CHAPTER X. PALMYRA. GENERAL ASPECT OF THE RUINS.-GREAT DESERT.-GRAND GATEWAY.-GRAND AVENUE OF COLUMNS. -GATEWAYS.-RUINED BUILDINGS.-COLONNADES.-RUIN "Ici, me dis-je, ici fleurit jadis un ville opulente: ici fut le siege d'un empire puissante. Oui, ces lieux maintenant si déserts, jadis une multitude vivante animait leur enceinte; une foule active circulait dans ces routes aujourd'hui solitaires. En ces murs où regne un morne silence, retentissait sans cesse le bruit des arts et les cris d'allegresse et de fêtes." LA MEDITATION DE VOLNEY. OCT. 30th.-Passing through the mud houses of the humble village of Tadmor clustered round the great Temple of the Sun, and surrounded by detached columns, portions of the majestic double portico which once closed this vast area, we emerged from the narrow gateway and looked over the plain of yellow sand extending from this raised platform of ruins to the base of the moun THE RUINS OF PALMYRA. 285 tains, covered with long avenues of columns, ruined gateways, and shattered temples; but it is on descending to the plain, passing on the left a ruined mosque, and walking over prostrate columns and heaps of stones, that these wonderful ruins burst upon the eye in all their imposing extent and grandeur of situation. No modern structures or dwellings encumber them, no sign of life or cultivation takes off from the deep solitude of the spot, the bright light streams between lines of columns losing themselves in the distance, and heaps of stone shading the sand in different directions, mark the site of a temple or a palace. I did not share in the disappointment expressed by one of our travellers, because the columns of these porticos were not above half the height of the columns of the great Temple of Baalbec, not at all expecting to find columns composing lines of porticos extending for a mile, of the same gigantic size as those of the peristyle court of a temple, any more than I should expect the portico of the Quadrant in Regent's Street, to be composed of columns as high as the Duke of York's column in Waterloo Place. Nor do I at all agree in the opinion, that the details of the architecture are unworthy of admiration: true it is, that the capitals of the columns, and all the more deli cately sculptured parts, possess none of the deep and sharp cutting that one sees at Baalbec; but this is entirely owing to the corroding effects of the sciroc wind from the desert, for on examining those parts which were sheltered from the weather, and disengaging the fallen fragments from the sand in which they lie buried, we found them beautifully and deeply chiselled. These ruins are quite different from Baalbec, and no comparison can be instituted between the two. The ruins of Baalbec consist merely of two magnificent temples, enclosed in a sort of citadel, while here, over an immense area, we wander through the ruins of long porticos leading up to ruined temples, and unknown buildings. Now we see a circular colonnade sweeping round with its ruined gateway at either end; now we come to the prostrate walls or ruined chambers of a temple or a palace; anon we explore the recesses of a bath or the ruins of an aqueduct; then we mount the solitary staircases, and wander through the silent chambers of the tombs, ornamented with busts, inscriptions, and niches for the coffins stored with mouldering bones; and from the summits of funereal towers, five stories in height, we look down upon this mysterious assemblage of past magnificence, and beyond them upon the THE RUINS OF PALMYRA. 287 vast level surface of the desert, silent and solitary, stretching away like the vast ocean, till it is lost in distance. Far as the eye can reach, the dwelling of man is not visible, the vastness and immensity of space strikes with awe, and the mouldering monuments of human pride that extend around, teach us a sad lesson of the instability of all earthly greatness. Directing your steps from the citadel, you pass a lofty solitary column, and arrive at the grand gateway of three arches, opening on the grand avenue of columns. On the left extends a line of columns, broken at intervals; you pass, erect on a pedestal, a magnificent column of one single block of Thebaic granite, another lies entire, and prostrate at its foot, and a third scatters its dissevered masses across the path. A continuous range of forty-eight columns extends on the left, with two gateways opening on other columns, and ruined buildings. To the right, is seen a small and elegant temple, and the stumps of columns rising above the sand, mark the direction of antient porticos. The first part of the colonnade, terminates at four platforms of stone, with enormous pedestals for statues still resting on two of them; scattered columns, branching off to the right and left, shew that this was the point where four avenues of columns met. To the left, are seen prostrate walls, and masses of ruined buildings; a circular colonnade, and a ruined gateway. Continuing onwards, you find the portico slightly altering its direction. To the southward, a line of columns presents an imposing front, and you pause at the end of the long main avenue before a ruined temple, to which it leads. To the west, is seen another temple on a raised platform of stone, to which you ascend by many steps over the fallen capitals and broken shafts of columns; below is a small and simple gateway, beside it the broken shafts of two fluted columns. At the further end of the temple is a raised circular recess, and from the slight elevation on turning round, one of the most striking and impressive scenes in the world is suddenly presented to the sight. A long line of columns broken at intervals is seen stretching away across the sandy plain in the direction of the citadel or elevated platform of ruins, above the lofty walls of which rise several majestic columns standing out clear and distinct against the deep blue sky: across the plain, to the west of this line of columns, extend prostrate heaps of ruins, groups of columns, the broken shafts and stumps of others, whilst here and there a solitary |