Isaura—Iconium—Lystra—Derbe—Apamea Cibotus—Aezani—Synnada—Philomelium—
Laodicea Combusta—Hierapolis—Laodicea ad Lycum—Colossæ—Ancyra—
Pessinus—Tavium—Nazianzus—Cæsarea ad Argæum—Tyana—Comana—Trapezus—
Amastris—Sinope—Prusa ad Olympum—Nicæa—Nicomedia—Islands of Greece—
Lesbos—Samos—Chios—Rhodus—Messrs. Biliotti and Saltzmann—Cyprus—Mr.
Lang—General Palma di Cesnola.
HAVING now spoken of some of the principal places in the west and south
of Asia Minor, it will, we think, be convenient to take next those
towards its centre, in _Cappadocia_, _Phrygia_, and _Galatia_. We must,
however, notice, first, the two small districts of _Lycaonia_ and
_Isauria_, which are really portions cut out of the larger adjoining
provinces. Isauria will not detain us long, as there is little in it
that can be called Greek. It was, as it has ever been, a wild mountain
district, with a population unsubdued till about the time of
Constantine; and, even after that, if the Byzantine writers are worthy
of credit, whole armies of Constantinopolitan Greeks melted as snow in
conflict with these robber tribes. Ancient authors knew little of
Isauria except its northern part, all to the south, with its capital,
ISAURA, being to them, practically, a _terra incognita_. As marauders,
however, the Isaurians were so troublesome to their neighbours, that the
Roman Senate sent a considerable force against them, in B.C. 73, under
P. Servilius, whose success won for him the title of “Isauricus.” This
conquest, however, so to call it, was but temporary, and, not long
after, Amyntas of Lycaonia lost his life in an attempt to crush one of
their tribes. In later days, one of their chieftains, Trebellianus,
claimed for himself the rank of Emperor, and struck coins; and the
Isaurians boasted, also, of one genuine Emperor, Zeno Isauricus, A.D.
474-491.
Of its chief town, ISAURA, we have coins of the time of Geta and
Elagabalus bearing the title of ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΕΩΣ ΙΣΑΥΡΩΝ. Mr. Hamilton has
satisfactorily identified its site on the line of road between Iconium
and Anemurium—a determination in agreement with Pliny’s statement (v.
27), that the province of Isauria stretched to the sea in that
direction: he adds that the tradition of their ancient robber
propensities is still remembered by the existing peasantry of the
district, though, considering what this country has undergone during the
last fifteen hundred years, any such tradition is not worth much. Mr.
Hamilton found the ruins of the capital on one of the loftiest ridges
between the Taurus and the plains of Konieh (Iconium) at an elevation of
quite 5,000 feet above the sea, the wild and inaccessible district
around it offering, as he observes, “little or no temptation to the
rapacity of its neighbours.” An inscription found on the spot fully
confirmed his previous surmises: it was on a triumphal arch, in honour
of the Emperor Hadrian, and, on the ground near it, was a marble globe,
a common emblem of Imperial power “I afterwards,” says he, “found
several other inscriptions in this part of the town; of these, No. 432,
lying near the _agora_, is full of interest, as alluding to several
buildings formerly erected in its neighbourhood.” Strabo had remarked
(xii. p. 569) that Amyntas died before he had completed the town wall,
and this Hamilton found to be literally true, everything around
indicating a town entirely rebuilt, the wall itself, its octagonal
towers, temples, and triumphal arches being constructed in the same
peculiar style. “There is,” says he, “an air of newness in its very
ruins, as if it had been destroyed before it was half built, although it
must not be forgotten that it flourished for many centuries after the
death of Augustus.”
In Lycaonia there were few towns of importance, except ICONIUM,
LAODICEA, DERBE, and LYSTRA, the geological features of the country
being unfavourable to the existence of a large population. Travellers
who have seen both compare Lycaonia with the interior of Australia. Both
were, by nature, extensive sheep-walks (thus, Amyntas had as many as 300
flocks of sheep); while both, alike, had much of arid and salt desert,
fitted only for camels. The central plain of Lycaonia, from Kiepert’s
map, seems the largest in Asia Minor, and resembles the _steppes_ of
Central Asia and of southern Russia. Ainsworth tells how his camels
browsed off the tops of the _Mesembryanthemum_ and _Salicornia_,
reminding them, as these, doubtless, did, of plains more familiar to
them than those of Asia Minor. Strabo made Isauria part of Lycaonia.
The principal town of Lycaonia, ICONIUM, is mentioned first by Xenophon,
who considered it the most eastern one of Phrygia, at one day’s journey,
according to Cicero, from Philomelium (Ak-shehr). Its position, amid
many small streams, which exhaust themselves in watering its gardens,
and as the meeting-place of several of the most important of the Roman
roads through Asia Minor, made it, from the first, an important
_entrepôt_; and, though Strabo calls it πολίχνιον (a little town), the
account of Pliny, and the narrative in the Acts of the Apostles, prove
it was a large and populous place in the middle of the first century
A.D. Indeed, in Pliny’s time, its territory embraced fourteen towns,
stretched around the capital (v. 27). Cicero was there for several days
previously to his Cilician campaign. Iconium will always be invested
with much interest owing to St. Paul’s visits to it; the first of which
was immediately after his expulsion from Antioch in Pisidia, when the
Apostles “shook off the dust of their feet.” Messrs. Conybeare and
Howson have well remarked, that the vast plain and the distant mountains
are the most interesting features of modern _Konieh_; for these,
probably, remain as they were in the first century of Christianity,
while the town has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. Little,
indeed, remains of Greek or Roman Iconium, except the inscriptions and
fragments of sculptures built into the Turkish walls.
Iconium was famous in the early Middle Ages as the capital of the Seljuk
Sultans,[96] but was taken by the Emperor Barbarossa, during the second
Crusade, in his famous but futile attempt to force his way through Asia
Minor. To quote the picturesque words of Gibbon, “Forty campaigns in
Germany and Italy had taught Barbarossa to command; and his soldiers,
even the princes of the empire, were accustomed under his reign to obey.
As soon as he had lost sight of Philadelphia and Laodicea, the last
cities of the Greek frontier, he plunged into the salt and barren
desert, a land (says the historian) of horror and tribulation. During
twenty days every step of his fainting and sickly march was besieged by
innumerable hordes of Turkmans, whose numbers and fury seemed after each
defeat to multiply and to inflame. The emperor continued to struggle and
to suffer; and such was the measure of his calamities, that when he
reached the gates of Iconium no more than 1,000 knights were able to
serve on horseback. By a sudden and resolute assault he defeated the
guards and stormed the capital of the sultan, who sued for pardon and
peace. The road was now open, and Frederic advanced in a career of
triumph, till he was unfortunately drowned in a petty torrent of
Cilicia.”[97] Leake points out that its walls, still between two or
three miles round, are full of inscriptions and of other ancient
remains, which the Seljuks seem to have tried to preserve.
Footnote 96:
The Seljuks had first been at Nicæa; but, when the Crusaders took that
town, in A.D. 1099, they fell back on Iconium, which they held, with
the exception of the brief interval of its capture by Barbarossa in
1189, till the irruption of the Mongols, under Jinghis Khán, and of
his grandson, Huláku, who broke down their power completely. Konieh
has been an integral part of the Turkish empire ever since the days of
Bayazíd.
Footnote 97:
There has been much doubt in which “Cilician torrent” Barbarossa was
drowned. The name in the record is the “Saleph,” which maybe a
corruption of Selefkeh (Seleucia), a name sometimes given to the
Calycadnus, as a chief town on it. There seems no reason for drowning
him in the Cydnus, or modern Kara-su.
The position of LYSTRA and DERBE are still uncertain. Of Derbe, we know
that it was the residence of a robber chief of Lycaonia, named
Antipater,[98] who was ultimately subdued by Amyntas (Strabo, xii. p.
