Through the Outer Gardens of the Saray - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 95

in the following century by Tabnit, King of Sidon, whose remains
are displayed in the glass case just beyond. Also on exhibit here are
the Lycian Sarcophagus and the Satrap Sarcophagus, both from the
latter part of the sixth century B.C. and found in the region known
as Lycia on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Beyond these rooms
is the lobby inside the second staircase, which is devoted to Osman
Hamdi Bey, with photographs illustrating his career.
The next room exhibits some of the sarcophagi discovered at
Sidon by Osman Hamdi Bey in 1887. The most famous of these
is the magnificent Alexander Sarcophagus, so-called not because
it is that of Alexander himself (as is so often said), but because it
is adorned with sculptures in deep, almost round relief showing
Alexander in scenes of hunting and war. The sarcophagus was made
for King Abdalonymos of Sidon, who began his reign in 333 B.C.
after Alexander defeated the Persians at the battle of Issus, which may
be represented in the reliefs of battle scenes on the sarcophagus. Also
exhibited here are two other outstanding funerary monuments, the
Satrap Sarcophagus and the Sarcophagus of Mourning Women. The
Satrap Sarcophagus, which is dated to the second half of the fifth
century B.C., takes its name from the fact that it was the tomb of
a satrap, or Persian viceroy, who is shown reclining on a couch in
a relief on one side of the monument, while on the other side he
appears in a hunting scene. The Sarcophagus of Mourning Women
dates from mid-fourth century B.C. It takes its name from the statues
of the mourning women framed between Ionic columns on its sides
and ends, 18 in all. A funeral procession is shown in a frieze on the
lid of the sarcophagus, which is thought to have belonged to King
Straton of Sidon, who died in 360 B.C.
The rooms beyond are principally devoted to sarcophagi and other
funerary monuments, the finest of which are perhaps the Meleager
Sarcophagus, the Sarcophagus of Phaedra and Hippolytus, and
the Sidamara Sarcophagus, which date from the third and second
centuries B.C. Other outstanding exhibits include reliefs from two
Hellenistic temples in western Asia Minor, the temple of Hecate at
Lagina and the temple of Artemis at Magnesia on the Maeander. The
two stone lions which flank the foot of the staircase once stood on the