The Project Gutenberg eBook of Ancient history from the monuments: Greek
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Title: Ancient history from the monuments: Greek cities & islands of
Asia Minor
Author: William Sandys Wright Vaux
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Language: English
Produced by: Turgut Dincer, Barry Abrahamsen, and the Online Distributed
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANCIENT HISTORY FROM THE
MONUMENTS: GREEK CITIES & ISLANDS OF ASIA MINOR ***
[Illustration:
LION FROM CNIDUS.
]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ancient History
From the Monuments.
Greek Cities & Islands of Asia Minor
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANCIENT HISTORY
FROM THE MONUMENTS.
─────────
GREEK CITIES & ISLANDS
OF
ASIA MINOR.
BY
W. S. W. VAUX, M.A., F.R.S.
───
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION
APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.
───
LONDON:
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
Sold at the Depositories,
77, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s-Inn Fields;
4, Royal Exchange; 48, Piccadilly;
And by all Booksellers.
───
1877.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS.
───
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—Cyzicus—Lampsacus—Abydus—Assus—Palæ- Page 1
Scepsis—Troy—Dr. Schliemann—Ilium Novum—Alexandria—
Troas—Pergamum or Pergamus—Æolis.
CHAPTER II.
Phocæa—Smyrna—Clazomenæ—Erythræ—Teos—Colophon—Ephesus— Page 34
Mr. Wood—Miletus—Branchidæ or Didyma—Sacred Way—Mr.
Newton—Thyateira—Magnesia ad Sipylum—Philadelphia—
Tralles—Sardes— Halicarnassus—Mausoleum—Cnidus—
Demeter—Lion-Tomb—Mr. Pullan—Physcus—Caunus—
Stratonicea—Aphrodisias—Mylasa and Labranda.
CHAPTER III.
Xanthus—Sir Charles Fellows—Telmessus—Patara—Pinara— Page 86
Myra—Tlos and Antiphellus—Attalia—Perge—Eurymedon—
Aspendus—Side—Termessus— Cremna—Sagalassus—Selge—
Antioch of Pisidia—Tarsus—Coracesium—Laertes—Selinus—
Anemurium—Celenderis—Seleuceia— Corycus—Soli—Adana—
Mallus—Mopsuestia—Anazarbus—Issus.
CHAPTER IV.
Isaura—Iconium—Lystra—Derbe—Apamea Cibotus—Aezani— Page 124
Synnada—Philomelium—Laodicea Combusta—Hierapolis—
Laodicea ad Lycum—Colossæ—Ancyra—Pessinus—Tavium—
Nazianzus—Cæsarea ad Argæum—Tyana—Comana—Trapezus—
Amastris—Sinope—Prusa ad Olympum—Nicæa—Nicomedia—
Islands of Greece—Lesbos—Samos—Chios—Rhodus—Messrs.
Biliotti and Saltzmann—Cyprus—Mr. Lang—General Palma
di Cesnola
CHAPTER V.
St. Paul Page 172
Index Page 187
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GREEK CITIES AND ISLANDS OF ASIA MINOR.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
Cyzicus—Lampsacus—Abydus—Assus—Palæ-Scepsis—Troy—Dr. Schliemann—Ilium
Novum—Alexandria—Troas—Pergamum or Pergamus—Æolis.
BEFORE we proceed to give a somewhat detailed account of the more
important cities of Asia Minor, and of the islands adjacent to its west
and southern shores, we may mention that Asia Minor, as it lies on the
map, exhibits, in its contour, a remarkable resemblance to Spain.
Extending between N. Lat. 36° and 42°, and E. Long. 26° and 40°, it is
about the same size as France, and somewhat less than Spain and Portugal
taken together. Its interior consists of a central plateau, rarely lower
than 3,000 ft. above the sea, often much more; many portions of it,
however, especially to the N. and E., affording excellent pasturage for
sheep, and, therefore, now, as for centuries, the natural home of the
Turkomán shepherds.
At the S.W. end of Asia Minor terminates, also, the great central
mountain-range of Asia itself, which, running from the Brahmaputra
westwards, connects the Himálayas and the Caucasus.
Many of the streams flowing from these mountains are heavily charged
with lime; hence the remarkable deposits of travertine, &c., to be seen
at Hierapolis and elsewhere. Indeed, to the geological features of the
country we owe the fact that the military and commercial routes through
Asia Minor have been always nearly the same, the earliest and the latest
conquerors having followed the same roads.
The present produce of Asia Minor is almost insignificant when
considered with reference to its geographical area, and to the great
wealth extracted from it by the Romans (Cic. pro Leg. Manil. 2). But
every land, alike, decays under the oppressive and unintelligent rule of
the Osmanlis of Constantinople. The name, Asia Minor, we may add, is
comparatively modern, and is not met with earlier than Orosius, in the
fifth century A.D., while that of Anatolia (Ἀνατολἠ) is used first by
Constantinus Porphyrogenitus, in the tenth century A.D.
The chief provinces of Asia Minor (omitting the smaller subdivisions of
Ionia, Æolis, and Troas, included, as these latter are usually, under
Mysia and Lydia) are the following:—Mysia, Lydia, Caria, to the W., and
fronting the Ægean Sea; Lycia, Pamphylia, and Cilicia, opposite to Crete
and Cyprus; Bithynia, Paphlagonia, and Pontus, on the Black Sea; and, in
the centre, Pisidia and Lycaonia, Phrygia, Galatia and Cappadocia.
We propose to notice the more important towns, according to the order of
the provinces just recited; and, following this order, we take first
Mysia and its chief town, CYZICUS (the _Esquize_ of mediæval times),
which was situated on the neck of a peninsula running out into the Sea
of Marmora. Mr. Hamilton describes its position as “a sandy isthmus,
having near its southern end many large blocks of stone,” not,
improbably, the remains of Strabo’s “bridge.” Many ancient monuments may
still be traced among its present cherry-orchards, attesting its
original magnitude and magnificence, most of the relics now visible
being Roman, and its destruction having, no doubt, been mainly due to
the great earthquakes in the reign of Tiberius and Aurelius, which
ruined and depopulated so many other of the fairest towns of Asia
Minor.[1]
Footnote 1:
Tacitus, speaking of A.D. 17, the 4th of Tiberius, says:—“Eodem anno
duodecim celebres Asiæ urbes collapsæ nocturno motu terræ” (Annal. ii.
c. 47): and Cicero speaks of Cyzicus as “urbem Asiæ celeberrimam
nobisque amicissimam.” Compare also Apoll. Rhod. i. 936-941, 983-987;
Valer. Max. ii. 630; Ovid. Trist. i. 9.
Mr. Hamilton, indeed, noting the loose and rubbly character of its
buildings, doubts the architectural fame of the city; but it is probable
that what we now see was once cased with marble, as much fine marble is
found in the adjacent hills. Some, too, of its buildings are of a
granite easily disintegrable. Any how, it would seem to be a place where
well-conducted excavations might bring to light many curious relics of
the past. Cyzicus was classed by Anaximenes of Lampsacus among the
colonies of Miletus, but was not of importance till the close of the
Peloponnesian war, when, by the discreditable peace of Antalcidas, it
was surrendered to the Persians, its ultimate prosperity being in great
measure due to its position, as a natural entrepôt, between the Black
Sea and the Ægean. In Roman times it was, according to Strabo, a “Libera
civitas,” and, with the exception of Nicomedia and Nicæa, the most
important city in that part of Asia Minor. In the days of Caracalla it
had become a “Metropolis,” and, still later, was an Episcopal see.
Of the great wealth and, we may perhaps add, of the popularity of its
citizens in the fifth and fourth century B.C., the gold coins, called
Cyzicene _staters_, are ample evidence; though it may be doubted
whether, as was once thought, the _zecchino_ (or sequin), means
_Cyzicene_. In an able paper by Dr. (now Sir Patrick) Colquhoun (Trans.
Roy. Liter. vol. iv. p. 35), it is clearly shown that the “_Squise_” of
Ville-Hardouin is the ancient Cyzicus, “the oldest commercial place in
the world,” as that writer, with some exaggeration, asserts. The form
“Esquisse” is probably, as Dr. Colquhoun suggests, a corruption of εἰς
Κὐζικον (“to Cyzicus”).[2] Dr. Colquhoun’s paper is full of curious
information on the early mediæval state of this part of Asia Minor. Its
decline was mainly due to the invasion of the Goths in A.D. 262, but it
long remained the metropolis of the Hellespontine province (Hierocl.
Synecd. p. 661. Malala, Chron. i. p. 364). It was finally destroyed by
an earthquake in A.D. 943.
Footnote 2:
Similar modern modifications may be noticed in other sites of the
Levant. Thus, Stanchio (Kos) comes from εἰς τἡν Κῶν; Stamboul is not,
necessarily, a corruption of Constantinopolis, but, more probably, of
εἰς τἡν πόλιν (“to the city”); so Stalimene (Lesbos) comes from εἰς
τὁν λιμἐνα (“to the port”).
Another Mysian town of note was LAMPSACUS, also a colony of Miletus and
Phocæa, attested as this is by its gold and silver coins, and by a
statue of a prostrate lion, said to have been the work of Lysippus, and
subsequently, placed by Agrippa in the Campus Martius at Rome. The town
was famous for its wine, and was, for this reason, granted to
Themistocles, who is said to have learnt here, or at Magnesia, Persian
in a year; the district around having been granted to him by his old
enemy the King of Persia. Like most of the towns of western Asia Minor,
it often changed hands during the rival contests of its more powerful
neighbours; but, having, with a wise forethought, voted a crown of gold
to the Romans, it was accepted by them as an ally,[3] and, hence, was,
in the time of Strabo, a town of some magnitude. A small village, called
Lampsaki, most likely marks on our modern maps the site of the old town.
Footnote 3:
Liv. xliii. 6. Most likely, its brave resistance to Antiochus had
favourably inclined the Romans to it (Liv. xxxiii. 38; xxxv. 42;
Polyb. xxi. 10).
A little to the south of Lampsacus was ABYDUS, at the narrowest part of
the Hellespont, and opposite the town of Sestus.[4] It was a little
above Abydus that Xerxes constructed his famous bridge, B.C. 480; but,
except for the gallant resistance it made to Philip, son of Demetrius,
king of Macedon, Abydus has no place in history. In legendary lore,
however, it was the scene of the famous swimming of Leander to visit his
lady-love, the Priestess of the Temple at Sestus, on the opposite or
European shore, a natatory feat, however, far surpassed in recent days.
Lord Byron’s lines on the subject are well known:—
He could, perhaps, have pass’d the Hellespont,
As once (a feat on which ourselves we prided)
Leander, Mr. Ekenhead, and I did.
Don Juan, Cant. ii. 105.
Footnote 4:
The average breadth of the Hellespont was about three miles—rather
narrow for Homer’s πλατὑς, “the broad.” He, probably, however, looked
on it rather as a mighty river; to which, indeed, his epithets of
ἀγάῤῥοος and ἀπείρων (“strong-flowing,” and “boundless”) well enough
apply. Herodotus calls it δολερὁς and ἀλμυρὁς ποταμός, “a treacherous
and unsavoury river” (vii. 35).
Leander’s labour, however, was greater than that of the poet or his
companion, in that he swam _against_ the stream to reach Sestus, the
current being often so powerful that a well-manned boat cannot be pulled
straight across it.
A little further down the coast, and facing nearly due south, is ASSUS,
a site which has been visited by many travellers, as Walpole, Choiseul-
Gouffier, Raoul-Rochette, Fellows, and Pullan. The most ancient
monuments of Greek art in the Louvre at Paris were removed thence. The
position of the chief buildings is very grand; indeed, in Strabo’s time,
Assus was considered as a fortress almost inaccessible.[5] Its ruins are
still remarkably perfect, one gate at least, of triangular construction,
resembling those at Mycenæ and Arpinum. There are, also, vestiges of a
hexastyle Doric temple, showing some analogy with those at Pæstum.
Seventeen large fragments from the metopes and two façades of the Temple
were ultimately removed to France by Capt. Chaigneau, together with a
Doric capital. They were found scattered over the slope of the hill, and
must have been removed at some time or the other, probably for building
purposes; indeed, fragments of similar pieces were also noticed in some
of the neighbouring houses. In character of workmanship, the sculptures
resemble the Æginetan marbles now at the British Museum. But their
execution is not so effective, the material of which they are made being
the coarse red stone of the neighbourhood. To the same cause is,
perhaps, due the fact that they had not been carried away long ago. Had
they been of fine marble, they would have been valuable plunder. Sir
Charles Fellows, speaking of Assus, says, “After depositing my baggage,
I took the most intelligent Turk in the place as my cicerone....
Immediately around me were the ruins, extending for miles, undisturbed
by any living creature except the goats and kids. On every side lay
columns, triglyphs and friezes, of beautiful sculpture, every object
speaking of the grandeur of this ancient city. In one place I saw thirty
Doric capitals placed up in a line for a fence.” Sir Charles Fellows
gives a drawing of one of the friezes now in Paris, and adds, “I then
entered the Via Sacra, or Street of Tombs, extending for miles. Some of
these tombs still stand in their original beautiful forms, but most have
been opened, and the lids are lying near the walls they covered,
curiosity or avarice having been satisfied by displacing them.... These
ruins are on a considerably larger scale than those of the Roman city,
and many of the remains are equally perfect. Several are highly
ornamented and have inscriptions; others are as large as a temple, being
twenty to thirty feet square; the usual height of the sarcophagus is
from ten to twelve feet.”[6]
Footnote 5:
The character of the position of Assus led to a joke of the musician
Stratonicus, who applied to it a line of Homer (Il. vii. 144), playing
on the meaning of the word Ἆσσον, viz.
Ἅσσον ἴθ’, ὡς κεν θᾶσσον ὀλέθρου πείραθ’ ἵκηαι,
Come more quickly (or come to Assus), “that ye may the more quickly
come to utter destruction.” At Assus, St. Luke, and other companions
of St. Paul, rejoined him with their ship, the Apostle having walked
on foot from Alexandria Troas (Acts xx. 13).
Footnote 6:
The popular story of the “Lapis Assius,” with its supposed power of
destroying the flesh of bodies buried in it (whence the name
_sarkophagus_, or “flesh-consuming,”) is noticed by Dioskorides and
Pliny. But this Greek word is rarely used for a tomb, the more usual
word being σορός (soros). By the Romans, however, it was used, as in
Juv. x. 170. Colonel Leake observes of the ruins of Assos, “The whole
gives, perhaps, the most perfect idea of a Greek city that anywhere
exists” (Asia Minor, p. 128). See also R. P. Pullan, “Ruins of Asia
Minor,” p. 19.
PALÆ-SCEPSIS is interesting for the native tradition, that it was once
the capital of Æneas’s dominions. It appears to have been situated near
the source of the Æsepus—high up on Mount Ida—the later Scepsis being
about sixty stadia (7½ miles) lower down (Strabo, xiii. 607). Dr.
Colquhoun[7] states that a village in the neighbourhood still bears the
name of _Eski Skisepje_, which, as Eski means “old” in Turkish,
corresponds with Palæ-Scepsis; Dr. Colquhoun at the same time quotes the
words of its discoverer, the distinguished Oriental scholar, Dr.
Mordtmann. “I did discover,” says Dr. Mordtmann, “a most ancient city
with its acropolis, towers and walls built of hewn stone, and furnished
with four gates. The antiquity of the place was manifested by an oak
having fixed its roots in the wall, and by its trunk having grown to a
girth of 530 centimètres (about 17 feet). On reference to Strabo, I
first became aware that I had discovered, probably, the most ancient
ruin in Asia Minor, for I hold that this can be no other than Palæ-
Scepsis.” The evidence adduced by Drs. Mordtmann and Colquhoun confirms
the accuracy of Strabo. The later town of Scepsis is memorable for the
discovery there, during the time of Sylla, of the works of Aristotle and
Theophrastus, which had been buried by the illiterate relations of one
Neleus (a pupil of Aristotle and friend of Theophrastus), lest they
should be carried off by Attalus, then founding his library at Pergamus.
It appears from Strabo, that though preserved from utter ruin, the
precious MSS. had suffered much from damp and worms; but they suffered
still more by the injudicious efforts of their purchaser, Apellicon of
Teos, a well-meaning person, though wholly incompetent to supply the
gaps he found.
Footnote 7:
See Dr. Colquhoun “On the Site of the Palæ-Scepsis of Strabo” (Trans.
R. S. Liter., vol. iv. 1852).
But the most celebrated place in Mysia was the ancient city of TROY. It
would be out of place here, indeed impossible, to discuss any of the
various theories of ancient or modern times referring to this famous
town and its no less famous war. It is enough to state here our firm
belief in the existence of both, and further, that the legends since
grouped around them by no means demand any such non-existence. We have
no doubt that a prominent conical hill, now called Hissarlik, does
represent the spot where old Troy once stood.[8] The convergency of the
various stories of ancient history, the existence at Hissarlik of ruins
of remote antiquity, and the singular fitness of the position (unless,
indeed, all that is attributed to Homer is to be condemned as purely
mythical), lead to the seemingly inevitable conclusion that here, if
anywhere, once stood this celebrated town.
Footnote 8:
It has been, justly, we think, remarked (Quarterly Review, April,
1874), that “not one of the sceptical critics has ever questioned that
these (the Homeric poems) show an acquaintance with the topography of
the region which (and this is no small point) has borne, from all
known antiquity, the name of the Troad.... Homer’s Ida, and Scamander,
and Hellespont are as real in his pages as in their existence at the
present day.”
The inhabitants of Ilium were a mixed population, partly, it is
probable, of Thracian origin, and so far only Greek that a Pelasgian
element may be traced in both peoples, while they were probably, also,
inferior in civilization to the Greeks, with barbaric habits and
manners, already obsolete among their more polished enemies. Nor, again,
is it at all necessary to maintain that the capture of Troy implies its
entire destruction; it is, indeed, more likely that its ultimate ruin
was due to the enmity of its Asiatic neighbours, as suggested by Strabo
on the authority of an ancient writer, Xanthus. It is clear that Ilium
stood on rising ground, between the rivers Scamander and Simois, and
that here were placed the palaces of Priam and of his sons. The whole
spot was, we may reasonably conclude, surrounded by strong walls, with
many gates, only one of which is, however, noticed in Homer by name.
Such was the tradition, the long endurance of which is shown in the
subsequent sacrifice by Xerxes, recorded by Herodotus (vii. 43).
The new Ilium of later days most likely occupied the same traditional
site; the theory of Demetrius of Scepsis, adopted by Strabo, of two
Iliums separated the one from the other by a considerable interval of
ground, being clearly adverse to a common-sense view of the question.[9]
Any one would naturally expect that those who constructed _Novum Ilium_
would select that place for their town to which the legends most
distinctly pointed; while a manifest objection to the view of Demetrius
is that it converts Homer from a poet into a topographer, and attempts
to make the natural features of the country accord with his poetic
descriptions. It is far more probable that Homer, or whoever collected
the poems passing under his name, had but a very general idea of the
localities where were laid the scenes he describes: while there is,
also, no general agreement as to the true site of Troy among those
writers who, in modern times, have more or less accepted the theory of
Demetrius and Strabo. Indeed, on the idea of Homer having written his
poems with an Ordnance map in his lap, it is simply impossible to fix on
any one spot that satisfies all the conditions of his story.
Footnote 9:
The site for ancient Ilium of recent years the most popular is called
_Bournarbashi_, where the Scamander emerges from the lower ridges of
Mount Ida, and, therefore, not far from the “village of the Ilians.”
This view, proposed originally by Chevallier in 1788, and,
subsequently, adopted by Rennell, Leake, Welckher, Forchhammer,
Choiseul-Gouffier, and others, has, however, been completely answered
by Grote, whose arguments have been fully confirmed by the latest
researches.
We must now notice the recent marvellous researches of Dr. Schliemann,
for, though they have done little towards the revelation of Homer’s
Troy, they have demonstrated that, many feet below very ancient and
still existing walls, there have once been enormous structures, the
treasury, fortress, and royal residence of some wealthy ruler of remote
antiquity. While, therefore, we do not believe that Dr. Schliemann has
found old Troy, in the same sense that Layard discovered the palaces of
Sardanapalus, the Greek inscriptions he has unearthed have assuredly
proved the identity of the modern Hissarlik with _Novum_ Ilium. What,
then, is the history of Schliemann’s researches, and what has he done
that any other man might not have done with as ample means at his
command? Doubtless there are other men who might have done as much as
he, notably Mr. Layard. As Dr. Schliemann was much influenced by his
early education at home, and as his career has been a very extraordinary
one, we feel sure our readers would like to know something of the digger
as well of as what he has dug out. We purpose, therefore, to give a
brief sketch of his personal history, and then, with equal brevity, to
add a notice of what he has accomplished.
Born in 1822 at a small village in Mecklenburg, he tells us that, “as
soon as I learnt to speak my father related to me the great deeds of the
Homeric heroes,” and, though from ten years of age he was an apprentice
in a warehouse,[10] he always retained, as he adds, “the same love for
the famous men of antiquity which I conceived for them in my first
childhood.” As time went on Schliemann became a clerk, though on a
yearly salary of only £32: but he contrived to live on half—to do
without a fire, and to devote all his spare moments to the study of
languages. Thus he learnt first English and French, each in six months,
and then other modern tongues, including Russ.
Footnote 10:
In this “warehouse,” let it not be forgotten, Schliemann was employed
from fourteen to twenty years of age, from 5 A.M. to 11 P.M., selling
herrings, butter, brandy, milk, &c.; and that it was not till after he
had lost this occupation from an injury caused by lifting a cask, that
he was _promoted_ to the clerkship at the salary mentioned in the
text.
To Dutch, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese he allowed only six weeks
each. During the eight years from 1846 to 1854 he was so much occupied
in business that he had no time for literature; in the latter end,
however, of the second year he found time to learn Swedish and Polish.
It was not till January, 1856, that he ventured to attack Greek, his
fear being, as he naïvely remarks, that the fascination of its study
might interfere with his commercial duties. Aided however by two Greek
friends, he tells us he learnt modern Greek in six weeks, and, in three
months more, sufficient classical Greek to understand the ancient
writers, and especially Homer. In 1858 Dr. Schliemann was able to travel
over Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Italy, and Egypt, on the way learning
somewhat of (we presume colloquial) Arabic, and returning thence through
Syria and Athens to St. Petersburg. It was not, however, till 1863 that
he had secured, by his vigorous commercial occupations, the means to
spend the rest of his life as he pleased.
His first plan, in 1864, was to visit the fatherland of Ulysses, but
this was only a hasty and flying trip, and he was, shortly afterwards,
induced to extend his journey to India, China, and Japan. On his return
to Europe he spent some time in Paris, but made also, thence, journeys
to Greece and the plains of Troy, an account of which, written, it would
seem, about 1868, he has given in the first volume of his recent work.
This volume contains, _inter alia_, the result of his studies among the
“Cyclopean” works in Argolis, a knowledge of great value to him when he
commenced his more important excavations. He seems also, about this
period, to have carefully examined the Troad, and to have satisfied
himself that Hissarlik was the place at which to commence his
excavations. Having married a Greek lady, in every sense a “help-meet”
for the work he had set himself to do, he went again to the Troad in the
spring of 1870, and, having secured an ample number of labourers,
continued his excavations there during the greater part of the period
between the autumn of 1871 and the summer of 1873.
It must not be supposed that this work was one of ease or pleasant toil:
he had not the patient “Chaldeans” who did Layard’s behests, still less
had he Hormuzd Rassam to settle, as a native only can settle, the ever-
rising disputes between the Greek and Mussulman “navvies.” Indeed, to
secure one pavement from destruction, he had to tell his workmen that by
this road “Christ had gone up to visit King Priam”! The cost, too, was
very heavy; for he had often 150 men in his employment, and expended,
from his own resources, fully £8,000. Is it possible to estimate too
highly such exertions towards the ascertainment of the reality or
falsity of ancient story, and this, too, by the only thoroughly
effectual means, the excavation of sites of traditional importance? Can
we withhold our admiration for the labourer, even though his enthusiasm
may have led him to believe all he found was Trojan, the golden relics,
especially, being those of King Priam? and, after all, what matters the
theory of the excavator, so the work he does is well done? As well might
we quarrel with Mr. Parker’s labours in Rome, because he has coupled
with his most valuable excavations his own, somewhat fanciful, belief in
the personality of a Romulus. Every honest excavation, such as those of
Dr. Schliemann and Mr. Parker, are so many landmarks recovered from all-
destroying time. We can well afford to dispense with or to smile at the
fancies of the excavators, so only that a careful record be kept of what
the excavations have really revealed.
Dr. Schliemann’s account of his diggings, between the autumn of 1871 and
June 17, 1873, has been published in the form of twenty-three letters or
memoirs; a mode of narrative the more pleasant that it places the reader
_au courant_ with the daily ideas of the discoverer, though,
necessarily, causing some repetition and not a few corrections. His
Introduction, however, gives a sufficient summary of what he
accomplished. With the text he has also provided an atlas of 217
photographic plates of the plans and excavations carried on throughout
the whole plain of Troy, together with representations of between three
and four thousand individual objects discovered. These photographs—not,
we regret to say, from the originals, but from drawings of them—are
wholly inadequate to give any satisfactory idea of the beauty or
character of the objects themselves.
Dr. Schliemann having, as we have stated, made up his mind[11] that the
rising ground now called _Hissarlik_ (or fortress) was the site of Old
Troy, commenced his diggings there, on a plateau about 80 feet above the
level of the plain, with a steep descent to the N.E. and N.W. Above this
plateau is a portion of ground 26 feet higher, about 925 feet long by
620 feet wide, which he assumed to be the Pergamum of Homer, or citadel
of Priam. If so, beneath and around this Acropolis must have been the
second as well as the earlier city. Dr. Schliemann went to work much as
miners do when they are “prospecting,” only on a larger scale: he took
soundings of the plain till he reached the virgin rock, at a depth never
greater than 16 feet, at first meeting only with walls of houses and
fragments of pottery of a Greek or even later period. As he found
nothing else up to the edge of the Pergamum,[12] he concluded that the
original Ilium did not spread into the plain, and that its area was
accurately defined by the great wall he afterwards found. In short, he
concluded that the city had no special Acropolis,[12] as feigned by
Homer, and that any enlargement of the old town was due to the _débris_
gradually thrown down or accumulated around the base of the small
central hill. He adds, rather amusingly, “I venture to hope that the
civilized world will not only not be vexed that the town of Priam has
shown itself scarcely the twentieth part as large as was to be expected
from the statements of the Iliad, but, on the contrary, that, with
delight and enthusiasm, it will accept the certainty that Ilium did
really exist.”
Footnote 11:
Dr. Schliemann has fully stated in the _Augsburg Gazette_, Sept. 26,
1873, his reasons for accepting Hissarlik for Troy, and for rejecting
Bounarbashi and other sites; and his reasons, to _an antiquary_, are
weighty:—1. At Bounarbashi, nothing has been found earlier than
potsherds of the sixth century B.C. 2. Sir J. Lubbock, in the so-
called tomb of Hector, found nothing earlier than the third century
B.C. 3. Von Hahn found neither potsherds nor bricks on the north side
of the Balidagh, between the Akropolis (of Gergi) and the springs of
Bounarbashi. 4. The sites examined by Clarke and Barker Webb, and that
of Ulrichs, presented no remains of man. 5. The “village of the
Ilians”—κώμη Ἰλιέων of Demetrius of Skepsis—gave forth nothing earlier
than potsherds of the first century B.C. On the other hand, under
Hissarlik, have been found all or most of the remains, treasure
included, which Dr. Schliemann has secured.
Footnote 12:
This word Pergamum or Pergama, which occurs more than once in Asia
Minor, notably in the case of the great city of that name, is probably
only another form of the πύργος, _burg_ or _berg_, which runs through
so many languages of the Indo-European family. Thus, Sanskr. _spurg_;
Gr. πυργ, originally σφυργος or φυργος. So the Gothic _bairg-ahei_,
mountainous; _fairg-uni_, mountain. Compare, also, with this, Berge in
Thrace, and Perge in Pamphylia. Possibly, the Celtic _briga_
(_Brigantes_, the dwellers in the hills) is connected with the same
root. The Arabs have now adopted the word (see Rénan).
There is nothing specially remarkable in the small size of the
“supposed” Troy. It was an ancient custom to build the town round a
central Acropolis where possible. So was it with Athens and Mycenæ, with
Rome, Carthage and Mount Zion; the ordinary dwellings of the population
for centuries being huts or small cottages, like the traditional
_Tugurium_ of Romulus, buildings which would, naturally, leave behind
them no traces of their former existence. It has been well remarked,
that Homer cannot fairly be accused of having _invented_ this Pergamum,
as the hill was a natural fact: and that what he really did, was, to
indulge his imagination as to the magnificence of the town he grouped on
it or in the plain round it.
The little hill of Hissarlik became, therefore, the centre of Dr.
Schliemann’s labours, the most productive field of his excavations, and
the site where he laid open walls far more ancient than Greek Ilium,
with a perfect entrance-gateway and paved road through it, together with
many remains of houses, and a marvellous collection of relics, some of
great intrinsic value. But the most unexpected discovery was the
_position_ of the various remains, proving, as this did, that, at least,
four different sets of people had occupied this site, and covered it
with their own buildings, in complete unconsciousness that there had
been elder races there before them, whose remains were actually under
them. The same fact has been noticed, but on a small scale, elsewhere.
Thus Roman London lies some sixteen or seventeen feet under the Mansion
House or Bank of England; so, too, Layard found successive traces on the
mound of Nimrud of Arab, Roman, and Parthian occupation. But such traces
are as nothing to what Dr. Schliemann’s works revealed. It was clear
that the natural hill of Hissarlik had been, at first, somewhat
levelled, being also, in some places, made more secure by a retaining
wall, and that, above this, the successive ruins have been heaped up in
a solid mass from 46 to 52 feet above the native rock. On this, lastly,
_Novum Ilium_ was built. Dr. Schliemann gives a section, whence it
appears that, commencing from the existing surface, Greek Ilium occupies
about six feet in depth; that at 23 feet below this, Dr. Schliemann’s
“Troy of Homer” is reached; and that, under this “Troy,” again, is a
third stratum 29 feet thick, the whole human accumulations. The most
sceptical person on the subject of “Troy divine” cannot question the
accuracy of Dr. Schliemann’s measurements, whatever he may think of his
theories. It is manifest that even the stratum immediately under Ilium
Novum is essentially prehistoric. Of what date, then, are the still
lower strata? Indeed, calculations, on such a point, can as little be
relied on as those of Mr. Horner on the _alluvium_ of the Egyptian
Delta. There are, however, some matters connected with them that must be
noticed from their peculiarity. Thus the super-imposed layers testify to
periods of occupation rather than to those of destruction; while the
theory of distinct and well-defined stone, bronze, and iron ages
completely breaks down, stone implements occurring in all the strata,
and even where bronze is abundant. Iron, on the other hand, is almost
wholly absent. Thus instruments of stone and of copper occur with
ornaments in gold, silver, and even ivory, evidencing, as these do,
advance in civilization and, as the cause of this, some interchange of
commerce with other nations.
Whatever else, therefore, may be thought of Dr. Schliemann’s researches,
it cannot be doubted but that the excavations at Hissarlik form a new
chapter in the history of man, and as such [apart from any supposed
connection with Homer], are a sufficient reward for his labour and
expenditure of capital. It would unquestionably have been better (but
who shall control honest enthusiasm?) had he been less ready to invest
every discovery he made with some Homeric name; we could have been well
free of such pretentious identifications as the Tower of Ilium, the
Scæan gates, the Royal Palace, and King Priam’s Treasure; just as, in a
similar case, Mr. Parker’s valuable contributions to the early history
of Rome are not improved by the revival of the legend of a Romulus and
Remus, and of the suckling of these heroes by a she-wolf. Nothing,
however, allowing for these slight blemishes, can exceed the interest of
Dr. Schliemann’s narrative.
“The excavations,” to quote his own words, “prove that the second nation
which built a town on this hill, upon the _débris_ of the first settlers
(which is from twenty to thirty feet thick), are the Trojans of whom
Homer sings.... The strata of this Trojan _débris_, which, without
exception, bears marks of great heat, consists mainly of red ashes of
wood, and rise from five to ten feet above the great wall of Ilion, the
double Scæan gate, and the great surrounding wall, the construction of
which Homer ascribes to Poseidon and Apollo, and they show that the town
was destroyed by a fearful conflagration. How great this heat must have
been is clear also from the large slabs of stone of the road leading
from the double Scæan gate down to the plain; for when a few months ago
I laid this road open, all the slabs appeared as much uninjured as if
they had been put down quite recently; but after they had been exposed
to the air for a few days the slabs of the upper part of the road, to
the extent of some 10 feet, which had been exposed to the heat, began to
crumble away, and have now almost disappeared, while those of the lower
portion of the road, which had not been touched by the fire, have
remained uninjured, and seem to be indestructible. A further proof of
the terrible catastrophe is furnished by a stratum of scoriæ of melted
lead and copper of a thickness of from ⅕ of an inch to 1⅕ inch, which
extends nearly through the whole hill at a depth of from 27 feet to 29
feet.”
It was here that Dr. Schliemann found the prodigious structure he has
named the “Tower of Ilion,” a building no less than 40 feet thick. “This
tower,” he adds, “after having been buried for thirty-one centuries, and
after, during thousands of years, one nation after another had built its
houses and palaces high above its summit, has now again been brought to
light, and commands a view, if not of the whole plain, at least of its
northern parts, and of the Hellespont.” A little way beyond this tower
is a remarkably perfect gateway, fitted for two pairs of gates, one
behind the other, the upper fastenings of which still remain in the
stone posts. These Dr. Schliemann takes for the “Scæan gates” of Homer.
