. History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria . hasapplied this name to the tomb of Alyattes. THE TUMULUS OF ALYATTES 51 opportunity of proving to what extent he had gained His predecessors had been obliged to finishtheir- work at their own expense and by forced labour; ^but in the case of Alyattes the three wealthiest classesof the population, the merchants, the craftsmen, and thecourtesans, all united to erect for him an enormoustumulus, the re-mains of whichstill rise 220 feetabove the plainsof the sub-structureconsisted of a cir-cular waU of greatbl
. History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria . hasapplied this name to the tomb of Alyattes. THE TUMULUS OF ALYATTES 51 opportunity of proving to what extent he had gained His predecessors had been obliged to finishtheir- work at their own expense and by forced labour; ^but in the case of Alyattes the three wealthiest classesof the population, the merchants, the craftsmen, and thecourtesans, all united to erect for him an enormoustumulus, the re-mains of whichstill rise 220 feetabove the plainsof the sub-structureconsisted of a cir-cular waU of greatblocks of limestoneresting on thesolid rock, and itcontained in thecentre a vault ofgrey marble which was reached by a vaulted passage. Ahuge mound of red clay and yellowish earth was raisedabove the chamber, surmounted by a small columnrepresenting a phallus, and by four stelse covered withinscriptions, erected at the four cardinal points. It followsthe traditional type of burial-places in use among theold Asianic races, but it is constructed with greater. ONE OF THE LTDIAN OENAMENTS IN THE 1 This, afc least, seems to be the import of the passage in Clearchus ofSoli, where that historian gives an account of the erection of the Tomb ofthe Courtesan. ^ Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph. 52 THE IRANIAN CONQUEST regularity than most of them; Alyattes was laid withinit in 561, after a glorious reign of forty-nine years.^ It was wholly due to him that Lydia was for themoment raised to the level of the most powerful stateswhich then existed on the eastern shores of the Mediter-ranean. He was by nature of a violent and uncontrolled
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