Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 1.djvu/193

 THE PHOENICIAN TOMK. 173 think that the pretended tomb of Hiram, even if it does not date from Solomon's famous contemporary, must nevertheless be ascribed to a period earlier than that of the Greeks and Romans. The necropolis of Adloun, between Tyre and Sidon, attracts the attention of the traveller by the isolation of the rocky mass in which the tombs are cut, at the edge of the road which runs alonir > o the sea (Fig. 114); but the chambers are small, narrow, and low ; there is only room in each for about three corpses. 1 It is the burial-place belonging to the small neighbouring city. Vaults and arches, which in Phoenicia are a sign of comparative lateness, FIG. 114. Necropolis of Adloun. From Lortet. continually occur in it. Doorways, with arches springing direct from their thresholds, and benches within, hollowed out like troughs and covered, as in the Roman catacombs, with an arcosolium, betray the Grseco-Roman epoch. Many of the chambers are even decorated with paintings in which Christian emblems may be recognized. At Gebal and in its neighbourhood there are, on the other hand, hypogea whose number and size bear witness to the importance of 1 Ibid. pp. 656-661. The interest and importance of this necropolis has been much exaggerated (DE BERTON, Essai si/r la Topographic <fe Tyre. p. 85. Rfnte Archeofagique, 1834, pp. 18 et sec/. )