alabaster of one stone. The capitals and bases of the columns, and on
the entablature, are of Parian marble. The shafts of the columns of the
second order, which is composite, are alternately of verd-antique, or
ancient green marble and porphyry, of one piece. The capitals and
entablature are also of Parian marble.
All the capitals throughout the palace are raffled more in the Grecian
than the Roman style; so that Mr. Adam[243] thinks it probable, that
Diocletian, who had been so often in Greece, brought his artificers
thither, in order to vary the execution of his orders of architecture in
this palace, from those he had executed at his baths at Rome, which are
extremely different both in formation and execution[244].
NO. XXXIII.—STRATONICE.
This was a town in Caria, where a Macedonian colony took up their abode;
and which several Syrian monarchs afterwards adorned and beautified. It
was named after the wife of Antiochus Soter, of whom history gives the
following account. “Antiochus was seized with a lingering distemper, of
which the physicians were incapable of discovering the cause; for which
reason his condition was thought entirely desperate. Erasistratus, the
most attentive and skilful of all the physicians, having carefully
considered every symptom with which the indisposition of the young
prince was attended, believed at last that he had discovered its true
cause, and that it proceeded from a passion he had entertained for some
lady; in which conjecture he was not deceived. It, however, was more
difficult to discover the object of a passion, the more violent from the
secrecy in which it remained. The physician, therefore, to assure
himself fully of what he surmised, passed whole days in the apartment of
his patient, and when he saw any lady enter, he carefully observed the
countenance of the prince, and never discovered the least emotion in
him, except when Stratonice came into the chamber, either alone, or with
her consort; at which times the young prince was, as Plutarch observes,
always affected with the symptoms described by Sappho, as so many
indications of a violent passion. Such, for instance, as a suppression
of voice; burning blushes; suffusion of sight; cold sweat; a sensible
inequality and disorder of pulse; with a variety of the like symptoms.
When the physician was afterwards alone with his patient, he managed his
inquiries with so much dexterity, as at last drew the secret from him.
Antiochus confessed his passion for queen Stratonice his mother-in-law,
and declared that he had in vain employed all his efforts to vanquish
it: he added, that he had a thousand times had recourse to every
consideration that could be represented to his thoughts, in such a
conjuncture; particularly the respect due from him to a father and a
sovereign, by whom he was tenderly beloved; the shameful circumstance of
indulging a passion altogether unjustifiable, and contrary to all the
rules of decency and honour; the folly of harbouring a design he ought
never to be desirous of gratifying; but that his reason, in its present
state of distraction, entirely engrossed by one object, would hearken to
nothing. And he concluded with declaring, that, to punish himself, for
desires involuntary in one sense, but criminal in every other, he had
resolved to languish to death, by discontinuing all care of his health,
and abstaining from every kind of food. The physician gained a very
considerable point, by penetrating into the source of his patient’s
disorder; but the application of the proper remedy was much more
difficult to be accomplished; and how could a proposal of this nature be
made to a parent and king! When Seleucus made the next inquiry after his
son’s health, Erasistratus replied, that his distemper was incurable,
because it arose from a secret passion which could never be gratified,
as the lady he loved was not to be obtained. The father, surprised and
afflicted at this answer, desired to know why the lady was not to be
obtained? ‘Because she is my wife!’ replied the physician, ‘and I am not
disposed to yield her up to the embraces of another.’ ‘And will you not
part with her then,’ replied the king, ‘to preserve the life of a son I
so tenderly love! Is this the friendship you profess for me?’ ‘Let me
entreat you, my lord,’ said Erasistratus, ‘to imagine yourself for one
moment in my place, would you resign your Stratonice to his arms? If
you, therefore, who are a father, would not consent to such a sacrifice
for the welfare of a son so dear to you, how can you expect another
should do it?’ ‘I would resign Stratonice, and my empire to him, with
all my soul,’ interrupted the king. ‘Your majesty then,’ replied the
physician, ‘has the remedy in your own hands; for he loves Stratonice.’
