Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/200

 1 82 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud.ea. wall of enclosure might be represented by the following figures. In the quadrangle, the inner rectangle C E H K would, as near as possible, stand for the platform of Solomon's temple ; and the twin small rectangles A L C K and E F G H cover the space built over by Herod. 1 If we take together the authority of Josephus, and compare the drafted monumental stones unearthed by Messrs. Warren and Wilson with those seen in numberless buildings dispersed throughout Syria presenting identical characteristics, dated about the end of pagan era, we shall have strong evidence to go to the jury as to the blocks under discussion having been placed there by Herod's orders. The size and beauty of their cut, no less than those of Solomon's house, wrung expressions of admiration from all beholders. Josephus, with pardonable exaggeration, in writing of his country, says that the stones of which the temple of Herod was built measured twelve cubits in height by twenty-five in length. 2 The blocks at the south-east angle, if not reaching these impossible dimensions, are sufficiently large to explain his purely Oriental hyperbole. 3 Still, on the authority of Josephus, as well as De Vogué, we would name two monuments in Syria presenting stones with sunken face, namely, the castle of Hyrcanus at Arak-el-Emir (date from 182-175 b.c.), and the tomb of El-Manasseh near Jerusalem. Of neither need special description be made, save that they belong to a debased age of architecture, having borrowed some of their forms from Oriental art — the animal frieze decorating the façade in Fig. 124, for example; whilst others are late Greek, recalling details in Robinson's Arch. But their distinguishing feature, that which is common to all monuments of that region, is the sunken face of the stones, with less surety of hand and elegance, perhaps, in the palace of Hyrcanus than on the haram, but near enough to be classed in the same family. In the tomb of El-Manasseh, great beauty of joint and cut are married to Greek ornamentations of the time of Herod I. or the Maccabees (Fig. 125). 4 1 Josephus, Ant. Jud., V. v. 1. 2 Ibid., XV xi. 3. 3 Earlier in the book this exaggeration is carried beyond the limits of credibility, the stones of the temple measuring no less than forty cubits. He does not name, but he ascribes to Herod the greater proportion of the last building, the eastern wall being all that was left of Solomon's work {Bell. Jud., V. v. 1). 4 Le Temple, pp. 37-41, Plates XXXIV. and XXXV. ; Ibid., pp. 47, 48.