Proceedings of the expedition to explore the northern coast of Africa, from Tripoly eastward : $b in MDCCCXXI. and MDCCCXXII., comprehending an account of the Greater Syrtis and Cyrenaica; and of the ancient cities composing the pentapolisBeechey, Frederick William
History
Proceedings of the expedition to explore the northern coast of Africa, from Tripoly eastward : $b in MDCCCXXI. and MDCCCXXII., comprehending an account of the Greater Syrtis and Cyrenaica; and of the ancient cities composing the pentapolis
Beechey, Frederick William
Sidra, Gulf of (Libya); Tripoli (Libya) -- Antiquities; Tripoli (Libya) -- Discovery and exploration
Nearer to Mesurata, a little to the southward of the Marábūt of
Sidy Abou Shaifa, are the remains of what seem to have been a small
fort or station: its outer walls enclose a square of about an hundred
feet and there are vestiges of smaller walls within, which appear
to have divided it into several compartments. On the north-western
side there are some small blocks of stone, about two feet square,
which seem to have been the abutments of arches formerly supporting
the roof of the building; and which are about eight feet distant
from each other. These remains, forming at present nothing more
than an imperfect ground-plan, are situated on a low rising ground
close to the sea; and between them and point Abou Shaifa the lake
may have communicated with the gulf a little to the southward of
the point. There are also some slight remains of building in the
neighbourhood of this place, as well as in that of the causeway,
occupying the low range which runs along the coast: but from the
presence of the landing-place, at the communication first mentioned,
we should be disposed to adopt it in preference to that at Abou
Shaifa, as the στομα, or mouth, of the lake mentioned by Strabo.
Signor Della Cella, in stating that the lake or marsh which we
have mentioned, is the same with that laid down by D’Anville and
other modern geographers, under the title of Gulf of Zuca, or Succa,
has instanced the passage above quoted from Strabo in confirmation
of this opinion. But the Gulf of Zuca is represented as an inlet,
or creek, of not more than four miles across in any part of it;
while Strabo’s lake is in width more than double that distance,
and seems to bear no other resemblance to the gulf than that of
having a communication with the sea. If, therefore, the Gulf of
Zuca, as D’Anville himself has stated, be actually laid down on
the authority of Strabo, we should rather look for its origin in
another passage of this geographer which occurs before the one
we have quoted. In this passage Strabo describes a Lake Zuchis,
to which he attributes the peculiarity of a narrow entrance at
the point of communication with the sea; while he merely states,
in his description of the lake we have first mentioned, that it
emptied itself into the Gulf (of the Greater Syrtis).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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