Chapter VII

HAVING fairly established ourselves in our sepulchral residence, and made every arrangement for our future comfort that the means at our disposal rendered possible, we began to examine the remains of the city. Our attention was at first specially directed to the tombs, in which we hoped to discover small ornaments, vases, terra-cotta figures, and other _portable_ objects. We were greatly assisted during our first rambles over the ruins by an Arab of considerable influence in the Cyrenaica, Mohammed El Adouly. He was a native of Benghazi, but having married the daughter of one of the Sheikhs of the Haasa tribe, who occupy the country in the neighbourhood of Cyrene, he kept his flocks, and spent the greater part of the year, in that district. One of the letters given us by the Sheikhs assembled at the Consulate was addressed to him, and Mr. Crowe, with whom he was well acquainted, had also sent him a special message regarding us. The day after our arrival at Cyrene he paid us a long visit, bringing with him the welcome present of a camel-load of milk and butter. He proved our constant friend during the whole time of our residence in the country, and on many occasions was of great service to us. Not being entangled in the perpetual feuds of the rival tribes around us, he was equally respected by all, so that we could hardly have had a safer friend. He was, besides, a man of much shrewdness and intelligence, and had profited greatly by his travels in early life. He had more than once been engaged in slave expeditions to Mourzook and Soudan, and had visited Constantinople, Alexandria, and Malta. He was withal a good Mussulman, although he confessed to having in his younger days been latitudinarian in his conduct, if not in his creed. In person he was a man of immense size, and had altogether a most imposing appearance.

_From a Photograph._]

The day immediately after his first visit he returned to show us the “lions” of the place. After we had seen a few of the tombs in the north- eastern cemetery, he took us to the hill beyond the Wady Bil Ghadir, where he showed us an excavated tomb in which a number of objects had been discovered by M. Bourville. It was a large square chamber cut in the rock, with the ruins of some kind of building in front: two marble statues without heads were lying near it.

PLAN OF CYRENE

Day & Son, Lithrs. to the Queen]

As every _open_ tomb had doubtless been rifled long ago, we were anxious, if possible, to discover some under the surface of the soil, in the hope that they might still remain intact. In many of those cut in the scarped sides of the hills we found the fronts partially covered by the earth washed down from above, and therefore thought it probable that others existed which had been wholly covered. We accordingly looked for a place where such tombs were likely to be found, and at last chose, as the most promising spot, a heap of ruins lying against an artificial escarp near the tomb opened by M. Bourville.

The following day, the 27th of December, we commenced our excavations at this place. At first the work went on but slowly, owing to the inexperience of the blacks, who were quite ignorant of the use of the tools, which they now handled for the first time in their lives. For some time, therefore, we had to do the most of the digging ourselves. Although it may seem a very simple matter to teach an able-bodied man to use a pickaxe and a shovel, it is a much more tedious process than may be supposed. As every railway contractor knows, a “navvy” has to serve a good long apprenticeship before he is fit to take his place in a regular gang of excavators.

Our great difficulty, however, with the blacks was to make them understand the use of a crowbar. When a stone was too heavy to lift, or was so placed that it could not be rolled, their only resource was to try to break it. It was long before we could get them to see the power of the lever, and still longer before they could apply it themselves. After five days’ hard work, in clearing away the ruins of the building from the face of the escarp, we reached the rock at the bottom, about twelve feet below the original surface, but without finding an entrance as we had expected. As it was evident that nothing was to be discovered here, we left this place on the 1st of January, 1861, and removed to a rock-tomb in the Wady Bil Ghadir, where the absence of any remains of buildings made the work much easier. After a day and a half’s digging we came to a doorway, five or six feet below the surface, closed by a single slab of stone, of which one of the upper corners was broken away sufficiently to allow a man to enter. Inside we found a plain square chamber with recesses, partially filled with the earth that had been washed in through the doorway. It was impossible to enter the chamber without breaking the long, thin stalactites which covered the roof and almost touched the floor. Nothing, however, remained either in the chamber or the recesses—a result fatal to our hopes of discoveries in the tombs, as it proved that this one, at least, had been rifled, not recently, but before it became buried, a sufficient period having afterwards elapsed to allow the formation of the stalactites. This being the case, we concluded that other tombs, even if now covered with earth, had probably shared the same fate.

