Page:Archaeologia volume 38 part 1.djvu/238

Recent Excavations at Carthage. the share of M. Bureau de la Malle.* Two more were brought to light by the Abbe" Bourgade while making researches in the island of the Cothon, and accounts of them were published by him, and by the Abbe" Barges. b It thus appears that, previously to Mr. Davis' s researches, about seventeen tablets c had been discovered at Carthage, which are now scattered among the museums of Europe. His excavations have disinterred no less than seventy- three tablets with Phoenician inscriptions, adding thereby very largely to the scanty stores of Phoenician epigraphy. The tablets obtained by Mr. Davis are generally composed either of a compact limestone or of a fine sandstone.* 1 The front and back are parallel, and the upper part terminates either in an acute angle, or in a pedimental form with eleva- tions at the corners resembling acroteria." The front is worked to a smooth surface, on which the inscription is scratched with a sharp tool ; but the back and sides are only hammer-dressed. None of the tablets appear to be perfect, many of them having lost their upper part, while nearly all of them seem to have been originally longer at the lower end. In their present state they vary in height from oj to 12 inches, and in width from 4 to 7 inches. Their thickness is considerable in proportion to their width, being from 1 to 4 inches. The appearance of the tablets will be better understood from the accompanying illustrations, which represent the most elaborately-ornamented specimen found by Mr. Davis and one of the plain kind. These interesting relics seem to have been all discovered at the same spot/ between the hill of St. Louis and the sea, and not far from a slight ravine which divides that hill from the neighbouring eminence on which writers place the temple of Juno. AVe are not yet acquainted with the exact circumstances of the discovery, nor with the depth or the manner in which they were deposited. I trust that Mr. Davis may be induced to publish a minute account of his excava- tions, as by so doing he will add greatly to the value of his researches. Published by De Saulcy, Annali del Institute di Corrispondenza Archeologica, vol. xix. tav. G. b Tnison (Tor de la Langue Phenicienne, par 1' Abbe F. Bourgade. Fol. Paris, 1852. Memaire svr deux Inscriptions Puniquts decouvertu dans C lie du Port Cothon a Carthage, par 1' Abbs' J. J. L. Barges. Fol. Paris, 1849. '" I have omitted from the enumeration one published by Gesenius (Carthuginiensis x.), of which the history seems doubtful. J One of them is of white marble ; it resembles in form a quadrangular tile, and the inscription is in a tingle line on the edges. ' The two exceptions to this are the marble tablet just mentioned, and a cylindrical shaft of stone, 18 inches high, with small niches at intervals upon it. ' Apparently near the ruins marked in Falbe's map No. 58.