Ancient history from the monuments: Greek cities & islands of Asia MinorVaux, W. S. W. (William Sandys Wright)
History
Ancient history from the monuments: Greek cities & islands of Asia Minor
Vaux, W. S. W. (William Sandys Wright)
Greeks -- Turkey; Turkey -- History
TLOS, of which we know little more than that it lay on the road to
Cibyra, was first accurately determined by Sir Charles Fellows, who
considered the original city must have been demolished in very early
times, as “finely-wrought fragments are now seen built into the strong
walls which have fortified the town raised upon its ruins.” The theatre
was the most highly-finished he had seen, for the seats were not only of
polished marble, but each seat had an overhanging cornice, often
supported by lions’ paws. An inscription found there records the name of
Sarpedon, showing that the name of the mythical hero of Lycia was still
preserved among the people. The name for tomb at Tlos is always Heroum.
As the provinces are so closely connected, we shall take _Pamphylia_ and
_Pisidia_ together, simply selecting from them such sites as seem of the
highest interest. We shall, therefore, notice first ATTALIA (the modern
Adalia), although there has been some dispute among geographers whether
Adalia does really occupy the site of the old city: the true course of a
stream called Catarrhactes,[71] from its plunging headlong over
precipices into the sea, being still undetermined, has mainly led to
this confusion. The probability is that, owing to the agency of
earthquakes, the coastline has been much changed during the last 2,000
years; moreover, Colonel Leake and others believe the calcareous matter
brought down, in this period by the different streams, sufficient to
cause the cessation of any such cascade, the main stream having been
also much diverted to fertilize the gardens round the town. The physical
changes have in fact, been so great, that it is more wonderful that
anything can be determined on a certain and satisfactory basis. Captain
Beaufort thought the modern town occupied the site of Olbia.[72] On the
other hand, Leake considered Adalia the representative of Attalia, and
that Olbia would probably be found in some part of the plain which
extends for seven miles from the modern Adalia to the foot of Mount
Solyma. Attalia derived its name from Attalus Philadelphus. From it, St.
Paul and St. Barnabas, on their return, sailed to the Syrian Antioch
(Acts xiv. 25). In later times it was the seat of a bishopric. It is now
the principal southern Turkish port of Asia Minor, and has many ancient
remains. Leake remarks on “the walls and other fortifications, the
magnificent gate or triumphal arch, bearing an inscription in honour of
Hadrian, an aqueduct, and the numerous fragments of sculpture and
architecture.” Fellows adds:—“Adalia, which is called by the Turks
_Atalia_, I prefer to any Turkish town that I have yet visited; every
house has its garden, and consequently the town has the appearance of a
wood, and of what?—orange, lemon, fig, vine, mulberry, all cultivated
with the artificial care of a town garden, and now (April 3) in fresh
spring beauty.” It was from Attalia, or from its neighbourhood, that
Mark “turned back”[73] (Acts xiii. 13).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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