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TRAVELS
NORTHERN GREECE.
BY
WILLIAM MARTIN LEAKE, F.R.S. &c
IN FOUR VOLUMES.
VOL. Ill
LONDON: J. RODWELL, NEW BOND STREET
1835.
i. ci N DON : B1LBEKT & KlVINOTON, IMUNTKHS,
sr John's square.
CONT E N rr S
VOLUME III.
CHAPTER XXII. THIRD JOURNEY.
EPIRUS, I.EUCAS, ITHACA, CEPHALLENIA.
PAGE
Departure from Corfu — Capes Leucimne, Amphipagus — Islands Sybota — Arpitza, Chimerium — Parga, Toryne — Ai Ianni, Bu- chcetium — Porto Fanari, Glycys Limen, or Elcca — Elia — Rini- assa — Agriapidhia — Amaxikhi in Lefkadha — Kaligoni, Leucas — Dioryctus — Meganisi — Kalarno — Gulf of Molo in Ithaca — Mount Neritum — Skhino, Dhexia, Vathy — Echinades — Aeto — Anoi — Oxoi — Polis — Mount Neium, Rheithrum — Alcomence — JEgilips — Crocyleia — Dulichium — Oxeice or Thoce — Frikes — Kioni — Port Lia — Fountain Arethusa and rock Corax — Samo in Kefalonia, Same — Siege of Same by Fulvius — Pulata — Fa- raklata — Argostoli — Krania, Cranii — Lixuri, Pale — Popula- tion and productions of Kefalonia — Proni, Assus, Atella, Taphus, Heraclia, Erissus, Panormus 1
CHAFFER XXIII.
CYTHERA. jEG.EAN ISLANDS.
Arrival atTzerigo — Kapsali — Cythera, Phcenicus, Seandeia—M\lo — Khora— Kastro — Ruins of Melus — Paro, ancient city — De- scription of the Island — Andiparo — Ancient Quarries of Parus — Kosto — Marmara — Xaxia, Naxus — Island of Palati — Villages, Population, Produce — Dhiles — Deles, Hierum of Apollo,
a 2
IV
CONTENTS.
Mount Cynthus, Olympium — Rheneia — Mykono, Myconus — Skyro, Scyrus — Port Achilleium — Skanghero — Scopelus, Scia- tkus, Hahnesus, Icus — Aistrati 69
CHAPTER XXIV.
MACEDONIA.
Monasteries near the southern extremity of Athos — Arrival at Xeropotami — Other monasteries on the southern side of the Peninsula — Town of Karyes — Iviron — Filotheo — Mylopotamo — Lavra — Karakalo — Stavronikita — Pandokratora — Vatopedhi — Ancient Inscriptions — Simenu — Khilandari — Provlaka — Isthmus of Acte — Sane— Canal of Xerxes — Erisso, Acanthus — Ancient cities of Acte, Sithonia, and Pallene 114
CHAPTER XXV.
MACEDONIA.
Stratoni, Stratoniceia — Nizvoro — Mines of lead and silver — Lybjadha — Kafkana — Caprus — Stavros, Stageirus — Gulf of Posidium, plain Syleus, lake, .BoZie, Aulon, Arethusa, Bromis- cus — Aryilus — Ferry of Strymon — Eion — Orfana, Phagres — Neokhori — Amphipolis — Lake Cercinitis — Inscription — Battle of Amphipolis — Capture of Amphipolis by Brasidas — Takhyno — Serres, Sirrhce — Inhabitants of the Strymonic plain, &c. . . 158
CHAPfER XXVI.
MACEDONIA.
Ancient Geography of the Strymonic Plain and surrounding Mountains — Battle of Philippi — Nigrita — Sokho— Klisali — Lakes — Langaza — Khaivat— Saloniki — Antiquities, Popula- tion, &c 209
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXVII.
MACEDONIA.
PAGE
Departure from Saloniki — Tekeli — Bridge of the Vardhari or Axius — Alaklisi, or Apostolus — Pella — Yenidje, or Iannitza — Paleokastro — River of Moglena — Vodhena, Edessa — Vladova — Ancient Inscriptions at Vodhena — Via Egnatia — Niausta, Citium — Verria, Berrhcea — Kastania — Mount Bermium — Kha- dova — Plain of Budja — Djuma — Eordaa — Sulinaria — K6- zani , 258
CHAPTER XXVIII.
MACEDONIA, PERRH;EB[A.
Tjersemba — Geography of Upper Macedonia — Elimeia, Eordeea, Orestis, Lyncestis, Paonia, Pelagonia — Compaign of Sulpicius against Philip — Tripolitis of Pelagonia — Stymbara — Pelium — Dassaretia — Antipatria, &c. — Servia, Volustana — Livadhi — Pass of Petra — Tripolitis of Perrhoebia — Pythium, Azorus, Doliche — Elassona, Oloosson — Mount Titarus, River litare- sius — Mount Olympus — Tzaritzena — Pass of Meluna — Tur- navo 302
CHAPTER XXIX.
THESSALIA.
Tiirnavo — Manufactures — Kastri — Tatari — Larissa — Palea La- rissa, Crannon — Argissa — Atrax — Metropolis — Karalar — Mar- mariani, Sycurium — First Campaign of the Persic War — Scea — Mopsium — Phalanna — Elateia — Gyrton — Kiserli — Makrik- hori — Vale of Dereli — Baba — Ascent of Mount Ossa — Ambe- lakia, its productions, &c. — Lykostomo, Gonnus — Pass of Lykostomo, Tempe — River Peneius — Ancient descriptions of Tempe — Gonnocondylus — Charax — Castle of Tempe 353
CHAPTER XXX.
MACEDONIA.
Bridge of Salamvria — Karitza — Homole — Platamona, Heracleium — River of Platamona, Apilas — Litokhoro — Mount Olympus —
■■■
VI
CUNTR <TS.
Malathria, Dium — River Baphyrus — Spighi — Katcrina — Pas- sage of Olympus by the Consul Marcius — Cattipeuce, Phi/a, River Enipeus, lAbelhrium, Pimpleia — March of the Consul beyond Dium — Agassce — Valla — River Mitys — Hatera — As- cordus — A van — Kitro — Paleos Kitros — Eleftherokhori — Posi- tion of Perseus on the Enipeus — Defeat of the Macedonians at Petra — Battle of Pydna — Pydna — Methane — Alorus — Rivers Haliacmon, Lydias, Axius — Return to Saloniki 40 1
CHAFrER XXXI
MACEDONIA.
Comparative Geography of Macedonia — River Galliko, Echi- dorus — Doiran, Tauriana — Gallicum — Stobi — Stena of the Axius — Idomeue — Invasion of Sitalces — Mount Cercine — Gor- tynia — Europus — Almopia — Emathia — Madi — Amphaxia — Anthemus — Mygdonia — Crossaa — Mount Cissus — Bottiata — Chalcidenses — Apollonia of Chalcidice — Clynthus — Apollonia of Mygdonia — Lete — Paonia — Strumitza — Astraum — Roman roads from Stobi — Velesa, Bylazora — Almana, Desudaba, Mce- dica — Ivorina, Jamphorina — Mount Scomius — Dentheleta;, Bessi — Istip, Astapus — Ghiustendil, Pautalia — Theranda, Ulpiana — Towns on the Mathis — Skopia, Scupi — Edict of Amphipolis after the conquest by Paullus — Limits of the four regions — Coins of the Tetrarchy „ 439
CHAPTER XXXII.
FOURTH JOURNEY.
EPIRUS, ACARNANIA, iETOLIA.
Prevyza — Aios Petros, Anactorium — Vonitza — Ruga — Nisi — Balimbey — Lutraki — Katuna — Hellenic city — Makhala — Ex- pedition of Agesilaus into Acarnania — Skortus — Lygovitzi — Prodhromo — Agriculture and productions of Acarnania — Forest of Manina — Podholovitza — Guria — Hellenic ruin called Palea Mani — Return to Guria — Mastu — Anatoliko — Meso- longhi 488
CONTENTS.
Vll
CHAFfER XXXIII.
■ETOLIA, ACARNANIA.
Kurt-aga, Calydon — Temple of Diana Laphria — River Eveiuis — Mount Chalcis — Aia Triadha — Neokhori — Stamna — (Etolo-Acarnanian agriculture — Return to Neokhori — Magula — Kurtzolari — Katokhi — Trikardho-kastro, (Eniada — March of Philip from Limneea to QZniada? — Pha'teicc — Medeon — Me- tropolis— Conope, Ithoria, Paunium — Elceus — Artemita — Oxeicc — Lakes Melite, Cynia, Uria — Lake of Calydon — Course of the Achelous below (Eniada
533
TRAVELS
IN
NORTHERN GREECE.
THIRD JOURNEY.
CHAPTER XXII.
EP1RUS, LEUCAS, ITHACA, CEPHALLENIA.
Departure from Corfu — Capes Leucimne, Amphipagus — Islands Sybota — Arpitza, Chimerium — Parga, Toryne — Ai Ianni, Buchcetium — Porto Fanari, Glycys Limen, or Elcea — Elia — • lliniassa — Agriapidhia — Amaxikhi in Lefkadha — Kaligoni, Lcucas — Dioryctus — Meganisi — Kalamo — Gulf of Molo in Ithaca — Mount Neritum — Skhino, Dhexia, Vathy — Echina- des — Aeto — Anoi — Oxoi — Polis — Mount Neium, Rheithrum — Alcomcnce — Aigilips — Crocyleia — Dulichium — Oxeice or Thoce — Frikes — Kioni — Port Lia — Fountain Arethusa and rock Corax — Samo in Kefalonia, Same — Siege of Same by Fulvius — Pulata — Faraklata — Argostoli — Kraniii, Cranii — Lixiiri, Pale — Population and productions of Kefalonia — Pron't, Assus, Atclla, Taphns, Heraclia, Erissus, Panormus.