569), while Strabo and Stephanus Byzantinus placed it on the borders of
Isauria towards Cappadocia. St. Luke, however, and Hierocles placed it
as clearly in Lycaonia. If Lystra and Derbe stood in St. Luke’s order,
Lystra would be the nearest to Iconium; but, though mentioned in Pliny
and Ptolemy, we have no further hint as to its actual position. One of
its bishops was present at the Council of Chalcedon. The interesting
account in the Acts xiv. 6-21, of the behaviour of the people of Lystra,
when St. Paul proved his Divine mission by the cure of the cripple, must
be fresh in the mind of every one. With regard to the speculative
identifications of the sites of Lystra and Derbe, it is, perhaps, worth
stating that S.E. of Konieh is a remarkable isolated hill, the Karadagh
or Black mountain. Not far from this mountain, Leake and Hamilton placed
these two towns, the former twenty miles S.E. of Iconium, the latter at
some remarkable ruins around its base, called by the Turks Bin-bir-
kalis-seh, or the 1,001 churches. Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Edward Falkener
have both examined this remarkable group of ruined churches, recording,
as they clearly do, some site peculiarly revered in early Christian
times. Mr. Falkener’s remarks on these curious monuments are much to the
point. “The principal group,” says he, “of the Bin-bir-Kalisseh, lies at
the foot of Karadagh.... Perceiving ruins on the slope of the mountain,
I began to ascend, and, on reaching them, perceived that they were
churches, and, looking upwards, descried others yet above me, and
climbing from one to the other, I at length gained the summit, where I
found two churches. On looking down, I perceived churches on all sides
of the mountain scattered about in various positions.... There are about
two dozen in tolerable preservation, and the remains of perhaps forty
may be traced altogether.... The mountain must have been considered
sacred; all the ruins are of the Christian epoch, and, with the
exception of a huge palace, every building is a church.” It appears from
the Acts that, besides the Greek, there was still extant a local
Lycaonian dialect, and this is what we should expect from what we know
in the cases of Caria, Lycia, and Phrygia, respectively. There are,
however, no certain means, now, of determining what was its character,
and whether it was of Semitic or of Indo-European descent.
Footnote 98:
Cicero (ad Fam. xiii. 73) says he was treated with much civility by
the Lycaonian Antipater—a view of things not agreeable to his
correspondent Q. Philippus, who had been previously proconsul of Asia
Minor. Stephanus Byzantinus states that Derbe was sometimes called
“Delbia,” a word in the Lycaonian dialect said to mean “juniper.” It
is possible that two words of much similarity have been confounded in
the MSS., viz. λιμὴν, a harbour or port, and λίμνη, a lake or marsh;
and that the town was really on the shores of one of the many internal
lakes of that part of Asia Minor. The position of Derbe near the lake
of _Ak Ghieul_, and its resemblance to Delbia, with the modern name of
_Divleh_, as suggested by Hamilton, tends to its identification with
Divleh.
Having dealt pretty fully with the provinces and towns of Asia Minor to
the west and south, with some notice of those in Lycaonia, we propose
now to notice the chief ones in _Phrygia_ and _Galatia_, though we have
not space to weigh nicely the limits of each of these districts, which
were, indeed, till Roman times, in a state of constant change. Rome, as
we know, thought fit to include under the name of Asia more than one
piece arbitrarily cut out of the older provinces; Roman Asia being to
the rest of Asia Minor much what Portugal on maps was to Spain.
The Phrygians themselves were, like the Mysians, probably of Thracian
origin, as the name Bryges, or Briges, is found in Macedonia, and is,
probably, connected with the Celtic word “briga,” as in Artobriga. We
find also in the neighbouring province of Bithynia a tribe called
Bebryces. The Phrygians have also been supposed to have some connection
with Armenia—a theory, however, mainly resting on their legend of a
primeval flood, and of the resting of an ark on the mountains near
Celænæ.
It is certain that the people of this part of Asia Minor were very much
intermixed. Thus, the Trojans and Mysians were almost certainly members
of the great Phrygian race; for Hecuba was a Phrygian princess, and
Hector a common Phrygian name. One stream of immigrators may, therefore,
have come from Armenia into Europe, and have, thence, returned somewhat
later to Phrygia, the Phrygians, like the Macedonians, being said to be
unable to pronounce the φ (ph), and saying Bilippus and Berenice, for
Philippus and Pherenice: in the army, too, of Xerxes, the Armenians and
Phrygians wear similar armour. Recent researches by Baron Texier and Mr.
Hamilton have shown that the Phrygians had a peculiar style of
architecture, the former having discovered an entire town carved out of
the solid rock. Tombs, too, occur, in construction resembling the lion
gate of Mycenæ; while there is also a legend of a Phrygian Pelops in
Argolis. Phrygian religious rites were widely accepted by remote
districts of the ancient world, the goddess Cybele being strictly a
Phrygian deity, and the wild “orgies” of her worship essentially
Asiatic.
Of the towns of Phrygia we take first APAMEA, as unquestionably one of
the most important for its varied history and for the many persons of
note who are linked with it. Its foundation is due to Antiochus Soter,
who named it after his mother Apama. According to Strabo, it stood at
the source of the river Marsyas, which burst forth in the middle of the
city, and flowed thence into the Mæander; and, though this description
is not quite borne out by recent observations, the identity of its size
with the modern village of Deenare or Denair, has been satisfactorily
shown by an inscription found by Mr. Arundell, reading—QUI. APAMEAE.
NEGOCIANTVR. H. C. (hoc. curaverunt). “The merchants frequenting Apamea
have taken care (to erect this monument).”[99] Cicero, who was appointed
proconsul of Cilicia in B.C. 51, has left us many interesting
particulars about it in his letters to his friends, as he was much
there. At this place, too, he deposited one of the three copies of his
quæstor’s accounts, at the same time refusing to accept for himself or
to permit his soldiers to appropriate, any of the booty taken from the
enemy. In a letter to Can. Sallustius, proquæstor, he adds: “I shall
leave the money at Laodicea ... in order to avoid the hazard, both to
self and the commonwealth, of conveying it in specie.” While governing
his province, one of his friends requested him to procure some panthers
for him. This he did, and at his own expense, remarking at the same time
“that the beasts made sad complaints against him, and resolved to quit
the country, since no snares were laid in his province for any other
creatures but themselves.”[100]
Footnote 99:
Arundell (i. p. 192). He remarks further: “Apamea may now be asserted
to have been at _Deenare_ with as much confidence as that Ephesus or
Sardis stood on the sites which still preserve their names. Apamea
stood, we should add, nearly, though not quite, on the site of the
ancient Celænæ. It suffered so severely from earthquakes, that the
Roman tribute due from it was remitted, A.D. 53, for five years
(Tacit. Ann. xii. 58).”
Footnote 100:
Mr. Arundell remarks the panthers are still (1834) occasionally found
in the neighbourhood of Smyrna.
[Illustration:
COIN OF APAMEA CIBOTUS.
]
But, besides the classical history of Apamea, which is well enough
known, this place was accredited with a tradition referring to the Ark,
which, though purely legendary, cannot be omitted here; the more so as
the story of the Ark resting after the Flood on one of the heights near
Apamea has been supposed by some to have given that city the title of
“Cibotus,” or “Apamea of the Chest.”[101] Indeed, Mount Ararat was
placed by some on the confines of Phrygia. The coin of Alexander
Severus, of which we give a copy above, is supposed to refer to this
story. On the reverse is the name of the people of Apamea, and, above, a
square structure resting on a rock, and surrounded by water. In this box
are two figures, male and female, and in front the word ΝΩΕ (Noe). It
is, therefore, a fair presumption that the maker of the medal did mean
to represent Noah and wife. Two other persons, also a man and a woman,
stand in front of the supposed ark. If, as we believe, the Scriptural
deluge took place in Babylonia, some features of its story might easily
have found their way to Phrygia; while, independently of this, we know
that, even in the days of St. Paul, there were Jewish synagogues in many
of the great towns of Asia Minor. Moreover, during the 150 years between
St. Paul and Alexander Severus, some, at least, of the more striking
events recorded in the Bible must have become popularly known.
Footnote 101:
It ought to be added that the ancient name of Apamea, when the capital
of Phrygia, was Celænæ, and that, in Roman times, though Laodicea
Combusta was the residence of the proconsul, it was considered,
commercially, inferior only to Ephesus. Laodicea was one of the towns
privileged to strike those curious silver coins known by the name of
_Cistophori_. Though we do not accept the Ark story as the origin of
this name “Kibotus,” we cannot say that we attach much, if any, weight
to many other derivations that have been proposed.
The next place we notice is AZANI, or AEZANI (for both spellings occur),
the latter, that of the coins of the place, being the more preferable.
It is certain that the present Lord Ashburnham, in 1824, was the first
to determine where it stood, though this discovery has, with some
carelessness, been often attributed wrongly. It is now called Tchandur
Hissar, and, from Keppel, Hamilton, and Fellows, appears to possess some
ruins of remarkable beauty, and more than one Roman bridge. Hamilton (i.
101) states that its Ionic temple (of which Fellows and Pullan give
drawings) is one of the most perfect in Asia Minor. Rather curiously, no
walls have been found; but the place has suffered from plunderers
severely, every tomb having been despoiled.
In _Phrygia Magna_, as distinguished from _Phrygia Epictetus_, a place
of early notice and of long importance was SYNNADA, which we hear of
first in connection with the famous march of Cn. Manlius against the
Gallo-Græci. Cicero visited it in his progress towards Cilicia. In
Pliny’s time, it was the judicial centre of the neighbourhood. It was
chiefly famous for a beautiful marble with purple spots and veins, to
which Statius alludes (Silv. i. 5, 56). Texier was the first to discover
the actual quarries, which were, as the natives of old asserted, not at
Synnada, but at Docimia; whence the marble itself was sometimes called
“Docimites lapis.” Paulus Silentiarius, in a poem on the church of St.
