FOR THE MUSEUM OF ANTIQUITY]

The second temple has not quite the dimensions that the first has, but
it is one of the grandest monuments of the ancient art in Syria. It is
227 feet by 117. Its peristyle is composed of forty-two columns,
fifteen on each side and eight on each end. At the portico was an
immense row of six fluted columns, and within these, and opposite to
the ends of the antae, were two others. The height of these columns is
sixty-five feet, and their circumference nineteen feet and two inches,
while the entablature, richly ornamented above the columns, was about
twelve feet high.

The portico is destroyed, only a few pieces of the shafts remaining,
and the steps by which it was approached are also destroyed. The
columns of the peristyle have mostly fallen; but four remain with
their entablatures on the south side near the portico; on the west end
there are six remaining, and on the north there are nine. The cut on
page 473 gives somewhat of an idea of this temple.

In 1759 an earthquake threw down three columns of the great temple and
nine of the peristyle of the Temple of the Sun. It would appear as
though nothing but an earthquake could destroy these remains, and they
even seem to withstand this with wonderful resistance. At the western
end is the _cella_, or innermost sacred part of the edifice, it is 160
feet by 85. A modern wall was built across the vestibule and the only
entrance is through a low hole broken in the wall. Entering through
this aperture the spectator has before him the gem of the structure,
the _great portal_. It was twenty-one feet high and forty-two feet
long and gorgeously ornamented. The sides are each of a single stone,
and the lintels are composed of three huge blocks. Borders of fruit,
flowers and leaves are profuse on the architrave, and on the soffit of
the door is the celebrated figure of the eagle with a caduceus in his
talons, and in his beak strings of long twisted garlands, which are
extended on each side and have the opposite ends borne by flying
genii.

In 1751 the portal was perfect. When Wood sketched it, but eight years
afterwards, the shock of an earthquake rent the wall and permitted the
central stone to sink about two feet. Yet, even in this state, it is
one of the most striking and beautiful gateways in the world. The
first compartment measures ninety-eight feet by sixty-seven, having
fluted columns on each side, and the sanctum, or place for the altar