He then came to what he calls the “Palace of Priam,” no doubt, a house
of some kind, at a depth of from 22 to 26 feet, resting upon the great
tower, and directly under the Temple of Minerva. Its walls were built of
small stones cemented with earth, and would seem to belong to different
epochs. The walls vary in thickness from 4 feet to 1 foot 10 inches. All
about, within as well as without, are abundant signs of fire, which must
have burnt with prodigious fury. Dr. Schliemann speaks of many feet in
thickness of red and yellow wood ashes. Here, as at Nineveh and at
Carthage, the first destruction seems to have been fire, the great
extent of it, in each case, having probably arisen from the wooden
construction of the upper portions of these houses. At Nineveh, it has
been reasonably supposed that only the foundations of the walls were of
stone or brick, the upper part, like many Eastern houses at the present
day, being wholly of wood, which would readily catch fire, and fill the
rooms below with burning embers. In several of the rooms of one of these
houses Dr. Schliemann found red jars from 7 to 8 feet high, and, to the
east of the house, what he assumes to have been a sacrificial altar, a
slab of granite 5 feet 4 inches long by 5 feet 5 inches broad. Such a
conflagration, it is likely, would be long remembered; and it has been
acutely asked whether, after all, there may not have been an Asiatic
Iliad handed down from mouth to mouth, of which Homer may have availed
himself, as did the mediæval Minnesingers.
The next and the greatest of Schliemann’s discoveries was also one of
his last: we give it in his own words. “In the course of excavations on
the Trojan wall, and in the immediate neighbourhood of Priam’s house, I
lighted on a great copper object of remarkable form, which attracted my
attention all the more, as I thought I saw gold behind. Upon this copper
object rested a thick crust of red ashes and calcined ruins, on which
again weighed a wall nearly 6 feet thick and 18 feet high, built of
great stones and earth, and which must have belonged to the period next
after the destruction of Troy. In order to save this treasure from the
greed of my workmen, and to secure it for science, it was necessary to
use the very greatest haste, and so, though it was not yet breakfast-
time, I had “paidos,” or resting-time, called out at once. While my
workmen were eating and resting I cut out the treasure with a great
knife, not without the greatest effort and the most terrible risk of my
life, for the great wall of the fortress which I had to undermine,
threatened every moment to fall upon me. But the sight of so many
objects, of which each alone is of inestimable worth to science, made me
foolhardy, and I thought of no danger. The carrying off, however, of the
treasures would have been impossible without the help of my dear wife,
who stood by ready to pack up the objects in her shawl as I cut them
out, and to take them away.”
We may add that the whole find lay together in a quadrangular mass,
retaining the shape of the box in which it had been deposited, and that
hard by was a large key, presumably that which once locked it. The
treasure had, probably, been hastily packed, an idea fully sustained by
its miscellaneous character. Indeed, the same thing seems to have
happened in the case of the bronze plates found by Mr. Layard at
Nineveh. The mass of precious metal found is simply astonishing, one cup
alone weighing 40 oz. of gold, while there were besides, innumerable
objects in bronze, silver and gold, spears and axes, and two-edged
daggers, together with a large bronze shield, with a central boss, and a
rim raised as if to receive the edges of ox-hides or other covering.
Fortunately, the gold vessels had resisted the action of the fire; some
of them having been cast, others hammered; in some cases, too, soldering
had been used. One curious portion of the collection Dr. Schliemann
describes as follows:—“That this treasure was packed,” says he, “in the
greatest haste, is shown by the contents of the great silver vase, in
which I found, quite at the bottom, two splendid golden diadems, a
fillet for the head, and four most gorgeous and artistic pendants for
ear-rings. On them lay fifty-six golden ear-rings and 4,750 little
golden rings, perforated prisms and dice, together with golden buttons
and other precious things which belonged to other ornaments. After
these, came six golden bracelets, and, quite at the top of all, in the
silver vase, were two small golden cups.”
Besides these more precious objects, Dr. Schliemann met with a quantity
of what, for want of a better name, may be called idols, consisting of
flat pieces of stone, marbles, and terra-cotta, [and, in one instance,
of the vertebra of some antediluvian animal,] containing on one side “an
attempt to model a face whether human or owlish.” Such objects are not
rare. In the British Museum are many flat pieces of burnt clay, with
moulding on them, of the rudest kind, not wholly unlike what Dr.
Schliemann found. Dr. Schliemann sees in these the original type of the
sacred owl of Minerva,—to say the least,—a very bold guess. Indeed, but
for the place where they were found, their remote antiquity might be
doubted, as they might be, after all, but degraded types of a good
period of art. Dr. Schliemann, however, maintains that many of these
strange owl-headed objects of clay are representatives of Athene,—in
fact, the original type of the γλαυκῶπις θεὰ, the “goddess with the
bright or flashing eyes,” and, also, that this epithet ought to be now
translated the “owl-faced goddess”! But though Dr. Schliemann may urge
in favour of his views that, as the worship of Athene was of Oriental
origin, there is no reason why she should not have been represented as
owl-faced, just as we find an eagle-headed Nisroch, a hawk-headed Ra,
and a ram-headed Ammon, there is, really, no evidence in favour of his
theory. Mr. Newton has embraced everything in his remark that “the
conception of the human form as an organic whole, a conception we meet
with in the very dawn of Greek art, nowhere appears” in Dr. Schliemann’s
collections, the probability being that these objects are of an
antiquity long antecedent to anything Greek, and the work of a people in
no way connected with the Greeks. In Greek art, the usual adjunct to
most representations of Athene on coins is the owl, while in Homer
(Odyss. iii. 372) Athene leaves Nestor, under the form of an osprey. It
is possible, therefore, that these metamorphoses symbolize a still
earlier faith.
Having already stated our belief that not only did an Ilium or a Troy
really exist, but, also, that there was a real living Homer, we need not
notice the objections urged against the opinions of Dr. Schliemann, on
the ground that “as the Iliad is a mythical poem, it is absurd to expect
in it any historical kernel,” a method of reasoning, to say the least,
unsatisfactory, if not fallacious. There is no conceivable reason why
the most mythical poem may not comprehend contorted images of real
events; the difficulty, in each case, and the only real difficulty,
being the unravelling of the confused stories, which prevent our taking
up the tangled skein of history. No one supposes the early legends of
the Zendavesta to be history, yet some of the stations of the migration
from N.E. to S.W. can be reasonably identified: so, too, no one supposes
the story of Gyges in Herodotus historical, though the annals of Assur-
bani-pal prove the reality of a “Gugu, king of Ludim.” The prehistoric
theory may be pressed too far.
Of the character of the art of the objects of Dr. Schliemann, or of the
date of his wonderful collections, there is, at present, no evidence on
which to base a reasonable judgment. One thing, however, seems certain;
that they are not Greek—nor in any way connected with Greek art. If
among the vast numbers of objects found, there may be some objects
resembling others met with in Greece, the natural inference would be
that, as so much of Greek art is traceable ultimately to Asia, so, too,
are these. Nor must we, altogether, ignore the possible effects of
commerce. Dr. Schliemann has certainly proved the existence of a wealthy
population—living on the spot that tradition and history alike have
assigned to Troy; and we cannot doubt that the owners of these remains
were pre-Hellenic. It is not so long ago that Semiramis was as mythical
a name as King Priam; and who can say that a future Rawlinson may not
prove the truth of a Trojan Priam as clearly as that “Sammuramit”
reigned in Nineveh? The dwellers on the rock of Ilion clearly were “no
prehistoric savages,” but denizens of a real city, with its fortress and
palace. It is curious that, above Dr. Schliemann’s “Trojans,” at a
distance of from 23 to 33 feet, dwelt a population who constructed their
houses of small stones and earth, and, occasionally, of sun-dried
bricks. The artistic remains of this people are inferior to those below
them; yet they made coarse pottery, battle-axes, knives, nails, &c.,
with a slight use of copper or bronze, but with plenty of stone
implements. This place, having been destroyed in its turn, another set
of people occupied the mound, a race inferior in civilization to all who
had preceded them. These people, it has been suspected, were Cimmerians,
perhaps, portions of the Nomad tribes, who, we know from Herodotus and
Strabo, constantly made eruptions into Asia Minor.
We must add that, among the various objects found by Dr. Schliemann,
were some scratches of the rudest kind, on a honestone, from the first
supposed to be letters of some alphabet. The truth of this conjecture
has been recently proved by the persevering study of Professor Gomperz,
of Vienna, who says that, in the comparisons he has made between the
Cypriote alphabet and the Hissarlik inscriptions, “I have not
schematized, I have not enlarged or reduced anything. Every dot, every
twist is copied with slavish accuracy from the best Cyprian documents.
Nor have I allowed myself to be eclectic and to mix letters of different
periods and localities.” Professor Max Müller adds, “Accepting these
statements of Professor Gomperz, I can only repeat my conviction, that
his decipherment of the first inscription _Tagoi Dioi_ seems to me
almost beyond reasonable doubt.” The interpretation of the other
presumed inscriptions is more open to doubt.
It is a remarkable fact, as clearly shown by Dr. Schliemann’s
researches, that the occupiers of all these strata, alike, were tillers
of the ground, while the huge jars found standing upright can hardly
have been used for any other purpose than the storing of wine, oil, or
corn. The quantity of copper found suggests a connection with Cyprus—the
island of copper—as do, also, the inscriptions just noticed; subsequent
analysis, however, has thrown doubt on Dr. Schliemann’s idea that his
vessels were of pure copper.[13] The fine red pottery, too, is said to
resemble very much the existing pottery of Cyprus. The vases are,
however, not painted, nor have any traces of sculpture been as yet
detected.
Footnote 13:
The Romans called their copper from Cyprus, _Cyprium_: but the name of
the island is, more likely, from the Hebrew _Chopher_, the cypress
tree.
In concluding these notes on Dr. Schliemann’s collection, which, from
our limited space, have been more condensed than we could have wished,
we need only add that, besides the greater and richer monuments, Dr.
Schliemann has found thousands of terra-cotta disks or wheels, each with
a hole in the middle, the purport of which has considerably exercised
the imaginations of the learned. Thus they have been called spindles,
weights for sinking nets or weaving and _ex voto_ tablets by Dr.
Schliemann himself, &c. The variety of patterns on them is so great
that, if anything but meaningless ornaments, it is impossible to suppose
them all for one and the same purpose; and the patterns on some of them
are unquestionably very curious. Thus we have scratches much resembling
the earliest Chinese sacred characters; others, clearly astronomical;
and, above all, that commonest of Buddhist symbols, the _Swastika_, a
cross with arms curved or straight, and bent at right angles.
With regard to ILIUM NOVUM, or Hissarlik, which, as we have said, we
believe occupies the site of the older city, we must say, that whatever
doubts may have existed as to this point previously to Dr. Schliemann’s
excavations ought now to cease, as the Greek remains he has found there
are unquestionably sufficient for this identification. How early Novum
Ilium was founded cannot now be determined; but, as the place was one of
some strength, it is reasonable to suppose it may have been occupied
very soon after the fall of Old Troy, supposing, what, however, is not
necessary, that Troy was wholly destroyed. When Xerxes passed, it was a
place of importance, and the son of Xerxes recognized it as a Greek
city. Alexander, too, like Xerxes, sacrificed there, and bestowed many
favours on the population, notably as occupants of the presumed site of
the ancient city; the Romans did the same, perhaps with the additional
idea of protecting the traditional site whence they claimed their own
descent (Liv. xxxvii. 37, xxxviii. 39). Sylla and Lucullus were, alike,
friendly to it and Lucan asserts that, after Pharsalia, Julius Cæsar
(mindful of his presumed ancestor Iulus) examined for himself these
localities (cf. App. Bell. Mithr. c. 53; Plut. Vit. Syll.; Strab. xiii.
594; Lucan, ix. 967), at the same time instituting the “Ludi Trojani,”
noticed by Virgil and other writers (Æn. v. 602; Suet. Cæs. 39; Dio
Cass. xliii. 23).[14]
Footnote 14:
The famous _Sigean_ inscription (now in the British Museum), was
procured by Lord Elgin from the porch of the village church on the
promontory of Sigeum, a little way S. of Hissarlik. For many years it
was supposed to be the oldest of Greek inscriptions; but it is
probably not so old as some of those from Branchidæ procured by Mr.
Newton, or, as the Greek inscription on the Colossus of Psammetichus
at Abu-Simbel, in Nubia. Its object was to record the presentation of
certain vessels for the use of the Prytaneium at Sigeum by Phanodicus
and Hermocrates, a native of Proconnesus.
ALEXANDRIA TROAS (in the Acts of the Apostles simply Troas) has nothing
really to do with the Trojan legend, but was an important place of
commerce in Roman times, and the capital of the surrounding district. It
was originally founded by Antigonus,[15] and is chiefly memorable for
the remarkable munificence of a private individual, Herodes Atticus, who
built an immense aqueduct, some traces of which still remain. Suetonius
asserts that Julius Cæsar once thought of transferring Alexandria in
Egypt to this place, and Zosimus adds that Constantine had, also, at one
time designed it as the capital of his Eastern Empire (Suet. Cæs. c. 79;
Zosimus, ii. 30); an idea, perhaps, preserved in its present name _Eski
Stamboul_. It was thence that St. Paul and St. Luke set sail for
Macedonia (Acts xvi. 11), and here, somewhat later, the Apostle restored
the boy Eutychus to life (Acts xx. 9). Lastly, on rounding Cape Lectum,
we come upon a deep and beautiful gulf, where stood the ancient town of
_Adramyttium_, according to Strabo, a colony of the Athenians (xiii. 6),
but, more probably, the creation of Adramys, the brother of Crœsus. It
was early a place of considerable commerce, for which its admirable
position well fitted it (Herod. vii. 42). Subsequently it was given by
the Romans to the kings of Pergamus, but was almost obliterated by
Mithradates (Strabo, xiii. p. 614). It was in a ship of Adramyttium that
St. Paul commenced his voyage from Cæsarea to Italy to plead his cause
before Nero (Acts xxvii. 2).
Footnote 15:
The earliest coins of Alexandria Troas bear the name of Antigonia
(Sestini. Mon. Vet. p. 76).
We come now to a city, PERGAMUM or PERGAMUS (for the name is used
indifferently, though the latter or masculine form is, perhaps, the most
common), which, regard being had to the fact, that, as a great town, it
was not of remote antiquity, became in later days one of the most
celebrated places of antiquity. It is said to have been a colony of the
Heraclidæ from Arcadia (Pausan. i. 4, 5), and to have been first
mentioned as a distinct city by Xenophon (Anab. vii. 8, 4), grouped, in
all probability, round a fortress of considerable natural strength,
whence, indeed, it derived its name. The commencement of its greatness
was its selection by Lysimachus as his treasure city. Lysimachus was
succeeded by Philetærus, and subsequently by Eumenes, Attalus Philetærus
II. &c., a family remarkable for its noble deeds, as well as for the
proverbial wealth of many of its members. Thus Attalus I., who was
proclaimed King of Pergamus for his glorious victory over the Gaulish
invaders, was eminent alike for his military skill, and for his
political foresight (Polyb. xviii. 29; Liv. xxxiii. 21) in espousing the
cause of the Romans. Eumenes II., no less than his father, the firm
friend of the Romans, is worthy of record for the great library he
formed at his capital city, held in antiquity to be second only to that
of Alexandria (Strab. xiii. p. 264; Athen. i. 3).[16] It is said that in
this library skins were first used for writing on, and that, from the
title given to these sheets—“Pergamenæ chartæ”—we derive the name of
“Parchment” (Varr. ap. Plin. xiii. 11).[17] The last of the Attali,
after a reign of five years, dying childless, left his kingdom by his
will to the Romans (Strab. xiii. 624, xiv. 646). Mr. Arundell gives a
picturesque account of his ascent to the citadel, and of the magnificent
view thence.
Footnote 16:
This library was given by Antony to Cleopatra.
Footnote 17:
Περγαμηνή χάρτη, or parchment, appears to have been brought into use
by Crates of Mallos when Ptolemy cut off the supply of the _byblus_ or
the _papyrus_ reed.
Immediately following on _Mysia_ to the S. is the great province of
_Lydia_, the portion of it fronting the Ægean bearing generally the name
of _Ionia_, with a small district at its N.W. corner, touching Mysia,
named _Æolis_. It was a popular belief that the Æolians were the first
great body of Greek colonists to settle in Asia Minor, but, curiously,
the name of Æolians does not occur in Homer. Strabo makes their advent
to Asia Minor four generations earlier than the Ionian migration, and
this movement has been supposed to have been contemporary with the
return of the Heracleidæ, and may, not improbably, have been, in some
degree, caused by it. In common with the other Greek colonies, the
Æolians became subject to Crœsus, and, on the success of Cyrus, were
annexed to the Persian empire; hence, in the Græco-Persian war, they
contributed sixty ships to the armament of Xerxes. The principal towns
of Æolis were Myrina, Cyme, Neontichos, and Methymna. They are not,
however, of sufficient importance to detain us here. Pass we, therefore,
to _Ionia_.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER II.
Phocæa—Smyrna—Clazomenæ—Erythræ—Teos—Colophon—Ephesus—Mr. Wood—Miletus—
Branchidæ or Didyma—Sacred Way—Mr. Newton—Thyateira—Magnesia ad
Sipylum—Philadelphia—Tralles—Sardes—Halicarnassus—Mausoleum—Cnidus—
Demeter—Lion-Tomb—Mr. Pullan—Physcus—Caunus—Stratonicea—Aphrodisias—
Mylasa and Labranda.
PHOCÆA—the most northern of the Ionian cities—founded by emigrants from
_Phocis_, under two Athenian chiefs, soon, from the excellence of its
harbour, secured a prominent place among the early maritime states of
the world, and was the first to establish colonies on the Adriatic, the
coasts of Etruria, Gaul, and Spain. It is reported that Arganthonius,
then king of Tartessus (probably Tarshish), did all he could to persuade
these enterprising strangers to stay in his land; and that, failing
this, he gave them large sums of money to build (or rebuild) the walls
of their native town. Phocæa is often mentioned subsequently, though it
does not appear to have performed any very memorable actions. It may be
traced by its coins, and by the annalists and ecclesiastical writers to
the latest period of the Byzantine empire. Indeed, so late as A.D. 1421,
the Genoese built a new town near its ancient site, which still retains
the name of _Palaio-Phoggia_.
A little further to the S. we come to SMYRNA, one of the most celebrated
cities of Asia Minor, though it was comparatively late in attaining this
eminence. It was situated on a bay of unrivalled beauty and commercial
excellence; and, almost alone of the great cities or ports of Western
Asia has preserved its eminence to the present day, being now, as it has
long been, the chief emporium of the Levant trade. In remote times,
Smyrna successfully resisted the attacks of Gyges, king of Lydia, and
was, in consequence, taken and destroyed by his successor, Alyattes. It
is said, that, after this blow, it was nearly deserted for 400 years,
but was, at length, rebuilt by Antigonus and Lysimachus, though not
exactly on the same site. With this rebuilding its great prosperity
commenced. Nor were the claims to distinction advanced by itself
inferior to its real greatness. Inscriptions abound (some of the best,
indeed, among the marbles at Oxford), where, as on its coins, it calls
itself ΠΡΩΤΗ ΑCΙΑC, the “first city of Asia”; and so, indeed, it long
continued, though at times suffering severely from civil wars and
earthquakes, and most of all from the merciless treatment of Tímúr.
Smyrna claimed, especially, to be the birthplace of Homer, and dedicated
a temple to him. A cave was also shown there, in which the poet was said
to have composed his verses (Pausan. Ach. 5). Smyrna is not, however,
mentioned by Homer. In the reign of Tiberius, Smyrna contended with ten
other cities for the honour (?) of erecting a temple to that worthless
ruler, and won the prize; and here, not many years later, the Christian
Church flourished under Polycarp, its first bishop, who is believed to
have suffered martyrdom in its stadium about A.D. 166.
Next to Smyrna we may take CLAZOMENÆ, a town whose date is probably not
earlier than the Ionic migration. It was famous as the birthplace of
Anaxagoras, the philosopher, whose disciple Archelaus taught Socrates
and Euripides; and, also, as one of the states which joined with the
Phocæans in founding the naval colony of Naucratis in Egypt (Herod. ii.
178). It retained its name and existence till late in the Byzantine
period (Plin. v. 31; Ptol.; Hierocl. Synecd.), but, towards the middle
of the eleventh century, was finally destroyed by the Turks.
ERYTHRÆ, celebrated as the home of one if not of two Sibyls—and a town
whose life is traceable by coins and inscriptions to a late period of
the Roman empire, and, from the acts of Councils and other
ecclesiastical documents, was manifestly for some time an episcopal see.
Its land produced good wine [being called in a distich preserved by
Athenæus φερεστάφυλος Ἐρύθρα (Erythra yielding bunches of grapes)],[18]
and fine wheaten flour:—TEOS (now Sighajik), the birthplace of Anacreon
and of Hecatæus the historian; famous, too, for its temple, dedicated to
Bacchus, some remains of which have been published by the Society of
Dilettanti, and, recently, more fully examined by Mr. Pullan:—COLOPHON,
an early Ionian settlement, once the possessor of a flourishing navy,
and of cavalry reputed victorious wherever employed;[19] and illustrious
for its poets, Mimnermus, Phœnix, and Hermesianax, and, possibly even
Homer; till at length it was destroyed by Lysimachus:—PRIENE, the
birthplace of the philosopher and statesman Bias, and still identifiable
by considerable ruins near the Turkish village of Samsoun, to the S. of
Mycale, with a famous Temple of Minerva Polias, the ruins of which have
been engraved in the “Ionian Antiquities.” In Chandler’s time, about 100
years ago, the whole circuit of the city walls was still standing.
Footnote 18:
The lines are—
ἐν δἐ φερεσταφύλοις Ἐρυθραῖς ἐκ κλιβάνου ἐλθὼν
λευκòς ἁβραῖς θάλλων ὥραις τἐρψει παρά δεῖπνον.
Archestr. ap. Athen. iii. 112, B.
Footnote 19:
From this continued success arose the proverb, τὸν Κολοφῶνα ἐπέθηκεν
“he has brought the work to a completion.” And, hence, the final
letters or signature at the end of a book have been termed the
_colophon_.
But of the cities of W. Asia, no one took a higher place than EPHESUS;
though not one of the most ancient, or noticed by Homer. Pliny ascribes
its origin to the Amazons; and Strabo gives an excellent account of its
site, the chief feature of which was a celebrated port called Panormus,
with the temple of Diana, one of the Seven Wonders of the world, at a
little distance without the city walls. The worship of this Diana (of
Asiatic origin, and symbolized by her peculiar statue) was earlier than
the planting of the Ionian colony by Androcles, as has been reasonably
suspected, on a hill called Coressus, the lower ground (ultimately the
chief part of the city) having been only gradually built over. After its
first colonization we hear nothing of Ephesus till the time of Crœsus,
who is said to have failed to take the town, owing to a device of a
certain Pindarus, who attached the city to the temple by a rope, thus
making the intervening space sacred, or an asylum. On this the story
goes, that Crœsus, of all princes then ruling, a lover of the gods,
spared, indeed, the city, but showed his common sense by changing its
constitution and banishing Pindarus. It further appears that Crœsus
dedicated golden bulls at Ephesus, and helped largely in the
construction of the first temple dedicated there. The temple we now know
was about 1,400 yards from the city, a fact, apparently, not anticipated
by the first modern investigators of its site.
The inhabitants of Ephesus, as a rule, were time-servers, and ready to
court the support of whosoever for the time being were their most
powerful neighbours. Thus, at first, they joined the Ionian revolt;
then, on the overthrow of Xerxes, were for a while tributary to Athens;
and then, again, after the victories of Lysander, permitted their city
to be the head-quarters of the Spartan operations against Asia Minor;
though he could not, however, persuade the people to change the name of
their city to that of his wife Arsinoe. After the overthrow of
Antiochus, Ephesus was added by the Romans to the kingdom of Pergamus.
Again, when Mithradates was all-powerful, we find the people of Ephesus,
to please him, joining in a general massacre of the Romans in their
town; indeed, going to such lengths as not to respect the asylum of
their own temple; the natural result being a severe punishment of this
fickle population on the ultimate success of the Romans. On an
inscription, however, recently discovered, we believe, by Mr. Wood, but
now at Oxford, the people assert that they had been compelled to act
against their will, and that they were none the less, at heart, the
devoted friends of the Romans. As a place of commercial importance,
Ephesus did not survive the first three centuries of the Roman empire,
as the city was sacked by the Goths in A.D. 262, and its famous temple
burnt, an event of which some traces have been detected during the
recent excavations on its site. In later days it passed into the hands
of the Seljuks and Turks, and a great mosque was built there by Selim I.
on the rising ground overlooking the port. The long occupation of the
site of Ephesus by a mixed population is attested by the discovery there
by Mr. Wood of a hoard of coins, belonging chiefly to the Western States
of Europe, and struck during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Among these are some of the Christian subjects of Saro-khan, an emir of
Magnesia in the fourteenth century.[20] It is believed that the present
name of its site, Aiosoluk, is a corruption of Hagios Theologos (St.
John), the name borne by Ephesus during the Middle Ages.
Footnote 20:
An interesting account of these coins (2,231 in number) has been given
in the Numism. Chron., vol. xii. New Ser., 1872, by Mr. H. A. Grueber,
of the British Museum. The whole “find,” with some lumps of metal,
weighed more than seventeen pounds of silver. Among these were coins
of Naples, of Rhodes, of the Seljuk Amírs, of Venice, Genoa, and of
the Papal States, their dates embracing a period of about eighty
years, from A.D. 1285.
The chief glory of Ephesus was its temple. According to the most ancient
reports, there had been in remote times one, at least, of the grandest
proportions which Herodotus claims, with that of Juno at Samos, as among
the greatest works of the Greeks. Its architect is said to have been
contemporary with Theodorus and Rhœcus, the builders of the Samian
Heræum, early in the sixth century B.C.; and Xenophon, especially,
notices it, as he deposited there the share entrusted to him of the
tenth, arising from sale of the slaves of the Ten Thousand at Cerasus,
which was appropriated to Apollo and Artemis.[21] We have here an
instance of a custom noticed elsewhere,—viz., that the great temples of
the Hellenic world were often used as banks of deposit, where treasure
was collected, not merely in the form of _anathemata_ or dedicated
objects, but, also, in large quantities of bullion, &c., _in trust_.
Many inscriptions in Boeckh show clearly that the administrators of the
temples employed these treasures as loans. Artemis was, in fact, a
queen, whose dower was the wealth accumulated in her temple. As is well
known, the original (or the second temple of Artemis, for this point is
not clear) was burnt by Herostratus, in B.C. 356, traditionally, on the
same night on which Alexander the Great was born, but it was soon
rebuilt. It would take a whole book, says Pliny, to describe all its
details, and it is admitted to have been the largest temple of
antiquity.
Footnote 21:
In Pausanias, vii. 11, will be found a very full and interesting
account of the worship of the Ephesian Artemis, but it is too long to
quote here. Pindar says, the worship was instituted by the Amazons,
Crêsos or Korêsos, an autochthon, and Ephesus, the son of the river
god Cayster, being the first builders of the temple. For details of
the older temples, see Strab. xiv. 641; Xen. Anab. v. 3; Plin. xvi.
79; and Vitruv. x. 6.
Among other valuables, the temple contained the famous picture by
Apelles of Alexander, while the circuit round it was an asylum where
debtors and worse rogues could screen themselves from justice, an evil
which, as an inscription recently found there shows, Augustus found it
needful to restrain within reasonable limits. Ephesus, too, was the
usual port where the Roman proconsuls landed, on their way to their
several provinces. Thus, Cicero came to Ephesus when going to his
government in Cilicia. So, too, Metellus Scipio put in there before
Pharsalia, and M. Antonius after Philippi. There, too, also, was
collected the fleet of Antony and Cleopatra before the fatal day of
Actium.[22]
Footnote 22:
Le Quien’s “Oriens Christianus” gives a list of seventy Christian
bishops of Ephesus from Timothy to A.D. 1721. A good many of the later
ones could only have been bishops in name.
But the most interesting matter to us in connection with Ephesus have
been Mr. Wood’s excavations there, with his discovery not only of many
unexpected monuments of the ancient town, but of undoubted relics of the
famous temple itself. Mr. Wood, as the constructing engineer of the
Smyrna and Aidin Railway, had naturally become well acquainted with the
neighbourhood of Ephesus, and, hence, so early as 1863, had made, at his
own expense, some excavations, clearing out thereby the Odeum, and
ascertaining the true position of the Magnesian and Coressian gates. In
these researches, he met with several valuable inscriptions, one of them
referring to a certain Roman, Publius Vedius Antoninus, who was at the
time the γραμματεὺς—the Scribe or Town-clerk—of the city.[23] By degrees
the position of the Theatre, the scene of the tumult at the time of St.
Paul’s visit, was clearly made out; but where was the Temple? In the
prosecution of his excavations Mr. Wood had, however, met with many
decrees of the people of Ephesus relating to the Temple,—one of them
containing much curious information about the ritual used in the Temple-
worship, with lists of the votive offerings, to be carried on certain
days in procession “through the Magnesian Gate to the Great Theatre, and
thence back again through the Coressian Gate to the Temple.” Among the
list of statues are several of Diana, probably, such as those which
“Demetrius and his craftsmen” manufactured in the days of St. Paul.
Footnote 23:
Colonel Leake, in 1824, seems to have given the first sensible
suggestion as to where the temple ought to be sought for. The
Admiralty chart of 1836 (the foundation of the maps of Kiepert 1841-
1846) and of Guhl (1843), afforded also the first accurate survey of
the Gulf of Scala Nova. In 1862, Mr. Falkener suggested the head of
the harbour to the west of the city as the most likely site.
[Illustration:
DRUM OF PILLAR.
]
At length, in April, 1869, Mr. Wood came upon some massive walls, which
were proved to have been those of the courtyard in which the Temple had
once stood, by an inscription in Greek and Latin, stating that Augustus
had rebuilt them; and, finally, in 1870, a marble pavement was lighted
on, at the depth of nineteen feet below the alluvial soil of the present
plain, together with drums of columns, quite six feet high, one base
being still attached to its plinth. The site of the Temple of Diana had
been reached, and its style was, at once, seen to have been similar to
that of the Temple of Athene Polias at Priene, and of Apollo at
Branchidæ. It is scarcely possible to speak too highly of Mr. Wood’s
tact and sagacity. Thus, considering the accounts of ancient authors too
vague as guides for excavation, his first diggings were essentially
tentative, and with the view of meeting with some illustrative
inscriptions. In the Great Theatre he was more likely to find them than
anywhere else, and here, indeed, he discovered six large stones,
originally from the cella of the Temple, and each bearing various
decrees. Indeed, by the most important of these, to which we have
already alluded, the real clue was afforded as to its whereabouts. The
of finding this inscription confirmed Mr. Wood’s original idea of
feeling his way to the Temple from one of the city gates, the result
being the discovery of two roads,—one of them leading round the mountain
Prion or Pion, the other towards the town of Magnesia. He wisely
determined to trace the one which showed the greatest amount of wear or
use, assuming that if either of them led to the Temple it would be the
most used one. In the one round Mount Prion he found four distinct ruts,
deeply cut in its pavement of huge blocks of marble, while the other
road was worn scarcely at all. He then devoted all his energy, to use
his own words, “in exploring the road round Mount Pion,[24] which
eventually led to the Temple.”
Footnote 24:
The spelling of the name of this little eminence does not seem to be
quite certain. Pausanias and Pliny call it Pion; Strabo, on the other
hand, Prion. There was a mountain so named in the island of Cos. Comp.
_Priene_.
In this way, the peribolus, or courtyard wall of the Temple, was soon
reached, and, not long after, as before stated, the drums of several of
the columns were exhumed, lying in a confused mass as they had fallen,
sixteen or seventeen centuries ago. The largest and best preserved of
these drums, of which a sketch is given as the frontispiece for this
volume, was found on February 3rd, 1871; it is somewhat more than 6 feet
high and 18½ feet in circumference, and weighs 11¼ tons. From the
figures carved on it, one of which represents Mercury, it may be fairly
presumed that it was one of the thirty-six “columnæ cælatæ” recorded by
Pliny. Mr. Wood states that though this splendid building was not only
destroyed by earthquakes and the malice of man, all the stones,
moreover, having been carried away that could be used for building
purposes, enough still remained to enable him to draw out on paper an
accurate plan of its original shape and _contour_. He adds that, in the
course of his excavations, he “discovered the remains of three distinct
temples, the last but two, the last but one, and the last. The former
must have been that built 500 B.C., for which the solid foundations
described by Pliny and Vitruvius were laid.... Between 5 and 6 feet
below the pavement and under the foundations of the walls of the cella,
I found the layer of charcoal, 4 inches thick, described by Pliny. This
was laid between two layers of a composition about 3 inches thick,
similar to, and of the consistency of, glazier’s putty.”
In conclusion, we may add that Mr. Wood found abundant instances of the
use of colour, chiefly vermilion and blue, and one specimen of gold
inserted, as a fillet; together with several pieces of friezes much
shattered, but, evidently, of the same size and artistic character as
the reliefs on the drum. The reliefs themselves do not exhibit any great
artistic merit, though they fairly represent the characteristic style of
the Macedonian period: their general effect must, however, have been
very rich and gorgeous, and quite in character with what we know of rich
and luxurious Ephesus. We have not, at present, any evidence that the
columns, as well as the drums, were covered with sculpture. Mr. Wood, we
believe, thinks they were, but a medallion in the Bibliothèque at Paris,
which gives the front of the Temple, rather suggests the contrary.
Passing on from Ephesus we come to the scarcely less celebrated city of
MILETUS, the parent, according to Pliny, of more than 80 colonies.[25]
Situated at the mouth and, on the left bank, of the Mæander, Miletus
more strictly belongs to Caria; but it was, also, one of the most
conspicuous members of the Ionian confederacy. It is believed that it
was originally founded by a colony from Crete, under the leadership of
Sarpedon, the brother of Minos; an idea, in some degree, confirmed by a
notice in Homer (Il. ii. 867). Herodotus (ix. 97) only mentions
Sarpedon’s establishing himself in Lycia. The advantageous position of
the town, with a harbour capable of holding a large fleet, naturally
gave it, from the earliest times, the lead in maritime affairs. Its most
important colonies were Abydus, Lampsacus, and Parium on the Hellespont;
Proconnesus and Cyzicus on the Propontis; Sinope and Amisus on the
Euxine; with several more on the coast of Thrace and Tauris, and on the
Borysthenes. The period, however, of Miletus’s chief power was comprised
between its Ionian colonization and its conquest by the Persians in 494
B.C. After that period, it did not maintain the same lead among the
seaports of the Asiatic Greeks; indeed, during the time of its greatest
fame, peace was practically unknown among its people, who were
constantly distracted by factions aristocratic or democratic.
Footnote 25:
Rambach—De Mileto ejusque coloniis (Hal. Sax. 1790)—has attempted, not
without success, to identify the larger number of them.
