IT will be remembered that while the _Assurance_ was with us, seven
blacks, sent by Mr. Aquilina, arrived from Benghazi, and assisted in the
transport of the statues. With these men we recommenced work on the 9th
of June, by beginning the excavation of the large temple in the eastern
part of the city, near the Stadium. The site seemed very promising, both
on account of the extent and the apparently undisturbed state of the
remains of the building. In fact, we had been prevented solely by want
of workmen from digging here long before, as the temple was by far the
largest, if not the most important, in Cyrene. We began as usual at the
western end of the building, where we soon came to a large pedestal, 20
feet square, and 10 feet in height above the pavement. The total length
of the temple, which consisted of _Pronaos_, _Cella_, and _Posticum_,
was 169½ feet, by 58 feet in breadth. The interior of the _Cella_, 108
feet in length, was ornamented on each side with a marble colonnade of
the Corinthian order. The bases of most of the columns were found _in
situ_ on square pedestals, projecting from the lateral walls. They were
two feet in diameter, with an intercolumniation of seven feet. The wall
of the _Cella_ was built of stones of immense size, the surface of some
of them measuring upwards of 40 square feet. Enough of the wall was left
to show the manner in which it was built. The courses were alternately
of long blocks of stone, about a foot deep, and equal in breadth to the
thickness of the wall, and of large slabs laid on edge, back to back;
care being taken to have the work well bonded. The marble _peribolus_
wall of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was built in an exactly similar
manner, strength being, in both cases, sacrificed to appearance.
The exterior colonnade consisted altogether of forty-six columns; viz.
seventeen on the sides and eight on the ends or fronts of the building.
As in all the temples of Cyrene, the entrance was in the eastern front.
The order was Doric, and the stone was the same as that of the temples
of Bacchus and Apollo. As nearly as we could make out, the columns,
which were fluted, were six feet in diameter at the base; but as they
were much worn away, it was impossible to measure them very exactly.
They had all fallen outwards, and many of the capitals, measuring nine
feet in diameter, were to be seen cropping out above the surface of the
ground. The architraves and beams must have been of great size, as the
columns were 14 feet apart centre from centre, and 18 feet from the face
of the wall of the _Cella_. The building stood within two degrees of due
east and west.
In the course of our excavations we came upon innumerable fragments of
sculpture, evidently of excellent style; but nothing was found in the
least degree perfect. Amongst them we found, in the middle of the
_Cella_, between the pillars, a male head in white marble, much
mutilated, being nearly cracked in two and the nose broken off. It had
been well executed, and the lips still retained a bright light-red
colour. This head is rather larger than life. Even the marble columns of
the interior of the _Cella_ were broken in small pieces, which could not
have been the result of natural causes. Although the appearance of the
remains clearly showed that the temple had been wantonly destroyed by
the hand of man, the discovery of fragments of good style induced us to
continue the excavation of the building.
In the _Pronaos_, and close to the entrance, we found a block of marble
measuring 4′ 6″ × 2′ 1″ × 1′, with the inscription given in Plates 78,
79, No. 6, and on the opposite side of the _Pronaos_, a smaller slab,
measuring 1′ 4″ × 1′ 3″ × 3″, with the inscription in two columns given
in Plate 79, No 7. Both these contain lists of names, probably of
persons contributing to some public subscription.
We also found fragments of an inscribed architrave of sandstone, and
some pieces of copper and iron; among which may be mentioned a circular
piece of iron, half an inch in thickness, with two handles like a small
tub without a bottom. It was 8½ inches in diameter, and 6½ inches in
height.
As there was no hope of finding anything undestroyed, we abandoned the
building, after spending seven weeks in its excavation, the only part
left unfinished being the centre of the _Cella_, which was covered with
enormous blocks from the side walls. Outside the _Cella_, we only dug
sufficiently far to discover the exact positions of the columns of the
peristyle.
