VIII 
306 STRAITS OF THERMOPYL/E. 
CHAP, which is the shape common not only to antient 
sepulchres in general, but in particular to those 
of Greece; as appears in the examples already 
adduced of the Tomb of the Athenians in the 
Plain of Marathon, and the Tomb of the 
Thehans in the Plain of Ch^ronea. It con- 
sisted of large square blocks of a red marble 
breccia, some of which remained as they were 
originally placed : others, dislocated and 
broken, were lying by, with a considerable 
fragment of one of the wrought corners of the 
pedestal. The surface of this red marble 
breccia was entirely encrusted with a brown 
lichen ; and the stone itself, by weathering, was 
so far decomposed upon its surface, that it 
resembled common grey limestone ; thereby 
proving the great length of time it has thus 
remained exposed to the action of the atmo- 
sphere'. It is hardly necessary to allege any 
additional facts to shew to whom this tomb 
belonged. Being the only one that occurs in 
the whole of this defile; and corresponding pre- 
cisely, as to its situation by the side of the 
military ivay, with the accounts given of it by 
(1) It is however susceptible of a very high polish ; and then it 
appears of a brownish red, spotted and streaked with white. We 
have preserved specimens of the stone. 