As was natural, the kings of Lydia made many attempts to possess
themselves of Miletus. In the reign of Alyattes, however, the Lydian and
Milesian quarrel was, for the time, made up, the Lydian king having been
supposed to have incurred the wrath of the gods, as his troops had burnt
a temple dedicated to Minerva at Assessos. Some of the rulers of the
town were men of historic note, especially Thrasybulus, the friend of
the Corinthian Periander. Somewhat later, the Milesians made a treaty
with Crœsus, and, what was of more importance to them, secured its
maintenance by Cyrus; hence, their town was spared much of the misery
inflicted on the other Ionian states in the first war with the Persians
(Herod. i. 141, 143). But if Miletus had been previously fortunate, this
good luck deserted her during the great Græco-Persian war; nor could she
indeed complain, as the chief promoter of this rebellion was her
“tyrannus” Histiæus. As will be remembered, it was mainly through
Histiæus and his kinsman Aristagoras, that Ionia revolted against the
Persians; and, further, that, to the instigations of the latter, was due
the needless burning of the great western capital of the Persians,
Sardes. An immediate attack on Miletus by the Persian satraps was the
natural reply to this treachery; and the city was eventually taken by
storm, with all the horrors consequent thereon.[26] It may be doubted,
whether after this fall, Miletus ever again recovered her former glory.
Footnote 26:
Herodotus, vi. 18-21, states that the Athenians were so much
distressed at the fall of Miletus, that they fined the poet Phrynichus
1,000 drachmæ for putting on the stage a drama entitled “The Capture
of Miletus.”
Subsequently, Miletus made many spasmodic efforts to regain her freedom,
but with little avail, though it still existed till the decline of the
Byzantine empire—its Church being under the direction of bishops who
ranked as Metropolitans of Caria (Hierocl.).[27] A pestilential swamp
now covers the birthplace of Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes.[28]
Footnote 27:
At Miletus, St. Luke tells us that St. Paul sent to his chief
disciples at Ephesus (distant about thirty miles) to come to see him.
This was their last opportunity, as he was then on his final journey
to Jerusalem (Acts xx. 17).
Footnote 28:
A proverb cited by Athenæus from Aristotle may refer to the condition
of the Milesians after the capture of their city by the Persians:—
Πάλαι ποτ’ ἦσαν ἄλκιμοι Μιλήσιοι.
In the neighbourhood of Miletus stood, at BRANCHIDÆ or Didyma, the
famous temple of Apollo Didymæus, the site, we feel pleased to say, of
one of Mr. Newton’s most valuable researches. It was known in Greek
history from the remotest times, as the site of a shrine and of an
oracle second only in sanctity and importance to that of Delphi; as the
spot where Pharaoh Necho dedicated the armour he had worn when he took
the city of Cadytis (Herod, ii. 159), and as a place which received from
Crœsus, before his war with Cyrus, golden offerings equal in weight to
those he gave to Delphi. It was plundered and burnt by Darius I., and, a
second time, by Xerxes, its sacred family of priests having been, on
this occasion, swept off to Sogdiana by the conqueror; but it revived
again, in renewed splendour, towards the close of the Peloponnesian war,
when rebuilt on a scale so vast that, according to Strabo, it could not
be roofed over: it was memorable, especially, too, for a succession of
oracles ascending to a period before the commencement of history, yet
not wholly extinct even so late as the days of Julian. It was reasonable
to expect that such a place would retain some relics of its past
greatness, and of its pre-eminence among the sacred shrines of
antiquity. Indeed, many travellers, before Mr. Newton, had spoken of the
ruins of the Temple and of the Sacred Way leading to it, and, from the
notices in Wheler (1685), Gell, Leake, the “Ionian Antiquities,” and
Hamilton, much valuable information may be gathered.
It was left to Mr. Newton to complete what had been indeed, hardly done
at all before, and to secure for England the most important sculptures
still _in situ_. The Temple of Apollo Didymæus[29] was originally
approached from the sea by a “SACRED WAY,” on each side of which had
once been a row of seated statues, sepulchral _sori_, tombs, &c. Along
this “Way” Mr. Newton discovered eight seated statues, generally about 4
feet 6 inches high, by 2 feet 9 inches broad and deep; the character of
their workmanship being, at the first glance, strikingly Egyptian, at
least in this respect, that their drapery, extending from the shoulders
to the feet, consists of one closely-fitting garment (_chitōn_), and of
a light shawl (_peplos_). One only of the figures retains its head, the
sculptured treatment of it being that usually recognized as the most
archaic Greek, in that the hair is arranged in long parallel tresses, as
in the earliest coins of Syracuse. With two exceptions, all these
statues belong to the same period of art. Mr. Newton says, it is evident
that no one of them occupied, when he discovered them, exactly its
original position, and that they must, at some time or other, have been
thrown down and partially removed—an opinion confirmed by a somewhat
later discovery of about eighty feet of the original paving of the
“SACRED WAY,” together with some bases, not improbably those on which
these statues had been originally placed. The “SACRED WAY” can still be
traced for about 580 yards.
Footnote 29:
Didyma was the ancient name of the site where the temple stood; hence
the building was sometimes called the “Didymæum.” Strabo speaks of it
as τοῦ ἐν Διδύμοις ναοῦ. On the pretence that the priests of Branchidæ
voluntarily returned with Xerxes to Persia, their descendants were
cruelly murdered by Alexander the Great (Strabo, xiv. 634, xi. 517;
Quint. Curt., vii. 5).
[Illustration:
INSCRIPTION OF CHARES.
]
In a wall extending along it are, here and there, masses of polygonal
masonry, with individual stones of immense size, the remains, probably,
of an original Hellenic wall. At a short distance from the last of the
seated statues, Mr. Newton met with two remarkable monuments—a colossal
lion and a female sphinx—both, unfortunately, much injured. The sphinx
was completely buried under the earth, and had nothing in its form to
recommend it, but the lion had, on its side, a very ancient inscription,
which the barbarous Greeks of the neighbourhood had done all they could
to obliterate. The important question is, to what period are these works
to be assigned? Now, of direct evidence we have none; for, though
history speaks of the two temples at this spot, we have no record of the
statues themselves; the probability being that they were damaged nearly
as much as at present before Herodotus visited the spot, and, probably,
by the Persians. Yet, in spite of the silence of history, we have some
indirect evidence from the monuments themselves; enough, at least, to
determine their age within tolerably accurate limits. In the first
place, we have the character of their art, which is, unquestionably,
very archaic; secondly, on three of the chairs are inscriptions in the
oldest Greek character; on the most important one written
_boustrophedon_ (_i.e._ backwards and forwards, as an ox ploughs);
thirdly, a long inscription on the recumbent lion, and another, quite as
old, on a detached block, the base, possibly, of a statue now lost. In
order that the nature of the characters used may be comprehended, we
annex a woodcut of the legend on one of the chairs of the seated
figures, the translation of which is, “I am Chares, son of Clesis, ruler
of Teichaoessa, a [dedicatory] monument of Apollo.”[30] On the block
found near the chair, the inscription states that “the sons of
Anaximander have [dedicated a statue?] of Andromachus,” and that
“Terpsicles made it”: while that, on the side of the lion,—the most
curious of them all,—declares that “the sons of Python, Archelaos,
Thales, Pasikles, Hegesander, and Lysias, have dedicated the offerings,
as a tenth, to Apollo.” Some years since, a still more perfect seated
figure was in existence, on the chair of which was an inscription copied
by Sir W. Gell and Mr. Cockerell, and published by Boeckh and Rose.[31]
Footnote 30:
This inscription was probably attached to a portrait statue.
Teichioessa, or Teichiousa, we know from Thucydides (viii. 26, 28),
was a strong place near Miletus. Athenæus (viii. 351) spells it
Teichiûs. Mr. Newton suggests that Chares was probably one of the
petty rulers on the western coast of Asia Minor in the sixth and fifth
centuries B.C., of whom Herodotus notices more than one. A _bon-mot_
of Stratonicus the musician is recorded by Athenæus: “As Teichioessa
was inhabited by a mixed population, he observed that most of the
tombs were those of foreigners, on which he said to his lad, ‘Let us
be off, since strangers seem to die here, but not one of the natives’”
(viii. p. 351). Teichoessa was also famous for the excellence of its
mullets (Ital. _triglia_),
... χειμῶνι δὲ τρίγλην
ἔσθι’ ἐνὶ ψαφαρῇ ληφθεῖσαν Τειχιοέσσῃ
Μιλήτου κώμῃ.—Archestr. ap. Athen. _l. c._
Footnote 31:
Colonel Leake (Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor, Lond., 1824, p. 239)
has given an account of this chair, and suggests that the arrangement
of these statues is similar to that of the avenues of the temples in
Egypt. In a note to p. 342 of Colonel Leake’s work, is a brief memoir
by the late C. J. Cockerell, in which he suggests that the temple at
Branchidæ was never completed, as the flutings of the columns are not
finished (see, also, pp. 347, 348). There is an engraving of this
chair in the “Ionian Antiquities.”
[Illustration:
CHAIR FROM BRANCHIDÆ.
]
We cannot discuss here the character of the inscriptions quoted above,
but all palæographers admit that the writing belongs to the earliest
Greek period, not improbably anterior to the year B.C. 520. It may be
still earlier, as, on the lion inscription, we find the name of
Hegesander and another name, which, though the first letter has met with
an injury, we agree with Mr. Newton in thinking, must be read as Thales,
while, on the detached block, we have that of Anaximander. Now it is
certainly remarkable that on two adjoining stones, found close to the
most sacred temple of the Milesians, the names of two of the most
celebrated philosophers of that town should occur. If, then, these be
really the names of those philosophers, they may be supposed to have
joined with other citizens of Miletus in dedicating the figure of the
lion, and of the object (whether statue or otherwise) once attached to
the second inscription; and, if so, the dates of these works would be
between B.C. 470 and B.C. 560. Anaximander was born about B.C. 610, and
Hegesander was probably the father of Hecatæus, who was himself born
about B.C. 520.
It is worthy of remark that, unlike so many other early Greek works,
these sculptures exhibit no trace of an Asiatic or Assyrian origin. The
only style they recall is that of Egypt, while the only Assyrian
monument they resemble is the semi-Egyptian seated figure brought by Mr.
Layard from Kalah Sherghat. Mr. Newton has justly pointed out that the
resemblance to Egyptian work “is seen not only in the great breadth of
the shoulders, but also in the modelling of the limbs, in which the
forms of the bones and muscles are indicated with far greater refinement
and judgment than at first sight seems to be the case ... the subdued
treatment of the anatomy contributes to the general breadth and repose
for which these figures are so remarkable, and suggests the idea that
they were executed by artists who had studied in Egypt.” We know that
the Greeks were intimately connected with Psammetichus I., Amasis, and
Neco; while the tombs at Cameirus, in Rhodes, have yielded works almost
certainly imitated from Egyptian prototypes by early Greek artists. We
have, too, the statement of Diodorus, that Theodorus of Samos and his
brother Telecles of Ephesus, the sons of Rhoecus, derived the canon of
their sculptures from Egypt. The general character, however, of the
ornamentation, the mæander-pattern, and the lotos and borders on the
garments of the seated figures, agreeing, as these do, with the same
patterns on early Greek vases, tend to show that their actual artists
were Greeks. Thus, too, the archaic statue of Athene in the Acropolis at
Athens is essentially Greek, and not Egyptian. Pliny has further noticed
that two Cretan sculptors, Dipænos and Scyllis, were the first artists
(about B.C. 580) of note, as workers in marble: it is, therefore, quite
conceivable that they may have been the actual artists of these
monuments.
We shall now say a few words of THYATEIRA, MAGNESIA AD SIPYLUM,
PHILADELPHIA, and TRALLES with some rather fuller remarks on the
celebrated city, SARDES, the capital of Lydia.
THYATEIRA was a place of considerable importance, and probably of early
origin, but of no great rank among the surrounding towns till the time
of the Macedonians; its best known name, according to Steph. Byzant.,
being due to Seleucus Nicator. To us, its chief interest is its
connection with early Christianity, as the home of “Lydia the seller of
purple” (Acts xvi. 14), and as one of the Seven Churches of the
Apocalypse. There are still, according to Sir Charles Fellows, remains
of a considerable city; and it is also, under the name of Ak-Hissar, a
flourishing commercial town. Close to the Lake Gygæa, not far from
Sardes, was the sepulchral mound of Alyattes, considered by Herodotus
one of the wonders of Lydia. This remarkable tumulus, which is about 280
yards in diameter, has been recently excavated by M. Spiegenthal, who
discovered in its centre a sepulchral chamber of highly polished marble
blocks, and of about the same size as that of the tomb of Cyrus. Such
tumuli are common in Asia Minor; indeed, round the same lake, are three
or four more, probably, as Strabo has suggested, the tombs of other
early Lydian kings. Sir Gardner Wilkinson has pointed out that their
structure—a stone basement with a mound of earth above—resembles the
constructed tombs of Etruria.
The _Lydian_ MAGNESIA—usually called “_Ad Sipylum_,” to distinguish it
from the Magnesia of Ionia—was the scene of the great victory gained by
the two Scipios in B.C. 190, over Antiochus the Great though aided by
the Gauls, which handed over Western Asia to the Romans. Hence, in the
Mithradatic war, the Magnesians stood firmly by Rome. A coin of this
place has on it the head of Cicero, and is interesting as the only
portrait (good or bad) we have of that great orator. In legendary
history, Mount Sipylus, which overhangs Magnesia on the S., was famous
as the residence of Tantalus and Niobe; and here, too, was a town of the
same name as the mountain, said to have been converted into a lake by
volcanic action[32] (Paus.). Homer alludes to the mountain in speaking
of Niobe’s transformation (Il. xxiv. 614), as do also Sophocles (Antig.
v. 822), and Ovid (Metam. vi. 310). The story of the weeping Niobe was
probably an optical illusion (Paus. Attic. c. 21), and, curiously, the
origin of it has been clearly shown by Chandler, who says, “The phantom
of Niobe may be defined as an effect of a certain portion of light and
shade on a part of Sipylus, perceivable at a particular point of view.
The traveller, who shall visit Magnesia after this information, is
requested to observe carefully a steep and remarkable cliff, about a
mile from the town; varying his distance, while the sun and shade, which
come gradually on, pass over it, I have reason to believe he will see
Niobe” (Travels, p. 331). The magnetic influence on the compass is
confirmed by Arundell, but the name “Magnet” has been derived from other
towns of the same name.
Footnote 32:
Hamilton (vol. i. p. 49) confirms the identity of Sipylus and its
neighbourhood with the legend of Tantalus, by the discovery of his
friend Mr. Strickland (it had been previously, however, noticed by
Chishull) of a remarkable statue sculptured on the rocky base of the
mountain. “This statue” Mr. Strickland states, “is rudely sculptured
out of the solid rock. It represents a sitting figure contained in a
niche, and its height from the base to the top of the head may be
about twenty feet.” “There can be little doubt that this is the
ancient statue of Cybele mentioned by Pausanias,” but it can scarcely
be, as some other travellers have supposed, Niobe.
PHILADELPHIA, named from Attalus Philadelphus, suffered more than any
other Lydian town from earthquakes, so that, after that in the reign of
Tiberius it was well-nigh deserted. It continued, however, to hold its
own for many years, and is memorable for the long and gallant resistance
it made to the Turks. It submitted, at length, in A.D. 1390, to Bayazíd,
and is still a place of some size under its new name of Allah-Shehr.
Philadelphia is noticed in the Revelations (iii. 7) as one of the Seven
Churches. A story long prevailed of a wall made of bones of the citizens
slain by Bayazíd; and Rycaut remarks, that “these bones are so entire
that I brought a piece thereof with me from thence.” Chandler, however,
found a simple solution for this wonder in a petrifying stream, like
that at Laodicea. “This,” says he, “encrusted some vegetable substances
which have perished, and left behind, as it were, their moulds.” Gibbon
particularly notices the gallantry of the Philadelphians:—“At a
distance,” says he, “from the sea, forgotten by the Emperor, encompassed
on all sides by the Turks, her valiant citizens defended their religion
and freedom above fourscore years, and, at length, capitulated with the
proudest of the Ottomans in 1390. Among the Greek colonies and Churches
of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect, a column in a scene of ruins.”
TRALLES, in the time of Strabo, was one of the most flourishing cities
of Asia Minor; indeed, situated as it was, on the high road from Ephesus
through Lydia and Phrygia, it could hardly have failed to be a place of
great traffic (Cic. Ep. ad Att. v. 14; Artemid. ap. Strab. xiv. p. 663).
Hence its citizens were generally selected to fill the expensive offices
of Asiarchs, or Presidents of the games celebrated in the province.
Though abundant ruins may be seen over the whole site of the ancient
city, they have been so shattered by earthquakes as to be now scarcely
recognizable.
We come now to SARDES, by far the most important city of Lydia. The date
of its foundation has not been recorded, but it must have early been a
place of note, as Herodotus states that it was plundered by the
Cimmerians, though they could not capture its citadel.[33] Its real
importance, however, evidently began when it became the capital of the
Lydian monarchs, men whose unusual wealth has been fully attested by
Herodotus, who had himself seen the gifts of Crœsus in the treasury at
Delphi. The story of the mode whereby the citadel of Sardes was taken by
Cyrus is most likely true; indeed is, in some degree, confirmed by a
later capture, under circumstances not unsimilar, by Lagoras, a general
of Antiochus the Great (Polyb. vii. 4-7).
Footnote 33:
Sardes, from Σάρδεις; but it is often written Sardis.
Under the reign of Crœsus, Sardes was unquestionably a great and
flourishing city, the resort of men of learning and ability, who were,
Herodotus tells us, attracted thither by the fame and hospitality of the
king (i. 29): on the success of Cyrus, it was simply transferred from
the native dynasty of rulers to the conquering Persians, becoming thus,
not only the capital of Persian Asia Minor, but the occasional residence
of the monarch himself. Thus Xerxes spent the winter there when
preparing his unwise invasion of Greece (Herod. vii. 32-37); and here,
too, Cyrus the Younger collected the army so easily crushed on the fatal
day of Cunaxa. Xenophon remarks that the beauty of its gardens excited
the admiration of even the Spartan Lysander, who was amused by the tale
that Cyrus himself had often played there the part of gardener (Œcon. p.
880; cf. Cic. de Senect. c. 17). The town itself seems to have consisted
chiefly of thatched houses, and so was easily burnt by the Ionians in
their revolt. The burning of Sardes was felt by the Persian monarch to
be a gross insult, the more so that his rule had been notoriously mild
and equitable. Sardes made no resistance to Alexander the Great; hence,
its people were permitted by that monarch to retain their ancient laws
and customs (Arrian, i. 17). During the wars of the Seleucidæ it was, at
different times, subject to the prevailing ruler of that house, and,
hence, passed over to the Romans after the defeat of Antiochus at
Magnesia.[34] Colonel Leake has given, in his Asia Minor, some
interesting notes by Mr. Cockerell on the antiquities of this town, with
a special account of the famous temple of Cybele, or the Earth, which
stood on the banks of the Pactolus, and of which three great columns
were then standing.[35] This temple was burnt by the Ionians in B.C.
503, and never completely reconstructed.[36] Most interesting to the
Christian are the remains of two churches, one supposed to be that of
the Church of the Panagia, and another, in front of it, said to be that
of St. John. The former is almost wholly constructed of magnificent
fragments of earlier edifices, and is, perhaps, as Colonel Leake
thought, “the only one of the Seven churches of which there are any
distinguishable remains.” Bearing in mind, too, St. Paul’s residence for
three years in the neighbouring town of Ephesus, we must suppose the
capital of Lydia was included in the declaration of St. Luke that “all
they which dwelt in Asia (_i.e._ Roman Proconsular Asia) heard the word
of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks” (Acts xix. 10; compare also 1
Cor. xvi. 19, and Rev. iii. 1-5). In later days, more than one Council
was held here. Indeed, this famous city may be traced through a long
period of Byzantine history (Eunap. p. 154; Hierocl. p. 669). The
emperor Julian made Chrysanthius, of Sardes, pontiff of Lydia; but his
attempt to restore the heathen worship was a failure. About A.D. 400 it
was plundered by the Goths under Tribigild and Cainas, officers in Roman
pay; in the eleventh century it was seized by the Turks, and, two
centuries later, nearly destroyed by Tímúr. A miserable village, called
Sart, now occupies its site; and so completely has it passed away, that
we might inquire with Horace, “Quid Crœsi regia Sardes?” if we may not
quite add the commencement of the following line, “Smyrna quid?” (Horat.
Epist. I. i. 2). No remains of its ancient grandeur now exist, and the
“princes” of Lydia, her wise men, her captains, and “her rulers and her
mighty men” have long been asleep in the innumerable tumuli spread over
all the level country around.
Footnote 34:
A part of the fortifications of Sardes bore the same name, Prion,
which we find at Ephesus (Polyb. vii. 4-7). Is the name in any way
connected with Priene? As a Greek word, πρίων means a saw; hence,
possibly, a serrated ridge of hills—the Spanish _sierra_.
Footnote 35:
There are only two now (Arundell).
Footnote 36:
Colonel Leake, in 1824, supposed the Temple of Ephesus was the largest
temple of antiquity. It is now known that it was really the sixth in
size—that of Agrigentum in Sicily being the largest.
We proceed now to notice some of the more important towns of CARIA, and
take first HALICARNASSUS (now Budrum) which had achieved the most
enduring fame, as the site of the Mausoleum or Tomb of Mausolus, once of
the Seven Wonders of the World. Originally, a colony from Trœzene, in
Argolis, Halicarnassus had early adopted Asiatic tastes and habits;
hence, firmly adhering to the Persians, its Queen Artemisia I., the
widow of Lygdamis, fought for Xerxes at Salamis. A remarkable vase in
Egyptian alabaster, with the name and titles of Xerxes on it in the
three forms of the cuneiform writing, discovered by Mr. Newton in the
Mausoleum, was, perhaps, the reward-gift of the Persian monarch for this
service. To her namesake, the second Artemisia, we owe the building of
the Mausoleum, 130 years subsequently.
With regard to the history of this remarkable monument, it is well known
that, on the death of Mausolus, B.C. 353, Artemisia, his widow and
sister, resolved to celebrate his memory by all the honours the art and
literature of the period could bestow, and to employ, for this purpose,
four of the most celebrated sculptors of antiquity,—Bryaxis, Timotheus,
Leochares or Scopas, and Praxiteles.[37] It is said that this queen’s
short reign, of two years only, did not enable her to witness the
completion of her grand design, but that these great sculptors finished
the work after her death for their own honour and the glory of art. Much
of what they accomplished was, certainly, extant till comparatively
modern times. Thus, the building is noticed, first by Strabo and Pliny,
then by Gregory of Nazianzus in the fourth, by Constantinus
Porphyrogenitus in the tenth, and by Eudocia in the eleventh centuries
respectively; all these accounts implying that it was still visible.
Again, Frontanus, the historian of the siege of Rhodes, states that a
German knight, Henry von Schlegelholt, constructed the citadel at Budrum
out of the Mausoleum. Yet, even then, it was only partially destroyed,
for when Cepio visited Budrum in 1472 he mentions seeing its remains
among the ruins of the ancient town. In the later repairs, however, of
the citadel, the masonry of the substructure of the Mausoleum must have
been wholly removed; the result being that visitors to Budrum, before
Mr. Newton commenced his excavations, could not determine its site.
Footnote 37:
Its architects were Satyrus and Phiteus, and the building itself a
parallelogram surrounded by thirty-six columns, supporting a pyramid
of twenty-four steps, which tapered to the top like a _meta_, or goal.
Its height was 140 feet. Martial describes it as “Aere vacuo pendentia
Mausolea.” Pausanias states that the Romans admired it so much that
they called all similar buildings “Mausolea”; while Eustathius, in the
twelfth century, observes of it, Θαῦμα καὶ ἦν καὶ ἔστι (“it was and is
a wonder”) clearly implying its existence, in some form or other, even
then. In M. Guichard’s “Funérailles de Romains,” &c., Lyons, 1581, the
sculptured reliefs and “certain white marble steps” (possibly those of
the pyramid) are noticed. This information, he says, he had from M.
Dalechamps—the editor of Pliny—and he, again, from M. de la Tourette,
who was present, in 1522, when its last stones were finally removed to
build the castle.
About the middle of the last century, the Greek sculptures built into
the walls of the fortress were published in Dalton’s “Views in Greece
and Egypt, 1751-81,” and were subsequently described by Choiseul-
Gouffier, Moritt, Prokesch von Osten, W. J. Hamilton, as, also, in the
second volume of “Ionian Antiquities.” Nothing, however, was done
towards a more complete examination of them, till, in 1845, Sir
Stratford Canning (now Lord Stratford de Redcliffe), then H.M.
Ambassador at Constantinople, was able to extract them from these walls,
and to present them to the British Museum in February, 1846. The chief
subject of these sculptures is the contest between the Greeks and the
Amazons, and their artistic style may be compared with that of the slabs
on the Choragic monument of Lysicrates at Athens, of the date of B.C.
334. The pieces thus recovered were evidently but subordinate portions
of a much larger design.
From this time nothing further was done till Mr. Newton was sent by Lord
Stratford de Redcliffe, in the early part of 1856, on a cruise to the
south of the Archipelago; on which occasion he landed at Budrum, and
partially examined the site, but without detecting any visible evidence
of the Mausoleum.[38] In October of the same year, however, Mr. Newton
took up his abode at Budrum with a few sappers under the command of
Lieut. Smith, R.E. Mr. Newton commenced his excavations on the same spot
he had previously slightly examined, and, for some time, met with little
except abundant mosaics, the remains of a splendid villa, some of them
inscribed with the names of the persons represented,—such as Meleager
and Atalanta, Dido and Æneas. A little further on, Mr. Newton found in
the rubble several drums of columns, with late and shallow Doric
flutings, and, at one corner of the building, a well, in which was a
small head in white marble, a bronze lamp, and some other objects: many,
too, of the rooms still retained their skirting of white marble. But
still no Mausoleum appeared.
Footnote 38:
Admiral Spratt, R.N., a veteran surveyor, proposed his site for the
Mausoleum, because, 1. he thought it coincided with the description of
Vitruvius; 2. on the eastern side there are still portions of an
Hellenic wall; 3. on the N. side were several fragments of columns of
large diameter; and, 4. it might be inferred that the Mausoleum stood
on a mound. He did not, however, follow the example of Prof. Ross, in
writing a paper against Mr. Newton’s early account of the Mausoleum in
the “Classical Museum,” with a sneer at the possibility of any
student, who had not himself surveyed the place, forming a conception
of the real position of the great building. It is satisfactory to know
that Prof. Ross’s personal survey proved to be even less satisfactory
than that of Capt. Spratt.
At length, however, Mr. Newton commenced digging on a spot where, nearly
sixty years ago, Professor Donaldson had noticed the remains of “a
superb Ionic edifice,” and soon came on many small fragments of a frieze
in high relief, and on a portion of a colossal lion resembling in
execution the lions’ heads built into the walls of the castle. Mr.
Newton next fell in with a mass of ruins lying just below the surface,
one column, indeed, standing nearly upright but inverted, and 10 feet
below, a little further on, with the edge of a pavement or step, about 6
inches below which the native rock had been levelled for a floor. In the
earth on this floor was found the body of a colossal statue from the
waist to the ankle, and another mass of sculpture—a warrior on horseback
in a Persian or Oriental costume, in itself a most remarkable specimen
of ancient sculpture. There could be no doubt now that these were relics
of the Mausoleum, the smoothed rock being the bed on which the building
had once stood. The work, in all cases, was of the best, the fragments
of the small figures being generally better preserved than those on the
frieze already in the British Museum. The discovery of the column just
alluded to had this especial value, that, by its measurement and order,
a judgment could be formed of the size of the building to which it had
belonged: ultimately these measurements showed that the building itself
must have had much resemblance in style to the temple at Priene.
By the spring of the next year (1857) Mr. Newton had determined the
base-lines of the original building, and proved it must have been a
parallelogram 116 feet long on the west by 126 feet on the south side,
its entire circumference having been about 472 feet. The inner part of
this quadrangle was paved with large slabs of a greenish-grey stone 1
foot thick. The cause of the ruin of the building was, also, clear
enough; first, earthquakes shook down a considerable portion, and then
the Knights of Rhodes, and, after them, the Turks, used up every
available stone above ground for building purposes. Fortunately,
however, the plunderers only took what was ready to their hand; hence
the massive courses of the foundation-stones were left, because unseen.
On the western side, a grand staircase of twelve steps, 30 feet wide,
led from the base of the hill to the western side of the precincts of
the Mausoleum. Near these were found the vase of Xerxes, and a gigantic
stone weighing more than ten tons, which probably once closed the
entrance to the actual tomb. No remains of the tomb itself were found;
yet, there is reason for believing that some portion of it, if not the
actual body of the king, was visible during the demolition by the
Knights. On the east side of the Mausoleum, a colossal seated male
figure was next discovered, of a grand style, but sadly shattered; and
then, on the north, a similarly colossal female figure, which must have
been originally scarcely less than 12 feet high. Here, also, was found a
very beautiful fragment of one of the friezes, representing a female
figure stepping into a chariot, the face of which, happily but slightly
injured, retains even now the finish of a cameo.
Mr. Newton’s next plan of ascertaining, if possible, the boundary-wall
of the _temenos_ was a happy one, as he thus, at once, discovered a mass
of marble blocks, piled one above another, and intermixed with fragments
of statues; and thus unearthed, (1) a colossal horse, in two pieces, and
part of the head of another horse, with the bronze bridle still adhering
to it; (2) a lion in fine condition, and another in two pieces; (3) a
draped female figure broken in half; (4) a head of Apollo. All these
sculptures were found heaped together, and had evidently not been
disturbed since they had fallen.
The conclusion was inevitable, that parts of the colossal horses of the
quadriga from the top of the monument had now been met with; and that
this quadriga and much of the pyramid, its support, had been simply
hurled upon and over the wall of the _temenos_, and that Mr. Newton had,
in fact, found them just as they had fallen, it may be 1,700 years
ago.[39] Near to the horse’s head, too, was found a face of a colossal
male head, presumably that of some personage connected with the
quadriga, and, from its general style, which is analogous to the
idealized portrait of Alexander the Great on the coins of Lysimachus,
most likely from a statue of Mausolus himself. The face has a noble
expression, and by a happy accident, the outlines of the features have
remained uninjured. Though we have no actual evidence on this subject,
it is probable that the statue we have called Mausolus was standing in
the chariot at the top of the monument. On the south side of the
building Mr. Newton found several portions of what, when put together,
were clearly parts of one of its wheels. The fragments consisted of part
of the outer circle, half the nave, and a piece of one of the spokes.
The wheel, originally, had six spokes, the alternate intervals between
each spoke having been closed to ensure by its solidity the strength of
the whole wheel. As what has been found shows that the wheel was 7.7
inches in diameter; and as the horses could scarcely have been less than
10 feet in length, we may fairly suppose the top of the pyramid on which
the quadriga stood was at least 24 feet long. From other calculations it
may be shown that the pyramid was 23½ feet high: but for these and other
similar details we must refer our readers to Mr. Newton’s work on the
Mausoleum.
Footnote 39:
It is reasonable to conjecture that the first ruin of the Mausoleum
was due to the earthquakes of the first and second centuries A.D., to
which we have already alluded.
We must, however, add that the measurements of the height and tread of
the blocks of marble believed to have been the steps of the pyramid,
formed an essential feature of the calculation. The results arrived at
were mainly due to the ingenuity and mathematical knowledge of Lieut.
Smith, R.E., who was also able to distribute Pliny’s 36 columns over a
circumference of 412 feet, so as to preserve a uniform intercolumniation
on each side of the building.
[Illustration:
STEPS OF THE PYRAMID.
]
The difficulty of Lieutenant Smith’s theory is that so large a space
from the centres of the columns to the walls of the cella is left
unsupported; but the plan of support he has suggested occurs in other
and nearly contemporaneous structures, as, for instance, in a tomb at
Mylasa. Again the great height, 65 feet, between the bases of the
columns and the ground, is found to agree with the proportions of other
tombs, as in Lycia and at Souma in Algeria. In all probability, this
lofty basement was ornamented by one or more friezes, while the lions,
of which Mr. Newton found remains of no less than fourteen, may have
stood between the columns or at the corners, looking out on the plain.
Since their arrival in England, great skill has been shown in uniting
the innumerable fragments into which some of the slabs and statues had
been broken; and visitors to the British Museum are now able to form a
good idea of the grandeur and beauty of the equestrian or Amazonian
figure, whose costume resembles that of the Persians on the temple of
the Wingless Victory at Athens; and of the two great statues it has been
agreed to call Mausolus and Artemisia. In the same room, there may,
also, now be seen the whole of the frieze that has been recovered; and
it is interesting to observe how much less injured are the portions
excavated by Mr. Newton, than those which, built into the castle wall,
have for four centuries, at least, been exposed to the corroding action
of the sea-breezes.
We take next CNIDUS, at the S.W. end of Asia Minor, and, after
Halicarnassus, the most celebrated city of Caria. The description of its
position by Strabo and Pausanias coincides exactly with the observations
of modern travellers. Thus, Strabo speaks of its two ports, one of which
can be closed; and of an island (now Cape Krio) in front of the city,
lofty, in the form of a theatre, and joined by a causeway to the
mainland; both of which statements are completely confirmed by Beaufort
and Hamilton. Pausanias adds that the island was connected by a bridge.
The whole district is covered by ruins, the northern wall being,
according to Hamilton, nearly perfect: he adds, that “there is a round
tower of great beauty at the extremity of the peninsula, near the
northern harbour” (ii. 40). Some of the most important architectural
features of the town may be seen in the “Ionian Antiquities.”
Cnidus is noticed first in the Homeric hymns, and later as a
Lacedæmonian colony, and as a member of the Dorian Hexapolis, or
assembly of six cities, whose place of meeting was the temple of the
Triopian Apollo, on Cape Krio.[40] As a population, the Cnidians were
great traders, combining with this a love for, and a high sense of, art.