Sophia, has well described its character. Docimia itself was probably at
the end of the plain where Synnada was itself situate. Hierocles makes
Synnada a bishopric of Phrygia Salutaris. Its ruins are now called _Eski
Kara Hissar_.
On the main road from Synnada towards Iconium stood PHILOMELIUM, the
“city of nightingales,” now, since the discovery of the true site of the
Pisidian Antioch, identified with Ak-shehr. It was a place of much value
to the early Turkish rulers, and many handsome Saracenic buildings may
still be seen; hence, too, it is often mentioned in the wars between the
Greek emperors and the Sultans of Iconium, as in Procopius (Hist. Arc.
18) and Anna Comnena (p. 473).[102]
Footnote 102:
PHILOMELIUM, now called _Afium Kara Hissar_ (the “black castle of
opium”), has much interest as the centre of the great Asia-Minor trade
in that drug, the medicinal properties of which were known to
Theophrastus in the third century B.C., under the name of μηκώνιον.
Scribonius Largus (A.D. 40), also, knew that the best form of it was
procured from the capsules, and not from the leaves of the poppy
(Berthold, Argent. 1786, c. iii. s. 2). Dioscorides, thirty years
later, calls the juice of these capsules ὀπός (Angl. _Sap_), and the
cutting them ὀπίζειν. Hence, the name, _Opium_. Pliny (iv. c. 65, xx.
c. 76) points out the medicinal use of “Opion,” and Celsus calls the
extracted juice “_Lacryma papaveris_.” Obviously, from this “Opion”
comes the Arabic “Afyum,” which is found in many Eastern languages,
and may have been spread all the more, owing to Muhammad’s
interdiction of the use of wine. In India, _Opium_ is noticed, first,
in Barbosa’s Travels, A.D. 1511 (ap. Hakluyt), who found it, at that
time, in Malabar and Calicut. Neither Chinese nor Sanskrit has a
native word for this drug. _Opium Thebaicum_ is mentioned as early as
A.D. 1288-96, by Simon Januensis, Physician to Pope Nicholas IV.
(Clavis Sanationis. Venet. 1510); and Kæmpfer (1687) remarks that
compounds of opium, nutmegs, &c., were largely sold in his time, as
long before, under the name of “_Theriaka_.”
But the most important place in the neighbourhood was LAODICEA, often
called “Combusta,” “the burnt,” which is to be carefully distinguished
from the other town of the same name we shall presently describe in
connection with Hierapolis, and which is generally called “ad Lycum,”
“on the Lycus,” in the province of Lydia. Recent geographers, however,
give both these towns to Phrygia. Laodicea Combusta was about nine hours
N.W. of Iconium, and under its modern names of Yorgan Ladik or Ladik-el-
Tchaus, is famous throughout Asia Minor for its manufacture of carpets.
It has been, popularly, supposed, that it derived its name from the
existence at it of some remarkable volcanic agencies. This, however, Mr.
Hamilton has clearly shown, is not the case. “There is not,” he says, “a
particle of volcanic or igneous rock in the neighbourhood; the hills
consist of blue marble, and of the argillaceous and micaceous schists
with which that rock is usually associated.” He thinks it may, at some
time or other, have been burnt down, and, on being rebuilt, have
received this distinguishing title. The inscriptions he found there,
though in great abundance, have little interest, being chiefly funereal:
they are all carved out of the dark blue-veined limestone of the
adjoining hills.
The last three places in Phrygia, which we think it necessary to note
especially, we shall take together, as situate near one another, and,
historically, closely connected. These cities are HIERAPOLIS, LAODICEA,
(ad Lycum), and COLOSSÆ.
HIERAPOLIS is chiefly remarkable for waters so loaded with petrifying
materials as to have completely changed, by their deposits, the face of
the country in the course of centuries; a result, noticed by many
ancient authors, as Vitruvius, Pausanias, &c. Chandler states that a
cliff near the town is one entire incrustation, and describes its
appearance as that of “an immense frozen cascade, the surface wavy, as
of water at once fixed, or in its headlong course suddenly
petrified.”[103] An excellent view of this curious scene is given in Mr.
Davis’s “Anatolica,” p. 100. Besides its remarkable petrifying power,
Strabo states also that the waters of Hierapolis were famous for dyeing;
and it is curious confirmation of this statement, that an early English
traveller (Dr. Smith, in 1671) copied an inscription referring to a
“_company of dyers_” (ἡ ἐργασία τῶν βαφέων). The position of Hierapolis
must have been very imposing, placed as it was on a high piece of
ground, “200 paces wide, and a mile in length.” Abundant ruins still
remain, consisting of the relics of three Christian churches, one 300
feet long, and of a gymnasium, considered by Leake to be one of the only
three “which are in a state of preservation sufficient to give any
useful information on the subject of these buildings,” together with a
prodigious number of fallen columns, in the wildest state of confusion.
It seems a pity that no efficient steps have been taken to excavate
thoroughly such a site as that of Hierapolis, where monuments of much
historical interest, possibly, too, of surpassing excellence as
sculpture, might reasonably be anticipated. Hierapolis is specially
noticed in St. Paul’s epistle to the Colossians (iv. 13), which shows
clearly that, at that time, there were many converts to Christianity,
probably owing to the zeal of Epaphras, who had been long a common
labourer with the Apostle. Somewhat later, Hierapolis appears in
Hierocles as the metropolis of Phrygia; and Arundell gives a list of the
bishops of the see whose names have been preserved. The present ruins
are called _Pambouk Kalessi_.
Footnote 103:
Mr. Hamilton says he could distinctly trace six different cascades,
each of which had left a separate incrustation. The ancient city
itself was built on a terrace entirely formed by this or similar
incrustations. He adds: “But if the appearance of the encrusted cliff
was curious when seen from below, it became infinitely more so when we
looked down upon it from the road, and the detail of its structure
became more apparent. The wavy and undulating lines of solid matter
which extend over the surface look as if a large river had been
suddenly arrested in its course and converted into stone.”
LAODICEA “_ad Lycum_” was, in the time of Strabo, one of the principal
places in this province, and the centre of the Roman power in this part
of Asia. Many men of great wealth, it is said, contributed to its early
magnificence; Strabo noticing Hiero, who, besides greatly embellishing
it during his lifetime, left to it by will the sum of 2,000 talents,
together with the orator Zeno, and his son Polemo, who was made by
Augustus king of part of Pontus. There are some difficulties in
reconciling the statements of ancient authors about the rivers that
flowed by or close to this town, and even recent investigations have not
made this matter quite clear. Four rivers are mentioned in connection
with it—the Lycus, Asopus, Caprus, and the Cadmus. Of these the first
is, unquestionably, the most important, as having given its name to the
town. It is likely these difficulties have been increased by the
earthquakes noticed by Strabo, who says that Laodicea, more than any
other town, was subject to their baneful influence. His words are
remarkable (εἰ γάρ τις ἄλλη καὶ ἡ Λαοδίκεια εὕσειστος, Strab. p. 578).
Such earthquakes would, naturally modify the course of these
streams.[104] Col. Leake calls especial attention to the importance of a
thorough investigation of the ruins of all these great towns: so much is
still on the surface, that he thinks there is reasonable hope of the
discovery of much still buried. The same, to a smaller extent, would,
probably, prove true of other cities in the vale of the Mæander; for
Strabo thought that Philadelphia, Sardes, and Magnesia ad Sipylum were
not less than Laodicea, and had all alike suffered from the ravages of
earthquakes; and this view was completely supported by Arundell from his
own personal observations at Laodicea (Seven Churches, p. 85).
Footnote 104:
Compare what Tacitus says, Annal. ii. 79, xiv. 97, and Herodotus’s
statement that the Lycus disappeared at Colossæ, close by, a statement
in some degree confirmed by Strabo (xii. 578), and other remarks
bearing on the history of this important town in Polyb. v. 57, 3; Cic.
Verr. i. 3; Epist. ad Fam. iii. 5, 7; Tacit. Annal. iv. 55; Philostr.
p. 543.
Laodicea suffered severely at the hands of Mithradates, but, with the
reign of Augustus, its real fame and prosperity arose and long
continued. About A.D. 1097 it was seized by the Turks, and subsequently
was, alternately, in their hands or in those of the Byzantine emperors.
In 1190 the Emperor Barbarossa was welcomed by the then inhabitants with
much kindness, but, shortly afterwards, it was wholly desolated by the
Turks. The zeal of St. Paul for the Church of Laodicea suggests that
there must early have been abundant converts to the new faith in its
neighbourhood. It is, however, also clear that their allegiance was not
very trustworthy, and that they were much inclined to accept a modified
form of Christianity. St. Paul’s words in his Epistle to the Colossians
(ii. 1) show this plainly enough—“For I would,” says he, “that ye knew
what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as
many as have not seen my face in the flesh.” Again, “When this epistle
is read among you, cause that it be read also in the Church of the
Laodiceans” (iv. 16). The Book of Revelation contains, also, strong
strictures on the lukewarmness of the Laodiceans. “I know thy works,
that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. So
then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue
thee out of my mouth” (Rev. iii. 15, 16). Laodicea, though sometimes
called Ladik, is more usually known as Eski-Hissar, the Turkish form of
the common Levantine title of Palæo-Castro—“Old Castle.”
