Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/110

 94 HISTORY OF ART IN ANTIQUITY. of the stone. Applied ornament seems also to have been resorted to in the decoration of this faade ; for between the small circular niche which appears above the mouth of the well and the com- mencement of the frontal are holes which are far too regular not to be artifi- cial. They suggest the notion of havingserved FIG. 56. Delikli Tach. Tinted scroll on soffit. E. Guillaume. Explor. archt., Plate VI. to fix metal plates. A good many niche-like hollows, seemingly artificial, look out of the rocks surrounding Delikli Tach. They are so ruinous, however, that plans and measurements are out of the question ; nor is it pos- sible to ad- v a n c e an opinion as to their original purpose. Here and there may also be traced re- mains of other cuttings. Thus, for in- stance, our general view (Fig. 50) ex- hibits steps FIG. 57. Delikli Tach. Characters incised on jamb of door. Explor. archi., Plate VI. which formerly led to the top of the rocky mass, in the depth of which the tomb was hollowed. We found no vestige what- ever in the neighbourhood to mark the existence of a town which had here its necropolis. Nothing xvas gained by our study of the ground at this particular spot, and very little is to be hoped from two single letters all that remains of an inscription, apparently very short, incised on the inner jamb of the false door on the left- hand side. Bits of colour still adhere in the hollow of the letters, which are reproduced, one-fifth of their actual size, in our illustra- tion from an impression taken from the stone (Fig. 57).