Thus we find them at a remote period in Egypt (Herod. ii. 178), and
possessing a treasury at Delphi, while Lipara, near Sicily, was one of
their colonies. In the various wars of the fifth and fourth centuries
B.C., we find the Cnidians sometimes on one side and sometimes on the
other. Thus, they submitted to Harpagus, the general of Cyrus;[41] then
supported Athens, then deserted her after her losses in Sicily,[42] and
then, again, in Roman times, were, generally, on the side of Rome.[43]
The Cnidians derived much fame from their patronage of art. Thus, the
famous painting of Polygnotus in the Lesche at Delphi was their
gift;[44] as were also a statue of Jupiter at Olympia, and one at
Delphi, of their founder, Triopas; with other statues of Leto, of
Apollo, and of Artemis shooting arrows at Tityus. The most famous art-
possession of Cnidus was the naked statue by Praxiteles so well known as
the Cnidian Venus,[45] of which abundant notices are extant, especially
in Lucian. It stood in a chamber with two doors, so that it could be
seen all round, and many people visited Cnidus solely for this purpose.
So proud were the Cnidians of this statue that, when Nicomedes offered
to pay the whole public debt of Cnidus in return for the statue, they
preferred keeping their statue and their debts. This statue, justly
considered the fittest representation of the “Regina Cnidi Paphique,”
continued long uninjured, and is mentioned by Philostratus in his life
of Apollonius of Tyana; but, in the reign of Theodosius, having been
removed to Constantinople, it was totally destroyed by fire in the
palace of Lausus, about A.D. 475. There were also preserved at Cnidus
two statues by Bryaxis and Scopas, two of the sculptors of the
Mausoleum. Cnidus was also famous for her pottery, well known in ancient
times by the name of “Κεράμια Κνίδια.”[46]
Footnote 40:
Near this temple the Cnidians held their assemblies and the games
(αγῶνες τοῦ Τριοπίου Ἀπόλλωνος, Herod. i. 144, or Ἀγὡν Δώριος, Arist.
ap. Schol. Theocr. Idyll. xvii. 69). The officer in charge of these
games was called δαμιουργὸς (Leake, p. 227).
Footnote 41:
The Cnidians wished to cut through the narrow neck of land between
their two harbours; but the Delphic oracle replied that, had Jupiter
intended Cape Krio should have been an island, he would have made it
so:—
Ζεὺς γὰρ κ’ ἔθηκε νῆσον εἴ κ’ ἐβούλετο—Herod. i. 174.
Footnote 42:
Cnidus paid dear for this desertion by loss of all her ships (Thucyd.
viii. 35, 42).
Footnote 43:
Hamilton (ii. 42) shows that more than one of Julius Cæsar’s personal
friends were connected with Cnidus.
Footnote 44:
See papers by W. W. Lloyd in “Museum of Classical Antiquities,” vol.
i. 1851.
Footnote 45:
Praxiteles made two statues of Venus, one naked, the other veiled. The
Coans chose the latter, the Cnidians the former.
Footnote 46:
The territory round Cnidus was rich in wine, corn, oil, and various
vegetables, noticed by Athenæus (i. p. 33, ii. p. 66), and by Pliny
(xiii. 35, xix. 32, &c.). Pliny adds (xvi. 64) that Cnidian reeds made
excellent pens; hence the fitness of Catullus’s lines—
“Quæque Ancona Cnidumque arundinosam
Colis” (Carm. xxx. vi. 11).
The historian Ctesias, Eudoxus, a disciple of Plato, and Agatharcides,
were natives of Cnidus. From Hierocles, the Notitiæ and the Acts of
Councils, it would seem to have existed as late as the seventh and
eighth centuries.
The report of the Dilettanti Society, to which we have alluded, and
those of Captain Beaufort and others, having excited much interest in
England, it was thought advisable that careful excavations should be
made at a spot where there was so much promise of successful results;
hence Mr. Newton, at the close of his work at Halicarnassus, resolved to
do for Cnidus what he had done for the other Carian city.
[Illustration:
DEMETER FROM CNIDUS.
]
Mr. Newton commenced his operations by examining a platform supported by
polygonal masonry, and jutting out like a pier from the side of the
mountain, soon discerning that he was on the site of the _temenos_ of
Demeter, as a niche in the face of the rock above still retained a
portion of a dedicatory inscription to that goddess. Shortly afterwards
he found a small _stele_, and, near it, the statue noticed by the
Dilettanti mission, the head, hands, and feet of which were wanting.
Enough, however, remained to show that it had once been a work “of fine
style and execution.” Inscriptions soon after turned up on the same
spot: one of them recording the dedication of an edifice (οἶκος) and of
a statue (ἄγαλμα) to Demeter and Persephone, and, what was of far higher
interest, the head of the seated figure just noticed, exhibiting a
countenance of exquisite beauty, with a most tender and refined
expression. This head has recently been specially studied by Professor
Brunn, and his paper on it (translated by Mr. Murray, of the British
Museum) published in vol. xi. pt. 1 of the Trans. of the Royal Society
of Literature. In this paper Professor Brunn traces, with a masterly
hand, the intercrossing ideas suggested by the mixed character of
Demeter as a wife, a mother, and a widow. “The character,” says he, “of
mother pervades the whole mythology of Demeter: the mother who, without
a husband, lived only for her child; who had to lose her child, and to
be filled with anxiety for her; to have her anxiety lessened, but never
silenced or removed, by occasional visits from her daughter.... The eye
is sunk in the socket, as if physically weary; but anxiety of mind
fights against the weariness, and will not yet surrender to it. The look
is not sunk, but is directed upwards, only a little less sharply.” ...
“Can it be,” adds the Professor, “only the result of chance that
Christian artists have also represented the Madonna wearing the veil?
... In the centre of the Christian religion, also, is the figure of a
mother who lives only for her Child and in her Child, who, in the same
way, grieves for the loss of her Son, and finds blessedness in the
spiritual contemplation of Him. Suppose a Christian artist were to give
his Madonna the head of our Demeter, he would certainly not be censured
for it.”
About the same time Mr. Newton met with two other statues, each of
considerable interest: the one representing a female figure with a
modius on her head, partially covered by the peplos, and in her right
hand a pomegranate; the other, a female statue nearly six feet high,
with its body draped to the feet. Its general character is that of an
elderly woman wasted with sorrow, with little of that matronly
comeliness which, in ancient art, generally characterizes Demeter. From
the Homeric hymn to Demeter we learn that the goddess, while wandering
in search of her daughter Persephone, was wont to assume the garb of an
old woman, and thus traversed the earth for days without tasting food.
She is likened, also, to an aged nurse or housekeeper in a regal house,
a description well agreeing with this statue. This type of the sorrowing
Demeter has not, we believe, been previously recognized in any extant
monument of ancient art. A passage, however, in Clemens Alexandrinus
(Cohort. ad Gentes, i. 30, ed. Potter) suggests that she was sometimes
represented in sculpture under this aspect.
Near the first statue of Demeter, the sitting figure, were several thin
nearly decayed sheets of lead, which, on being unrolled, proved to have
been inscribed with curses and imprecations in the names of Demeter,
Persephone, and other of the infernal gods. Such inscriptions have been
occasionally met with before, and are known by the name of _Diræ_.
On pursuing his researches in this _temenos_, Mr. Newton came upon the
entrance to a large chamber, full of miscellaneous antiquities,
including many bases of former statues, some with remains of stelæ,
others with hollowed spaces for the feet of statues. Most of them bore
dedications to Demeter in the Doric dialect; and, with them, were many
other objects connected with her worship, as three boar pigs, a
calathus, and many votive female breasts in marble. The date of these
objects is probably, as Mr. Newton suggests, about B.C. 370-320. Below
these, again, were layers of lamps, _amphoriskoi_, vessels in Samian
ware, hair-pins of bone, bodkins, and glass bottles, all probably Roman.
It is likely that this chamber was formerly a treasury connected with
one of the temples; and, that it has never been disturbed since it
became a ruin is certain from the fact that the edges of the fractured
stones are still clean and sharp. It is curious that, besides the marble
pigs, the bones of many young pigs were also found, manifest remains of
sacrifices to Demeter.
The clearing out of the Theatres did little to reward Mr. Newton’s
labours; indeed, it soon became but too clear that all, or nearly all,
the finer works had long since been removed, probably, like the Venus,
to Constantinople. Hence, shortly afterwards, he gave his chief
attention to a thorough examination of the Necropolis, the vast extent
of which naturally inspired hopes of important discoveries. This
necropolis, the general character of which is very well shown in one of
the plates in the “Ionian Antiquities,” must in former days have been
one of the most striking features of the town. One of the structures
still remaining _in situ_ was, Mr. Newton observes, not unlike in form
to an early Christian church, with a chamber, vestibule, and apse or
alcove at the south end. On each side were smaller apses, and, in front
of each of them, a marble sarcophagus. The sarcophagi generally exhibit
good Roman work of the time of Domitian, but have suffered much by the
fall of the roof; they must once have been magnificent specimens of the
decorative style of their day, though they exhibit the decay of good
taste in the lavish prodigality of ornament with which they have been
covered. In the earth around were abundant fragments of Greek
inscriptions, nearly all of them decrees of the Senate and people of
Cnidus. One of the tombs Mr. Newton considered to have been that of a
certain Lykæthus, as an inscription records decrees in his favour, by
show of hands (χειροτονία), at the festival of the greater Dionysia,
together with the erection of a statue to him at the public expense.
There is no satisfactory proof as to when this Lykæthus lived; but his
tomb would seem to date from the early Seleucidan period, when Cnidus
was a free city.
Having completed the survey of Cnidus itself, Mr. Newton proceeded next
to examine the villages in the neighbourhood, the result being the
discovery of a colossal lion. Reports of its existence had reached him
before, but it was left to Mr. Pullan, the architect of the expedition,
to make its actual discovery, at a distance of between three and four
miles to the E. of Cnidus, in a position wherein, except by accident, it
might have remained unnoticed for another twenty-one centuries. The
exact spot where the lion was found may be seen in the Admiralty chart,
which shows, on the summit of a cliff, opposite Cape Crio, the ruins of
an ancient tomb, which are strewn all around. Below this, some 60 feet,
the lion was reposing on a ledge of rock, beneath which, again, is a
sheer precipice of 300 feet into the sea. The lion was lying on its
right side, and its upper portion had suffered much from exposure to the
weather. It had been carved, as well as the base on which it reposes, of
one piece of Parian marble, and measures nearly 10 ft. in length, by 6
ft. in height. This noble lion is probably earlier than the Mausoleum,
and exhibits a more severe and majestic style than those of the
Mausoleum.[47] The removal of the lion was a labour of much toil and
difficulty; indeed, could hardly have been accomplished had Mr. Newton
not had the aid of some sailors from an English ship of war.
Footnote 47:
See Frontispiece.
The tomb itself was a nearly equal square of 39 ft. 2¾ inches, with the
remains of a pyramid like that of the Mausoleum.[48] Its present height
is about 17 ft.; the four lower feet being composed of immense blocks of
marble, supporting eleven courses of travertine. On the west, and most
perfect side, a portion of the lower step of the stylobate still
remains. No _data_ have been obtained of the exact height of the columns
once round the monument; but, as, in an angle step, one tread was 13½
inches, and the other only 10½, it is clear that this structure, like
the Mausoleum, was oblong. Although the action of an earthquake was
probably the primary cause of the ruin of this monumental tomb, there
can be no doubt, also, that it has suffered much from plunderers, who,
in search for treasure, have torn up as much of the inner pavement as
they could move. The jambs of the doorway still exist, and the interior
was shaped like a beehive. The top has been closed in by one immense
block, and, as its upper side was somewhat broader than the lower, this
block must have been dropped into its position, like the bung of a
gigantic cask, after the rest of the building was finished. The chamber,
itself, exhibits in its sides a series of openings expanding outwards
like embrasures—no doubt, θῆκαι, or resting-places for bodies: indeed,
on clearing the rubbish away, a number of human bones were met with. Mr.
Newton considers this monument can hardly be later than 350 B.C., and
that it was built as a monument to many citizens who had fallen in
battle. To what period, then, can it be assigned? Probably to either the
repulse of the Athenians by the Cnidians in B.C. 412; or to the defeat
of the Lacedæmonians by Conon in B.C. 394; and, of the two, it is more
likely it was erected in commemoration of the former event, which was
one of much glory to the town. To the north and further inland, are two
other tombs of precisely similar construction, but inferior in size.
Footnote 48:
Mr. Falkener found at Ouran, in Phrygia, a monument he has restored as
similar to this Lion-tomb. We wish he had also given a sketch of the
ruin as he found it. (Museum Class. Antiq. i. p. 174.)
Having now devoted a considerable space to Halicarnassus and Cnidus,
owing to their being, from recent researches, of such high importance,
we must notice very briefly the other towns of Caria. The small town of
PHYSCUS is chiefly of interest for its magnificent bay and harbour, so
well known to modern navigators (under the name of Marmorice), as one of
the finest in the world for vessels of the largest size. Possibly it was
this very character that led to its being so little noticed in
antiquity, as ancient galleys did not value depth of water. The capacity
of the bay of Marmorice will be best comprehended, when we remind our
readers that Nelson anchored his whole fleet within it, just before the
battle of the Nile. Not far from this was CAUNUS, the ancient capital of
a population whom Herodotus held were not Carians; indeed, their coins
and architecture seem to prove them Lycians. The site of Caunus has been
identified, there being still considerable monumental remains and walls
of so-called Cyclopean masonry. The Caunians were an active and high-
spirited race, and made a gallant resistance to the Persians, a few
years later joining with equal enthusiasm in the great Ionian revolt
(Herod. v. 103). Towards the close of the Peloponnesian war we find
Caunus constantly mentioned. Having been rejected by the Romans in a
petition against Rhodes, they conceived against them the bitterest
hatred, and hence carried out with great atrocity the massacre of the
Romans planned by Mithradates (Appian, Mithr. c. 23). Caunus was so
unhealthy in the summer that “pale-faced Caunians” became a proverb.
STRATONICEA (now Eski-hissar), one of the chief inland towns of Caria
and mainly built by Antiochus Soter, derived its name from his wife
Stratonice. The great Mithradates married thence his wife Monima. Not
far from the town was the famous temple of Jupiter Chrysaorius, the
centre of the political union of the Carian states. Stratonicea has been
much explored by travellers; and, so early as 1709, Mr. Consul Sherard
presented to the Earl of Oxford a book of Greek inscriptions copied by
him at various places in Asia Minor. This volume is now in the Harleian
collection. The most important monument of the town is the celebrated
edict of Diocletian—in Greek and Latin—the first copy of which, by
Sherard, is in the volume just mentioned. The late Colonel Leake[49] has
shown that its date is about A.D. 303, and its object to direct those
engaged in the traffic of provisions not to exceed certain fixed prices
in times of scarcity. Fellows states that the names of many of the
articles of food enumerated therein are still used by the peasantry of
Asia Minor. _Inter alia_, we learn that silken garments were in common
use, as Ammianus[50] pointed out, seventy years later; as also the rough
coat or _birrhus_, the _caracallis_, or hooded cloak (afterwards adopted
by the monks), the Gallic breeches and socks. The late date of the
inscription is shown by its barbarous Latinity, above all, by the
reduced value of the _drachma_ or _denarius_. Thus a denarius appears as
the equivalent of a single oyster, or of the hundredth part of a lean
goose! The names of the provisions recorded not only indicate the
ordinary food of the people, but also the costly dainties of the
epicure. Thus several kinds of honey, of hams, of sausages,[51] of salt
and fresh-water fish, of asparagus and of beans, are noted. Gibbon has
not failed to notice this inscription, though, in his day, it had been
very imperfectly copied.
Footnote 49:
See Trans. Roy. Soc. of Literature, 1st series, 4to. vol. i. p. 181.
1826.
Footnote 50:
Ammianus was not acquainted with the true origin of silk. He still
describes it, as did Virgil and Pliny, as a sort of woolly substance
(_lanugo_) combed from a tree in China.
Footnote 51:
The derivation of the word “sausage” may not be generally known.
“Icicium” means “minced meat”; “salsum icicium,” the same salted. From
the latter comes the Italian _salsiccio_, the French _saucisse_, and
the English sausage. So _jecur ficatum_ (Greek, συκωτὸν), hog’s liver,
derived from the fattening of geese with figs (“pinguibus et ficis
pastum jecur anseris albi,” Horat. Satir. ii. 8, 88) is preserved in
the Italian _fegato_ and the modern Greek συκώτι, used for liver in
general. It is curious to meet on a decree on the walls of a temple in
Caria with _pernæ Menapicæ_, Westphalian hams.
APHRODISIAS was a considerable place, and, at a very late period, as
appears from Hierocles, the capital of Caria. It is but little mentioned
in ancient history, but Tacitus records that, setting forth decrees of
Cæsar and Augustus in its favour,[52] it pleaded before the Senate for
the right of sanctuary attached to its temples, when Tiberius was wisely
attempting to abridge these injurious immunities. Aphrodisias was
chiefly famous for its magnificent Ionic temple of Venus, many columns
of which are still standing. They may be seen in the third volume of the
“Ionian Antiquities,” 1840,[53] and in Mr. Pullan’s work.
Footnote 52:
“Dictatoris Cæsaris ob vetusta in partes merita et recens Divi Augusti
decretum” (Tacit. Ann. iii. 62). An inscription published by Chishull
in his Antiq. Asiat. (p. 152), but, we believe, first copied by
Sherard, confirms the statement of Tacitus.
Footnote 53:
The name of Aphrodisias was more than once changed. Thus when
Christianity began to prevail, the first change was to Tauropolis (as
is shown on an inscription copied by Fellows), and, again, to
Stauropolis (or the city of the Cross). When, however, towards the end
of the fifth century, the festivals of Venus were revived by
Asclepiodotus of Alexandria, the ancient name was revived also.
Sir Charles Fellows has given an excellent description (Lycia, p. 32) of
the state in which he found the ruins, with a beautiful drawing of the
Ionic temple. “I never,” says he, “saw in one place so many perfect
remains, although by no means of a good age of the arts”: he thinks,
too, that the early city must have been in great measure destroyed.
“These (the later) walls are,” he adds, “composed of the remains of
temples, tombs, and theatres removed, although uninjured. The reversed
inscriptions, and inverted bas-reliefs bear testimony to this change.”
Sir Charles Fellows quotes one inscription as showing how carefully the
owners of these tombs endeavoured to secure their preservation and sole
occupancy. “But if,” says the legend, “contrary to these directions,
anybody shall bury another (in this monument), let him be accursed, and
besides pay into the most holy treasury 5,000 denarii, of which one-
third is to be his who institutes the proceedings.” Inscriptions with
similar curses are, indeed, common enough.
MYLASA _and_ LABRANDA may be taken together, as from the former a Sacred
Way led to Labranda. The former was, no doubt, in early times one of the
chief places in Caria, before Halicarnassus was adopted as the royal
residence; indeed, we find a proof of this in the fact that it had a
temple to which Lydians and Mysians were alike admitted (Herod, i. 171).
Physcus, to which we have already referred was considered as its port.
Mylasa, in ancient times, as Strabo avers, a city of great beauty, owed
much to its having been built close to a mountain of the finest white
marble. It was, indeed, so close, that one of the provincial governors
observed that the founder of the town ought to have been ashamed of his
blunder, if not frightened.[54] It was, also, so full of sacred
buildings, that when Stratonicus came there, thinking there were more
temples than people, he exclaimed, in the middle of the forum, “Hear, oh
ye temples”! (Athen. viii. p. 348).
Footnote 54:
Strabo’s words are: Ταύτην γὰρ, ἔφη, τὴν πόλιν ὁ κτίσας εἰ μὴ
ἐφοβεῖτο, ἆρ’ οὐδ’ ᾐσχύνετο; (xiv. 659).
The people of Mylasa having made a successful resistance to the attacks
of Philip, the son of Demetrius, were rewarded by being made “free” by
the Romans. Modern travellers, from Pococke to Chandler, fully confirm
the statements of the ancients as to the abundance of marble monuments;
and Colonel Leake adds that, since they were there, the Turks have
pulled down the best ruin, that of the Temple of Romulus and Augustus.
Sir Charles Fellows, on his second journey, observed on the key-stone of
a gateway the double-headed axe (bipennis), indicating that the building
to which it belonged had once been consecrated to the Jupiter of
Labranda, a name said to have been derived from λαβρὺς, the Carian word
for an axe;[55] and succeeded, also, in identifying it (pp. 66-67). He
says of it, “The only conspicuous building of the place is a beautiful
temple of the Corinthian order, but I think not of the finest age.... It
stands in a recess in the hills, and is consequently not seen without
approaching close to it.”[56]
Footnote 55:
Strabo calls the temple νεὠς άρχαῖος, and Herodotus adds that there
was a holy grove of plane-trees near it, ἅγιον ἂλσος πλατανίστων (v.
119). Plutarch (ii. p. 302 A) states that λαβρὺς was the Lydian and
Carian word for axe (which we find represented also on the coins of
Mausolus and Pixodarus). On one of the Oxford marbles (ii. 12),
probably an altar, occur the words Διός Λαβραύνδου.
Footnote 56:
Since Sir Charles’s visit, this spot has been carefully examined by
Mr. Pullan, who states that the building (of which the fifteen columns
still stand) is really of Roman times and work, though engraved (under
the auspices of Dr. Chandler) as a Greek temple in the “Ionian
Antiquities,” vol. i. (Pullan, “Ruins of Asia Minor,” p. 26).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER III.
Xanthus—Sir Charles Fellows—Telmessus—Patara—Pinara—Myra—Tlos and
Antiphellus—Attalia—Perge—Eurymedon—Aspendus—Side—Termessus—Cremna—
Sagalassus—Selge—Antioch of Pisidia—Tarsus—Coracesium—Laertes—Selinus—
Anemurium—Celenderis—Seleuceia—Corycus—Soli—Adana—Mallus—Mopsuestia—
Anazarbus—Issus.
WE come now to _Lycia_, of which many of the most important monuments
are now in the Lycian room at the British Museum—for the most part the
records of its chief town, XANTHUS—and all procured by Sir Charles
Fellows. A few less valuable remains, were, at the same time, obtained
from other Lycian towns.
The chief value of the monuments from _Lycia_ lies in this, that, while
they exhibit many well-executed pieces of sculpture, interesting as a
local or provincial rendering of Greek work of the middle of the fourth
century B.C., they comprise, also, a few slabs, as, for instance, those
from the Harpy tomb, of a genuine Archaic type.
Xanthus, the town from which the greater part of the monuments about to
be described have been secured, underwent remarkable vicissitudes of
fortune, some of which, it has been thought, are indicated on its
sculptures. Originally, it was a Cretan colony settled at or near
Xanthus; hence we read, in the Iliad, of Sarpedon and Glaucus, as the
leaders of the Lycians in the Trojan army, and of the body of the former
being carried back by Sleep and Death to Lycia to be honoured with a
_stele_ and tomb. Pandarus, too, the celebrated archer, is also a
Lycian. On the overthrow of Crœsus, Harpagus, Cyrus’s general, was sent
to reduce Lycia with a mixed force of Persians, Dorians, and Ionians;
the Glaucidæ, or royal family of Lycia, having vigorously supported the
Ionians in their resistance to Cyrus.
On this occasion Xanthus made a memorable defence. It is said that, when
driven from the plain by the united forces of the Persian and
confederate army, its people took refuge in their citadel, and,
collecting therein their wives, children, and treasures, burnt them, at
the same time falling to a man in a furious sally upon their enemies
(Herod, i. 176). That the Persian success was complete, we know from the
fact, that, sixty years later, the then Xanthians sent fifty ships to
the aid of Xerxes, and continued, subsequently, to pay an annual tax to
the Persian monarchs.[57] Yet their courage was not subdued; for when
Alexander, after his victory over the Persians at the Graneicus,
descended into Lycia, at Xanthus, and there alone, he met with an
obstinate resistance.
Footnote 57:
It has been suggested (see Rawlinson’s Herodotus, i. p. 312) that the
family of Harpagus continued to govern Lycia, and that the Xanthian
obelisk (to which we shall presently refer) was erected soon after the
battle of Eurymedon, B.C. 466. But “son of Harpagus,” on that
monument, may easily mean no more than his descendant, just as Jehu
was called “the son of Omri.”
In the subsequent war, the Xanthians supported Antigonus; hence the
assault and capture of the town by Ptolemy; and, during the war between
Brutus and the Triumvirs, the former entered Lycia, and a bloody attack
on, and siege of, Xanthus were the natural results. We are told, that on
this occasion, the people of the town did as they had done before when
assaulted by Harpagus, destroying themselves, their wives, and their
children, in a similar holocaust. Subsequently, we hear little of
Xanthus, except that it suffered severely from the two great earthquakes
in the days of Tiberius and Antoninus Pius. The town of Xanthus was
situated on the left bank of the Sirbes[58] or Sirbus, called Xanthus or
the Yellow by the Greeks; at a distance of between 6 and 7 miles from
the sea. On the highest point was the Acropolis, a Roman work, built
chiefly out of the ruins of the older town. On the brow of the hill
stood what has been called the Harpy tomb.
Footnote 58:
Dionysius Periegetes testifies to both names:
Σίβρῳ ἐπ’ ἀργυρέῳ ποταμῷ ...
and
Ξάνθου ἐπί προχοῇσιν ... κ. τ. λ. (v. 847.)
[Illustration:
PERSIAN SATRAP SEATED.
]
The monuments found at Xanthus may be arranged under the head of (1) the
so-called Ionic trophy monument,[59] (2) Miscellaneous reliefs, (3)
Tombs. The first stands on the east side of the city, and was
constructed of white marble on a basement of grey Lycian stone. Two or
more friezes had once surrounded it, representing contests between
warriors fully armed after the Greek fashion, or more lightly clad in
tunics or naked, and wearing helmets. Sir C. Fellows imagines he can
recognize, in some cases, the loose-robed bearded Lycians, with their
peculiar arms and _curtained_ shields,[60] the battle being that in the
plains recorded by Herodotus.[61] Asiatics are certainly represented on
some of the slabs with the pointed cap or cydaris, while, on other slabs
is an attack on the main gate of a strongly-fortified town. On another
relief is a Persian satrap seated, with the umbrella, or symbol of
sovereignty, over his head, and on other slabs, are indications of a
sortie from the city and of its repulse. The city may or may not be
Xanthus itself, but, within the walls, are well-known monuments of that
town, upright square pillars or _stelæ_, four of which are
represented.[62] The “Trophy monument,” which has been cleverly restored
by Sir Charles Fellows, as a peripteral tetrastyle temple, may be seen
in the Lycian room in the British Museum. We regret, however, we cannot
accept his view, that the subject of these sculptures is the capture of
Xanthus by Harpagus, as this event took place in B.C. 545; while none of
these reliefs can be as early as B.C. 400.[63]
Footnote 59:
On the whole, it seems most likely that this monument was the
sanctuary of some local hero, possibly of the original founder or
leader (οἰκιστής or ἀρχηγέτης), like the Theseum at Athens. It might,
therefore, have been the Harpageum, or memorial of Harpagus, or of the
Harpagi. Mr. Benjamin Gibson has supposed that the “Trophy monument”
was intended to commemorate “the conquest of Lycia by the united
forces of the Persians and Ionians” (Mus. of Class. Antiq. vol. i.
132); and Mr. Watkiss Lloyd has published an able memoir on it,
entitled “Xanthian Marbles—the Nereid Monument.”
Footnote 60:
This “curtain” was a sort of appendage attached to the lower end of
the shield, and was intended to protect the legs from stones. It was
called λαισήἲον, and is mentioned in Hom. Il. v. 453:
ἀσπίδας ἐυκὐκλους λαισήϊά τε πτερόεντα.
A vase published by Inghirami well represents the usual character of
this appendage. Millingen supposes the subject of this vase to be
“Antiope leading Theseus to the walls of Themiscyra.” (Cf. Müller,
Arch. d. Kunst, § 342.)
Footnote 61:
Some of these scenes may refer to real events in the history of
Xanthus; and the Oriental chief, too, on the “Trophy” monument would
seem to be aided by Greek mercenaries.
Footnote 62:
It has been suggested that the so-called _triquetra_ on the Lycian
coins, consisting of three curved objects, like sickles or elephant-
goads, or the _harpa_ (ἅρπη) of Perseus, joined in the centre, is
emblematic of the name of Harpagus. Such “canting heraldry” (as in the
case of _Arpi_ in Apulia, and of _Zancle_ in Sicily) is not, however,
accepted by the best numismatists as of approved Greek use, though
possible enough among a semi-Oriental population.
Footnote 63:
The plate on the opposite page must not be considered as more than a
possible arrangement of some of the sculptures found.
2. The Miscellaneous reliefs found in and about the Acropolis are
chiefly relics of much older buildings; they are generally in the rough,
gritty stone of the country, and have some resemblance to early Greek
work, especially to the sculptures from Assos. Their chief subjects are
a lion devouring a deer, and a satyr, the size of life, running along
the ground.
[Illustration:
IONIC TROPHY MONUMENT.
]
3. The Tombs. The tomb-system, so to speak, as developed in Lycia, is a
striking characteristic of that province, and has been, therefore,
carefully studied by Sir Charles Fellows, who has classed them,
according to their forms, under the heads of Obelisk, Gothic, and
Elizabethan. The first, as the name implies, is simply a square block
surmounted by a cap and cornice; the second and third have lancet-head
tops or deep mullioned recesses, respectively. Of the two first the
British Museum has excellent specimens; the third was chiefly used for
carvings on the face of solid rocks. All alike exhibit imitations of
wooden structures with panelled doors, bossed nails, and knockers
suspended from lions’ mouths. One of these tombs, the so-called Harpy
tomb, from its great curiosity, we must notice somewhat fully. It
consists of a square column about 17½ feet high, in one piece of stone,
surmounted by a series of bas-reliefs, forming the walls of a square
chamber, seven feet each way, and having a small door on its west side.
On these walls are representations of Harpies, between whom, in each
case, is a group consisting of one seated and one standing figure. There
is reason to suppose the subject of these reliefs a local myth, and, as
the daughters of a Lycian hero, Pandarus, are said to have been carried
off by Harpies, this is not improbably the subject here. Harpies are
usually, as here, indicated with the faces, breasts, and hands of women,
and with bodies and feet of vultures. It is possible that this _stele_
may have been the tomb of some prince of the royal family of Lycia, who
claimed descent from the mythical hero, Pandarus. No certain date can be
assigned to it; but, had it been executed in Attica instead of Lycia,
B.C. 530 would not have been too early for it. In any case, its
execution must have preceded the Persian conquest of Lycia.
One of the most interesting of the Gothic tombs is that of a man whose
name has been read Paiafa, and who was, probably a satrap of Lycia. The
top of this structure much resembles an inverted boat, with a high ridge
running along it, like a keel. On each side of the roof is an armed
figure in a _quadriga_;[64] on the north side, below the _tympanum_, the
Satrap is seated as a judge, his dress and general appearance being the
same as that of the Persian on the Trophy monument.
Footnote 64:
Herodotus remarks that the people of Bithynia carried two Lycian
spears, and had helmets of brass, on the summits of which were the
ears and horns of an ox. Cf. also, on coins, the helmet of Eukratides,
king of Bactriana.
In concluding these notes on Xanthus, we may allude to some casts from a
tomb at Pinara, hard by, carved on the face of the solid rock. Sir
Charles Fellows states that, in the centre of this city, there rises a
round rocky cliff, speckled all over with tombs, many of them being only
oblong holes, and quite inaccessible. One cast gives the representation
of a walled city with tombs, towers, gates, and walls; the battlements,
on the whole, much resembling the town shown on the “Trophy monument.”
Another cast gives the interior of the portico of a rock tomb at Tlos,
with Bellerophon, one of the heroes of Lycia, triumphing over the
Chimæra.
It only remains for us to notice the famous _Inscribed Stele_, the
longest inscription yet met with in the Lycian character, and containing
a notice of a son of Harpagus, and the names of several Lycian towns. On
the north side, between the lines of Lycian characters, is a Greek
inscription in twelve hexameter lines,[65] the first from an epigram of
Simonides (B.C. 556), and a notice of the achievements of this son of
Harpagus. The whole inscription consists of about 250 lines.
Footnote 65:
Colonel Leake (Trans. of the Roy. Soc. of Literature, vol. ii. 1844)
has given a translation of the twelve lines in Greek, showing that
this monument was erected by a certain Datis, called a son of
Harpagus. It states that he had gained the highest honours in the
Carian games, and had slain “in one day seven heavy-armed soldiers,
men of Arcadia.” The epigram of Simonides (Anthol. Brunck. vol. i. p.
134) commemorates the battles at Cyprus and on the Eurymedon, B.C.
470. Another conjecture is that the son of Harpagus was called Sparsis
(Leake, ibid. p. 32). Colonel Leake thinks the date of the inscription
not earlier than B.C. 400.
Over the other towns of LYCIA, TELMESSUS, PATARA, PINARA, MYRA, TLOS,
and ANTIPHELLUS, it is not necessary for us to dwell at any great
length, the more so that they were not, historically, of great
importance, and are to us only interesting for the remains of art still
visible on the spot.
TELMESSUS was on the coast, and is now represented by the village of
Makri.[66] In ancient times it was famous for the skill of its augurs.
Herodotus tells us they were often consulted by the kings of Lydia, and
especially by Crœsus; and Arrian ascribes to them a remote antiquity.
Their reputation long survived; for Cicero speaks of the town thus:—
“Telmessus in Caria est quâ in urbe excellit haruspicum disciplina” (De
Divin. i. 41). In early Christian times it had a bishop. Telmessus has
been fully described by Dr. Clarke and Sir Charles Fellows. Its
monumental remains are almost wholly tombs; but these are, many of them,
remarkable for their beauty, as also for the extraordinary labour
bestowed on them in cutting them out of the face of the rock. Sir
Charles Fellows makes the curious remark, that, though the Greek
population of Lycia were mainly Dorians, he did not meet with any tombs
or other monuments unquestionably of the Doric order.
Footnote 66:
Fellows remarks that the Meio of the maps and of the “Modern
Traveller” (supposed, too, by Cramer to be a corruption of Telmessus)
is not known in the country.
PATARA, on the left bank of the river Xanthus, was chiefly celebrated
for its worship and temples of the Lycian Apollo, known by the
appellation of Patareus.[67] According to Herodotus (i. 182), the
priestess who delivered it was shut up in the temple every night, but
the oracular responses were only occasional. The Pataræan oracle was
very ancient, and considered scarcely inferior to that of Delphi.
