Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 1.djvu/173

THE PHOENICIAN TOMB. most deeply beneath the surface. There are sometimes tvo storeys connected by a shaft sunk from one to the other (see Figs. 92, 93)- 1 In many of the chambers the roof is flat, in others it is slightly arched ; sometimes its section consists of two slight curves meeting in the centre at a very obtuse angle. 2 Every chamber in which no trace of Grseco-Roman ornament is to be seen is rectangular and with one axis much longer than the other. No rule is followed in the number or arrangement of the rooms ; FIGS. 92 and 93. Plan and section of a tomb at Amrii From Kenan. it is easily to be seen that in many cases room was added to room as death followed death in the family to which the tomb belonged. That these tombs were family burial-places is proved by the fact that they were all made for the reception of many occupants. The bodies were placed in niches hollowed out of the rocky walls ; the dimensions of the niches, which varied very slightly, being determined by the average stature of the human body. The corpses were wrapped in shrouds ; but sometimes, it appears, they were placed in wooden coffins. In the centre of the farthest wall of the principal chamber, a niche higher and wider than 1 REN AN, Mission, p. 75. ~ Ibid. p. 76. VOL. I. X