Corfu, 9th September, 1806. — Having engaged a vessel to carry me through the JEycnan to Mount A thus, we set sail this evening from the
VOL. III. B
i:pirus.
[chap.
port of Kastradhes, Italicc Castrai. The vessel is of 55 tons, and one of those called by the Venetians Manzera, carrying square or latine sails, according to the state of the weather. The captain refused to put to sea on a Tuesday until the sun was down, that day being considered unlucky by all classes of Greeks : nor would lie consent to sail in the day- time, as he feared the effects of the /ucmW/ia, or cattivo occhio, of those who may envy him for the beauty of his vessel.
Sept. 10. — From the low sandy point of Lef- kimo in Corfu, the ancient Lcucimne, or Leu- cimme, to Cavo Bianco, probably the Amphi- pagus of Ptolemy, the coast of Corfu has a N. and S. direction for 6 or 7 miles, nearly parallel to that of Epirus, and thus forms the southern entrance of the channel of Corfu : the breadth is five miles, but is narrowed to four between Cape Bianco and the islands which preserve their ancient name Sybota, by extensive shallows adjoining the former Cape. Similar shoals encircle Cape Lefkimo, but as they stretch chiefly to the northward, and the channel is here wider, they are not so inconvenient to navi- gation as the former. There is a sheltered bay between the two principal Syvota, and another between the inner island and the main. In the latter I anchored in a Russian brig of war in May last. The adjacent district on the continent is named Vrakhana, and consists of several dispersed hamlets, among which, on the shore opposite to the inner island of the Syvota, are two towers be- longing to Murtzo, an Albanian chief. These oc- cupy apparently the site of the place which Thucy-
12
XXII,
EPIRUS.
dides calls " the continental Sybota1," an(l where, after the second naval action between the Corcy- raei and Corinthians, in the year before the begin- ning of the Peloponnesian War, the Corinthians erected a trophy, while the Corcyrasi, who equally claimed the victory, set up their trophy " at the insular Sybota2 :" whence it would seem that there were villages of that name on either side of the inner strait or harbour. Midway between the outerSyvota and Parga is Cape Varlam, commonly called For- majo by the seamen of Italy and the Seven Islands. Immediately north of it, is a retirement of the coast with a sandy beach, above which are cultivated slopes round some dispersed hamlets, all known by the name of Arpitza. Near the shore are the re- mains of a Hellenic fortification now called Erimo- kastro.
Parga, and the heights behind it, covered with olive groves and gardens, have a very pleasing ap- pearance from the sea. The town is situated on the steep side of a conical rock, which divides a small recess of the coast into two bays, both exposed to the Garbino, and consequently dangerous in winter, except for small boats, which may shelter close under the town, or behind some rocks on the southern side of the southern port. The ridge which connects the promontory with the neigh- bouring mountain and separates the two ports, is covered with a street of houses, and there is another on the beach of the southern port. On the rock
rpoTrniov tfTTT}(rav tv toiq avTfijrr\(rav tv rnir tr nj
iv n~i f/jreipa Supdrotc- — Thu- yr/aut %vj36toiq, cyd. I. 1, c. 54.
u k2
EPIRUS.
[CHAP.
stands a fortress, in which resides the Bey sent from Constantinople to receive the tribute ; the place being governed in the same manner as Prevyza '.
About six miles to the south-eastward of Parga is the entrance of Splantza, or the harbour of Fa- nari, the ancient Glycys Limen, into which the Acheron discharges itself. The intermediate coast has a direction first due east, and then south ; exactly in the angle is Ai Iiinni, or St. John, which is the best harbour in this part of the coast. Porto Fanari is small and shallow, and therefore fre- quented only by small vessels, which load the corn and kalambokki of the plain of Fanari. The port is easily known by an interval of low coast between steep hills, and by a remarkable precipice on one side of the entrance. As at Buthrotum, the water of this bay is rendered almost sweet by the great river which is discharged into it ; whence the ancient name Glycys Limen. Suli is a conspicuous object rising behind this part of the coast ; on the heights a little to the southward of Porto Fanari is the village of Klarentza, and below it a small har- bour and some magazines for the sardeles, which are caught in great plenty, in and near Porto Fa- nari. The coast is steep but well cultivated as far as Cape Agriapidhia, the heights above which are seen from Corfu.
There is no situation between Porto Fanari and the port Comarus ofNicopolis, now My tika, indicating any great probability of an ancient site : I am in- formed, however, that some Hellenic remains exist
1 See Vol. I. p. 177.
XXII.]
EPIRUS.
at Klarentza. The most conspicuous object is the castle of Riniassa !, situated at the foot of a mari- time ridge, which is separated by some elevated valleys from the range extending from Zalongo towards Suli. Two miles to the north of it is a small harbour named Elia.
Some difficulty occurs in adjusting the ancient names on the coast between the channel of Corcyra and Nicopolls. Arpitza I believe to be the place named Chimerium, where the Corinthians stationed their fleet, and established a camp on returning to the Epirote coast in the summer following their defeat by the Corcyraei near Paxi2, at the same time that they formed another camp at Actium for the protection of Lcucas and their other allies in that quarter. The station of the Corcyraei was at Leucimne 3 ; and in those positions the hos- tile forces remained the whole summer with- out coming to action. Previously to the second battle between the same two parties, which oc- curred three years after the first, Chimerium was again the station of the Corinthian fleet, while that of the Corcyraei was at Sybota. On this occasion, Thucydides describes Chimerium as a cape and harbour on the Epirote coast, between the rivers
1 'Priviaaoa.
2 In the year B.C. 435, Thu- cyd. 1. 1, c. 29, et seq. The historian does not exactly state where this hattle took place, but the Corinthians who were in their route to Epidamnus had met the herald of the Corcyraei olF Actium, and the latter, after the battle, planted their trophy
on Cape Leucimme or Leucim- ne. The action, therefore, oc- curred probably between Paxu and Cape Varlmn.
3 tcTTparoTreSevovTO kni Acr/w Kai Trep'i to Xeifxepiov tijq Qea-
■KnwrihoQ avrearpa-
totteCevovto hi kcu ol KepKv- pdloi eirl tt} AEVKtufiy vavcrl ti koi *(.'(£>. — Thucyd. 1. 1, c. 30.
EPIRUS.
[chap.
Acheron and Thyamis1. We find, accordingly, that Cape Varlam is about midway between the mouths of those two rivers, and that the bay of Arpitza, being exactly opposite to Cape Bianco, was peculiarly well placed to observe the entrance of the channel of Corfu, and to prevent an enemy stationed at Lefkimo from sailing out of it un- observed. The historian does not, indeed, refer to Chimerium as a fortress, but seems to describe it as a harbour dependent upon Ephyre. But I have frequently had occasion to observe, that places noticed only in history as mountains, har- bours, or promontories, are proved by existing ruins to have been also fortresses : and in the present instance, the words of Pausanias and Ste- phanus afford some presumption that Chimerium was more than a mere cape or harbour 2. If the remark of Pausanias were verified, who states that fresh water, similar to that of the Deine on the coast of Argolis 3, rose in the sea near Chimerium,
1 euro AevKalog rrXiovreg, vp/xi^ovrai ig Xeifxtpiov rfjg Qs(TTrp(jJTidoQ y//e. tan £e Xifii)y, Kal 7ru\ig virtp avrov Ktlrat ct7ro On\arT(Tt]c. kv rrj 'EXat- andi (al. 'E\«uri£t) rfjg Qta- irpioriiog, 'JLcjjvprj' t^eiat ce Trap ahrtjv 'Aytpovaia XLfxvr) ig ri)v OaXuaaar' cut £t rijg Oeanpoj- Ticiog W.yip(x)v Trora^bg pewv ia- flaXXei ig avri)v, a<f ov Kal ri)v tTTiopv^iav tyti' 9tL *£ KaL ®ua" fj.ig Trorafxbg bpii^cjv ri)v Otanpu>- rtckt Kal Ktarpivrjv, wv tvrbg y liicpa aviyti rb Xetfiiptov' ol
fitv ovv Kopivdioi Tfjg i)irtipov kvravBa hp^ii'C,ovrai rt /cat arpa- roVeeW tiroiyaavro. — Thucyd. 1. 1, c. 46.
2 yXvKV vt uvwo EK daXaaarjr SrjXov tanv tvravOa. rt aviov tv rrj 'ApyoXidi Kal tv rrj Qecnrpio- rict Kara rb Xtifxiptov KaXov- \itvov. — Pausan. Arcad. c. 7« Xetfiip^ov, a/cpa Oecnrpwrlag. To idviKov, Xtifitpuvg. — Ste- phan. in voce.
3 For the Deine, see Travels in the Moredy vol. ii. p. 480.
XXII.]
