Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/33

HISTORY AND ORIGIN OF THE PHRYGIANS. 17 also on these denuded slopes, will be other remains of a far-off past, consisting of bas-reliefs, structural and rock-cut buildings ; which, though less striking and characteristic than the two pseudo- Sesostris and the Cybele, have, in our estimation, all the marks of high antiquity. The difficulty is to find out to what branch of the human family belonged the race that has left so many marks of its existence and activity on the flanks of Sipylus. Is it necessary to attribute everything to those conquerors from the East, whose image we think we recognize graven on the rocky sides of the pass they carried with their arms ? We trow not. The brave soldiers who t ; measured their strength with Egypt, not always to the advantage of the latter, may, at the time when the superiority of their mili- tary tactics and armament ensured their undisputed supremacy in the western portion of the peninsula, have carried the point of one of their columns as far as here. But it is difficult to imagine that they remained long so far away from the Taurus, both slopes of which they occupied. Now, taken altogether, the monuments met with on Sipylus seem to testify to the long sojourn of a settled population. Near Magnesia, around the statue of Cybele, are altars and niches which in their turn testify to the homage paid to the gigantic idol from the day of its birth, and. for centuries afterwards. On the lower hills, turned towards Smyrna, are stair- ways and galleries, redoubts, places of worship, and tombs, all of which are partly built, partly hewn in the rock. One and all tell, as clearly as possible, that a people lived for many generations entrenched on these heights, but that when the Greek cities were founded on the adjacent shores, this same people had already lost whatever importance they had previously possessed ; since epic and lyric poetry are alike silent about them, save their having once been mighty enough and rich enough to kindle the jealousy of the gods. The curiosity of the historian, which should not be so readily satisfied, but would seek to penetrate further, will have little more than a choice between two hypotheses. That of a Hittite colony established at some time on Sipylus is in itself very improbable ; for no indication, however slight, can be produced in its favour either from history or legend. On the other hand, if already in the day of Herodotus the name of Phrygia Major, Great Phrygia, was confined to the elevated region stretching between the Halys and the Sangarius, the Rhyndacus and the VOL. i. c