Captain Beaufort, in his account of Karamania, places the remains of
Patara[68] near the shore, and notices “a deep circular pit of singular
appearance, which may have been the seat of the oracle.” Fellows alludes
to “a beautiful small temple about the centre of the ruined city,” with
a doorway “of beautiful Greek workmanship, ornamented in the Corinthian
style, and in fine proportion and scale.” The port of Patara, which was
too small to contain the combined fleet of the Romans and Rhodians under
Regillus in the war with Antiochus (Liv. xxxvii. 17) is now completely
overgrown with brushwood, &c. The theatre is shown by an inscription to
have been built (more probably rebuilt) in the fourth consulate of
Antoninus Pius, A.D. 145.
Footnote 67:
Hor. Od. iii. 4, 62: Delius aut Patareus Apollo. Stat. Theb. i. 696:
... Seu te Lyciæ Pataræa nivosis
Exercent dumeta jugis.
Virg. Æn. iv. 143:
Qualis ubi hibernam Lyciam Xanthique fluenta
Deserit, ac Delum maternam invisit Apollo.
On which passage Servius makes the remark that the oracles were
delivered alternately,—during the winter months at Patara, and during
the summer at Delos.
Footnote 68:
Cicero uses the Ethnic form Pataranus (Orat. in Flacc. c. 32).
PINARA, at the foot of Mount Cragus, was another of the six Lycian towns
in which divine honours were paid to the hero Pandarus, Homer’s
celebrated archer: its name is said to be a Lycian word for a round hill
(v. Ἀρτύμνησος, ap. Ptol.; Plin. v. 28; Hierocl. p. 684); and such a
hill, pierced everywhere for tombs, Fellows found, as we have stated, in
the very centre of it. Such a physical feature would not have been
overlooked by any Greeks. He adds that “the whole city appears to be of
one date and people,” the inscriptions being generally in the Lycian
character.[69] The carvings on the rock-tombs here, judging from the
drawing he gives (p. 141), are of much interest and beauty.
Footnote 69:
Colonel Leake (Roy. Soc. Lit. i. p. 267) was of the opinion that the
Lycian characters were modifications of Archaic Greek.
MYRA, sometimes called Andriace (whence the modern _Andraki_), was,
according to Appian, a place of some note, and it is still remarkable
for the beauty and richness of its rock-cut tombs (Pullan). The Sacred
historian of St. Paul’s journeyings writes that, after quitting Sidon
and Cyprus, “when we had sailed over the Sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia,
we came to Myra, a city of Lycia; and there the centurion found a ship
of Alexandria sailing into Italy, and he put us therein” (Acts xxvii. 5,
6). Myra, at a late period, seems to have been the metropolis of the
province (Malala, Chron. xiv.; Hierocl. p. 684). A Nicholas, Bishop of
Myra, is also mentioned (Const. Porphyr. Themist. 14). Colonel Leake
observes that, on the banks of the river by which Lucullus ascended to
Myra, are the ruins of a large building, which, from an inscription,
appears to have been a granary, erected in the time of Hadrian;[70] and
Fellows adds that “the tombs are generally very large, and all appear to
have been for families, some having small chambers, one leading to the
other, and some highly interesting from their interior peculiarities of
arrangement.” Many bas-reliefs within the porticos of the tombs still
retain their original colour, as may be seen on the casts from them in
the British Museum.
Footnote 70:
Beaufort gives a minute description of this building, and states that
it is 200 feet long, with walls 20 feet high. The inscription on it,
“HORREA IMP. CAESARIS DIVI TRAIANI HADRIANI,” &c., proves that it has
been a granary: it was divided into seven separate compartments.
TLOS and ANTIPHELLUS, though occasionally mentioned in ancient times,
had been well-nigh forgotten till these and other sites were diligently
sought out by modern travellers. Leake speaks of the latter as
containing a theatre nearly complete, with many catacombs and
sarkophagi, some very large and magnificent; and Fellows thinks the
tombs here the largest in Lycia. “The rocks for miles round,” he says,
“are strewn with their fragments, and many hundreds are still standing,
apparently unopened.”
TLOS, of which we know little more than that it lay on the road to
Cibyra, was first accurately determined by Sir Charles Fellows, who
considered the original city must have been demolished in very early
times, as “finely-wrought fragments are now seen built into the strong
walls which have fortified the town raised upon its ruins.” The theatre
was the most highly-finished he had seen, for the seats were not only of
polished marble, but each seat had an overhanging cornice, often
supported by lions’ paws. An inscription found there records the name of
Sarpedon, showing that the name of the mythical hero of Lycia was still
preserved among the people. The name for tomb at Tlos is always Heroum.
As the provinces are so closely connected, we shall take _Pamphylia_ and
_Pisidia_ together, simply selecting from them such sites as seem of the
highest interest. We shall, therefore, notice first ATTALIA (the modern
Adalia), although there has been some dispute among geographers whether
Adalia does really occupy the site of the old city: the true course of a
stream called Catarrhactes,[71] from its plunging headlong over
precipices into the sea, being still undetermined, has mainly led to
this confusion. The probability is that, owing to the agency of
earthquakes, the coastline has been much changed during the last 2,000
years; moreover, Colonel Leake and others believe the calcareous matter
brought down, in this period by the different streams, sufficient to
cause the cessation of any such cascade, the main stream having been
also much diverted to fertilize the gardens round the town. The physical
changes have in fact, been so great, that it is more wonderful that
anything can be determined on a certain and satisfactory basis. Captain
Beaufort thought the modern town occupied the site of Olbia.[72] On the
other hand, Leake considered Adalia the representative of Attalia, and
that Olbia would probably be found in some part of the plain which
extends for seven miles from the modern Adalia to the foot of Mount
Solyma. Attalia derived its name from Attalus Philadelphus. From it, St.
Paul and St. Barnabas, on their return, sailed to the Syrian Antioch
(Acts xiv. 25). In later times it was the seat of a bishopric. It is now
the principal southern Turkish port of Asia Minor, and has many ancient
remains. Leake remarks on “the walls and other fortifications, the
magnificent gate or triumphal arch, bearing an inscription in honour of
Hadrian, an aqueduct, and the numerous fragments of sculpture and
architecture.” Fellows adds:—“Adalia, which is called by the Turks
_Atalia_, I prefer to any Turkish town that I have yet visited; every
house has its garden, and consequently the town has the appearance of a
wood, and of what?—orange, lemon, fig, vine, mulberry, all cultivated
with the artificial care of a town garden, and now (April 3) in fresh
spring beauty.” It was from Attalia, or from its neighbourhood, that
Mark “turned back”[73] (Acts xiii. 13).
Footnote 71:
Colonel Leake remarks that, after heavy rains, the river precipitates
itself copiously over the cliffs near the projecting point of the
coast, a little to the west of Laara.
Footnote 72:
“The delightful situation of this place,” says he, “appears to have
been clearly alluded to in the ancient name Olbia, derived from the
adjective ὄλβιος, blessed or happy” (Karamania, p. 137).
Footnote 73:
Mr. Davis notices the great gate, the inside of it being “ceiled” with
small squares of fine white marble and bearing the curious
inscription, τὸ ἔργον τῆς πλακώσεως τῆς πύλης—Πλάκωσις does not occur
in classical Greek; but πλάξ is a flat surface, and πλακόω is to cover
with such pieces. Hence, πλακώτης μαρμάρου is one who overlays with
marble. In the commencement of their journey Attalia is not mentioned
by name, but only Perga (Acts xiii. 13).
Nearly due N. of Attalia was PERGE, famous in olden times for the temple
and worship of Artemis Pergæa.[74] The date of the city is uncertain,
but it lasted, as an ecclesiastical centre, till late in the Byzantine
times. Alexander, in his march eastwards, occupied Perge, finding, as
might have been expected, much difficulty in his advance through the
adjacent mountains; St. Paul, too, and St. Barnabas were here twice;
first, on their way from Cyprus; and, secondly, on their return to
Syria. The ruins noticed by General Köhler, at a place called _Eski
Kalesi_, were probably those of this place. The theatre and stadium are
still quite perfect. On these walls and other buildings the Greek shield
is constantly carved, reminding the spectator of the passage in Ezekiel,
xxvii. 11, “They hanged their shields upon thy walls round about.”
Footnote 74:
Perge is mentioned in Callimachus’s Hymn to Diana, v. 187:
Νήσων μὲν Δολίχη, πολίωνδέ τοι εὐαδε Πέργη;
and in Dionysius Periegetes, v. 854:
Ἄλλαι δ’ ἐξείης Παμφυλίδες είσἱ πόληες
Κώρυκος, Πέργη τε, καἱ ἠνεμόεσσα Φάσηλις.
Passing along the coast to the east we come to the EURYMEDON, physically
a small stream, yet celebrated in history for the double defeat, on one
and the same day, of the Persians by Cimon. The Persian ships were drawn
up at the mouth of the river, but, at the first attack, the crews fled
to the shore. Cimon then landed his men, and after a severe struggle the
camp and baggage were taken (Thucyd. i. 100; Plut. Vit. Cimon.). Some
years later, a Rhodian fleet anchored off its mouth before attacking the
fleet of Antiochus, then commanded by Hannibal (Livy, xxxvii.). The
entrance of this stream is now completely blocked up by a bar.[75]
Footnote 75:
Dr. Arnold has shown that, in the account in Thucyd. i. 100, the
phrase διέφθειραν τἁς πάσας ὲς τὰς διακοσίας means that the number of
the ships destroyed by the Athenians was, in all, 200, not that there
were no more, as some writers have supposed.
On the Eurymedon was seated the old Argive town of ASPENDUS, some of the
coins of which read, barbarously, ΕΣΤFΕΔΝΥΣ. Thucydides speaks of it as
a seaport; but he, probably, means that it was a boat-station at the
mouth of the river. Aspendus is noticed by Arrian, and was the place
where Thrasybulus was slain in his tent by the natives; it is also
mentioned in the campaign of Manlius (Liv. xxxviii.; Polyb. xxii.).[76]
Mr. Pullan gives a beautiful drawing of its theatre, which is by far the
most perfect in Asia Minor. One other place of considerable reputation
in Pamphylia must be briefly noted; viz. SIDE, a colony of the Cumæans
of Æolis, and remarkable for the fact that, soon after they came there
they forgot their native Greek tongue, and spoke a barbarous jargon. It
was off this town the battle was fought when the fleet of Antiochus,
under Hannibal, was utterly routed by the Rhodians. When, somewhat
later, the pirates of Cilicia became so formidable, Side was one of
their chief harbours, and one of the markets where they disposed of
their ill-gotten plunder. Side was in Roman times the capital of
_Pamphylia prima_, and was still in existence when Hierocles wrote.
Capt. Beaufort found it utterly deserted; but its remains would seem to
be very striking, especially its outer walls and theatre, which is not
less than 409 feet in external diameter, with a perpendicular height,
from the area, of 79 feet: all its seats are, Capt. Beaufort says, of
white marble, and the building could have held 13,370 persons, sitting
comfortably; it is, he adds, “in a very perfect state; few of the seats
have been disturbed, even the stairs are, in general, passable.” The
same observer considered that, at some later period, this great
structure had been converted into a fortress, as walls, with towers and
gates, but of inferior work, now extend to the seashore.
Footnote 76:
From Dionys. Perieg. 852, it would seem that Venus had a peculiar
worship there—for ἔνθα συοκτονίῃσι Διωναίην ἱλάονται.
Our knowledge of the ancient geography of _Pisidia_ is mostly derived
from Arrian’s notice of Alexander’s march, from Livy’s account of the
expedition of C. Manlius Vulso, and from the details in Polybius of the
hostilities carried on by Garsyeris, the general of Achæus, against the
people of TERMESSUS, one of its chief cities. At the time Manlius was
approaching this town the Termessians were in open war with the people
of Isionda or Isinda, and, having captured this city, were besieging the
citadel. The Roman general was not sorry to have so good a pretext for
interfering; hence his march on Isinda, his relief of that city, and his
fining the Termessians fifty talents. A glance at the map suggests that
he must have come in, by the defiles of Milyas, near a place now called
Al-Malu. The presumed ruins of Isinda have been noticed by M. Coransez,
as extending over nearly a square league, and as remarkable for their
massive structure.
TERMESSUS itself was evidently at the entrance of the defiles whereby
Pisidia communicates with Pamphylia and Lycia. Arrian says that “the men
of Termessus occupy a site very lofty and precipitous on every side, the
road passing close to the city being very difficult, as the mountain
reaches down from the city to the road. There is over against this,
another mountain not less precipitous, and these form a gate, as it
were, on the road,” &c. This statement is fully confirmed by the
observation of General Köhler (ap. Leake, Asia Minor, pp. 133-135): “The
two great ranges on the west and north of the plains of Adalia,” says
he, “now approach each other, and, at length, are only divided by the
passes through which the river finds its way. The road, however, leaves
this gorge to the right, and ascends the mountain by a paved and winding
causeway, a work of great labour and ingenuity.”[77] Alexander the
Great, it would seem, despaired of taking the town; or, possibly,
thought its siege would detain him too long; he, however, forced the
defiles, passing on to the north to Cormasa, Cremna, and Sagalassus, a
course probably pursued by Manlius subsequently.[78] CREMNA, where,
owing to its great natural strength, the Romans placed a colony (Strab.
xii. 569), has been carefully examined by Mr. Davis (“Anatolica,” p.
182), who gives also a plan, showing the construction of this remarkable
fortress. His description is as follows:[79] “It (Kremna) is a plateau
of limestone, which is bounded on three sides by precipices, some
extremely deep and abrupt.”
Footnote 77:
There is some confusion between the two Termessi, one of which is
apparently to the left of the road passing W. and N.W. from Adalia.
This we think was _Termessus Minor_—the _Almalu_ of Mr. Davis. The
more important place, _Termessus Major_ (on its coins μείζων), was at
the head of the pass described. These views are confirmed by Eustath.
and Dion. Perieg. v. 858, Stephan. Byzant., and Hierocles. At a later
period, the see of Termessus had united with it the churches of two
other places—Jovia and Eudocia.
Footnote 78:
Cramer and some other geographers place Cremna to _the N._ as well as
the E. of Sagalassus, where it _could not have been_.
Footnote 79:
The description in Arundell, vol. ii. pp. 59, &c., shows that he had
explored the same ruins forty years before Mr. Davis, under the idea
they were those of Selge, though, on his plate, he adds the words,
“Acropolis of Germe—Cremna.” Colonel Leake, too, suggested that
“Germe” was perhaps a corruption of “Cremna.” Had Mr. Arundell
reflected on an inscription he himself copied there ... ΛΔΗ ... ΝΑΤΩΝ,
he might have seen that the last word could naturally be supplied as
ΚΡΗΜΝΑΤΩΝ—“of the people of Kremna.” Zosimus says the winding path up
to the fortress was called by the natives the _Snail_.
“From it,” he adds, “the country inclined rapidly in its general
formation to the valley of the Kestrus, which must have been at least
5,000 feet below us.... Most of the buildings of the city lay to the
N.W. of our point of ascent. On the N.E. and N. was an extensive open
space cultivated, but with many oak trees and with much underwood
scattered over it.” ... Zosimus (A.D. 425) relates the history of the
blockade of Kremna by a Roman army. It had been occupied by Lydius, an
Isaurian free-booter, and his provisions falling short, he caused a part
of the plateau to be sowed with corn. A great double gate is the only
structure still standing, and, as all the columns have fallen exactly in
the same direction, Mr. Davis reasonably conjectures they were
overthrown by a single shock of an earthquake. Some well-paved streets
are traceable, one 18 feet wide, with tombs and corridors running along
each side. It is curious that a place so remarkable, physically, is
scarcely mentioned by ancient writers. Thus, it is not noticed in the
campaign of Alexander, who must have passed under it, but it was taken
by Strabo’s contemporary, the Galatian Amyntas (xii. 569),[80] and was
still later, as we have stated, a Roman colony with the title “Colonia
Julia Augusta Cremna.” Its name is obviously derived from κρημνός, an
overhanging precipice.[81] Kremna was a Christian bishopric, but only
one of its bishops, Theodorus, is recorded.
Footnote 80:
Αμύντας ... πολλὰ χωρία ἐξεῖλεν, ἀπόρθητα πρότερον ὄντα, ὧν καὶ Κρῆμνα
(Strab. xii. 569).
Footnote 81:
Zosimus’s description is exactly to the point:—Κρήμναν ... ἐν
ἀποκρήμνῳ τε κειμἐνην καὶ κατἁ μέρος χαράδραις βαθυτάταις ὠχυρωμένην
(i. c. 69).
SAGALASSUS was taken by Alexander, after a severe conflict, the result
being, says Arrian, that all the rest of Pisidia submitted to his arms
(i. 28). On the other hand, Manlius contented himself with ravaging the
territory around it; thereby compelling the Sagalassians to pay a heavy
contribution both of money and produce. Both Arrian and Livy bear
testimony to the warlike and independent character of the mountaineers
of this part of Asia Minor; while Strabo adds that it passed over to the
Romans, as one of the towns of Amyntas, the tetrarch of Lycaonia.
Sagalassus is further noticed by Pliny and Ptolemy, and, in Christian
times, was a bishopric. Some magnificent ruins, at a great height above
the plain, have been proved by Mr. Arundell to be those of this place,
as he found there an inscription reading ΣΑΓΑΛΑΣΣΕΩΝ ΠΟΛΙΣ ΤΗΣ ΠΙΣΙΔΙΑΣ,
“The City of the Sagalassians of Pisidia.” The position of the old town,
as may be seen in one of the engravings in Mr. Arundell’s second
Journey, is exceedingly picturesque; and we may feel sure Arrian is
correct in stating that Alexander encountered a stiff resistance from
its inhabitants ere he forced his way into the town.
The existing remains of Sagalassus are mostly Roman, but there is one
very old wall of polygonal masonry. One of the principal ruins, with a
portico 300 feet long by 27 feet wide, has probably been a Christian
church: there is, also, a singularly perfect theatre. The ruins of the
Christian church exhibit a building of vast proportions, constructed of
huge blocks of marble, with Corinthian columns two feet in diameter. A
large cross is cut deep into one of the blocks at the principal
entrance. Mr. Hamilton, who calls the modern village Allahsún, says that
“there is no other ruined city in Asia Minor, the situation and
extensive remains of which are so striking, or so interesting, or which
give so perfect an idea of the magnificent combination of temples,
palaces, theatres, gymnasia, fountains, and tombs which adorned the
cities of the ancient world.”[82]
Footnote 82:
Hamilton adds—“To the south is a high, insulated, and conical hill,
agreeing with Arrian’s description of the Acropolis, λόφος πρὸ τῆς
πόλεως—a hill in front of the city.”
One other place in Pisidia we have yet to mention, SELGE, of old one of
its chief cities, yet, strange to say, at present unidentified, or only
so doubtfully. Originally a colony from Lacedæmon, Selge maintained
throughout its whole history the character of its founders, and,
probably, owing to better laws and government, soon surpassed all the
neighbouring towns in population and power, Strabo believing that it
once had as many as 20,000 inhabitants. Much of its success was due to
the security of its position, high among the mountains and difficult of
access. Hence, the Selgians retained their personal freedom, and, though
more than once compelled to pay heavily and deservedly for their own
aggressions, were never dispossessed of their town by actual conquest.
Naturally, they were constantly in conflict with their neighbours,
especially, with Telmessus and Pednelissus.[83] They had, however, the
sense to conciliate Alexander when he passed through their country. In
the war with Pednelissus, it would seem that, aided by the then most
powerful chief of the neighbouring country, Achæus compelled the
Selgians to sue for peace, to pay down 400 talents, to restore the
prisoners they had taken, and to give 300 talents more. Yet, in an
actual attack on the city he was repulsed with heavy loss (Polyb. v. 72-
77). The coins of Selge prove its existence till a late date. One would
have thought that such a place, would have left remains behind it amply
sufficient for its identification; yet all we can say, certainly, of it
is that it could not have been far to the east or south-east of
Sagalassus. From Zosimus, we might be led to look for it _between_ the
Cestius and Eurymedon, for Tribigildus, having crossed the latter, found
himself enclosed between it and the Melas: and possibly, Fellows did
discover it. “On this promontory,” says he, “stood one of the finest
cities that probably ever existed, now presenting magnificent wrecks of
grandeur. I rode for at least three miles through a part of the city,
which was one pile of temples, theatres, and buildings, vieing with each
other in splendour.... The material of the ruins, like those near
Alaysóon (Sagalassus) had suffered much from exposure to the elements
... but the scale, the simple grandeur, and the beauty of style bespoke
its date to be early Greek. The sculptured cornices frequently contain
groups of figures fighting, wearing helmets and body armour, with
shields and long spears.” Unfortunately, Fellows did not find a single
legible inscription, but the remains are, very likely, what Beaufort
heard of at Alaya; viz., “extensive remains of an ancient Greek city
with many temples, about fifteen hours’ distance (say 35 miles) to the
northward.”[84] Lastly, we must give an account of the Pisidian, or more
accurately, the Phrygian, Antioch, a town of the highest interest to the
Christian reader, from its connection with St. Paul’s early labours. It
is remarkable that, 50 years ago, its position was not known, though the
ancient notices of it, carefully studied, seem to point out, pretty
clearly, where it ought to have been found. Little is known of this
Antioch in early times, but it was, traditionally, a colony of Magnesia
on the Mæander. Afterwards, like almost all the towns of Eastern and
Central Asia Minor, it fell under the rule of the Seleucidæ, and, on
their overthrow, was given by the Romans to Eumenes of Pergamus as one
of the rewards for his faithful alliance. Subsequently, it was, for a
while, under Amyntas the Lycaonian. At an early period of the empire,
Antioch was known as Cæsarea, and somewhat later, according to Ulpian,
its citizens enjoyed the Jus Italicum, that is, the same privileges as
native Romans. At the time of St. Paul’s visit it was the centre of a
great commercial activity. According to Strabo, Antioch was on the south
side of the mountain boundary of Phrygia and Pisidia (p. 577),
Philomelium, a Phrygian town, being exactly to the north, the latter
standing on level ground, while Antioch stood on a small eminence.[85]
It was reserved for Mr. Arundell to show, almost certainly, its true
site,[86] and his description is exceedingly interesting. Almost his
first discovery was a “long and immense building, constructed with
prodigious stones, and standing south and west.” This was a church, not
improbably constructed on the site of the Synagogue where St. Paul
preached. “The remains of the aqueduct,” he adds, “of which twenty-one
arches are perfect, are the most splendid I ever beheld, the stones
without cement, of the same massy dimensions as the wall.”
Footnote 83:
It should be noted here, that the finding gold or silver coins at a
place is not _alone_ sufficient evidence for its name, though such a
discovery is a presumption in favour of it. Where, however, a large
number of small _copper_ coins are found, the presumption becomes very
strong. Obviously, gold and silver coins may, easily, pass from one
site to another, simply as objects of commerce.
Footnote 84:
The neighbourhood of Selge produced, and produces, two useful
botanical substances; one, the balsam of styrax or storax (liquid-
amber orientalis), the juice of an umbrageous tree like the plane.
Krinos (περὶ Στύρακος, Athens, 1862—) shows it has been correctly
described by Aetius and Paulus Ægineta in the 6th and 7th centuries.
It is noticed, also, in the Travels of the Russian Abbot of Tver, A.D.
1113-5. The author of the “Periplus” states that, in his time, storax
went, as it does now, by way of the Red Sea to India. In India it is
called Rose Malloes (Rosa Mallas, Rosum Alloes, Rosmal), perhaps from
the Malay, Rasamala. This gum is extracted now by the Yuruk Turkomans,
and is still used in the churches and mosques of S. Asia Minor for
incense. One form of this substance is _Resina Benzoe_—_Gum Benjamin_,
or _Benzoin_ (Ibn Batuta’s Travels, A.D. 1325-49—who says it comes
from Java, and is called Java Frankincense or Camphor). The popular
name is a corruption of _Lubán Jáwi_ into _Ban-jawi_, &c. Crawfurd
thinks it the old Malabathrum. It is stated by Vasco da Gama to be a
product of Xarnuz (Siam).
The other substance is _Rhizoma Iridis_ (popularly Orris-root), used
of old for giving a sweet odour to unguents (see Theophrastus,
Dioskorides, and Pliny). The ancient arms of Florence were a white
lily or iris on a red shield. Orris-root was used as a perfume in
England in 1480 (Wardrobe Accounts of Edward IV.), and, according to
Gerarde, was grown here. In Tuscany it is still grown under the name
of _Giaggiolo_.
Footnote 85:
All geographers, even Colonel Leake, seem to have gone astray here, in
their interpretation of Strabo. Thus, D’Anville placed Antioch at Ak-
Shehr (12 or 13 miles to the N., on the real site of Philomelium), and
such, too, would seem to have been the opinion of the Latin historians
of the Crusades, and even of Anna Comnena. In the Peutinger tables, a
great road is marked from Iconium to Side, with a branch to Antioch.
This is well explained, if the present _Yalobatch_ represents Antioch.
Footnote 86:
We do not discredit Mr. Arundell’s discovery, if we say that, in the
actual text of his travels, he rather suggests a strong probability
than proves his discovery. He did not find any inscription with the
name of the town. His argument is, however, a strong inference that no
other place in that neighbourhood, but Antioch, could have left such
vast remains.
[Illustration:
ANTIOCH OF PISIDIA.
]
A little further on he met with undoubted remains of a Temple of
Bacchus, with the thyrsus or Bacchic emblem, and an inscription stating
that one Calpurnius was “High Priest for life to the most glorious god
BACCHUS.” Another building, Mr. Arundell thinks, from the number of
fluted columns, must have been a portico, “or the Temple of Lunus, or of
Men Arcæus, whose worship was established at Antioch.”[87] Le Quien, in
his “Oriens Christianus,” enumerated twenty-six bishops of Antioch. One
of these, Methodius, and six other metropolitans subscribed the protest
of the Eastern Church against the errors of Calvin. Hamilton,
subsequently, found at Antioch an inscription reading ANTIOCHEAE
CAESARE, which proves the truth of Arundell’s inferences (i. p. 474).
Footnote 87:
Strabo speaks of the worship of this deity (ἱεροσύνη τις Μηνὸς
Ἀρκαίου) at Antioch in olden times. It seems to have been abolished
for some time, but to have been revived in Roman days, as coins exist
with the god Lunus leaning on a column, and the legend COL. MEN.
ANTIOCH, or MENSIS. COL. CAES. ANTIOCH.; and inscriptions exist with
the name of L. Flavius Paulus—who is termed CVRATORI ARCÆ SANCTVARII.
Strabo, a native of Amasia, states that a god called Men Pharnaces was
worshipped at Cabira. From the coins we further learn, that the river
at Antioch was called Antihos or Anthos, with ANTIOCH. COL., and the
type of a woman reclining.
CILICIA had but few towns of much importance, and these chiefly on the
coast or not far inland. Indeed, when we have mentioned Tarsus, Soli,
Mallus, and Mopsuestia, we have noticed the principal places in this
province. Of these, TARSUS[88] alone calls for any lengthened
description. Of the early history of this city little is known, but a
tradition, illustrated by one of its coins, asserted that Sardanapalus
was buried there.[89] Its situation, however, led to its becoming the
capital of Cilicia, a position it long retained. Tarsus stood on a rich
and fertile plain on both sides of the river Cydnus. Historically, it is
first noticed by Xenophon, as, in his day, a great and wealthy city,
under a Persian satrap named Syennesis, the unwise ally of Cyrus the
Younger. It remained under the Persian rule till the time of Alexander
the Great, who nearly lost his life by imprudently bathing when too hot
in the Cydnus (Curt. iii. 5; Arrian, ii. 4). In later days it was,
generally, under the Seleucidæ, though, for a brief period, subject to
the second and third Ptolemy.
Footnote 88:
We can see no reason for supposing Tarsus the “Tarshish” of the Bible.
It did not export the kind of produce entrusted to the “ships of
Tarshish,” while the notices of it in the Bible (Gen. x. 4; 1 Chron.
i. 7; Psalm lxxiv.; Isaiah lxvi. 19), imply a town or territory in the
far west, whence, only, some of these products (as tin), so far as we
know, were then obtainable. Hence we find the Phœnicians sailing
thither in “long ships” (Ezek. xxvii. 12, xxviii. 13; Jerem. x. 9);
while the Roman writers, as Ovid (Met. xiv. 416), Silius Italicus
(iii. 399), and Claudian (Epist. iii. v. 14), evidently use the name
Tartessus as synonymous with “West.” On the whole, it is most likely
that Tartessus in Spain (considered loosely as a district rather than
as a town) represents the Biblical Tarshish, and that “ships of
Tarshish” is a term equivalent with “Indiamen.”
Footnote 89:
A fine specimen of this coin (one of Antiochus VIII., king of Syria)
was in the cabinet of the late General C. R. Fox. It was found, in
1848, in a leaden box, between Adana and Tarsus, some twenty feet
under the surface of the ground. It has been engraved by Mr. Vaux, in
his “Nineveh and Persepolis,” 4th ed. 1856, p. 62. As its type—the so-
called tomb of Sardanapalus—is found on other coins of Tarsus, as late
as the time of Gordian, it is certain this myth maintained its hold on
the popular mind for a long period. The story of the pageant of
Cleopatra (Plut. Vit. Antonii) shows that the Cydnus must, in those
days, have been navigable up to Tarsus, some eight or nine miles from
the sea.
Supporting the cause of Cæsar, the great Julius himself paid Tarsus a
visit, when the Tarsians changed the name of their city to Juliopolis.
Augustus made it a “libera civitas.” Hence, St. Paul, her most
illustrious son, spoke truly, when he said it was “no mean city,” and
urged with equal truth and justice that he was “free-born,” while his
judge had only obtained this right “at a great price.” The fact is, its
position on the immediate confines of Syria and of Mesopotamia was of
the highest importance to the Romans in their conflict with the
Parthians and Persians. It still retains its old name, slightly modified
into Tarsous, and is still the chief city of this part of Karamania.
Tarsus[90] was famous in early days for a remarkable class of coins,
known as Satrap-money. Among these are coins of Tiribazus, Pharnabazus,
Syennesis, and of other rulers, between B.C. 410 and B.C. 370. A
description of a coin of Pharnabazus will show their general character.
On the obverse of this silver piece is a bearded and helmeted head,
possibly the mythological type of Bellerophon or Perseus, either of
which would be appropriate to the Græco-Asiatic population of Cilicia,
and the name of Pharnabazus in Phœnician letters. On the reverse, is a
seated representation of the Jupiter of Tarsus, with the legend, _Baal-
Tarz_, evidently the _Zeus Tersios_ of the Greeks, recorded on another
coin as ΔΙΟΣ ΤΑΡΣΕΩΝ, “Of the Jupiter of the Tarsians.” The Duc de
Luynes attributed this coin to the famous Pharnabazus (B.C. 413-374),
who, originally Satrap of the N.W. district of Asia Minor, is memorable
for the steady resistance he made to the Greeks, while the ruler of
Lydia, Tissaphernes, on the other hand, accepted Lacedæmonian gold. If
so, this coin must have been struck when Pharnabazus had given (B.C.
397, 8) the command of the Persian fleet to the Athenian Conon, as
Tarsus was then the centre of the operations against Cyprus. Another
extremely rare coin of Pharnabazus, with his name in Greek, was struck
at Lampsacus in Mysia, perhaps, for the payment of the Greek mercenaries
of Artaxerxes.
Footnote 90:
Strabo has noted the studious habits of the Tarsians; no other city,
not even Athens and Alexandria, surpassing it in the number and
character of its schools. He adds, moreover, that the learned seldom
remained in the city, but, like St. Paul, migrated elsewhere to
complete their studies.
The towns along the coast of Cilicia have been very carefully studied by
Captain Beaufort, who has identified many of them. The first of these,
passing from W. to E., was CORACESIUM, a place historically interesting
as having been held for a long time by Diodotus Tryphon, who, having
revolted from Antiochus, set the first example of active defiance to the
Seleucidæ; Coracesium was, also, the last place where the pirates made a
united resistance to the forces of Pompey.[91] The whole story of these
freebooters is very interesting. It is clear that their successes were
mainly due to two things; first, the peculiar fitness of their ports
along the seashore of Cilicia for prolonged resistance, with the high
range of Taurus to fall back on if over-pressed; and, secondly, to the
internecine squabbles of the kings of Cyprus, Egypt, and Syria with
themselves and with the Romans, which made it, from time to time, the
interest of each party to wink at their worst deeds. The Sacred Island
of Delos was their chief western entrepôt; the increasing luxury of the
Romans at the same time giving ample encouragement to their traffic in
slaves.
Footnote 91:
_Anchiale_, which Colonel Leake thought the fort of Tarsus, like that
city, claimed Sardanapalus as its founder. The legend was that
Sardanapalus, the son of Anakyndaraxes, erected, in one day, the
cities of Anchiale and Tarsus. No one, nowadays, accepts the verses
given by Strabo, relating to this Sardanapalus and his deeds, as
genuine, and Aristotle says the sentiments in them are fitter for the
grave of an ox than for the tomb of a king (Cic. Tusc. Disput. v. 35).
An early writer, Amyntas, records what recent research has shown to be
probably the truth, viz. that Sardanapalus was buried at Nineveh.
The promontory of Alaya, identified by Captain Beaufort with Coracesium,
rises, he says, abruptly “from a low, sandy isthmus which is separated
from the mountains by a broad plain; two of its sides are cliffs of
great height, and absolutely perpendicular, indeed the eastern side, on
which the town is placed, is so steep that the houses seem to rest on
each other.” Other places along this coast eastwards are, LAERTES (the
birthplace of Diogenes Laertius), ἐπὶ λόφου μαστοειδοῦς, “on a hill, in
form like a woman’s breast,” and SELINUS, a river and a town (now
Selinty), the first of which is mentioned by Strabo, and the second by
Livy. Its later name of Trajanopolis it owed to the sudden death there
of the Emperor Trajan (A.D. 117), but, at a later period, the old name
was revived in connection with an episcopal church (Hierocles). Beaufort
speaks of its magnificent cliffs—“On the highest point of these,” he
says, “are the ruins of a castle which commands the ascent of the hill
in every direction, and looks perpendicularly down on the sea.” He
notices also several other large structures, and, among these, a
mausoleum (perhaps that of Trajan), an agora, a theatre, and an
aqueduct. The supposed mausoleum, 70 feet long and 50 feet wide, is
constructed of large well-cut blocks of stone and contains only one
vault. Cyprus, distant sixty-five miles, can be clearly seen from this
headland.
