152 
CfcAKER'S 
placed ever the entrance of some edifice. It purports that if 
person of the name ,of 44 Sammias, constructed the monument 
for himself, his wife Auxesis,* daughter of Naneis, his family, 
and descendants;" 5 and concludes with the usual prohibition 
concerning its exclusive appropriation, and the fine to be levied 
lit consequence §f its violation, to be paid to the senate. 
'SAMMIA2KATEEKEXAEENTOMNHMEIONEAXTOKAI 
FXN AIKtATTOXAXH H EEI NAN HI AO £ K A i TO J EXE K N 01X 
HTOtSEKlOrTONESOMENOISEETONOISiVIOTKAI 
TOXX i X MOXEIIAF AO0I X APA E AN M El N H MET ATTOX 
OXAENlE^EETAtALNOIEAlHOiriErBMHEXINXOPHSAtTINf 
XEONQIEIAEOHOAAAO.XIQ l H X A X AIIO T EIS E1T E A 
IVIESSEQNTEPOTEIA *. . 
That a building equal in colossal size to this should have' 
been erected for any private individual, seems improbable® 
That it could not have been one of the public edifices used by 
the Telmessensians, is evident, because it did not admit light; 
and further, that its origin was sepulchral, may also be inferred 
from the circumstance of its situation in the midst of tombs. 
Its form is quadrangular, and I believe perfectly square. It 
consists of enormous blocks of stone, placed together without ce« 
meut. Strength seems all the architect aimed at in its formation. 
It bears every trace of having sustained some enormous obelisk, or 
pyramid, to which it supplied a basement. Yiewiug it externally, 
it has the appearance of a solid cube; but having effected a 
passage to the interior of the pile, by means of chasms opened 
by earthquakes, we found an arch upon every side. Between 
these, the intervening spaces, being the upper corners of the 
building, were each of one entire stone, of incredible size,, 
scooped within, so as to form, by their junction upward, a dome. 
Upon the outside of the pile the arches were walled up, to 
give additional strength to the work, and better enable it to 
sustain the immense weight it was designed to bear. All the 
ground before it, toward the sea, had been levelled, and was 
formerly covered by masonry, now only visible in a few re¬ 
maining traces. 
We afterward ascended the clitfs, for the purpose of exam¬ 
ining more accurately what are deemed, and with reason, the 
greatest curiosities of Macri; the tombs cut out of the solid 
rock, in the precipes toward the sea. The labour here be= 
*This name occurs in an inscription published by MaffeF, Epist . 18, Gail, Aniiq\ 
See'also Odtjxci Inscript p. 368, 