COLOSSÆ, the last of the three towns, has been much confused with the
other two, from the haste and want of accurate observation of different
travellers. Much time is, indeed, requisite for the comparison of the
brief notes of ancient authors with the existing facts. It is not
certain when Colossæ was founded, or to what circumstances it owes its
name, but it existed some centuries before the Christian era, as it is
mentioned by Herodotus as a large and flourishing town of Phrygia when
Xerxes passed through it in B.C. 481, on his way from Cappadocia to
Sardes (vii. 30); nor had it, apparently, at all decayed when visited by
Cyrus the Younger, about eighty years subsequently, (Xen. Anab. i. 2).
Like the people of the adjacent Laodicea, the Colossians were great
growers of wool. It was nearly destroyed in the days of Nero, but it
survived, at all events, as the name of a Christian bishopric, till the
time of Hierocles’s _Synecdemus_. Somewhat later, a new town named
Chonas was built there, the certain identification of its ruins being
mainly due to the fact that Nicetas the Annalist was born there. St.
Paul, as we know, wrote an epistle to the Colossians, but his words,
“Since we _heard_ of your faith in Christ Jesus,” seem to imply that he
was never there himself. On the other hand, Epaphras, who was a native
of Colossæ, and Onesimus, are specially noted as having preached there.
Colossæ has been repeatedly visited by travellers, such as Dr. Smith,
Picenini, Pococke, and Arundell; but to Mr. Hamilton we owe the clearest
notice of it, and the reconciling of many points not understood by those
who preceded him. Herodotus, as we have remarked, had stated that there
was a χάσμα γῆς (a deep chasm) at Colossæ, and that the Lycus flowed by
a subterranean channel for half a mile. This chasm Mr. Hamilton traced,
proving how the Lycus may well have been _said_ to have flowed
underground, owing to the great accumulation of petrifying matter from
the stream, now called _Ak Sú_, or “White Water.” Mr. Hamilton quotes,
also, a passage from the Byzantine writer, Curopalates, clearly
referring to the same curious phenomenon. Pliny, too, makes an
interesting remark as to the quality of this water, where he says,
“There is a river at Colossæ which will convert brick into stone.”
Hamilton adds, “The Ak Sú, which joins the Choruk in the centre of the
town, would soon cover a brick with a thick incrustation, and even fill
the porous interior with the same substance by means of infiltration.”
The only towns in Galatia we think worthy of any especial note are
ANCYRA, PESSINUS, and TAVIUM—in fact, Galatia, the land of the Asiatic
Gauls, was little more than a dismemberment of the ancient Phrygia,
mainly induced by the invasion of a portion of the vast horde of Gauls,
who, descending from Pannonia under the second Brennus, B.C. 279, were,
ultimately, induced to cross the Hellespont, on the invitation of
Nicomedes I. of Pergamus. The general history of Galatia is so well
known, we need not dwell on it here. Suffice it, that the three
principal tribes of these invaders were known as the Tectosages, the
Tolistoboii, and the Trocmi, and that, after many battles, in which
their power was greatly reduced, they were settled, the first at Ancyra,
the second at Pessinus, and the third at Tavium. Some historical facts
connected with them, it may, however, be as well to mention; viz., that
Antiochus obtained the name of Soter from the great defeat he inflicted
on them; and that, beaten by Attalus I. and Prusias, they were most
completely subdued by the consul Manlius in A.D. 189. Gauls are found as
mercenaries in all the wars of the times, and, often, fighting against
one another, being even noticed as such in the Maccabees (1. viii. 2).
So late as the fourth century, St. Jerome, who had lived long at Trèves,
states that the common tongue of Galatia was the same as that of that
city. Curiously, only one name, certainly Celtic, _Eccobriga_, between
Tavium and Ancyra, has been preserved in the Itineraries. As a people,
they greatly resembled the Gauls Cæsar describes—“Natio est omnis
Gallorum admodum dedita superstitionibus”; hence, they adopted, at once,
the Phrygian worship of Cybele as “Mater Deorum,”—the “Galli” of
Pessinus being her special priests. Their leading men, however, soon
became wealthy, and were speedily Hellenized.
The most important place in Galatia was ANCYRA, on the Sangarius;
traditionally, the foundation of Midas, the son of Gordius. The anchor
he found there, whence the city’s name, Pausanias says, was, still, in
his day, preserved in the Temple of Jupiter. The territory round this
city was formally created a Roman province by Augustus, B.C. 25, the
epithet “Tectosagum” being added to its title “Sebaste,” to distinguish
it from Pessinus and Tavium, which bore, also, the epithets of Sebaste
or Augusta. On the coins of Nero, Ancyra is, also, called Metropolis;
and, though much decayed, is still a considerable place, with a large
population.[105] In the adjacent plains occurred the mighty conflict
between Bayazíd and Timúr (Tamerlane), in which the former lost his
crown, and was taken prisoner by the Moghul emperor, though the popular
legend of the “cage of Bayazíd” is, probably, as little authentic as the
burning of the library of Alexandria by the orders of Omar.
Footnote 105:
In the Jerusalem and Antonine Itineraries we notice one name, _Ipeto-
brogea_, the latter portion of which is probably Celtic, like Allo-
_broges_, &c.
But the most interesting matter, in connection with Ancyra is the famous
Inscription of Augustus[106] (sometimes called his “Will”), generally
known by scholars under the title of the “Marmor Ancyranum.” What was
then visible of this Inscription was first copied by Busbequius, about
A.D. 1555, and published in 1579, at Antwerp, by Andreas Schottus.[107]
At first, the Latin portion only was obtained, but, by degrees, portions
of the Greek have been recovered, an important addition having been made
by Mr. Hamilton.[108] A very complete account of it has been recently
published by Theod. Mommsen, under the title “Res gestæ Divi Augusti,”
Berl. 1865, with very accurate copies of the Greek legend, specially
executed for Napoleon III. by M. Perrot.
Footnote 106:
The whole town of Ancyra swarms with inscriptions. Mr. Hamilton says:
“The collection of inscriptions made during my stay at Ancyra was very
numerous; many of them never before published. They were met with in
all parts of the town,—in the gateways and courtyards of private
houses, but, chiefly, on the walls of the citadel.”
Footnote 107:
The original inscription was engraved at Rome on brazen tablets in
front of his Mausoleum (Sueton. Aug.), known in Mediæval times under
the name of _L’Austa_. From an inscription in Boeckh, C. I. Gr. No.
4,039, we learn that the Ancyran inscription was placed in the
Σεβαστῆον (Augusteum), and on one of the antæ of the Temple are the
words—
Γαλατῶν [τ]ὁ [κοινὸν]
[ἱε] ρασάμενον
Θεῷ Σεβαστῷ
Καὶ Θεᾷ Ῥώμῃ
This is probably the temple alluded to in the decree of Augustus, and
referred to by Josephus (Antiq. xvi. 6).
Footnote 108:
Too much credit cannot be given to Mr. Hamilton for his successful
labours in copying the greater part of the Greek version, which in
many instances supplies defects in the Latin version. “I entered,”
says he, “into a negotiation with the proprietor of the house ...
(abutting on the Temple).... In the course of two days I had the
satisfaction of finding that he had agreed to my proposal. I had
hardly dared to hope that the Mahometan would have allowed a Ghiaour
to take down the wall of his house for such a purpose.”
It would be impossible to give here even the briefest summary of this
very interesting and valuable inscription, which fully deserves the most
careful perusal; but we may mention that, among the historical events
Augustus records, are his crushing the murderers of Julius Cæsar, when
he was only 21,—the titles conferred on him—the census of his people—the
closing of the Temple of Janus—his great largesses to the people,
agreeably with the will of Julius Cæsar—with a remarkable list of the
monumental works begun or completed by him in Rome[109]—a notice of the
highest value to Roman antiquaries, and, therefore, very properly given
by Mr. Parker in his recent volume on the “Forum Romanum.” He then
recounts his crushing the pirates, noticing also the Servile war; the
effect of the battle of Actium on Italy; the boundaries of the provinces
then subject to him, and the extension of the Roman arms to Æthiopia and
Arabia; the submission of Tiridates and Phraates, the kings of Parthia;
and of Dubnovelaunus, king of the Britons. He concludes by saying, “When
I wrote this I was in my seventy-sixth year,” and very shortly after
this he died.[110]
Footnote 109:
An interesting work is extant by Julius Frontinus on the Aqueducts to
the city of Rome, which has been remarkably illustrated by the recent
researches of Mr. J. H. Parker, C.B., on the spot; see, also, for the
“Monumentum Ancyranum,” J. H. Parker’s “Forum Romanum and Via Sacra,”
Pl. xxvii.-ix.; Lond. 8vo, 1876.
