Page:Archaeologia volume 38 part 1.djvu/272

 232 Recent Excavations at Carthage. Winter is lost, but a fragment of a pavement found at Bignor supplies us with a head of this season, muffled up, and with a leafless bough.* The mosaic from Carthage, when perfect, must have had a peculiarly elabo- rate and rich appearance. The twelve months, encircling possibly a head of Kronos, and the four seasons at the corners, must have formed a pavement well worthy of the hall of some wealthy Roman ; and Mr. Davis has done good service to archaeology in recovering it from the wreck of the ancient city. IV. Minor Antiquities. The minor antiquities transmitted to England by Mr. Davis are neither very numerous nor of great importance. They are principally Roman ; among them may be noticed a large slender amphora, several other terra cotta vases, and about forty-five lamps. Some of the latter are of a good Roman period, and have curious designs ; but the greater number of them are of Byzantine workmanship. Among them may be especially noticed one with a representation of the seven- branched candlestick from the temple of Jerusalem. On four others is the Christian monogram ; another has the figure of a youth carrying a hare, probably a symbol of winter. A fragment of a tile bears the stamp of its maker, BAUBAKVS. The remainder of the objects chiefly consist of bone spoons and pins, marble weights, and fragments of glass and bronze. Mr. Davis extended his researches to the site of the city of Utica, from which he obtained several interesting pavements. The most curious of those is a semicircular compartment representing a water scene: parallel to the curved side is a long net with floats, held at each end by a party of men in a canoe. In the middle a few steins and a tree are projecting from the water, among which arc to be seen various animals, such as a boar, panther, stag, gazelle, ostrich, &c. These animals have probably been surprised by an inunda- tion, of which the natives are taking advantage. Mr. Davis was also fortunate enough to secure for the Museum the remains of a collection formed from various parts of the Regency of Tunis by Sir Thomas Reade, in conjunction with a German architect of the name of Honegger, who died in London in 1849. The antiquities are chiefly steles, inscribed in the late Phoenician character, and are important in a paleographical point of view. Lysons' Reliquiae Britannico-Romanae, vol. iii. pi. xv. xxii.