I give the following as the result of careful study of
them in 1849, and again, after the lapse of six years, in 1855, each time examining the writing, under varieties of light and shade, at different hours of the day.
There are some other inscriptions, which are entirely blackened with smoke, in the niches, made perhaps by ancient burning of lamps or of incense there. This is particularly the case in one large hollow made in the rock, which has almost its whole surface covered with Greek writing. Within this hollow a niche is cut out, now empty.
One small niche has its inscription so much defaced by violence that only the letters ΠΑΝ are connectedly legible.
This sculptured niche has no inscription, but only the pedestal on which the statue was placed.
This ornamental niche has beneath it, on a tablet, the words as at present legible.
The inscription in the highest situation is as follows:—
