'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎525] (614/905)

CHAP. XX.]
PALMYRA.
625
size, many of them still erect, and marking the lines of the Colonnades,
cross streets. The Corinthian columns belonging to the grand
colonnade, especially those near the archway, are of fine pro
portions and large size ; and on many of them there are Greek
inscriptions ; there are also some in Latin, and one in Hebrew. 1
These monuments appear to relate almost exclusively to com
mercial prosperity, being public acknowledgments of the bene
fits bestowed by Aurelian and others on the merchants and
city of Palmyra. 2 In other places are the remains of small
colonnades of inferior architecture; whilst dilapidated masses
of ruins extending along the southern side of the great avenue,
almost to the foot of the mountain, display architraves, friezes,
pediments, &c., belonging to a later and less interesting period
of the arts.
The sepulchral towers of the necropolis are not the least The necropolis,
remarkable remains of Tadmor, of which they may be con
sidered as forming the western extremity. As already noticed;
these singular tenements of the dead occupy the gorge, and
indeed part of the slope of the hill below the Saracenic castle;
some are tolerably perfect, but the greater part are quite in ruins.
The towers are square, with two, three, and sometimes even
four stories. In the centre of each was a space about 30 feet
long by 10 feet wide, with some busts in basso-relievo at the
farther end of the chamber; and sometimes on the ceiling are
half-length heathen deities painted on a blue ground. From
the floor to the ceiling on both sides are a number of recesses
divided by shelves into compartments more than 6 feet long
by 2 feet wide, but rather less in depth, so as to give the
requisite space in each for a mummy ; 3 and when tenanted, the
aperture was closed by means of a stone or marble door.
These towers generally have flat roofs, but in some few Sepulchral
instances they terminate with a stone pyramid. The build- lowers -
ings are of red sandstone; apertures like windows light each
1 Found in a small building adjoining the avenue.—Irby and Mangles'
Travels, p. 273.
2 Heeren's Researches in Asia, pp. 440, 442, 446.
8 Mummies and mummy-cloths were likewise in use in the dependant city,
Zelebi, the city of Zenohid, see p. 418.