Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/222

178 that many temples and other public edifices stood within its precinct. The present Bazaar may occupy the place of the Agora. The ancient city was probably for the most part built of calcareous stone, covered with stucco; and the greater part of such materials woidd, in the course of ages, be broken up into rubble, and leave no trace by which they might now be recognized in the walls of more modern structures.

Very few ancient architectural marbles are now to be found in the Turkish town. In every direction, however, are to be seen small circular cippi, which, from the inscriptions they bear, seem to be, for the most part, the pedestals of Iconic statues. In a few instances, the name of the sculptor who executed the statue is recorded below that of the person represented. Many of these pedestals are probably sepulclural; and, being circular, and of no great bulk, they may have been easily transported from some distance. At present they serve as horse-blocks at the doors of the houses.

If ancient Rhodes contained, as Pliny states, 3,000 statues, the great number of these inscribed pedestals still extant is not surprising.

What were the limits of the ancient city on the south, we have no means of ascertaining. After passing through the Jewish cemetery outside the ramparts, we come to a belt of suburbs on that side, inhabited by Greeks, and enclosed with high garden walls, into which inscriptions and other ancient remains are built.

Beyond this suburb are rock-cut tombs extending