Fig. 207.—Sepulchral chamber at Amathus (after Cesnola, Cyprus).
The necropolis of Mehdia, on the eastern coast of Tunis, contains tombs, the descent into which is by shafts as at Aradus. The tombs of Thina (Thenæ) near Sfax, those of Carthage on the hill near the town called Jebel Kawi, have all been violated in antiquity or by the Arabs. Constructed on an uniform plan, they consist of a rectangular chamber, the descent into which is by a flight of steps. All round this room, the orifices of the coffin-niches are seen like the mouths of ovens. The staircase may have as many as ten steps; the chamber is 6½ ft. high, from 19½ ft. to 21 ft. long, and 9½ ft. broad. The walls are coated with a white stucco which sometimes was adorned with figures in relief; the fragmentary subjects which I was able to detect seemed to me to be Greek and perhaps Roman in style.
Fig. 208.—Plan of a tomb at Carthage (Boulé, Fouilles à Carthage).
To sum up, the Phœnician tomb represented only two types: the erect tomb above ground, and the subterranean tomb. The first was monolithic, or built like a house; the second was either on a level with its entrance in the side of the rock, or else it was reached from above by means of a shaft or a staircase. Both contained a greater or smaller number of chambers according to the number of corpses to be buried in it. These bodies were, save in rare exceptions, placed in sarcophagi sometimes deposited in cavities contrived in the wall of the chamber, sometimes in ditches hewn out in the floor, sometimes simply deposited along the walls. The mortuary furniture varied according to the wealth of the families; it included, together with amulets and figures of deities, all the toilet articles and ornaments used by the deceased during his earthly existence.
§ IV. Phœnician Sculpture.
Phœnicia, it must not be forgotten, was by turns subjected to the yoke of the Egyptians and Assyrians, who introduced into it, with their garrisons, their art, their customs, their industries and all that characterised the peculiar genius of their civilisation. The conquerors were the masters of the Phœnician artists, and the few objects which came from the hands of the latter were inspired by Egypt or Assyria; it is only from the time of Alexander that a third element, Greek art, begins to reveal its action in Syria.