Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/117

 The Pterta of Herodotus. ioi the inexperienced, when the vast horizon is bounded by sky and water. I have not forgotten the impression left by a voyage so performed, every small detail of which is present with me still ; when during the long days of enforced leisure spent on deck a reflective mood will overtake even the young and thoughtless. I thought that if there was a sea calculated to bring men together, this was emphatically the ^gean ; that from the day when the nations on the opposite coasts could handle an oar and stand at the helm, the same interests, the same history were common to both. Arbitrary divisions, consequent on the accidents of war, have not been able to destroy the old tie ; made faster than ever by the power of steam, which has done so much to reduce the relative distance between them. § 2. — The Pteria of Herodotus. Before we proceed to describe the monuments of this region— in style and some of their details precisely similar to those we have reviewed at Hamath, Carchemish, and Aleppo — a few words in respect to the district in which they occur will not be irrelevant. Our task will be all the more pleasant, that it will serve to bring to our recollection the visit we paid here in 1862, when we had the opportunity of inspecting these ruins and figured documents, whose historical value no one suspected at that time. To render our campaign as full of fruitful results as possible, we were careful to consult all that had been written about them. Unfortunately the time at our disposal was cut short by the incoming winter, which obliged us to suspend our operations. But even so we had greater leisure for noting many an interesting detail, which for that reason had escaped our predecessors — Texier, Hamilton, and Barth — enabling us to add much to what was already known about this remarkable group. Our excavations were neither so deep nor on so vast a scale as we should have desired ; nevertheless they per- mitted us to restore an important building, and bring to light a whole series of bas-reliefs of the highest interest. Moreover, such of the sculptures as were already known have been more faith- fully reproduced by photogravure,' and those which, owing to lack of light and shade, would not admit of such treatment were care- fully drawn by the well-known architect, E. Guillaume.
 * Doctor Debet was our artist.