Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/65

 Architpxture. 49 Whether covered with hieroglyphs or bas-reliefs, there is every reason to suppose that the square basalt stones, discovered at Hamath, Aleppo, Birejik, Merash, and other localities, once belonged to princely dwellings, and that a few strokes of the pickaxe would bring to light many more of the same nature. At Homs alone, four mounds are said to exist, by travellers who descried them at some height above the surrounding level. Nor would the restoration of the monuments hidden in these tells be a difficult matter, for we may surely assume that they are closely allied to those already known. On the other hand, the Deunuk- tach, to which reference has been made, is sufficiently high above ground to have enabled travellers to note its dimensions and struc- tural character; from the fact, how- ever, of its having been exposed, the outer facing and ornament are obliterated, and although attempts were made to uncover the wall buried under the accumulated rub- bish, the problem is certainly un- solved, and mayhap will remain so.^ As far as has been ascertained, the monument consists of a vast en- closure, surrounded by a wall 6 m. 50 c. deep, having a mean altitude of 7 to 8 m. describing a parallelo- gram of 87 m. long by 42 m. wide, built of a kind of concrete of small pebbles and sand cemented together with lime into a hard compact mass, upon which the pick Fig. 270. — Plan of Deunuk-tach. Langlois, p. 267. ^ The etymology of deunuk-tach^ " overthrown stone," is derived from the verb deunmeky " to return," " to turn over," from which the past participle deunuk is formed. The local epithet, '' overthrown," seems singularly unfitting a monument where all the parts preserved are still in place. The appellation may, perhaps, be referable to an older state of the ruin, where accumulated blocks, or a prostrate statue of colossal size, formed a striking feature in the enclosure of which the substructures alone remain. The blocks and fragments of the statue, may have been removed to build the modern town, and the old name adhered to the spot, although the reason for it had long ceased to exist. VOL. II. K