There is at Thunodronum[164] a triumphal arch, which Dr. Shaw thinks is more remarkable for its size than for its taste or execution; but the size is not extraordinary. On the other hand, both taste and execution are admirable. It is, with all its parts, in the King’s Collection, and, taking the whole together, is one of the most beautiful landscapes in black and white now existing. The distance, as well as the foreground, are both from nature, and exceedingly well calculated for such representation.
There are no other antiquities, except four sepulchres, one of which is in front sustained by four Corinthian pillars, but is in very bad taste and form. The other is a simple pentagon without ornament. They are both small, and of no consequence. The mountains to the south of Hydera are all covered with wood, chiefly pines and cedars, stored with game. It is about twenty-four miles from the encampment of Bel Hanneish, and three miles from this last place are the remains of an ancient city called Sicca, which retains its name to the present time. From Hydera we continued our route to Tebessa. The 21st November, arrived there at four. Twenty-two miles, through deep valleys, between high mountains covered with firs, which now grow first to the height of timber trees. Saw ostriches this day for the first time,[165] and a species of red deer,[166] called Edmee.
There are two sheets of drawings of Hydra in the Kinnaird Collection; the first, a single one, containing a beautifully executed perspective view in Indian ink ([Plate XVI.]), and the second, a double sheet, containing a rough plan of the same building, and exquisite pencil drawings of details of architrave of order, enrichments of soffits, capitals, &c.
On the latter sheet is given the inscription:—
IMP. CAES. L. SEPTIMIO . SEVERO . PERTINACI . AVG. P.M.
TRIB. POT. III. IMP. V. COS. II. PP. PARTHICO . ARA
BICO . ET . PARTHICO . AZIABENICO . DD. PP.
This fixes the date of the building, A.D. 195.
This monument is ornamented with two monolithic, disengaged Corinthian columns on each side of the arch, behind which are square pilasters. They stand on a common pedestal, one-third the height of the columns, and are surmounted by a very high entablature, the frieze of which carries the inscription. It is of unusual height, being three times that of the architrave, and making the entablature half the height of the columns. There is a blocking course above the cornice, but no attic proper. The arch is without archivolt. The impost encircles the building, except that it stops short at the pilasters.
The following are the dimensions given in the plan:—