Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/302

 286 HISTORY OF ART IN ANTIQUITY. few tiny bits picked up in another tumulus of this same necro- polis (Figs. 200-202). * The largest of these (Fig. 200) has beautiful black lines on a field of reddish yellow. If, as far as we can judge from these much too rare and minute fragments, the ceramists of the age of Alyattes were thoroughly masters FIG. 194. Vase found in tomb of Alyattes, Third of actual size. Von Olfers, Plate V. Fig. 7- FIG. 195. Vase found in tomb of Alyaltes. Third of actual size. Ibid. of the secrets of their art, it must be confessed that they were deficient in imagination. It was not at their school that the Greek potters of the maritime cities could learn to paint figures on their vases. No terra-cotta statuettes or small bronze figures have been found in Lydia up to the moment we write; the soil FIGS. 196-199. Fragments of vases found in tomb of Alyattes. Third of actual size. Von Olfers, Plate V. Figs. 2, 3, 6. of Sardes still awaits to be stirred from its very depths. Professor Sayce, who explored its ruins, " satisfied himself that the remains of the old Lydian city in the valley of the Pactolus lie at a depth of more than forty feet, both below and above the temple of 1 In regard to the vase-fragments figured in next page, the result of Dennis's excavations, see the critical account from the pen of Cecil Smith (Classical Review, 1887, torn. i. p. 82).