On the 17th of June, only nine days after the departure of the
_Assurance_, we were most agreeably surprised by the unexpected
appearance at our tomb of a large party of naval officers, consisting of
Captain Jones and some of the officers of H.M.S. _Scourge_. They were
the bearers of a telegram and a letter from Mr. Panizzi, by which we
were informed that the trustees of the British Museum had voted us a
further sum of £500, and had sent out a carpenter, Mr. Wm. Dennison, to
assist in packing the statues, &c. He arrived in the _Scourge_, and
remained with us till our departure from the country. Although there was
little carpenter’s work to be done till near the close of the
expedition, he was of great service in superintending the workmen.
The _Scourge_ had anchored off Marsa Sousah early in the morning, when
Captain Jones and the rest of the party immediately started for Cyrene,
guided by the directions given them by the officers of the _Assurance_.
They lost their way, however, in climbing the Augubah, and did not reach
Cyrene till nearly sunset, much fatigued by their long day’s wandering
under a burning sun.
The following day, the 18th of June, being the anniversary of the birth
of the Prophet, there was a great gathering of the Arabs on the upper
plateau near Cyrene to celebrate the festival of the _Melood_, which we
attended as spectators by the invitation of the sheikhs. When the men
were all assembled, they dismounted and ranged themselves in a line of
two ranks, with their horses picketed in the rear. A long prayer was
then repeated aloud by the whole line, who made the usual prostrations
together, like a regiment at drill. Prayers over, they remounted their
horses, and the tournament began. An open level space being chosen,
those about to engage in the games placed themselves in two irregular
lines, facing each other, about 150 yards apart, the mere spectators
like ourselves remaining at the sides. The object of the game, or rather
exercise, is to show the skill of the rider in handling his weapons and
directing his horse when at full gallop. A man, for instance, breaks out
from one of the lines, and canters carelessly toward the other.
Presently another horseman dashes after him in pursuit, and they tear
along, _ventre à terre_, till they come close up to the opposite line,
when they unsling their guns, aim, and fire at each other, at the same
moment wheeling sharply to the right-about to avoid running into the
line in front. At other times a number of men gallop straight up to the
opposite line, deliver their fire, and wheel when at full speed, within
a yard or two of the stationary line. Sometimes two horsemen engage in a
sort of running duel, each man riding at full speed, and using pistols,
blunderbuss, gun, and bayonet. Collisions at the wheeling-point were not
unfrequent; and as the horses were always going at a great pace, it was
wonderful that no one was killed. Some of the men were bruised and their
horses lamed, and one man had several ribs broken. In consequence of the
general introduction of firearms, this kind of amusement has taken the
place of the older lance exercise and the throwing of the jereed.
The _Scourge_ being about to proceed to Alexandria to assist in laying
the Malta telegraph cable, Captain Jones kindly offered to give us a
passage to Derna if we wished to revisit that place. As we were in want
of a number of things, we were glad to avail ourselves of the
opportunity of going. We accordingly left Cyrene with Captain Jones and
the other officers on the afternoon of the 18th, and got on board the
same night. We started the following morning at daybreak, and anchored
off Derna late in the afternoon, when we went ashore, and occupied our
old quarters at Mr. De Fremeaux’s house, the _Scourge_ leaving soon
after for Alexandria. Captain Jones had previously most kindly allowed
us to take from the ship everything likely to prove useful to us. We
remained at Derna two days, buying articles in the bazaar, and waiting
for our horses and camels, which we had sent by land from Cyrene. When
these had been somewhat rested after their arrival, we started on our
return journey, and by travelling all night, with only an hour or two’s
halt, reached Cyrene within twenty hours. Among other things which we
brought from Derna were some thin deals, with which we furnished our
tomb with a table, shelves, &c.
