Medical and topographical observations upon the Mediterranean; and upon Portugal, Spain, and other countries / by G.R.B. Horner.

  • G. R. B. Horner
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical and topographical observations upon the Mediterranean; and upon Portugal, Spain, and other countries / by G.R.B. Horner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Se The integuments of some were peeling off, and leaving the bones of the face exposed; some had the lower jaw nearly ready to lose its last hold on the upper, and hanging down upon the bosom ; and others had lost the arms and legs, and left the sack cloth ribly in death on those below. This sight was, without exception, the most disgusting and terrific] have ever witnessed. To the westward of this convent, near the road to Catania, are four other places of interest. The ruins of what is called the custom- house, of which only a few pillars of parti-coloured marble remain; the tomb of Archimedes; the amphitheatre; and catacombs. This tomb is one of a number cut out of the rock, and has a solitary fluted pillar on one side of its mouth. It is the size of a small chamber, and in its sides has niches wherein the urns containing the ashes of the dead were placed. The amphitheatre is three hundred paces in circumference, of an elliptical shape, has two galleries around it, one above the other; and probably had a third one, after the usual plan, above these, as there is a large quantity of rubbish around the building, showing that its height has been much | greater. The lower benches are hewn from the rock, forming the base. The chief entrance is on the north side, and is a spacious arched way supporting some of the upper benches, and extending to the arena: this being covered by a rich soil is now converted into a garden. This amphitheatre when complete was capable of hold- ing, it is said, thirty thousand spectators. j Should the traveller not be too sensitive to cold and dampness, after viewing the amphitheatre and other things above ground, he may go to the catacombs, where he will find a Capuchin Friar, living in a cottage at the entrance, who with a lighted. flambeau will descend with him into them, and show their vaulted passages and tombs laid off like the streets and houses of a town. The passages are of sufficient breadth for several persons to walk abreast, are lighted by circular holes at top, intersect each other at right angles, and have the tombs on their sides. The tombs are commonly vaults, with from four to eight graves of about a foot in depth, cut out at bottom, placed parallel to each other transversely, with respect to the vault, and decreasing in size from the front to the back one. In some of the streets are sarcophagi of large dimensions, and in the centre of this gloomy mansion of the dead is a rotunda, forty feet in diameter, twenty feet high, having a vaulted ceiling with a skylight in the centre, and containing within its walls the tombs of the nobility. The rotunda, vaults, streets, and all other parts are hollowed out of the solid rock, and are almost us perfect as when made. So many years have elapsed since these catacombs were used for a cemetery, that they possess