Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/394

 3(32 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE, Part 1. surmounted by a quasi-Egyptian cornice, not unlike that on the Tomb of Absalom at Jerusalem (Woodcut No. 239), or that at Dugga (Woodcut No. 242). Altogether its details are more elegant, and from their general character there seems no reason for doubting that this tomb is older tlian the Kubr Koumeia, though they are so similar to each other that their dates cannot be far distant.^ There seems almost no reason for doubting that the Kubr Roumeia was the " Monumentum commune Regiai gentis " mentioned by Pom- ponius Mela, ^ about the middle of the first century of our era, and if so, this could only apply to the dynasty that expired with Juba 11., A. D. 2.S, and in that case the oldest monument most probably belonged to the previous dynasty, which ceased to reign with Bocchus III., 33 years before the birth of Christ. One of the most interesting points connected with these Mauri- tanian tombs is their curious similarity to that of Hadrian at Rome. The square base, the circidar colonnade, the conical roof, are all the same. At Rome they are very much drawn out of course, but that arose from 'the "Mole " being situated among tall objects in a town, and more than even that, perhaps, from the tendency towards height which manifested itself so strongly in the architecture of that age. The greatest similarity, however, exists in the interior. The long- winding corridor terminating in an oblong apartment in the centre is an identical feature in both, but has not yet been traced elsewhere, though it can be hardly doubted that it must have existed in many other examples. If we add to these the cenotaph at St. Remi (Woodcut No. 230), we have a series of monuments of the same type extending over 400 yell's; and, though many more are wanted before we can fill up the gaps and complete the series, there can be little doubt that the missing links once existed which connected them together. Beyond this we may go still further back to the Etruscan tumuli and the simple mounds of earth on the Tartar steppes. At the other end of the series we are evidently approaching the verge of the towers and steeples of Christian art ; and, though it may seem the -wildest of hypotheses to assert that the design of the spire of Strasbourg grew out of the mound of Alyattes, it is nevertheless true, and it is only non-apparent because so many of the steps in the progress from the one to the other have disappeared in the convulsions of the interval. 1 It is understood that it, too, has been explored, but no account of the re- sult has yet reached this country, and such rumors as have reached are too vague to be quoted, sions are not known. 2 " De Situ Orbis,' Leyden, 1748. Even its dimen- I. vi. p. 38, edit.