PLAIN OF TROY. 107 
the simple Stl-lc, usually employed to decorate chap. 
the summit of the most antient sepulchral 
mounds, all Writers, who have mentioned the 
Tomb of Ajax, relate, that it was surmounted 
by a Shrine, in which a statue of the Hero was 
preserved-. Religious 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 was maintained and venerated^ 
Such importance was annexed to the inviola-- 
bility of the monument, that after Antony had' 
carried into Egypt the consecrated image, it was 
again recovered by Augustus, and restored to it& 
pristine shrine^. These facts may possibly serve 
to account for the present appearance of the 
Tomb, upon whose summit the shrine itself, 
concealed from external view only by a slight 
coverino; of earth, remains unto this hour. 
Pliny mentions the situation of the Tomb as 
being in the very station of the Grecian fleet; 
(2) Diodorus Siculus, descrihin;^ the visit paid by /llcxander ike 
Great to the Tomh of Achilles , says be anointed the St^li with perfumes, 
and ran naked round it with his companions. At the Tomh of /Jj'u.r 
he performed riYf,^ and made offerings; hut no mention occurs of the 
Stele. Diodor. Sir. lib. xvii. 
(.3) See the proofs adduced, in a regular series, by Chandhr, in bis 
History of Ilium. Loud. ^^02. 
(4) Sfrab. Geoer. lib. xvii. p. 858. Ed. Or. 
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