EPIRUS.
there would remain no doubt on the subject. As to the mention of Ephyre by Thucydides in con- nection with Chimerium, it can only be recon- ciled with the situation which I have attributed to the latter, by supposing* Thucydides to have employed the word v-rrso in its widest sense, and merely for the purpose of introducing a notice of the rivers Acheron and Thyamis, and of the po- sition of Chimerium between them, for the historian himself, compared with Strabo, leaves no doubt that Ephyre, afterwards named Cichyrus, stood not far above the discharge of the Acherusia and Ache- ron into the Glycys Limen1, which is twelve or four- teen miles distant from Cape Varlam. But it is ob- vious that no cape near Port Fanari, nor any other position, such as Parga if we might suppose that place to have been the ancient Chimerium, can be so well adapted to the circumstances related by Thucydides as the harbour of Arpitza and Cape Varlam.
1 Eto-t de vrfoicEQ to. 2v/3ora, rrjg fxev 'W-KEipov piKpov citte- yjwrrui, Kara. c)£ to emov I'ikoov rijg KopKvpaiag, tt/v AevKi/xyrfv, Keifievat. Kai aAXai d kv t<o 7rct()('nrXo) rrialdsg elfflv OVK dujtac [ivflfirjs. "JLtteitu uKpa Xeifxi- pwv Kal TXvkvc XtfXIIV £l£ OP £/i/3a'\\£t o 'A^tpwv 7rorafioQ, ptujy be tTiq 'A-^tpovcriaQ \lftvrjg, Kal ce^o/j-EPog ttXeiovq ttotciiiovq ('oars Kal yXvicatPEtp tov koXttov' pel ct. Kal !> Ovct[ii£ nXrjtjiop.
YTrEpKEtTaittTOVTOV flEP tov koX-
ttov Kl^vpog 1) irpoTEpov 'E(f)vpa,
TToXlC, OE(TTTpu)TWP' TOV <)E Kara
HovdpMTOv ?/ fyoiviKr}. 'Eyyur &e r>7c Kij^vpov TToXi^viov Bou- ■^atTiov Kao-<7W7r«<wj>, nucpop virlp Tr}c daXctTTrjQ by. — Strabo, p. 324. It is easy to perceive that Strabo has borrowed his information, in this passage, from others; in placing the Thyamis near the Glycys Li - men, he follows probably the negligent expression of Thucy- dides.
8
EPIRUS.
[CHAP.
Parga, I am inclined to believe, was the ancient Toryne, which Octavianus, coming from the Ionian sea, occupied with his fleet, and from whence he proceeded to offer battle to Antonius at the entrance of the strait of Actium. Ptolemy, indeed, may be thought to leave some doubt whether Toryne, or Torone as he writes it, was at Parga, or at Port St. John, as he names only the following places, and in this order: "the mouth of the Thyamis, Sy- bota, Torone, the mouth of the Acheron, Port Ekea, Nicopolis;" whence it may be said that St. John being a safer and more capacious harbour than that of Parga, will correspond better to Toryne. St. John lies however in an angle of the coast, not very easily entered or quitted by a fleet, and was not so convenient for the purpose of Octavianus as Parga. It was more probably the harbour of Bit- chcetium \ a town described by Strabo as situated at a small distance from the sea, and not far from Cichyrus or Ephyre, the remains of which city still exist at a ruined monastery on the right bank of the Vuvo or Cocytus, at an equal distance from Porto Fanari and from the harbour of St. John, and not more than two hours from either.
Elia, the name of the small harbour between
1 The Buchetii were skilful fishermen, but not even a Bu- chetian could catch a hyca.
'E£ akoQ ovS' vkt}v dvepa Bou^fVioy "EXkeiv.
Fragm. Callimach. ap. Etymol. Mag. voce Boy^ru.
On the difficulty of catching the hyca, see Hermippus and Philetas ap. Athen. 1. G, c. 22.
XXII.]
EPIRUS.
Klarentza and Riniassa, seems to show that the JSlcBa, which Ptolemy places on this coast, between the mouth of the Acheron and Nicopolis, was there situated. On the other hand, Thucydides, by describing the Eleatis as the district where the Acherusia discharged itself into the sea, affords strong reason for believing that the reading of Scylax is correct, which represents the port Glycys to have been also called Elea l, and that as no Thesprotian city of this name is no- ticed by any ancient author, the harbour was named Elea, and the surrounding district Eleatis, from the marshy nature of the neighbouring country, which, as it affects even the water of the harbour, was the more likely to attach that name to it. It may not have been until long after the time of Thucydides and Scylax, that for Elea was substituted the still more descriptive Glycys Limen, as the name of the harbour. It must be confessed, however, that the modern name, Elia, together with the words of Ptolemy, which represent the mouth of the Acheron and the harbour of Elaea as distinct places, are adverse to this conclusion, and that the question is rather doubtful.
The maestrale, which at this season seldom sets in till the afternoon, falls about sunset, and we are
1 Mera (ie Xaoviav Oetnrpuj- H,iy)aiv 'A^ipiov (cat \ifivif
toL e'uriv 'iQvoq .... tort vs. 'A^epuvala, e£, ijc o 'A-^ipwu pel
ctvrt) tv\ifj.evo(j' ivTiivda tort TruTa/xuc. — Scylax in 0£o-7rpw-
\ifxtiv o) l>rojxa "EXeo ('E/Wa)' rui. tig tovtov top \ijutVa ttotu/jioc
10
LEUCAS.
[chap.
becalmed till midnight, when begins the usual gulf wind from Prevyza, which carries us to the north- ern promontory of Lefkadha at nine in the fore- noon of Sept. 11. — From this precipitous cape the coast runs south-westward as far as Cape Dukato, consisting, without intermission, of the same de- scription of bold cliffs, of which the celebrated Leucate forms the still more remarkable termina- tion. At the northern cape the coast makes a sudden curve to the eastward, and a sandy beach begins, from which, midway towards Amaxikhi, branches the low promontory of Plaka. This spit of sand makes an angle to the north-west, and then retires in the opposite direction until at a short distance from the coast of Xeromero it assumes a direction parallel to that shore, forming the northern entrance of the lagoons, which sepa- rate the island of Leucas from Acarnania. The fortress of Aghia Mavra stands exactly at the re- entering angle of the promontory, where the strait is narrowest, and covers the whole breadth of the Plaka. It is now occupied by a Russian garrison of 500 men. We land at the foot of the walls, and after answering a few questions from the fort, pro- ceed to the Sanita in the town, walking along the narrow summit of an aqueduct which crosses the lagoon and conveys water to the fort. It is sup- ported by about 200 arches, and is 1300 yards in length.
XXII.]
LEU CAS.
11
Pt. Drepa.no
The modern capital of Leucas, named Amaxikhi1, resembles Mesolonghi, as well by its situation on the lagoon as in the form of the houses, which are very unlike those of Corfu, being built chiefly of wood on a substruction of stone or brick, with gal- leries supported by wooden pillars. The greater part of them are of one story only, which, as well as the wooden construction, is said to have been adopted in consequence of the frequency of earth- quakes. Some of the larger houses are fitted up with tapestry in the Venetian taste. The town is
1 'Afxu^l-^wv.
12
LEUCAS.
[chap.
composed of a single street, from which branch some narrow lanes of small wooden tenements. At the northern termination of the street, near the head of the aqueduct, is a small square called the Piazza di San Marco ; from the other end branch two roads which are practicable for carriages for two or three miles, and then become mere horse-paths. Amaxikhi may perhaps have taken its name from being the only place in the island where a/ua^ia, or wheel carriages, are or can be used. The women are generally handsome, as at Mesolonghi, and in some other situations in Greece which have every appearance of being unhealthy ; but many of the men have a sickly complexion. I am lodged in the house of Mr. K. G., Austrian and British vice-consul, whose profits having been sadly dimi- nished since the occupation of the Venetian states by the French, his habitation is proportionally humble. In the afternoon Count Angelo Orio, to whom I had a letter of introduction, presents me to the Prytano, after which we walk out to one of the count's gardens, which is spacious and in good order. Count Orio is a Venetian, who in right of his deceased wife, an heiress of this place, has large possessions in the plains of Amaxikhi, Vonitza, and Nicopolis. But the uncertain tenure of his continental property renders it of little value. He was of the Maggior Consilio of Venice, a Go- vcrnator di Nave, and two years Proveditor of Cefalonia. On being sent by Admiral Uschakoff to Petersburg, the Emperor Paul gave him the title of Conseiller Intime, with the rank of briga- dier. He remained at Amaxikhi under the French,
XXII.]
LEUCAS.
13
but being persecuted by General Chabot on suspi- cion of being in intelligence with the Turks and Russians, was obliged to take refuge in the mountains. On Chabot's departure he returned to town, and claims the credit of having pre- vented Aly Pasha from entering the island when the Pasha, encamping with his Albanians on the shore opposite to the fortress, flattered himself that he should obtain this favourite object in the name of the Porte, and be able to hold it for him- self. And he might have succeeded, if he had had a few boats to transport his Albanians. Orio endeavoured to gain time by negotiation with the Bishop of Arta and the Pasha, while the islanders, taking up a position to the southward, declared their determination to resist the Albanians. But the only real impediment was the fire of the French from the fortress upon the shallow channel, which the Albanians would otherwise have crossed on foot. After a delay of fifteen days in the siege of Cerigo, Admiral Uschakoff arrived, but the French held out twenty days longer in the castle, the Rus- sian batteries being either too distant, or directed against the strongest parts of the work.
