Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

817

These ruins consist of temples, palaces, and porticos of Grecian architecture; and lie scattered over an extent of several miles. They were accidentally discovered by some English travellers from Aleppo somewhat more than a century ago. By far the most remarkable of them is the Temple of the Sun, of which the ruins are spread over a square of 220 yards. It was encompassed with a stately wall, built of large square stones, and adorned with pilasters within and without, to the number of sixty-two on a side. Within the court are the remains of two rows of very noble marble pillars thirty-seven feet high, with their capitals of most exquisite workmanship. Of these only fifty-eight remain entire; but there must have been many more, for they appear to have gone round the whole court, and to have supported a double piazza. The walks on that side of the piazza which is opposite to the front of the castle seem to have been the most spacious and beautiful. At the end of this line are two niches for statues, with their pedestals, borders, supporters, and canopies, carved with the utmost propriety and elegance. The space within this inclosure, which is now filled with the dirty huts of the inhabitants, seems to have been an open court, in the middle of which stood the temple, encompassed with another row of pillars of a different order, and much taller, being fifty feet high; but of these sixteen only remain. The whole space contained within these pillars is fifty-nine yards in length, and near twenty-eight in breadth. The temple is no more than thirty-three yards in length, and thirteen or fourteen in breadth. It points north and south; and exactly into the middle of the building, on the west side, is a most magnificent entry, on the remains of which are some vines and clusters of grapes carved in the most bold and masterly imitation of nature that can be conceived. Just over the door are discerned a pair of wings, which extend its whole breadth: the body to which they belonged is totally destroyed; and it cannot now certainly be known whether it was that of an eagle or a cherub, several representations of both being visible on other fragments of the building. It is observed of the windows of this building, which were not large, that they were narrower at the top than

below. The north end of this building is adorned with the most curious fret-work and bas-relief; and in the middle there is a dome or copula about ten feet diameter, which appears to have been either hewn out of the rock, or moulded to some composition which by time is grown equally hard. North of this place is an obelisk, consisting of seven large stones, besides its capital and the wreathed work about it. It is about fifty feet high; and just above the pedestal, is twelve feet in circumference. There was probably a statue upon it, which the Turks, in their zeal against idolatry, destroyed. At about the distance of a quarter of a mile from this pillar, to the east and west, are two others, besides the fragment of a third; so that perhaps they were originally a continued row.

About 100 paces from the middle obelisk, straight forward, is a magnificent entry to a piazza, which is forty feet broad, and more than half a mile in length, inclosed with two rows of marble pillars twenty-six feet high, and eight or nine feet in compass. Of these there still remain 129; and, by a moderate computation, there could not originally have been less than 560. The upper end of the piazza was shut in by a row of pillars, standing somewhat closer than those on each side. A little to the left are the ruins of a stately building, which appears to have been a banqueting-house. It is built of better marble, and is finished with yet greater elegance, than the piazza. The pillars which supported it were of one entire stone, which is so strong, that one of them which is fallen down has received no injury. It measures twenty-two feet in length, and in compass eight feet nine inches. In the west side of the piazza are several apertures for gates into the court of the palace. Each of these was adorned with four porphyry pillars, not standing in a line with those of the wall, but placed by couples in the front of the gate facing the palace, two on each side. Two of these only remain entire, and but one standing in its place. They are thirty feet long and nine in circumference. On the east side of the piazza stands a great number of marble pillars, some perfect, but the greater part mutilated. In one place eleven are ranged together in a square: the space which they inclose is paved with broad flat

stones, but there are no remains of a roof, and the walls are much defaced. Before the entry, which looks to the south, is a piazza supported by six pillars, two on each side of the door, and one at each end. The pedestals of those in front have been filled with inscriptions both in the Greek and Palmyrene languages, which are become totally unintelligible. Among these ruins are many sepulchres: they are ranged on each side of a hollow way, toward the north part of the city, and extend more than a mile. They are all square towers, four or five stories high. But though they are alike in form, yet they differ greatly in magnitude and splendour. The outside is of common stone, but the floors and partitions of each story are marble. There is a walk across the whole building, just in the middle; and the space on each hand is subdivided into six partitions by thick walls. The space between the partitions is wide enough to receive the largest corpse; and in these niches there are six or seven piled upon one another.

TRAVELS IN RUSSIA,

BY

E. D. CLARKE, L. L. D.

IN THE YEAR 1800.

THIS able and intelligent traveller, whom we have before accompanied through the Holy Land, has acquired much celebrity for the strength and clearness with which he has pourtrayed the Russian character:-a subject which has recently acquired additional importance from the ambitious views, the military achievements, and the increasing greatness of this empire.

Dr. Clarke set out from St. Petersburg, to the south of Russia on the 3d of April. On this road, he observes, the traveller bids adieu to all thoughts of inns, or even houses with the common necessaries of bread and water. He will not even find clean straw, if he should speculate upon the chance of a bed. Every thing he may want must therefore be taken with him. A pewter tea-pot will prove of more importance than a chest of plate, and more so than one of silver, because it will not be stolen, and may be kept equally clean and entire. To this he will add, a kettle, a saucepan, the top of which may be used for a dish, tea, sugar, and a large cheese, with several loaves of bread made into rusks, and as much fresh bread as he thinks will keep till he has a chance of procuring more. Then, while the frost continues, he may carry frozen food, such as game, or fish, which, being congealed, and as hard as flint, may jolt about among his kettles in the well of the carriage without any chance of injury. Wine may be

« ForrigeFortsæt »