Footnote 110:
Mr. Pullan gives a view of the entrance to the Temple.
The next town of Galatia we notice, PESSINUS, was situate near the left
bank of the Sangarius, on the road to Angora. It was the capital of the
Gallic tribe of the Tolistoboii, and celebrated in antiquity for its
worship of the goddess Rhea, or Cybele. The story went that the original
shrine of this goddess was removed to Rome, towards the close of the
second Punic war, the safety of Italy being said to depend on this step.
It is clear that the people of Pessinus did not care much about their
most sacred shrine—possibly, however, as King Attalus supported the
Roman demand, they could not help themselves. It is worthy of note,
that, not long after the removal of this shrine, the Galli became the
chief priests of the worship of Cybele, and, as such, went out to
propitiate Manlius, when about to throw a bridge over the Sangarius
(Livy, xxxviii. 18). Polybius gives the names of these priests (Polyb.
Fragm. 4). Coins of Pessinus exhibit the worship of Cybele as late as
Caracalla, and we know that Julian the Apostate visited her temple
(Ammian. xxii. 9). One name she bore was that of Agdistis, Pessinus
itself being seated under this mountain, which was also called Dindymus.
M. Texier seems to have first recognized its ruins at a place now called
Sevrihissar, of which an excellent account is given by Mr. Hamilton (i.
p. 438). “Every step we advanced,” says he, “gave evidence of the
importance and magnificence of the public buildings with which this site
must once have been adorned.” We may add that Mr. Hamilton’s further
researches enabled him to reconcile the conflicting accounts of the
march of Manlius in Polybius and Livy, the whole of the course of the
Roman general being, now, fairly traceable.
The last of these Galatian towns, TAVIUM, was the abode of the third
Gallic tribe, the Trocmi, as is shown by an inscription on a coin,
reading ΤΑΟΥΙΑΝΩΝ ΤΡΟ. The position of this town has been identified by
Mr. Hamilton as that where M. Texier found some very remarkable
sculptures, which he, erroneously, called Pterium, the site of one of
the battles between Crœsus and Cyrus. It is more probable that this
place was much nearer the shores of the Black Sea. If Hamilton is right,
Boghaz-kieui marks the site of the old town, which was one of great
trade, and famous for a colossal bronze statue and temple of Jupiter.
The careful measurement of the seven great roads, recorded as having met
at Tavium, agrees, too, with his view. The bas-reliefs discovered by M.
Texier, about two miles from this temple, are among the most curious in
Asia Minor. Mr. Hamilton gives a view of them (vol. i. p. 394), whence
we are inclined to think that they must be of Persian origin. So far as
we can judge from the engraving, the work resembles much that at
Behistan; moreover, two of the figures seem to be standing on lions or
panthers, as on the reliefs found by Mr. Layard at Bavian, and to be
seen, also, of some of the coins of Tarsus. The subject appears to be
the meeting of two kings, the principal figures being five feet high.
Two of the figures stand on a kind of double-headed eagle. Mr. Hamilton
suggested a resemblance between them and those at Persepolis, an
appreciation the more remarkable that when Mr. Hamilton’s work was
published in 1842, none of the Assyrian excavations had been begun.
Considering the great influence of the Persians after the establishment
of the empire of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, there is no improbability
in the carving being the work of some powerful satrap, like Pharnabazus,
who might easily have been familiar with the sculptures at Bavian,
Behistan, and Persepolis.
Over the towns in the remaining provinces of Asia Minor, _Cappadocia_,
_Pontus_, _Paphlagonia_, and _Bithynia_, it will not be necessary for us
to linger at any length; not because there are not abundant objects of
interest in each of them, but that the remains, purely Greek, are
comparatively few, while the space we can give for an adequate
description of them is exceedingly limited. We shall, however, notice
some of the chief places, either of Greek origin, or directly connected
with the Greeks, referring to the journals of the travellers we have so
often quoted; and especially to Mr. Hamilton, for a more full and
detailed account of them.
To take first _Cappadocia_, which is in this sense peculiar, that it was
for centuries governed, first by satraps claiming descent from one of
the seven conspirators who aided Darius, and, secondly, by a native race
of kings, till it became a Roman province. The great plains of
Cappadocia, at an altitude seldom less than 4,000 feet above the sea,
were famous for the breed of horses they raised; corn, too, and many
excellent fruits found in this province their native home. Salt, and
various kinds of crystal, were also largely exported from Cappadocia.
Of the towns of Cappadocia, we may mention NAZIANZUS, a site celebrated
as the birthplace of its famous bishop, Gregory, a great ecclesiastical
writer, a wit and a poet (see his humorous description of Sasina, the
church to which he was first appointed, Orat. xxv. p. 435, which we wish
we had space to quote). Its ancient position has been accurately
determined by the observations of more than one modern traveller
(Hamilton, ii. p. 228). _Mazaca_, afterwards called CÆSAREA _ad Argæum_,
was for many centuries the capital of Cappadocia, and is still a place
of some importance. The chief feature of its scenery was the Mons Argæus
(now Erjish Dagh), reputed the loftiest mountain of Asia Minor, which
rises immediately above it, covered with perpetual snow. The town
itself, though ultimately the capital, appears to have been for a long
time little more than a camp; indeed, Horace’s description probably
tells us all that “His Majesty” of Cappadocia really required:
“Mancipiis locuples, eget æris Cappadocum rex” (“Though rich in slaves,
the king of Cappadocia lacks ready money”), (Ep. i. 6, 39). Cappadocian
slaves were abundant in Rome, and had a high reputation as bakers and
confectioners (Plut. Lucull. Athen. i. 20, &c.). One of the most
memorable events of the history of the town was, its long and gallant
resistance to the Sassanian emperor, in the war between Valerian and
Sapor. In Christian times, it derived much fame from the fact that St.
Basil was born there, and was, subsequently, for many years its bishop
(Socrat. H. E. v. 8; Hierocl. p. 698). Mr. Hamilton (ii. pp. 274-281)
gives an interesting account of his ascent of the great mountain near it
[the height of which he found to be about 13,000 feet], a feat, we
believe, he was the first to accomplish.
TYANA, another Cappadocian town, is chiefly noted as the birthplace of
Apollonius of Tyana, whose amusing life has been preserved by
Philostratus. From its position on the defiles leading through Taurus
into Cilicia, it must have been a place of some importance; and hence,
probably, the tradition that it was built by Semiramis (Strab. xii.
537). In later times it was the seat of a Christian bishopric (Greg.
Naz. Epist. 33). Hamilton thinks that a place called _Iftyan Kas_ may
mark this site. There is near to it the remains of a fine aqueduct,
ascribed by the natives to Nimrod, but, really, of Roman origin.
COMANA, the only other place in Cappadocia, which it is necessary to
notice, was really the chief town of a subdistrict called Cataonia. It
was chiefly celebrated for its collection of priests, soothsayers, and
the like, who were devoted to the worship of Mâ (the Moon), or, as some
say, the Cappadocian Bellona. Strabo asserts that the votaries of this
sacred institution amounted to as many as 6,000 persons, of both sexes
(xii. 535). Some, on the other hand, think this goddess the Anaitis of
the Persians, the Agdistis or Cybele of the Phrygians. Coins of Comana,
of Antoninus Pius, show that there was a Roman colony there, which was
in existence as late as Caracalla.
_Pontus_, a narrow slip along the shores of the Black Sea, was chiefly
memorable for its great fertility in the fruits now so common in our
western lands, as cherries (perhaps so named from one of its towns,
Cerasus), peaches, almonds, &c. It was also very rich in grain, timber,
honey, and wax; while its mineral wealth is strikingly shown by the fact
that one of its tribes, the Chalybes, famous so early as the time of
Xenophon for their skill in working iron, gave their name to the Greek
word for hardened iron or steel.[111] TRAPEZUS (now Trebisonde), its
only considerable town, was in ancient days believed to be a colony of
Sinope, the foundress of several other places along the coasts of the
Black Sea. It was evidently a city of note when Xenophon came there, in
B.C. 400, with the remains of the Ten Thousand, as its citizens
hospitably entertained the Greek host under his command. We find it,
also, in much prosperity when Arrian was governor of Pontus, under
Hadrian. In later days, Trapezus was the capital of a petty empire under
a branch of the princely house of the Comneni, its rulers assuming the
pompous title of Emperors of Trebizonde, and claiming, though not always
securing, independence of the Greek Empire. It is still a place of
commercial importance. We may add that it was not far from this place,
near the town of Zela, that Cæsar defeated the troops of the despicable
traitor Pharnaces so quickly, that he announced his victory in the
famous words, “Veni, Vidi, Vici” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”) (Hist.