Sept. 12. — Cross the lagoon in company with Count Orio to the fortress, in a small flat-bottomed boat which is punted, and sails back without any danger under the lee of the aqueduct, though there is a strong south-wester without. The aqueduct is so narrow, that when the wind is very strong it sometimes happens that careless or drunken men fall, or are blown over into the water and smothered in the mud. The Russians in garrison, who have
14
LEUCAS.
[chap.
just received a year's arrear of pay and clothing, are commanded by a rough Russian colonel, who has learnt a few words of Italian at Naples and in these islands, and says that he should prefer the most miserable village in Russia to his present solitary and disagreeable station. Formerly the fortress was the seat of government, and there were houses in it for the proveditori ordinario and straordinario. The profile is low, and the wall is very weak, especially towards the lagoon. But it is well placed for protecting the strait just where it is easily forded from the opposite heights in Xeromero, called Lamia, on the extremity of which is a Tekieh of Dervises. The shallow channel extends two or three miles to the north of the fort, separated only from the open sea by a continuation of the Plaka, which terminates at the southern side of the entrance of port Dhe- mata, or St. Nicolas. This harbour, being the only one between Viskardho and Prevyza, is of some importance, though the depth of water is sufficient for ships only at the entrance ; it com- municates eastward by a narrow channel with the Lake of Vulkaria. The fortress of Santa Maura is the only place where 1 have seen date trees growing on the western coast of Greece ; they are now bearing fruit, but it never ripens here.
On returning from the fortress we proceed to the paleokastro, or remains of the city of Z/Cucas, a mile and a half to the south east of Amaxikhi. The site is called Kaligoni, and consists of irre- gular heights, forming the last falls of the cen- tral ridge of the island, at the foot of which is
XXII.]
LEUCAS.
15
a narrow plain between the heights and the lagoon. The hills are almost entirely covered with vine- yards ; the plain is occupied by gardens. To- wards the northern side of the heights are a few houses called Zervates, and a church of 'Aio Vlasi. At two-thirds of the distance from Amaxikhi to the ancient site, a fountain called Megali Vrysis flows copiously from the rocky foot of a hill, on the summit of which stands a casino which, as well as Kaligoni and the neigh- bouring plain, belongs to the Count. Water is conveyed from the Vrysis, in a subterraneous conduit, to Amaxikhi, where it supplies the town from various fountains constructed in the Turkish style. The conduit was originally a work of the Turks ; but the Venetians, when a repair was required, not having been able to trace the direc- tion of the old aqueduct, were obliged to construct the whole anew. That the same accident may not happen again, they have marked the direc- tion by little heaps of earth, which show the ex- traordinary circuit taken by the conduit in pre- serving the proper level. A hollow between Me- gali Vrysis and the Paleokastro, which is now covered with vineyards, was a part of the ceme- tery of jLeucas, as appears from the numerous bones, vases, and other sepulchral remains which have been found there. The ancient inclosure is almost entirely traceable as well round the brow of the height on the northern, western and southern sides, as from either end of the heights across the plain to the lagoon, and along its shore. This illustrates Livy, who remarks that the lower parts of Leucas were on a level close to the
10
LEUCAS.
[chap.
shore1. The walls on the heights are, for the most part, of polygonal masonry, and apparently of a remote period. In the plain the masonry is more regular, some remains of towers are seen, and it seems evident that this part of the fortification is of a much later date than the original inclosure on the hills. The latter is probably a part of the Nericus mentioned in the Odyssey, which Laertes boasts to have taken, and which, even in the Pelo- ponnesian war, had not yet assumed the name of Leucas 2. This change, and the extension of the walls to the lagoon, occurred probably between that war, when Leucas was opposed to the Acarnanes, and the time when it became the chief city of Acar- nania and the seat of the national council 3. The western, or most inland point of the hill of Leucas, is of a peaked form, and was crowned by a large round tower, of which the foundations are extant. Northward of this, on a tabular summit of equal height, are the remains of a small fortress or Acro- polis : on the lower slope of the hill are the ruins of several terrace walls ; and there are some foun- dations also in the plain. Some cisterns were described to me by a peasant as existing in the upper part of the Paleokastro, but I did not see
1 Liv. 1.33, c. 17.
2 Thucyd. 1. 3, c. 7. Strabo therefore is at variance with the historian, since he not only as- serts that the name was changed by the Corinthian colony, but that Leucas was built on a dif- ferent site from that of Nericus. (Strabo, p. 452, vide infra.) But it is not uncommon to find
that cities, which history repre- sents to have been rebuilt on a different site, have been merely restored and enlarged, with a change of name, and such seems to have been the case in the present instance.
3 Liv. 1. 33, c. 17; 1. 36, c. 11.
XXII.]
LEUCAS.
17
them. Close to the remains of the walls to the southward there is another fine fountain, fitted up in the Turkish manner, called airaofxkvn /3pv<r«;, or the shattered fountain, and lying near it a small sepulchral stone, inscribed with the name Aapo*, the last letter doubtful. In an adjoining vineyard I observed a plain sarcophagus, and among other remains of the southern cemetery of the city a tomb made of slabs of stone set upright, in the most simple style, and which had been excavated. Count Orio found not long ago, in this vineyard, a sepul- chral stone with a woman's name. Immediately below the vineyards of Kaligoni are some exten- sive salt pans of the same name, which extend southward to a small round fortress in ruins called Forti, and to the southern harbour of Amaxikhi, named Drepano.
Opposite to the middle of the ancient city some remains of a Hellenic mole are visible, evidently appertaining to a causeway and bridge which here crossed the lagoon. The bridge was rendered neces- sary by a channel, which pervades the whole length of the lagoon, and admits a passage to boats draw- ing five or six feet of water, while the other parts of the lagoon are not more than two feet in depth. The great squared blocks which formed the ancient causeway are still seen above the shallow water in several places on either side of the deep channel, but particularly towards the Acarnanian shore ; on which side, a little to the southward of the causeway, on a small rocky height, are remains of habitations, and of a castle of the middle ages. The bridge seems to have been kept in repair at
VOL. III. c
18
LEUCAS.
[chap.
a late period of time, there being a solid cubical fabric of masonry of more modern workmanship erected on the causeway on the western bank of the channel.
The earliest appellation of Leucas was Acte, or the "peninsula," a name applied to some other great maritime projections of the continentofGreece, as Argolis, Attica, and Athos. To that of Leucas the word 'H-n-upov was added as a distinction, and 'A/err) 'Hireipoio seems to have been its common de- signation in the time of Homer ; it was indeed very naturally so named by the neighbouring island- ers, as Epirus or " the continent" was the word then applied to the whole of Acarnania as well as to Epirus proper. According to Scylax, the people of the town were called Epileucadii, so that it would seem that the name Leucas, derived from the cliffs of the western coast, had at an early period been adopted by the people. The Acar- nanes of Leucas being in a state of insurrection called in a thousand colonists from Corinth, who slew the Acarnanes, occupied the country, and cutting through the isthmus made it an island1. According to Pliny, this canal, or dioryctus as it was called, was 3 stades in length 2, a distance which agrees so well with the breadth of the Plaka, that one cannot doubt that the dioryctus was cut through that sand-bank, probably not far from the fort of Santa Maura, where the spit making an angle to the south, alluvion is quickly accumulated, and has a constant ten-
1 Scylax in 'Ampvavla. 2 Plin. H. N. 1. 4, c. 12.
Strabo, p. 452.
XXII.]
LEUCAS.
1!)
dency to close the entrance of the deep channel which pervades the lagoon, and the navigation of which was probably the object of the Corin- thians. If by this operation they rendered Leucas an island, we are to suppose that the part of the lagoon between the Plaka and Lamia, which now insulates Leucas, did not anciently exist. But I am more disposed to believe, notwithstanding the 'A/ct?7 of Homer, and other ancient testimonies, that Leucas was never more of a peninsula nor less of an island than it is at present ; that is to say, that it has always been separated by a narrow fordable channel, and that the changes which appear from history to have occurred were all caused by the natural obstruction and artificial clearing of the entrance of the deep channel.
The dioryctus formed by the Corinthian colony in the seventh century, B.C., had become unser- viceable before the Peloponnesian war, as appears by the Peloponnesian fleet having on more than one occasion been dragged across the isthmus, though Leucas was entirely in their interest \ It was in the same state in the reign of Philip, son of Demetrius, for Polybius relates, that when Philip surprised Thermus, in the year b. c. 218, and was hastening with his fleet from Cephallenia by Leucas to the Ambracic Gulf, he caused his ships to be conveyed across the isthmus 2, and Livy in describing the
' Thucyd. 1. 3, c. 81 ; 1. 4, The isthmus seems to have
c. 8. been still called the Dioryctus,
2 thTpeTTMra/JEvoc ret wepl tvv although the canal was ob-
AtopvKTOv, Kal tcivti) ^lUKOfiiara^ structed. rag vavg. — Polyb. 1. 5, c. 5.
c 2
20
LEUCAS.
[chap.
siege of Leucas by L. Quinctius, 21 years after- wards, uses the words, " Leucadia nunc insula et vadoso freto quod perfossum manu est ab Acar- nania divisa, turn peninsula erat ' ;" the restoration of the dioryctus was perhaps a work of the Ro- mans, after the Macedonian conquest, when one of their first acts was to separate Leucas from the Acarnanian confederacy. Both bridge and canal appear from Strabo to have existed in the reign of Augustus, whose policy it was to facilitate communication by sea and land, by these means securing the power of Rome, maintaining peace, and extending the commercial intercourse of the subject nations.