For this reason we abandoned the tombs, and turned our attention to the remains of buildings within the walls of the city. After a careful examination of several places, we chose a prominent site near the southern gate, marked in the plan “Temple of Bacchus.” In the centre of a large oblong platform, enclosed by a massive colonnade and a well- built _peribolus_ wall, the position of the temple itself was marked by a low mound of earth, with a few blocks of stone and marble showing here and there above the surface. The exterior of the two side-walls of the temple had been partially laid bare by a former excavator, M. Bourville, as the Arabs informed us. Part of the gateway in the southern _peribolus_ wall is still standing, and is one of the most conspicuous objects in Cyrene. The ruins of the colonnade, which is of the Doric order, are nearly all above ground.

We began work at this temple on the afternoon of the 2nd, by digging along the outside of the western wall. The earth was filled with fragments of pottery and blocks of stone belonging to the building. Among the latter were portions of a frieze with triglyphs, a proof that the temple was of the Doric order. The stone was the same as in almost all the buildings in Cyrene,—a friable yellow sandstone, containing a great many fossil shells.

After finishing a trench along the western side, we began to dig inside the temple at the western end, going gradually eastward. We were soon rewarded for our labour by the discovery of a very perfect marble statue of life size. The head and both hands were gone, but otherwise the figure was uninjured, the surface being almost without a scratch. It was lying on the floor of the temple near the north-western corner, about four or five feet underground. Two days afterwards the figure was all but completed by the discovery of the head and left hand, near the same place. The head, that of a youth, wreathed with grapes and vine-leaves, and the hand holding a cluster of grapes, at once identified the statue, as one of Bacchus. The drapery falling from the left shoulder across the right knee left the greater part of the figure nude. This statue is given in Plate 61. The first thing to be thought of was its immediate removal to a place of safety, as the Arabs, in their hatred of images, would have considered its destruction a very meritorious act. But how to transport it without tackle or other mechanical appliances was rather puzzling. Meantime we pitched a tent close by, in which the blacks were stationed to act as a guard, while we made preparations for the work of removal. Carrying it was out of the question, owing to its great size and weight; and no vehicle, however rude, existed in the country. Having finally fixed on a sledge as the only means available, we went to a wood on the side of the hill beyond the north-eastern cemetery to look for a tree that would answer the purpose. We selected a good large cedar, which we felled, after a hard day’s work, with small hatchets, our only felling-axe having been lost or stolen during the journey from Benghazi. We then trimmed the trunk and lower branches into a very serviceable sort of sledge, the under side being cut as smooth as possible, and grooves made in it for the lashings. We also cut some spars to use as levers. With these and the coil of small rope we had brought from Malta we set to work the following day. By placing slings under the shoulders of the statue, and heaving on them with the spars, we got the figure into an upright position. The sledge, well covered with mats, was then lashed firmly to its back, care being taken to have the lashings well padded, to prevent their chafing the surface of the marble. The sledge, with the statue attached, was then gradually lowered by means of the spars, and a drag-rope made fast to it. By dint of hauling and shouting we got about halfway to our tomb before dark, when we again pitched the tent and set the guard for the night. Next day we tried the experiment of yoking in a camel, which proved quite successful. In the course of the forenoon the statue was safely deposited in our kitchen, where it was afterwards covered with a tent and walled up. We were not sorry when our labour was over, as, notwithstanding every contrivance for saving our hands, they had got sadly torn and blistered.

We completed the excavation of the temple in nineteen days. Besides the Bacchus, we found two small marble statuettes, and a leopard in stone, rather smaller than life, with a collar of vine-leaves, but saw no inscriptions. The temple, very small in size, had no _pteron_, and consisted only of a _cella_ and _pronaos_, or _portico_. The front, which was towards the east, contained four columns, the two outer of which were engaged in the lateral walls. At the western end of the _cella_ there was a built pedestal, about two feet in height, on which without doubt the statue stood. The whole of the interior bore traces of having been faced and paved with thin slabs of marble.