By this time our money was beginning to run short, and we hardly knew
how we were to get a fresh supply. The trustees of the British Museum
having given us authority to draw bills on them to the amount of £500,
we were anxious, if possible, to get more workmen, and carry on our
excavations on a larger scale during the remaining months of summer. As
writing was apt to cause delay, I determined to go to Benghazi myself
for the purpose of getting both money and men. I started on the
afternoon of the 6th of July, accompanied by a single mounted Arab; and
as time was now an object of great importance, I took no camels, and
consequently had neither water nor baggage of any kind. By halting only
a few hours each night, I reached Merdj at mid-day on the 8th, and left
the same evening for Benghazi. Travelling all night and all next day, we
arrived at Benghazi shortly after sunset on the 9th; thus accomplishing
the whole journey of 160 miles in three days, and without water after
leaving Merdj on the evening of the 8th. It was, of course, most
fatiguing work both for man and horse, especially during the day, when
the heat of the sun and the want of water were together almost
intolerable.
As it would have been unsafe to carry a sum of money with me, Mr.
Aquilina gave me two orders, one on Mr. De Fremeaux, at Derna, and the
other on our friend Mohammed El Adouly, from both of whom we were to
draw the amount in instalments as we required it. This proved, as was to
be expected, a most convenient arrangement, although a Bedouin camp
seemed an odd place for negotiating bills and keeping a banker’s
account.
I had no difficulty in getting as many workmen as I wanted. The morning
after my arrival Mr. Aquilina sent for the Sheikh Il Abid, or chief of
the negroes, and told him that I wanted twenty good strong blacks to go
to Cyrene, on the terms of five Turkish piastres (10_d._) a day and food
for each man. These wages were very high for the country; but we had
found it impossible to keep men at Cyrene, at such a distance from their
wives and families, except by paying them so highly that they did not
like to give up the work; and it was always difficult to get workmen to
supply the places of those who left, as the blacks were afraid to come
to Cyrene by themselves, on account of the danger of being seized and
re-enslaved by the Arabs on the way. It was therefore advisable to pay
such wages as would not only induce the workmen to remain with us after
they came, but, by making dismissal from our service a severe
punishment, would give us the means of enforcing obedience.
At an appointed hour, the Sheikh appeared at the Consulate with fifty or
sixty men, all eager to be engaged; but as it would have been difficult
to feed such a number, and as we had only a very limited supply of
tools, I at first selected only twenty. Before leaving Benghazi,
however, I was induced to take eight more, which, with the seven we
already had at Cyrene, made up our number to thirty-five.
Soon after my arrival at Benghazi, I was visited by the Kaimacam in
state, attended by the “heads of departments;” viz. the Colonel
commanding the troops, the Cadi or Judge, the Collector of customs, and
the Sheikh El Beléd, or chief of the town. Suliman Captan and some of
the principal Arab inhabitants also called; so that I was obliged to
devote an entire day to returning the visits. I found that the arrival
and stay of the _Assurance_ had become magnified by report into a much
more formidable affair than it was. The Kaimacam told me that he had
been officially informed that an English fleet had come to Marsa Sousah
and disembarked several thousand soldiers, who were to be employed in
occupying the country; and that the laying of the telegraph was only a
part of a general scheme of conquest. I had some difficulty in
disabusing his mind of the impression that we had some ulterior object
in view in the works we were carrying on at Cyrene. Our statues and
waggons, according to the general belief, were artillery; our road to
the coast, a military one for the use of the army of occupation; and our
excavations, forts and batteries.
There was, of course, considerable delay in getting fairly started on
the journey from Benghazi with such a number of blacks. By Mr.
Aquilina’s advice I gave every man a small advance of pay, to enable him
to get his own provisions for the journey; thereby saving me the trouble
of providing for such a number. As there were no water-skins for sale in
the bazaar, I had to send all over the town to get a sufficient number,
and the endless debates with camel-drivers had to be undergone as usual.
