Page:Greek Buildings Represented by Fragments in the British Museum (1908).djvu/80

This page needs to be proofread.

64 THE TOMB OF MAUSOLUS. about half a stone back from the angle. The law of the distri- bution of the heads was to have as much carving between them, bending around the corner, as there was on the straight. The proportion of the cornice as above corrected was such as to throw the second lion's head about 6 inches behind the centre of the angle column as seen in elevation. We may find here some check on the dimensions already obtained, because the distance between the lion's heads should, on one side at least, be a multiple of 3, 6. Now as eight bays of the short side at 9, 9|, equals 78, 4, and deducting I3 inches for the eccentricity of the Fig. 53. — Detail of Carved Gutter. heads nearest over the centres of the columns, we get a total of yj, 4, which is 4 inches more than 22 times 3, 6. On the other front we get 97, 8^, which is 3I inches less than 28 times 3,6. That is 3, 6 was the best possible mean for the dimensions of the two fronts. In other words the gutter stones would have averaged about inch more, and inch less than 3, 6 on the two fronts. Fig. 54 is an enlarged detail of the base. Fig. 57 is part of an inscription, which is probably of the sixteenth century, cut into the shield borne by one of the figures of the frieze.*

  • See Newton's article in " The Classical Museum."