Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/170

 154 HISTORY OF ART IN ANTIQUITY. view of the function it is called upon to fulfil, must be closed. We have seen what precautions were taken in the oldest Phrygian sepultures to ensure the repose of the dead. The grave- chamber was made inaccessible save by a shaft, which, being on the summit of a lofty rocky mass, could be easily concealed under a clod of earth or brushwood. In all those instances where the tomb was entered by a real door, we mostly find the grooves in which fitted the covering slab. Here, however, not only is there not the slightest trace of closing, but the wings of the door are actually figured thrown back against the wall : a disposition which, if ill suited to a sepulchre, is quite appropriate to a sanctuary. If we pass through the bay, which seems to have been in- vitingly left open, so as to attract the wayfarer to penetrate into the cham- ber, we shall find in it neither troughs, niches, nor couches scooped in the floor or let into the walls ; but facing us is an image whose religious character is unquestion- able. Will it be urged that the goddess whom we see carved on the wall appears here as patroness of the dead and guardian of his eternal repose ? But naught like it is met with in those chambers that leave no doubt as to their funereal purpose. Moreover, there are no data, figured or literary, to induce the belief that Cybele ever filled the office of sovereign of the nether world, custodian of the departed. From all appearance, therefore, the Arslan Kaia chamber is akin to those subterraneous sanctuaries we have studied in Egypt, 1 Phoenicia, 2 and Arabia, 3 as well as those we shall find in 1 Hist, of Art, torn. i. pp. 408, 409-427, Figs. 234-249. a Ibid., torn. iii. pp. 258-261, Fig. 197. 8 Ibid.) torn. iv. p. 389, Fig. 204. FIG. in. Niche, with figure of Cybele, After Ramsay.