The next important seaport was ANEMURIUM (now _Anamur_), in the
neighbourhood of which Beaufort discovered a perfect city of tombs.
“These tombs,” says he, “are small buildings detached from each other
and mostly of the same size, though varying in their proportions; the
roofs are arched, and the exterior of the walls is dashed with a
composition of plaster and small particles of burnt red brick. Each tomb
consists of two chambers: the inner one is subdivided into cells or
receptacles for the bodies, and the outer apartment is supplied with
small recesses and shelves, as if for the purpose of depositing the
funereal offerings, or the urns that contained the ashes. The castle
strongly resembles some of the ancient castles of Great Britain. Its
keep or citadel is placed on a small rocky eminence, and commands two
open courts.... The extreme dimensions are about 800 feet by 300 feet.”
CELENDERIS (now _Chelindreh_) was noted in ancient history as the place
which Piso, the enemy of Germanicus, attempted to take (Tacit. An. xi.
80), and appears, also, in the Ecclesiastical annals, as one of the
episcopal towns of Isauria. As the nearest point of communication with
Cyprus, it is still occupied by a small population. There are some
remains of a fortress which Tacitus describes as of great strength;
while many arched vaults, sepulchres and sarkophagi may be seen on the
spot. All along this part of the coast of Cilicia the presence of the
Crusaders is clearly shown in the names of existing places, as, for
instance, in _Cavalière_ and _Provençal Island_; indeed, Vertot records
that, during the settlement of the Christian knights at Rhodes, they
took possession of several islands and castles along the shores of Asia
Minor. Another place, some eight or nine miles inland, SELEFKEH, the
ancient SELEUCEIA AD CALYCADNUM, is also specially noticed by De Jauna
in his History of Armenia, as given by the king of Armenia to the
knights of Rhodes for their services. This town, which owed its real or
supposed origin to Seleukus Nicator, was famous for its schools of
literature and philosophy: Athenæus and Xenarchus, two well-known
Peripatetics, having been born there. Seleucia was still in existence in
the time of Ammianus, and the ecclesiastical historians, Socrates and
Sozomen, speak of Councils having been held here.
Beaufort reports the existence at Selefkeh of many ruins on the west
side of the river, and, especially, of an enormous reservoir lined with
hard cement (the “_opus Signinum_” or “_Coccio pesto_” of the Roman
aqueducts). This structure is 150 feet long by 75 feet broad and 35 feet
deep, and could, therefore, have held nearly 10,000 tons of water. A
little further on is a place called _Korghoz_, possibly, the CORYCUS of
antiquity, and the site of the Corycian cave, in mythology, the fabled
abode of the giant, Typhôs;[92] but, more probably, the crater of an
extinct volcano. Strabo says it was a deep and broad circular valley,
the lower part rugged, but covered with shrubs and evergreens, and,
especially, with saffron, which was abundant here. From an internal
cavity gushed forth a copious stream, which, for a while lost, after a
brief course, reappeared near the sea, which it joined. This was called
the “bitter water.” Beaufort found two places bearing the name of Korgho
Kalaler (castles), there being many signs in the neighbourhood of the
former existence of a city of considerable size:—“A mole of great unhewn
rocks projects at one angle from the fortress about 100 yards across the
bay, terminated by a solid building twenty feet square.”[93] Can this be
the remains of an ancient _pharos_ or lighthouse? We should add that the
places, hitherto described, belong to what was usually called Cilicia
Tracheia; those we shall now notice, belonging, on the other hand, to
the plain country.
Footnote 92:
Pind. Pyth. i. 31, thus speaks of him and of his home:—
Τυφὼς ἑκατὸν κάρανος· τὸν ποτὲ
Κιλίκιον θρέψεν πολυώνυμον
ἅντρον.
He is also called, Pyth. viii. 26,
Τυφὼς Κίλιξ ἑκατόγκρανος.
Æschylus, too, gives him the same epithet of “hundred-headed.”—Prom.
Vinct. 350.
Footnote 93:
Pomponius Mela (i. 13) gives an even fuller description of this famous
cave, probably from the same original author, Callisthenes.
Of these we take first, SOLI, a colony (Strabo tells us) from Lindus, a
relationship the Solians did not forget during subsequent negotiations
with the Romans. Soli is first mentioned in Xenophon’s Anabasis, and
must, in the following seventy years, have rapidly increased, as
Alexander the Great fined the people 200 talents for their attachment to
the Persian empire. After having been destroyed by Tigranes, Pompey
placed there some of the Cilician pirates whom he had spared; at the
same time changing the name of the city to Pompeiopolis. Most of the
existing remains are, therefore, Roman. “The first object,” says
Beaufort, “which presented itself on landing was a beautiful harbour or
basin, with parallel sides and circular ends; it is entirely artificial,
being formed by surrounding moles or walls fifty feet in thickness and
seven feet in height.... Opposite to the entrance of the harbour a
portico rises from the surrounding quay, and opens to a double row of
two hundred columns which, crossing the town, communicates with the
principal gate towards the country; and from the outside of that gate a
paved road continues, in the same line, to a bridge over a small
river.... Even in its present state of wreck, the effect of the whole is
so imposing, that the most illiterate seaman in the ship could not
behold it without emotion.” The actual execution of these columns is,
however, poor; and, of the original two hundred, only forty-four are now
standing.[94] Soli was the birthplace of Chrysippus, Philemon, and
Aratus.
Footnote 94:
It has been said that the term σολοικσμος—_solœcismus_—_solecism_—
meaning ungrammatical speech—was derived from the people of Soli; but
this accusation is not certain (Cf. Strab. xiv. 671; Eustath. ad Dion.
Perieg. v. 875; Suidas in voce Σόλοι). There was another Soli in
Cyprus, the inhabitants of which were usually termed Solii (Σόλιοι),
to distinguish them from those on the mainland, who were termed
Σολεῖς. Both, probably, spoke but indifferent Greek.
ADANA, which is noticed first in the Mithradatic War, by Appian, and,
subsequently, by Pliny, Ptolemy, Dio Cassius, Procopius, and the
Byzantine historians, like Tarsus, adopted the name of Hadrian. It is
still a place of some size, and the capital of the Pashalik of the same
name.
Near the mouth of the river _Pyramus_ (now _Gihoon_), and further up,
are three towns which may be taken together. The first is MALLUS, very
near the sea, on the left bank of the river over which Alexander threw a
bridge, in Mallotis, Strabo’s name for the circumjacent district; or
Megarsus (possibly an earlier name for Mallus,) described in Lycophon as
standing on a “sea-worn hill”—an expression Beaufort says accurately
applies to a place now called _Karadash_.[95] Mallus retained its name,
slightly modified to Malo, till mediæval times (Sanut. Secret. Fid. li.
p. iv. c. 26): 2ndly, above Mallus, MOPSUESTIA, the creation of a
certain mythical hero called Mopsus. According to Pliny, this town was a
“free” city, and Procopius states that Justinian repaired the bridge
over it (Ædif. v. 5). During the Byzantine period the name was modified
to _Mensis_. Still further up the same river was ANAZARBA (sometimes
called _Cæsarea ad Anazarbum_), the capital, in the fifth century, of
Eastern Cilicia as Tarsus was of the Western—(Hierocles). It was nearly
destroyed by earthquakes in the reigns of Justin and Justinian (Procop.
Hist. Arcana, c. 18; Cedren., p. 299). Dioskorides and Oppian were born
there. The last place in Cilicia to which we shall call attention is
ISSUS, ever memorable as the scene of the famous conflict between
Alexander and Darius. Its modern name, Scandaroon or Alexandretta, is
obviously derived from Alexandreia. The town stood at the foot of the
main chain of Mount Amanus, and, at the head of the gulf to which it
gave its name. It was early (as might have been expected from its
position) a considerable town, but, in Strabo’s time, had ceased to be
more than a small port. Cicero, in his expedition against the
mountaineers in the neighbourhood stayed there for some time (Epist. ad
Attic. v. 20). The famous defile leading from Cilicia into Syria was to
the east of the town.
Footnote 95:
Lycophron’s words are—
Πυράμου πρὸς ἐκβολαῖς.
────────────
Αἰπὺς δ’ ἀλιβρὸς ὄχμος ἐν μεταιχμίῳ
Μέγαρσος.—(Cassandr. v. 439.)
The river Pyramus, according to Scylax, could be ascended by ships as
far as Mallus, but the poets feigned that its mud would, in time, join
Cyprus to the mainland. The poetical words are—
Ἔσσεται ἐσσομένοις ὅτε Πύραμος εὐρυοδίνης
Ἡϊόνα προχέων ἱερὴν εἰς Κύπρον ἵκεται.
It has been disputed whether Megarsus was really on the river, but the
legend on its coins—ΜΕΓΑΡΣΕΩΝ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΩ ΠΥΡΑΜΩ—sets _this_ question at
rest. The Aleian plain, which lay between Tarsus and Mallus, was the
traditional scene of Bellerophon’s disaster (Il. z. 200).
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CHAPTER IV.
Isaura—Iconium—Lystra—Derbe—Apamea Cibotus—Aezani—Synnada—Philomelium—
Laodicea Combusta—Hierapolis—Laodicea ad Lycum—Colossæ—Ancyra—
Pessinus—Tavium—Nazianzus—Cæsarea ad Argæum—Tyana—Comana—Trapezus—
Amastris—Sinope—Prusa ad Olympum—Nicæa—Nicomedia—Islands of Greece—
Lesbos—Samos—Chios—Rhodus—Messrs. Biliotti and Saltzmann—Cyprus—Mr.
Lang—General Palma di Cesnola.
HAVING now spoken of some of the principal places in the west and south
of Asia Minor, it will, we think, be convenient to take next those
towards its centre, in _Cappadocia_, _Phrygia_, and _Galatia_. We must,
however, notice, first, the two small districts of _Lycaonia_ and
_Isauria_, which are really portions cut out of the larger adjoining
provinces. Isauria will not detain us long, as there is little in it
that can be called Greek. It was, as it has ever been, a wild mountain
district, with a population unsubdued till about the time of
Constantine; and, even after that, if the Byzantine writers are worthy
of credit, whole armies of Constantinopolitan Greeks melted as snow in
conflict with these robber tribes. Ancient authors knew little of
Isauria except its northern part, all to the south, with its capital,
ISAURA, being to them, practically, a _terra incognita_. As marauders,
however, the Isaurians were so troublesome to their neighbours, that the
Roman Senate sent a considerable force against them, in B.C. 73, under
P. Servilius, whose success won for him the title of “Isauricus.” This
conquest, however, so to call it, was but temporary, and, not long
after, Amyntas of Lycaonia lost his life in an attempt to crush one of
their tribes. In later days, one of their chieftains, Trebellianus,
claimed for himself the rank of Emperor, and struck coins; and the
Isaurians boasted, also, of one genuine Emperor, Zeno Isauricus, A.D.
474-491.
Of its chief town, ISAURA, we have coins of the time of Geta and
Elagabalus bearing the title of ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΕΩΣ ΙΣΑΥΡΩΝ. Mr. Hamilton has
satisfactorily identified its site on the line of road between Iconium
and Anemurium—a determination in agreement with Pliny’s statement (v.
27), that the province of Isauria stretched to the sea in that
direction: he adds that the tradition of their ancient robber
propensities is still remembered by the existing peasantry of the
district, though, considering what this country has undergone during the
last fifteen hundred years, any such tradition is not worth much. Mr.
Hamilton found the ruins of the capital on one of the loftiest ridges
between the Taurus and the plains of Konieh (Iconium) at an elevation of
quite 5,000 feet above the sea, the wild and inaccessible district
around it offering, as he observes, “little or no temptation to the
rapacity of its neighbours.” An inscription found on the spot fully
confirmed his previous surmises: it was on a triumphal arch, in honour
of the Emperor Hadrian, and, on the ground near it, was a marble globe,
a common emblem of Imperial power “I afterwards,” says he, “found
several other inscriptions in this part of the town; of these, No. 432,
lying near the _agora_, is full of interest, as alluding to several
buildings formerly erected in its neighbourhood.” Strabo had remarked
(xii. p. 569) that Amyntas died before he had completed the town wall,
and this Hamilton found to be literally true, everything around
indicating a town entirely rebuilt, the wall itself, its octagonal
towers, temples, and triumphal arches being constructed in the same
peculiar style. “There is,” says he, “an air of newness in its very
ruins, as if it had been destroyed before it was half built, although it
must not be forgotten that it flourished for many centuries after the
death of Augustus.”
In Lycaonia there were few towns of importance, except ICONIUM,
LAODICEA, DERBE, and LYSTRA, the geological features of the country
being unfavourable to the existence of a large population. Travellers
who have seen both compare Lycaonia with the interior of Australia. Both
were, by nature, extensive sheep-walks (thus, Amyntas had as many as 300
flocks of sheep); while both, alike, had much of arid and salt desert,
fitted only for camels. The central plain of Lycaonia, from Kiepert’s
map, seems the largest in Asia Minor, and resembles the _steppes_ of
Central Asia and of southern Russia. Ainsworth tells how his camels
browsed off the tops of the _Mesembryanthemum_ and _Salicornia_,
reminding them, as these, doubtless, did, of plains more familiar to
them than those of Asia Minor. Strabo made Isauria part of Lycaonia.
The principal town of Lycaonia, ICONIUM, is mentioned first by Xenophon,
who considered it the most eastern one of Phrygia, at one day’s journey,
according to Cicero, from Philomelium (Ak-shehr). Its position, amid
many small streams, which exhaust themselves in watering its gardens,
and as the meeting-place of several of the most important of the Roman
roads through Asia Minor, made it, from the first, an important
_entrepôt_; and, though Strabo calls it πολίχνιον (a little town), the
account of Pliny, and the narrative in the Acts of the Apostles, prove
it was a large and populous place in the middle of the first century
A.D. Indeed, in Pliny’s time, its territory embraced fourteen towns,
stretched around the capital (v. 27). Cicero was there for several days
previously to his Cilician campaign. Iconium will always be invested
with much interest owing to St. Paul’s visits to it; the first of which
was immediately after his expulsion from Antioch in Pisidia, when the
Apostles “shook off the dust of their feet.” Messrs. Conybeare and
Howson have well remarked, that the vast plain and the distant mountains
are the most interesting features of modern _Konieh_; for these,
probably, remain as they were in the first century of Christianity,
while the town has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. Little,
indeed, remains of Greek or Roman Iconium, except the inscriptions and
fragments of sculptures built into the Turkish walls.
Iconium was famous in the early Middle Ages as the capital of the Seljuk
Sultans,[96] but was taken by the Emperor Barbarossa, during the second
Crusade, in his famous but futile attempt to force his way through Asia
Minor. To quote the picturesque words of Gibbon, “Forty campaigns in
Germany and Italy had taught Barbarossa to command; and his soldiers,
even the princes of the empire, were accustomed under his reign to obey.
As soon as he had lost sight of Philadelphia and Laodicea, the last
cities of the Greek frontier, he plunged into the salt and barren
desert, a land (says the historian) of horror and tribulation. During
twenty days every step of his fainting and sickly march was besieged by
innumerable hordes of Turkmans, whose numbers and fury seemed after each
defeat to multiply and to inflame. The emperor continued to struggle and
to suffer; and such was the measure of his calamities, that when he
reached the gates of Iconium no more than 1,000 knights were able to
serve on horseback. By a sudden and resolute assault he defeated the
guards and stormed the capital of the sultan, who sued for pardon and
peace. The road was now open, and Frederic advanced in a career of
triumph, till he was unfortunately drowned in a petty torrent of
Cilicia.”[97] Leake points out that its walls, still between two or
three miles round, are full of inscriptions and of other ancient
remains, which the Seljuks seem to have tried to preserve.
Footnote 96:
The Seljuks had first been at Nicæa; but, when the Crusaders took that
town, in A.D. 1099, they fell back on Iconium, which they held, with
the exception of the brief interval of its capture by Barbarossa in
1189, till the irruption of the Mongols, under Jinghis Khán, and of
his grandson, Huláku, who broke down their power completely. Konieh
has been an integral part of the Turkish empire ever since the days of
Bayazíd.
Footnote 97:
There has been much doubt in which “Cilician torrent” Barbarossa was
drowned. The name in the record is the “Saleph,” which maybe a
corruption of Selefkeh (Seleucia), a name sometimes given to the
Calycadnus, as a chief town on it. There seems no reason for drowning
him in the Cydnus, or modern Kara-su.
The position of LYSTRA and DERBE are still uncertain. Of Derbe, we know
that it was the residence of a robber chief of Lycaonia, named
Antipater,[98] who was ultimately subdued by Amyntas (Strabo, xii. p.
569), while Strabo and Stephanus Byzantinus placed it on the borders of
Isauria towards Cappadocia. St. Luke, however, and Hierocles placed it
as clearly in Lycaonia. If Lystra and Derbe stood in St. Luke’s order,
Lystra would be the nearest to Iconium; but, though mentioned in Pliny
and Ptolemy, we have no further hint as to its actual position. One of
its bishops was present at the Council of Chalcedon. The interesting
account in the Acts xiv. 6-21, of the behaviour of the people of Lystra,
when St. Paul proved his Divine mission by the cure of the cripple, must
be fresh in the mind of every one. With regard to the speculative
identifications of the sites of Lystra and Derbe, it is, perhaps, worth
stating that S.E. of Konieh is a remarkable isolated hill, the Karadagh
or Black mountain. Not far from this mountain, Leake and Hamilton placed
these two towns, the former twenty miles S.E. of Iconium, the latter at
some remarkable ruins around its base, called by the Turks Bin-bir-
kalis-seh, or the 1,001 churches. Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Edward Falkener
have both examined this remarkable group of ruined churches, recording,
as they clearly do, some site peculiarly revered in early Christian
times. Mr. Falkener’s remarks on these curious monuments are much to the
point. “The principal group,” says he, “of the Bin-bir-Kalisseh, lies at
the foot of Karadagh.... Perceiving ruins on the slope of the mountain,
I began to ascend, and, on reaching them, perceived that they were
churches, and, looking upwards, descried others yet above me, and
climbing from one to the other, I at length gained the summit, where I
found two churches. On looking down, I perceived churches on all sides
of the mountain scattered about in various positions.... There are about
two dozen in tolerable preservation, and the remains of perhaps forty
may be traced altogether.... The mountain must have been considered
sacred; all the ruins are of the Christian epoch, and, with the
exception of a huge palace, every building is a church.” It appears from
the Acts that, besides the Greek, there was still extant a local
Lycaonian dialect, and this is what we should expect from what we know
in the cases of Caria, Lycia, and Phrygia, respectively. There are,
however, no certain means, now, of determining what was its character,
and whether it was of Semitic or of Indo-European descent.
Footnote 98:
Cicero (ad Fam. xiii. 73) says he was treated with much civility by
the Lycaonian Antipater—a view of things not agreeable to his
correspondent Q. Philippus, who had been previously proconsul of Asia
Minor. Stephanus Byzantinus states that Derbe was sometimes called
“Delbia,” a word in the Lycaonian dialect said to mean “juniper.” It
is possible that two words of much similarity have been confounded in
the MSS., viz. λιμὴν, a harbour or port, and λίμνη, a lake or marsh;
and that the town was really on the shores of one of the many internal
lakes of that part of Asia Minor. The position of Derbe near the lake
of _Ak Ghieul_, and its resemblance to Delbia, with the modern name of
_Divleh_, as suggested by Hamilton, tends to its identification with
Divleh.
Having dealt pretty fully with the provinces and towns of Asia Minor to
the west and south, with some notice of those in Lycaonia, we propose
now to notice the chief ones in _Phrygia_ and _Galatia_, though we have
not space to weigh nicely the limits of each of these districts, which
were, indeed, till Roman times, in a state of constant change. Rome, as
we know, thought fit to include under the name of Asia more than one
piece arbitrarily cut out of the older provinces; Roman Asia being to
the rest of Asia Minor much what Portugal on maps was to Spain.
The Phrygians themselves were, like the Mysians, probably of Thracian
origin, as the name Bryges, or Briges, is found in Macedonia, and is,
probably, connected with the Celtic word “briga,” as in Artobriga. We
find also in the neighbouring province of Bithynia a tribe called
Bebryces. The Phrygians have also been supposed to have some connection
with Armenia—a theory, however, mainly resting on their legend of a
primeval flood, and of the resting of an ark on the mountains near
Celænæ.
It is certain that the people of this part of Asia Minor were very much
intermixed. Thus, the Trojans and Mysians were almost certainly members
of the great Phrygian race; for Hecuba was a Phrygian princess, and
Hector a common Phrygian name. One stream of immigrators may, therefore,
have come from Armenia into Europe, and have, thence, returned somewhat
later to Phrygia, the Phrygians, like the Macedonians, being said to be
unable to pronounce the φ (ph), and saying Bilippus and Berenice, for
Philippus and Pherenice: in the army, too, of Xerxes, the Armenians and
Phrygians wear similar armour. Recent researches by Baron Texier and Mr.
Hamilton have shown that the Phrygians had a peculiar style of
architecture, the former having discovered an entire town carved out of
the solid rock. Tombs, too, occur, in construction resembling the lion
gate of Mycenæ; while there is also a legend of a Phrygian Pelops in
Argolis. Phrygian religious rites were widely accepted by remote
districts of the ancient world, the goddess Cybele being strictly a
Phrygian deity, and the wild “orgies” of her worship essentially
Asiatic.
Of the towns of Phrygia we take first APAMEA, as unquestionably one of
the most important for its varied history and for the many persons of
note who are linked with it. Its foundation is due to Antiochus Soter,
who named it after his mother Apama. According to Strabo, it stood at
the source of the river Marsyas, which burst forth in the middle of the
city, and flowed thence into the Mæander; and, though this description
is not quite borne out by recent observations, the identity of its size
with the modern village of Deenare or Denair, has been satisfactorily
shown by an inscription found by Mr. Arundell, reading—QUI. APAMEAE.
NEGOCIANTVR. H. C. (hoc. curaverunt). “The merchants frequenting Apamea
have taken care (to erect this monument).”[99] Cicero, who was appointed
proconsul of Cilicia in B.C. 51, has left us many interesting
particulars about it in his letters to his friends, as he was much
there. At this place, too, he deposited one of the three copies of his
quæstor’s accounts, at the same time refusing to accept for himself or
to permit his soldiers to appropriate, any of the booty taken from the
enemy. In a letter to Can. Sallustius, proquæstor, he adds: “I shall
leave the money at Laodicea ... in order to avoid the hazard, both to
self and the commonwealth, of conveying it in specie.” While governing
his province, one of his friends requested him to procure some panthers
for him. This he did, and at his own expense, remarking at the same time
“that the beasts made sad complaints against him, and resolved to quit
the country, since no snares were laid in his province for any other
creatures but themselves.”[100]
Footnote 99:
Arundell (i. p. 192). He remarks further: “Apamea may now be asserted
to have been at _Deenare_ with as much confidence as that Ephesus or
Sardis stood on the sites which still preserve their names. Apamea
stood, we should add, nearly, though not quite, on the site of the
ancient Celænæ. It suffered so severely from earthquakes, that the
Roman tribute due from it was remitted, A.D. 53, for five years
(Tacit. Ann. xii. 58).”
Footnote 100:
Mr. Arundell remarks the panthers are still (1834) occasionally found
in the neighbourhood of Smyrna.
[Illustration:
COIN OF APAMEA CIBOTUS.
]
But, besides the classical history of Apamea, which is well enough
known, this place was accredited with a tradition referring to the Ark,
which, though purely legendary, cannot be omitted here; the more so as
the story of the Ark resting after the Flood on one of the heights near
Apamea has been supposed by some to have given that city the title of
“Cibotus,” or “Apamea of the Chest.”[101] Indeed, Mount Ararat was
placed by some on the confines of Phrygia. The coin of Alexander
Severus, of which we give a copy above, is supposed to refer to this
story. On the reverse is the name of the people of Apamea, and, above, a
square structure resting on a rock, and surrounded by water. In this box
are two figures, male and female, and in front the word ΝΩΕ (Noe). It
is, therefore, a fair presumption that the maker of the medal did mean
to represent Noah and wife. Two other persons, also a man and a woman,
stand in front of the supposed ark. If, as we believe, the Scriptural
deluge took place in Babylonia, some features of its story might easily
have found their way to Phrygia; while, independently of this, we know
that, even in the days of St. Paul, there were Jewish synagogues in many
of the great towns of Asia Minor. Moreover, during the 150 years between
St. Paul and Alexander Severus, some, at least, of the more striking
events recorded in the Bible must have become popularly known.
Footnote 101:
It ought to be added that the ancient name of Apamea, when the capital
of Phrygia, was Celænæ, and that, in Roman times, though Laodicea
Combusta was the residence of the proconsul, it was considered,
commercially, inferior only to Ephesus. Laodicea was one of the towns
privileged to strike those curious silver coins known by the name of
_Cistophori_. Though we do not accept the Ark story as the origin of
this name “Kibotus,” we cannot say that we attach much, if any, weight
to many other derivations that have been proposed.
The next place we notice is AZANI, or AEZANI (for both spellings occur),
the latter, that of the coins of the place, being the more preferable.
It is certain that the present Lord Ashburnham, in 1824, was the first
to determine where it stood, though this discovery has, with some
carelessness, been often attributed wrongly. It is now called Tchandur
Hissar, and, from Keppel, Hamilton, and Fellows, appears to possess some
ruins of remarkable beauty, and more than one Roman bridge. Hamilton (i.
101) states that its Ionic temple (of which Fellows and Pullan give
drawings) is one of the most perfect in Asia Minor. Rather curiously, no
walls have been found; but the place has suffered from plunderers
severely, every tomb having been despoiled.
In _Phrygia Magna_, as distinguished from _Phrygia Epictetus_, a place
of early notice and of long importance was SYNNADA, which we hear of
first in connection with the famous march of Cn. Manlius against the
Gallo-Græci. Cicero visited it in his progress towards Cilicia. In
Pliny’s time, it was the judicial centre of the neighbourhood. It was
chiefly famous for a beautiful marble with purple spots and veins, to
which Statius alludes (Silv. i. 5, 56). Texier was the first to discover
the actual quarries, which were, as the natives of old asserted, not at
Synnada, but at Docimia; whence the marble itself was sometimes called
“Docimites lapis.” Paulus Silentiarius, in a poem on the church of St.
Sophia, has well described its character. Docimia itself was probably at
the end of the plain where Synnada was itself situate. Hierocles makes
Synnada a bishopric of Phrygia Salutaris. Its ruins are now called _Eski
Kara Hissar_.
On the main road from Synnada towards Iconium stood PHILOMELIUM, the
“city of nightingales,” now, since the discovery of the true site of the
Pisidian Antioch, identified with Ak-shehr. It was a place of much value
to the early Turkish rulers, and many handsome Saracenic buildings may
still be seen; hence, too, it is often mentioned in the wars between the
Greek emperors and the Sultans of Iconium, as in Procopius (Hist. Arc.
18) and Anna Comnena (p. 473).[102]
Footnote 102:
PHILOMELIUM, now called _Afium Kara Hissar_ (the “black castle of
opium”), has much interest as the centre of the great Asia-Minor trade
in that drug, the medicinal properties of which were known to
Theophrastus in the third century B.C., under the name of μηκώνιον.
Scribonius Largus (A.D. 40), also, knew that the best form of it was
procured from the capsules, and not from the leaves of the poppy
(Berthold, Argent. 1786, c. iii. s. 2). Dioscorides, thirty years
later, calls the juice of these capsules ὀπός (Angl. _Sap_), and the
cutting them ὀπίζειν. Hence, the name, _Opium_. Pliny (iv. c. 65, xx.
c. 76) points out the medicinal use of “Opion,” and Celsus calls the
extracted juice “_Lacryma papaveris_.” Obviously, from this “Opion”
comes the Arabic “Afyum,” which is found in many Eastern languages,
and may have been spread all the more, owing to Muhammad’s
interdiction of the use of wine. In India, _Opium_ is noticed, first,
in Barbosa’s Travels, A.D. 1511 (ap. Hakluyt), who found it, at that
time, in Malabar and Calicut. Neither Chinese nor Sanskrit has a
native word for this drug. _Opium Thebaicum_ is mentioned as early as
A.D. 1288-96, by Simon Januensis, Physician to Pope Nicholas IV.
(Clavis Sanationis. Venet. 1510); and Kæmpfer (1687) remarks that
compounds of opium, nutmegs, &c., were largely sold in his time, as
long before, under the name of “_Theriaka_.”
But the most important place in the neighbourhood was LAODICEA, often
called “Combusta,” “the burnt,” which is to be carefully distinguished
from the other town of the same name we shall presently describe in
connection with Hierapolis, and which is generally called “ad Lycum,”
“on the Lycus,” in the province of Lydia. Recent geographers, however,
give both these towns to Phrygia. Laodicea Combusta was about nine hours
N.W. of Iconium, and under its modern names of Yorgan Ladik or Ladik-el-
Tchaus, is famous throughout Asia Minor for its manufacture of carpets.
It has been, popularly, supposed, that it derived its name from the
existence at it of some remarkable volcanic agencies. This, however, Mr.
Hamilton has clearly shown, is not the case. “There is not,” he says, “a
particle of volcanic or igneous rock in the neighbourhood; the hills
consist of blue marble, and of the argillaceous and micaceous schists
with which that rock is usually associated.” He thinks it may, at some
time or other, have been burnt down, and, on being rebuilt, have
received this distinguishing title. The inscriptions he found there,
though in great abundance, have little interest, being chiefly funereal:
they are all carved out of the dark blue-veined limestone of the
adjoining hills.
The last three places in Phrygia, which we think it necessary to note
especially, we shall take together, as situate near one another, and,
historically, closely connected. These cities are HIERAPOLIS, LAODICEA,
(ad Lycum), and COLOSSÆ.
HIERAPOLIS is chiefly remarkable for waters so loaded with petrifying
materials as to have completely changed, by their deposits, the face of
the country in the course of centuries; a result, noticed by many
ancient authors, as Vitruvius, Pausanias, &c. Chandler states that a
cliff near the town is one entire incrustation, and describes its
appearance as that of “an immense frozen cascade, the surface wavy, as
of water at once fixed, or in its headlong course suddenly
petrified.”[103] An excellent view of this curious scene is given in Mr.
Davis’s “Anatolica,” p. 100. Besides its remarkable petrifying power,
Strabo states also that the waters of Hierapolis were famous for dyeing;
and it is curious confirmation of this statement, that an early English
traveller (Dr. Smith, in 1671) copied an inscription referring to a
“_company of dyers_” (ἡ ἐργασία τῶν βαφέων). The position of Hierapolis
must have been very imposing, placed as it was on a high piece of
ground, “200 paces wide, and a mile in length.” Abundant ruins still
remain, consisting of the relics of three Christian churches, one 300
feet long, and of a gymnasium, considered by Leake to be one of the only
three “which are in a state of preservation sufficient to give any
useful information on the subject of these buildings,” together with a
prodigious number of fallen columns, in the wildest state of confusion.
It seems a pity that no efficient steps have been taken to excavate
thoroughly such a site as that of Hierapolis, where monuments of much
historical interest, possibly, too, of surpassing excellence as
sculpture, might reasonably be anticipated. Hierapolis is specially
noticed in St. Paul’s epistle to the Colossians (iv. 13), which shows
clearly that, at that time, there were many converts to Christianity,
probably owing to the zeal of Epaphras, who had been long a common
labourer with the Apostle. Somewhat later, Hierapolis appears in
Hierocles as the metropolis of Phrygia; and Arundell gives a list of the
bishops of the see whose names have been preserved. The present ruins
are called _Pambouk Kalessi_.
Footnote 103:
Mr. Hamilton says he could distinctly trace six different cascades,
each of which had left a separate incrustation. The ancient city
itself was built on a terrace entirely formed by this or similar
incrustations. He adds: “But if the appearance of the encrusted cliff
was curious when seen from below, it became infinitely more so when we
looked down upon it from the road, and the detail of its structure
became more apparent. The wavy and undulating lines of solid matter
which extend over the surface look as if a large river had been
suddenly arrested in its course and converted into stone.”
LAODICEA “_ad Lycum_” was, in the time of Strabo, one of the principal
places in this province, and the centre of the Roman power in this part
of Asia. Many men of great wealth, it is said, contributed to its early
magnificence; Strabo noticing Hiero, who, besides greatly embellishing
it during his lifetime, left to it by will the sum of 2,000 talents,
together with the orator Zeno, and his son Polemo, who was made by
Augustus king of part of Pontus. There are some difficulties in
reconciling the statements of ancient authors about the rivers that
flowed by or close to this town, and even recent investigations have not
made this matter quite clear. Four rivers are mentioned in connection
with it—the Lycus, Asopus, Caprus, and the Cadmus. Of these the first
is, unquestionably, the most important, as having given its name to the
town. It is likely these difficulties have been increased by the
earthquakes noticed by Strabo, who says that Laodicea, more than any
other town, was subject to their baneful influence. His words are
remarkable (εἰ γάρ τις ἄλλη καὶ ἡ Λαοδίκεια εὕσειστος, Strab. p. 578).
Such earthquakes would, naturally modify the course of these
streams.[104] Col. Leake calls especial attention to the importance of a
thorough investigation of the ruins of all these great towns: so much is
still on the surface, that he thinks there is reasonable hope of the
discovery of much still buried. The same, to a smaller extent, would,
probably, prove true of other cities in the vale of the Mæander; for
Strabo thought that Philadelphia, Sardes, and Magnesia ad Sipylum were
not less than Laodicea, and had all alike suffered from the ravages of
earthquakes; and this view was completely supported by Arundell from his
own personal observations at Laodicea (Seven Churches, p. 85).
Footnote 104:
Compare what Tacitus says, Annal. ii. 79, xiv. 97, and Herodotus’s
statement that the Lycus disappeared at Colossæ, close by, a statement
in some degree confirmed by Strabo (xii. 578), and other remarks
bearing on the history of this important town in Polyb. v. 57, 3; Cic.
Verr. i. 3; Epist. ad Fam. iii. 5, 7; Tacit. Annal. iv. 55; Philostr.
p. 543.
Laodicea suffered severely at the hands of Mithradates, but, with the
reign of Augustus, its real fame and prosperity arose and long
continued. About A.D. 1097 it was seized by the Turks, and subsequently
was, alternately, in their hands or in those of the Byzantine emperors.