On the 21st of January we removed to the place marked on the plan of the city immediately above the theatre, on the side of the road leading up the centre ravine. There were several broken statues lying on the surface, and another was uncovered in the course of our excavations, but as they were all of late date and inferior style, we did not think them worth the trouble of removal. We also came on the bases of some unfluted marble columns _in situ_, but were unable to follow up the line thus pointed out, owing to the surrounding ground being sown with barley. While digging at this place, we turned up a great many thick, square, flat tiles, with which we paved part of the floor of our tomb.

PLAN OF CYRENE To shew the positions from which the plans and Sketches were made

Day & Son, Lithrs. to the Queen]

On the 31st of the month we commenced the excavation of the building in front of the fountain, marked on the plan “Temple of Apollo.” Although the form of the building could be easily traced, very little of it remained above ground. We began by clearing out, down to the level of the pavement, the space between the columns and the wall of the _cella_ along the western and northern sides, on both of which we found parts of the columns _in situ_ and fragments of the entablature, all of the Doric order. The stone was the same as that of the Temple of Bacchus. The building is particularly mentioned by Beechey, who supposed it to be the Temple of Diana. We were inclined, however, from the first to consider it the Temple of Apollo, on account of its commanding position immediately in front of the fountain; and our opinion was confirmed before we commenced its excavation, by finding two inscriptions among the ruins, both of which referred to that deity.

Our space for digging was very limited, all the surrounding ground, and even the eastern half of the temple itself, being covered with crops of grain. We would, willingly have bought them up, but found it impossible to do so, owing to the strong religious feeling of the Arabs, who regard the fruits of the soil as the immediate gift of God, and would resent their destruction as an act of sacrilege. The soil, once it has received the seed, becomes sacred, and can no more be desecrated by the excavator than a Greek church or a Turkish burial-ground.

After digging along the west and north sides as far as we could for the crops, we commenced inside the _cella_, at the north-west corner. Cramped as we were for want of space, we were obliged to throw the _deblai_, as we proceeded, into the trench we had already excavated outside. The first object we found was a small draped female statue, unbroken, about 3 feet 6 inches in height. A few days afterwards we discovered a colossal statue of Apollo himself, lying on the floor of the temple, about ten feet below the surface of the ground. The head was broken off, and the body in three pieces; but as the fractures were clean and sharp, and their edges unchipped, we hoped that the whole figure might afterwards be put together without difficulty. When this was actually done, after the arrival of the sculptures in England, the parts were all found to fit each other so accurately that the fractures were barely perceptible. The trunk of the tree, the lyre, the serpent, the bow and quiver, and some of the folds of the drapery, were found piecemeal, in a great many fragments, which we collected carefully. The statue, as it now stands, without the slightest restoration, in the British Museum, is built up of no less than 121 separate pieces. A Photograph of it is given in Plate 62. Near it was a large square pedestal on which it had once stood.

Its removal to our tomb proved a most tedious and difficult operation, on account not only of the great weight of each of the three parts, and the depth at which they were discovered, but also of the very tender way in which they had to be handled to prevent the thin sharp edges of the fractures from being chipped and bruised. Our troubles were increased by the conduct of the blacks, who thought this a favourable opportunity for advancing the most extravagant claims for remuneration. Some ridiculous notions had been put into their heads by the Arabs, during our absence for a few days at Derna. All our appeals and offers of a compromise were rejected; and as we would not yield to their absurd pretensions, they went off, and left us to get the Apollo to our tomb without them. As this was impossible, we were reduced to the necessity of reburying the statue to protect it from the Arabs. Our good fortune, however, had not deserted us. Two days afterwards, three negroes, sent by Mr. Crowe, arrived from Benghazi, and we were enabled to resume work. With their assistance and that of some of our Arab friends, we deposited the Apollo in safety in our tomb, after several days’ very hard work. The sledge was used as before, and a camel yoked in to help us to drag it. On the former occasion, when the road was pretty smooth, and for the most part down-hill, the camel did very well; now, however, the road was rough and all up-hill, and as the camel, although an excellent beast of burden, was quite unaccustomed to pulling, he would do nothing when he found he could not walk away with the load easily. We had, consequently, to unyoke him, and drag the sledge, foot by foot, ourselves.