Bell. Alex. c. 72; Plut. Vit. Cæs.; Sueton. Cæs. c. 37). The history of
Pontus is closely interwoven with that of the famous Mithradates; but,
into this, we have not the space to enter here.
Footnote 111:
Æschylus, Pers., v. 715, speaks of οἱ σιδηροτέκτονες Χάλυβες.
_Paphlagonia_ is chiefly famous for the vast forests that clothed the
southern and more hilly portions of its territory, and for its vast
herds of horses, mules, &c. (the former of which are noticed so early as
Homer (Il. ii. 281 and 852)). Its only two towns of any note were
AMASTRIS, in the days of Pliny the Younger a handsome place, with
squares and many public buildings,—and SINOPE; both towns, certainly, of
remote antiquity, the latter, indeed, attributed by some to the
Argonauts, and by others to the Amazons. In the days of Xenophon, SINOPE
was a rich and flourishing city; and then, and for a long time,
subsequently, the navy of Sinope was highly distinguished among those of
the other maritime cities of Greece. Sinope was also famous, like
Byzantium, for the fishery of the _pelamys_ or tunny-fish; deriving,
also, much of its subsequent wealth from the fact, that it was selected
by the kings of Pontus as their royal residence. Lucullus first, and
Cæsar, subsequently, in the wars with Mithradates and Pharnaces,
respectively, treated the people with much kindness, and left to them
most of the works of sculpture with which their town had been
embellished by the Pontic monarchs. Sinope is mentioned as a flourishing
place in the times of Strabo, Trajan, and Arrian, nor did it decay, till
every other place, in like manner and for the same reasons, decayed on
the advent of the barbarians from Central Asia, under the hoofs of whose
horses, as the proverb says, no grass ever grows again.
_Bithynia_, the last province of Asia Minor to which we shall have to
call attention, was, as we have remarked before in the case of Mysia, in
its population, largely of Thracian origin. Subsequently to Cyrus the
younger, it was ruled by a series of native kings, the last of whom,
Nicomedes II., bequeathed his country to the Romans. Many of these
rulers were men of tried valour; thus one defeated a general of
Alexander the Great; and another crushed the invading Gauls. Pliny the
Younger, in his letters, gives an interesting account of the spread of
Christianity in this province, at the same time showing that his stern
and hardy master, Trajan, was less inclined to act severely against them
than his literary and philosophic lieutenant. The towns of Bithynia to
which we propose to call attention, are PRUSA, NICÆA, and NICOMEDIA.
PRUSA, generally distinguished by the epithet _ad Olympum_, more clearly
to mark its site, is said to have been built by Hannibal (Plin. v. 2),
but was, probably, much older, though Chrysostom, a native of the town,
does not claim for it any high antiquity (Orat. xliii. p. 585). It
continued to flourish under the Roman Empire (Plin. Epist. x. 35), and
was, also, for a while, a leading place under the Greek Empire; indeed,
it is still, under the modified name of Broussa, one of the chief cities
of Turkish Anatolia. Its name will, doubtless, be fresh in the memory of
many of our readers as the long home of the gallant Abd-el-Kader, and of
more than one of the Hungarian leaders whom the treachery of Georgey
compelled to abandon their native country. The grand Olympus which
overhangs Broussa was generally termed the Mysian, to distinguish it
from the Olympus of Thessaly. Near it was the town of Hadriani (now
Edrenos), the coins of which bear the inscription ΑΔΡΙΑΝΕΩΝ ΠΡΟC
ΟΛΥΜΠΙΟΝ.
NICÆA, so named after his wife by Lysimachus, was the real capital of
Bithynia, and, for a long time, one of the most important towns of
Western Asia. Pliny the Younger, as governor of the province, undertook
to restore it, and, during the later Byzantine period it was constantly
taken and retaken by the Greeks and Turks, respectively. Leake and other
travellers show that there are abundant remains of this famous old town,
now called Isnik; not that, under the Turks, it is, or ever could have
become, a great city. In Ecclesiastical story, Nicæa will ever be
memorable as the site where assembled, in A.D. 325, the grand body of
bishops, so well known as the _Council of Nice_, to condemn the Arian
heresy. Our own Church is believed to owe to it its most valuable
“Nicene” Creed. Coins of Nicæa abound even as late as the time of
Gallienus.
NICOMEDEIA, as the name implies, the chief residence of the Bithynian
kings of the name of Nicomedes, was a large and flourishing city, and,
as may be gathered from the letters of Pliny to Trajan, long continued
so; indeed, in later times, when occupied with the Parthian or other
Eastern wars, it was a convenient and constant residence for the Roman
emperors (Niceph. Callist. vii.). We have a curious account of the ruin
done to this city by an earthquake in one of the strange orations of
Julian’s friend, the orator Libanius, entitled μονωδία ἐπὶ Νικομηδείᾳ,
in which he mourns the loss of its public baths, temples, gymnasia, &c.:
some of these were, however, subsequently restored by Justinian (Procop.
Ædif. v. 1). The historian Arrian was born here, and Constantine the
Great died at his villa Ancyron, hard by.
Having said so much on the subject of the leading Greek cities of Asia
Minor, or rather of some of them, we shall notice, but as briefly as
possible, the principal islands adjacent to its shores; and as the space
at our disposal compels us to contract our narrative within the closest
limits, we shall refer only to _Lesbos_, _Samos_, _Chios_, _Rhodus_, and
_Cyprus_. _Crete_, as a matter of fact, is generally attached,
geographically, to the continent of Greece, but, in any case, would
require a volume to itself that adequate justice should be done to its
ancient and modern story.
LESBOS, which lay off the coast of Mysia, indeed, about seven miles from
Assos, was celebrated in ancient times for its high cultivation of
poetry and music, and for the many men of literary eminence it produced.
To Lesbos we owe Terpander and Arion of Methymna, Alcæus, and Sappho;
and Pittacus, Theophrastus, and Cratippus were also born there. More
than one passage in Homer, and especially Il. xx. 544, and Odyss. iv.
342, show that many of the towns in the island had large populations,
even in remote times, and owned, also, a considerable extent of
territory on the mainland opposite. Lesbos displayed a personal love for
freedom, which contrasted well with their kinsmen on the continent; for,
though crushed, for a while, by Polycrates of Samos, and submitting,
perhaps, wisely, to Harpagus, the general of Cyrus, the Lesbians were
among the most active seconders of the revolt of Aristagoras, suffering
severely in the end, as did Chios and Tenedos, when the Persians won the
day. So, too, at Salamis, they stoutly supported the Greek cause. Their
subsequent history was that of most of the islands in the Ægæan.
Sometimes they were for, perhaps more often against, Athens; paying
often dearly enough for their love of freedom; and being, in the end,
chiefly under Athens, which, while strenuously advocating the so-called
sacred cause of freedom, took good care to divide their lands among her
own citizens. In later days, they struggled against Roman
aggrandisement, but, of course, in vain. The Romans, however, do not
seem to have treated the island with severity, and, as late as Commodus,
we have a coin reading ΚΟΙΝΟΝ Λεσβίων, which implies some amount of
self-government. We may mention, incidentally, that, at Lesbos, Julius
Cæsar received a civic crown for saving the life of a soldier (Livy,
Epit. 87; Sueton. c. 2); that, in A.D. 802, Irene, the Byzantine
empress, here ended her strange life; and, that four centuries later,
John Palæologus gave Lesbos, as her dowry, to his sister, when about to
marry Francis Gateluzio, in whose hands the island remained till
overwhelmed by the Turks.
SAMOS, a name said to mean highland, and, doubtless, deserving this name
for its far superior height to the islands adjacent, bore, like Lesbos,
many different names in antiquity, with a population much intermixed,
the result of successive colonies of Carians, Leleges, and Ionians. To
the last people it chiefly owed its historic fame, having been, in very
early times, an active member of the Ionian confederacy. As islanders,
the Samians had much credit for their skill in boatbuilding; indeed,
Thucydides (i. 13) goes so far as to say they were the first
boatbuilders, a statement, evidently, to be accepted with a good deal of
allowance. It seems, however, certain that a citizen of Samos, one
Cælius, was the first to reach the Atlantic by passing through the
Pillars of Hercules, and that Polycrates, the friend of Anacreon, did
much to increase the naval fame of his island.
After having made treaties with Amasis of Egypt, and Cambyses of Persia
(which alone show the eminence ascribed to Samos at this early period),
we know further, that, from Samos, as his head-quarters, Datis sailed
for Marathon, the inference being that Samos at that time was less Greek
than perhaps, it ought to have been; hence too, perhaps, somewhat later,
the severe punishment inflicted on it by Pericles and Sophocles. From
the commencement of the Roman wars in the East, Samos seems, generally,
to have sided with Rome, becoming, ultimately, part of the province of
“Asia.” Hence, too, probably the fact that Augustus (or rather as he
then was, Octavianus) spent his winter there after the battle of Actium.
