Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/286

 270 HISTORY OF ART IN ANTIQUITY. two parties, whom close contact would have seriously hindered, the tomb-chamber was built away from the centre, so as to leave here an open space for depositing the material which was to form FIG. 171. Longitudinal section. Choisy, Fig. 6. FIG. 172. Transverse section. Ibid., Fig. 7. FIG. 173. Sealing slab. Ibid., Fig. 8. the mound-core. The earthwork went on adding to its size by degrees until it reached the cell which it encompassed, all but a narrow space reserved for the passage branching off on the south face. As the rilling progressed and grew larger, the gallery, whose function was to keep the entrance free, was lengthened out ; hence the frag- ments of masonry everywhere observable about these passages. Here and there even, to save time, dressed stones were abandoned for small units in their native rudeness (Figs. 169, 171). When complete, the body was deposited in the tomb, the door was sealed, and the cell left to itself amidst its earth surroundings ; but its smallness, coupled with careful construction, saved it from being crushed under the enormous pressure. "The galleries by which it was approached, being less firmly constructed, were more liable to give way under superimposing weight ; and to prevent so untoward a catastrophe, they were entirely filled inside with earth, proved by the state of absolute obstruction in which they are found, and the absence of an open- ing of any kind at their extremity. " Thus the progress of the labour explains itself. If now we look into the processes with which the stones were made ready for use, we shall trace analogies between the methods of the Lydians and those of the Greeks, which cannot assuredly be considered as fortuitous. The blocks are prepared exactly as those of Hellenic monuments of the best epoch. When time FIGS. 174, 175. Lydian tomb. Plan and longi- tudinal section. Ibta., Figs. 9, 10.