It is curious that Livy, though he has probably borrowed, as usual, the part of his narrative just referred to from Polybius, has represented the town of Leucas as situated on the isthmus, where it was 500 paces long and 120 broad. Perhaps in improving the expression he lost some of the truth of his author, as he has done in some other instances. From a similar inaccuracy we may suspect that Strabo never visited Leucas in person, like many other places which he has incorrectly described, for he represents the isth- mus, the dioryctus, the bridge, and Leucas to have been all in the same place, and Nericus in a different situation 2, whereas from what I have
1 Liv. 1. 33, c. 17. viyKavTEQ rt]v Nijpixoi' iirl tov
3 Kupii'dioi cie tottov oq r'jv ttote (jlev to-fyzoc
• TVG ytppoyiiaov Ciopv- vvv Se wopdfJ-oc yetpvpy. ^evktuq,
lavrtc tov Iffdfivv, tiroitjaai' fXErwvofiaaar AtVKaBa. — Stra-
vfjaov ri]f AevkABu cai jxete- bo, p. 4o2.
XXII.]
LEUCAS.
21
already stated, it is evident that Nericus, Leucas, and the bridge, were in one position, and the isth- mus and dioryctus at a distance of three miles to the north of them.
The insecurity which the city of Leucas felt from being placed on a peninsula, or what was nearly the same thing in a military sense, an island to which there was a fordable access from the continent, is strongly proved by the traces of a Hellenic wall, commencing near Amaxikhi, and terminating at the bluff cape which rises from the western extremity of the sandy beach. This wall intercepted the communication between the an- cient city and the isthmus, or promontory of Plaka, and may have been useful also against a landing in the bay of Amaxikhi. It was probably built before the union of Leucas with Acarnania. Count Orio affirms that just before the fall of Venice, every thing was in readiness to renew the ancient canal, which would be extremely useful to the island, as well as to the whole coast of Acar- nania and Epirus, by enabling small vessels to avoid the circuit of Cape Dukato \
Sept. 13. — This being the first of the month (Greek style) is the day of meeting of the Syncliti to choose the members of the legislative body, of whom this island sends four, Corfu ten, Zante ten, Cefalonia ten, Ithaca two, Paxu two, Cerigo two.
1 The canal has been re- side of Fort Santa Maura, and
stored since Leucas has been joins the deep channel near
under English protection : it en- Amaxikhi. ters the lagoon on the western
22
LEUCAS.
[CH.AP.
The Assembly meets in the church of St. Minas on the out-skirts of the town, with a Russian guard at the door. The Prytano, S. V. . . of Corfu, opens the assembly with a long speech in Greek, point- ing out the importance of the business on which they are met, and supporting his arguments by examples from ancient history. He has the cha- racter of being one of the most learned men in these islands, and the speech is much commended, though I hear one of the country nobles whisper- ing to another, Ka\a \6yia, ' fine words without meaning.' In fact, not one of those present is ignorant that the meeting is all a farce, and that the legislators have been named a fortnight ago by N. the emissary of the Russian plenipotentiary. But this does not prevent the ceremony of a ballot for 26 names, out of which a selection of four is to be made by the Senate. Two days are allowed for the ballot, when the boxes, sealed by the pry- tano, are sent to Corfu to be opened before the Senate. It is a common joke to call the Syncliti, Synklefti. Lefkadha produces corn enough for its own consumption, and some oil for exportation ; a great quantity of salt, and wine sufficient not only for home consumption, but for exportation in con- siderable quantities to Corfu, Prevyza, and other places. Besides the salt-works of Kaligoni, there are some smaller near the town. The salt-cham- bers are separated from one another by other chambers in which no salt is made ; the stagnant water in these and in the ditches causes malaria. The salt is piled up in large pyramids, and co- vered with a roof of tiles. At Corfu it is formed
XXII.]
LEUCAS.
23
into little hillocks. The manufacture there is not so good as it is here, nor the salt so much esteemed.
On the Acarnanian mountain, which lies oppo- site to the anchorage of Forti, and which extends to the bay of Zaverdha, is the scattered village of Plaia l, and on the slope of Lamia the monastery and small village of Aghia Varvara. There is considerable confusion in common discourse as to the name of Santa Maura, which is given occasion- ally to the island, the town, or the fortress, but properly 'Ay'ia MaOpa, is the fortress, having re- ceived that name from a small church which stood on the site, 'Afia^iyi is the town and AtvicaSa the island.
Sept. 14. — The manzera having made the tour of the island by Kavo Dukato, I pass through the channel of the Lagoons in a small flat-bottomed boat, and rejoin the vessel a little below Forti. Sailing out of the harbour of Drepano, we leave the fountain of the Pasha2, on the right hand, and then pass the port of Klimino, which is sheltered by four or five islands lying before it. The two principal, called Sparti and Skropeo, produce good corn. Maduri, situated exactly in the entrance of Klimino, is covered with olives, and belongs to Kyr Nikola Vretto of Ithaca. The harbour communi- cates by a narrow opening with a long interior bay. Klimino I take to be a corruption of the Ellome- nus of Thucydides 3.
1 HAaytar.
3 Thucyd. 1. 3, c. 94.
2 YSnvaiv rod Wutnu.
24
ITHACA,
[chap.
Leaving Meganisi on the right, we run along the coast of Acamajiia, which rises to a lofty mountain named Kandili, containing a village of the same name ; but the wind coming to the south we are unable to weather the outer cape of Ka- lamo called Kefali, and stand close in to the shore towards the northern extremity of the island, where is the village Piskopi, and below it a small harbour. Opposite to the northern ex- tremity of Kalamo, is a large bay, bordered by an extensive plain, in which are the ruins of the village Varnaka, and some Hellenic remains, probably those of Alyzia. The bay is divided into two by a low projection named Mytika. The eastern anchorage is called Vurko, and from some magazines of that name there is a road of an hour across a fertile valley and steep ascent to Zavitza, a large village on the mountain at the head of the valley. Mount Kandili is separated by a remarkable pass from Mount Bumisto, which is the highest summit in this part of Acarnania, and is nearly opposite to Kalamo. Southward of Bumisto a long ridge borders the coast, which ends in the promontory on the western side of the entrance of the harbour of Tragamesti.
Sept. 15. — Never having seen a tolerable map of Ithaca, I was most agreeably surprised in enter- ing the noble Gulf of Molo this morning at day- break'. To the right rises with extreme steepness the great mountain of Anoi, which, being the
1 See a Map of Ithaca at the end of this volume.
XXII.]
ITHACA.
25
highest and greatest in the island, we can have no difficulty in identifying with the Neritum of the poet. To the left are three harbours ; the outer is a semicircular port called Skhino, per- haps an ancient name, then Vathy two miles in length, and widening to the breadth of half a mile towards the bottom ; then Dhexia, resembling Skhino, but smaller, and so called probably as being to the right in entering the principal har- bour Vathy. An island before it is named Katzurbo. Beyond Dhexia the gulf extends two miles to the S.W., and terminates in the port of Aeto, separated only from the channel of Kefalonia by a narrow ridge which thus divides the island into two peninsulas. The town of Vathy occupies a long narrow space on the shore at the head of the bay of the same name. Before it is an island named Pandokratora, on which stands a lazaretto. I am lodged in the house of Mr. Constantine Zavo, English vice-consul, whose father held the same office for 50 years. The Pry tan o is of a Venetian family settled at Kefalo- nia. He has lately excited considerable discon- tent by disarming the Ithacans, and taking away from them even the small knives which they wore in their girdles.
In a decree of the senate of Venice, dated in the year 1504, of which a copy still exists at Vathy, lands are offered gratis, and an exemption from all imposts for ten years in the uninhabited island lying on the eastern side of Cefalonia called Val di Compare, or Val di Compagno ; in conse-
26
ITHACA.
[chap.
quence of this decree the island was occupied, and 25 years afterwards was governed by a Vene- tian styled II Capitano. In this instance, as in many others, the Greeks, however much behind the Italians they may be in civilization generally, show that they were not so ignorant of the an- cient geography of Greece, for they have never ceased to apply to this island its ancient name, altered merely by a simple metathesis of the two first letters, Giukjj for 'Wann, while the latter is well known by the better classes to be the correct ortho- graphy. The gentile 'IOaKrjmoc, employed by Ho- mer, is in use, as well as 'Wuko^, which is found in Euripides1, and on the coins of the island; the corresponding Oiukoq is now the vulgar gentile. From Qidicr) has been formed the Italian Teachi or Teaci. Every peasant is acquainted with the name of Odhyssefs, though few know much of his story, and probably not six persons in the island have ever read Homer.
Thiaki has a population of 8000 souls, of whom about 1200 are absentees, either as merchants employed chiefly at Constantinople in importing grain and iron into that city from the Black Sea, or as sailors working the ships of the island, possessed by those merchants. By the majority the two employments are combined. There are 50 square-rigged vessels owned and manned by
1 2/A»/»'0£. — Xatp' (i> ijtV 0(TTiQ cS'tt, <f>pa(Toi' Trc'iTpav re ai]v. 'OSveraevg. — 'IOecKOf 'Ocvautvq yrjq KifaXXiiiojy (iicti,.
Eurip. Cyclop, v. 102.