Samos was, in early times, greatly devoted to the worship of Juno, and
Herodotus states that her temple there was the largest he had seen. It
was, however, never completely finished. According to Virgil, Samos was
the second in the affections of Juno, and, in Strabo’s time, in spite of
the plunder it had suffered in the Mithradatic war, and, subsequently,
by Verres, her temple was a complete picture-gallery. Here too, as so
often elsewhere, a Sacred Way led from the temple to the city. Samos was
also famous for an earthenware of a “red lustrous” character. Her art,
in this respect, was copied by the Romans, their common red ware being
popularly called “Samian.” Of this most Museums have abundant and
excellent specimens (Marryat, “Pottery and Porcelain,” 1850).
CHIOS, now _Scio_, in ancient days known by the name Pityusa, referring
doubtless to its abundant pine-forests, was nearly as close to the
mainland of Asia Minor as Lesbos, and, in size, rather more than twice
that of the Isle of Wight. It was in character peculiarly rugged, its
epithet in Homer [of whom it claimed to be the birthplace], of
παιπαλοέσσα (the “craggy”), being literally true. In ancient and in
modern times it has been famed for the beauty of its women; in the
former, also, for the excellence of its wines. In an oval place, not far
from its chief town, stood the temple of Cybele, whose worship the
Chiotes especially affected; and, that all things might fit properly,
the careless Pococke seeing there her headless statue, which he
describes as that of Homer, with equal judgment converted the lions
between which she is sitting into Muses! Its present chief town is said,
in situation, to resemble Genoa in miniature. Traditionally, its oldest
people were the Pelasgi; but Ion, a native writer, with better reason,
traces them to Crete. Chios was little injured by the first Persian
conquest, as the Persians, then like Timúr, eighteen hundred years
later, had no fleet; but it was thoroughly sacked and plundered,
subsequently, for the crime of having sent one hundred ships to fight
off Miletus in aid of the Ionians (Herod. vi. 8, 32).
During the Peloponnesian war, Chios at first supported the Athenians,
but was afterwards ravaged by them, though they failed to take its
capital. So, in the Mithradatic war, though at first supporting the king
of Pontus, Chios fell under his displeasure, in that it had allowed
Roman “negotiatores” to frequent and settle in its ports, and had to pay
2,000 talents, and to suffer still rougher treatment at the hands of his
general, Zenobius. In modern times, Scio has suffered more perhaps than
any other Greek island. Early in the fourteenth century, the Turks
secured possession of it by a general massacre; in 1346, it was taken
from them by the Genoese, who held it for nearly two centuries and a
half, till it was recaptured by the Turks. In 1822, having been
foolishly over-persuaded—though then a comparatively flourishing island—
to join in the revolt of the Greeks against the Turks, a powerful
Ottoman fleet attacked it, who, landing, massacred right and left,
enslaved its women and children, and made, as is their wont, a well-
cultivated district a desert, destroying, too, by fire and sword a town
with thirty thousand inhabitants. No doubt fifty-four years is a very
long time in the eyes of mere politicians; but historians might have
been expected to remember “Scio,” and to have anticipated similar
results at “Batak,” or wherever else these barbarians are able to repeat
the habits and practices of their fore-fathers.
RHODUS, an island about ten miles from the south-west end of Lycia, next
claims our attention, as one of the most important of the Greek
settlements of antiquity, and as retaining still something of its
ancient splendour. In remote ages as the adopted abode of the Telchines,
a celebrated brotherhood of artists, probably of Phœnician origin,
Rhodes soon became famous for its cultivation of the arts, so imported,
leading, as these did, naturally, to a civilization much in advance of
the people around them. Its early history abounds with many legendary
tales, which we regret we cannot insert here (but see Pindar Ol. vii.;
Hom. Il. ii. 653). The Rhodians, no doubt from their early connections
with the Phœnicians, were among the greatest navigators of antiquity,
and this, too, earlier than B.C. 776, when the Olympian games are said
to have been instituted: hence the foundation by them of very remote
colonies in Sicily, Italy, and Spain; in the latter country, especially
_Rosas_, which, remarkably enough, retains its ancient name, but
slightly modified. The Rhodian code of naval laws became too, as is well
known, not only the law of the Mediterranean, but the basis of the law
of much more modern times. The people of this island did not, perhaps,
for prudential reasons, join in the Ionian revolt or in the Persian war.
In the Peloponnesian war, too, they did not take an active part, though
serving (according to Thucydides), with reluctance, on the side of
Athens, against the people of Syracuse and Gela. In those days they were
chiefly valued as light troops, especially, as darters and slingers. In
the cause of Darius Codomannus against Alexander, the Rhodians supported
Memnon, the ablest admiral of the day, whose death, perhaps more than
that of any other individual person, hastened the downfall of the
Persian monarchy; and somewhat subsequently, their resistance to
Demetrius Poliorcetes, in the memorable siege they underwent, secured
them the highest credit, and the admiration of their conqueror. Indeed,
they were in such esteem among their neighbours, that (so Polybius
states) when their city had been almost destroyed by an earthquake, the
rulers of Sicily, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt vied with each other in
the liberality of the supplies and presents they sent to repair this
calamity. To the Romans their services were of the highest value,
indeed, it was mainly due to them, that the naval operations of Livius,
the Roman admiral, were successful in the wars against Philip and
Antiochus (Liv. xxxi. 14; xxxvii. 9, &c.).
But, perhaps, the most interesting matter in connection with the island
of Rhodes is the history of the researches recently conducted there by
Messrs. Biliotti and Salzmann on the site of Camirus, one of the three
chief original cities of that island, the combining of which together,
about B.C. 408, resulted in the creation of the capital city, Rhodes. It
was natural, therefore, to expect that any antiquities discovered at
these places would be earlier than this date. The ground all round is
now covered by a pine forest, in the clearing of which the old
necropolis was discovered by a bullock falling into a tomb. In 1853, Mr.
Newton obtained many _terra-cotta_ vases of a very archaic type, and
other fictile vases from the peasants’ houses of the adjacent village of
Kalaverda. Some of the _pinakes_ or platters, with geometrical patterns
painted in brown on a pale ground, resembled the oldest objects of this
class from the tombs of Athens and Melos; the sites, too, of Mycenæ and
Tiryns are also strewn with similar fragments.[112] Other amphoræ and
oinochoæ, with black figures on a red ground, or red figures on a black,
were also met with.[113]
Footnote 112:
As has been well shown in Dr. Schliemann’s recent researches.
Footnote 113:
Travels in the Levant, i. p. 235.
Shortly after this, a _firman_ was obtained from Constantinople,
empowering Messrs. Biliotti and Salzmann to make a thorough
investigation into this ancient site, the result of which has been the
opening of at least 275 tombs. From these tombs many precious works of
art in gold, bronze, and glass, with figures in terra-cotta, and
calcareous stones, together with vases and alabaster jars, have been
procured, some of them probably as old as B.C. 650. The whole may be
grouped under the heads: (1) Asiatico-Phœnician, or Archaic Greek; (2)
Greek of the best and latest periods; (3) Egyptian, or imitations of
Egyptian. The first is the most important, as comprehending most of the
gold and silver ornaments, with a few terra-cottas. It has been supposed
that the makers of these objects were Phœnicians of Tyre and Sidon; but,
as many of the specimens betray a marked Assyrian character and
influence, they are more probably copies, at second hand, of works
originally Assyrian.
On examining these curious works of art, it will be observed that most
of those in gold have been used either as necklaces or for attachment to
other substances, probably leather, consisting, as they do, for the most
part, of thin pieces or plaques of metal, averaging from one to two and
a half inches in length, with subjects on them worked up, as a rule,
from behind, after the fashion now called _repoussée_ work. Thus we meet
with standing female figures, draped to the feet (which are close
together), as on the sculptures from Branchidæ, with long and
elaborately-dressed hair falling on their shoulders and naked breasts,
the arms being raised in a stiff and formal manner, and the hands
partially closed. Another figure has large wings, almost like a
_nimbus_, hands crossed, and elbows square; and against the body of this
figure, a rudely-executed animal. A third holds in each hand a small
lion by the tail, just as on some of the sculptures from Khorsabad. On a
fourth the lions are not held, but are springing up against the figure.
On another plaque we have nearly the same type, with this distinction,
that the lions stand out in very high relief, and, curiously enough, are
in style almost identical with those on a _fibula_ obtained from
Cervetri by the late Mr. Blayds. Many instances may be seen of the
_narsingh_, or man-lion type—a compound figure, with the head, body, and
legs of a man, but attached to or behind this body, and, as it were,
growing out of it, the body of an animal with hoofs. This monstrous form
occurs, also, on a vase from Athens and on Assyrian cylinders. There
are, also, specimens of winged, man-headed lions, their wings being
thrown back so as to cover the whole figure, just as on the Assyrian
sculptures. In some cases, we find bronze plated with gold, the latter
having often been forced asunder by the rust and consequent expansion of
the bronze.
