The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1913-05-16
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Xxi II, explore the wonderful
LMl LIZ group of rock-monuments
H4 H and sites in Central Asia
EJE1 ISL Minor which attests the
k2:4S) short-lived splendor Of the
Phrygian kingdom be-
tween, say, 800 and $50 B. C. That
someone should do this with adequate
funds and official support has long
been desired devoutly. The extraor-
binary and enigmatic character OF the
monuments, the place which their
one hand. and. possibly, in Assyrian
annals on the other-the significance
of the position which they occupied
on the great east-west roads Of pre-
Persian times-the mystery which OBJ
scu,es their origin and the uncertain
ty Of their ultimate fate-all these
considerations combine to make the
excavation Of the central site, and a
survey of its neighborhood, most I'M
pcrtant for archaeologists and his
to-lans. We know no ancient name
for that central site-it SENS to have
bren as nameless in the later Greek
and the Roman times as now-and
FIR want of better, Ramsay. who has
explored the district more thoroughly
than anyone else, called 1t the Midas
City.
This name was suggested to him BY
the great tomb-if it be one-which is
the principal monument of the place
aud of the district and. in its way. OF
all Asia Minor. / saw it twenty-five
years ago. and still hold 1t without a
rival of It's kind A cliff nearly one
hundred feet high has been artif1c:"lly
scarped from top to bottom and cut
back to a smooth face, an 1nterlacing
fret design being left standing out in
relief over the whole vast expanse.
At the foot is a small false door: at
the top the rock has been shaped
into a noble pediment. like that of a
Greek temple. and inscribed, in large
Greek-looking Phrygian characters.
with words among which stands out
the name Of Midas, son of Lavaltas.
The holiness Of the whole conception
on that great scale. its faultless execu-
ton, and the rich simplicity Of the
decoration produce the most powerful
impression. Standing before it. but
far enough away to take In the gen
cral effect. one confesses 1t Is not to
he surpassed. And one can imagine
the feelings of Martin Leake when
having arrived and camped in the val
ley after dark one night in 1900, all.
unconscious. like everybody else in
Europe. that such thing existed, he
woke to see the tomb OF Midas in the
first light Of morning.
A tomb It should be on the analogy
Of lesser monuments in the district
which have it's facade. of something
like it, In miniature; but no burial
chamber of Midas has been detected
'rhe lesser tombs often show reliefs
Of human figures. or of lions or both
sometimes Of the Phrygian Cybele
Guarded by her lions. After the
Midas tamb. the most famous are the
Lion tombs at Ayazinn. some distance
TO the south. One of these, now faller
in huge fragments. has not only magni
tcent lions of very Asyrian appear
ance on the sides lit was made gu
Of a projecting bastion Of rock), bu
relief of two warriors In crestet
helmets attacking strange Gorgol
creature with their leveled spears
the ether has two rampant lion
guarding its door. which have ofte,
been compared to the rampant beast
over the gate Of the citadel at Myce
nae. Some Of the smaller tombs II