The father did not hesitate a moment after this declaration, and easily
obtained the consent of his consort: after which, his son and that
princess were crowned king and queen of upper Asia. Julian the Apostate,
however, relates in a fragment of his writings still extant, that
Antiochus could not espouse Stratonice, till after the death of his
father.
“Whatever traces of reserve, moderation, and even modesty, appear in the
conduct of this young prince,” says Rollin at the conclusion of this
history, “his example shows us the misfortune of giving the least
entrance into the heart of an unlawful passion, capable of discomposing
all the happiness and tranquillity of life.”
Stratonice was a free city under the Romans. Hadrian erected several
structures in it, and thence took the opportunity of calling it
Hadrianopolis.
It is now a poor village, and called Eskihissar. It was remarkable for a
magnificent temple, dedicated to Jupiter, of which no foundations are
now to be traced, but in one part of the village there is a grand gate
of a plain architecture. There was a double row of large pillars from
it, which probably formed the avenue to the temple; and on each side of
the gate there was a semicircular alcove niche, and a colonnade from it,
which, with a wall on each side of the gate, might make a portico, that
was of the Corinthian order. Fifty paces further there are remains of
another colonnade. To the south of this are ruins of a building of large
hewn stone, supposed to have belonged to the temple of Serapis. There
is also a large theatre, the front of which is ruined; there are in all
about forty seats, with a gallery in the middle, and another at the top.
Chandler gives a very agreeable account of this village:—“The houses
are scattered among woody hills environed by huge mountains; one of
which has its summit as white as chalk. It is watered by a limpid and
lively rill, with cascades. The site is strewed with marble fragments.
Some shafts of columns are standing single; and one with a capital on
it. By a cottage are three, with a pilaster supporting an entablature,
but enveloped in thick vines and trees. Near the theatre are several
pedestals of statues; one records a citizen of great merit and
magnificence. Above it is a marble heap; and the whole building is
overgrown with moss, bushes, and trees. Without the village, on the
opposite side, are broken arches, with pieces of massive wall and
sarcophagi. Several altars also remain, with inscriptions; once placed
in sepulchres[245].”
NO. XXXIV.—SUSA.
Strabo says that Susa was built by Tithonus or Tithon, the father of
Memnon; and this origin is in some degree supported by a passage in
Herodotus, wherein that historian calls it “the city of Memnon.” In
Scripture it is called “Shushan.” It was an oblong of one hundred and
twenty stadia in circuit; situated on the river Cutæus or Uhlai.
Susa derived its name from the number of lilies which grew on the banks
of the river on which it stood. It was sheltered by a high ridge of
mountains on the north, which rendered it very agreeable during winter.
But in summer the heat was so intense and parching, that the inhabitants
were accustomed to cover their houses two cubits deep with earth. It
was in this city that Ahasuerus gave the great feast which lasted one
hundred and eighty-three days.
Barthelemy makes Anacharsis write to his friend in Scythia to the
following purport:—“The kings of Persia, besides Persepolis, have
caused other palaces to be built; less sumptuous, indeed, but of
wonderful beauty, at Ecbatana and Susa. They have, also, spacious parks,
which they call paradises, and which are divided into two parts. In the
one, armed with arrows and javelins, they pursue on horseback, through
the forests, the deer which are shut up in them; and in the other, in
which the art of gardening has exhausted its utmost efforts, they
cultivate the most beautiful flowers, and gather the most delicious
fruits. They are not less attentive to adorn these parks with superb
trees, which they commonly dispose in the form called Quincunx.” He
gives, also, an account of the great encouragement afforded to
agriculture. “But our attention was still more engaged by the
conspicuous protection and encouragement which the sovereign grants to
agriculture; and that, not by some transient favours and rewards, but by
an enlightened vigilance more powerful than edicts and laws. He appoints
in every district two superintendants; one for the military, and the
other for civil affairs. The office of the former is to preserve the
public tranquillity; and that of the latter to promote the progress of
industry and agriculture. If one of these should not discharge his duty,
the other may complain of him to the governor of the province, or the
sovereign himself. If the monarch sees the country covered with trees,
harvests, and all the productions of which the soil is capable, he heaps
honours on the two officers, and enlarges their government. But if he
finds the lands uncultivated, they are directly displaced, and others
appointed in their stead. Commissioners of incorruptible integrity
exercise the same justice in the districts through which the sovereign
does not pass.”
