Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/219

 HiTTiTE Monuments in Phrygia. 201 of Galatia at the time of the Macedonian conquest ; and was said to owe its foundation to the Phrygian Midas. It is possible, nevertheless, that when the Phrygians arrived here the insulated hillock on which stands the present citadel had long been occupied and strengthened by the aborigines.^ It was an. important centre under the Romans; its population is even now considerable, and stated to equal that of the largest cities of Asia Minor. Ancyra has often been destroyed, and rebuilt as many times from its ancient materials ; hence its antiquities cannot be carried beyond the Roman age. The only monument of remote date is the lion shown in the annexed woodcut (Fig. 350), which we had the good luck to discover. The slab on which it stands has been used, along with other old blocks, to build a fountain by the roadside, at the edge of the site occupied by the Alpine hamlet called Kalaba, about two kilometres east of Ancyra.^ Following the knoll, some yards above the fountain, is a sepulchral chamber excavated in the centre of the rocky wall. We were at first inclined to believe that the stone on which the lion is carved had been used to close the tomb ; but careful measurement of opening and slab caused us to change our view ; for the latter exceeds the height, and is 17 c. wider than the actual aperture, so that it could never have been a proper fit. Moreover, the chamber shows no trace of outer decoration. It is probable that the stone under notice formed part of the exterior casing in some important edifice, as at Sinjirli (Fig. 269), Saktchegheuksou (Fig. 2*79), and Eyuk (Figs. 328-338). This is one reason for believing that the lion stood where we found him ere the Thracian tribes reached the country. As far as our knowledge extends, there are no data to warrant the assumption that the chiefs of these tribes built the palaces, the exterior and interior walls of which were ornamented at the base by sculptured plinths ; but we have positive proof that the Hittite builders of Cappadocia and the districts bordering on Assyria borrowed this disposition from the older culture of the Tigris valley. In our estimation, the work of the Kalaba lion tells this tale even more explicitly. As in Assyria, the body is elongated, the draw- ing good and characterized by knowledge of the animal form. It is vastly superior to the Kumbet lions on the tombs of the
 * G. Pkrrot, Exploration Archcoio^i^iquty Plate LXIX.
 * See photograph, IMh*- XXII., Exploration Archhlogique^