The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-10-06 00:00:00

THE LiVERPOOL STANDAR6.

SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS.

(From a paper read before the Archeological Society, of
Sussex, by Edwin Keet, Esq.)

The consideration 'of the various modes of sepulture.
and the forms and ceremonies of different nations used
in the interment of the dead, is a subject, if not the most
Pleasing, yet replete with interest to the Antiquary and
lover of the history of past events. "After life's fitful
fever, we sleep well ;" and Shakspere says "our little
life is rounded with a sleep." Volumes have been written
upon marriage ceremonies, funeral processions, and the
modes of interment of the dead by different nations. I
shall, in this brief paper, enumerate a few of the most
striking impressive modes of sepulture, beginning with
the Cromlech, Cairn, and the Barrow, as most peculiar to
the islands of Britain. The Cromlech, of Stonehenge, on
Salisbury Plain, Kit's Coty House, in Kent ; those in
Cornwall, Wales, in Ireland, Scotland, and many parts of
the Continent, are probably the most ancient modes of
sepulture of which we possess any relics. A variety of
opinions are, however, indulged in regarding their origin
and end. One affirms they are altars from Druidical sa-
crifices; another avows they are sepulchral monuments,
where the once mighty now repose in death. A third as-
serts that they are, more particularly that at Stonehenge,
immovable observatories for astronomical observations.
These conflicting opini ins, like those entertained upon
the uses of the Round Towers, will probably never be
fixed satisfactorily to all parties ; and if we consider how
vague and uncertain many of our conjectures are upon the
ancient Etruscans, their monuments, sepulchral caves,
and Cyclopean walls, I know not why our gigantic Crom-
lech may not be part of their history, power, and majestic
skill, now passed away for so many ages. The Cairn is
more open to satisfactory elucidation than the Cromlech :
these abound more in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland than
in Engl,nd. Some of these vast heaps, these monumen-
tal piles, upon which the passing traveller casts his solitary
stone in token of respect for the dead, had one flat slab
upon their apex, upon which sometimes fires were kindled
as beacons ; at others, sacrifices offered to the manes of
the deceased. Warlike instruments, ornaments of the
dress, urns containing bones and ashes, have been fre-
quernly discovered on Cairns, as well as in the vicinity of
Cromlechs. And when Messrs. Rolfe, Roach, Smith,
Fairholt, and myself, explored in the Isle of Thanet,
some Saxon graves, which had been cut into by the Can•
-
terbury and Ramsgate branch of the South-Eastern and
Dover Railway, we came across a small Cairn of great
antiquity. Around the head of the horse, the antlers of
the deer, and many other bones, fragments of many urns,
&c., were placed a vast number of huge boulder stones of
flint. in a circular form, enclosing the urns, fragments of
which had the Romish potters' names upon them, mixed
up with the bones of the animals which had probably been
immolated upon this rude shrine. Up to the present
time, the Scottish Highlander repeats the old proverb in
token of respect, " I will add a stone to your Cairn ;"
but the Welshman says, when he imprecates, " May the
stone of your cairn lay heavy on your head." Some au-
thors have supposed Cairns to have been rude temples or
mounds for religious worship and sacrifice, as well as for
monumental tombs. Barrows were used by the ancient
Greeks. Homer alludes to those erected as tributes of
affection to the memory of departed heroes !!
Herodotus describes the barrow of Cruesus, King of Ly-
dia, as a vast mound of earth raised on a lofty basement
of many huge stones. This grand monumental barrow
was 200 feet high, and three-quarters of a mile in circum-
ference. Many smaller ones were in its vicinity ; some
ornamented with the figures of animals, and others with
pillars with inscriptions. Mr. Jefferson discovered some
very large ones in America, with multitudes of human
bones. Stackhouse, from his extensive observations,
thought barrows in England and Scotland were admirably
adapted, from their situation and eminence, for direct and
speedy communication, without impediment or interrup-
tion. This favours the opinion of their being also used
as beacons, with materials kept ready on their tops for
ignition. Sir Walter Scott vividly describes the firing of
these beacons from hill to hill. The Egyptians, Greeks,
and early Christians buried their dead in catacombs.
Those in Egypt, near Thebes, have a prodigious number
of entrances, and a countless number of catacombs.
When I was in Egypt I witnessed the blasting by gun-
powder of many Greek and early Christian catacombs ;
this idle destruction was for the purpose of procuring
masses of stone to finish the fortifications of Alexandria.
These explosions laid bare a most beautiful Greek sarco-
phagus, which was got out with slight damage; and my
son took a sketch of it—the figures were male and female
gracefully reposing under the palm tree, with heads of
Apollo and other deities. The catacombs without the
walls of Rome, by the kindness of Mr. Gibson, the sculp-
tor, 1 have also explored. I was under ground with a
party of ladies and gentlemen nearly two hours, the en-
trance being so small that only one person could proceed
at a time. We soon found, as we advanced, long streets
or passages full of catacombs, the bones completely turned
into earth, literally, when we touched them, to dust ;
these streets of catacombs we supposed to have extended
more than a mile-and-a-half, indeed they appeared like a
small city of refuge for the early Christians, where the
living and dead alike escaped persecution and destruction
by the tyrants of Rome. The subjects of tombs is full of
interest. The Persian tomb is a circular building, open
at the top, about sixty feet diameter, within this is a well
of eighteen or twenty feet diameter ; around this well the
earth is piled up 25 feet in height. There are three par-
titions in the Persian tomb—one each for men, women,
and children, the bodies are left to feed the vultures, af-
terwards the bones are collected and thrown into the well
by the friends of the deceased. Subterranean passages
leading to the well allow of the occasional removal of the
bones to prevent its filling.
The ancient sepulchres of Russia and Siberia are per-
fect tumuli of great height—they are encompassed with a
high wall of large stones placed in an erect position. The
tombs of the Turks and Moors are generally of a simple
form, except the shiek or priest's tomb, which is a hum-
ble imitation of the Caliph's tomb; the city of Caliph'
tombs,
interest

I climbed a tower of one of these magnificent

tombs, and the prospect was quite enchanting, the whole
city of Cairo, Boulac, the Pyramids, the hills were all be-
fore me in vast perspective. No traveller should cross
the desert on the overland route to India without seeing
the Caliph's tombs, but they are generally so hurried off
from Alexandria on their overland route to India, that