At last, everything being ready and the men collected, we started on the
afternoon of the 12th, and after filling the water-skins at the Garden
of Osman, halted for the night near the foot of the Augubah, about six
hours’ distance from Benghazi. Although the blacks knew there was no
more water to be got till we reached Merdj, it required the greatest
vigilance to keep them from drinking the whole of the contents of the
girbehs before the morning. About mid-day on the 14th we arrived at
Merdj, where I was very sorry to find our good friend Hadji Achmet Bin
’l Agha suffering from a violent attack of fever. Long before our
arrival, the blacks, with their usual improvidence, had eaten all the
food they had provided for the whole journey, and I was obliged to look
out for a fresh supply. There was no bread to be had; but I fortunately
got a sufficient quantity of dates to serve for the remainder of the
distance.
After halting a day at Merdj, we resumed our journey at daybreak on the
16th. Shortly after passing the Libiar Il Gharib in the afternoon, I
happened to be riding by myself through a wood about a mile ahead of the
caravan, when my attention was attracted by about a dozen Arabs seated
under a tree near the path, with their horses standing beside them. They
looked rather suspicious, and commenced talking rapidly to each other as
I came up; but as this was nothing unusual, I rode on, thinking that
they were probably a travelling party halted for a rest. In a few
minutes, however, I heard a loud shouting and screaming in the rear, and
on hastening back to see what was the matter, I saw the negroes running
in all directions, and in such a state of terror that it was some time
before I could make out what had happened. I finally learned that the
Arabs whom I had passed in the wood, had charged into the straggling
caravan, and seized one of the negroes. While some of them were binding
him on the back of a horse, the others formed a circle round him with
their bayonets at the “charge,” and threatened to shoot any one that
interfered. When their prisoner was secured, they rode off with him into
the wood, and before I came up they had all disappeared. In the course
of the evening I found out with some difficulty who the perpetrators of
the outrage were; but although I at once wrote to Benghazi, nothing was
ever done in the matter, the Kaimacam being unwilling, or more probably
unable, to apprehend the offenders.
Next day we passed Gusr Biligadem, and leaving the caravan, halted near
the Zauyah El Beidah: I rode on the same night to Cyrene. The blacks
arrived the following day, and told me that the Achwani of the Zauyah
had refused to give them even a drop of water, because they were in the
service of “Christian dogs.”
By the time I reached Cyrene, the excavation of the large temple near
the Stadium was almost finished, and the smaller temple near it had just
been commenced. Before we had dug far, we found unmistakeable proofs
that the latter building, like the former, had been purposely destroyed.
It was built on a small rocky eminence which commands one of the finest
views to be had within the walls of the city. The _Ædes_, consisting of
_Cella_ and _Pronaos_, occupied the summit, the surrounding rock being
cut in terraces, so that the peristyle was on a lower level than the
_Ædes_. Like other temples, it stood nearly east and west. In the
western end of the _Cella_ were two courses of a pedestal measuring 26
feet by 15, a little to the east of which the floor of the _Cella_ sank
two feet. The eastern front had so entirely disappeared, that a
satisfactory plan of the entrance could not be made, and the positions
of the columns marked on the Plan are partly conjectural. The columns
themselves, many fragments of which were lying around the temple, were
deeply fluted, and of the Doric order, and measured 4 feet 5 inches in
diameter. In the eastern or lower part of the _Cella_ we discovered a
few fragments of sculpture of very fine style, but so small and so few
in number, as to make us only sorry that there were no more. The most
perfect of these fragments were two small marble statuettes, probably of
Venus and the nymph Cyrene, which have been photographed together (Plate
67); and perhaps the most remarkable were three or four parts of a
colossal male head now put together in the British Museum. As it
measures 1 foot 8 inches in height, the statue to which it belonged must
have been 11 or 12 feet high; but not another fragment of it was to be
seen.
[Illustration: Pl. 56.
CYRENE. PLAN OF THE SMALLER TEMPLE NEAR THE STADIUM. BY COMMANDER E. A.
PORCHER R.N.
