FIG. 13. THE ALYSCAMPS\.
During its palmy days in the early centuries, this cemetery had become greatly enriched with splendid monuments and sarcophagi, partly heathen and partly Christian, but all designed and executed after the Roman or Grecian manner. At the Renaissance these ancient classic monuments were specially prized and admired, and many of them were removed. Sarcophagi were distributed as specimens of early Christian art to Rome, Lyons, and other towns; the place was gradually deserted and destroyed, and the monuments were finally turned to common and ignominious uses such as cattle troughs and bridges over the ditches in the fields. Now the few remaining tombs have been collected and placed on each side of the road leading to the chapel of St Honorat ([Fig. 13]), where they produce from their position and their classic forms a striking resemblance to the burial places of the Romans, which lined the wayside at the entrances to their cities, such as the Appian way at Rome, and the approach to Pompeii.
FIG. 14. FROM ARLES MUSEUM\.
A large number of the finest sarcophagi have fortunately been preserved in the Arles museum. Some of them certainly belong to Pagan times, but most of them are of later date. Many are adorned with bas-reliefs, representing the hunt of the Stag or Wild Boar, Apollo and the Muses, and other classic and allegorical subjects.
FIG. 15. TOMB OF CORNELIA, ARLES\.