The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1913-02-14

g r is rumored that a Danish
/. !. &. . ! : ! !. . . Il. J. . i !. !. .
RI b expedition is to be sent to
iRI II, explore the wonderful
IBGl L<4 group of rock-monuments
E[S - and sites in Central Asia
ttS1 - Minor which attests the
- SG short-lived splendor of the
--~AS Phrygan kingdom be-
tween. say, 500 and $50 b. c. That
someone should do this with adequate
funds and official support has long
been desired devoutly. The eNtraor-
dinary and enigmatic character of the
monuments, the place which their
makers hold in Greek story on the
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 mys cry which OBJ
scures their origin and the uncertain
" 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
portant for archaeologists and his
for that central site-it SENS to have
been as nameless in the later Greek
and the Roman times as now-and
for want Of better, Ramsay, who has
explored the district more thoroughly
than anyone else, called it the Midas
City
This name suggested to him by
the great tomb-if it be one-which is
the principal monument of the place
and of the district and, in its way, OF
all Asia Minor. I saw it twenty-five
years ago. and still hold it without a
rival of its kind A cliff<nearly one
hundred feet high has been artificially
scarped from top to bottom and cut
back to a smooth face, an interlacing |
fret design being left standing out in |
relief over the whole vast eXpanse |
At the foot is small false door; at |
the top the rock has been shaped |
into a noble pediment, like that of
Greek temple, and inscribed, in large |
Greek-looking Phrygian characters,
with words among which stands out .
the name Of Midas, son of Lavaltas.
The boldness Of the whole conception
on that great scale, its faultless eXecu-
tion, and the rich simplicity of the
decoration produce the most powerful
impression Standing before it, but
far enough away to take in the gen
eral effect one confesses it is not to
be 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 a 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 its facade, Of something
like 1t, in miniature; but no burial
chamber OF Midas has been detected.
The 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
10 the south One of these, now fallen
in huge fragmens, has not only magni-
ficent lions Of very Asyrian appear
ance on the sides 0t was made out
of a projecting bastion of rock), but
n relief Of two warriors in crested
helmets attacking a strange Gorgon
creature with their leveled spears
the other has two rampant lions
guarding its door which have often
been compared to the rampant beasts
over the gate Of the citadel at Myce-
nae. Some Of the smaller tombs in