Susa is rendered remarkable by the immensity of wealth, hoarded up in it
by the Persian kings, and which fell into the hands of Alexander, when,
twenty days after leaving Babylon, he took possession of that city.
There were 50,000 talents[246] of silver in ore and ingots; a sum
equivalent, of our money, to 7,500,000_l._ Besides this, there were five
thousand talents’[247] worth of purple of Hermione, which, though it had
been laid up for one hundred and ninety years, retained its freshness
and beauty: the reason assigned for which is, that the purple wool was
combed with honey, and the white with white oil[248]. Besides this,
there were a thousand other things of extraordinary value. “This
wealth,” says one of the historians, “was the produce of the exactions
imposed for several centuries upon the common people, from whose sweat
and poverty immense revenues were raised.” “The Persian monarchy,” he
goes on to observe, “fancied they had amassed them for their children
and posterity; but, in one hour, they fell into the hands of a foreign
king, who was able to make a right use of them: for Alexander seemed to
be merely the guardian or trustee of the immense riches which he found
hoarded up in Persia; and applied them to no other use than the
rewarding of courage and merit.”
Here, too, were found many of the rarities which Xerxes had taken from
Greece; and amongst others, the brazen statues of Harmodius and
Aristogiton, which Alexander soon after sent to Athens.
This was the city in which a curious scene occurred between Alexander
and Sisygambis, Darius’ mother, whom he had taken prisoner at the battle
of Issus. He had left her at Susa, with Darius’ children: and having
received a quantity of purple stuffs and rich habits from Macedonia,
made after the fashion of his own country, he sent them to Sisygambis;
desiring his messengers to tell her, that if the stuffs pleased her, she
might teach her grandchildren, who were with her, the art of weaving
them for their amusement. Now the working in wool was considered an
ignominy by the Persian women. When Sisygambis heard Alexander’s
message, therefore, she burst into tears. This being related to the
conqueror, he thought it decorous to do away the impression. He
therefore visited Sisygambis. “Mother,” said he, for he valued Darius’
mother next to his own, “the stuff, in which you see me clothed, was not
only a gift of my sisters, but wrought by their fingers. Hence I beg you
to believe, that the custom of my country misled me; and do not consider
that as an insult, which was owing entirely to ignorance. I believe I
have not yet done any thing which I knew interfered with your manners
and customs. I was told, that among the Persians it is a sort of crime
for a son to seat himself in his mother’s presence, without first
obtaining her leave. You are sensible how cautious I have been in that
particular; and that I never sat down till you had first laid your
commands upon me to do so. And every time that you were going to fall
down prostrate before me, I only ask you, whether I would suffer it? As
the highest testimony of the veneration I owe you, I always called you
by the tender name of mother, though this belongs properly to Olympia
only, to whom I owe my birth.” On hearing this Sisygambis was extremely
well satisfied, and became afterwards so partial to the conqueror of her
son and country, that when she heard of the death of Alexander she wept
as if she had lost a son. “Who now will take care of my daughters?” she
exclaimed. “Where shall we find another Alexander?” At last she sank
under her grief. “This princess,” says Rollin, “who had borne with
patience the death of her father, her husband, eighty of her brothers,
who were murdered in one day by Ochus, and, to say all in one word, that
of Darius her son, and the ruin of her family; though she had, I say,
submitted patiently to all these losses, she however had not strength of
mind sufficient to support herself after the death of Alexander. She
would not take any sustenance, and starved herself to death, to avoid
surviving this last calamity.”