_Day & Son, Lithrs. to the Queen_]
Shortly before this time, we had discovered a statue of Minerva, and
another female dressed statue, rather larger than life, at the place
marked on the Plan “Statue of Minerva.” Both statues were but little
injured, so that we hoped, by digging some distance round the place, to
find the heads. We therefore employed more than half our force in
excavating at this place and at the other points near it marked on the
Plan; but we discovered nothing. The removal of the two statues to our
tomb was the first occasion on which we made use of the stone-trucks
brought by the _Assurance_. In the course of the excavations, we found
several _frusta_ of fluted marble columns, which no doubt formed part of
the building to which the statues belonged. The small building between
the statue of Minerva and the wall of the citadel was probably a
monument.
On the 31st of July we returned with our whole force to the Temple of
Apollo and its immediate neighbourhood. As already mentioned, it was
only now that we were able to complete the excavation of that building.
Besides the sculptures found in the Temple itself, we discovered on its
northern and eastern sides altogether four statues, four statuettes,
fourteen heads of different sizes, and seven inscriptions. A seated
figure, rather larger than life, which was lying on the surface, was
noticed by Beechey, who thought it was Diana; but which we made out to
be Archippe, of the family of the Ptolemaic dynasty, from the following
inscription on the base:—
ΑΡΧΙΠΠΑΝΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ
ΕΥΙΝΙΕΡΙΤΕΥΟΥΣΑΝΠΤΟΛΕ.
It was in a very imperfect state of preservation, owing to its long
exposure on the surface of the ground.
Near it we found what appeared to be a copy of itself on a small scale,
so much alike in every respect were the two figures. The girdle
encircling the waist was distinctly striped on both edges with bright
vermilion. The most remarkable of the large statues found at this place
was a colossal female figure, seven feet in height, in very good
condition; most probably a portrait of one of the queens of Egypt
(Photograph Plate 68). The head was separate, and the body broken in
two, the lower half of which was found in an upright position, and the
upper half lying across it, with the head on the top. Another statue,
life-size, discovered here, was a draped figure, the portrait of an old
man; and among the smaller statues may be mentioned a nude figure of
Bacchus, 3 feet 7 inches in height.
At the western end of the platform, near the large theatre, we excavated
the small building marked on the Plan, in which we found a statuette and
some small marble heads. We also examined the ruins toward the eastern
end of the platform, but found no traces of sculpture in any of them.
We finished the above excavations near the Temple of Apollo on the 14th
of August, after which we tried nine separate buildings in different
parts of the city without success. On the 23rd we commenced the
excavation of the building to the westward of the Temple of Bacchus,
marked “Palace” on the Map. Our attention was attracted to this place by
the torso of a Roman emperor in armour, which had been seen forty years
before by Beechey, who was of opinion that it was the statue of one of
the Ptolemies. Considering the number of years it must have lain exposed
on the surface of the ground, the marble was in a wonderfully good state
of preservation. After removing it to our tomb, we commenced digging in
the immediate neighbourhood of the spot in which it was found. In the
course of our excavations we found traces of a large building consisting
of several rooms, some of which had their walls and floors veneered with
thin slabs of marble. The division of the building into separate rooms,
its central and prominent position in the city, and the nature of the
sculpture we discovered in it, led us to believe that it had most
probably been the palace of the Roman governor. Lying on the floor about
four feet below the surface, we found a large female draped statue in
very good condition, measuring 5 feet 11 inches in height, but without
the head, which we failed to discover. We also found busts, life-size,
of Antoninus Pius and another Roman emperor, quite uninjured (Photograph
Plates 69 and 70); a female bust well preserved, three heads, and three
inscriptions. These sculptures, as they were found, were all thickly
coated with an incrustation of sand and lime, which has been most
successfully removed in the British Museum by frequently steeping them
in warm water.
