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ANATOLICA.
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A JOURNEY IX ANATOLIA.
At the ordinary evening meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, on Monday— the Presi- Sir Henrv Rawlinson, m the chair— Gifford Pal!?rave gave an account of he made in July. 1S70, thro
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varied by vivid descriptions of scenery and physical phenomena, and was listened to with prcat interest by the audience. _
SettiEsr ouC from Trebizonde with four com- panionH, on horseback, carrying with them ail that was uecef-sary for the tour, he a^cendei the deep valley of the Pyxartes, the only opea- w<r which the mountainous coast offers tor penetrating the interior, and along which the ordinary road to Bayazid and Persia runs. His ol.^trv.ation'* commenced near the entrance to the valley, where hi.s attention was drawn t:> an enormous bar of loose, water- worn stones ti'om -/tft to t;.Oi't. ir. height, and crossing the valley for two thirds of ir*^ widih. The stoaes cu ex- rmination proved not to belong to the neigh- bouring rocks ; and, as scored rocks were met v.'ith in the same valley, there v/as no rcooj for doubt that they were deposited there at the remote period v/hen the Polar ice-cap de- scended to far lower latitudes than it does at pref-ent, and when perpetual snow clothed th*) mountain tops of Anatolia and glaciers filled the heads of its valleys. Crossing the range of the Kolat Dagh the vegetation of the moun- tain sides was described. The walnut, plane, alder, and maple clothed the coast lands, suc- ceeded by the oak, beech, and ash ; but the lower slopes to 1000 ft. of elevation formed the zone of the magnificent Azalea Pontica, which at that time covered the field of view with dazzling sheets of blossom; above this suc- ceeded the rhododendron. At GOOO ft. nothing but short grass clothes the rugged slopes; and to these elevations the inhabitants are accustomed to lead their flocks for pasture during the summer months. The traveller reached as far as Erzingan, on the Upper Euphrates, in a S.E. direction. After that he turned W. by N. for eighty miles to the mineral district of Kara-Hissar (the " Black Castle "), which he described as containing ex- tremely rich, though ill-worked, mines of silver and lead ; and eventually struck north- ward and travelled by the Black Sea coast to Trebizond. He spoke in warm terms of the general hospitality of the people and facility of travelling in this portion of Asia Minor, where he had no fear of molestation b}' brigands ; and showed the country offered a fruitful field for scientific and archaeological investigation in its volcanic formations, its ancient ruins, and in the relics of primitive tribes in the hills, such as the '• Kizzilbash," a red-haired people totally different from the modern inhabitants of the valleys.
In tie discussion which followed. Major F. Millinten objected to that part of Mr. Pal- prnve's description which related to the frecd< m of the counti7 from brigands, and jfavchisowii (•.\))erience in actual contact with large bands of the.sc plunderers ; but this was in the more easterly parts of the same region. The president, before the close of the meet- ing:, mentioned having received a letter from Dr. 1^1 idler, of ^lelbourne, recounting the dis- covery of bones and relics of Dr. Leichhardt's party, in the interior of Australia, at Eyres Creek. A party hiul been dispatched to make further investigations. / ^ \
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ANATOLICA;
OR,
THE JOURNAL OF A VISIT TO SOME OF THE ANCIENT RUINED CITIES
CARIA, PHRYGIA, LYCIA, AND PISIDIA.
• • ••
• ■
• • •
• "BT'fHfi • * •• •
H.B.M.'s Episc. Consular chaplain, Alexandria.
:• •: /. ;*• •••
• ""•••• • •
Honlion; GRANT & CO., TURNMILL STREET, E.C.
1874.
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LONDON GRANT AND CO., PRINTERS, TURNMILL STREET, B.C.
• ••#.«(
PREFACE.
Many years ago, when a boy at school, I hap- pened to receive a copy of Sir C. Fellows's '* Asia Minor and Lycla." s
Thenceforward it was a dream of my life to visit the Interesting country therein de- scribed.
There seemed little prospect of the dream ever becoming a reality; but circumstances made me a resident in the East ; and at last in 1872, during a temporary leave of absence ^ from my post, I was able to accomplish the long cherished, desire.
It is with some diffidence that I venture to publish the following account of my journey ;
^
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o
vi PREFACE.
but it may perhaps contribute something to our knowledge of a most beautiful and interesting country, still little known to Europeans, although so near Europe, and perhaps destined to play a great part hereafter in the affairs of the East.
I have tried to describe things faithfully as I saw them. The brief time I could give to the journey, and the want of a library of reference — indeed of all those literary aids which abound in Europe, but in Egypt exist not — must be my excuse for any errors or deficiencies.
Alexandria,
August, 1874.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
On board the Austrian Lloyd's Steamer — Deck Passengers — Negro Slaves — Slavery in Egypt — The Sporades — Want of Wood — Sponge Fishery — Leros — Samos — Scio — Mastic^-^ The Gulf of Smyrna — Sanjak Kalesy — Distant View of Smyrna — Fortress on Mount Fagus — Interior of the City — Its Climate and Health — Heat — The Imbat — Land Breeze — Position of Smyrna — Water Supply — Octroi — Exports — Figs and Raisins — Cemetery at Caravan Bridge — The Meles — Diana's Bath — Bournabat — Its Gardens — Sunset in the Plain — Boujah — Camellias at Bournabat — A Greek Drago- man
CHAPTER II.
Smyrna and Aidin Railway — Aqueducts behind the Castle Hill — Plain of Boujah — Caravans - Plains of Anatolia — Malarious Fever — Cholera — Yourouk Shepherds — Kedji Kalesy — The Cayster — Greek Brigands — Manouli — Aiasolouk — Gateway — Mosque — Aqueduct — Storks — Changes in the Formation of the Plain of Ephesus — Instance from Pliny — Port of the Great Temple — Changes in the Position of the Old City — Hill of Prion — Street of Tombs — Wild Fennel — Magnesian Gate — Thermae — Odeum — Theatre — Port of the City of Ephesus — Earthquake in the Reign of Tiberius— Great Gym- nasium— Walls of the City and along the Ridge of Coressus — Monolithic Basin — Stadium — Site of the Temple of Diana — Its Double Pavement — Pausanias' Account of the Worship of Artemis — Changes in Name and Position of Ephesus— Great Quantity of Alluvium deposited by the Cayster — Harbour of the Old City ruined 24
viii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
PAGE
Dr. Richard Chandler's Account of the Temple of the Ephesian
Artemis as described by the Ancient Authorities . . .46
CHAPTER IV.
Ravine near the Azizieh Tunnels — Ancient Aqueduct— A Soldier of the Turkish Contingent in the Crimea — Anecdote of the Damascus Massacre in 1857— Ravine of the Lethaeus — First View of the Plain of the Mseander — Mount Messogis— Its Beauty — Aidin (Tralles) — Cemeteries in the Maeander Valley — Khan at Nazli — Bazaar at Nazli— The Zeybeks— Zeybek Robbers— Costume — Our Party — Our Muleteers — Opening in Mount Messogis — The "Asian Meadow" — Stream and Bridge of the Maeander — Valley of the Mosynus — Cafe at Ali Aga Tchiftlik — Formation of the Country— River Ak Soo (Mosynus) — Chalk Cliffs — Verdure of the Country — Kara Soo — Its Torrent — Ravines — Khan at Kara Soo — Descent from the Town — Geera (Aphrodisias) — Walls of the City — Great Number of Inscriptions — Gateway — Stadium — Temple of Aphrodite — Agora — Remains of other Temples — Vast Mass of Ruin — Material — Two fine Sarcophagi — Their present Use 60
CHAPTER V.
Torrents from Baba Dagh (Mount Cadmus) — Parched District — Pass of Tcham Beli — Caffinehs in the Mountain Passes — Tomb of a Muslim Saint — Tcheragh — Cairn — Curious Custom — Mount Cadmus — Plain of Dawas (Taboe) — View from Top of Pass — Torrent Bed at Edge of Plain — The " Stranger's Room " in a Turkish Village — Hospitality of Turks — Kara Hissar— Dwellings, Furniture, and Food of Peasantry — Makuf — Kilidja Bolouk — Number and Beauty of the Children — We lose our Way — Ascent of the Seiteen Yailas — Volcanic Evidences — Forest — Descent of the Moun- tain— Cafe at the Mouth of the Bedra Pass — Defeat of the French Crusaders under Louis VII. in this Pass — Scenery of the Bedra Pass — Thunderstorm — Plain of Denizli — Town of Denizli — Khan-^Greek Khanji — Eski Hissar (Laodicea) — Aqueduct — Benefactors to the Old City— Its fine Wool — Stadium — Thermae — Gymnasium — Small Theatre —Large Theatre— Odeum— Sculpture— Destruction of the Antiquities of Laodicea —Desolation of the City 78
CONTENTS. IX
CHAPTER VI.
PAGE
Bridge over the Caprus — The Ak Soo (Lycus) — Our Lodging at Hierapolis (Pambouk Kalesy) — Tree full of Storks' Nests — View over the Plain of the Lycus — Our Host's Family — Turkish Women in a better position than Arab Women — Their Musical Voices — Position of Hierapolis — Effect of the Petrifying Waters — Watercourses — Deposit of Calc TufF — The Cascade — Basins in it— Heat of the Water — Its Pro- perties— Pine Water-vessels — Visit to the Ruins — Bridge over the Ravine to the West — Mausolea— Rock Tombs — Street of Tombs — Sarcophagi — Ruins of great Church — Monument of Stephanus — Other Ruins — Theatre — Great Source — Its Depth — Deadly Exhalations of Carbonic Acid Gas — Ancient Accounts of the Plutonium — Strabo — Pliny — Dion Cussius — Thermae — Gymnasium — Epictetus — Greek Church suppressed by the Latin Crusaders — Wool of Hierapolis — Its present Desolation — Return to Smyrna of most of our Party 97
CHAPTER VII.
Parched District — Bridge over the Lycus — Yourouk Tribe Emigrating — Shepherd's Bridge — Ravine of the Ak Soo — Site of Colossse — Barrow— Remains of the Old City — Petri- fying Streams — Chasm of the Lycus — Explanation of its Formation — Last Bishop of Colossae — Ride to Khonas — Beauty of the Country — Village of Khonas — House of Ibrahim Aga — No Antiquities at Khonas — Beauty of the Children — Visit of the Villagers — The Kadi — Want of Educa- tion among the People — Beauty of the Country to the west of Khonas— The Kazik Pass — Our Escort — Mount Khonas — Tchukour— Brigands' Place of Ambush — Plain of Karajuk — Its Rivers — Cibyratic Confederation — Crops— Soil — Irriga- tion—Geological Formation — Karajuk Bazaar— Khau — Greek Khanji — Disturbed State of the Country— Arab Servant at Khan — Ravine and Village of Geunahi — Barren Soil and Miserable Crops — Eschler Yailas — Desolate Aspect of the Country — Poverty of the Villagers — Money-lenders — Causes of Misery in a Turkish Village — Salt Lake of Salda — Karaatlu — Our Host — His House — Crops — Forests — Care- lessness in the Management of the Forests— Fires in the Forests — rOur Evening Meal . . . . . . • 113
X CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
PAGE
Rock Carvings at Karaatlu — Dangers of Wealth in Turkey — The Poppy — Opium — Village of Naoulo — Lake of Yarishli — View — Inscription over the Village Fountain — Lacina — Statue near the Lake^Appearance of Country — Beauty of View over the Lake of Buldour — Village of Yarakeui — The Villagers — Inscription in the Cemetery — Yasakeui — Rich Colour of Cliffs and Soil — Buldour — Khan — Our Evening Meal — Environs of the Town — Guschla — Tchartchin — Volcanic Formation — Rich Colour of Soil — A Yaila — Yaraseen — Road through Volcanic Hills to Sparta — Plain of Sparta — Government Police (Zaptieh) — Pambouk Khan — Mosque — Greek Schools — Greek not spoken here till quite lately — An Antique Statue from Cibyra (Horzoom) — How Sparta was Founded — Its Thriving Appearance — Mines in the District — Want of Roads — Railroad might easily be made — We are Summoned before the Governor — Greek Church — Good Houses— Pretty Situation of the Town — Im- provement in the Behaviour of the Turks to Christians — Wealth of People — Climate — Crops — Expense of Transport — ^Instance — A Railway Projected from Sparta to Adalia — Bargaining of Orientals — Earthenware Plates , . . 135
CHAPTER IX.
Suburb of Sparta — Pass through Volcanic Hills — Strange Forma- tion of Strata — Yaila at Foot of Aghlasun Mountains — Ascent of the Mountain Chain — Fine View from the Summit — Steepness of the Mountain — Paul Lucas on Ruins of Sagalassus — Ruined Temple and Fort in the Pass — Village of Aghlasun — Ravine leading up to the Site of Sagalassus — Position of the Ancient City — Rock Tombs in Perpendicular Cliff behind the City — Ruin of a Large Christian Church — Site of Great Temple — Agora — Portico — Another Temple — Great variety of Columns — Theatre — Fine Subterranean Corridor — Architecture and Ornamentation of Buildings — Thunderstorm — All Antiquities taken by the Government — Notices of Sagalassus and the Pisidian Race — Their Language — Government — Arrian's Account of the Capture of Saga- lassus by Alexander the Great — Strabo's Account of Selge - Livy's Account of the Expedition of C. Manlius Vulso into Pisidia — Submission of Sagalassus — Strabo's Notice of the City 155
CONTENTS. XI
CHAPTER X.
Page Cemetery of Aghlasun — Yourouk Tribe Emigrating — Village of
Assarkeui — Ravine of Assarkeui — Stupendous Precipices — Romantic View of the Mount Taurus Range — Primeval Forest — We lose our way — Thunderstorm — Descent and Ascent through the Forest —Arrival at Girmeh (Kremna) — Our Lodging and Host — Magnificent View of the Valley of the Kestrus — Ascent to the Old City — Its Position — Stupendous Precipices — View from the Plateau — Desolate Aspect of the Country — Thick Forest — Grand Mountain Ranges and their i'osition — Depth of the Ravine through which we had come — Zosimus' History of a Blockade of Kremna — Round Temples— View of Davre — Paved Area — Site of Agora and Temple — Vast Cisterns — Fluted Columns — Triumphal Arch — Paved Street — Second Paved Street — Fortifications of Old City — Seat Quarried in the Rock at Edge of Precipice — Great Gateway — Mausoleum — Strabo's Notice of Kremna — Captured by Amyntas — Sandalion — Kremna made a Roman Colony — Road through the Forest to Boujak — Our Host — His Opinion about our Journey — Exactions of Government Officials and Misery of Peasantry — Plain of Boujak — Native Carts — Aspect of the Country — Khan at Soosuz — Cafe of Badem Aghadj — Suspicious Com- pany— Ravine Leading to the Pass of Termessus Minor — Great Number of Cemeteries — Cretopolis — Village of Beli . 177
CHAPTER XL
Pass of Termessus Minor — Steepness of the Road — Ruins of the Ancient City and Fort — The Roman Road — Wheelmarks in the Pavement — Ruins at the Foot of the Pass — The Plain of Adalia — Its insalubrity — Emigration of its Inhabitants in Summer — Village of Kovajik — Our Bivouac — Proper Diet for a Traveller in these Warm Regions — Misery of the Villagers — Heat — Fleas — Mosquitos — Fever — Want of Water — Fertility of the Soil — Superior Condition of the Pastoral Races in Anatolia — Value of Sheep sold in Smyrna by a Yourouk Chief — Amount of Government Taxes — Aspect of the Plain of Adalia — Khan of Tchibouk Boghazi — Bridge over the Duden Soo (Catarractes) — Petrified Deposit on Surface of Plain — Ateran Cafe — Heat of Plain — Drunken Greek at Cafe — Lower Plateau on which Adalia stands — Appearance of Cliff — Deposit like that at Hierapolis— Cause
xii CONTENTS.
PAGE
— Catarractes has flowed in Different Channels — Nedjib Pasha's Road — Description of Adalia — Old Fortifications — Port — Wreck of an Egyptian Frigate — Marble Gateway in Wall — Various Inscriptions — Gateway near the Port — Exports of Adalia — Notices of Adalia — Attains Philadelphus — Louis VII. — Magnificent Ranges of Mountains opposite Adalia — Climax — Solyma — Bey Dagh — Takhtalu Dagh (Olympus) — Zenicetus the Cilician Pirate — Alexander's passage under Climax — Heat, and Danger of Malarious Fever — We are unable to pass through the vSouth of Lycia . 200
CHAPTER XII.
Collection of Antique Medals at Adalia — Heat in the Plain — Ignorance of the People concerning the Natural Features of their Country — Kepez Cafe— Bed of Petrified Deposit — Theory of its Formation — Sarcophagi — Uzumkoyou Cafe — Ancient Well — Ruins of Aarassus — Deep Torrent Bed — Almalu Pass — Gulelik Dagh — Hellenic Wall and Forts in the Pass — Yenijah Khan Cafe — Ascent to the Ruins of Termessus — Arrian's Account of the Old City — Its Position — Dense Vegetation — Ancient Paved Road — Two Ancient Guard- houses— First Wall — Enclosed Ravine leading up to the Cit}^ — Vast Number of Sarcophagi — Ruins — Spring — Second Wall across the Ravine — Another Spring — Ruins — Third WaU — Site of the City — Difficulty of Examining Ruins — Fourth Wall — Deep Precipices round the Plateau — Paved Street — Agora — Cisterns — Ruins of other Buildings — Theatre — View from the City — Desolation of the Place — Thickets of Wild Roses — Water Supply at the Khan — Alexander's Attack on Termessus — It submits to Manlius — Strabo's Notice of it — The Almalu Pass — Solar Heat — Yaila at Head of Pass — Plain of Almalu — Appearance of Country — Torrent of Stenez — Descent into the Plain of Karditch — Great Extent of these Plains — Bivouac of the Villagers of Soosuz — Misery of the Peasants ........ 220
CHAPTER XIII.
Heat of the Day— Cold of the Night on this Plateau — Yaila — Desolate Country — Plain of Almalu — Its Sterility — The Over- shot Mill — Horses break down — Town of Almalu — Position — Mountains round it — Description of Almalu — Khan —
CONTENTS. Xlll
PACK
Account of Riot at Smyrna — Prejudices of Greeks against Jews— Our Supper — Osmanlis do not make good Cheese — Cheapness of Living at Almalu — Petmez — Koshaff — Tahilnn — Yaourt — Pilaff — A Native Dinner — Temperate Diet of the People — The Bazaars of Almalu — Costume — Fine Physique of the People — English and Turkish Crimean Medals — Dress — Descent — Trade of the Place — A Retail Tradesman — Mosque of Omar Pasha — Fine Spring — Change of our Route — Fortunate Escape in Consequence — Brigands attack Leveesi, Makri, and Kalamaki — This Band afterwards broken up — Horse Dealing — Cold and Rain — Mount Massicytus (Ak Dagh) — Deserted Village of Tchobansa — Alarm of our Muleteer — Description of the Country — Yaila on the Mountains — Kiziljah Dagh — Rabat Dagh — Douroular — Yalinli, Deserted Village — Curious Ancient Gateway and Polygonal Masonry — Heavy Thunderstorm — Lake Caralis — Souood Gol — Village of Souood — The Stranger's Room — Heavy Rainfall — Severity of the Climate in Winter — Keep for the Cattle in Winter — Drainage of the Lake — Fever . 241
CHAPTER XIV.
District of Igneous Rock to West of Lake Caralis — Rich Pastur- age— Baindir — The Caularis Amnis of Livy — Pastoral Beauty of this District — Heavy Rain — Plain in Front of Horzoom — Immense Expanse of Wheat — The River Dollomon — Posi- tion of Horzoom — The Stranger's Room — Our Host — The Mudir of Horzoom — Opinion of our Host about our Journey — His Domestic Arrangements — Polygamy — We Sup with our Host " alia Turca " — Visit to the Ruins of Cibyra — Poor Salary of the Mudir — Position of Cibyra — Stadium — Theatre — Odeum — Ancient Sculptures and Money found there — The Villagers had used up the Inscribed Stones — A Statue broken up by them in hope of finding Money inside it — Strabo's Notice of Cibyra — The Tctrapolis — Military Strength of Cibyra — Its Kings — The Language of its People — Its Chief Industry — Polybius' Account of the King Moagetes and the Roman Consul Manlius — Trade of Cibyra — Ancient Coin — Igneous District to North of Cibyra — Yussuftcha — Plain of Karajuk — Violent Storm — Difficulty of Advancing — Halt at Bedrebey — Miserable Condition of Villagers — Beautiful Evening — Seasonable Rains — Heavy Taxation of Villagers — Tobacco Regie at Constantinople — Women
xiv CONTENTS.