In 1190 the Emperor Barbarossa was welcomed by the then inhabitants with
much kindness, but, shortly afterwards, it was wholly desolated by the
Turks. The zeal of St. Paul for the Church of Laodicea suggests that
there must early have been abundant converts to the new faith in its
neighbourhood. It is, however, also clear that their allegiance was not
very trustworthy, and that they were much inclined to accept a modified
form of Christianity. St. Paul’s words in his Epistle to the Colossians
(ii. 1) show this plainly enough—“For I would,” says he, “that ye knew
what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as
many as have not seen my face in the flesh.” Again, “When this epistle
is read among you, cause that it be read also in the Church of the
Laodiceans” (iv. 16). The Book of Revelation contains, also, strong
strictures on the lukewarmness of the Laodiceans. “I know thy works,
that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. So
then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue
thee out of my mouth” (Rev. iii. 15, 16). Laodicea, though sometimes
called Ladik, is more usually known as Eski-Hissar, the Turkish form of
the common Levantine title of Palæo-Castro—“Old Castle.”
COLOSSÆ, the last of the three towns, has been much confused with the
other two, from the haste and want of accurate observation of different
travellers. Much time is, indeed, requisite for the comparison of the
brief notes of ancient authors with the existing facts. It is not
certain when Colossæ was founded, or to what circumstances it owes its
name, but it existed some centuries before the Christian era, as it is
mentioned by Herodotus as a large and flourishing town of Phrygia when
Xerxes passed through it in B.C. 481, on his way from Cappadocia to
Sardes (vii. 30); nor had it, apparently, at all decayed when visited by
Cyrus the Younger, about eighty years subsequently, (Xen. Anab. i. 2).
Like the people of the adjacent Laodicea, the Colossians were great
growers of wool. It was nearly destroyed in the days of Nero, but it
survived, at all events, as the name of a Christian bishopric, till the
time of Hierocles’s _Synecdemus_. Somewhat later, a new town named
Chonas was built there, the certain identification of its ruins being
mainly due to the fact that Nicetas the Annalist was born there. St.
Paul, as we know, wrote an epistle to the Colossians, but his words,
“Since we _heard_ of your faith in Christ Jesus,” seem to imply that he
was never there himself. On the other hand, Epaphras, who was a native
of Colossæ, and Onesimus, are specially noted as having preached there.
Colossæ has been repeatedly visited by travellers, such as Dr. Smith,
Picenini, Pococke, and Arundell; but to Mr. Hamilton we owe the clearest
notice of it, and the reconciling of many points not understood by those
who preceded him. Herodotus, as we have remarked, had stated that there
was a χάσμα γῆς (a deep chasm) at Colossæ, and that the Lycus flowed by
a subterranean channel for half a mile. This chasm Mr. Hamilton traced,
proving how the Lycus may well have been _said_ to have flowed
underground, owing to the great accumulation of petrifying matter from
the stream, now called _Ak Sú_, or “White Water.” Mr. Hamilton quotes,
also, a passage from the Byzantine writer, Curopalates, clearly
referring to the same curious phenomenon. Pliny, too, makes an
interesting remark as to the quality of this water, where he says,
“There is a river at Colossæ which will convert brick into stone.”
Hamilton adds, “The Ak Sú, which joins the Choruk in the centre of the
town, would soon cover a brick with a thick incrustation, and even fill
the porous interior with the same substance by means of infiltration.”
The only towns in Galatia we think worthy of any especial note are
ANCYRA, PESSINUS, and TAVIUM—in fact, Galatia, the land of the Asiatic
Gauls, was little more than a dismemberment of the ancient Phrygia,
mainly induced by the invasion of a portion of the vast horde of Gauls,
who, descending from Pannonia under the second Brennus, B.C. 279, were,
ultimately, induced to cross the Hellespont, on the invitation of
Nicomedes I. of Pergamus. The general history of Galatia is so well
known, we need not dwell on it here. Suffice it, that the three
principal tribes of these invaders were known as the Tectosages, the
Tolistoboii, and the Trocmi, and that, after many battles, in which
their power was greatly reduced, they were settled, the first at Ancyra,
the second at Pessinus, and the third at Tavium. Some historical facts
connected with them, it may, however, be as well to mention; viz., that
Antiochus obtained the name of Soter from the great defeat he inflicted
on them; and that, beaten by Attalus I. and Prusias, they were most
completely subdued by the consul Manlius in A.D. 189. Gauls are found as
mercenaries in all the wars of the times, and, often, fighting against
one another, being even noticed as such in the Maccabees (1. viii. 2).
So late as the fourth century, St. Jerome, who had lived long at Trèves,
states that the common tongue of Galatia was the same as that of that
city. Curiously, only one name, certainly Celtic, _Eccobriga_, between
Tavium and Ancyra, has been preserved in the Itineraries. As a people,
they greatly resembled the Gauls Cæsar describes—“Natio est omnis
Gallorum admodum dedita superstitionibus”; hence, they adopted, at once,
the Phrygian worship of Cybele as “Mater Deorum,”—the “Galli” of
Pessinus being her special priests. Their leading men, however, soon
became wealthy, and were speedily Hellenized.
The most important place in Galatia was ANCYRA, on the Sangarius;
traditionally, the foundation of Midas, the son of Gordius. The anchor
he found there, whence the city’s name, Pausanias says, was, still, in
his day, preserved in the Temple of Jupiter. The territory round this
city was formally created a Roman province by Augustus, B.C. 25, the
epithet “Tectosagum” being added to its title “Sebaste,” to distinguish
it from Pessinus and Tavium, which bore, also, the epithets of Sebaste
or Augusta. On the coins of Nero, Ancyra is, also, called Metropolis;
and, though much decayed, is still a considerable place, with a large
population.[105] In the adjacent plains occurred the mighty conflict
between Bayazíd and Timúr (Tamerlane), in which the former lost his
crown, and was taken prisoner by the Moghul emperor, though the popular
legend of the “cage of Bayazíd” is, probably, as little authentic as the
burning of the library of Alexandria by the orders of Omar.
Footnote 105:
In the Jerusalem and Antonine Itineraries we notice one name, _Ipeto-
brogea_, the latter portion of which is probably Celtic, like Allo-
_broges_, &c.
But the most interesting matter, in connection with Ancyra is the famous
Inscription of Augustus[106] (sometimes called his “Will”), generally
known by scholars under the title of the “Marmor Ancyranum.” What was
then visible of this Inscription was first copied by Busbequius, about
A.D. 1555, and published in 1579, at Antwerp, by Andreas Schottus.[107]
At first, the Latin portion only was obtained, but, by degrees, portions
of the Greek have been recovered, an important addition having been made
by Mr. Hamilton.[108] A very complete account of it has been recently
published by Theod. Mommsen, under the title “Res gestæ Divi Augusti,”
Berl. 1865, with very accurate copies of the Greek legend, specially
executed for Napoleon III. by M. Perrot.
Footnote 106:
The whole town of Ancyra swarms with inscriptions. Mr. Hamilton says:
“The collection of inscriptions made during my stay at Ancyra was very
numerous; many of them never before published. They were met with in
all parts of the town,—in the gateways and courtyards of private
houses, but, chiefly, on the walls of the citadel.”
Footnote 107:
The original inscription was engraved at Rome on brazen tablets in
front of his Mausoleum (Sueton. Aug.), known in Mediæval times under
the name of _L’Austa_. From an inscription in Boeckh, C. I. Gr. No.
4,039, we learn that the Ancyran inscription was placed in the
Σεβαστῆον (Augusteum), and on one of the antæ of the Temple are the
words—
Γαλατῶν [τ]ὁ [κοινὸν]
[ἱε] ρασάμενον
Θεῷ Σεβαστῷ
Καὶ Θεᾷ Ῥώμῃ
This is probably the temple alluded to in the decree of Augustus, and
referred to by Josephus (Antiq. xvi. 6).
Footnote 108:
Too much credit cannot be given to Mr. Hamilton for his successful
labours in copying the greater part of the Greek version, which in
many instances supplies defects in the Latin version. “I entered,”
says he, “into a negotiation with the proprietor of the house ...
(abutting on the Temple).... In the course of two days I had the
satisfaction of finding that he had agreed to my proposal. I had
hardly dared to hope that the Mahometan would have allowed a Ghiaour
to take down the wall of his house for such a purpose.”
It would be impossible to give here even the briefest summary of this
very interesting and valuable inscription, which fully deserves the most
careful perusal; but we may mention that, among the historical events
Augustus records, are his crushing the murderers of Julius Cæsar, when
he was only 21,—the titles conferred on him—the census of his people—the
closing of the Temple of Janus—his great largesses to the people,
agreeably with the will of Julius Cæsar—with a remarkable list of the
monumental works begun or completed by him in Rome[109]—a notice of the
highest value to Roman antiquaries, and, therefore, very properly given
by Mr. Parker in his recent volume on the “Forum Romanum.” He then
recounts his crushing the pirates, noticing also the Servile war; the
effect of the battle of Actium on Italy; the boundaries of the provinces
then subject to him, and the extension of the Roman arms to Æthiopia and
Arabia; the submission of Tiridates and Phraates, the kings of Parthia;
and of Dubnovelaunus, king of the Britons. He concludes by saying, “When
I wrote this I was in my seventy-sixth year,” and very shortly after
this he died.[110]
Footnote 109:
An interesting work is extant by Julius Frontinus on the Aqueducts to
the city of Rome, which has been remarkably illustrated by the recent
researches of Mr. J. H. Parker, C.B., on the spot; see, also, for the
“Monumentum Ancyranum,” J. H. Parker’s “Forum Romanum and Via Sacra,”
Pl. xxvii.-ix.; Lond. 8vo, 1876.
Footnote 110:
Mr. Pullan gives a view of the entrance to the Temple.
The next town of Galatia we notice, PESSINUS, was situate near the left
bank of the Sangarius, on the road to Angora. It was the capital of the
Gallic tribe of the Tolistoboii, and celebrated in antiquity for its
worship of the goddess Rhea, or Cybele. The story went that the original
shrine of this goddess was removed to Rome, towards the close of the
second Punic war, the safety of Italy being said to depend on this step.
It is clear that the people of Pessinus did not care much about their
most sacred shrine—possibly, however, as King Attalus supported the
Roman demand, they could not help themselves. It is worthy of note,
that, not long after the removal of this shrine, the Galli became the
chief priests of the worship of Cybele, and, as such, went out to
propitiate Manlius, when about to throw a bridge over the Sangarius
(Livy, xxxviii. 18). Polybius gives the names of these priests (Polyb.
Fragm. 4). Coins of Pessinus exhibit the worship of Cybele as late as
Caracalla, and we know that Julian the Apostate visited her temple
(Ammian. xxii. 9). One name she bore was that of Agdistis, Pessinus
itself being seated under this mountain, which was also called Dindymus.
M. Texier seems to have first recognized its ruins at a place now called
Sevrihissar, of which an excellent account is given by Mr. Hamilton (i.
p. 438). “Every step we advanced,” says he, “gave evidence of the
importance and magnificence of the public buildings with which this site
must once have been adorned.” We may add that Mr. Hamilton’s further
researches enabled him to reconcile the conflicting accounts of the
march of Manlius in Polybius and Livy, the whole of the course of the
Roman general being, now, fairly traceable.
The last of these Galatian towns, TAVIUM, was the abode of the third
Gallic tribe, the Trocmi, as is shown by an inscription on a coin,
reading ΤΑΟΥΙΑΝΩΝ ΤΡΟ. The position of this town has been identified by
Mr. Hamilton as that where M. Texier found some very remarkable
sculptures, which he, erroneously, called Pterium, the site of one of
the battles between Crœsus and Cyrus. It is more probable that this
place was much nearer the shores of the Black Sea. If Hamilton is right,
Boghaz-kieui marks the site of the old town, which was one of great
trade, and famous for a colossal bronze statue and temple of Jupiter.
The careful measurement of the seven great roads, recorded as having met
at Tavium, agrees, too, with his view. The bas-reliefs discovered by M.
Texier, about two miles from this temple, are among the most curious in
Asia Minor. Mr. Hamilton gives a view of them (vol. i. p. 394), whence
we are inclined to think that they must be of Persian origin. So far as
we can judge from the engraving, the work resembles much that at
Behistan; moreover, two of the figures seem to be standing on lions or
panthers, as on the reliefs found by Mr. Layard at Bavian, and to be
seen, also, of some of the coins of Tarsus. The subject appears to be
the meeting of two kings, the principal figures being five feet high.
Two of the figures stand on a kind of double-headed eagle. Mr. Hamilton
suggested a resemblance between them and those at Persepolis, an
appreciation the more remarkable that when Mr. Hamilton’s work was
published in 1842, none of the Assyrian excavations had been begun.
Considering the great influence of the Persians after the establishment
of the empire of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, there is no improbability
in the carving being the work of some powerful satrap, like Pharnabazus,
who might easily have been familiar with the sculptures at Bavian,
Behistan, and Persepolis.
Over the towns in the remaining provinces of Asia Minor, _Cappadocia_,
_Pontus_, _Paphlagonia_, and _Bithynia_, it will not be necessary for us
to linger at any length; not because there are not abundant objects of
interest in each of them, but that the remains, purely Greek, are
comparatively few, while the space we can give for an adequate
description of them is exceedingly limited. We shall, however, notice
some of the chief places, either of Greek origin, or directly connected
with the Greeks, referring to the journals of the travellers we have so
often quoted; and especially to Mr. Hamilton, for a more full and
detailed account of them.
To take first _Cappadocia_, which is in this sense peculiar, that it was
for centuries governed, first by satraps claiming descent from one of
the seven conspirators who aided Darius, and, secondly, by a native race
of kings, till it became a Roman province. The great plains of
Cappadocia, at an altitude seldom less than 4,000 feet above the sea,
were famous for the breed of horses they raised; corn, too, and many
excellent fruits found in this province their native home. Salt, and
various kinds of crystal, were also largely exported from Cappadocia.
Of the towns of Cappadocia, we may mention NAZIANZUS, a site celebrated
as the birthplace of its famous bishop, Gregory, a great ecclesiastical
writer, a wit and a poet (see his humorous description of Sasina, the
church to which he was first appointed, Orat. xxv. p. 435, which we wish
we had space to quote). Its ancient position has been accurately
determined by the observations of more than one modern traveller
(Hamilton, ii. p. 228). _Mazaca_, afterwards called CÆSAREA _ad Argæum_,
was for many centuries the capital of Cappadocia, and is still a place
of some importance. The chief feature of its scenery was the Mons Argæus
(now Erjish Dagh), reputed the loftiest mountain of Asia Minor, which
rises immediately above it, covered with perpetual snow. The town
itself, though ultimately the capital, appears to have been for a long
time little more than a camp; indeed, Horace’s description probably
tells us all that “His Majesty” of Cappadocia really required:
“Mancipiis locuples, eget æris Cappadocum rex” (“Though rich in slaves,
the king of Cappadocia lacks ready money”), (Ep. i. 6, 39). Cappadocian
slaves were abundant in Rome, and had a high reputation as bakers and
confectioners (Plut. Lucull. Athen. i. 20, &c.). One of the most
memorable events of the history of the town was, its long and gallant
resistance to the Sassanian emperor, in the war between Valerian and
Sapor. In Christian times, it derived much fame from the fact that St.
Basil was born there, and was, subsequently, for many years its bishop
(Socrat. H. E. v. 8; Hierocl. p. 698). Mr. Hamilton (ii. pp. 274-281)
gives an interesting account of his ascent of the great mountain near it
[the height of which he found to be about 13,000 feet], a feat, we
believe, he was the first to accomplish.
TYANA, another Cappadocian town, is chiefly noted as the birthplace of
Apollonius of Tyana, whose amusing life has been preserved by
Philostratus. From its position on the defiles leading through Taurus
into Cilicia, it must have been a place of some importance; and hence,
probably, the tradition that it was built by Semiramis (Strab. xii.
537). In later times it was the seat of a Christian bishopric (Greg.
Naz. Epist. 33). Hamilton thinks that a place called _Iftyan Kas_ may
mark this site. There is near to it the remains of a fine aqueduct,
ascribed by the natives to Nimrod, but, really, of Roman origin.
COMANA, the only other place in Cappadocia, which it is necessary to
notice, was really the chief town of a subdistrict called Cataonia. It
was chiefly celebrated for its collection of priests, soothsayers, and
the like, who were devoted to the worship of Mâ (the Moon), or, as some
say, the Cappadocian Bellona. Strabo asserts that the votaries of this
sacred institution amounted to as many as 6,000 persons, of both sexes
(xii. 535). Some, on the other hand, think this goddess the Anaitis of
the Persians, the Agdistis or Cybele of the Phrygians. Coins of Comana,
of Antoninus Pius, show that there was a Roman colony there, which was
in existence as late as Caracalla.
_Pontus_, a narrow slip along the shores of the Black Sea, was chiefly
memorable for its great fertility in the fruits now so common in our
western lands, as cherries (perhaps so named from one of its towns,
Cerasus), peaches, almonds, &c. It was also very rich in grain, timber,
honey, and wax; while its mineral wealth is strikingly shown by the fact
that one of its tribes, the Chalybes, famous so early as the time of
Xenophon for their skill in working iron, gave their name to the Greek
word for hardened iron or steel.[111] TRAPEZUS (now Trebisonde), its
only considerable town, was in ancient days believed to be a colony of
Sinope, the foundress of several other places along the coasts of the
Black Sea. It was evidently a city of note when Xenophon came there, in
B.C. 400, with the remains of the Ten Thousand, as its citizens
hospitably entertained the Greek host under his command. We find it,
also, in much prosperity when Arrian was governor of Pontus, under
Hadrian. In later days, Trapezus was the capital of a petty empire under
a branch of the princely house of the Comneni, its rulers assuming the
pompous title of Emperors of Trebizonde, and claiming, though not always
securing, independence of the Greek Empire. It is still a place of
commercial importance. We may add that it was not far from this place,
near the town of Zela, that Cæsar defeated the troops of the despicable
traitor Pharnaces so quickly, that he announced his victory in the
famous words, “Veni, Vidi, Vici” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”) (Hist.
Bell. Alex. c. 72; Plut. Vit. Cæs.; Sueton. Cæs. c. 37). The history of
Pontus is closely interwoven with that of the famous Mithradates; but,
into this, we have not the space to enter here.
Footnote 111:
Æschylus, Pers., v. 715, speaks of οἱ σιδηροτέκτονες Χάλυβες.
_Paphlagonia_ is chiefly famous for the vast forests that clothed the
southern and more hilly portions of its territory, and for its vast
herds of horses, mules, &c. (the former of which are noticed so early as
Homer (Il. ii. 281 and 852)). Its only two towns of any note were
AMASTRIS, in the days of Pliny the Younger a handsome place, with
squares and many public buildings,—and SINOPE; both towns, certainly, of
remote antiquity, the latter, indeed, attributed by some to the
Argonauts, and by others to the Amazons. In the days of Xenophon, SINOPE
was a rich and flourishing city; and then, and for a long time,
subsequently, the navy of Sinope was highly distinguished among those of
the other maritime cities of Greece. Sinope was also famous, like
Byzantium, for the fishery of the _pelamys_ or tunny-fish; deriving,
also, much of its subsequent wealth from the fact, that it was selected
by the kings of Pontus as their royal residence. Lucullus first, and
Cæsar, subsequently, in the wars with Mithradates and Pharnaces,
respectively, treated the people with much kindness, and left to them
most of the works of sculpture with which their town had been
embellished by the Pontic monarchs. Sinope is mentioned as a flourishing
place in the times of Strabo, Trajan, and Arrian, nor did it decay, till
every other place, in like manner and for the same reasons, decayed on
the advent of the barbarians from Central Asia, under the hoofs of whose
horses, as the proverb says, no grass ever grows again.
_Bithynia_, the last province of Asia Minor to which we shall have to
call attention, was, as we have remarked before in the case of Mysia, in
its population, largely of Thracian origin. Subsequently to Cyrus the
younger, it was ruled by a series of native kings, the last of whom,
Nicomedes II., bequeathed his country to the Romans. Many of these
rulers were men of tried valour; thus one defeated a general of
Alexander the Great; and another crushed the invading Gauls. Pliny the
Younger, in his letters, gives an interesting account of the spread of
Christianity in this province, at the same time showing that his stern
and hardy master, Trajan, was less inclined to act severely against them
than his literary and philosophic lieutenant. The towns of Bithynia to
which we propose to call attention, are PRUSA, NICÆA, and NICOMEDIA.
PRUSA, generally distinguished by the epithet _ad Olympum_, more clearly
to mark its site, is said to have been built by Hannibal (Plin. v. 2),
but was, probably, much older, though Chrysostom, a native of the town,
does not claim for it any high antiquity (Orat. xliii. p. 585). It
continued to flourish under the Roman Empire (Plin. Epist. x. 35), and
was, also, for a while, a leading place under the Greek Empire; indeed,
it is still, under the modified name of Broussa, one of the chief cities
of Turkish Anatolia. Its name will, doubtless, be fresh in the memory of
many of our readers as the long home of the gallant Abd-el-Kader, and of
more than one of the Hungarian leaders whom the treachery of Georgey
compelled to abandon their native country. The grand Olympus which
overhangs Broussa was generally termed the Mysian, to distinguish it
from the Olympus of Thessaly. Near it was the town of Hadriani (now
Edrenos), the coins of which bear the inscription ΑΔΡΙΑΝΕΩΝ ΠΡΟC
ΟΛΥΜΠΙΟΝ.
NICÆA, so named after his wife by Lysimachus, was the real capital of
Bithynia, and, for a long time, one of the most important towns of
Western Asia. Pliny the Younger, as governor of the province, undertook
to restore it, and, during the later Byzantine period it was constantly
taken and retaken by the Greeks and Turks, respectively. Leake and other
travellers show that there are abundant remains of this famous old town,
now called Isnik; not that, under the Turks, it is, or ever could have
become, a great city. In Ecclesiastical story, Nicæa will ever be
memorable as the site where assembled, in A.D. 325, the grand body of
bishops, so well known as the _Council of Nice_, to condemn the Arian
heresy. Our own Church is believed to owe to it its most valuable
“Nicene” Creed. Coins of Nicæa abound even as late as the time of
Gallienus.
NICOMEDEIA, as the name implies, the chief residence of the Bithynian
kings of the name of Nicomedes, was a large and flourishing city, and,
as may be gathered from the letters of Pliny to Trajan, long continued
so; indeed, in later times, when occupied with the Parthian or other
Eastern wars, it was a convenient and constant residence for the Roman
emperors (Niceph. Callist. vii.). We have a curious account of the ruin
done to this city by an earthquake in one of the strange orations of
Julian’s friend, the orator Libanius, entitled μονωδία ἐπὶ Νικομηδείᾳ,
in which he mourns the loss of its public baths, temples, gymnasia, &c.:
some of these were, however, subsequently restored by Justinian (Procop.
Ædif. v. 1). The historian Arrian was born here, and Constantine the
Great died at his villa Ancyron, hard by.
Having said so much on the subject of the leading Greek cities of Asia
Minor, or rather of some of them, we shall notice, but as briefly as
possible, the principal islands adjacent to its shores; and as the space
at our disposal compels us to contract our narrative within the closest
limits, we shall refer only to _Lesbos_, _Samos_, _Chios_, _Rhodus_, and
_Cyprus_. _Crete_, as a matter of fact, is generally attached,
geographically, to the continent of Greece, but, in any case, would
require a volume to itself that adequate justice should be done to its
ancient and modern story.
LESBOS, which lay off the coast of Mysia, indeed, about seven miles from
Assos, was celebrated in ancient times for its high cultivation of
poetry and music, and for the many men of literary eminence it produced.
To Lesbos we owe Terpander and Arion of Methymna, Alcæus, and Sappho;
and Pittacus, Theophrastus, and Cratippus were also born there. More
than one passage in Homer, and especially Il. xx. 544, and Odyss. iv.
342, show that many of the towns in the island had large populations,
even in remote times, and owned, also, a considerable extent of
territory on the mainland opposite. Lesbos displayed a personal love for
freedom, which contrasted well with their kinsmen on the continent; for,
though crushed, for a while, by Polycrates of Samos, and submitting,
perhaps, wisely, to Harpagus, the general of Cyrus, the Lesbians were
among the most active seconders of the revolt of Aristagoras, suffering
severely in the end, as did Chios and Tenedos, when the Persians won the
day. So, too, at Salamis, they stoutly supported the Greek cause. Their
subsequent history was that of most of the islands in the Ægæan.
Sometimes they were for, perhaps more often against, Athens; paying
often dearly enough for their love of freedom; and being, in the end,
chiefly under Athens, which, while strenuously advocating the so-called
sacred cause of freedom, took good care to divide their lands among her
own citizens. In later days, they struggled against Roman
aggrandisement, but, of course, in vain. The Romans, however, do not
seem to have treated the island with severity, and, as late as Commodus,
we have a coin reading ΚΟΙΝΟΝ Λεσβίων, which implies some amount of
self-government. We may mention, incidentally, that, at Lesbos, Julius
Cæsar received a civic crown for saving the life of a soldier (Livy,
Epit. 87; Sueton. c. 2); that, in A.D. 802, Irene, the Byzantine
empress, here ended her strange life; and, that four centuries later,
John Palæologus gave Lesbos, as her dowry, to his sister, when about to
marry Francis Gateluzio, in whose hands the island remained till
overwhelmed by the Turks.
SAMOS, a name said to mean highland, and, doubtless, deserving this name
for its far superior height to the islands adjacent, bore, like Lesbos,
many different names in antiquity, with a population much intermixed,
the result of successive colonies of Carians, Leleges, and Ionians. To
the last people it chiefly owed its historic fame, having been, in very
early times, an active member of the Ionian confederacy. As islanders,
the Samians had much credit for their skill in boatbuilding; indeed,
Thucydides (i. 13) goes so far as to say they were the first
boatbuilders, a statement, evidently, to be accepted with a good deal of
allowance. It seems, however, certain that a citizen of Samos, one
Cælius, was the first to reach the Atlantic by passing through the
Pillars of Hercules, and that Polycrates, the friend of Anacreon, did
much to increase the naval fame of his island.
After having made treaties with Amasis of Egypt, and Cambyses of Persia
(which alone show the eminence ascribed to Samos at this early period),
we know further, that, from Samos, as his head-quarters, Datis sailed
for Marathon, the inference being that Samos at that time was less Greek
than perhaps, it ought to have been; hence too, perhaps, somewhat later,
the severe punishment inflicted on it by Pericles and Sophocles. From
the commencement of the Roman wars in the East, Samos seems, generally,
to have sided with Rome, becoming, ultimately, part of the province of
“Asia.” Hence, too, probably the fact that Augustus (or rather as he
then was, Octavianus) spent his winter there after the battle of Actium.
Samos was, in early times, greatly devoted to the worship of Juno, and
Herodotus states that her temple there was the largest he had seen. It
was, however, never completely finished. According to Virgil, Samos was
the second in the affections of Juno, and, in Strabo’s time, in spite of
the plunder it had suffered in the Mithradatic war, and, subsequently,
by Verres, her temple was a complete picture-gallery. Here too, as so
often elsewhere, a Sacred Way led from the temple to the city. Samos was
also famous for an earthenware of a “red lustrous” character. Her art,
in this respect, was copied by the Romans, their common red ware being
popularly called “Samian.” Of this most Museums have abundant and
excellent specimens (Marryat, “Pottery and Porcelain,” 1850).
CHIOS, now _Scio_, in ancient days known by the name Pityusa, referring
doubtless to its abundant pine-forests, was nearly as close to the
mainland of Asia Minor as Lesbos, and, in size, rather more than twice
that of the Isle of Wight. It was in character peculiarly rugged, its
epithet in Homer [of whom it claimed to be the birthplace], of
παιπαλοέσσα (the “craggy”), being literally true. In ancient and in
modern times it has been famed for the beauty of its women; in the
former, also, for the excellence of its wines. In an oval place, not far
from its chief town, stood the temple of Cybele, whose worship the
Chiotes especially affected; and, that all things might fit properly,
the careless Pococke seeing there her headless statue, which he
describes as that of Homer, with equal judgment converted the lions
between which she is sitting into Muses! Its present chief town is said,
in situation, to resemble Genoa in miniature. Traditionally, its oldest
people were the Pelasgi; but Ion, a native writer, with better reason,
traces them to Crete. Chios was little injured by the first Persian
conquest, as the Persians, then like Timúr, eighteen hundred years
later, had no fleet; but it was thoroughly sacked and plundered,
subsequently, for the crime of having sent one hundred ships to fight
off Miletus in aid of the Ionians (Herod. vi. 8, 32).
During the Peloponnesian war, Chios at first supported the Athenians,
but was afterwards ravaged by them, though they failed to take its
capital. So, in the Mithradatic war, though at first supporting the king
of Pontus, Chios fell under his displeasure, in that it had allowed
Roman “negotiatores” to frequent and settle in its ports, and had to pay
2,000 talents, and to suffer still rougher treatment at the hands of his
general, Zenobius. In modern times, Scio has suffered more perhaps than
any other Greek island. Early in the fourteenth century, the Turks
secured possession of it by a general massacre; in 1346, it was taken
from them by the Genoese, who held it for nearly two centuries and a
half, till it was recaptured by the Turks. In 1822, having been
foolishly over-persuaded—though then a comparatively flourishing island—
to join in the revolt of the Greeks against the Turks, a powerful
Ottoman fleet attacked it, who, landing, massacred right and left,
enslaved its women and children, and made, as is their wont, a well-
cultivated district a desert, destroying, too, by fire and sword a town
with thirty thousand inhabitants. No doubt fifty-four years is a very
long time in the eyes of mere politicians; but historians might have
been expected to remember “Scio,” and to have anticipated similar
results at “Batak,” or wherever else these barbarians are able to repeat
the habits and practices of their fore-fathers.
RHODUS, an island about ten miles from the south-west end of Lycia, next
claims our attention, as one of the most important of the Greek
settlements of antiquity, and as retaining still something of its
ancient splendour. In remote ages as the adopted abode of the Telchines,
a celebrated brotherhood of artists, probably of Phœnician origin,
Rhodes soon became famous for its cultivation of the arts, so imported,
leading, as these did, naturally, to a civilization much in advance of
the people around them. Its early history abounds with many legendary
tales, which we regret we cannot insert here (but see Pindar Ol. vii.;
Hom. Il. ii. 653). The Rhodians, no doubt from their early connections
with the Phœnicians, were among the greatest navigators of antiquity,
and this, too, earlier than B.C. 776, when the Olympian games are said
to have been instituted: hence the foundation by them of very remote
colonies in Sicily, Italy, and Spain; in the latter country, especially
_Rosas_, which, remarkably enough, retains its ancient name, but
slightly modified. The Rhodian code of naval laws became too, as is well
known, not only the law of the Mediterranean, but the basis of the law
of much more modern times. The people of this island did not, perhaps,
for prudential reasons, join in the Ionian revolt or in the Persian war.
In the Peloponnesian war, too, they did not take an active part, though
serving (according to Thucydides), with reluctance, on the side of
Athens, against the people of Syracuse and Gela. In those days they were
chiefly valued as light troops, especially, as darters and slingers. In
the cause of Darius Codomannus against Alexander, the Rhodians supported
Memnon, the ablest admiral of the day, whose death, perhaps more than
that of any other individual person, hastened the downfall of the
Persian monarchy; and somewhat subsequently, their resistance to
Demetrius Poliorcetes, in the memorable siege they underwent, secured
them the highest credit, and the admiration of their conqueror. Indeed,
they were in such esteem among their neighbours, that (so Polybius
states) when their city had been almost destroyed by an earthquake, the
rulers of Sicily, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt vied with each other in
the liberality of the supplies and presents they sent to repair this
calamity. To the Romans their services were of the highest value,
indeed, it was mainly due to them, that the naval operations of Livius,
the Roman admiral, were successful in the wars against Philip and
Antiochus (Liv. xxxi. 14; xxxvii. 9, &c.).
But, perhaps, the most interesting matter in connection with the island
of Rhodes is the history of the researches recently conducted there by
Messrs. Biliotti and Salzmann on the site of Camirus, one of the three
chief original cities of that island, the combining of which together,
about B.C. 408, resulted in the creation of the capital city, Rhodes. It
was natural, therefore, to expect that any antiquities discovered at
these places would be earlier than this date. The ground all round is
now covered by a pine forest, in the clearing of which the old
necropolis was discovered by a bullock falling into a tomb. In 1853, Mr.
Newton obtained many _terra-cotta_ vases of a very archaic type, and
other fictile vases from the peasants’ houses of the adjacent village of
Kalaverda. Some of the _pinakes_ or platters, with geometrical patterns
painted in brown on a pale ground, resembled the oldest objects of this
class from the tombs of Athens and Melos; the sites, too, of Mycenæ and
Tiryns are also strewn with similar fragments.[112] Other amphoræ and
oinochoæ, with black figures on a red ground, or red figures on a black,
were also met with.[113]
Footnote 112:
As has been well shown in Dr. Schliemann’s recent researches.
Footnote 113:
Travels in the Levant, i. p. 235.
Shortly after this, a _firman_ was obtained from Constantinople,
empowering Messrs. Biliotti and Salzmann to make a thorough
investigation into this ancient site, the result of which has been the
opening of at least 275 tombs. From these tombs many precious works of
art in gold, bronze, and glass, with figures in terra-cotta, and
calcareous stones, together with vases and alabaster jars, have been
procured, some of them probably as old as B.C. 650. The whole may be
grouped under the heads: (1) Asiatico-Phœnician, or Archaic Greek; (2)
Greek of the best and latest periods; (3) Egyptian, or imitations of
Egyptian. The first is the most important, as comprehending most of the
gold and silver ornaments, with a few terra-cottas. It has been supposed
that the makers of these objects were Phœnicians of Tyre and Sidon; but,
as many of the specimens betray a marked Assyrian character and
influence, they are more probably copies, at second hand, of works
originally Assyrian.
On examining these curious works of art, it will be observed that most
of those in gold have been used either as necklaces or for attachment to
other substances, probably leather, consisting, as they do, for the most
part, of thin pieces or plaques of metal, averaging from one to two and
a half inches in length, with subjects on them worked up, as a rule,
from behind, after the fashion now called _repoussée_ work. Thus we meet
with standing female figures, draped to the feet (which are close
together), as on the sculptures from Branchidæ, with long and
elaborately-dressed hair falling on their shoulders and naked breasts,
the arms being raised in a stiff and formal manner, and the hands
partially closed. Another figure has large wings, almost like a
_nimbus_, hands crossed, and elbows square; and against the body of this
figure, a rudely-executed animal. A third holds in each hand a small
lion by the tail, just as on some of the sculptures from Khorsabad. On a
fourth the lions are not held, but are springing up against the figure.
