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antiquities, delivered about 1000 years afterwards, is this,-"Solomon went as far as the desert above Syria, and possessed himself of it, and built there a very great city, which was distant two days' journey from Upper Syria, and one day's journey from Euphrates, and six long days' journey from Babylon the Great. Now the reason why this city lay so remote from the parts of Syria that are inhabited, is this; that below there is no water to be had, and that it is in that place only that there are springs and pits of water. When he had therefore built this city, and encompassed it with very strong walls, he gave it the name of Tadmor, and that is the name it is still called by at this day among the Syrians; but the Greeks name it Palmyra."

Even now, at the end of nearly 2,800 years from its foundation, its present inhabitants, according to Mr. Wood, know it by no other name than that of Tadmor. "But," he observes, "that these ruins which we visited were the works of Solomon, we only offer as the established opinion of the present inhabitants of Palmyra, who, perfectly satisfied of the truth of it, add several curious anecdotes, and point out his seraglio, his harem, the tomb of a favourite concubine, with several other particulars, all these mighty things, say they, Solyman Ebn Doud (Solomon, the son of David,) did by the assistance of spirits." This belief of the Arabs, that he was assisted in his mighty works by the agency of spirits, may probably have originated in the expressions used by the sacred historian in the 28th chapter of the first book of Chronicles, concerning the plans of the temple, which David, a short time before his decease, delivered to his son Solomon, namely,—" The pattern of all that he had by the spirit."-And, further on, "All this," said David, "the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand (his spirit) upon me, even all the works of this pattern." Without, however, laying too great a stress upon the traditions held by the present inhabitants of the desert, I am of opinion that they are entitled to some little respect, and that we cannot fairly dismiss them entirely from the argument; especially when it is considered, that the Arabs have been in constant possession of the desert during a period of at least 3,400 years; and that no people on earth are more attached than they are to their

ancient traditions and opinions. Mr. Wood, in his account of Balbec, says, “The inhabitants of this country, Mahometans, Jews and Christians, all confidently believe that Solomon built both Balbec and Palmyra."

Volney, in his observations on Tadmor and Balbec, and on the opinions of the present inhabitants of these places, remarks, in his usual dogmatical way, that "it is in vain to oppose reason to ignorance and prejudice; and it would be no less ridiculous to attempt to prove to them, that Solomon never was acquainted with the Corinthian order, which was only in use under the Roman Emperors."

Whatever may be the ignorance and prejudice of these inhabitants, Volney himself appears to have possessed, at least, an equal portion of both, which he displays on every occasion with a flippancy and presumption characteristic of the school to which he belonged. He and other believers in the Greek fable of the basket and acanthus root, modestly require us to dismiss from the argument the evidences of genuine history, and the reasonable traditions constantly held by those who are lineally descended from the founders of these glorious works: this they require, without producing in support of their own favourite creed, even a single particle of valid evidence. Volney's violent prejudices and perversions of sacred history, darkened all his paths, and brought him into labyrinths of error, from which, with all his plausible sophistry, he never could extricate himself. However the fact may be, as to the period when this order was first used in Rome, there are two inscriptions in the Greek language on two of the magnificent sepulchres at Tadmor, adorned inside with Corinthian pilasters,) which prove that those monuments were in existence at least a century before the place fell into the possession of the Romans; one of them being dated in the year 314, from the death of Alexander, (or of the era of Seleucus,) and the other in the year 414, of the same era, by one Malchus, stating, that the monument had been built by his ancestors. It was from the inside of this monument, that two of the inscriptions in strange characters were copied by Mr. Wood, and of which I have attempted to give an interpretation.

Doctor Halley, however, supposes it was "not unlikely that many of those marble pillars (at Palmyra) were the gift of the Emperor Adrian, and particularly those of the long portico; for that none of the inscriptions are before that date. And it was usual for the Cæsars to present cities that obliged them with marble pillars to adorn their public buildings." It was not convenient, it seems, to the Doctor's views, to refer to the dates on the sepulchres; for, had he done this, he must have been compelled to acknowledge, with the Rev. Wm. Halifax, who, in the year 1691, examined them on the spot, that, "from these sumptuous mausolœa we may reasonably conclude, they were a potent and opulent people, before they became subject to the Romans, and were not obliged to them for their greatness. Besides, I do not think that it was usual, as the Doctor states, for the Cæsars to present cities in distant conquered countries with marble pillars; I am of opinion that it was more usual for them to plunder the places which they conquered, of their fine pillars and monuments, and to carry home their plunder for the enrichment and edification of Rome, the capital of the world.

