theatres instead of one. Opposite to this are the remains of a large edifice, built entirely of tiles. Above the theatre are those of the Hieron of Venus, within whose temple was a statue of the poetess Telesilla, who, at the head of a band of heroines, repulsed from the walls the enemies of her country, the Lacedæmonians. She was represented, says Pausanias, standing upon a pillar, with her books of poetry scattered at her feet, in the act of regarding her helmet, which she was about to place upon her head.

On the sides and lower part of the modern fortress are still seen remains of Cyclopian architecture, as ancient as the citadel of Tiryns, and built in the same style.

"This structure," says Dr. Clarke, "is mentioned by Pausanias, where he states that the inhabitants of Mycenae were unable to demolish the walls of the Argives, built, like those of Tiryns, by the Cyclops. These Cyclopian walls, as well as the towers of Argos, are noticed by Euripides, Polybius, Seneca, Strabo, and Statius. They are also hinted at by Virgil. At the front of the Acropolis we found one of the most curious telltale remains yet discovered among the thirty temples of pagan priestcraft. It was nothing less than one of the oracular shrines of Argos, alluded to by Pausanias, laid open to inspection like the toy a child has broken, in order that he may see the contrivance whereby it was made to speak. A more interesting sight for modern curiosity can hardly be conceived to exist among the ruins of any Grecian city. In its original state it has been a temple; the farther part from the entrance where the altar was being an excavation of the rock, and the front and roof constructed of baked tiles. The altar yet remains, and part of the fictile superstructure; but the most remarkable part of the whole is a secret subterraneous passage, terminating behind the altar, its entrance being at a considera

ble distance towards the right of a person facing the altar, and so cunningly contrived as to have a small aperture, easily concealed, and level with the surface of the rock. This was barely large enough to admit the entrance of a single person, who, having descended in the narrow passage, might creep along until he arrived immediately behind the centre of the altar; where, being hid by some colossal statue or other screen, the sound of his voice would produce a most imposing effect among the humble votaries prostrate beneath, who were listening in silence upon the floor of the sanctuary.”

Argos was consecrated to Juno:* it was subject to different forms of government; its people were brave; they cultivated the arts, but neglected the sciences. Their memory may well be cherished, for they were, both in precept and practice, the kindest and most humane of all the inhabitants of Greece.

ARSINOE.

ARSINOE was situated near the Lake Maris, on the west shore of the Nile, where the inhabitants paid the highest veneration to crocodiles. They fed them in a costly manner, embalmed them after they were dead, and buried them in the subterranean cells of the Labyrinth; thence the city was called, in ancient times, Crocodilopolis. When the Greeks conquered Egypt, they altered its name to Arsinoe.

*The district of Argos received the first colonies which introduced civilization into Greece. It has been reckoned the cradle of the Greeks, the theatre of events which distinguished their earliest annals, and the country which produced their first heroes and artists. It was accordingly in the temple of Juno at Argos where the Doric order first rose to a marked eminence, and became the model for the magnificent edifices afterward erected in the other cities, states, and islands.-CIVIL ARCHI

TECTURE.

† The Egyptians had a great zeal for their gods. "Among

This name it retained in the time of Adrian; and Greek medals were struck here in honour of that emperor, as well as of Trajan. Its ruins are thus described by Belzoni: "On the morning of the 7th I went to see the ruins of the ancient Arsinoe; it had been a very large city, but nothing of it remains except high mounds of all sorts of rubbish. The chief materials appear to have been burned bricks. There were many stone edifices, and a great quantity of wrought granite. In the present town of Medinet I observed several fragments of granite columns and other pieces of sculpture, of a most magnificent taste. It is certainly strange that granite columns are only to be seen in this place and near the Pyramids, six miles distant. Among the ruins at Arsinoe I also observed various fragments of statues of granite, well executed, but much mutilated; and it is my opinion that this town has been destroyed by violence and fire. It is clearly seen that the new town of Medinet is built out of the old town of Arsinoe, as the fragments are to be met with in every part of the town. The large blocks of stone have been diminished in their size, but enough is left to show the purposes for which they originally served. About the centre of the ruins I made an excavation in an ancient reservoir, which I found to be as deep as the bottom of the Bahr-Yousef; and which was, no doubt, filled at the time of the inundation, for the accommodation of the town. There are other similar wells in these ruins, which prove that this was the only mode they had of keeping water near them, as the river is at some distance from the

us," says Cicero," it is very common to see temples robbed, and statues carried off; but it was never known that any person in Egypt ever abused a crocodile; for its inhabitants would have suffered the most extreme torments rather than be guilty of such sacrilege." It was death for any person to kill one of these animals voluntarily.

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town. Among these mounds I found several specimens of glass, of Grecian manufacture and Egyptian workmanship, and it appears to me that this town must have been one of the first note in Egypt."

Near this city was the Labyrinth, so greatly celebrated in ancient times, that Pliny regarded it as the most astonishing effort of human genius. Herodotus saw it, and he assures us that it was still more surprising than the Pyramids. It was built at the most southern part of Lake Moris. It was not so much one single palace as a magnificent pile, composed of twelve palaces, regularly disposed, which had a communication with each other. Fifteen hundred rooms, interspersed with terraces, were ranged round twelve halls, and discovered no outlet to such as went to see them. There were the like number of chambers under ground. Those subterraneous structures were designed for the burying-place of the kings; "and who," says Rollin, "can say this without confusion, and without deploring the blindness of man, for keeping the sacred crocodiles, which a nation, so wise in other respects, worshipped as gods?" In order to visit the rooms and halls of the Labyrinth, it was necessary for people to take the same precaution as Ariadne made Theseus use when he was obliged to go and fight the Minotaur in the labyrinth of Crete, and which Virgil describes in the following manner :

And in the Cretan labyrinth of old,

With wandering ways, and many a winding fold,
Involved the weary feet without redress,

In a round error, which denied recess;

Not far from thence he graved the wondrous maze;
A thousand doors, a thousand winding ways.

Of this monument no more is now to be found than amid the ruins of Babel Caroan and Casr Caroan. "Hereafter," says Savary," when Europe shall have restored to Egypt the sciences it received thence, perhaps the sands and rubbish which hide the sub

terranean part of the Labyrinth will be removed, and precious antiquities obtained. Who can say that the discoveries of the learned were not preserved in this asylum, equally impenetrable to the natives and foreigners? If the dust of Herculaneum, an inconsiderable city, has preserved so many rarities and instructive remains of art and history, what may not be expected from the fifteen hundred apartments in which the archives of Egypt were deposited, since the governors assembled here to treat on the most important affairs of religion and state?"

ARTEMITA.

ARTEMITA was a large town in Mesopotamia, according to Pliny the naturalist; but Strabo more correctly places it in Babylonia, five hundred stadia* east of Seleucia, on the banks of the lake Arsissa, now called Argish.

Though Chosroes was undoubtedly sovereign of Ctesiphon, and built the splendid palace of which the remains are still visible, he did not approach the gates of that city for nearly four-and-twenty years. His favourite residence was Dustegerd (Artemita), situated on the Tigris, not less than sixty miles north of Ctesiphon; and here, to give the reader some idea of the power and splendour of this prince, we cite the following description. "The adjacent pastures were covered with flocks and herds; the paradise, or park, was replenished with pheasants, peacocks, ostriches, roebucks, and wild boars; and the noble game of lions and tigers were sometimes turned loose for the bolder pleasures of the chase. Nine hundred and sixty elephants were maintained for the use and splendour of the great king; his tents and

* A stadium was a Roman measure of 625 feet.-Am. Ed.