3. The Tombs. The tomb-system, so to speak, as developed in Lycia, is a striking characteristic of that province, and has been, therefore, carefully studied by Sir Charles Fellows, who has classed them, according to their forms, under the heads of Obelisk, Gothic, and Elizabethan. The first, as the name implies, is simply a square block surmounted by a cap and cornice; the second and third have lancet-head tops or deep mullioned recesses, respectively. Of the two first the British Museum has excellent specimens; the third was chiefly used for carvings on the face of solid rocks. All alike exhibit imitations of wooden structures with panelled doors, bossed nails, and knockers suspended from lions’ mouths. One of these tombs, the so-called Harpy tomb, from its great curiosity, we must notice somewhat fully. It consists of a square column about 17½ feet high, in one piece of stone, surmounted by a series of bas-reliefs, forming the walls of a square chamber, seven feet each way, and having a small door on its west side. On these walls are representations of Harpies, between whom, in each case, is a group consisting of one seated and one standing figure. There is reason to suppose the subject of these reliefs a local myth, and, as the daughters of a Lycian hero, Pandarus, are said to have been carried off by Harpies, this is not improbably the subject here. Harpies are usually, as here, indicated with the faces, breasts, and hands of women, and with bodies and feet of vultures. It is possible that this stele may have been the tomb of some prince of the royal family of Lycia, who claimed descent from the mythical hero, Pandarus. No certain date can be assigned to it; but, had it been executed in Attica instead of Lycia, B.C. 530 would not have been too early for it. In any case, its execution must have preceded the Persian conquest of Lycia.
One of the most interesting of the Gothic tombs is that of a man whose name has been read Paiafa, and who was, probably a satrap of Lycia. The top of this structure much resembles an inverted boat, with a high ridge running along it, like a keel. On each side of the roof is an armed figure in a quadriga;[[64]] on the north side, below the tympanum, the Satrap is seated as a judge, his dress and general appearance being the same as that of the Persian on the Trophy monument.
[64]. Herodotus remarks that the people of Bithynia carried two Lycian spears, and had helmets of brass, on the summits of which were the ears and horns of an ox. Cf. also, on coins, the helmet of Eukratides, king of Bactriana.
In concluding these notes on Xanthus, we may allude to some casts from a tomb at Pinara, hard by, carved on the face of the solid rock. Sir Charles Fellows states that, in the centre of this city, there rises a round rocky cliff, speckled all over with tombs, many of them being only oblong holes, and quite inaccessible. One cast gives the representation of a walled city with tombs, towers, gates, and walls; the battlements, on the whole, much resembling the town shown on the “Trophy monument.” Another cast gives the interior of the portico of a rock tomb at Tlos, with Bellerophon, one of the heroes of Lycia, triumphing over the Chimæra.
It only remains for us to notice the famous Inscribed Stele, the longest inscription yet met with in the Lycian character, and containing a notice of a son of Harpagus, and the names of several Lycian towns. On the north side, between the lines of Lycian characters, is a Greek inscription in twelve hexameter lines,[[65]] the first from an epigram of Simonides (B.C. 556), and a notice of the achievements of this son of Harpagus. The whole inscription consists of about 250 lines.
[65]. Colonel Leake (Trans. of the Roy. Soc. of Literature, vol. ii. 1844) has given a translation of the twelve lines in Greek, showing that this monument was erected by a certain Datis, called a son of Harpagus. It states that he had gained the highest honours in the Carian games, and had slain “in one day seven heavy-armed soldiers, men of Arcadia.” The epigram of Simonides (Anthol. Brunck. vol. i. p. 134) commemorates the battles at Cyprus and on the Eurymedon, B.C. 470. Another conjecture is that the son of Harpagus was called Sparsis (Leake, ibid. p. 32). Colonel Leake thinks the date of the inscription not earlier than B.C. 400.
Over the other towns of Lycia, Telmessus, Patara, Pinara, Myra, Tlos, and Antiphellus, it is not necessary for us to dwell at any great length, the more so that they were not, historically, of great importance, and are to us only interesting for the remains of art still visible on the spot.
Telmessus was on the coast, and is now represented by the village of Makri.[[66]] In ancient times it was famous for the skill of its augurs. Herodotus tells us they were often consulted by the kings of Lydia, and especially by Crœsus; and Arrian ascribes to them a remote antiquity. Their reputation long survived; for Cicero speaks of the town thus:—“Telmessus in Caria est quâ in urbe excellit haruspicum disciplina” (De Divin. i. 41). In early Christian times it had a bishop. Telmessus has been fully described by Dr. Clarke and Sir Charles Fellows. Its monumental remains are almost wholly tombs; but these are, many of them, remarkable for their beauty, as also for the extraordinary labour bestowed on them in cutting them out of the face of the rock. Sir Charles Fellows makes the curious remark, that, though the Greek population of Lycia were mainly Dorians, he did not meet with any tombs or other monuments unquestionably of the Doric order.
[66]. Fellows remarks that the Meio of the maps and of the “Modern Traveller” (supposed, too, by Cramer to be a corruption of Telmessus) is not known in the country.
Patara, on the left bank of the river Xanthus, was chiefly celebrated for its worship and temples of the Lycian Apollo, known by the appellation of Patareus.[[67]] According to Herodotus (i. 182), the priestess who delivered it was shut up in the temple every night, but the oracular responses were only occasional. The Pataræan oracle was very ancient, and considered scarcely inferior to that of Delphi. Captain Beaufort, in his account of Karamania, places the remains of Patara[[68]] near the shore, and notices “a deep circular pit of singular appearance, which may have been the seat of the oracle.” Fellows alludes to “a beautiful small temple about the centre of the ruined city,” with a doorway “of beautiful Greek workmanship, ornamented in the Corinthian style, and in fine proportion and scale.” The port of Patara, which was too small to contain the combined fleet of the Romans and Rhodians under Regillus in the war with Antiochus (Liv. xxxvii. 17) is now completely overgrown with brushwood, &c. The theatre is shown by an inscription to have been built (more probably rebuilt) in the fourth consulate of Antoninus Pius, A.D. 145.