Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/34

 1 8 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jvdala. The sculptures and paintings at Thebes and Ipsamboul, record- ing the battles fought by Ramses II. around Kadesh, show the Orontes in the upper compartment. It surrounds the walls of the fortress on three sides, widening out at one point, the outflow being to the right of the picture (Fig. 257). Kadesh has disappeared without leaving a trace, its very site being a matter of dispute. It was rebuilt about two hours from the river by the Greeks, who gave it the name of Emesa, now Homs, but the lake formed by a dam at its north end still exists, and on its banks must be sought the remains of the Hittite citadel. The American traveller, Robinson, was the first who noticed this lake, the excavation of which local tradition ascribes to Alexander the Great, and which in Egyptian sculptures, commemorating this great battle, is represented as close to the fortress. Owing to the persistency of popular custom, not unusual in the East, the old name of Kadesh, now Kades, still survives in the lake which was once its chief defence. The island, topped by a tell, or mound, is to the south,^ and, were it explored, would doubtless disclose the walls so often stormed by the Egyptians. Conder, on the contrary, would recognize Tell Neby Mendeh as the site of Kadesh, which, though much shrunk from its former size, has still an elevation of 60 m, and is situated 5500 m. south of the lake (Fig. 258).^ The omitted in Rosellini, is reproduced in Lepsius' drawing, which we have copied in our woodcut taken from RoselUni's admirable sketch. ^ Major Conder mentions the island now called Tell-el-Baheirah, and the lake mound. ^ Il?iW., Quarterly Statements, Palestine Exploration Fund^ pp. 163-175, 1881 ; Heth and Moab, chap. i. I can scarcely conceive how he can refuse to acknowledge that the " widening of the river " under the walls of Kadesh looks for all the world like a lake. Excavations he thinks would be productive of the happiest results, the ground around Neby Mendeh being strewn with pottery and chips that fell from slabs cut out of calcareous stone and basalt. The natives, he states, apply the name of Kades to foundation walls, which may be seen on the southern slope of the tell on a level with the ground, whilst they restrict the name of Neby Mendeh to its summit, occupied by a mosque. Mr. Tomkins, in the Quarterly Statements, p. 47, 1882, combats this view, and places Kadesh in the centre of the lake, about half a mile each way from the mainland. The conclusion reached by M. Ary Renan, who visited Northern Syria in 1886, with regard to the moot site of ancient Kades, is in accord with Major Conder's hypothesis. He argues that the islet identified by Robinson as covering the ruins of Kadesh is so small as to have scarcely yielded sufficient space for a tower, excluding therefore the possibility of having been the site of an important place, such as the capital of the Hittites must have been; moreover, no accumulation of debris is to be seen on its narrow surface, such as we should expect around a great