Our new labourers, with whom the work of instruction had, of course, to be recommenced, remained till the 20th of April, when they had to leave us for harvest-work at Benghazi. We then tried some Arabs, but were soon glad to get rid of them, as they gave us a great deal of trouble and did very little work. By this time, however, we had completed the excavation of the temple, nearly as far as our space allowed. We accordingly proposed to spend a few weeks in making excursions to different parts of the country, and to resume operations at Cyrene after the end of the harvest.

It was evident from the first that many of the ruins at the Temple of Apollo were of much later date than the building itself. The _Cella_ was full of rubble walls and arches, roughly built of the materials of the more ancient building; and the eastern half was paved with coarse mosaic, about nine feet above the original floor of the temple, and, consequently, only two or three below the surface of the ground. Under this pavement there was a horizontal layer of broken columns resting on others which stood in rows on the floor of the temple.

Near the middle of the _Cella_, a draped male statue, about seven feet in height, but broken in two, was found lying on the tesselated pavement (Plate 63). The head, which was of a separate piece from the body, from which it could be removed at pleasure, fitted into a socket,—a somewhat barbarous expedient for making the statue of a deceased emperor do duty as his living successor’s, after the simple change of the head and the name. Close to the statue we found a broken marble pedestal, on which the following fragment of an inscription could be deciphered.

αὐτ]οκράτορα [Καίσ]αρ[α

Τρ]αϊανὸν Ἀ[δριαν]ὸν

Σε]βασ[τόν.

It may be presumed from this inscription that the statue represents the Emperor Hadrian. We also found on this spot a large marble slab, on which was the inscription, No. 26. We removed it to our tomb, like the others, by means of the sledge. Imbedded in the earth, between the feet of the statue, we found a head of Minerva, rather smaller than life, quite uninjured, with the single exception of the point of the helmet, which was a little broken. (_See_ Plate 64.)

In the same part of the temple as the Apollo, that is, in the western half of the _Cella_, we found a head life-size, identified by an inscription as the portrait of Cnæus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, the first Roman proprætor of Cyrene. (_See_ Plate 65.) The inscription (No. 1) was cut on the face of a square block of marble, on which stood a square pedestal, 10 inches broad and 5 feet high, having at the top a deep socket, into which the head was fitted. The back of the head was cut flat, as if it had rested against a wall.

As our workmen had all left, we were unable at this time to complete the excavation of the interior of the _Cella_. The whole of the eastern half, between the mosaic pavement and the floor, we had to leave untouched, until the month of August. One of the most remarkable things which we then discovered was a bronze portrait head, in an excellent state of preservation (Plate 66), lying on the original floor of the temple, 11 feet beneath the mosaic pavement. Near it were some small bronze fragments of horses, &c., very much injured, as if by fire; several terra-cotta lamps, and a quantity of fragments of gold-leaf mixed up with the earth. We also discovered several marble heads of different sizes, a number of inscriptions, eight small statues, varying from 2½ to 4 feet in height, and part of a leg of a colossal statue of very fine style. Of the small statues the most remarkable were a figure of Jupiter Ammon, a group representing the nymph Cyrene strangling a lion, and a huntress, probably Diana Venatrix, accompanied by a dog.

The temple was of the usual form and construction, although it might be remarked that its length was somewhat great in proportion to its breadth, and that the entrance was not in the west but in the east front. In these two respects, however, we found all the temples of Cyrene which we examined, alike. The entrance being in this position, the statue of the deity must have been placed at the west end facing the east, contrary to the following recommendation of Vitruvius: “The temples of the gods should be so placed that the statue, which has its station in the _Cella_, should, if there be nothing to interfere with such a disposition, face the west, in order that those who come to make oblations and offer sacrifices, may face the east when their view is directed toward the statue; and those who come to impose upon themselves the performance of vows, may have the temple and the east immediately before them. Thus the statue they regard will appear as if rising from the east and looking down on the suppliants.”[3]