Page:Archaeologia volume 38 part 1.djvu/275

Rh. 8. MARBLE PANEL. f'AHTHAKF.. Width 1ft. 2 in. Davis, which is represented in the accompanying woodcut (fig. 8). The design is evidently derived from a wooden lattice fastened together with large nails. On the reverse are very shallow mouldings, ap- parently of late date. M. Beule suggests, though with some hesitation, that the sculp- tures he found may have formed decorations on the exterior of the fortifications, marking the several stages. Apart from the unsuitable- ness of such thin slabs for ornamenting massive walls, the great similarity between these patterns and some of the decorations in early Christian churches and on consular diptychs seems to indicate a later date. It appears from M. Beule's account that the walls were repaired during the Roman period, probably when the city was fortified by Theodosius ; the outside of the wall would then have been laid bare, in order to give it full height, although the internal cells might not have been disturbed : and it is to this period that the ornaments in question seem to me to belong. The other discovery took place within the inclosure of the chapel of St. Louis, at the foot of an ancient wall, from which the ground slopes towards the east. Here M. Beule found the apsidal terminations of a scries of parallel chambers, each of them about 20 feet wide and about 30 feet high ; which he conjectures to have been originally seven in number. He was not able to pursue the excavations very far, owing to the extent of the ruins. He ascer- tained, however, that the chamber which would have formed the centre of the seven was more richly decorated than the others. The vaulting was ornamented with moulded panels in stucco, shewing traces of colour; the walls had been lined with thin slabs of rich marbles, and the floor covered with a fine pave- ment, formed of precious marbles cut into geometrical patterns. Round the semicircular end was a low marble bench. The decorations of the side chambers had been only painted, and in one of them was a large pedestal. This building M. Beul6 conjectures to have formed part of the Roman Pro-consul's palace or of the public library, both of them edifices which are known to have stood on the Byrsa. Some parts of these ruins were encumbered with fragments of capitals and other architectural decorations of white marble, the wreck of a fine building of the Corinthian order. The similarity of these fragments to some brought 2 H 2