PAGE
Unveiled— Bad Accommodation— Hadji Payam — Evgarrah — The Domou Pass over Boz Dagh — Armed Zeybeks — Grace and Agility of our Guide — His Sandals — Village of Kilidja — Sebastopolis— Descent to Uzoumbounar — Varieties of Marble and Lava — Reception by the Villagers — Difficulties of Travel in Anatolia — Its Advantages 259
CHAPTER XV.
Plain of Dawas — Head-waters of the Harpasus — Springs in the River-bed — Return to the Tcham Beli Pass — The armed Cafejis escort us through the Forest — Attack by Brigands on the Servants of a French Merchant — Sheikh's Tomb at foot of the Pass — Extreme Beauty of this Spot — Continued Descent from the Highlands — Change in the Season and in the appearance of the Country — Harvest — Aphrodisias — Descent into the Mosynus Valley — Long Ascent to Kara Soo— Heat in the Valley of the Mosynus — The Cafe at Ali Aga Tchiftlik — Exhausted appearance of the People — Site of Antiocheia ad Mseandrum— Change in the Springs owing to advance of Summer — Ancient Wells — Vultures — Wooden Bridge over the Maeander — Tchingannis (Gipsies), the only People who importuned us for "Bucksheesh" — Turks superior to Arabs in this respect — Cafe at Nazli — Mocha Coffee — Use of Coffee among the Turks — Carelessness of Peasants as to their way of Living — Their wretched Dwellings — Reason — Lack of Gardens and Vegetables in the Interior — Neglect of Domestic Matters — Decadence of these Coun- tries— Their Flourishing State in former Ages — Population — Art — Luxury — Testimony of Livy on this point — A Change for the better may be expected — Unpleasant Ride from Nazli to Aidin — Heat — Camels — Arum Dracunculus — Fertility of Maeander Valley — Might be much increased — Torrent Beds — Kiouschk — Heat of Aidin — Khan — Antiquities at Aidin — Departure for Smyrna — Illness of our Interpreter — Brigandage in this District — Greek and Zeybek — Malaria in the Plain of Ephesus — Tourbali (Metropolis) — Heat of Smyrna — Garden of Cafe — Italian Theatre — Hotel Miiller — Excavations at Pergamus .......... 282
CHAPTER XVI.
Difficulties of Travel in Anatolia as compared with Syria — Drago- mans— Supplies — Tent Life — Climate— Malaria — Malarious
CONTENTS. XV
PAGE
Districts — Lycaonia — Beauty of the Country — Mountains — Antiquities — Sporting— Game — The Tiger — Lion — Panther — Anecdote of a Panther — Forest — The Woodless District — Destruction of Forests — Causes — Carelessness of Government and People — Brigandage — Present State of Country — Govern- ment tries to maintain Order — Diary of Mr. Colnaghi in Lycia in 1854 — Excesses caused by Want and Desperation of Peasantry — Our own Experience — Lefteri, the Brigand of Bithynia — Feeling of People towards Europeans — Sentiments of Turks of higher Rank — Change since Crimean War — Resources of Empire can only be developed by European Help — Turkish Distrust of Europeans — Anecdote of Abbas Pasha, Viceroy of Egypt — Treatment of Orientals by Euro- peans often Unjust — Canal of Suez— Jealousy of European Employes — Corruption of the Administrations — Publicity stifled — No Public Opinion — Want of Education among the Turks — Education among other Races of the Empire — Ottoman Patriotism — Rayah Patriotism — Discordant Popula- tions of the Empire — The Ruling Race— Gradual Rise of the Christian Populations — Comparison of Osmanli with European — His good Qualities — Often deteriorated by contact with Europeans — Disadvantages of Agricultural Population — Heavy Military Expenditure — Provinces sacrificed to Con- stantinople— Want of Labour and Capital — European Im- provements a doubtful Benefit to People without a Reform of Government — Apparently Defenceless State of Constantinople — Fleet — Comparison of Turkey with Russia — Conquest of Turkey by Russia dangerous to Europe — Concessions made to Russia — What is the greatest danger to Ottoman Empire — Population of Turkey — Polygamy — Plague — Cholera — Causes of Decline in Population — Decline in some Districts undoubted ; but in others doubtful ..... 299
CHAPTER XVII.
Old System of Provincial Government — Its Abuses and Advantages — The Vilayet System — Provincial Medjlis — Representation — Provincial Government good in Theory — Purchase of Offices — Reason why Public Works are so Expensive in Turkey — Instance — Degrees of Offices in Provinces — The Kadis — Their Authority Declining — Taxation of the Empire — Taxes on Land — The Dime — Farmers of this Tax — The Vergui — Mortgages on Land in Turkey — The Kharaj — The Bedeliyeh — Conscription — Exemption of Christians from Serving in the
Xvi CONTENTS.
PAGE
Army — Professional Money-lenders — Their Dishonesty — Government Agricultural Banks — Their Failure — Difficulties of Agriculture in Turkey — Impartiality of the Government in Matters of Religion — Religious Bigotry generally Diminish- ing— Syria and Ibrahim Pasha — Conversion of Mohammedans not to be Lightly Expected — Difficulties in the vi^ay of it — Different Religious Ideas of Muslim and Christian — Simplicity of El Islam— Its Inferiority to Christianity — Sdperscitions Engrafted on Mohammedanism — Muslim has generally come in contact with a less pure form of Christianity — Morals of Europeans — Growing Tolerance of Muslemin — Education of their Children — American Schools in Egypt — Prospects of the Conversion of Mohammedans to Chris- tianity 323
APPENDIX.
A. — Mithridatic War and Massacre of Romans in Asia Minor . 347
B. — History of Aphrodisias 348
C. — March of the Consul Manlius against the Gaulish Tribes of
Asia Minor .......... 349
D. — The Lycian Confederation ...... . 352
E. — Cilician Piracy and its suppression by the Romans . • • 353 F. — Ottoman Law — and the sources whence it was derived . . 356
G. — The Pastoral Races of Asia Minor 358
H. — Locusts in some Provinces of the Ottoman Empire . . 359
I. — The Mountain System of Lycia 361
K. — The Famine of 1874 i^ Asia Minor 364
Routes • 370
Time Table 371
General Route 373
CONTENTS. XVU
LIST OF MAPS, PLANS, AND HELIOTYPE, LITHO- GRAPHIC, AND WOODCUT ILLUSTRATIONS.
General Map and Detailed Map of the Author's Journey Facing the Title Page.
PAGE
Distant View of the Bay and City of Smyrna . . . ,10—1 Caravan Bridge and Part of the Great Cemetery, Smyrna . . 17 — p
View from the Castle Hill, Aiasolouk, showing the Excavations on the Site of the Temple of Diana. Prion and Coressus in the distance. .... ....... 29 — f
The Mosque of Sultan Selim, Aiasolouk, from the East, and the
Plain of the Cayster. 30 — I
Plan of Ephesus . . . . . . . . . .32—'
Laodicea — Remains of the Gymnasium, of the Stadium, and the
Petrified Aqueducts on the right 37 '^'^
Laodicea — General View over the Stadium 39"^^
The Castle and Mosque of Aiasolouk, from the Stadium of Ephe- sus. Mount Gallesion in the distance . . . . . 41 — f Specimen of the Section of Chalk Cliffs in the Valley of the
Mosynus 70 —
Sections of the Ascent from the bed of the Mosynus to the Town of Kara Soo, and of the Grassy Slopes or Terraces in the Mosynus Valley . . . . . . . . . 72 ""
The Temple of Venus at Aphrodisias (Geera) .... 74 — /
Hierapolis — General View 91-^ ^
Hierapolis in Phrygia and the Petrified Cascade . . . . 99 — (^
Distant View of the Cascade, Hierapolis . ... . . 100--/
Water Vessels (large) made of a section of Pine Tree . . . loi- — Ruins of a large Christian Church, Hierapolis . . . . . 103— /^
The Theatre at Hierapolis lod — ^
View from the Theatre, Hierapolis, looking S.W. . . . 107- /*
Supposed site of the Plutonium, Hierapolis 108^ ?
Hierapolis — The Thermae ... . . , . . .1 10-^ '
The Theatre at Hierapolis, 346 feet in diameter . . . . 115 Style of Tombstones at Colossoe . . , . . . . 115—
Cairn or Barrow at Colossae . .116
Sarcophagus at Eski Yerrah, near Buldour ..... 144-
Sagalassus 158 —
Rock Tomb Inscription at Sagalassus 161
Xviii CONTENTS.
PAGE
Specimen of Hexagonal Columns and Plinths at Sagalassu^;. . 165^
Curious Architectural Stone at Sagalassus 165
Stones of the Arches of the Ruined Theatre at Sagalassus . . 167 Ornaments on many of the Pedestals, Sagalassus . . . . 169
Rock with round projecting Buttresses in the Assarkeui Ravine . 178^^ PlanofKremna .......... 183^'
Diagram of the bearings of the Ranges of Mountains seen from the
Plateau of Kremna 186
Gatewa) of Kremna ......... 192-^
Ploughs, and Cart-wheel of Solid Wood and an Iron Tire at
Boujak . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Gulelook Dagh, the ancient Termessus . ..... 201 —
Marbles in the Gate of the Port of Adalia 215-^
Sarcophagus at Ariassus . . . . . . . .223^
Ancient Gateway in the Village of Yalinli ..... 225 -^
Greek Shields carved upon the Sarcophagi at Sagalassus . . 227
Spring with pointed Recesses, Termessus ..... 228 '^
Theatre at Termessus, 208 feet in diameter . . . ..231
Theatre of Cibyra — diameter 266 feet 272
The Stadium of Cibyra. ........ 273
FAC-SIMILES OF ANCIENT INSCRIPTIONS, &c.
ANATOLICA.
CHAPTER I.
On board the Austrian Lloyd's Steamer — Deck Passengers — Negro Slaves — Slavery in Egypt — The Sporades — Want of Wood — Sponge Fishery — Leros — Samos — Scio — Mastic — The Gulf of Smyrna — Sanjak Kalesy — Distant View of Smyrna — Fortress on Mount Pagus — Interior of the City — Its Climate and Health — Heat — The Imbat — Land Breeze — Position of Smyrna — Water Supply — Octroi — Exports — Figs and Raisins — Cemetery at Caravan Bridge — The Meles — Diana's Bath — Boumabat — Its Gardens — Sunset in the Plain — Boujah — Camellias at Boumabat — A Greek Dragoman.
On the i6th of April, 1872, I left Alexandria for Smyrna, by the Austrian Lloyd's steamer Trehi- sonda. The ship was crowded, so that I had some difficulty in obtaining a berth.
The annual emigration of Europeans from Egypt had begun ; for when once the cotton season is past, little business remains to be transacted, save an occasional purchase of the Khedive's sugar, or speculations in the Egyptian funds, and every one who is able to leave, passes the summer in the cooler and healthier climate of Europe.
2 ANATOLICA.
Most of the passengers were Greeks, bound either to the islands or to Constantinople ; there were a few Russians, but I was the only English passenger. The scene on board was amusing : a mountain of baggage, of the most nondescript character, cumbered the deck; over and around this, surged a vociferating, gesticulating, strug- gling crowd — Greek, Turk, Persian, Circassian, Armenian, Jew, Syrian, Arab, Maltese, &c.
In order to spare expense, the Orientals are usually deck passengers, and a portion of the deck is always arranged for their accommodation.
Some of the more fortunate had already secured snug corners, where on outspread carpets and " lahafs " they calmly squatted, discussing the eternal coffee and tchibouque, or amicably feeding in small family parties, from copper bowls full of salad, black olives, sardines, salt cheese, yaourt, &c.
From all I have ever heard, the beauty of Eastern ladies, even of the highest rank, is not transcendent ; but had the native ladies who were passengers on board the Trehisonda been beauti- ful as " houris," they could not have veiled their charms more carefully from the profane gaze.
Each family had rigged up a kind of extempo- raneous tent, by tying up pieces of chintz, calico, cr canvas, from the interstices of which one could catch at times the flash of a pair of dark eyes, or a hand of a waxen and unhealthy tint, would be put forth for a moment ; but during nearly the
ANATOLICA. 3
whole voyage the women sat or slept with exem- plary patience, seldom quitting their position.
We had on board a number of pilgrims returning from Mecca, many of whom had purchased, on their passage through Egypt, negro slaves, both male and female. I was told at Smyrna that information of this fact had been sent on by tele- graph to Constantinople, and that on their arrival the police would be waiting to arrest them, and deprive them of their unlawful possessions ; and, indeed, when afterwards I reached Constantinople at the end of May, some twenty black female slaves were taken from our ship by the police authorities.
Whether this would improve the condition of the slaves themselves is very doubtful — probably for them it would be only a change of masters ; nor can much be expected from a few spasmodic attempts to stop the slave trade at one port, while it is perfectly legal and unfettered through out the Empire in general.
I know not how it may be in other parts of the Ottoman Empire, but in Egypt every Moham- medan family which is able to afford it keeps one or more black slaves ; even the Copts and Syrians, who are Christians, and many of the Greeks and Levantines, have no scruple in pur- chasing negresses for domestic service. The traffic is now somewhat discouraged and obliged to be carried on in secret, still a negro female ser^'-ant may be readily purchased for from £20 to ^30.
B 2
4 ANATOLICA.
It is true that invariably domestic slaves are very kindly treated, and the sale of a slave except from poverty on one side, or bad conduct on the other, is considered a disgrace to the owner.
Once in the hands of a master, their lot is certainly tolerable enough, but the atrocities of the slave-hunts in Central Africa, and the brutalities of the " jellabs " (dealers) quite overpower any con- siderations of this nature ; and now that the con- science of civilised Europe is aroused, we may hope that soon this iniquitous traffic will be no longer tolerated. Perhaps amongst other eventual benefits to which the Canal of Suez w^ill powerfully contribute, will be the suppression of the slave trade in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf.
In justice to the Egyptian authorities, I must, however say, that they are trying to put down the sale of slaves gradually. But it is difficult to effect. The custom of the country, and the reli- gious feeling of the Muslim, uphold domestic slavery. Yet if the importation of black slaves from the Soudan, by the Nile, and by the ports of the Red Sea, were rigorously interdicted, slavery would in time come to an end of itself, and the Egyptian Government, if sincerely desirous of doing so, could easily effect thus much.
It would be far more difficult to prevent the sale of white slaves, as this would necessitate an interference with the domestic affairs of their subjects, upon which perhaps neither the Sultan
ANATOLICA. 5
nor the Khedive could venture, even supposing them willing to attempt it.
The expulsion of the Circassians from the Cau- casus districts in 1863-4 gave an immense impulse to this traffic, for numbers of that unfortunate people were obliged to sell their children to save them from dying of absolute starvation, and many were purchased by Turks and Egyptians really more from charity than any other motive.
I recollect seeing, in 1864, two young Circassian children openly exposed for sale in the Great Square at Alexandria, and the native crier walking up and down with them, and soliciting purchasers. I do not think that this would be tolerated at the present time.
During the cotton crisis of 1862-6, when Egypt was gorged with gold, the richer " fellahs " (native cultivators) began to venture upon the luxury of Circassian slave-wives ; but it was regarded with the utmost disfavour by the Turkish authorities, and I heard of one instance where a very wealthy Egyptian " fellah " was summoned before the "Mudir" (governor) of the province, sharply reproved for his presumption, and deprived of a white slave-girl whom he had purchased.
So long as the present state of Government and Society endures at Constantinople, a reform of this, as of many other abuses, is not to be looked for.
Our deck passengers did not settle down in
6 ANATOLICA.
their places without many disputes; the arbiter of their quarrels was a stout, - good-humoured Greek belonging to the ship, who acted as a kind of quartermaster-general.
He was a veritable walking polyglot ! and gradually, either by force of tongue or of arm, he managed to arrange the motley crowd ; so that by the time we had lost sight of the low sand-hills of Egypt, everybody had recovered his good humour.
Gradually as night drew on, the breeze freshened, and we had a rough sea with all its unpleasant concomitants.
Next day the high mountains of Crete appeared, far away on our left, like a faint cloud upon the sea, and on the morning of the i8th we were amongst the group of islands near Rhodes.
Henceforward we had a smooth sea, all the way to Smyrna, and land always in sight, either the mainland or some of the islands.
The latter are all volcanic ; rising from the sea in abrupt, precipitous cliffs, and generally with bare and lofty peaks of fantastic form ; amongst them the outline of Episcopi (Telos) is very remarkable. Though all are savage and sterile to look on, they contain fertile valleys. Their formation is mostly Trachytic, in colour of a faint red, or ash grey, of various shades, over which sparse olive groves throw a greenish tint.
A few patches of scrub-oak, and scattered pines.
ANATOLICA. 7
are the only forest trees to be found in them, although thirty or forty years ago many of them were covered with magnificent forests.
But the ravages of the Greek War of Indepen- dence, the constant export of firewood and char- coal, and the careless improvidence of people and Government alike, have destroyed the wood in nearly all of them ; and in consequence, the springs and rivulets are fast drying up, so that soon many districts in them will become abso- lutely barren, for want of water.
Although . hot in summer, their climate is re- markably healthy. Their principal products are oil, fruits, wine (some of exquisite quality and unknown in Europe), raki, soap, sponges, and charcoal. Syme (which we saw far on our right) and Calymnos are the islands which produce most sponges, and their people are very skilful divers. But all the islanders, more or less, pursue this branch of industry ; some of the more enterprising even go as far as the coasts of Crete, Syria, and Barbary. The sponge grows from the rock, in a rounded, cup-like shape, but covered with a tough and shiny black skin, under which is an offensive white liquid, which must be squeezed out to pre- pare the sponge for market. The best qualities grow at a depth of thirty fathoms, and I heard at Smyrna anecdotes of the difficulty and hardship endured by the divers in bringing them up from this great depth. Attempts have been made to
8 ANATOLICA.
use the diving-bell in the deep-sea sponge-fishery, but without much success. The divers take a heavy weight in their hands, in order to sink quickly ; they remain from one to two minutes under water, and are sometimes drawn up insen- sible, or with the blood oozing from nose or mouth ; skilful divers will make from eight to ten descents per day, but after they have reached the age of thirty-five or forty years, the deep-sea diving becomes too severe for them, the pressure upon the heart and lungs being dangerous to life.
Our vessel glided past the long low island of Stanchio (Cos) ; behind it rose the high mountains on the mainland, above Boudroum (Halicarnassus) ; and there being passengers for Leros, we passed between Leros and Calymnos, and stayed for about an hour in the little bay of Klidhi. The channel between the two islands is narrow and fiiU ot islets, and as we passed between one of these and Calymnos, it seemed but a stone's throw from the deck to either side ; but as in all these volcanic formations, the water close to the land is of great depth.
The little town of Klidhi appeared to be clean, and there were many good houses on the heights round the bay.
After leaving Leros, we passed Patmos on its eastern side, and at about 3 P.M. reached Samos, coasting along it near enough to distinguish the few scattered cottages upon the cliffs on this
ANATOLICA. 9
remote side of the island, and the deep rugged ravines by which the surface of the land is seamed.
Samos appears richer and better wooded than any of the islands we had yet seen ; a lofty ridge of mountains rises in the middle of the island, and behind them on the mainland we could dis- tinguish the famous chain of Mycale.
We reached Scio (Chios) late at night, and nothing could be seen except the lights on shore. Many of our passengers landed here, for Scio is a very favourite residence of the Greeks from Egypt, many of the leading Greek merchants of Alexandria being natives of the place. About midnight lighters came alongside bringing barrels of fruit (oranges and lemons) for Odessa ; also sundry vendors of hand- knitted stockings, sweetmeats, and gum mastic, came on board. This gum is obtained by punctur- ing the stem of a species of lentisk which grows here, and Scio produces the best quality ; the Oriental ladies are very fond of chewing it, and attribute many curious properties to it, but it is chiefly used to give flavour to raki, a spirit distilled from grape " must,'' and after preparation known by the name of mastic. The natives, both Christian and Muslim, are great lovers of this spirit. The gum seemed to fetch a high price, but I noticed that our Greek passengers drove very hard bargains with the seller.
April 19th. — Soon after daybreak the steamer entered the estuary of Smyrna. On every side
10 ANATOLIC A.
except the west were ranges of mountains. On our right rose two peaks of beautiful outline and almost exactly alike, called " The Two Brothers " (Mount Corax). All along the south side of the estuary- extended the range of Mount Pagus ; between its base and the sea was a level tract beautifully culti- vated, and full of villages and country houses ; but I was told that beautiful as this district appeared, at certain seasons (especially in autumn) the most deadly malarious fevers prevail in it. The northern shore of the estuary is flat (evidently formed by the alluvium of the Hermus, deposited in the course of ages), and the hills lie much farther back from the sea. The water is everywhere turbid and full of shallows, especially opposite the mouth of the river ; but although centuries back it was predicted that Smyrna would experience the same fate as Ephesus, and that its harbour would become an inland lake, owing to the encroachment of the river deposits, this result seems as far off" as ever.
