Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 1.djvu/184

 164 HISTORY OF ART IN PIHKNKTA AND ITS DEPENDENCES. time of the Persian domination, while the most recent may date from the Seleucido.'. Lastly, to the Grojco- Roman period belong- a large number of sepulchres that were made or enlarged at the expense of others of much earlier date. These are always reached by flights of steps. Their chambers are very large and pierced with recesses in which many sarcophagi have been found, whose approximate date is given by the style of their ornamentation. All doubt on this point is removed by the style of the paintings on the stuccoed walls, and by the fragmentary inscriptions which are still to be found at many points. Fir,. 105. Longitudinal section of a tomb at Sidon. From Renrm. The tomb of Esmounazar deserves to be specially studied, both for its arrangement and on account of the peculiar form of the sarcophagus it inclosed. And first I must draw attention to the plan of that part of the necropolis in which the king's sepulchre was placed (Fig. 106). The sections through the lines A, B, c ; D, E ; N, M ; and K, L (Figs. 107-1 10), give even a better idea than the plan of the aspect and formation of the ground. A salient mass of rock has been excavated in such a way as to accommodate several burial-daces. Those to which the attention A. of explorers was first called were found arranged round a large chamber known as the Mugharet-Abloun t or "grotto of Apollo " (R),