XXII.]
ITHACA.
27
Ithacans, and about as many boats, which carry on a traffic with the neighbouring islands and shores of the continent. About 20 of the ships have been built in the island.
The exports of Thiaki are 250,000 lire Venete of currants, now valued at 25,000 piastres, 6,000 bar- rels of wine at 60,000 piastres, and 1,500 barrels of oil every other year, valued at 30,000 piastres. The island produces also a sufficiency of oil and wine for its own consumption, 20,000 kila of wheat and barley, and a small quantity of cheese. The grain is hardly sufficient for half the year's con- sumption, and the yearly expenditure on this head is reckoned at 125,000 piastres. There is some importation also of salt fish, and cattle for slaugh- ter. The currants of the island were sent formerly to England by the Zante merchants, and were the most esteemed of any, but they are now chiefly bought by the Sclavonians and Moreites. The wine is sent to Corfu and the continent ; the oil to Trieste and Venice ; the cheese to Zante. The daily price of labour is, on ordinary occasions, 80 paras a day without provision, which is higher than in most of the other islands, agricultural hands being scarce. The valley around Vathy is well cultivated with corn, and scarcely a spot on the heights, that will admit of a vineyard, has been neglected. The remainder consists of rocky ground covered with brushwood. To the south-west of the town rises the highest mountain in the southern peninsula, and next to the mountain of Anoi the highest point in the island. It is called Stefano-
28
ITHACA.
[chap.
vuni, or Merovugli : on its slope are situated the village of Perakhorio and the Monastery of the Archangels. On the opposite or western side it slopes abruptly to the channel of Kefalonia. The superiority of Vathy in fertility, and the con- venience of its harbour render probable the supposition that here was one of the towns of Ithaca, if not the capital, and the presumption is supported by the numerous wrought stones of Hel- lenic times, found in the houses and streets of the town, and in the fences around it.
The three principal families of Ithaca are the Petaliadhes, the Karaviadhes, and the Dhendhri- nadhes ; a principal branch of the first has taken the name of Zavo, because one of the ancestors of our present Vice-Consul was an idiot. This family owns the valley at Aeto, the greater part of Anoi, and a part of the land near Vathy, of which the remainder chiefly belongs to the Dhendhrinadh.es, particularly to their chief Asimaki Dhrakoleone. The valley of Oxoi, the most productive district in the island, is chiefly the property of the Vrettei, a branch of the Karaviadhes : a Vrettos from Vasi- liki, in Lefkadha, came to settle in the island near 200 years ago, from whom 150 families of that name are descended.
A peaked height to the S. E. of Vathy, easily recognized from the A car nanian coast, furnishes an excellent geographical station, and commands an interesting view of the sea, surrounded by Leucas, Ithaca, and Acarnania, with the numerous islands •vhich rise from its surface and the coast of the main
XXTT.]
ECHINADES.
29
as far as Cape Chclonatas in the Peloponnesus. Of the islands, — Kalamo, Kastus, 'Atoko, and all the Echinades, are dependencies of Thiaki — Meganisi, Arkudhi, and the small islands near Klimino, of Lefkadha. As several of them are within gunshot of the Ottoman shore, the Septinsular Republic would have some difficulty in establishing any better right to them than that of undisputed pos- session for several centuries, unless there was some particular treaty by which they were ceded to the Venetians, unknown to every person of whom I have made the inquiry.
The Protogeros of Kalamo, who happens at pre- sent to be at Vathy, informs me that his island contains 100 families, living in the two villages of Muli and Piskopi, the former situated on the eastern face of the mountain ; the latter on the western as before mentioned. The island pro- duces nothing but wheat and barley, both ex- cellent, but particularly the former, which is preferred to any other produced in the Seven Is- lands. At the northern extremity of the island, over against Kandiles, is the port of Ai Dhonato, with magazines and a square Castle called Spanish, on the water side, and on the slope above it some imperfect remains of Hellenic masonry. On the summit of the hill which immediately faces the continent, there is also a Hellenic castle or acro- polis, built of very large wrought stones. This mountain is very little lower than the central summit of the island, which declines rapidly to- wards the south-western cape Kefali, not far from which, on the eastern side, and opposite to Kastus,
30
ECHINADES.
[chap.
is the port of Ghero Limiona open to the east. Kastus, which contains 20 or 30 families, is about half as large as Kalamo. The islands are both long and narrow, and lie in a parallel direction, the channel which separates them is two miles wide in the broadest part. Off the northern ex- tremity of Kastus is Provataki, an islet covered with wild olives, which have been grafted, but without much success.
Meganisi contains about 200 families in two villages, and produces twice as much corn as Ka- lamo, the soil being generally cultivable. The Meganisiotes pretend that their wheat is better than that of Kalamo. The island consists of a single ridge, forming a half circle round a large bay on the eastern side, and diminishing in height and breadth from north to south. The latter ex- tremity is a mere rock, off which is a small low island called Khithro, separated from Meganisi by a narrow channel, and appearing at a distance like a part of it.
The Echinades, which name, although not in vulgar use, is known to all Greeks of any educa- tion, are divided into two clusters, besides Pe- tala, which being quite barren and close to the main land, is not claimed, or at least is not occu- pied by the Ithacans, though anciently it was undoubtedly one of the Echinades. The northern cluster is commonly called the Dhragonares, from Dhragonara, the principal island ; and the south- ern, the Oxies, or Skrofes. By the Venetians they were known as the islands of Kurtzohiri, which name belongs properly to a peninsula to the left
J2
XXII.]
ITHACA.
31
of the mouth of the Achelous, near Oxia. Seven- teen of the islands have names beside the four Modhia, two of which are mere rocks, and nine of them are cultivated. These are beginning from the southward : — Oxia, Makri, Vromona, Pondiko- nisi, Karlonisi, Provati, Lambrino, Sofia, Dhrago- nara. Oxia alone is lofty. Dhragonara produces from 250 to 300 kila of grain per annum ; and Mr. Zavo, of Ithaca, to whom the island be- longs, has grafted many wild olives, which have succeeded to perfection. Makri and Vromona are the two islands next in importance. It is said that most of the JEchinades, as well as the other islands attached to the government of Tlii- aki, formerly belonged to a large monastery at Kastus.
Ithaca, as the poet justly remarks in the Odys- sey, is rugged, has no good roads, and is not well adapted to horses ; though small, it is not unproductive, but yields good corn and wine, and feeds goats and oxen1. So far its modern
1 'Ev ri' 'Iddxr) ovr dp' cpofxoL evpieg ovre rt \eijxmv' Alyifiorog Kal fiaWov eirijparog 'nnrofioroio. Ov ydp rig vi'i<twv t7r7n'/\aroc ovd' evXel/jicov At 6' a\t kekXIcltcu' 'Iddxr] Si re Kat ir(.p\ irdaaov.
Od. A. v. (505.
NaiETciu) $' 'Wdtcrjv tvSe.ie\oy' kv o' vpog avrrj N?/ptro)', elvoffifvWop, apiirpewig
Tpr)yjiT d\X dyadt) KovpoTpofog.
Od. I. v. 21.
T Hroi
32
ITHACA.
[chap.
state resembles that of the time of Homer ; but the mountains are no longer shaded with woods, and this may be the reason why the rain and the dew are not so plentiful as the poet represents, and why the island no longer abounds in hogs fat- tening upon acorns.
Mr. Zavo came in eleven hours in a boat from the port of Kastradhes, at Corfu, to the town of Vathy. The same voyage by Ulysses, therefore, in the course of a night1 was not wonderful, with the assistance of Minerva. The port of Phorcys, which was his place of landing, I am inclined to identify with Skhino, for this seems the only point in the island exactly corresponding to the poet's data : 1. In being suited to the intention of those who conveyed Ulysses from Corcyra, namely, that of landing him as quickly as possible, and of quit- ting the coast before he was awake ; 2dly, in ad- mitting of an easy and "unobserved walk from the place of landing to the station of Eumaeus, at the
'Urol nil' Tpi]\tia kcu ov% t7T7r//\aroe tarty, Ovdt Xirjy \v7rpf1, drdp obfr tvptla rtrvKrai. 'Ej/ fitv yap o\ oitoq ddiatyaroc, tv $£ rt olvoc riyytrai' altl & ofifipoQ tyti, TtBaXv'id t ttparj. Alylporog t)' dyad)) xat fiovfioroc' tan fitv vXi] llarroii], tv c' dpd[.io'i tirr)tTavoi rrapiaaiv.
Od. N. v. 242.
A//£i<, tuv ye avtaai Trapi'iptvoi'' at It vifxorTat Hap KopaKog TTtVprj iizi re Kp{) rt] 'Aptdovay, " V.aBovaai (oliXayov uevoeiKta, xal /xtXay vciop Uirovaai, ra 0' iieaai rptQsi redaXvlav dXoi(j>)'iv.
Od. N. v. 407. 1 Od. N. v. 81.
XXII.]
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33
£<x)(araj, or extremity1 of the island which was nearest to the Peloponnesus2, the first might, perhaps, have been better obtained by a landing in some port of the northern peninsula, but the second would have been impracticable from thence ; 3dly, the situation of Mount Neritum, which rises directly in face of Skhino, is exactly adapted to the speech of the disguised Minerva, when she proves to Ulysses that he is in Ithaca, by pointing to the mountain3; 4thly, the road from Skhino to the station of Eu- maeus was exactly as Homer describes, rugged, and leading through woods and mountains4.
