Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

618 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
the Ottoman government to send Hamdy Bey, Director
General of the Imperial Archaeological Museum at Constantinople,
to Sidon in order to make fresh investigations
at the place. These again brought to light magnificent
sarcophagi, among them that
of Tabnith, the father of the
above-mentioned Eshmunazar, an inscription upon which
agreed in part verbatim with the inscription on Eshmunazar's
coffin. In connection with this sarcophagus it is interesting
to note that no effort had even been made to remove
the old hieroglvphic inscription and design. In this latter
inscription the sarcophagus is said originally to have been
the tomb of an Egyptian general. The Phenician inscription
was simply placed beneath the Egyptian. When the
coffin was found it still contained the well preserved body
of Tabnith lying in an unknown fluid.
The so-called Alexander sarcophagus, however, surpasses
all the other great and rich discoveries made by Hamdv
Bey. It is a masterpiece of art from the best period of
the Diadochs. It certainly is not the coffin of Alexander
the Great himself, as has been supposed, for /Alexander lies
buried in Alexandria, and his mausoleum was repeatedly
visited by Roman emperors; but it is the coffin of one
that stood near him, of one of his great generals. Above
all, it is a work of art of the first rank, and fills every one
that sees it with admiration.
Of quite another sort is the most recent archaeological
find made on the soil of Palestine. In the fall of 1896, in
Madaba, as the Greeks were building a new church on the
ruins of an old basilica, a portion of the mosaic floor of the
old church came to light.
This mosaic was found to represent
nothing less than a map of Syria, Palestine and Egypt.
The greater part of it is unfortunately destroyed. Only
remnants of the map of Palestine and Egypt are preserved,
amounting to about fortv-nine square vards in extent, being
in part of admirable execution. The difference between