Besides these objects, were found, also, small glass vessels of a rich
purple colour with yellow bands, like those from Cære and other of the
oldest cities of Italy, and a coffin, 6 feet 4 inches long, and 2 feet 1
inch wide, made entirely of _terra-cotta_. There are traces of brown and
red paint over the whole of it, and, at one end, lions in red, with
floral ornaments, and, at the other, a black bull between two brown
lions. Many large terra-cotta plates were also found, with various
subjects; such as the combat between Hector and Menelaus over the body
of Euphorbus, with the names of the combatants written over them, a
drawing of especial interest, from the archaic type of the
superinscribed characters: there were, too, a Gorgon’s head, sirens, and
other strange animals, and a sphinx and a bull with his horns drawn in
perspective. These plates were probably of local manufacture. But,
besides these curious antique monuments, the excavations at Camirus
brought to light many objects of very fine work, two of which must be
mentioned. One, a small gold vessel of exceeding beauty, about an inch
in diameter, at one end of which is a seated Eros or Cupid; on the
other, Thetis on a dolphin, with the arrows Vulcan had forged for her
son Achilles. The other, a magnificent amphora, with figures in red on a
black ground, the subject being “the surprise of Thetis by Peleus”; in
fact, the same as that on one side of the Portland vase; thus
confirming, in a most unexpected manner, the interpretation originally
proposed many years ago by Mr. Millingen. This vase is of the time of
Alexander the Great, and few, if any vases have as yet been found in the
Archipelago exhibiting such free and masterly drawing as this one from
Camirus.
The island of CYPRUS, which lay off the southern coast of Asia Minor,
was one of the most celebrated of those generally called the Greek
Islands, though it had, probably, less claim to this designation, and
was more Oriental than any of the others. It was, as was natural from
its position, early settled by the Phœnicians, Herodotus speaking of the
inhabitants as a very mixed race. It is not possible to determine which
of several of its towns was the most ancient; but, in the early Jewish
Scriptures, we read of “ships of Chittim,” probably those of Citium, one
of its chief towns. In later days, Paphos, itself of remote antiquity,
became the capital of the island, and the residence, as we learn from
the Acts of the Apostles, of the Roman proconsul. As the centre of the
worship of Venus, which is noticed so early as Homer, as well as by many
later writers, Paphos was greatly visited by strangers, among whom
Tacitus mentions, particularly, the Emperor Titus, when on his way to
besiege Jerusalem (Hist. ii. 3-4). Her symbol, or idol, was a purely
Asiatic type, and consisted merely of an upright, conical, and
unsculptured stone. The history of the island was a very chequered one,
and there were but comparatively short intervals of time when it was
really under its own native rulers; more frequently it was held by one
or other of the continental empires near it which happened for the time
to be the most powerful. Thus it was, usually, in the hands of the
Persians, till the overthrow of that power by Alexander, when it was
secured by the Ptolemies, in whose diadem it was the most precious
jewel. In the end it was, of course, seized by the Romans, becoming
first an Imperial province, and then, by the arrangement of Augustus,
directly under the Senate. In later times, it was the seat of a
bishopric, one of the most famous of the bishops of Paphos being the
celebrated Epiphanius. During the Crusades, Richard Cœur de Lion
captured the island and gave it to Guy de Lusignan, king of Jerusalem,
whence the title of kings of Cyprus and Jerusalem, adopted, till recent
times, by some of the monarchs of Western Europe.
In recent times, the Island of Cyprus has proved one of the most
abundant sources of precious remains of antiquity, excavated chiefly by
Mr. R. H. Lang and General Palma di Cesnola. The former gentleman has
published in the Numismatic Chronicle (vol. xi. New Series, 1870), an
account of the silver coins, many of native Cypriote manufacture, he
lighted on while digging out an ancient temple at Dali (Idalium), in
1869. The coins were found at two several times, and, from the way in
which some of them adhered together, had probably been enclosed in a
bag, though no traces of it were detected. Mr. Lang believed he could
trace from them the existence of the six or seven distinct kingdoms,
which we know, from other sources, once existed in this island. The
earliest of these coins are, perhaps, as old as the middle of the sixth
century B.C.
The most important results of Mr. Lang’s excavations in this temple are
now in the British Museum, and have been described by him in a paper
read before the Royal Society of Literature (see Transactions, New
Series, vol. xi. pt. i. 1875). In this memoir, which has been
supplemented with some careful observations by Mr. R. S. Poole, Mr. Lang
has given many interesting details of his excavations. His first
diggings were in 1868, when his men soon “came upon (as it were) a mine
of statues,” several of them being of colossal proportions, and on two
large troughs, in an outer court, perhaps once employed for the
ablutions connected with the temple, which was completely “full of the
heads of small statues, which, after being broken from their bodies, had
been pitched pell-mell into the troughs.” Near these troughs were three
rows of statues; some, too, of the chambers excavated were also full of
statuary—and in a stratum of charcoal were comminuted fragments of the
bones and teeth of several animals; as of bullocks, sheep, camels, and
swine. We can only add, here, that the treatment of the beard on some of
the heads is remarkably Assyrian; which, indeed, might reasonably have
been expected, as the island was long subject to that empire,—and, that,
besides coins and sculptures, Mr. Lang procured, also, several Phœnician
inscriptions, not, however, of very early date, their characters being
nearly identical with those on the well-known inscription in the
Bodleian Library at Oxford, together with one bilingual inscription in
Cypriote and Phœnician writing. The last has proved of great value, in
that it enabled the late Dr. Brandis and Mr. G. Smith to settle many
important points in connection with the Cyprian alphabet.
Nearly about the same time as Mr. Lang, General di Cesnola, the American
consul in Cyprus, was commencing a series of excavations, the latest
results of which have, in some respects, far surpassed anything Mr. Lang
achieved. M. Cesnola began digging, we believe, first about 1867; but
his first important discoveries were in the spring of 1870, when he
found at Golgos the remains of two temples of Venus, nearly on the spot
where, some time before, the Count de Vogüé had been less fortunate. It
was here that M. di Cesnola formed his first collection, now for the
most part in the museum of New York. As in the case of Mr. Lang, the
statues had all been thrown down and grievously defaced by
“iconoclastic” hands. Among them, however, were many which had been
simply hurled from their pedestals, and were, therefore, nearly as fresh
as when first made. One great interest in the collection is, that it is
almost wholly the product of local artists. Naturally there was in it a
large number of statuettes of Venus, of vases, of lamps, and of objects
in glass; the latter, we believe, chiefly from Idalium. It is said that
altogether there were nearly 10,000 objects, and that New York secured
them for about £1 apiece. We cannot discuss here the question, much
mooted at the time, whether or not the collection ought to have been
bought by the English Government; but, had it been, we do not know where
it could have been adequately exhibited. The British Museum seems to be
as full as ever; nor is there any apparent hope of the removal of the
hideous black sheds between the columns in the front of it, which have
now, for these twenty years, defaced any architectural beauty it may be
supposed to have.
But by far the most remarkable of General di Cesnola’s discoveries are
his most recent ones, the great results of which are now, we believe, on
their way to New York, the American Government having had the good sense
to supply him with ample means for continuing his researches in the best
manner. These last, commenced in 1873, have been prosecuted at various
ancient sites, such as those of Golgos, Salamis, Palæo-Paphos, Soli, and
Amathus; Curium having ultimately proved the most valuable mine of
antiquities. Besides two superb sarcophagi he had previously secured, M.
Cesnola found at Curium a mosaic pavement, in style, as he calls it,
Assyrio-Egyptian, which had already been partly dug through by some
former excavator, and beneath this, at a depth of twenty feet, a
subterranean passage in the rock leading into three chambers,
communicating the one with the other. In the first of these he came upon
a great number of small ornaments, rings, &c., in pure gold; in the
second, on a considerable collection of gilt vases, cups, &c.; and in
the third, on innumerable miscellaneous objects, comprising vases of
alabaster, candelabra, metal mirrors, daggers, armlets, small statues of
animals, &c. The most valuable individual specimens would seem to be a
crystal vase and a pair of armillæ in gold, bearing a double Cypriote
inscription. What then is the history of this precious _trouvaille_? We
venture to think that General di Cesnola’s idea on the subject is
probably the true one,—that it represents the offerings in a temple now
destroyed, and hurriedly packed away, possibly when it was attacked by
iconoclasts. Some of the bijoux are inscribed with the names of the
owners, and probably donors. Like the relics from Cameirus, these
Cypriote monuments are of great antiquarian value, as proving the
transition from Eastern to Greek art.
[For further details, see Atti d. Real. Acad. d. Scien. di Torino, vol.
x.; and Ceccaldi, Le ultime Scoperte nell’ isola di Cipro, 1876.]
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