 
a time contended for the empire of the world with Rome itself. 
The influence of the Phoenicians upon the trade, commerce, 
art, letters, and general civilization of mankind can scarcely 
be over-estimated. How they extended, and in many places 
originated, literature is evident from historic records and 
from the inscriptions they have left behind them. ‘The alpia- 
VOL. XXI. D 