Alexander found in Susa all the captives of quality he had left there.
He married Statira,[249] Darius’ eldest daughter, and gave the youngest
to his dear Hephæstion. And in order that, by making these marriages
more common, his own might not be censured, he persuaded the greatest
noblemen in his court, and his principal favourites, to imitate him.
Accordingly they chose, from amongst the noblest families of Persia,
about eighty young maidens, whom they married. His design was, by these
alliances, to cement so strongly the union of the two nations, that they
should henceforward form but one, under his empire. The nuptials were
solemnised after the Persian manner. He likewise feasted all the rest of
the Macedonians who had married before in that country. It is related
that there were nine thousand guests at this feast, and that he gave
each of them a golden cup for the libations.
When at Susa, Alexander found a proof of the misgovernment of which his
satraps had been guilty during his absence. The Susians loudly
complained of the satrap Abulites, and his son Oxathres, of spoliation
and tyranny. Being convicted of the crimes of which they were charged,
they were both sentenced to death.
Josephus says, that Daniel’s wisdom did not only reach to things divine
and political, but also to arts and sciences, and particularly to that
of architecture; in confirmation of which, he speaks of a famous edifice
built by him at Susa, in the manner of a castle, which he says still
subsisted in his time, and finished with such wonderful art, that it
then seemed as fresh and beautiful as if it had been but newly built.
“Within this palace,” continues Josephus, “the Persian and Parthian
kings were usually buried; and, for the sake of the founder, the keeping
of it was committed to one of the Jewish nation, even to his time. It
was a common tradition in those parts for many ages, that Daniel died at
Susa, and there they show his monument to this day. It is certain that
Daniel used to go thither from time to time, and he himself tells us,
that ‘he did the king’s business there.’”
There being some doubt whether the ancient Susa is the modern Shus, or
the modern Shuster, we shall not enter into the argument, but describe
them both.
The ruins of Shus are situate in the province of Kuzistan, or Chusistan.
They extend about twelve miles[250] from one extremity to the other,
stretching as far as the eastern bank of the Kerah, occupying an immense
space between that river and the Abzal; and, like the ruins of Babylon,
Ctesiphon, and Kufa, consisting of hillocks of earth and rubbish,
covered with broken pieces of brick and coloured tile.
There are two mounds larger than the rest. The first is about a mile in
circumference, and nearly one hundred feet in height. The other is not
quite so high, but double the circumference. The Arabs often dig with a
view of getting treasures of gold in these two mounds; and every now and
then discover large blocks of marble, covered with hieroglyphics. The
mounds in general bear considerable resemblance to those of Babylon; but
with this difference to distinguish them: instead of being entirely
composed of brick, they consist of clay and pieces of tile, with
irregular layers of brick and mortar, five or six feet thick, intended,
it would seem, as a kind of prop to the mass. This is one reason for
supposing that Shus is the ancient Susa; and not Shuster. For Strabo
says, that the Persian capital was entirely built of brick; there not
being a single stone in the province: whereas the quarries of Shuster
are very celebrated; and almost the whole of that town is built of
stone. But let the question, says a modern traveller, be decided as it
may, the site of the city of Shus is now a gloomy wilderness, infested
by lions, hyænas, and other beasts of prey. “The dread of these furious
animals,” says Mr. Kinneir, “compelled us to take shelter for the night
within the walls that encompassed Daniel’s tomb.”
At the foot of the most elevated of the pyramids stands what is called
“the Tomb of Daniel;” a small, comparatively modern, building, erected
on the spot where the relics of the prophet are believed to rest. Others
doubt this circumstance; among whom is Dr. Vincent[251], who insists,
that to the legendary tradition of the tomb of Daniel little more
respect is due, than to the legends of the church of Rome, and the
traditions of the Mahometans in general. The antiquity of the tradition
is, nevertheless, considerable; for it is not only mentioned by Benjamin
of Tudela, who visited Shus in the latter part of the twelfth century,
but by one of the earliest Mussulman writers, Ahmed of Kufah, who died
A. H. 117 (A. D. 735), and records the removal of the prophet’s coffin to
the bed of the river.
