RUINS OF TELMESSUS. 205 
the Dorian colonies over all the coast of Asia chap. 
VIII. 
Minor. The grandeur of the people and the ■ 
sublime conceptions of their artists were dis- 
played, not only in the splendour of their 
buildings, but in the magnitude of the materials 
with which their edifices were constructed. 
The kings and the people of Caria and of Lycia 
have left behind them monuments defying the 
attacks of time or of barbarians. Amidst the 
convulsions of Nature, and the earthquakes 
which have desolated the shores of the Carpa- 
thian Sea, these buildings have remained un- 
shaken. The enormous masses belonging to 
the doors of the Telmessensian theatre were 
placed together without any cementation or 
grooving; they are simply laid one upon 
the other ; and some notion may be formed of 
the astonishing labour necessary in the comple- 
tion of the edifice to which they belong, when 
it is further stated, that every stone in the 
outer walls of the building was adorned by a 
relief, formed in bevelling the edges ''. There 
were, originally, Jive immense portals leading to 
the arena, although three only remain standing 
at this day. The largest of these, being the 
central place of entrance, consisted of Jive 
(2) In all description of this kind, the pencil of the artist is so, 
much superior to the pen of the writer, that it is doubtful whether, 
after everj' endeavour to give an idea of this appearance, the account 
will he iiitellisriblc. 
