ed, attracted the most attention from the tourists, but there
were scores of other sarcophagi in the collection almost as interesting.

In another part of the Museum, called the China Pavilion, the noted
stone tablet from the Temple of Jerusalem was on exhibition. This
tablet, discovered at Jerusalem in the year 1871, originally stood in
the Temple enclosure to mark the limit which Gentiles were not allowed
to pass. The Greek inscription on the tablet is translated as follows:

"No Gentile may pass beyond the railing into the court round the Temple;
he who is caught trespassing will bring death upon himself."

Statues, pottery, porcelain, jewels, and antiquities of various kinds
were hurriedly passed by until an exclamation of one of the ladies
caused us to pause.

"Look at his eyes," she said, pointing to a bronze statue of Jupiter.
"Did you ever see any eyes like that in a statue?"

The eyes of the god were represented by two bright rubies which gave
them a very peculiar expression. This room contained many exquisite
pieces of bronze work; one representing Hercules was particularly fine
in execution.

"We will stop now to view the Hippodrome," said the guide, after driving
a short distance from the Museum.

"But where is the Hippodrome?" inquired a tourist as we descended from
the carriages in a long open square.

"Alas! the building is no more," sadly replied the guide. "This square
is a part of the ground on which it stood. The space was originally very
long and wide, but that great Mosque of Ahmed and other buildings now
occupy a large portion of the old circus grounds.

"The ancient Hippodrome was an oblong enclosure fourteen hundred feet
long and four hundred feet wide, surrounded by magnificent porticos
adorned with statues of marble and bronze, and had a seating capacity of
eighty thousand. It was used for chariot races, athletic sports, and
bloody gladiatorial combats. Sometimes the seats were crowded with
people, now assembled to glory in the triumphal procession of a
returning conqueror, now to gloat over the burning of heretics and
criminals who had been condemned to death by the flames.

"That high red granite obelisk covered with hieroglyphics at the end of
the square is called the Obelisk of Theodosius the Great. It was
originally erected in the Temple of the Sun in Egypt in 1600 B.C. by a
haughty king who inscribed on the stone a statement that he had
'conquered the whole world,' and that his