Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 1.djvu/198

 i;^ HISTORY OK ART IN PHU.MCIA AND ITS DKPKNDKNCIKS. end in a tomb-chamber were always found blocked up by large stones to prevent the earth fall ing into the tomb, or mischievous people from throwing things down the shalt. The accompanying diagram (1'ig- i i /) was prepared for the illustration of M. Kenan's observations upon these shafts. It does not reproduce any particular tomb, but the peculiarities found in different parts of the Giblite necropolis are united in it. No instance of this curious habit is to be found outside Phoenicia, where, moreover, it is a specially Giblite custom. Ve have no reason to suppose that it dates Irom a very remote epoch. '1 hese tubes are not to be found in the oldest hypogea ; at Saicla the tombs in which they occur are not among the more archaic. We may conclude this part of our inquiry with M. Renan's statement of the conclusions to which he was brought by his study Fin. 117. Section showing the soundings in the (Jihlitc tombs. 1-Yoin Rcn;ui. of the cemeteries of Amrit and Saida : ] - " There can be no doubt but that the rectangular grottoes with wells are the most ancient. The arrangements of the wells and the way in which they open laterally into the coffin-chambers are quite Egyptian. In these the antique notion of a tomb appears in all its grandeur. There is no ostentation ; no wish to impress the passing stranger ; the one thought is to honour the dead as if he were still alive. The prevalence of horizontal lines and the absence of all Greek or Roman influence, the extreme simplicity of the plan, the indifference to small details and to all that has to clo with con- venience, finally, and above all, the .rigorous agreement between the character of these tombs and the Biblical metaphors, are so many features all pointing to the same conclusion, namely, that they 1 REXAX, Mission, pp. 75 and 410.