Journey through Arabia Petraea, to Mount Sinai, and the excavated city of Petra, the edom of the prophesis . itselfto the traveller on entering Petrafrom the eastward. It is entirelyhewn out of the live rock ; thediameter of the podium is onehundred and twenty feet, thenumber of seats thirty-three, andof the cunii three. There wasno break, and consequently novomitories. The scene, unfor-tunately, was built, and not ex-cavated ; the whole is fallen, andthe bases of four columns onlyremain on its interior face. Thetheatre is surrounded by sepul-chres ; every avenue leading to it is full of them,
Journey through Arabia Petraea, to Mount Sinai, and the excavated city of Petra, the edom of the prophesis . itselfto the traveller on entering Petrafrom the eastward. It is entirelyhewn out of the live rock ; thediameter of the podium is onehundred and twenty feet, thenumber of seats thirty-three, andof the cunii three. There wasno break, and consequently novomitories. The scene, unfor-tunately, was built, and not ex-cavated ; the whole is fallen, andthe bases of four columns onlyremain on its interior face. Thetheatre is surrounded by sepul-chres ; every avenue leading to it is full of them, and one may safelysay that a hundred of the largestdimensions are visible from , throughout almost everyquarter of this metropolis, the de-positories of the dead must havepresented themselves constantlyto the eyes of the inhabitants, andhave almost outnumbered thehabitations of the living; thereis a long line of them not farfrom the theatre, at such an angleas not to be comprehended in theview from it, but which musthave formed a principal objectfor the city itself.—Irhy andMangles, p. THEATRE. 163 labour ; but to form it thus from a rocky sub-stance is an enterprise still more astonishing. Thebenches, though worn by use and by the waterswhich run over them from the heights, are prettywell preserved, and permit an accurate plan to betaken of the interior. The situation of the stagemay be easily ascertained; and we saw also severalbases of columns, the original position of which itwas not difficult to conjecture. But what sur-prised us most was the selection of such a spot fora place of amusement, considering the prospectit afforded on all sides of death and its man-sions, which touch the very sides of the a strange habit of mind the people of Petramust have possessed, thus to familiarise themselvesso constantly to the idea of death, as Mithridatesaccustomed himself to poison in order to renderhimself insensible to its effects! M. Linant took the s
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