On another plaque we have nearly the same type, with this distinction,
that the lions stand out in very high relief, and, curiously enough, are
in style almost identical with those on a _fibula_ obtained from
Cervetri by the late Mr. Blayds. Many instances may be seen of the
_narsingh_, or man-lion type—a compound figure, with the head, body, and
legs of a man, but attached to or behind this body, and, as it were,
growing out of it, the body of an animal with hoofs. This monstrous form
occurs, also, on a vase from Athens and on Assyrian cylinders. There
are, also, specimens of winged, man-headed lions, their wings being
thrown back so as to cover the whole figure, just as on the Assyrian
sculptures. In some cases, we find bronze plated with gold, the latter
having often been forced asunder by the rust and consequent expansion of
the bronze.
Besides these objects, were found, also, small glass vessels of a rich
purple colour with yellow bands, like those from Cære and other of the
oldest cities of Italy, and a coffin, 6 feet 4 inches long, and 2 feet 1
inch wide, made entirely of _terra-cotta_. There are traces of brown and
red paint over the whole of it, and, at one end, lions in red, with
floral ornaments, and, at the other, a black bull between two brown
lions. Many large terra-cotta plates were also found, with various
subjects; such as the combat between Hector and Menelaus over the body
of Euphorbus, with the names of the combatants written over them, a
drawing of especial interest, from the archaic type of the
superinscribed characters: there were, too, a Gorgon’s head, sirens, and
other strange animals, and a sphinx and a bull with his horns drawn in
perspective. These plates were probably of local manufacture. But,
besides these curious antique monuments, the excavations at Camirus
brought to light many objects of very fine work, two of which must be
mentioned. One, a small gold vessel of exceeding beauty, about an inch
in diameter, at one end of which is a seated Eros or Cupid; on the
other, Thetis on a dolphin, with the arrows Vulcan had forged for her
son Achilles. The other, a magnificent amphora, with figures in red on a
black ground, the subject being “the surprise of Thetis by Peleus”; in
fact, the same as that on one side of the Portland vase; thus
confirming, in a most unexpected manner, the interpretation originally
proposed many years ago by Mr. Millingen. This vase is of the time of
Alexander the Great, and few, if any vases have as yet been found in the
Archipelago exhibiting such free and masterly drawing as this one from
Camirus.
The island of CYPRUS, which lay off the southern coast of Asia Minor,
was one of the most celebrated of those generally called the Greek
Islands, though it had, probably, less claim to this designation, and
was more Oriental than any of the others. It was, as was natural from
its position, early settled by the Phœnicians, Herodotus speaking of the
inhabitants as a very mixed race. It is not possible to determine which
of several of its towns was the most ancient; but, in the early Jewish
Scriptures, we read of “ships of Chittim,” probably those of Citium, one
of its chief towns. In later days, Paphos, itself of remote antiquity,
became the capital of the island, and the residence, as we learn from
the Acts of the Apostles, of the Roman proconsul. As the centre of the
worship of Venus, which is noticed so early as Homer, as well as by many
later writers, Paphos was greatly visited by strangers, among whom
Tacitus mentions, particularly, the Emperor Titus, when on his way to
besiege Jerusalem (Hist. ii. 3-4). Her symbol, or idol, was a purely
Asiatic type, and consisted merely of an upright, conical, and
unsculptured stone. The history of the island was a very chequered one,
and there were but comparatively short intervals of time when it was
really under its own native rulers; more frequently it was held by one
or other of the continental empires near it which happened for the time
to be the most powerful. Thus it was, usually, in the hands of the
Persians, till the overthrow of that power by Alexander, when it was
secured by the Ptolemies, in whose diadem it was the most precious
jewel. In the end it was, of course, seized by the Romans, becoming
first an Imperial province, and then, by the arrangement of Augustus,
directly under the Senate. In later times, it was the seat of a
bishopric, one of the most famous of the bishops of Paphos being the
celebrated Epiphanius. During the Crusades, Richard Cœur de Lion
captured the island and gave it to Guy de Lusignan, king of Jerusalem,
whence the title of kings of Cyprus and Jerusalem, adopted, till recent
times, by some of the monarchs of Western Europe.
In recent times, the Island of Cyprus has proved one of the most
abundant sources of precious remains of antiquity, excavated chiefly by
Mr. R. H. Lang and General Palma di Cesnola. The former gentleman has
published in the Numismatic Chronicle (vol. xi. New Series, 1870), an
account of the silver coins, many of native Cypriote manufacture, he
lighted on while digging out an ancient temple at Dali (Idalium), in
1869. The coins were found at two several times, and, from the way in
which some of them adhered together, had probably been enclosed in a
bag, though no traces of it were detected. Mr. Lang believed he could
trace from them the existence of the six or seven distinct kingdoms,
which we know, from other sources, once existed in this island. The
earliest of these coins are, perhaps, as old as the middle of the sixth
century B.C.
The most important results of Mr. Lang’s excavations in this temple are
now in the British Museum, and have been described by him in a paper
read before the Royal Society of Literature (see Transactions, New
Series, vol. xi. pt. i. 1875). In this memoir, which has been
supplemented with some careful observations by Mr. R. S. Poole, Mr. Lang
has given many interesting details of his excavations. His first
diggings were in 1868, when his men soon “came upon (as it were) a mine
of statues,” several of them being of colossal proportions, and on two
large troughs, in an outer court, perhaps once employed for the
ablutions connected with the temple, which was completely “full of the
heads of small statues, which, after being broken from their bodies, had
been pitched pell-mell into the troughs.” Near these troughs were three
rows of statues; some, too, of the chambers excavated were also full of
statuary—and in a stratum of charcoal were comminuted fragments of the
bones and teeth of several animals; as of bullocks, sheep, camels, and
swine. We can only add, here, that the treatment of the beard on some of
the heads is remarkably Assyrian; which, indeed, might reasonably have
been expected, as the island was long subject to that empire,—and, that,
besides coins and sculptures, Mr. Lang procured, also, several Phœnician
inscriptions, not, however, of very early date, their characters being
nearly identical with those on the well-known inscription in the
Bodleian Library at Oxford, together with one bilingual inscription in
Cypriote and Phœnician writing. The last has proved of great value, in
that it enabled the late Dr. Brandis and Mr. G. Smith to settle many
important points in connection with the Cyprian alphabet.
Nearly about the same time as Mr. Lang, General di Cesnola, the American
consul in Cyprus, was commencing a series of excavations, the latest
results of which have, in some respects, far surpassed anything Mr. Lang
achieved. M. Cesnola began digging, we believe, first about 1867; but
his first important discoveries were in the spring of 1870, when he
found at Golgos the remains of two temples of Venus, nearly on the spot
where, some time before, the Count de Vogüé had been less fortunate. It
was here that M. di Cesnola formed his first collection, now for the
most part in the museum of New York. As in the case of Mr. Lang, the
statues had all been thrown down and grievously defaced by
“iconoclastic” hands. Among them, however, were many which had been
simply hurled from their pedestals, and were, therefore, nearly as fresh
as when first made. One great interest in the collection is, that it is
almost wholly the product of local artists. Naturally there was in it a
large number of statuettes of Venus, of vases, of lamps, and of objects
in glass; the latter, we believe, chiefly from Idalium. It is said that
altogether there were nearly 10,000 objects, and that New York secured
them for about £1 apiece. We cannot discuss here the question, much
mooted at the time, whether or not the collection ought to have been
bought by the English Government; but, had it been, we do not know where
it could have been adequately exhibited. The British Museum seems to be
as full as ever; nor is there any apparent hope of the removal of the
hideous black sheds between the columns in the front of it, which have
now, for these twenty years, defaced any architectural beauty it may be
supposed to have.
But by far the most remarkable of General di Cesnola’s discoveries are
his most recent ones, the great results of which are now, we believe, on
their way to New York, the American Government having had the good sense
to supply him with ample means for continuing his researches in the best
manner. These last, commenced in 1873, have been prosecuted at various
ancient sites, such as those of Golgos, Salamis, Palæo-Paphos, Soli, and
Amathus; Curium having ultimately proved the most valuable mine of
antiquities. Besides two superb sarcophagi he had previously secured, M.
Cesnola found at Curium a mosaic pavement, in style, as he calls it,
Assyrio-Egyptian, which had already been partly dug through by some
former excavator, and beneath this, at a depth of twenty feet, a
subterranean passage in the rock leading into three chambers,
communicating the one with the other. In the first of these he came upon
a great number of small ornaments, rings, &c., in pure gold; in the
second, on a considerable collection of gilt vases, cups, &c.; and in
the third, on innumerable miscellaneous objects, comprising vases of
alabaster, candelabra, metal mirrors, daggers, armlets, small statues of
animals, &c. The most valuable individual specimens would seem to be a
crystal vase and a pair of armillæ in gold, bearing a double Cypriote
inscription. What then is the history of this precious _trouvaille_? We
venture to think that General di Cesnola’s idea on the subject is
probably the true one,—that it represents the offerings in a temple now
destroyed, and hurriedly packed away, possibly when it was attacked by
iconoclasts. Some of the bijoux are inscribed with the names of the
owners, and probably donors. Like the relics from Cameirus, these
Cypriote monuments are of great antiquarian value, as proving the
transition from Eastern to Greek art.
[For further details, see Atti d. Real. Acad. d. Scien. di Torino, vol.
x.; and Ceccaldi, Le ultime Scoperte nell’ isola di Cipro, 1876.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER V.
ST. PAUL.
DURING previous parts of this work we have, from time to time, alluded
to the presence of St. Paul at various places we have described; the
interest, however, every one feels in the great Apostle of the Gentiles
induces us to throw together in one chapter a brief summary of his
journeys in Asia Minor; the more so, that to a Christian, studying the
history of this portion of Western Asia, St. Paul stands out alone—“none
but himself can be his parallel.”
St. Paul’s missionary labours commenced from the period when the Holy
Ghost said, “Separate me Barnabas and Paul for the work whereunto I have
called them” (Acts xiii. 2); an order, doubtless, given at Antioch in
Syria, as they soon after started from Seleucia, the port of Antioch,
for Cyprus, the native home of Barnabas. Antioch was then the capital of
Northern Syria, and as much, if not more than Jerusalem, the centre of
Christian evangelization. Hence, the natural reason why at Antioch men
were “first called Christians.” Seleucia, too, at the mouth of the
Orontes, about twenty miles below Antioch, was the “key of Syria,” and
had, recently, obtained from Pompey the title of a “Free City,” an
honour which it long retained. Dr. Yates (long a resident in the
neighbourhood), in an interesting memoir on this city (in the Museum of
Classical Antiquities), mentions that the names of the piers at the
mouth of its harbour still preserve a record of St. Paul’s voyage, the
southern one being called after him, and the northern after Barnabas.
Structures so vast as these may easily have remained to the present day,
for Pococke states that some of the stones “are twenty feet long by five
deep and six wide, and fastened together by iron cramps.” The voyage
from Seleucia to Cyprus is, generally, short and easy.
The first place they made in the island was Salamis,[114] whence they
proceeded right across it to Paphos, the residence of the Roman
governor, Sergius Paulus, “a prudent man.” Here we have the remarkable
story of Elymas the sorcerer, and of the conversion of the governor on
witnessing the miracle by the hand of St. Paul. Cyprus was at that time,
as may be gathered from Dio Cassius, under the direct government of the
Emperor of Rome, together with Syria and Cilicia; but, a little later,
this historian adds that Augustus restored it to the Senate. St. Luke’s
title, therefore, of proconsul is correct, as that invariably given to
the rulers of the provinces belonging to the Senate. A Cyprian
inscription in Boeckh confirms this view. The occurrence of a person
called a “sorcerer” at the court of the Roman governor is quite in
accordance with the manners of the times. Thus, Juvenal sarcastically
speaks of the “Orontes flowing into the Tiber.”[115]
Footnote 114:
Salamis was on the east side of the island, nearly opposite to Syria;
and, in early times, the capital of the island. It was destroyed by
the Romans, but rebuilt with the name of Constantia. It was a little
to the north of Famagousta, the name of which, curiously enough, is
not of Latin origin, as might be supposed, but a lineal descendant of
the original Assyrian Ammochosta.
Footnote 115:
Juven. Sat. iii. 60; ib. vi. 584, 589; Horat. Od. i. xi.; Sat. ii. 1;
and Juven. iii. 13, and vi. 542, point out the number of Jewish
impostors of the lowest kind with whom Rome was then infested:
Juvenal, vi. 553, indicates the influence the so-called Chaldean
astrologers possessed there.
It has been often thought that, from the miracle over Elymas, dates the
change of the name of the apostle from Saul to Paul, and certain it is
that, subsequently to the words “Then Saul (who is also called Paul)”
(Acts xiii. 9), the first name does not occur again; moreover, in his
fourteen Epistles the apostle invariably calls himself Paul. So happened
it in earlier days, when Abram was changed into Abraham. It has been
further supposed that, as Barnabas was a native of Cyprus, the apostles
were induced to visit that island first; but, for their crossing to
Attalia in Pamphylia, in preference to any other port, no reason can be
assigned, though we may conjecture that they acted on information
obtained in Cyprus. The communication was no doubt easy and probably
constant. Attalia, as we have pointed out, was then, as now, a place of
some consequence, and almost the only port of southern Asia Minor:
thence they proceeded up the steep and rugged defiles of the Pamphylian
mountains to Perga, and, ultimately, to Antiochia in Pisidia. The sacred
writer records no event on their route thither, except the secession of
Mark, which probably took place soon after they had landed; nor has he
even given the reason that influenced Mark; but this may have been as
Matthew Henry has suggested: “Either he (Mark) did not like the work, or
he wanted to go and see his mother.” St. Paul, we know, felt acutely,
what he might fairly have considered as little short of a desertion;
indeed, this secession led, as we shall see hereafter, to the separation
between himself and Barnabas on the eve of his second missionary
journey.
Whatever Mark’s reasons, certain it is he did depart, and that St. Paul
pushed on with characteristic bravery through a country the nature of
which we have described when speaking of Cremna, Sagalassus, and of the
probable position of Perge; and which may be comprehended, in all its
fulness, by those who have time to study the valuable researches of
Leake and Hamilton, Spratt and Forbes, Arundell and Sir Charles Fellows.
It has been reasonably conjectured that, St. Paul travelling, as he
probably did a little before the full heat of the summer had commenced,
attached his small party to some large group or caravan travelling
inwards and northwards in the same direction. Many travellers, and
especially Sir Charles Fellows, have pointed out the annual custom
prevailing among the dwellers along the southern shores of Asia Minor,
of leaving their homes at the beginning of the hot weather, and of
migrating with their cattle and household property to the cooler valleys
of the mountains.
With regard to Antioch in Pisidia, we have already shown that Mr.
Arundell was the first to point out that some ruins, now called
Yalobatch, can scarcely be any other than those of this Antioch. We need
not, therefore, dwell any longer on this point, simply adding, that,
from its great commercial importance, St. Paul must have found there
many resident Jews, while we know that there was at least one synagogue.
On arriving at Antioch, the narrative in the Bible goes on to say that
the Apostles “went into the synagogue on the Sabbath-day, and sat down”;
then, after the reading the Law, as was and still is, the usual custom,
the rulers of the synagogue desired them to speak, and St. Paul gave one
of his most characteristic addresses, being, at first, well received by
his own countrymen, and, especially so, by those persons who, having
given up idol-worship, were usually known as proselytes. He was,
therefore, invited to preach on the following Sabbath-day, the
intervening week having been, no doubt, well employed in constant
meetings between St. Paul and these proselytes, and in earnest addresses
and exhortations. Hence, we are told that, on this second occasion,
“came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.” But this
was more than the Jews could endure: so they stirred up the “chief men
of the city,” and the Apostles were soon after (we are not told how
soon) “expelled out of their coasts,” that is, ordered to go beyond the
limits of the Roman colony of Antioch; though, as they returned to it
again, shortly afterwards, it is likely that no formal decree of
banishment was promulgated against them. On this “they shook off the
dust of their feet against them.”[116]
Footnote 116:
The action used by the Apostles was, it will be remembered, in
obedience to the direct words of our Lord: “Whosoever,” said He,
“shall not receive you nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off
the dust under your feet as a testimony against them” (Matt. x. 14;
Mark vi. 11; Luke ix. 5). It was, in fact, a symbolical act, implying
that the city was regarded as profane. It may be presumed that the
“devout and honourable women” (Acts xiii. 50) were proselytes.
St. Paul’s speech, on the second Sabbath, is worthy of note as that in
which he first definitely stated the object of his mission; for, when
thus attacked by his own countrymen, he turned upon them with the words,
“It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to
you; but, seeing ye put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of
everlasting life, we turn to the Gentiles” (Acts xiii. 46). Strabo (vii.
3) has pointed out that “feminine influence” was a remarkable
characteristic of the manners of Western Asia in his day, and of this we
find the Jews availing themselves, on this occasion. Leaving Antioch,
then, the Apostles turned nearly south-east to Iconium, which, as we
have already stated, was, in those days, the chief town of the sub-
district of Lycaonia. The treatment the Apostles received at Iconium was
not very different from that they had experienced at Antioch. Here, as
there, “the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles,” but were not, for
some time, successful in their designs, as the Apostles were able to
abide there a long time, “speaking boldly in the Lord.” In fact, as at
Ephesus, “the multitude of the city was divided, and part held with the
Jews, and part with the Apostles” (xiv. 4). In the end, however, the
Jews prevailed: so the Apostles had to save themselves from being
stoned, by flight “unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto
the region that lieth round about” (ver. 6), “and there,” it is added,
“they preached the Gospel.”
We have, already, shown that there is some doubt as to the position of
these two towns, but that Mr. Falkener has probably found Lystra on the
side of a mountain called Karadagh, at a place called by the Turks Bin-
bir-Kalessi, or, the Thousand Churches. So, too, the site of Derbe has,
certainly, not been yet made out completely; but, from the similarity of
name, it may be at Divle, as suggested by Hamilton.
The narrative of what took place at Lystra is very interesting. At
first, we may presume that St. Paul preached to any chance groups that
collected around him: after some time, however, he saw a poor cripple
“who had never walked,” and “perceiving that he had faith to be healed,”
at once cured him, saying to him with a loud voice, “Stand upright on
thy feet.” Need we wonder that the astonishment of the people vented
itself in the natural exclamation that “the gods had come to us in the
likeness of men.” The narrative implies the existence, before the walls
of the city, of a temple of Jupiter (Acts xiv. 13), some traces of which
may, perhaps, still remain, and, if so, will serve, hereafter, for the
identification of the site. Messrs. Conybeare and Howson have pointed
out that the beautiful legend of the visit of Jupiter and Mercury to the
earth, in Ovid’s story of Baucis and Philemon, belongs to this part of
Asia Minor: the people of Lystra would, therefore, have been prepared to
recognize in Barnabas and Paul the Jupiter and Mercury of their own
fables. What was the “speech of Lycaonia” we have no means of telling,
no undoubted words of this dialect having, so far as we are aware, been
preserved.
But the Lycaonians, though, at first, so readily convinced of the
divinity of the Apostles, soon showed themselves as fickle as the
“foolish Galatians.” St. Luke adding, “and there came thither certain
Jews from Antioch and Iconium and persuaded the people, and having
stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing that he was dead,” so
little lasting was the impression produced, even by the cure of one born
a cripple. It is, doubtless, to this attack upon him that St. Paul,
subsequently, alludes in the words, “Once was I stoned” (2 Cor. xi. 25).
That he was not killed, like St. Stephen, as Barnabas and his friends
feared and the Jews hoped, is a miracle in itself. Any how, he recovered
at once as “he rose up and came into the city,” and departed next day
“with Barnabas to Derbe.” It was at Lystra that St. Paul made the
acquaintance of Timotheus (or Timothy) his future constant and steadfast
companion. With Derbe ends all that has been recorded of St. Paul’s
First journey. On the return, however, of Paul and Barnabas, we learn
that they fearlessly visited again all the places where they had
previously preached, “confirming the souls of the disciples, and
exhorting them to continue in the faith.” At the same time, too, they
ordained “elders in every church,” praying with fasting, and commending
“them to the Lord, on whom they believed.”
The course of the Second missionary journey of St. Paul, most of which
falls within the limits of this volume, was probably determined on when
the Council of the Apostles at Jerusalem sent letters “unto the brethren
which are of the Gentiles in Antioch, in Syria, and in Cilicia” (xv.
23): it was manifestly, also, St. Paul’s own desire, for he says, “Let
us go again and visit our brethren in every city, where we have
announced the word of the Lord, and see how they do.” It was, on the
proposal of this second journey, that the famous dispute took place
between St. Paul and Barnabas, the former refusing to take with him
Barnabas’s kinsman Mark, because he had turned back before. For this
journey (at Attalia), therefore, “Paul chose Silas, and departed, being
recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God; and he went through
Syria and Cilicia confirming the Churches” (ver. 40). We cannot discuss
here the circumstances of this quarrel between the two “servants of the
Lord,” but one good result from it was, clearly, a far wider preaching
of the Gospel than might otherwise have occurred; as, by this
separation, two distinct streams of missionary labour were provided
instead of one; Barnabas taking the insular, while St. Paul took the
continental line.
We do not know which way St. Paul went on leaving Antioch, but it is
most likely he passed into Cilicia by the “Syrian Gates,” now called the
pass of Beilan, the character of which may be fully learnt from Mr.
Ainsworth and other travellers. For some unknown reason, Sacred history
does not give the name of a single place visited during this
confirmatory tour, till the Apostles reached Derbe and Lystra; though we
may feel sure, especially as the “Gentiles of Cilicia” are mentioned in
the letter of the Apostles, that St. Paul did not fail to visit his
native town, Tarsus, the “no mean city” of his address to the Roman
governor. At Tarsus, if anywhere in Cilicia, Christians would be surely
found who would be glad of the Apostle’s “confirming” words. From
Tarsus, St. Paul must have passed from S.E. to N.W., through the great
mountain barrier which separates the central table-land of Asia Minor
from the plain country in which Tarsus was situated. There are several
passes; the nearest to Tarsus and most direct, being that of the
“Cilician Gates,” a remarkable cleft, about eighty miles in length.
Ascending, probably, by this pass, St. Paul would reach the plains of
Lycaonia, at an altitude of about 4,000 feet above the sea, in four or
five days. At Lystra (probably) he met again the young disciple
Timotheus, “who was well reported of at Lystra and Iconium,” and who, at
St. Paul’s request, at once joined him: thence, “as they went through
the cities they delivered them the decrees for to keep that were
ordained by the Apostles and Elders that were at Jerusalem; and so were
the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.”
We are not told that, on this occasion, St. Paul met with any serious
opposition.
The brevity of the account of this journey is most disappointing, as we
do not know whether St. Paul visited even Antioch in Pisidia: all we
learn is that he was _ordered_ to “go through Phrygia and the region of
Galatia,” altogether new ground, and representing districts that could
not have been evangelized before. Yet even here the names of no towns
are recorded till he gets to Mysia: on the other hand, he was _not
permitted_ to preach the “word” in Asia; that is, within Roman “Asia,”
nor to enter Bithynia. Most likely, as suggested by Messrs. Conybeare
and Howson, he followed the great Roman lines of communication, and
passed by Laodicea, Philomelium, and Synnada.
It has been inferred from his use of the plural, “to the churches of
Galatia,” as the heading of his Epistle to that people, that there was
no one great church there, as at Ephesus or Corinth; but this seems to
us refining too much. We may, however, suppose that no special miracles
marked this journey, or, at all events, none which St. Luke thought it
necessary to notice. We learn from St. Paul himself (Galat. iv. 13) that
it was owing to bodily sickness that he preached to the Galatians in the
first instance, it may be, as has been suggested, on his way to Pontus,
from which distant province we know that some Jewish proselytes had come
to Jerusalem, and were present on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 11):
moreover, it is certain, from his Epistle to the Galatians, that he had
been well received by this inconstant people, a large and mixed
multitude having embraced Christianity.
As, in so many other instances, no clue is given us as to the further
route actually taken by the Apostles to Troas, but, by the Divine
prohibition to them of preaching in “Asia,” we may conjecture that the
time was not ripe for spreading the Gospel among the great cities of
Ephesus, Smyrna, or Pergamus. It will be noticed that the Apostles are
not forbidden to _enter_ Asia, as was the case with Bithynia, but only
not to _preach there_. Indeed, they could not, easily, have got to Troas
without passing through “Asia.”
The first seaport St. Paul reached must have been Adramyttium, which is
not, however, noticed here by name, though it is subsequently, when on
the voyage to Rome. Of this place we have, already, given some account:
and hence, it would seem, that the Apostle passed onwards to Assos and
Alexandria Troas, where the remarkable vision appeared to him which is
thus described:—
“And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of
Macedonia and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
And, after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into
Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach
the Gospel unto them. Therefore, loosing from Troas we came with a
straight course to Samothrace....” (Acts xvi. 9, 10, 11).
Compelled as we are here to compress as much as possible what must be
said, we reluctantly desist from following St. Paul to Europe. We need,
therefore, only state that, after two years St. Paul returned to Antioch
in Syria and Jerusalem, passing, on his way, sufficient time at Ephesus,
so that “he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the
Jews” (xviii. 19), promising, at the request of the congregation, that
he would return to Ephesus, “if God will.” Having “saluted the Church”
(probably of Jerusalem) he returned to Antioch, and thence “departed and
went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening
all the disciples,”[117] arriving, ultimately, at Ephesus, where he
found Apollos, “an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures” (xviii.
24).
Footnote 117:
The brief statement in the Acts does not tell us anything of the
course St. Paul took on this occasion; but as he went “over all the
country of Galatia and Phrygia in order,” we can have no doubt that
his visitation of the churches was complete, and that he went to all
or most of the places noticed in the previous journeys.
The visit of St. Paul to Ephesus was the period when it pleased God to
do for the later disciples what had been previously done, twelve or
thirteen years before, on the day of Pentecost: “the Holy Ghost came on
them, and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.” In the present
instance, it is enough to refer to the words in the narrative as given
in the Acts xix. 2: “He” (St. Paul) “said unto them, Have ye received
the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so
much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost,” &c.... “When they heard
this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus; and when Paul
laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake
with tongues, and prophesied.”
At Ephesus St. Paul dwelt more than two years, diligently preaching the
Gospel, and “disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.” No
opposition appears to have arisen for some time; indeed, for three
months, he was allowed the use of even the synagogue; but, in the end,
the idol-brokers felt their trade was in jeopardy, and, especially, men,
who, like Demetrius, the silversmith, making the “silver shrines for
Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen.”
As at Corinth, St. Paul at Ephesus was brought, face to face, with
Asiatic superstition, withstanding even magic arts, as Moses did,
Jannes, and Jambres, and, also, “exorcists.” What this “magic” really
was has been much debated. Anyhow, the Talmud tells us that a “knowledge
of magic” was required as a necessary qualification for a seat in the
Sanhedrin, so that the councillor might be able to try those accused of
such practices, though some of these need not, necessarily, have been of
evil intention: it is clear, however, from the case of Sceva (xix. 14),
that many of the “exorcists” made a bad use of any superior knowledge
they possessed or pretended to have. St. Paul’s success, however, in
putting down this species of knavery, was so complete, that a large
number of the exorcists submitted to him, and burnt their books, which
were valued at a very high price. The “town-clerk” was, doubtless, as we
have remarked before, a Roman officer, and, as the keeper of the public
records, one of the most important personages in the town. His language
in putting down the _émeute_ in the theatre clearly shows this; but, as
he evidently refers to others of greater power than himself, we hardly
think, as some have done, that he was himself one of the “Asiarchs,” or,
as our translation has it, “chiefs of Asia.” His language shows that he
was not unfriendly to St. Paul (though not necessarily that he was,
himself, a Christian); and, further, that he well knew how to deal with
a multitude, “the more part of whom knew not wherefore they were come
together.”
We have now brought nearly to an end the short outline we felt it
necessary to give of St. Paul’s journeying in Asia Minor. It is probable
that, soon after the disturbance in the theatre, he left for Macedonia;
so that the rest of his connection with Asia Minor or with the Greek
islands may be summed up in a few words. After some time passed in
Macedonia, with a possible journey through Illyricum and Western Greece,
which occupied him for three months (xx. 3), St. Paul returned to the
north, and, passing by Philippi and Neapolis, crossed the Ægæan to
Alexandria Troas. This second visit to Troas is chiefly notable for the
story of the boy Eutychus, who, overcome with sleep when St. Paul
continued his speech until midnight, fell to the ground and was killed.
It will be observed, that, in the miracle of his restoration to life,
St. Paul implied the use of the very words of our Saviour to the young
maiden: “She is not dead, but sleepeth.” Thence he proceeded alone on
foot twenty miles to Assos, through a district then, as now, richly
wooded, but with a good Roman road, long since in utter decay. It was a
lonely walk the great Apostle pursued then; but solitude is sometimes
required to give greater strength.
From Assos St. Paul took ship to Mytilene, proceeding onwards to Chios,
Samos, Trogyllium, and Miletus. At this last place, he summoned the
elders from Ephesus, and bade a solemn farewell to the Christians of
Asia, among whom he had laboured so long and so efficiently; and passing
thence by Coos and Rhodes to Patara, finally entered a ship there, and
sailed to Phœnicia (xxi. 1). At Trogyllium the Admiralty chart shows a
harbour that still bears the name of St. Paul’s Port. So far as we know,
with the exception of touching at Cnidus on his last voyage to Rome, St.
Paul had no further connection with Asia Minor.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
INDEX.
Abydus, Xerxes builds his bridge near, 5.
Ancyra, temple and inscription of Augustus, 144-147.
Antioch of Pisidia, site of, suggested by Mr. Arundell, proved by Mr.
Hamilton, 111-114.
Apamea, and the legend of the ark resting there, 133-135.
Argæus, Mt., near Cæsarea, ascended for the first time by Mr. Hamilton,
151.
Asia Minor, size of, 1;
less productive than of old, 2;
chief islands of, noticed here, Lesbos, Samos, Chios, Rhodus and
Cyprus, 156-171.
Aspendus, beauty of theatre at, 102.
Assus, importance of the monuments found there, 7.
Attali, gallant character of the family of, 31, 32.
Attalia (now Adalia), important port of, 99, 100.
Beaufort, Capt., discovery by of the granary of Trajan at Myra, 98.
Branchidæ, famous oracle and temple at, 48, 49;
important excavations at by Mr. Newton, 49-55.
Chios, through all history, ancient and modern, cruelly
treated by its neighbours, 159, 160.
Cnidus, important excavations at by Mr. Newton, 73-80.
Colossæ, satisfactorily identified by Mr. Hamilton, 142-143.
Cyprus, recent valuable researches in by Mr. Lang and General Palma di
Cesnola, 166-171.
Cyzicus, position of, 3.
Ephesus, one of the most important of the cities of W. Asia, 37;
discovery of its famous temple of Diana by Mr. Wood, 42-45.
Falkener, Mr., interesting notice of Mt. Karadagh and of Bir-bir-
Kalisseh, the 1,001 churches, 130.
Gomperz, Prof., interpretation by of some inscriptions found by Dr.
Schliemann, 27, 28.
Hierapolis, remarkable petrifactions near, 137, 139.
Hissarlik, the true site of ancient Troy, 10;
as also of new Troy, 29.
Iconium, its history, ancient and mediæval, 127-128.
Isaura, Mr. Hamilton identifies the site of, 125-126.
Lampsacus, for some time the home of Themistocles, 5.
Laodicea (ad Lycum), the chief town of Roman Proconsular Asia, 139-141.
Lesbos, general character of its citizens, 156-157.
Lystra and Derbe, difficulties in their identification, 129-130.
Magnesia (the Lydian), legends of Tantalus and Niobe connected with,
56, 57.
Mausoleum, or tomb of Mausolus, excavations at, by Mr. Newton, 62-70.
Miletus, great importance of its position as a port, and the parent of
more colonies than any other place in antiquity, 45-47.
Myra, remarkable beauty of its rock-cut tombs at, 97-98.
Palæ-scepsis, the MSS. of Aristotle discovered there, 9.
Patara, celebrated oracle at, 96.
Paul, St., missionary labours of, in Asia Minor, 172-186.
Philadelphia, famous resistance of, to the Turks in A.D. 1390, 58.
Philomelium, the best opium grown round it, 136 (and n.).
Phrygians, the ethnological relations of, 131-133.
Physcus (now Marmorice), Lord Nelson anchors his ships there, 80.
Pullan, Mr., discovery by, of a colossal lion near Cnidus, 77-80.
Rhodus, remarkable excavations in, at Camirus, by Messrs. Biliotti and
Saltzmann, 162-165.
Sagalassus, grand natural position of, 107.
Samos, history of, 157-159.
Sardes, importance of in ancient history, 59-61.
Sarkophagi, so named from the stone found at Assus, 8.
Schliemann, Dr., remarkable early career of, 12-14;
excavations by, at Troy, 14-24;
his reasons for believing Hissarlik the site of Troy, 16 (n.).
Selge, position of, not quite certain, 108, 109.
Selinus (in Cilicia), the death-place of the Emperor Trajanus, 117.
Sinope, the royal residence of the kings of Pontus, 153, 154.
Smyrna, long endurance of, as a great port, 34, 35.
Soli (in Cilicia) and solecisms, 121 (n.).
Stratonicea, remarkable inscription of Diocletian thence, 81, 82.
Tarsus, abundant interesting notices of, 113-116.
Telmessus, famous for its augurs, 95.
Termessus, remarkable position of, 104.
Troy, various theories as to its true position, 11.
Xanthus, in Lycia, curious story of, 86-89;
discoveries at, by Sir Charles Fellows, 89-95.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------
WYMAN AND SONS, PRINTERS, GREAT QUEEN ST., LINCOLN’S-INN FIELDS.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ An entry for the Index was added to the Table of Contents.
○ Some footnotes did not have a legible number and were renumbered
to the best-match reference number in the text.
○ Incorrect Greek accent and breathing marks were silently
corrected.
○ In cases where the author mis-spelled words in very well-known and
well-documented excerpts from classical works, the incorrect
spelling has been corrected
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
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