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The evidence which these sepulchres present, in my humble opinion, disposes of the claims set up by the advocates of the Romans; for it seems reasonable to suppose, that the prince, or people, who possessed wealth and ability which enabled them to erect in the Corinthian style these sumptuous and costly mausolœa, might likewise possess sufficient means to erect marble palaces and colonnades in the same style. The great colonnade, or portico, which leads to the palace, is stated to have contained 560 marble columns: inside of the court-yard of the palace were 384 columns, running parallel with the walls; and the palace itself in the centre of this court, was supported and adorned with columns of both the Corinthian and Ionic orders; besides innumerable other columns, (some of which are still standing, and the rest thrown down,) lying scattered over a space of about a mile and a half in length: altogether presenting to the astonished traveller, as an elegant writer remarks, "the ruins of a city more extensive and splendid than Rome itself, the deposit of all the arts which Greece in its most flourishing periods could afford."

And this consideration, Sir, naturally suggests an important

question, which is this;-is it probable that the Roman Emperors, who were the greater part of their time engaged in expensive wars, and who generally carried home the spoils of other countries to grace their own triumphs, and to enrich and adorn Rome,--is it probable that they, or any one of them, could ever have thought of building a city in the midst of a sandy desert, more extensive and splendid than Rome itself,—and this at a distance of 1,200 miles from home?

These considerations, oblige me to look to some other quarter for a prince or people, supposed to have leisure, power, wealth, and genius, equal to such an Herculean undertaking; and as I am unable to find a combination of these four requisites among the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, or Parthians, I am brought back to my first proposition, and compelled to look to king Solomon, who, according to Divine history, was a man of peace, and the most wise and wealthy prince that ever lived before, or that should come after him. Both history and tradition point him out as the man, and I am now going to shew that the architectural forms prove it.

Josephus, who lived about a thousand years after the time of Solomon, in giving an account of the great undertakings accomplished by this prince, describes another of his palaces, namely, the house of the forest, as having been built of white marble; that the stones were of an immense size; he mentions the pillars and the Corinthian work; (for that was the term which the Greeks, for whom he wrote, would understand,) the inimitable flower work, the extensive vaults, &c. all of which precisely agree with Mr. Wood's written description and fine plates. The style of the architecture here, is every where the same as at that of Palmyra, but the marble is of a finer quality. So far then, as this account goes, it may serve as a voucher to prove, that the principal buildings at Palmyra were erected by him.

The fabulous account given by Vitruvius, of the nurse placing her basket, covered with a tile, on the root of an acanthus plant, and the incident which gave to Callimachus the original idea of the Corinthian order, is too contemptible to bear a moment's consideration. Mr. Whiston was of opinion, that the temple of Solomon presented the models "from which the most ancient Greek and Roman orders were taken; yet, he says, it is not so clear that the

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last and most ornamental order of the Corinthian was so ancient." It appears to me, however, that this order is clearly indicated in 1st Kings, chap. 7, ver. 19, "And the chapiters (capitals,) that were upon the top of the pillars in the porch, were of lily-work, four cubits." A capital of four of the lesser Hebrew cubits, that is, about 7 feet 8 inches, would be suitable for the shaft of a pillar about 69 feet in height. The shafts of the great palace of Balbec are about six feet shorter. It is only necessary to compare the petals of a fullblown lily, with the artificial leaves of a Corinthian capital, to be convinced of the close resemblance they bear to each other.

The account given by Vitruvius, of the origin of the Ionic order, is no less frivolous than his fable of the Corinthian. He says, "Ion, building a temple to Diana, and seeking some new manner to render it more elegant, had recourse, as before, in the Doric order, to the human figure; the volutes like locks, or plaits of hair, hanging on each side," &c. My own opinion is, that the volutes exactly resemble an ancient volume, open in the middle, but rolled up at both ends; that both orders were used in the construction of the great temple at Jerusalem, as they are in the great palace at Palmyra; the one referring to the original roll of the law preserved in the temple, and the other to the purity of its precepts—the shafts of the pillars presenting an idea, that the law should be firmly supported and administered; and that the happy consequences to the people would be, perpetual strength, concord, and plenty, which, on the entablatures and friezes, are emblematically represented by cherubs, lions, oxen, horses, eagles, doves, palm branches, pomegranates, apples, pears, acorns, honeysuckles, roses, and various other fruits and flowers, all in such perfect proportions, so elegantly designed, and so exquisitely carved, as to fill every beholder with the most lively admiration and astonishment `The 1st book of Kings and the 2nd book of Chronicles, prove that many of the same decorations were placed on the buildings, and on the vessels belonging to the temple, at Jerusalem; and, if we believe, according to the scripture, that God himself instructed Moses, David, and Solomon, in architectural plans, it ought no longer to surprise any one, that the works of the latter, at Balbec and Palmyra, are of the most perfect forms;-such as no suc

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