is seen also a channel which conveys water, even at the present time, to some part more southerly, which we did not however trace to its end. The intention of placing this naumachia immediately within the triumphal arch, and exactly in the line of march from thence to the principal entrance of the city, was perhaps for the exhibition of some naval shows, illustrative of the exploits of the person honoured with the triumph, and for whom both the arch and the naumachia were probably expressly constructed. It is easy to suppose that it might have been a triumph given to some hero who had distinguished himself in a battle on the sea of Galilee or the lake of Tiberias, since there were many sea-fights there between the Jews and the Romans; but the details of the history of this city are so scanty, that no particular instance of such: triumph is known to me as being on record. It may be observed, that the building here assumed to be a naumachia could not have been a circus, or a hippodromus: first, because it is evidently too much sunk beyond the common level for such a place; next, because water could not have been necessary to be supplied to it in streams by aqueducts, if this were the purpose to which it was applied; and, lastly, because there is no visible appearance in any part of it, though its wall is still perfect all around, of any place of descent for either horses or chariots, or even of steps for the descent of footmen. To the north-west of the naumachia, on a higher part of the hill, distant from two to three hundred yards, and beyond the limits of the plan, are a great number of sarcophagi, reversed, broken, and scattered about, but evidently not far from their original place, so that one of the portions of the necropolis of this city must have been here. These sarcophagi are all of the black basaltic stone, and mostly sculptured with Roman devices; but among them there are none remarkable for superior elegance in their execution. In a direction of N. N. W. from the naumachia, also on the hill, and still without the city-walls, are the remains of a Corinthian work, which offered nothing remarkable in its construction; and this completed all that fell within our notice on the outside of the city to the south of it. On entering the city itself, by its southern gate, the passage is difficult, from the gateway being buried in its own ruins. Enough of it remains, however, to show the general design of three arched passages, as in the triumphal arch without; and the order of architecture in both is the same. The walls of the city are here plainly to be traced, connected with the gate on both sides, going from it upward on the west over the rising ground, and descending from it on the east to go down over the brow of the hill, and lastly ascending from thence over the steep slope of the opposite or eastern hill. On passing within this gate, the attention is suddenly arrested by the beautiful group of buildings which appear on the left, consisting of a peripteral temple, a theatre, and a circular colonnade. From the suddenness of the charm which this produces on the beholder, the actual deviation from a right line is not at all perceived, nor were we even aware of such an irregularity, until the relative positions and bearings of every object came to be set down on paper, in the delineation of the general plan. The spectator walks forward, unconscious of such a deviation; and this illusion, which at first is principally caused by the splendour of the whole view, is considerably assisted by the front wall of the platform of masonry, built to support the foundations of the peripteral temple above it, and partly, perhaps, to aid the effect. As this wall is perfectly parallel with the direction of the line of movement in going toward the colonnade, and the view is directed to the centre of this great circle, the deception is completed on arriving there by a magnificent prospect of the principal street, which is lined by a continued avenue of columns, extending to the opposite gate of the city on the north. Nothing could be more ingenious than this contrivance to hide an irregularity of plan. The nature of the ground seems not to have admitted the placing the gates of the city immediately opposite to each other, and having the street between them in a right line; but this defect is so happily veiled, that, I believe, many persons might enter it at one end, and quit it at the other, without at all perceiving it. * The peripteral temple, which is the first building on entering the city from the south, stands on very elevated ground, and seems almost to hang on the brow of the hill. To support its foundations, and to extend the level space in front of it, a long pier of masonry has been constructed, which forms a sort of platform before the edifice, and on this is seen a small square building, with fragments of arched-work near it, the use of which is not apparent. † The form of this temple is an oblong square, the front of which faces exactly E. by N. by compass. At this front stood a noble portico, formed by a double row of eight columns. Around the rest of the edifice was a single row of similar columns, eleven in number, on each side. In each side-wall, about half way up its height, were nine niches, answering to the intervals formed by the intercolumniation of the surrounding colonnade; and seven of these nine were still perfect. Whether they were intended to ornament the wall, or to contain statues, did not appear; but they presented nothing remarkable in their design. The masonry was everywhere smooth, and the outer frieze and cornice of the building was quite plain. * A similarly ingenious arrangement, for concealing a deviation from a right line, is found in the beautiful temple of Philoë, at the Cataracts of the Nile, as is well delineated and illustrated by Denon, in his plans of the edifices on that island; and at Palmyra too, those accurate observers, Messrs. Wood and Dawkins, noticed a gate-way which was so contrived, as that the two fronts faced at right angles with the respective streets which led from them, though these streets were not in one right line, as may be seen in their superb drawings and plans of the ruins there. No. 4. of the General Plan. On entering this temple, nothing is seen but plain walls of smooth and good masonry, as on the outside, excepting that on éach of the sides are seven pilasters, placed at equal distances, and reaching all the height of the building. Two of them, on each wall, are injured, and five of them are still perfect. The dimensions of the temple within are thirty paces long by twenty broad. The principal door of entrance is that through the portico opening to the E. by N.; but it had, besides, a smaller door of entrance in the side wall, near the N. E. angle of the building, and opening to the N. N. W. On each side the great door-way of the eastern front, were two fan-topped concave niches, corresponding with those on the sides, and, like them, facing the interval between the inner row of the columns of the portico; but no mention is made in our notes on the spot of any such niches in the back or western wall. There are no remains of either pediment or roof, and there are, certainly, not sufficient fragments or rubbish within the temple to be considered as the wreck formed by its falling in. Whether it had originally been a covered or an open temple we could not, therefore, decide. Just above this building, to the westward, and still on higher ground, is a beautiful theatre, pressing close against the city wall, and opening exactly towards the north. This edifice, as may be seen by the annexed plan of it, was of a semicircular form, the seats for the spectators being ranged around the interior of the circular part, the arena before them in the centre, and the stage beyond that in front, with a closed scene. * The front of this theatre, as measured by paces on the outer face of its scene, was about one hundred and twenty feet; and from the lowest seat of the semicircle, across the arena and stage, to the central door of the scene, just eighty feet. The seats are No. 5. of the General Plan, shows the position of this theatre. |