70 m CESN OLA'S DIS CO Y FRIES AT C URI UM. 



early or archaic Greek style — something like the one existing in the museum 

 at New York, but with the difference that this is much finer in every way, 

 and is Greek. In this case the sarcophagus was elevated from the ground, 

 and stood supported upon six flat stones. 



"Before leaving Amathus for Curium the removal of this sarcophagus 

 occupied considerable of my time and thought, as with the means at my dis- 

 posal it was a very difficult undertaking. We were possessed of no pulleys 

 or other machinery for raising such weight, and were obliged, therefore, 

 to rely solely upon ropes and hand force. Ten hours were employed in 

 bringing it to the surface of the ground. It was then placed upon a low 

 cart made expressly for that purpose, and thence dragged slowly by eight 

 oxen and twenty-six men over rough fields strewn with stones. 



"Curium was built, like Amathus, on the summit of a rocky elevation, 

 some 300 feet from the level of the sea. 



"The Argives, according to Strabo, were the first inhabitants of Curium. 

 After having selected that excellent situation, they cut the rock perpendicu- 

 larly on the south and east sides in such a manner that at a short distance 

 one believes to be oj^posite a huge mediaeval castle in ruins. 



"At the base of the rock, and on the slope of the adjacent hills, there 

 are great many rock-cut tombs, some hemispheric, others like square se- 

 pulchral chambers, which have been opened centuries ago, 



"The city of Curium, besides having been built, like an eagle's nest, 

 npon an almost inaccessible eminence, had still a Cyclopean wall on the 

 crest of that hill, which formed a belt around the city. 



"Curium had three entrances. Those on the south and west sides are 

 yet quite visible; that on the north has disappeared. The most important 

 of these entrances seems to have been the western one, which faced the sea 

 and the fine bay of Curium, because, unlike the others, it was flanked by 

 two square towers, which apparently defended it, as their foundations are 

 connected with those of the Cyclopean wall above named. I had all the 

 debris removed from one of these for the purpose of measuring its founda- 

 tions. I found them almost square — twenty-five feet by twenty-four. 



"If a person enters these ruins from the south entrance, and takes a 

 northern direction, after six or seven minutes' walk he will find himself face 

 to face with a circular structure, which measures in circumference 720 feet. 

 It has to me all the appearance of having been a theatre. In its immediate 

 vicinity a great mass of stones and rubbish covers small square foundations 

 of buildings divided by a street thirty-seven feet wide. There must have 

 been the business portion of the city. The area occupied by Curium was 

 much more extensive than that of Amathus, or 'Paloo Limisso,' as it is 

 called at present by the inhabitants of Cyj)rus. 



"With the exception of the ruins of 'ISTeo Paphos,' which are mostly 

 Eoman, there is no other place in Cyprus which shows upon the surface of 

 the soil such a quantity of debris than Curium. I counted seventeen spots 



