Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/69

 Architecture. 53 seen, the lower portion of the building Is a rectangle, resting upon a slightly projecting base, which In its turn serves as pedestal to a pyramid, terminating with a colossal bird, probably an eagle. Festoons are carried round the line which supports the pyramid. In the centre of this, over the pendentives, Is a statue of a type already encountered on an older coin of the same city, i.e. 3. royal personage standing upon a horned lion (Fig. 267). The fact of the statue being figured with or without pedestal implies that it represented the principal hero or deity of the town, round which a whole cycle of traditions or myths had gathered. The place, too. It occupies in the sacred building, In view of the whole multitude come to Tarsus to participate in his public worship, further strengthens the theory. The monument and Its con- spicuous statue were symbolical, and reminded the inhabitants of their old creed and the Eastern origin of their town. Whatever may have been the name of this divine being, he was the founder and tutelar deity of the place. In his honour quin- quennial festivals were celebrated, and his effigy was borne round the city, followed by the whole population, and finally burnt upon an imposing funeral pile set up for the purpose.^ These gorgeous pageants Increased no doubt with the enormous prosperity of Tarsus under Greek and Roman rule, down to the beginning of our era. The singular rite of burning the effigy of the god was neither a Greek nor Roman Invention, but of Eastern origin, and closely allied to the ceremonies that followed upon the death of Adonis, circumstantially described by ancient writers. Unfor- tunately we have no account of the special rites at Tarsus, beyond a passing allusion from a rhetor. Had he thought fit to give us the programme of the performance, we should certainly find that soon after the god had disappeared amidst devouring flames, his triumphal resurrection was witnessed with jubilant cries by his worshippers. The main theme of all naturalistic religions is this eternal antithesis manifesting itself under different forms, according to the country and people, to express the striking succession of night and day, of spring and winter, of life and death. When the early Greeks first witnessed these peculiar rites, they thouglit they recognized their own Heracles in the dying god of Tarsus;'* '' Loc. cH.
 * Dion Chrysostom, Orations, xxxiii. torn. ii. p. 25. Reiske edition.