Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/68

 HISTORY OF ART IN ANTIQUITY. FIG. 23. Sanctuary. Section through A B. Plate III. WEBER, Le Sipylos, by 4 m. wide and 4 m. deep, appears at the north-east angle (A in plan, Fig. 23). The bottom of this excavation is occupied by a kind of chamber open to the sky, 5 m. by 2 m. 20 c. (Fig. 24). The main walls are connected with one end of the grave-chamber by a thin circularwall; at the other they disappear under rubble and large blocks (d) which have rolled down into the excavation. The courses which form the walls of this chamber are very regular (Fig. 25) ; they are 36 c. high, and the length of the units varies between 39 and 72 c. Around it, distant i m., runs a polygonal wall which closed the entrance towards the north (Fig. 24, c, 6), and protected the east side where the rock is not very high (H). The esteem in which the monument was regarded may be gathered from the works of art surrounding it. As far as the con- figuration of the ground permits, which to the south and west breaks off and rapidly sinks, the ridge we have described is embraced, at a distance, by an external wall. It runs parallel to the two colossal rocks for 30 m. or thereabouts, towards the east, where a low ridge projects from the plateau. It follows the sinuosi- ties of the cliff on the south-east, and forms salient and retreating angles of the utmost nicety (/>), sweeping round the north-west side of the hill with a mighty curve (B, c, F, in plan). Here the cliff projects beyond the line of the wall into a kind of pro- montory, with precipitous sides ; the rampart at first follows the ridge, then from F to G, where it terminated, it is carried in a straight line across the valley, and thus becomes a supporting wall to the plateau (Fig. 26). On the south face the rampart only extends as far as the rock M, where a ledge occurs, which it enters at right angles. Beyond it, the side of the hill being almost perpendicular, a wall became superfluous. FlG. 24. The Sanctuary. Plan of chamber. WEBER, Ibid.