Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/301

Sepulchral Architecture. 271 the important cities of Petra and Bostra. 1 Now in one of its arid gorges on the south, known as <' Medain-Salih," were found a whole series of tombs, exhibiting no ornamentation except on their rock-cut façades, but with so striking a resemblance to the Jerusalem examples, as to appear almost identical (Figs. 179 and 181). The same disposition, the same mixture of classic forms and Oriental details characterize them. Thus a cavetto and battlement of Assyrian origin surmount a Greek entablature, having columns with capitals that might be Corinthian but for the absence of the acanthus leaves, which been left out the difficulty them on stone may have because of of carving whilst a classic pediment, terminals, and a frieze with triglyph ornament are about the door. The resemblance is carried into the inner ar- rangement, where tunnels or niches are scooped into the side of the cliff along the funeral chamber. 2 As a rule these tombs have an inscription in Aramaic characters over the door ; with the name of the owner and some- times that of the sculptor (Figs. 179, 180). They are all dated from a particular year of one of the Nabathsean kings ; and as the time in which they ruled is known, it was not difficult to prove that the nineteen tombs which up to the present day have been discovered, cover the space between Augustus and Titus, i.e. from the year 3 b.c. to 79 a.d. This date is all the more im- FlG. 179.— Tomb at Medain-Salil 1 Documents 'epigraphiques recueillis dans le nard de P Arabie, par M. Charles Doughty (avec préface de M. Renan). Paris, Imprim Nationale, 1884, in 4 , 57 Plates and squeezes. Julius Euting, Nabatàische Inschriften ans Arabien, 29 Plates and numerous drawings. Berlin, 1885. 2 Doughty, loc. cit.