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CHAPTER XIV.

· TEMPLE OF VENUS.

THE ANCIENT APHRODISIAS.TEMPLE OF VENUS.-PAGAN AGE. CHRISTIAN AGE. PRESENT STATE. SARCOPHAGI.-NATURAL HISTORY.-KARASOO.-ARRIVAL OF THE NEW FIRMAN OR CODE OF LAWS. -CONSEQUENT CHANGES.-RETURN TO THE VALLEY OF THE MEANDER. -THE RIVER HARPASUS.-PASSAGE OF THE MOUNTAINS.-VALLEY OF THE MARSYAS.

Aphrodisias, March 10th. We have taken possession of a house once attached to that of the Aga, which forms a picturesque object from our window; its owner has for some years left it to decay. I must endeavour to describe in some degree the interesting objects that detain us here. Aphrodisias lies to the east of the head of the valley which gives rise to the Mosynus, and is beautifully bounded by mountains of considerable importance. Cadmus rises majestically on the east, while the distant summits of Mount Tmolus towering above the range of Messogis are seen in the north: the elevation of the city above the sea is about a thousand feet, the air healthy and cool, and the water excellent. I see no river or stream, but the old fountains are supplied from distant sources in the hills.

Aphrodisias is not in appearance the site of an ancient Greek city; it lies low, and its principal buildings are not, as usual, elevated above the rest of the town. It is difficult to describe the ruins of this city; I never saw in one place so many perfect remains, although by no means of a good age

of the arts. The opinion I shall venture to give is founded wholly upon my observation of the ruins as they exist, in perfect ignorance of any historical accounts. I have copied many of the inscriptions, and hope to increase my knowledge by their after examination.

On this site I see no trace either of the position, grandeur of design, or hard style of sculpture, accompanied with the beauty of simplicity, which so peculiarly mark the cities of the early Greeks. In much of the material of the temple, and perhaps in the arrangement of many of its columns, may be traced a city probably of a date two centuries before the Christian æra: its stadium on the north side of the city is still magnificent, running from east to west, and having both ends circular; most of its seats are still remaining, and in itself this building alone would repay the trouble of a visit to this city. On the south side is a small hill, artificially formed, probably to contain a theatre, the ruins of which face the south-east; a few foundations would lead us to suppose that temples may have ornamented this little acropolis. In the centre of the city stood a beautiful Ionic temple; fifteen of its white marble fluted columns are still standing, and some have tablets left uncut where the shaft was fluted, telling by their inscriptions that they were offerings to the temple of Venus or Aphrodite, the goddess to whom the city was dedicated.

These stand, I doubt not, upon their original bases, although from their reversed tablets, the irregular joining of the flutes, and several other points, I judge that they have been thrown down and afterwards piled up in their present form.

Many other remains, showing different orders of architecture, in columns and friezes, attest, without doubt, the existence of numerous temples, and indicate a beautiful city built wholly of white marble, large blocks of which are found in all parts of the ruins, many measuring nine or ten

feet in length. Slabs, probably from the cellas of temples, covered with inscriptions, are used as material to a very great extent. I copied inscriptions from upwards of fifty of these, all of an age perhaps one or two centuries before our æra. The sarcophagi, which extend half a mile to the west, must also rank with this state of the city. A few Greek coins are found in the ruins, but they are very scarce.

My next description carries us to an age probably two or three centuries subsequent to the Christian æra. The whole of the temples and public buildings, excepting only the stadium (which, by a wall built across it near the circular end, seems to have been converted into an amphitheatre) must have been demolished; for a city arose surrounded by walls two miles in circuit, with gates of triple arches to the west, east, and south: these walls are composed of the remains of temples, tombs, and theatres, removed, although uninjured. The reversed inscriptions and inverted bas-reliefs bear testimony to the change; and the beautiful cornices of Greek Pagan temples are now rudely carved with inscriptions, and placed over the gateways, recording the changed religion and the age in which they were piled up. Even the Pagan name of the city was changed, for in one inscription it appears to be called Tauropolis. The Cross, with the alpha and omega, and other monograms used by the early Christians, are the emblems over

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the gates. Sarcophagi within the walls tell the end of many of the wealthy Christian inhabitants; and others are regis

tered upon the bases and columns of temples which were afterwards used to support Christian churches; the title of archdeacon is sculptured in large letters on the fragment of a frieze. In this age the temple of Venus must have undergone great change. I have said that the columns are still standing, and from their proportion, distance and form, I doubt not upon their original bases-but how changed! The cella has wholly vanished from the interior of the colonnade; and many of the slabs of marble inscribed with the affairs of the city, each bordered or grooved as those I have seen at Nicæa, are now built into the walls surrounding the Byzantine city. A circular end is constructed of rude stones, closing the east, probably for an altar, where formerly the sun rose on the portico of the Pagan temple. Surrounding the whole of this building, are traces of walls of the same rude workmanship, in which cement was the main support of the construction; and in this line there are still standing several jambs of door-ways, of mean proportion as compared with the old temple; on these appear Christian emblems and inscriptions. The outer colonnade of the Temple of Venus must then have served to form a support to the larger Christian church: at present all is in confused but undecayed ruin. Surrounding this chief church are several other columns, in pairs, supporting architraves of pretty proportions, but perfectly eclipsed by the comparatively gigantic temple of the goddess, whose simple fluted shafts of Greek workmanship display a beauty not discoverable in the circularly surrounding flutes and laboured ornaments of its diminutive Byzantine neighbour. Two large tazze, or fonts, ten feet in diameter, and a sitting lion, lie broken among the ruins: I know not to which age these belong.

The walls of the town, in their present decay, show better the extent of depredation and size of the former city than any other remains; it is equally a study for the lover of art,

of history, or of morality. The coins found are very numerous, but most of those I saw were of the Byzantine age, and many with Roman inscriptions. I have selected some, upon which is the name of this city, Aphrodisias, and others of Plarasa, together with coins of the neighbouring cities of Laodiceia, Philadelphia and Antiocheia, and a few of the early kings of Caria, in silver, which were exceptions to the general late age of the many brought by the industrious. inhabitants of this remnant of a village.

I copied one inscription, which seems intended to commemorate a priestess.

From this sarcophagus, which stood close by the side of one less ornamented and without inscriptions, we copied an

interesting record, which shows how carefully the owners of the tombs endeavoured to secure their preservation and sole occupancy, and may also add to our knowledge of their construction, and of the technical names of the various portions. These sarcophagi stood upon a stone substructure, too much buried for our examination; but in many others we saw, and in some were able to enter, a low apartment beneath; this seems to be called here the platas, and to be appropriated to the less honoured individuals of the family*.

* Translation.-"The substructure [Platas] is [the property] of Adrastos Polychronios, the son of Glykon, the son of Glykon, the son of