Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 1 of 2): With General and Particular Accounts of Their Rise, Fall, and Present ConditionBucke, Charles
History
Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 1 of 2): With General and Particular Accounts of Their Rise, Fall, and Present Condition
Bucke, Charles
Cities and towns, Ancient
The castle is a large and barbarous edifice, with square towers. You
ascend to it over heaps of stones, intermixed with scraps of marble. "An
outwork," continues Dr. Chandler, "which secured the approach, once
consisted of two lateral walls from the body of the fortress, with a
gateway. This is supported on each side by a huge and awkward buttress,
constructed chiefly with the seats of a theatre, or stadium, many marked
with Greek letters. Several fragments of inscriptions are inserted in
it, or lie near. Over the arch are four pieces of ancient sculpture. Two
in the middle are in alto-relievo, of most exquisite workmanship, and
parts of the same design; representing the death of Patroclus, and the
bringing of his body to Achilles." A third is in basso-relievo. "The
figures are, a man leading away a little boy, a corpse extended, two
women lamenting, and soldiers bearing forth the armour and weapons of
the deceased, to decorate his funeral pile." This referred to the story
of Hector. The fourth is much injured, but sufficient remains to show
boys and vine-branches. The gateway faces the sea. Within the castle
were a few huts, an old mosque, and a great deal of rubbish. "If you
move a stone, it is a chance but you find a scorpion under it."
The grand mosque is situated beneath the castle. The side next the foot
of the hill is of stone; the rest of polished marble, veined. In front
is a court, having a large fountain; there are, also, broken
columns--remains of a portico. The fabric was raised with old materials;
and the large granite columns which sustain the roof, as well as all the
marbles, are remains of what were long supposed to constitute ancient
Ephesus.
In regard to the aqueduct, the piers are square; not large, but many,
with arches formed with brick. These are constructed with inscribed
pedestals, on one of which is the name of Herodes Atticus, whose statue
it once supported. These ruins abound in snakes. Chamelions and lizards,
also, are frequently seen basking in the sun. "The marbles, yet
untouched, would form a copious and curious harvest, if accessible. The
downfall of some may be expected continually, from the tottering
condition of the fabric; and time and earthquakes will supply the place
of ladders; for which the traveller wishes in vain at a place, where, if
a tall man, he may almost overlook the houses."
And yet these ruins, strictly speaking, are in Dr. Chandler's opinion
not those of Ephesus: those lie nearer the sea; and are visible from the
castle hill. The ruins of Aiasaluck are those of a town, built in great
part, if not entirely, of Ephesian ruins; and it may be supposed, by the
Mahometan potentate, Mantakhia, who conquered Ephesus and all Caria, in
the year 1313.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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