612 THE EXCAVATIONS OF CARTHAGE. 



clasps the neck, is composed of beads; the second, spread out like a 

 fan, of pieces as large as olives; the third, of still larger disks. This 

 must have been a typical costume, for it reappears on several nearly 

 identical statuettes. On one found at Tharros the breast of the goddess 

 is entirely covered with six rows of jewels, each with a different motive. 

 So little by little the tomb gives up all the tokens of a civilization 

 which caused the fortune of Eome to tremble in the balance, and which 

 has left a name in history for the brilliancy of its wealth and for its 

 determined energy in seeking to control the markets of the ancient 

 world. 



III. 



The silence concerning the names of those buried in the tombs is sur- 

 prising. In Egypt the chambers of the hypogea and the pyramids are 

 covered with inscriptions ranged along the walls. The Greeks and 

 Romans inscribed the name and title of the dead on slates to keep their 

 memories alive. Here there is nothing of the kind. Oftenest the sepul- 

 chral chamber and even the sarcophagus bear no mention of him who 

 is buried there. On some rare mortuary plaques appears the dry 

 legend, " Tomb of such a one, son of such a one," and that is all. Not 

 one has yet been found in place. The inscriptions multiply only as 

 cremation is resorted to. Then funeral urns begin to be covered with 

 legends, printed in ink, most frequently with the name of those whose 

 ashes they contain. 



It seems, however, that the silence is breaking; the very tombs are 

 beginning to speak. Recall that little gold medallion found in one of 

 the most ancient tombs of Carthage, with a dedication to Astarte- 

 Pygmalion, followed by the owner's name: "To Astarte-Pygmalion, 

 Iadamelek, son of Padda'i. Pygmalion protects whom he protects." 

 Is it not interesting to find the name Pygmalion, brother-in-law of 

 Dido, who plays so great a role in the history of the foundation of 

 Carthage, associated in this ancient tomb with Astarte? 



At the end of last year Pere Delattre made a discovery in the necrop- 

 olis of Bordj Djedid, which suffers no diminution in interest through 

 pertaining to less ancient times. In clearing out a shaft sunk verti- 

 cally into the ground to a depth of 14 meters he reached a mortuary 

 chamber. Here, in the midst of an obstructing mass of debris, he 

 found beside chests containing skeletons and the usual funeral acces- 

 sories, first, four little stone sarcophagi, from 40 to 50 centimeters 

 long, inclosing only calcined bones; then in a corner to the left of the 

 chamber, under the ceiling, another sarcophagus of the same dimen- 

 sions, but bearing on its lid the full-length portrait of the dead, 

 engraved on a block cut out in relief in the thickness of the lid to 

 reproduce the contours of the body. 



The body lies extended to its full length, like the figures on the flat 

 tombstones of the Middle Ages. It is an old man with a long beard 



