Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/90

 74 HISTORY OF ART IN ANTIQUITY. only made matters worse, in that they swelled like so many bladders and blew out into the middle of the room, discharging a veritable hurricane about us. In conditions such as these, it is no wonder that, whilst living in forests, habits which seem to suit regions where timber fails should have persisted for centuries. Writing of the usages in vogue among the Phrygians, Vitruvius employs terms which clearly indicate that the district he has in view is Phrygia Combusta, which joins on Lycaonia, where trees are only seen in gardens. 1 And, indeed, on this side, in the territory of Urgub, Kumbet, and Utch Hissar, the faces of the tufaceous rocks are entirely honeycombed with artificial grottoes. 2 That some were tombs is rendered indubitable by the inscriptions which accom- pany them ; and it seems no less certain that a vast majority were appropriated to domestic and religious uses, even as they are at the present day. Troglodyte dwellings, it should be remembered, are too deeply rooted in the habits of the people ever to have been out of fashion. Thus, towards the northern extremity of the rock upon which the village is perched, are remains of a spacious mansion, of which a plan was made by Professor Ramsay (Fig. 46). The foundation walls, mostly reserved in the thickness of the mass, are still two and three metres in height. But where the rock failed, in front, recourse was had to masonry set in courses of squared units. Professor Ramsay recognizes the women's quarter in a block of buildings entered by a long winding passage, H, and separated from the rest of the habitation. He finds a bed- room, c, dressing-room, E, and bath-room, F. The floor of the latter is paved with a different stone, and shows a small duct cut through the rocky wall to carry off used water, G. 3 The mansion served as 1 II. i. 5 : " Phryges vero, qui campestribus locis sunt habitantes, propter inopiam silvarum egentes materia eligunt tumulos naturales, eosque'medios fossura distinentes et itinera perfodientes dilatant spatia quantum natura loci patitur." 2 With regard to these Troglodyte hamlets, see Hist, of Art, torn. iv. Fig. 389 ; and MORDTMANN, Die Troglodyten von Cappadoden (Mem. zum Akademien Munchen, 1859). Strabo reports that in his time native tribes in the Taurus range still lived in caves and grottoes (XII. vi. 5). We observed similar caves at Beibazar and Istamos in the Sangarius basin. The hewing of these chambers is rendered easy by the loose texture of the stone. Thus at Martkhane, near Urgub, Earth slept in an apartment 25 feet long by 13 broad, and 10 high, which his host informed him had been cut in the space of thirty days by one single workman. 8 RAMSAY (Hell. Studies, x. p. 177) writes: "We enter the harem through the winding passage, H, and reach first the large women's sitting-room (A in his pla n ;