a. The
tireless archaeologists, eager in pursuit of knowledge of the past, found
and opened the graves in which the dead kings of Sidon had quietly
rested for thousands of years; then disinterring the heavy stone caskets
they brought them to Constantinople to be placed on exhibition.

[Illustration: THE STREET CARS IN PERA ARE DOUBLE-DECKED.]

These sarcophagi are stone caskets of great size and weight composed of
two pieces, the chest and lid. The chest is hewn out of one solid block
of marble and the lid of another. The sarcophagi range from ten to
twelve feet in length, from five to six feet in width, and from six to
eight feet in height. One of the stone coffins, made of black Egyptian
marble and named the Tabnith, contained, when found, the dried up mummy
of an ancient king, Tabnith, who lived four centuries before the time of
Christ. An inscription on this in Egyptian hieroglyphics pronounced a
curse upon the man who should despoil the tomb, but the dreadful warning
was not deciphered until the casket reached the Museum. Another
sarcophagus, called the Satrap's, cut out of Parian marble, somewhat
resembles a Grecian temple in form. On the sides are depicted, in marble
carvings, a funeral banquet, a governor on his throne, a hunting scene
with a lion at bay, a frightened horse dragging its dismounted rider,
and many other similar scenes.

"But this, in my opinion, is the most attractive casket in the
collection," said the professor as we came to one named the Weepers, on
the marble sides of which a master sculptor of ancient times had carved
eighteen female forms. "Notice how each figure is portrayed in a
different graceful attitude of mourning and how each is a picture of
sorrow. And notice, too, the exquisite workmanship of the frieze with
its ornamentation of a hundred small figures in hunting scenes."

[Illustration: WE FED THE PIGEONS AT THE PIGEON MOSQUE.]

Near to the Weepers is the sarcophagus known as the Alexander, the most
famous in the collection, by many considered the most beautiful in the
world, and in the opinion expressed by the American Consul in
Constantinople, "worth crossing the ocean to see." The sculptures on
this represent a battle between Greeks and Persians with many figures
and incidents of battle, and elaborate hunting scenes with many details
delicately worked out. These four sarcophagi, and the one named the
Lycian on which Amazons in four horse chariots hunting lions are
delineat