From the 3rd of September little excavation was done for a fortnight,
most of our workmen being employed in improving and repairing the road
to Marsa Sousah, preparatory to the removal of the statues when a vessel
should arrive. The point that particularly required our attention was
the Augubah, near the shore, which had caused so much trouble and delay
when the _Assurance_ was with us. On that occasion, we had discovered
the track of the ancient road winding round the faces of the hills at a
comparatively easy slope; and we now resolved to make it, if possible,
practicable for the waggons. In many parts it was almost quite hidden
with brushwood, and in others it had totally disappeared, owing to the
slip of its embankment or retaining-wall, caused by the rush of water
down the steep face of the hill during the heavy rains in winter. By
clearing away the brushwood, restoring cuttings and embankments, and in
some places making an entirely new section, we succeeded in forming a
road by which it was possible to take the waggons up and down the
mountain without resorting to the laborious and tedious expedients which
we had formerly been obliged to adopt. We also cleared and improved our
old road the whole way from Cyrene.
Meantime, a few men had been employed digging at the site marked “Temple
of Venus,” a little to the south-west of the Temple of Bacchus. When the
road to Marsa Sousah was finished, we employed all the workmen at this
building, the excavation of which we had barely finished when H.M.S.
_Melpomene_ arrived on the 26th of September. Of the temple itself
nothing but the foundations remained, although it yielded a large amount
of sculpture.
The _Ædes_, which consisted of _Cella_ and _Pronaos_, was 84 feet in
length by 35 feet in breadth. No trace of a peristyle could be found.
The floor of the western half of the _Cella_ was on a higher level than
that of the rest of the building, access being had to it by flights of
steps in front and at the sides, as shown in the Plan and Section. At
the corners of the steps were two circular pedestals, on the northern of
which faint traces of an inscription could be seen, although it was too
much worn away to be deciphered. In the eastern part of the _Cella_ were
six large pedestals of sandstone _in situ_, on which, in all
probability, stood the statues which we found near them. As the floor of
the Temple was covered with only three or four feet of soil, we
completed the excavation of the whole building in little more than a
week. We found statues and other pieces of sculpture in every part of
it, but did not discover either the principal statue or any inscription
by which the Temple could certainly be identified. Our reason for
calling it the “Temple of Venus,” was that we found in it altogether
statues or statuettes of that goddess. One of these, a small nude figure
of Venus Euploia, is remarkably graceful (Photograph Plate 71). In some
of the other figures she is represented half-draped, with Cupid by her
side, seated on a dolphin (Photograph Plate 72). Three of the statues
discovered in this temple were life-size, or rather larger. One of them
is the figure of a female, perhaps a queen, with a very peculiar head-
dress (Photograph Plate 73), and the two others, which may be called a
_pair_ of statues, represent hunters equipped for the chase. The smaller
statues, besides those of Venus, were, one of Pan, 3 feet 11 inches in
height, and a draped one, 4 feet 8 inches in height, of Apollo or
Aristæus resting on a rod encircled by the coils of a serpent. Both of
these figures were all but perfect, and that of Pan still retained much
of its original colouring. We also discovered three female busts in very
perfect condition, two of which, of life-size, had curious high head-
dresses, somewhat Elizabethan in appearance (Photograph Plate 74). The
other, which is considerably smaller, is of a peculiarly transparent
marble resembling alabaster. Some heads were also found besides those
belonging to the statues and statuettes; among which may be mentioned a
perfect one of Minerva, smaller than the similar head found in the
Temple of Apollo, and a small marble head of Perseus (Photograph Plate
75). A slab of marble was also found, containing in relief a
representation of Libya crowning with laurel the nymph Cyrene, who is in
the act of strangling a lion (Photograph Plate 76). Beneath the group,
and on the same slab, are four lines of inscription which explain the
allegorical myth which forms the subject of the sculpture.
[Illustration: Pl. 57.
CYRENE. PLAN OF A TEMPLE TO THE S.W. OF THE TEMPLE OF BACCHUS. BY
COMMANDER E. A. PORCHER R.N.
Day & Son, Lith. to the Queen]
In the Temple of Venus we discovered altogether six statues of various
sizes, twenty-nine small statuettes, three busts, twenty-six separate
heads, including those which belonged to the statues and statuettes, one
bas-relief, and three inscriptions. About ten yards to the eastward of
the Temple we saw the two pedestals containing the inscriptions copied
by Beechey.