About half an hour's steaming from Smyrna, and on the south side of the estuary, is the fort Sanjak Kalesy, built in 1656 to defend the city from the attacks of the Venetians, who had just destroyed the Turkish fleet in the Hellespont. It stands upon a low spit of land projecting into the sea, but, as a defence, it is contemptible.
After passing this point we had our first view of Smyrna " the lovely," " the crown of Ionia," " the ornament of Asia," rising from the water's edge
ANATOLICA. 1 1
towards the ridge of Pagus at the back of the city ; and most picturesque and beautiful was the scene : the harbour crowded with ships and steamers of all nations (conspicuous among them the Austrian ironclad Ltssa], innumerable sailing boats and caiques darting across the blue water ; then the line of the Frank city, with many a brilliantly painted cafe projecting into the sea on piles ; then, rising gradually to the acclivities of the Castle hill, the Turkish town with its quaint wooden houses painted in the brightest colours, and interspersed with gardens and trees ; many a white minaret and cupola towering above the low dwelling houses. Behind and above all, crowning the summit of the rounded volcanic hill, stands the old fort with its square towers and battle- mented walls. Founded by Alexander's greatest captains, Antigonus and Lysimachus, it has stood the brunt of many a siege from Byzantine, Turk, and Christian hosts, till now, dismantled and ruinous, it is finally abandoned. Conspicuous also, miles away, dark broad patches of green mark the burial-places of the city. They are the groves of cypress trees with which the Muslim loves to plant his cemeteries, and which are as fine, though not so extensive, as those of Con- stantinople.
The head of the estuary is backed by mountains not high, but exquisite in colour and in shape : on the north, Manisa Dagh (Sipylus) ; on the south.
12 ANATOLIC A.
Nif Dah (Olympus). In these ranges are two openings, one due east leading to the plain ot Nymphi, the other to the south-east leading to Boujah and Sedikeui. Through the latter passes the Smyrna and Aidin Railway. Round the head of the bay are scattered the trees and country houses of Cordelio, and due east across the rich plain may be perceived the village retreats of the Smyrniots, conspicuous among them the dark towering cypresses and luxuriant gardens of Bour- nabat.
The vessels in port seemed very far inferior in number to those in the harbour of Alexandria, but the export of fruit — the great staple of Smyrna — had nearly ceased for the season. I found the Custom-house people very civil ; of course here, as everywhere else in the East, a little " bucksheesh " helps matters amazingly ; and I afterwards heard that the British Consulate had recently been obliged to complain of the treatment that tra- vellers sometimes received from the Custom-house officers. However it may have been, I was treated very civilly, and my baggage not even examined. My porter led me to the Hotel d' Europe. Smyrna is not rich in hotels, and there is not much choice. This hotel is tolerable, the table is good, but the rooms inferior.
However beautiful may be the appearance of Smyrna from the sea, the illusion disappears on landing. It is immeasurably inferior to Alexandria
ANATOLIC A. 13
as a city. Its streets — or rather lanes — narrow and without side-walks, paved with uneven, angular stones, excruciating to feet and ankles after half an hour's walk over them — its houses old and mean, few above two stories high, and the upper story mostly of wood on account of earthquakes — down the middle of almost every street an open gutter, or sewer, exhaling the most pestiferous odours — no gas-lamps, no conveyances, except a dozen or so of antiquated coaches, made to dislocate the joints of an unlucky passenger, and so cumbrous that the narrow streets will not allow two of them to pass abreast — porters staggering along, under unconscionable burdens — long strings of laden camels, obliging the stranger to be on the alert, if he would escape being crushed, as the stolid brutes, and yet more stolid drivers, trudge on their heedless path — Smyrna is evidently a city of the seventeenth, not of the nineteenth century ! The eastern quarter of the town is somewhat better, for it has been built within the last twenty-five years ; still such is the general character of the town ; and even in the east end, near the Aidin Railway Station, I noticed a whole quarter of the town intersected by fetid, open ditches, full of stagnant, decomposing water, sufficient to account for any amount or intensity of fever ! A large quay is being constructed along the sea front of this part of the town, by French "concession- aires,'' and a considerable space of ground will
14 ANATOLIC A.
be reclaimed by this work ; but I was told that in consequence of some misunderstanding with the authorities, no provision had been then made to carry the drains of the city out into the sea. But since that time the concessionaires have made openings for the drains through the quay, leaving the authorities to do the rest. Yet the sanitary state of Smyrna is said to be good ! To judge from the evil odours of the place, I cannot imagine how this can be, and if the drainage be yet further disarranged the consequences may be most dis- astrous !
Perhaps those who gave me the information were like the lover with his mistress, "to her faults," not " a little," but " very blind."
Add to all this, a perfect stagnation of the air when the " Imbat " (Ipt/Saivo;) ceases to blow, and then a heat in the shade of 90 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, or even higher, at intervals from May to September !
" Oh," said the Smyrniots, " but when the Imbat blows, it is very pleasant." Quite true !
If it were not for the westerly breeze which sweeps up the gulf nearly every day during the hot months, and is succeeded by the land breeze from the cool high lands of the interior almost every night, Smyrna would be in the summer perfectly pestilential ; indeed, whenever this life- giving wind drops for any length of time, the deadliest malady of the Levant, the so-called
ANATOLIC A. 15
" pernicious fever/' may be looked for. Happily, nature in part prevents the sad effects of man's neglect and shortcomings. Yet the advantage of these cool breezes is to a great extent lost, owing to the unfortunate position of the city hemmed in on every side by lofty mountain ranges, and having most of its streets at right angles to the sea breeze, so that it cannot enter them directly. Smyrna has no public promenade, and the single open spot we could find along the beach was the garden of a cafe near our hotel ; here the European residents used to assemble every evening to eat ices and drink beer. An Italian theatre supplied amusement. The actors were really good, and the audience fully appreciated them ; numbers of ladies attended ; indeed, short of taking the rail- way to Boujah or Bourn abat, one could find no other spot in which to enjoy a breath of fresh air.
The water supply of the town is excellent. It arises partly from the aqueducts behind the Castle hill, partly from artesian wells, which have suc- ceeded here admirably, and which are very nume- rous. The whole geological formation is volcanic, and there appears to be an immense reservoir of water, and that of excellent quality, at no great depth below the surface.
Even the most necessary public works are neg- lected in Anatolia ; one may say that the Govern- ment does literally nothing for the public good. I was told that the octroi duty in Smyrna amounts
1 6 ANATOLIC A.
to more than ;^ 5 0,000 per annum, and that out of this immense sum little or nothing is spent for the benefit of the town. Whether any account is taken of the way in which this great revenue is expended I cannot tell — it simply disappears without result. Such, at least, was the information I received.
The exports of Smyrna, consisting chiefly of dry fruits, opium, cotton, madder root, and carpets of excellent quality, may amount to between four and five millions of pounds sterling — the value of the imports is nearly as much ; but there are no means of obtaining an accurate calculation. In this, as in most other matters in this blest land, the rule of thumb prevails !
The finest figs and raisins are brought from the district near Aidin. The figs are simply allowed to remain on the tree until they fall of themselves. Mats are placed to catch them ; they are then allowed to dry a little on the mats, then slightly flattened by hand, and packed in boxes for ex- portation.
Grapes are allowed to ripen thoroughly, then carefully plucked, and dipped in a ley made of water and the ashes of vine wood, with a small quantity of oil mixed with it (I forget the propor- tions). The clusters are then dried on mats. The wood ashes being astringent, cause the skin of the grape to shrivel up slightly, the oil keeps out the air in a measure. Raisins thus prepared remain good for ten or twelve months. If kept longer, the
ANATOLIC A. 17
pulp turns wholly or in part into candy ; some of the clusters attain to a very great size and weight.
But with all its natural advantages the country cannot prosper as it should, owing to the extreme corruption of the authorities. I heard several most amusing anecdotes concerning this ; but I appre- hend it is the same all over the Turkish Empire.
But, however unpleasant as a residence Smyrna itself at times may be, the country round it is a very terrestrial paradise, and the traditional hos- pitality of its residents is worthily sustained by the present generation. The days of the great Levant Company are over, and the trade of Smyrna is no longer so exclusively in the hands of our countrymen as in time past (wider and richer fields having opened to British enterprise), but w^orthy representatives of the old stock yet remain in Smyrna.
Amongst my introductions, I had a letter to Mr. de C, who most kindly invited me to visit him at his country-house in Bournabat. Accord- ingly I accompanied him on the evening of April 19th. The railway to Bournabat is a short line of six or seven miles only, well managed, the carriages excellent, the stations handsome. After traversing the suburbs and gardens of the town, it crosses the Meles near Caravan Bridge. Here is the great Turkish cemetery ; a vast grove of old cypress trees flings a solemn shadow over this spot. The Turks never willingly disturb their
1 8 ANATOLIC A.
cemeteries, nor will they bury twice over in the same ground; and as they always plant trees round the graves of their friends, the cemeteries in Anatolia are very beautiful and picturesque. Especially is this the case in the valley of the Maeander. There, one may see in them trees many centuries old growing as nature permits.
The Meles flows in a deep bed along the edge of the Cemetery, and the floods of the past winter had carried away a large portion of the wall that faces the stream ; but even thus early in the sum- mer it was but a muddy, scanty brook. Beyond the Cemetery the line passes through a marshy tract, and here the trains always go slowly. A deep and slowly flowing brook forms the marsh. Its source, which is a warm spring under the hills to the right, is called by the Smyrniots " Diana's Bath." The soil round this source is fertile, but owing to malaria few country houses are built there. I had no opportunity of visiting it. The marsh, full of tall canes, is dangerous ; not long before my arrival a gentleman of Smyrna, who had entered it to shoot ducks, miserably perished, smothered in the tenacious mud.
The plain through which we passed was in splendid cultivation, and many English trees thrive in this fertile district, which seems to yield the products both of a temperate and of a semi-tropical clime. I noticed the alder, willow, apple, pear, and blackberry. The olive trees
ANATOLIC A. 19
were extremely fine, but most remarkable was the colour of the poppies ; seen in masses they appeared now of the deepest crimson, now of the most resplendent scarlet. Mixed with the rich blue and yellow of other flowers, and set upon a ground of greenest turf — for the sun has not yet scorched up the spring herbage — they display the tints of those brilliantly varied carpets which the Oriental workman weaves in such perfection.
Arrived at the terminus, a few minutes' walk brought us to my friend's hospitable house, where I was introduced to his family, and after a short rest we walked out to see the village. Bournabat is a large, straggling place, consisting mostly of country houses ; abundant streams of water flow down every road ; but the great beauty of Bourna- bat is its verdure. The gardens, mostly enclosed by high walls, are full of magnificent trees. The orange groves are very gardens of the Hesperides ; ripe golden fruit hangs on the same tree side by side with the blossoms and green oranges of the present season ; everything was bursting into bloom ; the air was laden with fragrance, in which the scent of white acacia and orange blossom was predominant. From this deep and well watered soil the cypress towers to an astonishing height, in a tapering pyramid of dark green foliage.
Amongst the many beautiful gardens that I
saw was one that had belonged to the late Mr.
Whittal.
c 2
20 ANATOLICA.
The Sultan when he came to Smyrna paid a visit to this place, and expressed great admiration of it. Certainly the trees are very beautiful ; but can so much water and vegetation be good for health in this southern climate ? Yet the residents at Bournabat make no complaint on that point.
The next garden I saw was that of Mr. E., an old resident of Smyrna, a British subject, but speaking only French. His garden, in which he takes great interest, is rich in rare plants and trees, but it has not been laid out many years. His house is very beautiful and fitted up in exquisite taste ; while, a rare occurrence in the Levant, he possesses a magnificent library, of which one very interesting portion is a collection of all the travels made in the Levant, especially during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He received us most courteously, and showed me several very rare and valuable books ; but as he was about to leave next day for Europe, I had no opportunity for further examination.
The last house we visited was that of the Misses W. Here I was amused at the number and tameness of the swallows, which had built their nests in every corner of the portico and covered terrace.
And now, as day began to wane, a prospect opened enchanting to eyes that had for years gazed only on the flat, tame expanse of the Delta, or the dreary sand-dunes of Alexandria. The
ANATOLICA. 21
plain, tilled like a garden, lay below; opposite spread the dense groves which mark the Springs of Bounarbashi. The distant city, and the port, with its mass of shipping, and beyond them the graceful mountains on the southern edge of the gulf, all blue and silver in the clear evening air, could be just distinguished.
Then as the sun declined, amid orange and crimson-burnished clouds, towards the west, the colours of the plain and mountains gradually altered : the bright gold on the ridges of Sipylus and Olympus changed to the tenderest rose-tint, to be succeeded shortly by the deepest, fullest purple ; then, as evening still drew on, faint green, and grey prevailed — till, one by one, the stars struggled forth, like diamonds set in ultramarine, the cool land breeze began to sigh amidst the waving branches, and night, "quae colores abstrahit rebus,'' veiled earth's beauties from our gaze.
Such was my first evening in this lovely land !
April 2oth.— Returned to town and called upon the gentlemen who were to form our party. At Miiller's Hotel I found a gentleman of Dresden, Mr. Seiif, who, like myself, was desirous of making a more extensive journey into the interior, but hitherto had been unable to find any one who could accompany him. We agreed to make the expe- dition together, and I was most fortunate in finding so pleasant a companion.
In the afternoon I paid a visit to Boujah. This
22 ANATOLICA.
village has not the beautiful gardens of Bournabat, but it is higher in position, and, I should imagine, healthier. I called upon the missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, who had come out to their summer quarters. It was in this village that Lord Byron stayed whilst visiting Smyrna. The house he occupied is shown.
April 2 1 St. — A very hot and oppressive day, the sun extremely powerful, and not a breath of wind. I spent the day with my kind friends at Bournabat. In the village is a pretty little chapel, built by the late Mr. Whittal ; but owing to the heat the con- gregation was not numerous.
In a greenhouse belonging to one of the British merchants (Mr. P.) there was a number of the finest camellias I ever saw, planted in large tubs. They were from eight to twelve feet in height, and covered with hundreds (literally) of flowers, the beauty and variety of which were truly admirable ! They had been purchased of the late Consul- General of France.
April 22nd. — Engaged in making preparations for a start next day. I sent a telegram to our friend at Aidin, begging him to find us an inter- preter, and in about an hour and a half he replied that he had found one. Later in the day, a Greek of Smyrna, who spoke Italian and Turkish, came to offer his services, but I could not help laughing when he seriously told me that we should " require an armed escort when we left Aidin." Even had
ANATOLICA. 23
we not already engaged an interpreter, this obser- vation would have decided me against engaging him.
There is a very good German "Bier-haus'* (Lohmann's) on the Marina. Here we met to make the final arrangements. Mr. S. and myself agreed to start on the morrow, so as to visit the ruins of Ephesus, and our friends were to join us at Aiasolouk on the day after.
My stay at Smyrna was so brief, and my time so fully occupied, that I was unable to visit the many objects of interest in the neighbourhood, and when we returned from the interior the heat was too great, and I myself too fatigued, for sight seeing.
CHAPTER II.
Smyrna and Aidin Railway — Aqueducts behind the Castle Hill — Plain of Boujah — Caravans— Plains of Anatolia — Malarious Fever — Cholera — Yourouk Shepherds — Kedji Kalesy — The Cayster — Greek Brigands — Manouli — Aiasolouk — Gateway — Mosque — Aqueduct — Storks — Changes in the Formation of the Plain of Ephesus — Instance from Pliny — Port of the Great Temple — Changes in the Position of the Old City — Hill of Prion — Street of Tombs — Wild Fennel — Magnesian Gate — Thermae — Odeum — Theatre — Port of the City of Ephesus — Earthquake in the Reign of Tiberius — Great Gymnasium — Walls of the City and along the Ridge of Coressus — Monolithic Basin — Stadium — Site of the Temple of Diana — Its Double Pavement — Pausanias' Account of the Worship of Artemis — Changes in Name and Position of Ephesus— Great Quantity of Alluvium deposited by the Cayster — Harbour of the Old City ruined.
April 23rd. — We left Smyrna for Aiasolouk. The railway passes round the base of Mount Pagus, through some deep cuttings in the volcanic rock, and enters the plain of Boujah. It crosses the Meles near the Great Cemetery, where, overshadowed by gloomy cypresses, sleep generations of Muslim dead. The deep ravine through which the stream runs is spanned by two fine aqueducts, both appa- rently in ruin,* although at the time of Dr. Chandler's
* I am told that both are still serviceable. The lower is one of the very few public works constructed by the Turks. It was built in 1674-5, together with the Bazaars and various other public buildings, by the Grand Vizier, Ahmet Kiuprili. To supply materials for these works, the City Wall and the Theatre (the scene of Polycarp's martyr- dom) were demolished.
ANATOLICA. 25
visit in 1764 the lower of the two supplied Smyrna with water. The Meles, almost dried up in summer, is subject in winter to sudden inundations, which cause great damage, and its water, muddy and unwholesome, hardly deserves the praise Pausanias bestows upon it, of being the finest stream the Smyrniots possess. Beyond Boujah, is the large village of Sedikeui, with a magnificent grove of cypresses near it. Here the plain, which is only in part under culture, begins to open, and its dark red soil is evidently very fertile. Patches of vineyard, broad fields of wheat, tracts of marsh land covered with rank vegetation, succeed each other. The slopes of the hills are grey with olive groves, on every side rise steep and lofty ranges of moun- tains, and the plain runs up into far-away nooks and corners amidst them, till in the extreme distance all blends together in the blue hazy atmosphere.
Long trains of laden camels passed continually on their way towards Smyrna. They moved slowly along in single file, often 200 to 300 (or more) in number, and each sub-division of these large cara- vans was headed by a donkey. The camel ot Anatolia is a cross from the Bactrian breed, better adapted for the passage of mountains than the Egyptian camel. He is larger, and has long bushy hair down the front of the throat. At the village of Devlikeui, we were opposite Alaman Dagh (Mount Galesion), a finely-wooded mountain range,
26 ANATOLICA.
and here the plain was covered with patches of poppies of the most brilliant crimson, mixed with bright yellow flowers. Indeed, everywhere the colour of the flowers is most brilliant. At Khias, tor instance, was a large pond, covered with tall flags, that presented a mass of the richest yellow.
The plains in this part of Anatolia seem, at some remote age, to have formed the bottoms of lakes ; for many miles together they are perfectly level, and the mountains rise abruptly from them, as it their soil had been deposited gradually. Though not half of the land is cultivated, this rich district might become, under better auspices, a perfect garden, such as no doubt it once was.
Already the heat is intense, and the plain being quite bare of trees, the flocks were lying under the shelter of huge sheds ; in one of these hung the shepherd's rough felt overcoat (kepen^k), thick as a board and proof against wind and weather.
Near Tourbali, the station for Baindir, groves of fine oak and ash cover the plain, and there is a beautiful view of the western portion of Mount Messogis, over which passed the old caravan road, from Smyrna to Aidin.
Here one of the Englishmen employed on the railway entered our carriage. He told us that thirteen or fourteen years before, malarious fever was very prevalent in that neighbourhood, but that it had now much diminished, owing to the great spread of cultivation. It was always most virulent
ANATOLIC A. 27
when land was first ploughed up, but though weak- ening, it was not usually very fatal. (Upon this point, however, I have heard a different opinion.) At the Azizieh station, where he lived, a place some 1,400 feet above the sea level and very healthy, cholera had appeared in 1866 and had proved most fatal. Eighteen of the English employes had died. It is true many of them were not of sober habits, but the disease was equally fatal to the Greeks, who were a temperate race. No local reason could be assigned for the appearance of the epidemic ; the village was clean, the houses well kept and not crowded, and both air and water seemed perfectly pure ; but a case of contagion was established. A Turk, residing at Azizieh, had bought in Scala Nova the coat of a man who had died of cholera ; on his return home he also sickened and died. The Aga of Azizieh caused the man's clothing to be burnt, but this had not prevented the spread of the disease.
On our inquiring if any antiquities had been discovered here, he said that while engaged in making a cutting near Tourbali he had found a large building, several feet underground, with a fine gateway, over which was a long Greek inscrip- tion in perfect preservation, but he could not say if the latter had been saved. This may have been an inn or a guard-house on the road between Smyrna and Ephesus.
On all sides were large herds of cattle and flocks
2 8 ANATOLIC A.
of sheep and goats, the property of the Yourouk* shepherds. These men come down into the plains for pasturage in the spring, but in the rainy season they are obliged to withdraw from the lowlands, in consequence of the inundation of the rivers, which turns all these plains into marshes. During the hot months they live in the mountains, as the plains become most unhealthy after the end of May.
