ON’ THE EMPIRE OF THE HITTITES. 69 
you that those men were natives of villages a few miles from the Marash 
in the heart of the western Armenian mountains. The reason for the 
resemblance of those men to the portraits of the ancient type found in 
the sculptures is, I think, to be found in the fact that all those great 
invasions which have swept over Northern Syria and. the northern 
Euphrates valley, had the effect of driving the aboriginal population 
into the mountains. There, in their rocky fastnesses, they have lived by 
themselves, and in many cases have succeeded in holding their possessions so 
strongly that they have kept back the Greeks and other invaders, and have 
thus preserved their own peculiar type even to the present day. There is 
one other subject I cannot help referring to, and upon which I desire to urge 
some effort should be made at the present time. I think that something 
ought to be dotie to finish the explorations at Carchemish. It is very sad to 
know that there are still lying there in the trenches—I believe they are now 
covered up—two sculptures, which are certainly of great size ; but if they 
are so large that they cannot be brought hither, there is no reason why casts 
should not be taken of them and forwarded to us. They are sculptures of 
the very greatest interest, because they give us a new chapter in Asiatic 
art. ‘They show an influence derived from Egypt and from Assyria, and, at 
‘the same time, they show a native inventive power on the part of those 
people. I certainly think that the work begun out there ought to be 
finished, and if I might mention two other sites where explorations might be 
usefully and advantageously undertaken, I would say that one is that 
of the city of Arpad, and I think it would be found to be one of great 
importance. It stood a siege of three years on the part of the Assyrian 
kings, and the ruins are marked by a mound about ten miles from 
Aleppo. I visited that city, and I can say that the mound is nearly as 
large as that of Carchemish, and that on some excavations being made there, 
black stones were found with carved borders and ornaments similar to those 
found at Carchemish. There is another site in the neighbourhood of 
Carchemish, which I think might also be worked: it is situated at 
Tash-atan, and I believe it to be the site of the city of Pitru or Pethor, 
the city from which Balaam came. It is a mound occupying a position 
which any one with the slightest knowledge of strategy would say marks it 
as having been an important stronghold. It is at the mouth of a narrow 
valley or gorge, communicating between a plain washed by the Euphrates on 
the one side, and a narrow stream on the other running into the valley of 
Sagur. The exploration of these mounds would, I think, be work that 
must well repay the trouble, and I sincerely hope that something will be 
done by which so desirable an undertaking may be promoted. In con- 
clusion, I have only to say that while we are all very much obliged to 
Dr. Wright for the interesting paper he has furnished with regard to these 
ancient people, those of us who go into these matters as part of our special 
study are still more indebted to him for the valuable information he has 
brought together on a subject of so much importance in his valuable work, 
The Empire of the Hittites. 
VOL... XXI. Ga 