SHUSTER is the capital of Kuzistan, and is situate at the foot of the
mountains of Bucktiari, on an eminence commanding the rapid course of
the Karoon, across which is a bridge of one arch, upwards of eighty feet
high; from the summit of which the Persians often throw themselves into
the water, without sustaining the smallest injury. It is situated so
agreeably in respect to climate and supplies of all kinds, that while
Shus, in the old Persian language, signified “delightful,” Shuster had a
more expressive one; “most delightful.”
Shuster, from the ruins yet remaining, must have been once of great
magnificence and extent. The most worthy of observation amongst these
ruins are the castle, a dyke, and a bridge. “Part of the walls of the
first,” says Mr. Kinneir, “said to have been the abode of Valerian[252],
are still standing. They occupy a small hill at the western extremity of
the town, from which there is a fine view of the river, mountains, and
adjoining country. This fortress is, on two sides, defended by a ditch,
now almost choked with sand; and on the other two, by a branch of the
Karoon. It has but one gateway, built in the Roman fashion, formerly
entered by a draw-bridge. The hill is almost entirely excavated, and
formed into _surdabs_ and subterranean aqueducts, through which the
water still continues to flow.”
Not far from the castle is the dyke to which we have alluded. This dyke
was built by Sapor. “Not,” says Mr. Kinneir, as “D’Herbelot would
insinuate, to prevent a second deluge, but rather to occasion one, by
turning a large proportion of the water into a channel more favourable
to agriculture, than that which Nature had assigned to it.”
This dyke is constructed of cut stone, bound together by clamps of iron,
about twenty-feet broad, and four hundred yards long, with two small
arches in the middle. It has lately been rebuilt by Mahomet Ali Maerza,
governor of Kermanshaw.
The fate of Valerian, to whom we have alluded, is thus recorded by
Gibbon:—“The voice of history, which is often little more than the
organ of hatred or flattery, reproaches Sapor with a proud abuse of the
rights of conquest. We are told that Valerian, in chains, but invested
with the imperial purple, was exposed to the multitude, a constant
spectacle of fallen greatness; and that whenever the Persian monarch
mounted on horseback, he placed his foot upon the neck of a Roman
emperor. Notwithstanding all the remonstrances of his allies, who
repeatedly advised him to remember the vicissitudes of fortune, to dread
the returning power of Rome, and to make his illustrious captive the
pledge of peace, not the object of insult, Sapor still remained
inflexible. When Valerian sank under the weight of shame and grief, his
skin, stuffed with straw, and formed into the likeness of a human
figure, was preserved for ages in the most celebrated temple of Persia;
a more real monument of triumph than the sacred trophies of brass and
marble, so often erected by Roman vanity[253]. The tale is moral and
pathetic; but the truth of it may very fairly be called in question. It
is unnatural to suppose, that a jealous monarch should, even in the
person of a rival, thus publicly degrade the majesty of kings. Whatever
treatment the unfortunate Valerian might experience in Persia, it is at
least certain, that the only emperor of Rome who had ever fallen into
the hands of the enemy, languished away his life in hopeless captivity.”
The place of that captivity is said to have been Shuster[254].
NO. XXXV.—SYBARIS.
Dissolved in ease and soft delights they lie,
Till every sun annoys, and every wind
Has chilling force, and every rain offends.
DYER, _Ruins of Rome_.
Sybaris was a town of Lucania, situated on the banks of the Bay of
Tarentum. It was founded by a colony of Achaians; and in process of time
became very powerful.
The walls of this city extend six miles and a half in circumference, and
the suburbs covered the banks of the Crathis for seven miles.