Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/102

 86 HISTORY OF ART IN ANTIQUITY. Philologists who have studied the Phrygian texts, and every traveller who since Leake has visited the district, are agreed in accepting the testimony borne by the inscription, to the effect that this important work was executed in honour of king Midas. On the other hand, opinions are divided as to whether we are con- fronted by a real tomb, in which were formerly deposited the mortal remains of the prince, or a mere cenotaph, a commemora- tive monument, the use of which was to keep green the memory of a mythic ancestor, an eponym hero, the founder of the monarchy worshipped as a god. The idea that rises uppermost from the contemplation of the monument is naturally that of a sepulture, whilst the rank of the illustrious dead buried in it would account for the abnormal size and decoration of the facade ; but if a tomb, where is the funereal chamber ? Texier, one of the early explorers of the Phrygian necropolis, was at first inclined to see in the cavity formed by the false door, a niche in which the body was deposited, and formerly closed by a covering slab (Fig. 49). On maturer reflection, how- ever, he seems to have abandoned the notion, closer inspection having shown him that a recess 84 c. in capacity would ill accommo- date the corpse. 1 We may add that if the body was placed, or rather squeezed, in the niche under discussion, a slab, of necessity very thin, with joints manifest to all, would have been the only safeguard against violation, and would have invited rather than repelled the vulgar curiosity and rapaciousness of subsequent generations. Lastly, had there been a stone to disguise the hollow, the surrounding rock would show the marks left by the covering slab ; but nothing of the kind occurs, nor is there the slightest indication of any mode of sealing having been here. And against any lurking doubts, we may adduce a false door in we feel justified in upholding our hypothesis whilst fully conscious of the difficulties which beset it. Then, too, I very much doubt if the small niche to the left-hand side of the monument, even enlarged as Professor Ramsay has it in Fig. 16, could ever have been a royal tomb, inasmuch as it is level with the ground and would have been too easily entered. Professor Ramsay (p. 186) states that in one inscription of the Midas rock there occurs a Phrygian word which may signify grave-chamber. The decision as to whether sikeneman presents the degree of probability which he attributes to it must be left to philologists. 1 Texier, after describing the Midas monument and other two near it, goes on to say, " Could it be possible to regard the central niche of the former as having served as chambered grave, nothing of the sort can be deduced from the latter " (Description, torn. i. pp. 154-158).