The Yourouks seem to be one of the original races of the land, not of Turkish descent, although speaking the Turkish language. They are physically a fine race, generally well disposed and hospit- able, professedly Muslim in religion, but, like the Bedouins, somewhat lax in their practice, and not supposed to be very orthodox in their belief. At intervals along the line were groups of their black goat's-hair tents, and many of their burial-places — strange, solitary little spots, each grave marked by a lichen-covered stone, but with no further record or memorial of the dead. The railway here passes under the stupendous rock-precipices of Alaman Dagh (Mount Galesion). High above, on a precipitous peak of the mountain, stands the Kedji Kalesy (Groat's Fort), supposed to have been one of the ancient Persian watch-towers. The rail- road passes close under it, and alongside the rapid and turbid stream of the Cayster, now much swollen by the late rains. After crossing the
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river we saw on the left a fine old bridge of four arches ; the sea was on our right, about five miles distant, and a wide, marshy plain bordered the river. The pools were full of beautiful water-lilies, and high above us in the air flocks of vultures and eagles soared and wheeled.
Any of the waste land we had passed through may be rented of the Turkish Government on con- dition of paying a tenth of the produce. But even these easy terms do not seem to attract cultivators.
In this district brigandage had for the moment been entirely suppressed. About two years ago a band of seven Greek brigands from the islands, with their chief, Manouli, were killed by the Turkish troops, after a desperate resistance, and their heads sent to Smyrna.
At mid-day the train arrived at Aiasolouk. The restaurant at the station is kept by an Englishman. After engaging horses and a guide from him, we started to explore the ruins. The Turkish village of Aiasolouk is on the sides and round the base of a rocky hill, resembling the hill of Ephesus (Prion), but inferior in height. It seems to have been built entirely of materials from Ephesus, and was a place of some importance under the Seljook rulers of this country (about A.D. 1300). It contained neither theatre, stadium, nor temple. The fort on the summit of the hill resembles the fort of Smyrna, but contains nothing of any interest. It is surrounded by heaps ot stones and pieces of
30 ANATOLICA.
marble. A line of wall once encompassed the crown of the hill, and in this is the Great Gateway. Materials of every kind have been employed in it pele mele — blocks of marble and limestone, frag- ments of columns, architraves, friezes, bases, &c., built in as each came to hand. Many fragments of inscriptions, some in good condition, are inserted in the masonry. Some of the antique sculptures above the Gateway, mentioned by Dr. Chandler, were removed some years ago, but there are still several bas-reliefs in various parts of the Gateway and buttresses, principally taken from sarcophagi, and of a declining style of art. Masses of brickwork lower down the hill perhaps mark the site of Justi- nian's Church of St. John. The Mosque, though now disused and in ruin, is still very interesting. Its west front, facing the hill of Ephesus, is of polished blocks of white marble. These, without doubt, were brought from the ruins of Diana's Temple, the site of which, as discovered by Mr. Wood, is near the foot of the hill, and at no great distance. The rest of the building is of limestone. The roof, surmounted by two cupolas, is supported by four large monolithic columns of granite — brought, as Mr. Wood thinks, from the Great Gymnasium near the City Port — and many smaller granite columns lie within the court of the Mosque. Round the doors and windows fine arabesques and sentences from the Koran are carved in the pure white marble. Round the interior of the court a
ANATOLICA. 31
marble portico once stood, and in the centre the usual basin for ablution before prayer ; but the whole is much overgrown with bushes and vegetation.
The Aqueduct, which enters the plain from the hills on the north-east, is constructed of marble blocks from Ephesus. It consists of huge square piers, surmounted by heavy arches of brick. The materials of the piers are of the strangest descrip- tion— cornices, columns, bases, capitals, plain and inscribed blocks, all built in together at random.
Many of the arches have fallen, and on the top of nearly every pier, and in most of the trees around, storks have built their nests.
The gentleness of the Osmanlis to animals — so different from the Arabs — is an amiable feature in their character; amongst them the traveller never sees the shocking sights which so often excite his disgust in Egypt — and perhaps of all animals the stork is their favourite. His tameness is very remarkable ; often I have approached within twenty paces of these birds, and they have shown no sign of fear, but simply stalked off in the most leisurely way a few yards, and then turned to look at me. It was apparently the breeding season, and one of the birds was always on the nest ; the other either stood near, resting motionless on one leg, or heavily flying, brought food for his mate ; each time he returned to the nest, both birds threw back their heads upon their backs and made a loud clapping with their beaks.
2,2 ANATOLICA.
We rode as far as the hill (Pactyas) behind Aiasolouk whence the Aqueduct emerges. A small brook descends from the hills close by, and this perhaps was the chief source of supply; but no water now flows from it towards the Aqueduct.
From the foot of the hill of Aiasolouk the marshy plain of the Cayster extends without interruption to the sea. On the north the offsets of Galesus bound it, and on the south the long ridge of Coressus. Immediately in front and projecting into the plain is the hill of Prion — the site of ancient Ephesus. As seen from a distance it appears nearly circular in shape, of no great elevation, and with rocky and precipitous sides. A deep ravine separates it on the south from Coressus.
The whole plain seems to have been once a great inlet of the sea which has been gradually filled up by the alluvial deposit of the Cayster. This is in some places fully twenty feet in depth, and even more on the site of the Great Temple. The same process has been going on for ages along the coast line of Anatolia, and especially at the mouths of the Hermus, Cayster, and Mseander. Pliny (ii. 29) mentions the vast quantity of silt brought down by the Cayster and its many tributaries, and says that even in his own time an island at the mouth of the river, called Syrie, had been joined to the mainland in consequence. He also states that anciently — (perhaps at the time when the Ionian
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settlers under Androclus arrivedj — the sea extended past the north side of Prion up to the very foot of the Great Temple. Even till the decline of the city and shrine, an elaborate system of canals and basins continued to maintain the communication between the Temple and the sea.
It was upon the west and north-west sides of Prion that the Ephesus of the victorious lonians was established, and this continued to be the site of the city, until the powerful kings of Lydia forced the citizens to quit the height of Prion and settle in the level ground around the Temple. From the reign of Crcesus to the partition of Alexander's Empire, Ephesus consisted of the Temple and the city which thus grew up around it ; but Lysimachus compelled the citizens to return to the former site, and to this era belongs the construction of the Theatre, the Stadium, and the long wall which, passing along the ridge of Coressus, is connected at either extremity with the walls upon the top and round the sides of Prion. The limited time at our command did not permit us to examine the whole surface of the hill ; but we visited some of the vast marble quarries with which its sides are honey- combed, and from which the materials for the city and Temple were hewn. One of the largest is the scene of the legend of the " Seven Sleepers." Vitruvius gives an account of the discovery of marble on a mountain, by the shepherd Pixodarus, but without mentioning the name of the mountain.
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34 ANATOLICA.
In almost every direction traces of buildings and foundations of walls are to be seen. • ^
A street bordered with tombs and sarcophagi passed round the east and north-east sides of the base of the hill. Much of this street has been excavated by Mr. Wood, and a number of inscrip- tions, some very perfect, have been discovered. This street is considerably above the general level of the plain, and along it ran the famous portico of Damianus, of which remains continu- ally occur. Never in any place have I seen such rank vegetation. The site of the old city was entirely overgrown with wild fennel ; the sides of Prion were covered with its bright yellow flowers, and stalks of it as thick as the wrist often rose higher than our heads as we sat on horseback.
At the south-east portion of the hill, we entered the ravine between Prion and Coressus. The street of tombs here turns sharply to the right, and passes through the Magnesian Gate ; another road from the east, bordered like the former with tombs and sarcophagi, also enters the gate here. The gate itself seems to have been blocked up at some time, either wholly or in part, with masonry. To the right of it, and lying a little back from the road, are the ruins of the Thermae, a huge building of solid and heavy construction, but not beautiful ; beyond this the ravine opens to its greatest width. Most of the private houses of the city seem to have been built on the north slope of Coressus facing
ANATOLICA. 35
Prion ; their foundations may be traced over all this space; the public buildings of the city stood along the bottom of the ravine.
A little past the Thermae, on the right, is the Odeum — which must have been a very beautiful building — constructed of extremely white and fine- grained marble. Many of the rows of seats still remain in sztu, and amid the heap of broken columns and marble fragments, are a few pieces of sculpture, and many columns of finely-polished red and grey granite.
Between the Odeum and the City Gate is a large basilica ; and two round monuments, probably fu- nereal, to the left of the path and nearer Coressus. Beyond the Odeum are ruins of public buildings on every side. Then at the south-west entrance of the ravine, and just as the path turns to the right, are the ruins of the Gymnasium ; of this all that remains are fragments of its huge walls, once covered with plaques of marble, as appears from the apertures pierced to receive the fastenings of the slabs.
The ruins of the Temple of Claudius lie close to the Gymnasium. At last, on the west side of the hill, we came to the famous Theatre. It is of immense size — nearly 500 feet in exterior diameter (Wood),* and the rows of seats rise against the side
* Mr. Cockerell (Leake's "Asia Minor") makes it 660 feet — a discrepancy too great to reconcile. Herr Adler {vide Prof. Curtius' ** Beitrage zur topographie Klein Asiens ") makes it ** over 200 metres." It is strange their estimates should differ so greatly.
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36 ANATOLICA.
of the hill at a somewhat steep angle far above ; but from their ruinous condition- it is not possible to ascertain their number.
The substructions of the scena still remain com- paratively entire, but it is not possible to penetrate far into the vaults below the proscenium, owing to the fallen blocks and rubbish. A large portions seems to have been attached to it. Part of the scena is still erect, but most of it has fallen ; some of the marble columns still stand in their places, but broken off; they are of a fine mottled marble, red and greenish in colour. All the statuary, bas- reliefs, &c., appear to have been carefully de- molished, but much must still exist, buried under the vast heap of ruin which covers the orchestra and proscenium. Fragments of inscriptions lie about. Near the entrance the following was rudely scratched upon a column : —
e V cr e p w p p a (t i\ e w v
It is not easy to account for the utter and con- fused ruin presented by the Odeum and Theatre. Blocks and broken columns, portions of the edifice the most dissimilar, are mixed in one promiscuous heap. War and fire, but above all earthquakes, have been the causes of this destruction. For many centuries these buildings have been quarries, fi-om which successive generations have drawn materials for their grandest edifices, and an abundance still
ANATOLICA. 37
remains ! But we searched in vain for a perfect inscription, or an unbroken piece of statuary ! It would be difficult to imagine a more utter destruc- tion ! The view from the Theatre towards the west is very grand ; the plain extends for many miles in an unbroken level towards the sea, but all lonely and uncultivated or covered with thick marsh vegetation ; on either side the graceful outlines of the mountains form a background superior to any scene painting !
The wide space extending from the west foot of Prion to the edge of the marsh is full of vast ruins, whose construction dates from the first and second centuries of our era. According to the opinion of Herr Adler the sea once covered all this space, so that the City Port was at one time close under the Great Theatre. But the terrible earthquake, which in the third year of Tiberius destroyed twelve great cities* of Asia Minor, probably caused the sea to retire, so that all this wide space was left dry, and, during the reigns of Tiberius and Claudius, was used as a site for the great public buildings, whose ruins still encumber it. Amongst them are the
* Tacit, Ann. ii. 47. The historian does not mention Ephesiis especially amongst the cities which suffered by this calamity. But it must have been a fearful visitation. "It happened in the night time. Vast mountains sank down — tracts of ground hitherto level were lifted up into heights — the earth clave — eruptions of fire burst forth," Sec.
The west coast of Anatolia has been always subject to earthquakes. But see a curious statement (Tacit. Ann. iv. 55) by the citizens of Halicamassus, that for 1,200 (1) years past no earthquake had troubled them : Pergamus in like manner.
38 ANATOLIC A.
Forum, immediately m front of the Theatre, and a little further to the north-west' the very extensive ruins of the Great Gymnasium. This was erected on substructions of huge arched vaults. The walls are of rough marble blocks, the roofing of solid brick-vaulted arches, after the Roman style. The roofing of the central hall was supported by a number of granite columns of colossal size ; four of these now stand in the Mosque of Aiasolouk. In general style and massiveness this building re- sembles the baths of Caracalla at Rome.
Beyond it are the massy walls of the town, skirting the harbour, and running northwards, and eastwards along the north side of Prion.
The port, once connected with the sea by a canal, is now a morass, thickly overgrown with canes and marsh plants. The whole circuit of the harbour on the city side seems to have been surrounded by strong walls ; another wall connected these with the fort at the west extremity of Coressus (erroneously called St. Paul's prison), and from this may be traced the wall of Lysimachus (or perhaps of a yet earlier builder), running along the ridge of Coressus, and descending its eastern slope, opposite the Magnesian Gate, the whole forming a vast circuit of strong defences.
To the north of the Theatre is a fine monolithic basin (erroneously called the Baptistry of St. John). It is of a dull, reddish marble, about fifteen feet in diameter. It may have been the fountain of
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ANATOLICA. 39
one of the public places in the city, and afterwards used as a baptismal font. At the Convent of Bel Paese, in Cyprus, is a magnificent monolithic fountain of the age of Trajan, which was used throughout the middle ages as a baptismal font. The same may have happened to this Ephesian basin.
At the north-west corner of Prion is the Stadium, like the Theatre, the work of Lysimachus. It is about 850 feet* in length. Its north side rests upon vast arches, its south side is hollowed from the hill, but nearly all its rows of seats have been removed. A little beyond the Stadium, to the east, is a long range of immense arched vaults of Roman work, either the substructions of some building that has perished, or, perhaps, public granaries, stores, &c., which may have been connected with the canal that led to the Temple.
Beyond these another street of tombs, similar to that on the east side, borders the base of the hill.
The site of the old city is very grand and beautiful, and it is of vast extent, although the air is so clear that distances which are really great seem small. Of this we had constant experience in the course of our journey. But Ephesus is now a
* This is the measurement kindly communicated by Mr. "Wood. Chandler made it 687 feet. He may, perhaps, have transposed the first two figures in his note-book. Adler makes it 229^ metres (about 755 feet). — Vide Professor Curtius' " Beitrage zur topographic Klein Asiens."
40 ANATOLICA.
very nest of fever and malaria, lonely, waste, and dangerous. Its magnificent ruins, the very mass of fine white and coloured marbles still remaining after so much spoliation, attest its former grandeur; but now only a few poverty-stricken peasants cultivate a patch here and there over its buried palaces and temples.
We had been advised to avoid exposure to the night air, and therefore retired early. Our host was very attentive, and we were tolerably comfortable.
April 24th. — We called upon Mr. Wood. He could not show us the marbles last excavated, as his assistant was absent with the key of the magazine.
We examined his plan of the ruins. He thought that the central hill was Coressus, and not Prion — partly on account of the name,* for the central hill is rounded, the other serrated [Trplcu, "to saw"), and he had also found in the Great Theatre an inscription, stating that certain images dedicated to Artemis were taken from the Great Temple, carried round the Coressian hill, and replaced in the Temple, and this would most naturally be the central hill. He thought that a very large
* But the real name of the cent'-al hill is uncertain. It is called indiscriminately, Pion, Preon, or Prion ; so that no valid argument can be founded on the meaning of its name. Pausanias constantly names it Pion, but in various inscriptions it is called Preon (Upriuv). The former name may have been given on account of the fertility of its soil ; the latter, from its position, as a hill projecting into the plain.
ANATOLICA. 41
portion of the old city was built on the northern slope of the other hill. Indeed, both this and the slopes of all the mountains round are full of foundations of houses and remains of buildings. He considered the most remarkable remains to be those of the old Greek wall which ran up the side and along the ridge of (his) Prion, enclosing the fort to the west (St. Paul's prison). This wall, he thought, was of old Greek work, earlier than the age of Lysimachus. It extended to the harbour at the south-west corner of the city, and he had traced it to the gate near the Stadium, and onward to the Magnesian Gate. The Temple had two pavements, the upper supported by massy columns, thus forming a crypt, from ten to twelve feet high, which might be employed for the false miracles, oracles, &c., for which the Temple was famed. This upper pavement of finely-wrought marble slabs, about two feet thick, has quite dis- appeared ; the lower pavement, of good work, but of irregular blocks of marble, still remains. The bases of many of the columns, and even one of the columns itself, had been discovered in situ. We visited the site of the Great Temple. Very large excavations had been made, more than twenty feet deep, and the lower pavement had been laid bare ; but the late heavy rains had covered all with water, and very little could then be seen.
To Mr. Wood belongs the fame of having at length discovered the site of this famous edifice,
42 ANATOLICA.
which was, as the ancient geographers describe it, distinct but not remote from the- city. Its spoils, no doubt, were the earliest removed to Constantinople, for the erection of Justinian's famous church, "St. Sophia," and when the polished marble blocks of which it was built, and its magnificent sculptures and columns — the work of Scopas and his pupils — had been removed, its foundations were gradually covered by the silt of the muddy Cayster, and so left undisturbed for centuries, till the researches of modern times brought them again to light. The following is the account of Pausanias (vii. cap. ii) concerning the worship of Diana : —
" The worship of the Ephesian Artemis existed there long before the lonians settled in that country, and expelled or conquered the Carians. Pindar says the worship was instituted by the Amazons, when warring against Theseus and the Athenians, but that Cresos, or Coresos, an autoch- thon, and Ephesus, son of the river god Cayster, founded the Temple, and from the latter came the name of the city. The inhabitants of that district were Leleges of Carian race, and, in still greater number, Lydians.
" Other races, and also the Amazons, settled round this Temple, which was reputed to be very sacred. Androclus, son of Codrus, led the lonians to Ephesus, and drove out the Leleges and Lydians, but did not harm those who dwelt round the Temple. Androclus was slain in war against
ANATOLICA. 43
the Carians, and was buried at Ephesus, and his tomb still existed in the time of Pausanias, by the side of the road which leads from the Temple of Diana, past the Temple of Olympian Jupiter, to the Magnesian Gate. This monument was the figure of an armed man. His descendants continued to possess hereditary honours under the Emperor Tiberius. They had the title of *king,' wore purple, and carried a sceptre, had precedence at the games, and various other honours."
Pliny (ii. 29) mentions that the city had been called by many names before it took its final title. At the time of the Trojan war, Alopes — then Ortygia and Merges, then Smyrna Trachcea, &c., &c. Strabo (xiv. i) says that Prion was anciently called Lepre Acte, and the slope between it and Coressus — Opistholepria, "the back of Lepre." The city of Androclus only included part of Prion and the ground near the fountain " Hypelceus " — other- wise called Callipia or Halitoea. This is described by Hamilton as a beautiful little spring in the low dry ground at the north of the marsh, not far therefore from the monolith fountain and the south- west end of the Stadium. The city of Androclus gradually spread over Mount Prion, but in later times the hill became partially deserted, owing to the vicinity of the Temple, and a new city arose in the plain near the Temple. This continued till the time of Alexander the Great ; but Lysimachus forced the citizens to remove to the slope of
44 ANATOLICA.
Coressus, by taking advantage of a heavy rain and stopping up the water courses so as to flood the low ground, and they were then glad to remove. When Ephesus began to decline, the city of Lysi- machus was in its turn deserted, and an inner wall was built from the wall on Mount Prion past the Theatre to the port. (This may be the heavy brick wall to the west of the Theatre and near the morass.) It is likely that even this diminished area proved too large to be secure, and that the port being changed into a morass would become unhealthy, and therefore the citizens finally re- moved to Aiasolouk.
To the age which witnessed this removal we must attribute the erection of the Aqueduct, Gateway, &c., &c. Strabo gives an account of the way in which the port of Ephesus was ruined. It had always been shallow, and Attalus Phila- delphus. King of Pergamus (B.C. 159-138), and his engineers supposed that by narrowing the mouth of the Cayster the force of the current would carry off the deposit of mud. Accordingly the work was executed, and portions of the embankment wall still remain. But the event was quite opposite to their expectations, for the silt being retained in the port and not carried off by the floods of the river and by the ebb and flow of the sea, rendered the harbour shallow, even to its entrance. Yet the great natural advantages of Ephesus enabled it it bear even this misfortune, and it was still in
ANATOLICA. 45
Strabo's time (B.C. 54 — A.D. 24) the greatest em- porium of all Asia within Mount Taurus.
After the death of Lysimachus (B.C. 281) Ephesus and nearly all the south of Asia Minor fell under the power of the Greek kings of Syria. It was here the exiled Hannibal lived, until the ruin of Antiochus the Great forced him to seek another asylum. Here, also, took place the famous inter- view between Hannibal and his conqueror, Scipio Africanus (Livy xxv. 14). After the defeats of Thermopylae and Magnesia, Antiochus was obliged to surrender all Asia within Mount Taurus, and the Roman Senate then bestowed Ephesus on their faithful ally Eumenes, King of Pergamus.
On the extinction of the Pergamean line of kings it was made a province (B.C. 133). That the Romans did not rule their Asiatic subjects either mildly or justly is evident from the conduct of most of the Asiatic cities during the war with Mithridates. Impelled partly by the threats and promises of Mithridates, but chiefly by hatred of the Romans, they rose in arms, and in a single day slaughtered all of Roman or Italian blood who were settled in Asia (B.C. 88). Appian (" De Bello Mithr.'' xx.-xxi.) gives some shocking details of this tragedy, which recalls to mind similar events in more modern times. Eighty thousand persons are said to have perished in this fearful massacre !
