Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/70

 54 HISTORY OF ART IN ANTIQUITY. second place, the wall lacks the stoutness of that which crowns the ridge above the Tantaleis tomb, for nowhere is it more than i m. 20 c. thick ; finally, there is no ditch, and it would have opposed a feeble barrier to the assailants. On the other hand, it harmonizes with our conception of a wall, the function of which was to enclose a given space adjoining a sanctuary ; investing it with the character of a re/xcj/os, consecrated ground. How are we to explain, on the theory of a fortified place, the existence of the inner chamber scooped out of the solid rock with so much care ? In what way could it have helped the defence ? It is neither a silo nor a cistern. Neither is it a tomb ; for both it and the chamber it contains are far beyond the usual dimensions which hardly vary of a mortuary oven, i.e. an oven- shaped tomb. Then, too, the walls bear no marks of having supported a roof; and we can scarcely conceive the possibility that the dead were left to themselves in the open. 1 Unaccountable as this would have been elsewhere, it would have been passing strange in this region, where hard by existed tombs with circular base ; that is to say, the well-attested type of the tribe long settled here. Nor can we conceive that a primitive race would have laboriously excavated a spacious and well-enclosed area around a single tomb. Setting aside similar explanations, the only possible conjec- ture left to us is that of a very ancient temple, with niche (the chamber) reserved for the symbol or the image of the deity worshipped in this "high place." By the light of what we know of the local cults, this deity can be no other than Cybele, enthroned among these hills. It is not to be supposed for a single moment that a statue was set up in this trench ; but, as at Pessinus, it was doubtless a rude stone of peculiar shape. The arrangement of the sanctuary being considered, would point to an age when no statues were known, save colossal figures in high relief, cut in the rock, from which they were as yet unable to free themselves. In this hypothesis the general dispositions fall into place of their own accord, and become as clear as daylight. The area corresponded to those rude stone circles we have studied in Syria ; within its enclosure the crowd of the faithful gathered themselves to celebrate 1 M. Ramsay is inclined to see a fortress, which in the Greek period was already in a ruinous state, but continued to be visited for the sake of its sanctuary (Newly discovered Sites, p. 73).