The island is now divided into four parts, Vathy, Aetos, Anoi, and Exoi or Oxoi5. Vathy and Oxoi, the two extremities, have each a fertile val- ley. In Aetos and Anoi, which occupy the middle part of the island, the rocky mountains admit of little cultivation. Aetos is the only division which has not a homonymous village ; the name, vulgarly Aeto6, is specifically attached to the remains of
1 Od. a. v. 149.
2 Avrdp etti)v wptjrrjv oIkt^V 'I0a'(C»j£ ctytKijai.
Od. O. v. 36.
Telemachus was sailing from the Peloponnesus.
3 QopKvvog [xtv oh' tori Xtfiijv aXloio yipovroQ'
Tovto £e Niipirov zotiv opoc, Karadfievov vXy.
Od. N. v. 345.
4 Avrdp o Ik Xifxevog Trpoaefir) rpi]\fiav aVapirov,
XCjpov aV vXi'ievra Bi axpiae.
Od. SS. v. 1.
5 Ba$v, 'Aeroe, 'Avwrj, 'Eijwi) or 'Qfar).
6 (xtov 'Aerov, according to the common mode of naming a place in the third case, when the final v is generally mute.
VOL. III. D
34
ITHACA.
[CHAP.
a Hellenic fortress situated on the height already alluded to, which rises from the extremity of the Gulf of Molo, and falls on the opposite side to the channel of Kefalonia.
This height is separated from Mount Mero- vugli by a hollow cultivated with vineyards. Here on the 16th of September, having sailed from Vathy, I pitched my tent, and remained the whole day examining the ruins, or looking over the topographical passages of the Odyssey, while a party of labourers excavated some ancient sepul- chres in the valley. There is a ridge in the middle
Part of the Isthmus of Aeto.
of the hollow, which slopes to the sea on either side, terminating to the north in the extremity of the Gulf of Molo, or anchorage of Aeto, and to the south in a small cove named Exo-Aeto, almost the only shelter in the rocky coast of that side of the island ; the distance from the one port to the other across the hollow, is less than a mile and a half. A church stands on the crest of the ridge, which crosses the hollow, and along the crest are
12
XXII. j
ITHACA.
35
traced the remains of an ancient wall, and of a tower facing towards the harbour of Aeto, or Gulf of Molo. A prolongation of this wall, but without any towers, mounts the steep hill of Aeto on the western side of the hollow, and is connected near the summit with the lower wall of the citadel of an ancient town which occupied the triangular face of this hill, extending downwards to the edge of the hollow, where its lower walls may still be traced ; it was thus divided by the wall first-men- tioned into two nearly equal parts. Several ter- race walls and foundations of buildings are still apparent on the side of the hill, within the ancient inclosure. On the summit, or acropolis, are the remains of an interior keep, or some other build- ing, consisting of two parallel walls, which inclose a long narrow space containing two ancient cisterns constructed in the usual manner.
The wall along the ridge of the hollow appears to have been made for the purpose of interrupting occasionally the communication between the har- bours of Aeto and Exo-Aeto, but chiefly, as appears from the facing of the tower, as a defence on the side towards the Gulf of Molo, from whence a landing was most to be feared, as being easier than on the other side. Another intention of this wall may have been that of protecting the only springs of water which the town possessed : one of these is the source of a torrent which flows to the Gulf of Molo ; the other is a well lined with large blocks of stone of ancient workmanship, situated a little on the descent towards Exo-Aeto. A little above it, on the rocky side of the height, there is a sepulchral
d 2
36
ITHACA.
[chap.
niche excavated in the rock. The walls of the acropolis on the hill of Aeto are of the polygonal order of masonry, and in some places of a rudeness of construction approaching to the earliest kind. The remains below seem in general to be less ancient.
The peasants who work in the vineyards of Aeto very often find ancient coins : generally near the well and tower. My own excavators, however, produce nothing to-day but some coarse beads, remains of pottery, and a few obliterated coins of Ithaca, of which I had already procured others from the peasants in better preservation. None of these remains appear to be earlier than the Roman empire. One of the coins has the head of Ulysses covered with the pileus ; on another is the head of Minerva ; and on a third, a cock with the legend 'I(Wwv at length.
Although the ancient town which stood at Aeto was of small dimensions, not much more than a mile in circumference, the position was of great importance, as not only commanding the inter- course by land between the two peninsulas which form the island, but as having, by means of its port on either side, a ready communication by sea with both sides of Ithaca as well as with the ad- jacent coasts and islands. It appears accordingly to have been inhabited in very distant ages. The Cyclopian masonry of some parts of the walls in- dicates a date prior to the Trojan war, while some of the relics found in the sepulchres, fields, and valley, show that the place was inhabited twelve centuries later. Among those remains are two se-
XXII.]
ITHACA.
37
pulchral stones with single names1. The modern path, which now forms the only communication by land from the district of Vathy to the northern parts of the island, touches the shore of Port Molo, and a little beyond it, below the northern walls of the Paleokastro, divides into two, that to the right leading to the monastery of Katara and village of Anoi, the more direct crossing the isthmus of Aeto obliquely, and thence proceeding along the heights composing the western coast to Oxoi. It first passes a church of St. John, which is just below Katara, and from thence continues to the village of Lefka, which is situated among terraces of corn, overhang- ing the steep and abrupt shore midway between Aeto and Oxoi. Between Aeto and Ai Ianni are some vestiges of the ancient road cut in the rock, and the letters OA are distinguishable on the face of it. The learned of Ithaca suppose these letters to be remains of the name of Ulysses, and to mark the place where he was born by the road side, from which circumstance his name is supposed to have been derived. This accident, however, according to the best authorities, happened to Anticleia not in Ithaca, but in Boeotia, and the letters on the rock are more probably part of the word 6S6g.
Sept. ] 9. — Sail in a small boat from Vathy for Frikes, the eastern port of Oxoi, but the wind pro- mising to be a fresh maestrale, land in the gulf of Molo, at the foot of Mount Neritum, and proceed on foot to the village of Anoi, by a road deservedly called the Klimaka, or ladder, being excessively steep and rocky ; for the greater part of the dis-
3 V. Inscriptions, Nos. 106, 107.
38
ITHACA.
[chap.
tance it ascends the bed of a torrent, flowing from the summit of the mountain of Anoi, which remains on our left. The village of Anoi stands on the side of this great summit to the eastward, and overlooks an elevated level, if level it can be called, which consists of a labyrinth of rocks, separated by inter- vals of fertile soil grown with vines. Some of the rocks are needles of ten or twenty feet in height. From the further side of this plain of Anoi, the mountain falls to the sea by a rapid slope, like that by which we mounted. After dining at the vil- lage, we descend the mountain on the northern side, by a road which threads its way among the pointed rocks, and enter the territory of Oxoi, which consists of an undulated valley, together with the cultivated slopes of three surrounding mountains, inclosing a triangular space between the three ports of Polis, Frikes, and Afales1. The mountain of Anoi rises on the southern side of the basin ; the hill of Oxoi, which has a remarkable double summit, incloses it to the westward, and to the north that of Marmaka, which is rocky and barren, and forms a peninsula at the northern ex- tremity of the island. In a lofty situation on the slope of the hill of Oxoi is situated the village of that name, consisting of fifty or sixty houses ; and between it and the shore of Afales stands the house of Mr. Nicolas Vretto, whom I met at Vathy, and now find here ready to receive me, according to the kind invitation which he there gave me.
Among other fine wines of the island my host
1 IldXte, <t>piKa.LC, qu. 'AipptKaig ? 'AtydXatg, qu. 'E<f>d.\atg '.
XXII.]
ITHACA.
39
has a delicate old malmsey, made of currants. These dwarf grapes succeed admirably in Ithaca, though the soil does not resemble that white argil of Achaia and Zante which is there so favourable to them. Here it is a loose, light mould, equally proper for grain, but much intersected with rocks, and strewn with loose stones. These in some places are so numerous as totally to hide every particle of earth, in which case, though the land is useless for corn, it is not ill adapted to vines, the stones being of service to the plant, by keeping the earth moist in summer. In fact, the vines and currants pro- duced in that kind of soil are as good as any. The wine exported from Ithaca in the greatest quantity, is a strong, dry, red wine. The wheat grown in the district of Oxoi is of excellent quality, some particularly, of which Mr. Vretto procured the seed from Kalamo, furnishes bread as good as that made from the grain of that island. But the greater part of the bread consumed in Ithaca is made from a mixture of wheat and barley, raised from mixed seed. This bread is often recommended by the physicians of the Seven Islands to their dyspeptic patients.
Sept. 20. — Mr. Vretto conducts me to the an- tiquities, and other objects which he considers worthy of notice in the district of Oxoi. We first visit at a quarter of a mile to the northward of his house, on the side of the northern summit of the hill of Oxoi, and about half a mile above the sea, a precipice of 25 or 30 feet in perpendicular height, called Koraka \ from a little below which flows a
<JTI)V ¥k.6p(lK(l.
40
ITHACA.