The Temple of Diana — though professedly an inviolable asylum — did not save the unfortunate
46
ANATOLICA.
Romans who fled thither, for the Ephesians tore the suppliants from the very statues of the goddess and put them to death.
Amongst the celebrated citizens of Ephesus were the painters Parrasius and Apelles.
A list of the Christian bishops of Ephesus is given in the " Oriens Christianus." It commences with Timothy and St. John and ends in the year 1 72 1. The number of names given is seventy.
CHAPTER III.
Dr. Richard Chandler's Account of the Temple of the Ephesian Artemis as described by the Ancient Authorities.
Dr. Richard Chandler in his " Voyage in Asia Minor," in 1764, has compiled nearly all that can be found in the ancient writers concerning the famous Temple of the Ephesian Artemis. His account is as follows : —
"We would close our account of Ephesus with the preceding chapter, but the curious reader will ask, what is become of the renowned Temple of Diana ? Can a wonder of the world be vanished like a phantom, without leaving a trace behind ? We would gladly give a satisfactory answer to such queries ; but to our great regret, we searched for the site of this fabric to as little purpose as the travellers who have preceded us.
" The worship of the great goddess Diana had been established at Ephesus in a remote age. The Amazons, it is related, sacrificed to her there on their way to Attica in the time of Theseus, and some writers affirmed, the image was first set up by them under a tree. The vulgar afterwards believed it fell down from Jupiter. It was never changed, though the Temple had been restored seven times.
48 ANATOLICA.
The idol, than which none has been ever more splendidly enshrined, was of a middling size and of very great antiquity, as was evident from the fashion, it having the feet closed. It was of wood which some had pronounced cedar and others ebony. Mutianus, a noble Roman, who was the third time consul in the year of our Lord seventy- five, affirmed from his own observation that it was vine, and had many holes filled with nard to nourish and moisten it, and to preserve the cement.* It was gorgeously apparelled, the vest embroidered with emblems and symbolical devices, and to pre- vent its tottering, a bar of metal — it is likely of gold — was placed under each hand. A veil or curtain which was drawn up from the floor to the ceiling hid it from view, except when service was performing in the Temple.
" The priests of the goddess were eunuchs, and exceedingly respected by the people. The old in- stitutions required that virgins should assist them in their office, but in process of time, these, as Strabo has remarked, were not all observed. The titles of some of the inferior ministers are perhaps recorded on the marble which we found near the entrance of the valley : the sacred herald, the in- censer, the player on the flute at the libations, and the holy trumpeter. It may be imagined that many stories of the power and interposition of the goddess were current and believed in Ephesus.
* Pliny.
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" The most striking evidence of the reality of her existence and of her regard for her suppliants was probably furnished by her supposed manifestation of herself in visions. In the history of Massilice,* now Marseilles, it is related that she was seen by Aristarche, a lady of high rank, while sleeping, and that she commanded her to accompany the Greek adventurers by whom that city was founded.
"MetageneSjt one of the architects of her Temple at Ephesus, had invented a method of raising the vast stones to the necessary height, but it did not succeed so well as was expected with a marble of prodigious size, designed to be placed over the doorway. He was excessively troubled, and weary of ruminating fell asleep, when he beheld the god- dess, who bade him be comforted ; she had been his friend. The next day the stone was found to have settled, apparently from its own weight, as he wished.
" Near the path after passing the Aqueduct at Aiasaluck, in our way from Smyrna, we met with a curious memorial of the importance of the goddess, and of the respect paid to her. It is a decree of the Ephesians inscribed on a slab of white marble, and may be thus translated : — * To the Ephesian Diana. Inasmuch as it is notorious, that not only among the Ephesians, but also ever3rwhere among the Greek nations temples are consecrated to her,
* Strabo, p. 179. f Pliny.
50 ANATOLICA.
and sacred portions ; and that she is set up, and has an altar dedicated to her, on account of her plain manifestations of herself; and that besides the greatest token of the veneration paid her, a month is called after her name ; by us Artemision, by the Macedonians and other Greek nations Artemisi5n, in which general assemblies and hieromenia are celebrated, but not in the holy city, the nurse of its own, the Ephesian goddess : the people of Ephesus, deeming it proper that the whole month called by her name be sacred, and set apart to the goddess, have determined by this decree that the observation of it by them be altered. Therefore it is enacted, that in the whole month Artemision, the days be holy, and that nothing be attended to on them but the yearly feastings, and the Artemisiac panegyris and the hieromenia ; the entire month being sacred to the goddess, for from this improvement in her worship our city shall receive additional lustre and be permanent in its prosperity for ever/
" The person who obtained this decree appointed games for the month, augmented the prizes of the contenders, and erected statues of those who conquered.
"His name is not preserved; but he was probably a Roman, as his kinsman who provided this record was named Lucius Phaenius Faustus. The feast of Diana was resorted to yearly by the lonians with their families.
" A people convinced that the self-manifestations
ANATOLIC A. 51
of the deity before mentioned were real, could not easily be turned to a religion which did not pretend to a similar or equal intercourse with its divinity.
"And this, perhaps, is the true reason why, in the early ages of Christianity, besides the miraculous agency of the spirit in prophetic fits of ecstasy, a belief of supernatural interposition by the Panagia, or Virgin Mary,* and by saints appearing in daily or nightly visions, was encouraged and inculcated. It helped by its currency to procure and confirm the credulous votary, to prevent or refute the cavil of the heathen, to exalt the new religion, and to deprive the established of its ideal superiority. The superstitions derived on the Greek Church from this source in a remote period, and still continuing to flourish in it, would princi- pally impede the progress of any who should endeavour to convert its members to the nakedness of reformed Christianity.
" * Great is the Panagia,' would be the general cry ; and her self-manifestations, like those of Diana anciently, would even now be attested by many a reputable witness. By what arguments shall a people, filled with affectionate regard for her, and feeling complacency from their conviction of her attention to them, and of her power, be prevailed on to accept our rational Protestantism
* See an instance in the year 408. — Sozornen vii. 5.
E 2
52 ANATOLIC A.
in exchange for their fancied but satisfactory revelations ?
"The reputation and the riches of their Diana had made the Ephesians desirous to provide for her a magnificent temple. The fortunate discovery of marble in Mount Prion gave them new vigour.
" Mount Pion, or Prion, is among the curiosities of Ionia enumerated by Pausanias. It has served as an inexhaustible magazine of marble, and con- tributed largely to the magnificence of the city. Its bowels are excavated. The Ephesians, it is related, when they first resolved to provide an edifice worthy of their Diana, were met to agree on importing materials. The quarries then in use were remote, and the expense it was foreseen would be prodigious.
" At this time a shepherd happened to be feeding his flock on the mountain, and two rams fighting, one of them missed his antagonist, and striking the rock with his horn, broke off a crust of very white marble. He ran into the city with this specimen, which was received with excess of joy. He was highly honoured for his accidental discovery, and finally canonised, the Ephesians changing his name from Pyxodorus to Evangelus, * the good messenger,' and enjoining their chief magistrate, under a penalty, to visit the spot and to sacrifice to him monthly, which custom continued in the age of Augustus Caesar.*
* Vitiuvius, lib. x. c. 7.
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"The cities of Asia, so general was the esteem for the goddess, contributed largely, and Croesus was at the expense of many of the columns. The spot chosen for the building was a marsh, as most likely to preserve the structure free from gaps, and uninjured by earthquakes. The foundation was made with charcoal rammed, and with fleeces. (?) The souterrain consumed immense quantities of marble. The edifice was exalted on a basement with ten steps. The architects Ctesiphon of Crete, and Metagenes his son, were likewise authors of a treatise on the fabric. Demetrius, a servant of Diana, and Peonius, an Ephesian, were said to have completed this work, which was 220 years about.
" The distance between the site of the Temple and the quarries did not exceed 8,000 feet, and no rising intervened, but the whole space was level plain. Ctesiphon invented a curious machine, of which a description is preserved, for tran- sporting the shafts of the columns, fearing if a carriage were laden with a stone so ponderous as each was, the wheels would sink deep into the soil.
"Metagenes adopted his contrivance to convey the architraves. These were so bulky that the raising of any one of them to its place appeared a miracle. It was done by forming a gentle ascent higher than the columns, of baskets filled with sand, emptying those beneath when the mass was arrived, and thus letting it gradually down upon
54 ANATOLICA.
the capitals. By this method the prodigious stone formerly mentioned was inserted over the doorway.
" This Temple, which Xerxes spared, was set on fire by Herostratus (on the same night in which Alexander the Great was born, October 13th- 14th, B.C. 3.56), but the votaries of Diana proved so extravagant in their zeal that she was a gainer by his exploit. A new and more glorious fabric was begun, and Alexander the Great, arriving at Ephe- sus, wished to inscribe it as the dedicator, and was willing for that gratification to defray the whole expense, but the Ephesians declined accepting this magnificent offer.
"The architect then employed was the famous projector* who proposed the forming Mount Athos, when he had finished, into a statue of this king.
" The Temple now erected was reckoned the first in Ionia for magnitude and riches. It was 420 1 feet long, and 220 broad. Of the columns, which were sixty feet high, 127 were donations from kings. Thirty-six were carved, and one of them perhaps as a model, by Scopas. The order was Ionic, and it had eight t columns in front. The folding doors or gates had been continued
* This was Cheirocrates, who also was the engineer and planner of Alexandria, in Egypt.
+ Twenty-five. (Mr. Revett.)
X If the Temple was 220 feet broad, and the columns were sixty feet high, it must have had twelve columns in front, for then the pieces of the architrave from centre to centre of the columns would be nineteen feet long, and that in the centre intercolumniation twenty-
ANATOLIC A. 55
four years in glue, and were made of cypress wood, which had been treasured up for four gene- rations, highly polished. These were found by Mutianus, as fresh and as beautiful 400 years after, as when new. The ceiling was of cedar, and the steps for ascending the roof, of a single stem of a vine, which witnessed the durable nature of that wood. The whole altar was in a manner full of the works of Praxiteles. The offerings were inestimable, and among them was a picture by Apelles, representing Alexander armed with thunder, for which he was paid twenty talents of gold. The structure was so wonderfully great in its composition and so magnificently adorned, it appeared the work of beings more than human. The Sun, it is affirmed, beheld in his course no object of superior excellence or worthier of admiration. The Temple of Diana had the privilege of an asylum or sanctuary before the time of Alexander, but he extended it to a stadium, or half a quarter of a mile. Afterwards Mithridates shot an arrow from the Angle of the Pediment, and his boundary exceeded the stadium, but not much. Mark Antony, coming near him, enlarged it so as
three feet in length, in order to extend the breadth of the edifice to 220 feet. The distance of nineteen feet from centre to centre of column will exactly answer to 425 feet, the length of the Temple, supposing the columns to be twenty-three in number and their diameter seven feet. (Note by Mr. Revett, Dr. Chandler's com- panion on his journey.)
S6 ANATOLIC A.
to comprehend a portion of the city, but that concession proving inconvenient and dangerous was annulled by Augustus Caesar.
"We have mentioned before, that the distance of the Temple from the quarries did not exceed 8,000 feet, and that the whole way was entirely level. From the detail now given, it appears that the Temple was distinct from the present city, and the distance may be inferred, for Mark Antony allowing the sanctuary to reach somewhat more than a stadium from it, a part of the city was comprised within those limits. It was, moreover, without the Magnesian Gate, which, I should suppose, was that next Aiasaluck ; and, in the second century, was joined to the city by Damianus, a Sophist, who continued the way down to it through the Magnesian Gate, by erecting a stoa, or portico of marble, a stadium or 625 feet in length, which expensive work was inscribed with the name of his wife and intended to prevent the absence of the ministers when it rained. He likewise dedicated a banqueting-room in the Temple, as remarkable for its dimensions as its beauty. It was adorned with Phrygian marble, such as had never been cut in the quarries before.*
" The extreme sanctity of the Temple inspired universal awe and reverence. It was for many ages a repository of foreign and domestic treasures.
* Philostratus, p. 601.
ANATOLIC A. 57
There, property, whether public or private, was secure amid all revolutions.
" The civility of Xerxes was an example to subse- quent conquerors, and the impiety of sacrilege was not extended to the Ephesian goddess. But Nero was less polite. He removed many costly offerings and images, and an immense quantity of silver and gold. It was again plundered by Goths from beyond the Danube, in the time of Gallienus* a party under Raspa crossing the Hellespont and ravaging the country until compelled to retreat, when they carried off a prodigious booty.
" The destruction of so illustrious an edifice deserved to have been carefully recorded by con- temporary historians. We may conjecture it fol- lowed the triumph of Christianity. The Ephesian reformers, when authorised by the imperial edicts, rejoiced in the opportunity of insulting Diana, and deemed it piety to demolish the very ruins of her habitation.
" Hence, perhaps, while the columns of the Corinthian temple have owed their preservation to their bulk, those of this fabric, with the vast archi- traves, and all the massive materials, have perished and are consumed. Though its stones were far more ponderous, and the heap larger beyond com- parison, the whole is vanished, we know not how or whither. An ancient author has described it as
* In the year of Christ 262.
58 ANATOLIC A.
standing at the head of the port, and shining as a meteor. We may add, that as such too it has since disappeared.
" It has been supposed that the souterrain by the morass or city port, with two pieces of ancient wall of square stone, by one of which is the entrance to it, is a relic of the Temple ; but that spot was nearly in the centre of the city of Lysimachus ; and besides, the Temple was raised on a lofty basement with steps. The edifice was deemed a wonder, not for its form, as at all uncommon, but for the grandeur of its proportions, the excellence of its workman- ship, and the magnificence of its decorations.
"The vaulted substructions* by the Stadium might, it is believed, furnish an area corresponding better with this idea, and more suited to receive the mighty fabric ; which, however, it has been shown above, was in the plain, and distinct, though not remote, from the present city.
"A writert who lived toward the end of the
* These vaulted substructions are in the plain, and support an area high on all sides above the level of the ground, but on this upwards of thirty feet, which, from its extent in length and breadth, may be judged capable of including the peribolus or enclosure of the Temple. The opposite side of this area joins to the foot of Mount Prion, and ex- tends itself parallel with the Stadium, near the length of it, forming a hollow way between them about forty feet wide and eight feet deep, scattered over with broken pedestals and bases of columns, probably the remains of the peristyle erected byDamianus, the length of the stadium. (Mr. Revett.)
t Clemens Alexandrinus, i. p. 44. See the Sibylline verses, lib. v. p. 607.
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second century, has cited a sibyl as foretelling, that the earth opening and quaking, the Temple of Diana would be swallowed, like a ship in a storm, into the abyss ; and Ephesus, lamenting and weep- ing by the river banks, would inquire for it, then inhabited no more.
" If the authenticity of the oracle were undisputed, and the sibyl acknowledged a genuine prophetess, we might infer, from the visible condition of the place, the full accomplishment of the whole predic- tion.
" We now seek in vain for the Temple ; the city is prostrate ; and the goddess gone."
CHAPTER IV.
Ravine near the Azizieh Tunnels — Ancient Aqueduct— A Soldier of the Turkish Contingent in the Crimea — Anecdote of the Damascus Massacre in 1857 — Ravine of the Lethaeus — First View of the Plain of the Mseander — Mount Messogis — Its Beauty — Aidin (Tralles) — Cemeteries in the Maeander Valley — Khan at Nazli — Bazaar at Nazli — The Zeybeks — Zeybek Robbers — Costume — Oui Party — Our Muleteers — Opening in Mount Messogis — The "Asian Meadow " — Stream and Bridge of the Maeander — Valley of the Mosynus — Cafe at Ali Aga Tchiftlik — Formation of the Country — River Ak Soo (Mosynus) — Chalk Cliffs — Verdure of the Countiy — Kara Soo — Its Torrent — Ravines — Khan at Kara Soo — Descent from the Town — Geera (Aphrodisias) — Walls of the City — Great Number of Inscriptions — Gateway — Stadium — Temple of Aphrodite — Agora — Remains of other Temples — Vast Mass of Ruin — Material — Two fine Sarcophagi— Their present Use.
At 9 A.M. we left for Azizieh. Our route lay- through a most beautiful glen, bordered by high mountains on either side, all well wooded. Before the Smyrna and Aidin Railway was made, the caravan road between these two cities passed through this ravine. It had been roughly paved, but is now in bad repair. At intervals were the guard-houses of the zaptiehs, now all in ruin, and cottages once tenanted by the English employed in constructing the line ; a beautiful little stream, buried in thick wood, traverses this glen, and near the Azizieh Tunnel a fine ancient aqueduct crosses the ravine, consisting of two ranges of arches —
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three large below, six smaller above. Except that its ends are broken off it is still in good preserva- tion. Above the lower range of arches runs the following inscription in Latin, with the correspond- ing Greek below : —
DEANA . EPH . ET . IMP . CAESARI . ET . TI . CAESARI . AUG . ET . CIVITATI . EPH . (OFEL)LIUS . PF . VOX . POLLIO . CUM . OFILLIA . A . F . BASSA . UXORE . SUA . ET . O . OFILLIO . PROCULO . F . SUO . CAETERISQUE . LEIBEREIS . SUEIS . PONTEM . DE . SUA . PECUNIA . FACIUNDUM . CURAVIT .
The bushes were full of singing birds, amongst them numbers of blackbirds and nightingales ; large tortoises crawled at the side of the path ; there was a great variety of flowering shrubs and flowers (many English species), but all this verdure disappears during the heat of summer.
Some friends from Smyrna who were to accom- pany us joined us at Azizieh. Whilst waiting for the train I fell into conversation with a man who had served in the Crimea, under British officers, in the Turkish Contingent. He had also been quartered at Damascus during the outbreak of 1857 i^ which so many Christians were massacred, and he told me that the colonel of his regiment had been shot, by sentence of a court-martial, though perfectly innocent of any share in the massacre ! It was commonly reported that some
62 ANATOLICA.
of the most guilty had been suffered to escape and innocent men put to death instead of them.
Between Azizieh and Balajik, the country through which the railway passes resembles the most beautiful ravines in Cornwall or Devonshire. It is a deep dell shut in by lofty mountains, which are crowned with forests of pine and oak. A beautiful little river (the ancient Lethasus) foams along in its rocky bed far below ; luxuriant plane trees and strips of rich pasture border the stream ; torrents fall in silvery cascades from above ; the intermediate heights are covered with yellow broom, and with thickets of arbutus and myrtle. The soil is of a rich red ; here and there patches of gravel, or rocks of sparkling white marble and limestone, diversify its surface.
Near Balajik the railway enters the plain of the Mseander. The distant mountains, especially Besh Parmak, on the south side of the plain, are very beautiful. The chain on the north side, a part of Mount Messogis, is rugged and broken ; it is a succession of peaks green and wooded to the summits, their outlines most fantastic, yet singularly beautiful. At Karabounar the top of Baba Dagh (Mount Cadmus), covered with snow, first appears. At I P.M. we reached Aidin. The modern city lies on the edge of the plain, close under the lowest slopes of Messogis ; the ruins of ancient Tralles are on the high plateau above the town ; but neither then, nor on our return, had we time to visit them.
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Messogis itself is composed of some kind of con- glomerate, with here and there patches of the brightest red colour. The whole range here is broken up into detached hills and peaks in the strangest and most picturesque manner ; the broken summits are thickly wooded, and deep valleys, filled with verdure, run up into the very heart of the chain. These peaks are almost inaccessible, and abound with game, especially with wild boars, which are most destructive to the crops. The Turks shoot them and sell them to the Christians of the country, who have no scruple in eating them. Beyond the nearest range of Messogis rose another range, loftier and less wooded. The range to the south of the plain (Mount Latmus) is in complete contrast to Messogis, being a waving but unbroken chain, with a surface comparatively smooth.
Mr. Bradech, of Aidin, who was to be the leader of our party, had our horses ready, and at 3.30 P.M. w^e started for Nazli.
The plain of the Maeander is the finest district of Anatolia, fertile, well cultivated, and with abundance of wood and water. There is even a good road, enclosed with walls and well-kept hedges in most parts, and on either side of it are olive grounds, vineyards, &c., in the highest state of cultivation ; and it is this district that sup- plies the finest figs and raisins for the Smyrna market.
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Very strange and very beautiful was the appear- ance of the cemeteries ; they are of vast extent ; in some places extending for miles on both sides of the road. They are full of beautiful trees, many of them plane trees of enormous size, and many centuries old. As night came on the deep gloom and silence of these places were most impressive.
Numerous streams from the hills meandered along the road, and at short intervals fountains of excellent water fell murmuring into stone basins, or marble sarcophagi ; these streams are brought down from the hills on the north in conduits ; and it is looked upon as a pious action to defray the cost of such a work.
Our route was as follows: — 4.25 P.M., Imamkeui — near this is a large mineral spring; 5 P.M., Sekkeui; 5.49 P.M., River Kutchak ; 6.15 P.M., Keuschk ; here we halted half an hour for refreshment. Night had now come on, but there was a brilliant moon. We halted again at Aktcha Keui, and, close upon midnight, reached the Khan at Nazli, a large and well-built edifice of stone. A large room, with divans all round it, was assigned to us, a supper of eggs and pilaff was served, and we lay down to sleep.
April 25th. — Rose at 5.30 A.M., and made our toilet at the fountain in the middle of the court- yard. It happened to be market-day ; so after breakfast, and whilst waiting for fresh horses to be brought, we strolled through the bazaars. A few
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years back great part of Nazli was burnt, so that the bazaars are new, and many of the shops have even iron shutters.
We entered the horse market first. The horses of Anatolia are much inferior to the Arab horses of Egypt, and the prices asked were, according to Eastern custom, absurdly high. There was a large quantity of coarse native embroidery, but most of the goods for sale were European. In some of the shops were lumps of frozen snow, for cooling water, sherbet, &c., as in Damascus ; and it being market-day, several sheep were roasting whole before enormous wood fires. Great quantities of madder-root, olives in sacks, cheese, grain, flour, &c., were set out for sale. I saw one man who wore three silver medals for the Crimean war (English, French, Turkish). The appearance of the peasants in their coarse goat's-hair clothing w^as most clumsy ; but strangest of all is the costume of the Zeybeks. These people are de- scended from the ancient Carians, and inherit the daring and intrepid spirit of their ancestors. Not many years ago a formidable revolt broke out amongst them. Even now they are a restless, unquiet set, and the whole of this district is so full of forest and mountain that an outbreak would cause great embarrassment to the Government. It appears, however, that the worst brigands are Greeks from the islands, or Greece proper ; the Zeybeks are better than their reputation ; and.
66 ANATOLICA.
happily, the Turkish Government has no sympathy for brigandage.
I noticed the dress of one Zeybek dandy in particular. He wore a very tall square iez of crimson, with a finely-embroidered turban wound round it ; a gold-embroidered jacket, quite short, and only reaching just below the arm-pits ; the whole throat and breast, as far down even as the pit of the stomach, was bare (this is the custom winter and summer) ; round the stomach, and reaching just below the buttocks, a plaided silk sash was tightly wound, allowing the shape of the body to be seen ; under this was a pair of tight- fitting white breeches, which came to just above the knee ; below these was a bare space, and then tightly-fitting gold-embroidered gaiters. In front of the stomach was a huge leathern belt or case, called a " sillahhlik," with pouches for carrying weapons, knives, cartridges, &c. ; it is generally worn by the country people from Smyrna east- wards up the valley of the Mseander, but it is heavy and inconvenient. The whole costume had a most singular effect. Every one was armed, more or less.
Our party consisted of three gentlemen from Smyrna, Messrs. Stannius, Barth, and Fisher ; Mr. Bradech, of Aidin ; Mr. Seiff, of Dresden ; and myself. Our interpreter was a young Greek of Aidin, who spoke French well, but was not strong; he suffered much from fever on our journey, but towards the end became more accustomed to the
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privations and hardships of travel in such a country. At Nazli, our muleteer, Mehmet, joined us. He was a tall, powerful man, his face deeply pitted with marks of small-pox. We found him an excellent fellow, always good-tempered, obliging, and ready to please. He " got on " admirably with every one, and took great care of us. Mr. Bradech had engaged him, and much of the pleasure of our journey was due to this judicious selection, for be it remembered a good " katerji " (muleteer) is one of the chief points to be attended to. He was to join us for the journey at Denizli ; until then our " katerji " was a stout, jovial old gentleman, also named Mehmet — a good-natured soul, who never hurried himself or allowed any- thing to put him out. The boy "Emin," a strange, funny character, with an ugly but shrewd face, was to accompany our Mehmet. The old Mehmet's voice was soft and musical. Methinks I hear him now, as he gently roused the snoring " Emin," and never lost his temper, however much that mischie- vous individual might provoke him. Truly he was a good soul !
At 9 A.M. we left Nazli. The hills behind the town are a continuation of the Messogis range, lower, but equally broken ; and at the spot where the road turns southwards to the Maeander they are yet lower and less wooded. Opposite Birlebey there is a remarkable opening in them, through which a small river issues, and far behind, a wide
F 2
68 ANATOLICA.
extent of richly-wooded and grassy country may be distinguished through the ravine, apparently a fine upland basin in the bosom of the mountains. Dr. Chandler noticed this, and considered it to be Strabo's " Leimon " (" the meadow "), thirty stadia distant from Nysa, and which Strabo says, " the people of the country considered to be the * Asian meadow' of Homer."
About an hour and a half beyond, a torrent descends in a large waterfall from Messogis and enters the plain not far from the town of Kuyudja. The effect of light and shade on Messogis was exquisite, and the whole plain up to the foot of the mountains was magnificently wooded.
Near the river the ground is marshy, owing to inundations. It is traversed by a stone causeway, which is in many parts quite ruined, and during the winter this road must be nearly impassable, but at present the marsh is covered by the cattle and tents of the Yourouks and Tchingannis (gipsies).
At lo.io A.M. we reached the Mseander. The stream, muddy and rapid, but not now deep, is crossed by a wooden bridge some seventy paces long, which is in a very ruinous state. It is made of transverse beams of wood supported by piles driven into the river bed. We were advised to dismount and to be careful where we walked, as many of the planks were broken. And yet this is the only communication for many miles between the north and south sides of the river !
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Emerging from the cultivated ground near the river we entered a sandy and arid tract. Behind this and parallel with the river ran the richly- wooded chain of the Harpasa mountains, and these turning to our right formed the west side of the Mosynus valley, which we were now about to enter. From the entrance of this valley there is a fine view of the whole range of Mount Messogis westwards till the view is lost in the distance.
This upper part of the Mseander valley is less fertile and less thickly peopled than the lower part. Its soil is sandy or gravelly, and it slopes rapidly from the mountains down to the river. The whole length of the valley is thirty hours on horse- back, and properly to develop the resources of this rich district the Smyrna and Aidin Railway should be extended, but of this there seems little immediate prospect.
Although so early in the season the heat was intense, and at 12.15 P-M. we gladly halted at one of the cafes in the village of Ali Aga Tchiftlik. This pretty little spot is opposite the site of Antiocheia ad Maeandrum, but we did not visit the old city, the heat was overpowering and we much fatigued ; nor could we with the glass distinguish any remains of buildings on the hill where the old city stood. The cafe was full ; amongst the guests I noticed one remarkable figure, a fine athletic negro, armed and dressed in the most picturesque way. The people all seemed friendly, and there
yo ANAI'OLICA.
was a lively conversation amoniif them as tu vv > we were and what coukl be our objf^ct in comi ; amongst them ; some thought we had come fn i Stamboul on a Govern mtMit mission, but th • finally decided that we were only travelling for o* pleasure. Some of them contrasted their o\ condition with ours, saying that we were "fortune ) who could go about in this way where and how \! pleased." We lunched in a garden near the ca under the shade of a magnificent walnut tre afterwards most of us lay down to sleep on mti which the cafeji brought. The warm and perfum air, blue haze over the distant mountains, the s< rustling of foliage, a murmur from the little bro« that watered the garden, now and then a few not from a nightingale, and the soft sleepy plaint the turtle-dove, " Kutcha-ka-ch6e-a-kutcha " such are my memories of the garden at Ali A; Tchiftlik.
At 3 P.M. we again started, and in about an ho passed the village of Yenikeui, situated on a h close by the Ak Soo (Mosynus) river.
The character of the country had quite chang- here. On our right the Harpasa mountains r. parallel with the river and wooded to their sui mits. From their base and at right angles them a series of great rolling hills descends to t river, like so many gigantic " reens " or ridges in ploughed corn-field. Through these the river hi cut its way. Its bed was very deep, and
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70 ANATOLICA.
was a lively conversation among them as to who we were and what could be our object in coming amongst them ; some thought we had come from Stamboul on a Government mission, but they finally decided that we were only travelling for our pleasure. Some of them contrasted their own condition with ours, saying that we were "fortunate who could go about in this way where and how we pleased." We lunched in a garden near the cafe under the shade of a magnificent walnut tree ; afterwards most of us lay down to sleep on mats which the cafeji brought. The warm and perfumed air, blue haze over the distant mountains, the soft rustling of foliage, a murmur from the little brook that watered the garden, now and then a few notes from a nightingale, and the soft sleepy plaint of the turtle-dove, " Kutcha-ka-chee-a-kutcha " — such are my memories of the garden at Ali Aga Tchiftlik.
At 3 P.M. we again started, and in about an hour passed the village of Yenikeui, situated on a hill close by the Ak Soo (Mosynus) river.
The character of the country had quite changed here. On our right the Harpasa mountains ran parallel with the river and wooded to their sum- mits. From their base and at right angles to them a series of great rolling hills descends to the river, like so many gigantic "reens" or ridges in a ploughed corn-field. Through these the river had cut its way. Its bed was very deep, and at
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ANATOLIC A. 7 1
intervals high and precipitous chalk cliffs overhung the stream. The section of these rolling hills, as seen from the river, was somewhat thus. (See sketch.)
Here and there we passed great grassy slopes descending from the mountains at a considerable angle, as evenly as if artificially levelled ; in some cases the terrace would be broken off abruptly, leaving a steep precipice of from 200 to 300 feet in height. (See sketch.)
The general formation of the country is a rapid slope from the mountains on either side down to the river. Seen from a distance, the angle of descent is surprisingly abrupt. The soil near Ali Aga Tchiftlik is a micaceous sand, mixed with chalk ; here and there are patches of the deep red loam already mentioned. Towards Kara Soo, pure chalk succeeds — the hills on the north-east consist almost entirely of it ; and it is from this the river derives its name — " Ak Soo " (" the White Water "). The valley is well cultivated, and full of fine trees ; the roads well kept up, and bordered with hedges. We were surprised at the great extent of the country. " This land was grandly built," said Mr. S. ; and all these great rolling hills and deep valleys were covered with wood, rich grass, and waving crops of corn, all so exquisitely green that even England itself, under its best aspect, could not surpass them. Anything more grand and at the same time more lovely than the scenery we saw
72 ANATOLIC A.
to-day I had never beheld ; yet even this was surpassed by the scenery of - the more remote interior.
We continued to pass up the valley till we could see behind us only the upper corner of the Mseander valley, with Messogis beyond it. Gradually Mount Cadmus appeared, rising to a snow-covered peak, which glittered like silver against the deep blue sky. The country between us and it seemed very vast, and far away in front, another range — the north end of Boz Dagh — closed the view. The town of Kara Soo, where we were to halt that night, is at the top of the great slope above mentioned, and close under the mountains. Its name (" the black water ") is derived from the torrent that passes through it, and which is clearer than the Mosynus, as it does not flow through a chalky soil. We had to ascend to Kara Soo from the river level, and this occu- pied us one and a half to two hours. The ascent is very steep, and we had to cross other deep ravines ON the slope. (See sketch.) These deep torrent beds protected Kara Soo when it was attacked by the rebels under Soli Bey Oglu, in the great revolt of 1739. Night had set in before we reached the khan. We entered the town at about 7.15 P.M., after crossing a large bridge over the stream of the Kara Soo, which flows in a deep rocky bed down to the Ak Soo. The little town, famous for its manufacture of
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ANATOLICA. 73
pottery, seems to be very flourishing; its houses are good, and solidly built of dark stone, though there are many of wood. The khan at which we lodged was entirely of wood, like most of the khans in Anatolia. It was built round a square open space paved with large rough stones, but there seemed to be no particular plan in its con- struction. There was a number of small rooms on the ground floor, and above them a story of similar rooms, with rickety staircases leading to balconies, and a covered gallery running round the square, and into which each room opened. The whole was distorted and out of the perpendicular in the strangest way. The room allotted to Mr. S., myself, and our interpreter, though small, was well matted, and tolerably clean. The khanji supplied our supper — a pilaff, some yaourt, and a pair of tough old hens — and we turned in and slept soundly.
April 26th. — Left Kara Soo at 6.40 A.M. Our course was down to the Ak-Soo and up the opposite slope to Geera (Aphrodisias). We de- scended to the river by one of the many valleys formed by the rolling hills already mentioned ; but the scenery, though fine, was not equal to that of yesterday.
On emerging from the Ak Soo ravine we saw before us the hills above Geera, Mount Cadmus towering above them all, and far on the left a corner of Mount Tmolus, still covered with snow.
74 ANATOLICA.
On our right was a great upland basin, surrounded by mountains, the Harpasa range forming its south- east limit, and gradually diminishing in height till it disappears. The general surface of this basin seemed even, but the glass showed that it was furrowed by numerous torrents and ravines. It was cultivated in a few places, but was mostly in wood and pasture. The high ground we were passing was chalky and sterile.
At 8.40 A.M. we reached the gateway in the wall of Aphrodisias, observing on the sides of the road that led to it many broken columns and sarcophagi.
Aphrodisias stands in the plain between Mount Cadmus and the hills to the east of the Mosynus. Its remains are very extensive, and, owing to the material of which it was built — a close-grained white marble — are still very perfect. The city wall and the Temple of Aphrodite (Venus) are the most interesting objects. A large portion of the former has been removed as far as the level of the ground ; the portion still standing (except in one place, where some good Roman brickwork has been erected) is built of massive cut blocks of white marble, averaging three feet by four in size ; the lower part is of very fine workmanship, the blocks being exactly fitted together. The upper part (like the Aqueduct at Aiasolouk) is the restoration of a later age — perhaps under one of the Byzantine emperors, and after an earthquake. It is a
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ANATOLIC A. 75
congeries of capitals, friezes, architraves, shafts, bases, &c., put together without selection. The inscriptions built into the wall are very numerous and perfect, and of centuries widely remote. It would require many days to copy them, and per- haps not a single inscription has escaped notice by earlier travellers. Part of the gateway is of fine workmanship, but most is a confused assem- blage of blocks.
Over the arch outside is a long inscription defaced, and I could only decipher the words — ^^Ciilp vyisUs y.ou vUns." Near it is a bas-relief of a winged Victory, and a lion roughly carved ; inside the
gate in large characters /^ ^JJ another bas-relief
of a winged Victory, and a finely executed cornice of rams' heads and oxen. The Stadium near the city wall is about 600 feet long by about eighty feet broad. It contains eighteen or twenty rows ot seats, but overgrown with bushes ; the circular ends are in a little better condition than the rest. Of the Temple, fifteen fluted Ionic columns still stand, and a portion of the cella, circular in shape ; it is of very fine workmanship, and built of the finest polished white marble, with the fret ornament, deeply carved upon it
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The Temple has evidently been used for a Christian church, having been adapted for that
76 ANATOLIC A.
purpose by the erection of rude interior walls, and on all sides appear Christian emblems and inscrip- tions.
Near the present Turkish village are the remains of what was perhaps the Agora, with a portico of two rows of red granite columns, upon some of which the architrave still remains, and the site of other columns which have been removed may be still distinguished ; but this building is of inferior style. A few scattered columns still remain erect : two small, with spiral flutings ; two other, very beautiful, belonging to a small temple in ruins of the Corinthian style ; another porticus (perhaps) on the south side of the city ; and in a field, opposite the Great Temple, a large single column, of which only a few feet remain. The whole open space around the Temple and up to the city wall is covered with prostrate columns of marble and granite, and fine fragments of huge size. Much has been removed in the course of ages, here, as in every other ruined city of Anatolia, but the pro- digious mass of ruin still left, and the rich materials employed, testify to the former opulence of the city.
In an enclosure belonging to one of the peasants we saw two large sarcophagi. These are now used for making *' petmez," and one of them is, I believe^ the richly ornamented Byzantine sarcophagus described by Sir C. Fellows. " To what base uses, &c.. Sec." We observed neither
ANATOLIC A. 77
Aqueduct nor Theatre. Aphrodisias had a Christian bishop (the last) in the year 1450 A.D. Of the history of the town almost nothing is known.
CHAPTER V.
Torrents from Baba Dagh (Mount Cadmus) — Parched District — Pass of Tcham Beli — Caffinehs in the Mountain Passes — Tomb of a Muslim Saint — Tcheragh — Cairn — Curious Custom — Mount Cadmus — Plain of Dawas (Taboe) — View from Top of Pass — Torrent Bed at Edge of Plain — The " Stranger's Room " in a Turkish Village — Hospitality of Turks — Kara Hissar — Dwellings, Furniture, and Food of Peasantry — Makuf — Kilidja Bolouk — Number and Beauty of the Children — We lose our Way — Ascent of the Seiteen Yailas — Volcanic Evidences — Forest — Descent of the Mountain — Cafe at the Mouth of the Bedra Pass — Defeat of the French Crusaders under Louis VII. in this Pass — Scenery oi the Bedra Pass — Thunderstorm — Plain of Denizli — Town of Denizli — Khan — Greek Khanji — Eski Hissar (Laodicea) — Aqueduct — Benefactors to the Old City — Its fine Wool — Stadium — Thermae — Gymnasium — Small Theatre — Large Theatre — Odeum — Sculpture — Destruction of the Antiquities of Laodicea — Desolation of the City.
We left Aphrodisias at 12.20 p.m. Our route was through a sandy but well cultivated district, past the villages of Emir Keui and Sekkeui, and across several deep torrent beds cut by the streams which descend from Mount Cadmus when the snow melts ; and to judge from the appearance of the torrent beds these must be terrible streams in spring time. Wonderful for Anatolia, good stone bridges span them ! There seems a scarcity of water along this district. No perennial brook or fountain appears to descend from the mountain on
ANATOLIC A. 79
this side; the soil is full of large rounded boulders mixed with smaller pebbles and sand, as if it had been long submerged.
At about 3 P.M., continually ascending from Geera, we reached the foot of "Tcham Beli " ('* Pine Pass "), otherwise called " Koregoze Beli.*'
This pass has an evil reputation. Not many- years ago Zeybek robbers rendered this road almost impassable, and even now the people of the country tell alarming — perhaps sensational — stories con- cerning it.
Near the top of the mountain passes in this country there is generally a cafe, and it is the custom to stop at all such places and take coffee. The cafejis are in general half brigands, and this is a mild way of levying black mail. The repose, however, the shelter, and the slight refreshment, are always acceptable enough after the steep ascent of the passes, and we never omitted conforming to the custom of the country.
Just before we began the ascent we passed the tomb of a Muslim sheikh. It was a very lovely spot, and evidently much respected by the people. The ascent, though long, was not very steep, and at 4.50 p.m. we reached the cafe. There were no very large pines in the forest which covered all this side of the mountain, but most of the finest had been felled ; many were lying where they fell, for wood is so abundant that often the woodmen do not take the trouble to remove what they have cut
8o ANATOLICA.
down. Many of the trees are cut with the axe several inches deep, near the root ; the turpentine flows towards this part, and after a certain time the tree is felled, and all the wood near the incision is found to be saturated with turpentine. It is then used as flambeaux, candles, &c., under the name " tcheragh." (The same process was described by Theophrastus (B.C. 372-287) more than 2,000 years ago.)
At 5.45 P.M. we reached the top of the pass; near the way side was a large cairn of stones — our people religiously added their quota to the heap . — it was close to the tomb of some holy man or other, and over it was a tree thickly hung with* fragments of rags, &c., votive offerings it may be.
Quite a different style of country appeared when we reached the top of the mountain chain. On our left was Mount Cadmus seen in its length, no longer from one end only. This great chain, with its three principal summits, was of a beautiful ash colour, of various shades, its base thickly covered with forest,
* This must be a relic of some heathen custom, for pure Moham- medanism does not allow such observances. It is, however, common enough in Egypt, and I once observed the same thing at the ruined Temple of Venus, at Af ka, on the Adonis river, in the Lebanon. In the "Thousand and One Nights " (Lane, vol. iii., p. 222) there is a very pretty anecdote connected with this custom. Mr. Lane, I believe, confesses that he can assign no reason or origin for it. But it seems to be a common superstition amongst Muslims that by tying or nailing a small piece of their garments to a tree planted over the grave of some holy personage they may free themselves from any trouble or sickness that afilicts them.
AXA'l'OLICA. 8 1
but all above bare, except the highest peak, in appearance the crater of an extinct volcano, which was still thick with snow and rose to a height of above 6,000 feet.
Before us, far below, lay the plain of Dawas (Taboe) famed for its wheat ; on the opposite side of the plain, seven or eight hours distant, and ex- tending far to the right, was the chain of Boz Dagh (" Ice Mountain "), anciently Mons Salbacum — covered with perpetual snow. Far in the south rose the great snow-clad mass of Ak Dagh (Massi- cytus Mons) in Lycia, more than 10,000 feet high, but only its loftiest summit was visible.
wStill farther to the right we could discern other snow mountains, portions of the chain above Moollah, and many smaller ranges rose on either side of the plain. It was near sunset ; the top of Boz Dagh glittered like beaten gold in the setting sun, but the evening shadows had already settled on the plain, though not sufficiently so to prevent us from distinguishing the dark woodland and the bright green of the young wheat and barley.
Involuntarily we drew bridle, and gazed a while in admiration !*
At the bottom of the pass I noticed the bed of a torrent, close to the edge of the plain ; a slender rivulet was trickling along at the bottom of a chasm
* I saw the same view on our return, but it was early in the day, there WJ\s no contrast of liglit and shadow, and it had by no means the same charm.
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82 ANATOLICA.
full thirty feet deep ; to this depth the stream had cut its way through the soft red soil of the plain. The country was well cultivated, the road good and bordered by hedges or walls of mud brick, and with abundance of fruit and forest trees. At 8.30 P.M. we reached the village of Kara Hissar. There was no khan, so after some delay we were conducted to the " Musaffir odasy " (" Stranger's room.")*
In nearly every village of Anatolia a house is set apart for the accommodation of passengers ; few of them afford much comfort, and this of Kara Hissar was one of the worst we saw. Perhaps in former days, when travellers were less common, the villagers could and did entertain strangers gratis. Now payment is expected for everything except the lodging, and indeed in many places the villa- gers are so poor that they cannot afford to supply the wants of their visitors free of cost.
Still the will is present ; the poor people are kind, friendly, ready to oblige, and the European traveller — though, of course, a great object of curiosity — is generally treated with civility.
In the course of our journey we met only in one instance with an entertainer who absolutely refused all remuneration ; but when we lodged in
• These places, which nearly everywhere afford the only attainable shelter to the traveller, are generally foundations of private charity — perhaps charges upon an estate — often of very old date. Every traveller, whatever be his nationality or religion, may claim shelter in them.
ANATOLICA. 83
the house of a private person, either the servant, or some relative of the master, was always ready to receive our acknowledgment as we were mounting our horses to start. I do not mention this in dis- paragement of the hospitality of the people, for often so large a party as ours must have put our entertainer to much inconvenience, and the present given was but an equivalent for what we had con- sumed.
Knowing the custom of the country, we expected that food would have been brought. On the con- trary, not only were we left supperless, but even our muleteer had great difficulty in obtaining a little grass for our horses, and no barley could be had. However, some firewood was brought, and we lay down on the floor of the room to sleep ; as might be expected, the night was far from agreeable. We were the more surprised as one of our party had visited this village about three years before and met with a very different reception, for he had been treated with the utmost kindness, and the chief people of the place had called to see him. Next morning we had some little explanation of their conduct. These people were miserably poor, owing to the exactions of the Government tax- gatherers. Still we had offered to pay for what we needed. Perhaps some party of travellers before us had treated the villagers badly, and they visited the faults of others upon us, or they may even have supposed us to be European employes sent by the
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84 ANATOLICA.
Government upon some mission, and therefore they wished to appear poor. -
And now to give a short description of the houses, furniture, and food of the country people.
The dwellings of the peasantry are nearly alike over the whole interior, except in the large towns. They consist of one low room square or oblong in form, often without a window, and only lighted from the open door. I speak here of the men's dwelling only : the women of the family almost invariably live apart. The walls are of clay mixed with straw, less often, of stones set in clay (a house of regular masonry is exceedingly uncommon), sometimes of wood. The flooring is of clay, the roof of rough poles, over which is laid brushwood and clay. The roof projects beyond the main wall of the hut in front, and is supported by posts, thus forming a kind of porch — indeed, the Greek Temple is nothing but a refined imitation of the peasant's hut. These upright posts rest upon blocks of stone — the spoil of some ancient temple or theatre when not too distant — and are thus prevented from sinking into the ground. In general each hut has also a fragment of an antique column, which serves to roll the clay roof and so keep it watertight. The fireplace is large, and, unlike the village houses of Syria, has a chimney, for here in winter large wood fires are necessary.
In the matter of furniture the oriental is not luxurious. A few copper pots, dishes, and ewers, a
ANATOLICA. 8.5
stool to serve as table, some quilted cotton mat- tresses for sleeping, a few cushions laid upon the mats against which to rest the back when seated on the floor — but this is a refinement not often seen — such is the usual furniture of the peasant's hut. As they eat together from the same dish or casserole, plates are superfluous ; knives and forks are not required, for have they not their fingers r They lie down on the floor to sleep in the same clothes they have worn during the day. Having little or nothing to lose, they are not afraid of thieves, and the door is only fastened at the top by a kind of slight latch, which can be easily opened from the outside. It must be said, too, that they are in general very honest. The position of their villages is almost always good. As the plains are not healthy they usually choose the side of a hill, and are careful to secure a supply of good water. Land is not of much value in Anatolia, so that their huts are built at some distance apart. The door is open all day long, and they live mostly in the open air, so that the sanitary state of their villages is thus better than might be expected. Their food consists of farinaceous matters, eggs, a few vege- tables, and various preparations of milk ; meat they do not taste from one year's end to another. Their bread is simply flour and water mixed and poured out in a thin paste upon a hot iron plate to bake, or rather to be warmed through. Their drink is water, milk, or coffee without sugar.
86 AXATOIJCA.
Many of the Osmanlis have learnt the vice of drinking to excess, but the peasant is one of the most temperate of men, and even if his religion did not forbid him to drink fermented liquors, his circumstances in most cases would prevent it.
Such is the style in which the Turkish peasant of Anaiolia lives. It would be difficult for a man to exist with less. Even tobacco, of which he is a great consumer, is now much dearer, owing to the Tobacco Regie (the new regulation lately estab- lished by the Government). But whatever other privations there may be, at least the climate is exquisite. For the greater portion of the year mere existence is a pleasure in that land ; but it is sad to see the condition of the peasantry, deser\dng as they are of something better !
April 27th. — Left Kara Hissar at 6.15 A.M. In half an hour we reached Makuf. This is on the site of the ancient Trapezopolis, but nothing seems to be left of the old town except a few fragments of wall. The soil here is of red or pale yellow loam, disposed in rolling hills, like those of the Mosynus valley, but not so beautiful. We had now been gradually ascending for two days, and were high above the level of the Maeander valley. Our route was parallel to the line of Mount Cadmus.
At 8.10 A.M. we reached the large and flourishing village of Kilidja Bolouk. The small children of the village were very numerous, and I could not help noticing the great beauty of many among
xWATOLTCA. 87
them. All over this mountain district the children are fine healthy looking little creatures, with ruddy complexions and often fine blue eyes and blonde hair. Two little fellows, apparently brothers, were quite delighted at our passage, and laughed and waved their hands till we were out of sight.
At about 10 A.M. we reached Sara Ova, and were proceeding as Kieppert's map indicated towards the pass, between the east end of Cadmus and Khonas Dagh, intending thus to reach Denizli. Here we fell in with three Turks on horseback, who were looking for partridges (the "ajil'' of Syria). They were well mounted, had dogs, guns, and a decoy partridge in a cage. They told us we had come out of our way, that the road we were now following was very circuitous, Denizli being eight hours distant by that route. We should have turned on our left tov.^ards the mountain near an overshot mill we had passed ; this would have brought us into the Bedra Pass, the direct road to Denizli. They advised us to cross the Seiteen Yailas, a shoulder of Mount Cadmus, and so to enter the pass. Accordingly we followed a deep ravine leading to the foot of the mountain, by which, they said, we should find a practicable path leading over the summit.
The ascent was so steep that we were obliged to dismount, and, after passing through a thick forest of pine and oak, we reached the summit in three- quarters of an hour ; the heat was great, but the
88 ANATOLICA.
pure mountain air kept away fatigue. The three great ash-coloured peaks of Mount Cadmus towered high above us ; behind us, far below, lay the plain of Dawas ; between us and Khonas Dagh lay a wide district, like a deep amphitheatre, full of forest and pasture, with scanty patches of cultiva- tion. It is only when one sees it from a height that the vast extent of this wonderful country can be perceived. Khonas Dagh is another great mountain, separate from Cadmus, in shape like an inverted basin, with very steep sides, its top covered with snow, its lower slopes thick with pine forest. All these mountains are volcanic, and everywhere are traces of the convulsions of Nature which cast up their mighty mass. The soil is of tufa, and of lava in every shade of red, green, and yellow ; in some places the rock is calcined to a pale ash colour, in others it is of the deepest red. I did not notice any continuous lava stream like those around Vesuvius, but our observation was, of necessity, limited, and the whole surface of the soil is composed of tufa, with fragments of calcined rock and lava of every shade. At intervals patches of mica-schist occurred — in colour greenish or yellow and brown, with bright, sparkling surface. The heat in the ravine had been excessive. On the top we enjoyed a cool and refreshing breeze, and, after a short rest, we descended the side of the mountain, following the cattle paths through the thick forest. The descent was very abrupt,
ANATOLICA. 89
and we were soon obliged again to dismount and lead our horses. The fragrance of the pines was delicious, and amongst many other beautiful flowers I observed large beds of primroses, a ^ plant I had not seen for now eleven years, and which recalled pleasant memories of bygone days. Heavy rain had fallen here on the previous day, and everything was fresh and fragrant.
Our guide led us directly down the mountain side, and in about an hour from the summit we reached a cafe on the main road to Denizli. Here reposing on turf, green as an emerald, we rested by the stream, under a fine plane-tree. The cafe was on a little patch of level ground, shut in by lofty precipices. Many singing birds warbled all around, and the sound of the wind in the forest was strangely sad and musical.
We were now close to the Bedra Pass, which leads due north to Denizli. It was in this neigh- bourhood— indeed it must have been in this very pass — that the French Crusaders, in 1148, under Louis VII., met with a great disaster. After forcing the passage of the Maeander, and defeat- ing the Turkish army near Laodicea, they were carelessly advancing through the mountains to the south of Denizli, when their rearguard was surprised and destroyed by the enemy. Amongst the slain were thirty of the principal " seigneurs " in the army ; and the King himself, forced to fight with his own hands, narrowly escaped death or
go AXATOLICA.
capture at the hands of the infidels. Otho de Deuil, an eye-witness of the event, speaks of the inaccessible precipices above their path and the deep gulfs below ; a description to which this defile exactly answers.
At 3 P.M. we resumed our journey. A few hundred yards from the cafe the most difficult part of the pass begins. Like the Tcham Beli, it is said to be the scene of frequent robberies ; indeed a man was then resting at the cafe who told us he had been robbed and stripped of his clothes a few days before.
At intervals we passed great caverns hollowed out in the steep rock precipices. The road is execrable, but the scenery wonderfully grand. The pass is here a tremendous ravine through the mountain chain, and in several spots the road ran along the edge of precipices 800 or goo feet deep, down which a stone could be thrown. The mountains rise steeply above on all sides. There was not a house in sight ; but high above, on the grassy slopes, and far away on the opposite side of the gulf, we could distinguish a few tents of the Yourouks, the only dwellers in that wild place.
The deep torrent beds, which seamed the moun- tain sides, were bordered with fine walnut-trees not yet in leaf; and the spring seemed fully a month later here than in the plains. As before, we were much surprised at the extent and ver- dure of the mountain pastures.
AXATOl.ICA. 91
As we descended from the pass on to the plain of the Lycus, by a steep rock staircase, a thunder- storm, which had been raging on the other side of the plain, over Hierapolis, burst upon us. We could see it gradually approaching, and when we reached the northern end of the pass the rain began to fall in torrents, with very violent thun- der and lightning. Hierapolis lay almost due north about five hours distant, and the high cliff on which the old city stood, covered with broad patches of white incrustation, shone faintly through the mist, like a floating cloud. We reached the khan at Denizli at 7.30 P.M., in the midst of very violent *] ic^L-iix • i Pfeilizii is ^sti^a^^^lifigtown of some 15,000' or ;2*6,'666' petjpi'e)' full' 'b'f' gardens and fine trees, iciijid' '.lye^llj '»upp|i6"4o MH'l-h; ' eiecfc,llent water. Its streets haW 'd toie'rkbly 'good -pci^ed' causeway, run- ning up the mid4l6',<^^^^'^^' roadway. Our khan w^as new and clean ; 'but' Yhfe-'khanji, a Greek, had been indulging too much in raki, and in consequence paid no attention to our wants. As an instance of the barbarous way of living in these lands, I may mention that our interpreter, feeling the ap- proach of fever, desired some hot water for his feet ; but the khan could not supply a vessel large enough either to heat the water required or to serve as a bath for the feet.
April 28th. — A splendid morning followed the
»
heavy rain of yesterday. We left Denizli at 9.25 A.M., having been delayed by the difficulty we
92 ANATOLICA.
found in making some necessary purchases. It was the Greek Easter Sunday, and the Greek shops were nearly all closed ; but we found a man who sold what we required. At first he made a scruple about selling, but at last, observ- ing that we " were strangers, and on a journey," he allowed us to have what we needed. The charge, however, was high ; so perhaps he quieted his conscience by adding a few piastres to the price.
At 10.35 A.M. we reached Eski Hissar (Lao- dicea). On the way we searched in vain for the hot spring, like that of Hierapolis, which is said to have supplied the ^ baths of the oM -city, t The villagers livings on the S'pot' knew "nothing of it. But we passed the'-reBraims cf a large .aqueduct, the arches and piers of which "v/ere co-C^ered with incrustation deposited by the- wsneih <
Laodicea was built on < -an' "irregular oval hill, V lyii^g" east and west. This hill is part of a chain
of broken hills of chalk, or chalk-like tufa, which rises in the middle of the plain of the Lycus, and corresponds with the Hierapolis chain on the other side of the plain. The town walls, which can be traced without much difficulty, enclosed a large extent of ground.
Its former prosperity may be inferred from the style and great size of its public buildings. Strabo says it became great in his time, and in that of the preceding generation, partly from the benefactions
ANATOLICA. 93
of some very wealthy citizens,* partly from the excellent quality of the wool produced there. This, he says, was softer than the wool of Miletus, and of a deep glossy black {x.opac^'h xp^^f " raven colour," he calls it). All this district seems to have possessed a similar property, for Colossse also produced wool of equal excellence. Many of the public buildings of Laodicea were of solid white marble ; but most of limestone, perhaps, in many instances covered with plaques of marble.
We examined the Stadium first. It is about 220 ^ yards long, but the rows of seats are much over- grown with brushwood, and many of them have been: quite 'f-femtiyeci. lAl} '^^o^g llie\ north side of the Stadium is* a ma'ss'of "bliildirfg' of very solid but coars^"- 'conitriicUonV. fj^t :eit}i6ir\ end a few arches remain* (four' at 'tKe east,' nihe*"a;t "the west). The central portioH ;C(7i1te!m'^ ' a few apse-like recesses (perhaps niches" 'for 'Vt^fues), some facing west, others north ; but all in so ruinous a state that nothing can be clearly made out. The east end of the building may have been the Gymnasium, and
* Amongst these were Hieron, who bequeathed to the citizens more than 2,000 talents (nearly ^500,000), and adorned the city with many gifts besides ; afterwards the rhetorician Zeno, and his sou Polemon, who for his many excellent qualities was made head of the State of Laodicea by Antonius, and confirmed in that honour by the Emperor Augustus. In a.d. 62 the city was partially destroyed by an earthquake ; but, without any State aid, the damage was made good by the citizens (Tacitus, Ann. xiv. 27). A Christian Church was early founded here (i Colossians iv. 15) ; but was soon corrupted (Rev. iii. 14 — 18). The town flourished even to the middle ages.
94 ANATOLICA.
the Thermae must have been here, for in the mass of masonry at the extreme east end there is a number of large earthen water-pipes, which are either quite filled with a stony deposit, or covered with it and embedded in it, a curious illustration of the petri- fying quality of the water throughout this district.
Inside the end of the Gymnasium stood a fine column of red-veined marble. Only a portion of it is left, and the corresponding column or columns have been removed. This, too, was covered with a thick stony crust, looking like a coating of plaster.
No mortar had been employed in all this struc- ture, and there must be a great accumulation of rubbish inside : it, ]tl^e;'mH*30Qr;^ being^' far ^tbo, mas- sive for its presfefit 'height.' ' Lying 'a little to the north, and connp/:'te(^^'\^^i{1l'; the'fvyrnrn'asi'iinV, is a long building ofveVy "solid cdnslriictiori, wfth eight or nine doorways, and ba;s6s , bf^cMbmns in situ — perhaps a Palaestra. .•■'•"•'■ ••• " •
On the north side of this building, and facing Mount Cadmus, is a small Theatre, but it is com- pletely ruined, and only a few of the seats remain. Exactly opposite the small Theatre, but more to the north, is a large Theatre, 364 feet in exterior diameter. It contains fifty-five rows of seats, with V a diazoma about half-way down. The angle at
which the seats are built is very steep : the cavea exceeds a semicircle, and the scena lies 7vithin the curve of the orchestra ; but all in ruin, and covered with heaps of debris. A remarkable feature in its
ANATOLICA. 95
construction is a deep and wide recess, of a semi- circular form, in the middle of the ''pulpitum."
Beyond the Theatre are fragments of large columns, but it is not easy to say of what building they formed part. The Odeum (or perhaps another Theatre), facing the west, and entirely of marble, is in a little better preservation, but only fifteen or sixteen rows of seats remain. There are nine staircases down the cavea for the passage of spectators.
Next the Odeum, and still towards the north, are the remains of a very fine building, constructed of large blocks of white marble, but quite ruined ; also of a second, but of limestone. To the north- west stood a basilica, but only its foundations remain. The whole slope of the hill towards west and north is covered with sarcophagi, all broken or displaced ; and a street of tombs seems to have extended westwards to a bridge of three arches, which crossed the ravine to the west down which the Caprus runs ; but the arches have fallen.
We searched in vain for an inscription ; but while resting on the south-west side of the hill one of our party discovered, amidst the pieces of marble strewn on every side, two fragments of sculpture, one the head of a child, and the other a head of a young girl ; but small as these were, they had not escaped iconoclastic zeal, for in either the nose had been carefully destroyed. The proximity of Denizli has caused much ruin to the antiquities of
96 ANATOLICA.
Laodicea. A Turk was then at work removing some of the marble seats of the Theatre ; and one of our party, who had visited this place ten years pre- viously, said that he had then seen a Greek mason ^ hewing in pieces the really fine bas-reliefs under
the scena of the north theatre, to form Muslim tombstones ! On the same occasion he had found the foot of a colossal male statue, but it was too heavy to remove. If the Ottoman Government would permit excavations to be made at Laodicea, no doubt much might be discovered. There is a small hamlet at the south-east corner of the hill on which the old city stood, but all else is utterly desolate. The threatened rejection of the Church that was "neither hot nor cold" before God — that, amidst all her wealth, knew not that she was "wretched, and miserable^ and poor, and blind, y and naked " — has been fully accomplished !
i
CHAPTER VI.
Bridge over the Caprus — The Ak Soo (Lycus) — Our Lodging at Hierapolis (Pambouk Kalesy) — Tree full of Storks' Nests — View over the Plain of the Lycus — Our Host's Family — Turkish Women in a better position than Arab Women — Their Musical Voices — Position of Hierapolis — Effect of the Petrifying Waters — Watercourses — Deposit of Calc TufF — The Cascade — Basins in it— Heat of the Water — Its Properties — Pine Water-vessels — Visit to the Ruins — Bridge over the Ravine to the West — Mau- solea— Rock Tombs— Street of Tombs^Sarcophagi— Ruins of great Church — Monument of Stephanus — Other Ruins — Theatre — Great Source — Its Depth — Deadly Exhalations of Carbonic Acid Gas — Ancient Accounts of the Plutonium— Strabo— Pliny— Dion Cassius — Thermae — Gymnasium — Epictetus — Greek Chuich suppressed by the Latin Crusaders — Wool of Hierapolis— Its present Desolation — Return to Smyrna of most of our Party.
At 1.50 P.M. we left Laodicea, and passing under the bridge over the Caprus, turned north to Hiera- polis. We crossed the Lycus at 2.48 P.M., finding it rapid, shallow, and turbid with white mud. A ride of three-quarters of an hour brought us to the foot of the cliff of Hierapolis,, and we were lodged in a cottage, near which ran a branch of the hot stream from the cliff. At the side of our lodging was a tree not more than twenty feet in height, but with wide-spreading branches. In this tree not less than seven pairs of storks had built their nests, each consisting of a huge bundle of sticks. The birds, never being molested, showed not the least
98 ANATOLICA.
sign of fear, though their nests were almost within reach of the hand ! From the door of our lodging was a fine view of the mountains and the plain of the Lycus, the latter gloomy and solitary, its chalky soil sparsely cultivated and full of marshes, with scarcely a tree to relieve the monotony of its sur- face. In front, on our extreme left, rose Khonas Dagh, eighteen or twenty miles distant ; next came the long chain of the Seiteen Yailas ; then Mount Cadmus, gradually subsiding into the plain. On its north side it was still thickly covered with snow ; but on the south, snow only remained on the highest peak. Between this and the mountain above Tri- polis (Boyudjak Dagh) the view was closed by a part of Messogis, and a little corner of yet another chain appeared in the extreme distance. From Boyudjak Dagh the hills circle round, until they join the heights behind Hierapolis.
The owner of the cottage in which we lodged had married a Yourouk w^oman. She had a dark but healthy complexion, and splendid teeth. Seve- ral other women of the village came in. They wore no veil, and some were very good-looking, w4th fine blonde complexions. Their children were of great beauty. In every way the women of this country seem superior to the women of Egypt, and they receive far greater consideration from their husbands. Here, for instance, one never hears*
xj * I particularly noticed here the soft musical voices of the women.
Their language, which is singularly euphonious, may have something
ANATOLICA. 99
the disgraceful abuse and wrangling so common between the Egyptian husband and wife.
The ancient Hierapolis was built upon a plateau or shelf in the side of the mountains to the north of the Lycus, and about 1,700 feet above sea level. The south edge of the plateau is formed by a cliff of travertine (or in great part of travertine), resting upon the mountain limestone, and about 300 feet in height ; and behind the city, to the north, rise well-wooded mountains, up to which the ground rapidly slopes. About half-way between the cliff and the base of the hills, and nearly three- quarters of a mile distant from either, is the famous source of hot water. Its waters have flowed over the cliff, at different spots, along a distance of several miles, covering the whole face of the pre- cipice more or less thickly with a deposit of porous stone (calc tuff) ; and wherever a branch of the stream has descended, a long rib of stone, often of considerable height, has gradually been formed, stretching out into the plain like a lofty water- course, along the top of which the water continues to flow. There are seven well-defined spots at which the stream has flowed over the cliff at various ages. The oldest deposit is of a dull ash colour, the newer white. Close to the present cascade it is of the purest white, like fine salt. In
to do with it ; but it is a peculiarity of the race. The voice of the Egyptian women is harsh, grating, and most unpleasant ; but the negro and Abyssinian slave women resemble the Turks in this respect.
H 2
loo ANATOLICA.
some places a little branch of the stream leaves a deposit tinged with red ; in others, of a bright
V yellow colour, like sulphur ; near the large fall again, it is of a beautiful grey. At the foot of the fall are a number of small shallow basins, one above another. These are formed of the stone which is deposited gradually by the water as it drips from the edge of the upper basins into those below. The water in these basins varies in colour from the faintest pearly blue (which is exquisitely beautiful) to blue with a tinge of red or yellow. Above are much larger basins, snowy white, with strong projecting ribs (like the pipes of an organ) descending from their edges and converging be- low. Of course the shape and size of these basins are continually changing.
In many places masses of herbage, leaves, flowers, sticks, moss, &c.., have been matted to- gether and covered with the deposit ; but these beautiful objects are too fragile to bear carriage. It is a singular and very beautiful phenomenon. The cliff is easy to mount ; everywhere the ground
x/ sounds hollow, and its whole surface is covered with stony ribs in the most regular manner, like wave marks on firm sand. These form an innumerable number of small basins, none exactly alike, nor at the same level, but each surrounded by a small rim. Wherever the water runs over these ribs, the whole surface of the cliff seems to be in motion in the strangest way. The hot water of the source is
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strongly charged with carbonic acid gas, which it ^ loses when it is exposed to the air ; and then the water deposits on everything over which it flows a fine pearly alkaline substance, like salt or snow. At a distance of fully a mile from the great spring the water still retains its heat, and minute bubbles of air form on the surface of the body when bathed in it, so that when held under water it looks like frosted silver.
The water is of a mawkish taste, slightly acid, and ferruginous, and it is so soft that no soap is needed for washing or to remove grease spots. It is not wholesome, and good drinking water must be brought from a considerable distance ; but after the water of the source has been thoroughly ex- posed to the air it loses its injurious properties, and though not palatable, may be drunk. Here I saw for the first time the wooden vessels used for carry- ing water. They are made of a section of the pine : the inside is hollowed from below, and the bottom is closed by another piece of wood exactly fitted into it. These vessels are very durable and strong.
Our accommodation was poor; but, thoroughly tired, we lay down upon the mats and slept as best we could.
April 29th. — We began our examination of the old city from the west side. After passing about a mile along the base of the cliff, we turned up a ravine on our right, and ascended to the plateau on which the citv stood.
I02 ANATOLIC A.
Both on the east and west of the city is a long street of tombs. The road, in continuation of the western street, was here carried over the ravine by a bridge. A branch of the stream from the great source has at some time flowed over this bridge / and covered it with the stony deposit from its
waters. The constant dripping of the waters has gradually filled up the arches, till it now forms nearly a solid wall, some thirty feet in height, across the ravine.
On an eminence to the west of the ravine is a very massy sepulchral building. Its interior is divided into stories, but the spaces are not large enough to contain sarcophagi such as those that were lying around. Outside, upon the top of the building, is placed a large sarcophagus with coarse bas-reliefs carved upon it ; and probably the stages in the interior were intended to receive funereal urns. Many rock tombs and mausolea are on the sides of the ravine ; amongst others, one with an inscription in large letters, but only in part legible : —
/3ov){?^ ets (xnapoLLT-oTOV .y£Qov61oL
TTVZtOLS^. A..AEEIZ .. . SCQCLVOOTLKCLIC. .
AIETASETO
Tl(3' k1^ KAEriNOZ APXlEPEaE
00- MODXAI AIE
K\EnNoi: AiioXm
* For ncv^ioii ?
ANATOLIC A. 103
The mixture of letters in the inscription is curious. This man may have been a high priest of Cybele, whose worship prevailed in Hierapolis.
In a ravine to the north-east of this street of tombs is the ruin of a large Christian church of octagonal form, and with the cross inscribed upon it in many places. The street of tombs extends for about half a mile. It is bordered by a great number of sarcophagi, in some parts three or four deep, and presenting a great variety of shape. Some of them are really beautiful, but not one remains unopened or uninjured, and of the in- scriptions not one of the many we examined was legible throughout. The material of w^hich these monuments are made is the mountain limestone, V which is less durable than marble, and in almost every case fine lichen has overgrown the crumbling surface of the stone and obscured the outline of the letters. Here and there portions of an inscrip- tion may be found more sheltered, and therefore in a little better preservation, but most cannot now be deciphered.
Very solemn and impressive these lines of massy funereal monuments must have been while as yet comparatively new and uninjured. Many of them are of great size.
About the middle of the street of tombs is a wall of very solid and massive masonry, and close to it the remains of a large and handsome church, built of large blocks of stone, without mortar, and
I04
ANATOLICA.
V
with great open arches. Over the arches is carved the labarum
Near it, on the other side of the street, is a large sarcophagus, thus inscribed in large and deeply cut letters : —
TOTTO TO HPaON
STEOANHI
HEPrA2IATnNBAcDE<QN.
(The Dyers' Company [erected] this monument to Stephanus.)
Beyond this is a triumphal archway (of three arches), with a round tower on either side. It bears a Latin inscription, of which only part is legible. The corresponding Greek is below it : —
SICO PONT MAX TRIB POTE.
3^eyond this is a double row of half-columns [i.e. having the back part flat). The street passes be- tween them ; but all are prostrate, and behind them are the ruins of private houses. The space between these and the columns had been roofed over and served as a portico or covered way, such as existed in most of these ancient cities.
ANATOLICA.
105
Next we passed through the City Gate, with fragments of wall on its north side ; the arch of the gateway is closed with massive blocks of stone, and the doorway is thus left square as at Kremna and several other places. On its inner side is inscribed the cross —
A few yards beyond this is another gateway, with a wall extending towards the hill on the north. The edge of the cliff was on the south, not many yards distant. Richly carved fragments of marble lie scattered about, or are built into the inner gate.
FragmeTi.ts>>
vVall extending towards Kills.
Road towards TLcrijiae.
PLAN OF PART OF THE RUINS OF HIERAPOLIS.
X. Street of Tombs.— 2. Massy Wall.— 3. Ruins of large Church.— 4. Tomb of Stephanus. — 5. Triumphal Arch with Towers. — 6. Colonnade (all fallen). — 7. City Gate.— 8. Inner Gate.— 9. Precipitous Cliff.
A watercourse — now dry — passes from the great
V
V
io6 ANATOLIC A.
source towards these gateways. A branch of the stream has at some time been turned in this direction, and the water has fastened together, with its stony deposit, the ruins and debris of the city over which it flowed in its course. Columns and fragments of all kinds are embedded in the stone, the whole forming a kind of wall several feet above the present level of the ground. Be- yond this watercourse are the remains of a large solidly built edifice, with five circular recesses ; over each is a smaller square recess, perhaps intended to receive a statue. The upper part of this building has been restored at a late age in the same way as the Aqueduct at Aiasolouk, all sorts of fragments having been inserted in the wail.
On a higher part of the plateau, and at the side of the hill, is the Theatre, looking towards the south-west. It is less injured than any we had yet seen, and commands a fine view over the site of the old city. There are twenty-five rows of seats above the diazoma, twenty below it, others perhaps being hidden by rubbish. In the w^all behind the diazoma are some niches, intended perhaps as waiting places for messengers or attendants on the spectators. Its diameter (ex- terior) is 346 feet, interior 100 feet. The scena, with the rooms for the actors, still in great part remains. There are five doorways in the scena, four small and one large ; these are ornamented
ANATOLIC A. 107
along the sides and lintel with sculptures, some finely executed. The inscription over the great doorway is illegible, and before the gateway lies the usual confused heap of bas-reliefs, columns, &c. ; one or two figures, however, have escaped demolition. There are four vomitoria : two round for the upper rows, two square for the lower. In the centre of the "pulpitum" there appears to have been a deep niche.
South of the Theatre is the great source ; it is a large and deep pool of water, of a slight blue tint. We had no means of measuring its depth, but we could see at a depth of about tv^^enty or twenty-five feet fragments of columns and portions of a w^ell- made marble pavement. On one side of the pool is a deep rift in the rock at the bottom. The eye cannot penetrate far into this gloomy gulf, but it must be of great depth. Probably this deep reservoir was artificially formed to collect the water of the hot spring (for its sides are steep as if the rock had been cut), and the white marble pavement was then laid at the bottom. The effect of the blue tinted water above the pure white marble was, no doubt, very beautiful. It would seem also that a temple once stood over the source, and its fragments, thrown down perhaps by an earth- quake, are still faintly visible through the clear water. The same force has rent and distorted the solid wall-like watercourses formed in the
\-/'
1 08 ANATOLICA.
course of ages by the different streams that have issued from the source. From every hollow in the ground along the bottom of the hill, from every little patch of marsh, carbonic acid gas issues with a hissing sound ; bubbles of the gas rise incessantly from the bottom of the great source and mount upwards to the surface, like flickering particles of silver. The villagers told us that several persons had been drowned while bathing here, overpowered by the noxious gases, but, as they thought, dragged down by an "efreet" who lived in the spring. Goats, too, were some- times killed, and one of our party found two sparrows just dead ; they had alighted to drink and were stifled by the vapour. Doubtless the exhalations from the waters and earth are some- times very concentrated and deadly.
Strabo (xiii., 4), after speaking of the hot spring, mentions the Plutonium, " a deep aperture under a small cliff in the hill side above the town, large enough for a man to enter. In front of it was a square enclosure about fifty feet in circum- ference, and this is filled by a thick, misty vapour, so that it is difficult to see the ground. The air outside this enclosure is quite pure in calm weather, but all animals that enter it die directly: even bulls are killed by the vapour. But the eunuch priests of Cybele (a,moy.mo\. Fdxxoi) can go in without hurt, so that they even approach the aperture and stoop down and look into it — and
«
ANATOLICA. 109
plunge into it — so long as they hold their breath firmly, which they did till they seemed to be choking. Perhaps all eunuchs had this immunity, or perhaps only the eunuchs of this temple could do so ; or they were saved by a divine Providence, as in cases of enthusiasm ; or perhaps employed strong antidotes." He is in doubt which.
Pliny (lib. ii., cap. 93), after mentioning similar deadly exhalations at Soracte, Sinuessa, Puteoli, Amsanctus, &c., speaks of the Plutonium ot Hierapolis as being " innocuous to the priest of the Mighty Mother [i.e., Cybele) only." Dion Cassius (lib. Ixviii., cap. 27), speaking of Trajan's visit to an orifice in the earth near Babylon, from which a deadly mephitic vapour rises, says that he had " himself examined another similar aperture at Hierapolis, in the province of Asia, and made trial of the vapour with birds, and himself stooped over and looked at the vapour — that it was enclosed in a kind of receptacle (iv ^E^x{jt.svYi rm)y and there was a place from which to see it (S-e'ar/jov), and that it kills all animals, except men who are eunuchs ; he did not know the reason, but relates exactly what he saw and heard," &c.
Probably this aperture has long been blocked up. We saw nothing resembling it. Caution is necessary in examining the spring, or the unwary- walker may suddenly fall into one of the many deep gulfs of hot water ; the marshy ground
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no ANATOLIC A.
round the source is full of them, and they are often half hidden by a thick fringe of rushes growing round their margin.
On the edge of the cliff, and not far from the waterfall, are the remains of the Thermae and Gymnasium — enormous masses of ruin. Of the Thermae a huge vaulted hall and mighty arches remain, connected with the Gymnasium by walls of immense solidity. Along their outer base runs the principal channel of the hot water from the source. All these buildings are constructed of great blocks of limestone, without mortar, but admirably fitted together, and from the holes in the stones they seem to have been formerly covered with plaques of marble. The arches are truly gigantic in their proportions and in the blocks of which they are built. The Gymnasium attached to the Thermae is filled with debris, over which the waters have flowed, depositing their incrustations. The whole surface of the interior sounds hollow beneath the foot. We observed the square pillars mentioned by Sir C. Fellows. They are of some kind of coarse con- glomerate, and strangely w^arped by the sun ; they may have belonged to courts in which the bathers could take exercise after the bath. Along the edge of the cliff, and just over the waterfall, are other ruins, consisting of massy walls much out of the perpendicular ; and not far distant was a large basilica with three naves. The east
t
ANATOLICA. 1 1 1
side of the city has also its street of tombs and numerous sarcophagi ; but in consequence of the overpowering heat we did not visit them.
Hierapolis in the time of Pliny was devoted to the worship of Cybele. It was the birthplace of the famous stoic philosopher Epictetus, slave of Epaphroditus, the infamous freedman (libertus) of Nero, who helped his master to put an end to his life, and long afterwards was for this banished and finally executed by the Emperor Domitian.
A Christian Church was founded there at a very early period, and St. Paul (Colossians iv., 13) mentions " them in Hierapolis." Its last bishop was in A.D. 1066. Doubtless the Greek Church there was treated in the same way as in other places by the Latin Crusaders, who seemed to have suppressed it whenever they had the power and to have established the usurping Church of the West in its place ; but here, as elsewhere, the rival Churches soon fell before their common enemy, the victorious Muslim. Of the time when the city was finally abandoned we have no record.
Hierapolis, like its neighbour Laodicea, owed most of its prosperity to its woollen manufactures. Strabo says that the mineral properties of its water rendered the root dyes of Hierapolis (mad- der, &c.) so excellent that they might even vie with the rich scarlet and precious sea purple. And it was famous as a bathing place. Its pure
112 ANATOLICA.
air, its abundant waters, the beauty of its posi- tion, the romantic woods and mountains in its neighbourhood, all helped to make it famous in the ancient world. But its glory has disappeared like a dream ! I have seen few spots more V gloomy and depressing than the old Thermse
of Hierapolis. The rich gifts of nature are still there, but in place of the flourishing city, with its polished and wealthy citizens, only the black tents of a few wandering shepherds and the poor peasants of Pambouk Kalesy are left. This title, signifying " Cotton Fort," is the name by which the place is known to the Turks ; but the ruins of the old city have no tenants except the few Yourouks who bring their flocks to pasture there. Our friends from Smyrna and Aidin left us at 3 P.M., intending to travel all night, so as to escape the heat, which in these great plains is already intense. For the rest of the journey only Mr. Seiff, myself, our interpreter, and the two muleteers remained..
CHAPTER VII..
Parched District — Bridge over the Lycus — Yourouk Tribe Emigrating — Shepherd's Bridge — Ravine of the Ak Soo — Site of Colossse — Barrow— Remains of the Old City— Petrifying Streams — Chasm of the Lycus — Explanation of its Formation — Last Bishop of Colossae — Ride to Khonas — Beauty of the Count v — Village of Khonas — House of Ibrahim Aga— No Antiquities at Khonas — Beauty of the Children — Visit of the Villagers — The Kadi — Want of Education among the People — Beauty of the Country to the west of Khonas— The Kazik Pass — Our Escort — Mount Khonas — Tchukour— Brigands' Place of Ambush — Plain of Karajuk — Its Rivers — Cibyratic Confederation — Crops— Soil — Irrigation — Geological Formation — Karajuk Bazaar— Khan— Greek Khanji — Disturbed State of the Country — Arab Servant at Khan — Ravine and Village of Geunahi — Barren Soil and Miserable Crops — Eschler Yailas— Desolate Aspect of the Country — Poverty of the Villagers — Money-lenders — Causes of Misery in a Turkish Village — Salt Lake of Salda — Karaatlu — Our Host — His House — Crops — Forests — Carelessness in the Management of the Forests— Fires in the Forests — Our Evening Meal.
April 30th. — Left Hierapolis 6.30 a.m. in weather cloudy and very sultry. Our course was due east, along the base of the hills, over a soil chalky, dry, and scantily covered with herbage, all which will soon be scorched up as summer advances. After passing the villages of Dagh Keui, Ghirlani, and Eldenizli on our left, we crossed one of the tributaries of the Lycus, descending from the hills on the north. In the
114 ANATOLIC A.
plain to our right were the villages of Aktche Tchesmasy and Tchetmejas. ' At 8.40 A.M. we crossed the Lycus (Tchorouk Soo) by a good stone bridge, and ascended the hills to the south- east of the stream.
The plain of the Lycus is bordered by two \y ranges of barren chalky hills : one the range of Hierapolis, the other that of Laodicea. Close behind the former rises a higher limestone range, but between the range of Laodicea and the high mountains to the south of it lies the plain of Denizli. All these high mountains are volcanic, and the highest point of Khonas Dagh appears to have been the crater of a volcano.
The country to the east and north-east of the Lycus is very parched and barren ; no villages appear in it, but the black Yourouk tents are at this season thickly scattered over it. When- ever we passed near any of them the fine and powerful shepherd dogs would bound fiercely towards us, but their masters were most careful in calling them off. Nowhere, indeed, had we reason to complain of the peasants on this point. On our way we met a large Yourouk family or tribe en route for some other pasture ground. They had thirty or forty camels, many cattle, and some hundreds of sheep and goats ; they were well dressed, and some of the men mounted on good horses ; their women (who did not wear a veil as most of the Muslim women) were
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STYLE OF TOMB STONES AT COLOSS/t.
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ANATOLICA. 115
really good-looking. Altogether they seemed in good circumstances ; their roving life enabling . them to escape the exactions of the Government officials better than the village peasants, who are, in a manner, tied to the soil.* -
The ruins of Colossse (or rather the site of Colossae, for of ruins we saw none deser\'ing the title) are on the north side of the Lycus. By mistake we had crossed the stone bridge, which here spans the river, and were passing up the south bank. Some shepherds whom we met directed us to a spot where we could recross the stream — here a deep and rapid torrent — by a bridge which the Yourouks had made for the passage of their cattle. It consisted of trunks of trees laid across from two rocks on opposite sides of the stream, and covered with brushwood and earth. We dismounted, and crossed this frail structure singly.
The river descends rapidly tlirough a narrow valley, betw^een cliffs of chalk or limestone. Though not so large or beautiful as the valley of the Mosynus, this is a very picturesque spot, and reminded me of the valley at the great source of the Orontes, in the Anti-Lebanon.
We reached the site of Colossae at 1 1 A.M. It is on the cliff, which here borders the river ; and
* In some provinces they cannot quit their villat^es without a special permit — even their destination must be specified ; but in the interior this rule is less strictlv enforced.
1 2
ii6 ANATOLICA.
exactly opposite to it, on the other side of the Lycus, is a curious cairn or barrow. (We noticed several similar artificial mounds in various parts of Anatolia).
Nothing appears to be left of the town but a number of rough lichen-covered blocks of lime- stone and rock tombs, over which were placed either massive stones or monuments, nearly all of the same shape. We saw no remains of a city wall, no theatre, and apparently no public buildings of any importance — nothing but rude limestone blocks scattered over a space of half to three-quarters of a mile square. In this poor upland valley, with a barren soil, and far out of the route of traffic, Colossae could never have been a place of much importance. Strabo, however, says that they made good profits from s/ their wool, which was of the same raven black {ytopoi^r} x9^^ ^^