A HISTORY OF DISCOVERIES AT HALICARNASSUS, CNIDUS, AND BRANCHID/E.* Mn.
Navrrox's long promised and long expected work on the recent excavation at Budrum, the ancient Halicarnassus, has at length sp-
eared eared : or rather, we should say, we are presented with a very e instalment of the work in its entirety—the portions as yet published being the whole of the plates, and half of the text. The plates and illustrations relate to the discoveries made by the author, not only at Halicarnassus, but also at Cnidus and Branchidte—while the text, or narrative, explanatory of this latter field of labour and research, is still a " due debt," but an unpaid one, from the author to the public. The "public" did we say? We fear that, as matters stand at present, the book-reading world will see but little of the magnificent and elaborate work whose title we have prefixed to these remarks, even when it arrives at completion; for, to say the truth, so accustomed have we become to volumes at half-guinea, at five shillings, at half-a-crown, and even at a shilling, and so disposed are we to rely on Mr. Mudie for our supply of the current literature of the day, in its more inviting forms of 8vo, post 8vo, and 12mo volumes, that few except the very rich and the very learned—condi- tions rarely fulfilled in the same individual—will be likely to be- come possessors of a work, of which the text forms two volumes imperial 8vo, while the plates occupy one of the largest and hand- somest elephant folio volumes on which it has ever been our good fortune to set our eyes. Accordingly, the work has been published by subscription, and at a very high price, comparatively speaking, --and consequently only a very limited number of impresiions have been struck off.
The narrative of Mr. Newton's researches at Halicarnassus is short and simple, with the exception of the chapter contributed to the volume by his colleague, Mr. Pullen, in which that gentleman pro- poses his own plan for the restoration of the ancient mausoleum which Mr. Newton had the good luck and perseverance to bring to light, after its very site had been forgotten and had become a subject of speculation to travellers and antiquarians.
• „A History of Discoveries at Haticarnassut, C'aidus, and Branchida. By C. T. Irewwitopnn,, M.A., Keeper of the Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum. by R. P. Pullan, F.RI.B.A. Vol. I., Plates ; Vol. IL, Part 1, Text. Day and Sons, Lithographers to the Queen. 1862.
We shall not attempt to =7 our readers through the early history of Caria, of its earliest inhabitants, and Greek colonists, but will content ourselves with referring the reader who is curious in such • matters to the pages of Herodotus for information of that kind. It is enough to say that Halicarnassus, or as it is now styled, Budrum, was not only the birthplace of the Father of History, but the capital of Caria in the middle- of the fourth century before the Christian era; that under the able rule and maritime enterprise of its king Mausolus, and under his widow and successor Artemisia, it became a flourishing and important city, and that in it, during the brief interval which elapsed between her husband's death and her own (B.c. 353-351), the Queen erected that magnificent sepulchre and monument which was counted by the Carian people one of the wonders of the world, and which has given rise to the term " Mausoleum," as the designation of all large sepulchral monuments of the kind down to the present time. It appears from Mr. Newton's work, that travellers who had visited the south-western coast of Asia Minor had reported that they were much struck by the beauty of some lions' heads, of exquisite Grecian art, worked into the walls of the castle of Budrum, an edifice con- structed by the Brusaders. Some ten years ago, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe was our ambassador at the Porte, and with his usual zeal and energy in the antiquarian cause he obtained a firman authorizing their removal, and sent them home to England as a present to the British Museum.
These lions had no sooner reached England than they were made the subject of a " Memoir " by the author, conjointly with Professor Cockerell, R.A., whose early labours in connexion with the explora- tion of Greek antiquities have lately found a permanent record in his noble work on the temples of 2Egina and Arcadia, published last year. In 1855, Mr. Newton was enabled to pay a visit to Budrum, and to make some inquiries into the topography of Halicarnassus, in the hope of fixing the site of the ancient mausoleum, and of establishing the fact that these lions formerly had formed a portion of it. His ele, guided by a knowledge of the various styles of classic art, led him at once to identify these sculptures with portions of the mauso- leum ; and having well weighed all arguments for and against his own view as to the real site of that building, he returned to England, and laid the result of his calculations before Lord Clarendon, who placed at Mr. Newton's disposal the services of a ship of war, together with a small party of Sappers and Miners, and a grant of 20001. in money. In November, 1856, this party, under Mr. Newton and Lieutenant Smith, R.E., arrived at the scene of operations, and on the 1st of January following they broke ground on the spot indicated by Vitru- vim as the true site of the mausoleum,—a site more recently cor- roborated by the opinion of Professor Donaldson, though the latter did not venture upon any excavations when lie visited the place. NVe must refer the reader for details to the chapter devoted by Mr. Newton to the " history of the actual discovery of the mauso- leum," where they will find an account of each successive stage of the excavations of our author. It is enough to state that at the end of a few months Messrs. Newton, Smith and Pullan, found themselves in full possession of the base of the original structure, together with a considerable portion of the materials which composed the edifice itself, and an extensive collection of the sculptures with which it was once adorned, though the latter were all of them, more or less, in a condi- tion of more or less hopeless mutilation. As our readers are pro- bably aware, the whole of these sculptures are now safely housed at the British Museum under these unsightly sheds of rough deal boarding which block up the grand front of the building facing Great Russell- street; and we should be wanting in our duty alike to Mr. Newton and to the public, if we did not add our own voice to that of our contemporaries, and demand from the Government a little better accommodation for the heroes, lions, and horses which have arrived from Halicarnassus. We need, however, say the less on this subject now, since, if recent report speaks true, Lord Palmerston and his colleagues are at length waking up to the necessities of the case. The excavations on the site of the mausoleum brought to light not merely the sculptures and the materials alluded to above, but also the burial chamber itself in which the body of Mausolius lay enshrined; a vase of small dimensions which bore the name of Xerxes, and several lesser articles, including an iron dagger, and handles of diotse. • The sixth chapter of Mr. Newton's book is contributed by Mr. R. P. Pullan, who treats in it of the architectural restoration of the mausoleum. As our readers are aware, Mr. Pullan's proposed restoration, exquisitely beautiful and classical as it strikes us, has been severely criticised by no less an authority than Mr. James Fergusson, in the columns of a sinister-minded contemporary, which enjoys a well- grounded reputation for never saying a good word for any one where a bad one will answer the purpose. Such being the case, we may well claim to hold ourselves excused from stepping in between the rival combatants, and passing on to the remainder of the volume instead.
It is an interesting point which Mr. Newton establishes, that the sculptures which adorned the mausoleum of which ancient Caria was so proud were the work of five bands, though all of one school.
Though it is possible that Scopas and his fellow-artists selected each his subject independently of the rest, yet it is far more " analogous (as Mr. Newton remarks) to the general spirit of Greek art to sup- pose that one motive pervaded the whole of the sculptural decora- tions of the mausoleum, just as we know to have been the case with other celebrated designs, such as that of the Parthenon. What this motive was cannot be now ascertained. If we possessed the prize compositions recited by celebrated poets and rhetoricians at the obse- quies of Mausolus, we might perhaps form some guess as to the theme likely to be selected by the sculptors employed on the decora- tion of his tomb." Be this as it may, the friezes upon it were cer- tainly to a great extent mythical, and in all probability the guadriga which surmounted the entire pile was the symbol and at the same time the means of the dead king's apotheosis. This would seem to be the more probable (judging from the parallel case of Pisistratns
i
and Athend in the first book of Herodotus), from the fact that among the fragments found were parts of a goddess, standing in an erect
position, as if driving a chariot. It is also not a little singular that, as was the case with one of the temples discovered by Mr. Cockerel!, two out of the four friezes were filled with studies taken from the mythical battles of the Amazons and the Centaurs. The four last chapters of the present volume are devoted to some- what detailed accounts of the excavations carried on by Mr. Newton in the vicinity of Halicarnassus ; but into these details we have not the space to follow him, nor perhaps the antiquarian enthitsiasm which would be necessary to qualify us for a dispassionate opinion. The magnificent volume of plates defies criticism by the exquisite finish of its smallest details, and too much praise cannot be expended on so complete a guide to all the principal points of interest in the great discoveries of which we have spoken. The text corresponding to the numerous plates, &c., of Cnidus and Bronchi/lie, will be looked for with all the more interest by those who are privileged with a sight of this volume, for as far as regards %drum, the plates, &c., afford every necessary for the due following of the text.
The accuracy of the maps and plans is evident, as also of the plates in general ; and the separate portions of sculpture from the friezes of the mausoleum are of course true to the originals, from the fact of their being engraved from photographs taken on the spot, during the progress of the researches, by Corporals Spackman and McCartney, R.E. The architectural drawings, among. which are elevations of the temple of Mausolus as itprobably existed in its perfect state (as we have said), are due to Mr. R. P. Pullen, the architect attached to the expedition, who, as we have mentioned, also contributes a chapter of the first part of the text. The plans are the careful work of Lieutenant R. M. Smith, RE., the officer in command of the small detachment of Royal Engineers who were employed on this special service.
The massive character of the walls and fragments of sculpture must strike any one, on the sight of these drawings, as forming a striking contrast to most modern edifices. A slight specimen of the colouring in the interior of the mausoleum is given, and it appears that all its architectural members in general were painted, "the colours being pure red and blue, the materials ultramarine and vermilion, or pigments equal to them in intensity." The marble generally seems to have been toned down with a coat of varnish and wax, while all grounds of sculpture and ornament were painted blue, and the mouldings picked out with red. A mixture of Gothic and classic work is very noticeable in the chapel of the Castle of Budram, which is of course accounted, for by the fact of its occupation by the Knights of St. John of Jeru- salem in the early part of the fifteenth century, who built the Castle of St. Peter out of the ruins of the mausoleum. The views of this castle and of the harbour of Cnidus are particularly pleasing. It only remains to add that the remaining volume, which treats of Mr. Newton's subsequent exhumations at Cnidus and Bronchi* is expected to appear shortly, and that when it does appear we will enter into a short criticism upon it, and refer at greater length to the magnificent volume of plates and illustrations which we have so cursorily mentioned above.
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