[chap.
fountain of the purest water, very cool and copious, even in this season of uncommon dryness. The same vein of water shows itself in other parts of the hill in smaller sources, and waters some gardens belonging to Mr. Vretto, which produce among other fruits, excellent lemons and oranges, sufficient not only for the consumption of the island, which possesses no other gardens, but which are even ex- ported to Arta and Ioannina. Immediately below the gardens is a little bend of the coast, called Perivoli l, where boats sometimes anchor. Mr. Vretto 's father attempted to establish a mole here for the convenience of himself and the village, but it was carried away by the sea during the first winter. In forming it, he broke down a fine cave in the clifT above, which an old man who was pre- sent at the work describes to me as having had two openings. All this of course is intended to support the pretensions of the Oxoites, to the honour of being the possessors of the rock Corax and fountain Arethusa mentioned by Homer, as well as of the port of Phorcys, on the shore of which was the cave of the Nymphs, with its double entrance 2. But this situation will scarcely accord with the poet, who indicates a considerable distance between Port Phorcys and the station of Eumceus. Possibly it may be thought that Frikes is a corruption of Phorcys, and proves the situation of that harbour.
1 otu 7npifto\ioy, at the garden.
2 Svu) b*£ re ol dvpai eloiv'
Ai fitv rrpoQ Ropiao Karai/Saral avdpwnoiffiv, At & av Ttpoc Norou slot dtwrepai.
Od. N. v. 109.
XXII.]
ITHACA.
41
In that case there would indeed have been a walk for Ulysses of three miles to the station of Eumaeus, supposing it to have been at the Koraka of Oxoi ; not over rocks and mountains, however, as Homer requires, but across the largest plain in the island. As to the name Koraka, it is one not uncom- monly attached to a precipice, and I am assured that there is a much higher and more remarkable rock, also called Koraka, near the southern end of the island, and over which there is a cascade. It is said there was formerly a quarter of Oxoi, just above the cliff, named the town of the Korakini1. Nothing indeed appears more likely than that Oxoi should have once stood wholly or principally in that situation, from whence it may have been re- moved from the fear of pirates ; for the fountain is now at a very inconvenient distance from the vil- lage, and gives the women a painful ascent, after filling their hydrise and water kegs.
Oxoi and the neighbouring heights, command a fine view of the southern side of Lefkadha, from the white cliffs of Kavo Dukato or Leucate, to a re- markable hill above Poro, a village so called as standing in the channel of Meganisi. This chan- nel, which is about a mile in breadth, commences a little south of Poro, and extends about four miles to the north of that village. Leucate, upon the ex- tremity of which stood the temple of Apollo Leu- catas 2, is a long promontory, consisting entirely of perpendicular cliffs to the westward, and falling
1 ari]v KopaKi'ivwf ttjv -fcilipav.
2 Strabo, p. 452.
Et formidatus nautis aperitur Apollo. -
-Virgil. Ma. 1. 3, v. 275.
42
ITHACA.
[chap.
steeply to the eastward, where it shelters from the west a bay named Vasiliko. This bay extends ten miles inland from the Cape, and terminates in a curved beach, where is a river and some Hellenic remains. They mark perhaps the site of Pherse, a place described by Scylax as being opposite to Ithaca \ Between Vasiliko and Poro are the har- bours of Syvota and Aftelia.
Having returned to Mr. Vretto's house, we pro- ceed south-westward half a mile along the slope of the mountain of Oxoi, and arrive at a little insulated cliff, on the summit of which are the remains of a small ancient temple, now converted into a church of St. Athanasius. Its dimen- sions within are 21 feet 6 inches by 13 feet 6 inches, and attached to it on the eastern side are the foundations of another smaller edifice, 14 feet 6 inches by 12 feet. The larger has a foundation extending beyond the superincumbent courses, of which, where the ground is lowest, there remain two formed of very large regular blocks, above which is a wall of polygonal masonry, a few feet high, and afoot and a half in thickness. The church (if it ever was finished beyond what at present appears) was formed of rubble and mortar. The smaller ancient building has nothing but the foundation stones apparent. An old priest named Leondio Vretto, who resides in an adjoining house, remembers other remains, particularly a subterraneous apartment, which he calls a ^uAa/ci}, or prison. The walls of his house and an adjoining
1 Mtra Se ravra tt6\iq 4>£pcu' 'IOa/oj ical Tr6\i£ Kal \i/x?/i'. — teal Kara ruvra vfjcroQ tariv Scylax in 'Anapvayia.
XXII.]
ITHACA.
43
building are chiefly composed of ancient blocks. Along the crest of the cliff are remains of a ter- race wall, almost destroyed by bushes of prinari growing between the stones ; some votive niches of the usual form are seen in the face of the cliff, and at its foot are eight or ten steps cut in the rock ; the natives remember the existence of many more. On the level ground beneath, are some rocks cut into the form of door-posts, probably the remains of the entrance of the sacred enclosure, and in the vineyards just below several sepulchres have been found, in one of which was the head of a spear, in another vases. Papa Leondio made me a present of a piece of calcareous stone having an ornament of oak leaves and acorns upon it, which was found in the same place, and probably was a part of the temple. It does not indicate an antiquity higher than that of the Roman empire. Not above 100 yards from this spot to the southward is a fountain called Melany- dhro l. In consequence of the uncommon drought of the season, it is now reduced to two or three little stagnant pools at the foot of a small cliff, which is about fifteen feet high, and crowned with bushes ; in the winter the rivulet which flows from the hol- low between the two summits of the mountain of Oxoi falls over the face of the cliff. The name Melanydhro has much the appearance of having been, like Koraka, a modern invention for the pur- pose of supporting the claim of the Oxoites to the honour of possessing the station of JEumceus, where
1 MeXdvvdpoQ.
44
ITHACA.
[chap.
the fitXav v$up assuaged the thirst of the godlike hog-driver's cattle, when satiated with the sweet fruit of the oak. The Papas, however, assert that the name is derived from a black mud of a sulphu- reous smell, which is said constantly to collect it- self here, notwithstanding any pains which may be taken to clear it away. The water is now turbid and ill -tasted, but is said to be very good in other seasons. Two or three hundred yards farther, in the same direction, I find in a corn-field a large wrought stone, precisely similar to one which I saw in the ruins oiLeucas. It is pierced with two square holes, and seems to have been the architrave of a great door or gate. Just beyond, are the foundations of a large Hellenic wall in the vineyards. The situ- ation is called 2a|ut/cou, apparently an ancient name preserved. A little to the north of this wall a sorus, or coffin, is excavated in the summit of a great in- sulated rock, and another adjoining rock has two round holes, about nine inches in depth, surmounted by a square excavation of half that depth, in which are four small round holes thus,
O
The largest is 1 foot 3 inches square : — The ancient walls at Samiku crossed the northern end of a long height which terminates to the south at Stavro, where are a few houses, just above the head of the harbour called Polis. The name Stavro is attached also to some other houses on the neighbouring ascent of Neritum. In some modern buildings on the summit of the long height just mentioned, are many ancient blocks and other remains, particularly in a ruined chapel of St. Elias,
XXII. J
ITHACA.
45
where a sepulchral stone is inscribed with the name AAMQS. On the descent from the middle of this ridge towards the bay of Polis, is another fountain, now almost dry ; from thence we ascend to the brow of the extremity of the mountain of Oxoi, where it overhangs the northern side of the harbour. Here is a small acropolis of the same width as that of Acto, and about half the length. The wall, which on one side exists in part, is of the rudest kind of Greek masonry. The situation commands a view of the western coast of the island as far as Aeto, and of the channel of Kefalonia with the island of Dhaskalio, which lies immediately opposite to the harbour of Polis. Ancient sepul- chres are found in several situations adjacent to Polis, particularly to the southward of the beach at the head of the port, and on the slope of Mount Neritum, beyond Stavro, where not long since a massive gold ring fitting the human finger was brought to light, which is now in the possession of the Prytano, and is engraved in intaglio with the figure of a woman holding a staff.
I have been thus particular in noticing the re- mains of antiquity in this quarter, because they show that one of the towns of Ithaca stood on the shore of Port Polis, and that it flourished during a long succession of, or at least during very different ages ; the scattered monuments in the plain being chiefly of the Roman Empire, while some of the defensive works near the harbour are of a remote antiquity, and others of a middle Hellenic date. The name Polis is alone a strong argument that
46
ITHACA.
[chap.
the town which stood here was that which Scylax, and more expressly Ptolemy, mention as having borne the same name as the island \ That Ho- mer also, in the earliest times of history, had in view the position of Polis as that of the capital of Ithaca might be presumed from that passage of the Odyssey where the poet represents the suitors as lying in wait for Telemachus, on his return from the Peloponnesus at Asteris ; for he describes As- teris as a small island in the channel between Ithaca "and Samus 2, where the only island is Dhaskalio, situated exactly opposite to the entrance of port Polis, at a distance of two miles, and there- fore perfectly adapted to the purpose of the suitors if the capital and royal residence were at Polis. Indeed, there is no other harbour, nor any other small island, with which the poet's narrative can be made to accord. It is true that his description of the double port of Asteris does not so well agree with the rock of Dhaskalio, which has no port, and could only have furnished a temporary shelter on the lee side ; this, however, may be considered as merely a poetical amplification, and is very dif- ferent from a misrepresentation of the relative situa-
1 vijaoc 'IdaKr) rat TroXig rat 'WuKtj kv r\ ttoXlq bfiajvvfwg. — Xijifjv. — Scylax in 'ArapraWa. Ptolem. 1. 3, c. 14.
3 'EflTt $6 TIQ I'tjtTOQ fXE(T(Tr} OtX( TETpy'lEffaa,
Mtcrarriyvg 'