Discoveries in Asia Minor

Extract

At the commencement of our cruise along the south coast of Asia Minor we first touched at Capo Krio and examined closely the tombs in the neighbourhood of Cnidos, which were constructed on rising ground about two miles to the east of the ancient town. Most of them were about 20 ft. square; some built entirely of polygonal masonry, others with the sides in polygonal masonry and the fronts in square-cut stones. Along this front ran a narrow line of square-cut stones on which in most cases traces of inscriptions appeared, but owing to the nature of the stone almost all the letters were defaced with the exception of the following:

…. ΤΑΣΣΑΣΕΡΜ. ΑΣ. …

In the upper chambers were many grave altars and memorial tablets; in two graves we found altars with snakes represented as coiled around them, and in another an altar with the ordinary bull's head and garland decoration, bearing the inscription ΟΔΑΜΟΣ (ἀνέθηκεν).

Proceeding along Capo Krio to the point where the land contracts into a narrow isthmus we found traces of other tombs which have lately been exposed to view by the washing away of the soil by a winter's flood. In these tombs have been found many small marble figures similar to those I found at Antiparos and described in this Journal (vol. v. p. 50). One represents a figure seated in a chair playing a harp similar to that in the Museum at Athens, which was found at Amorgos, another is of a female figure with a crescent on her head similar to one which I have seen, and which was discovered in the island of Tenos.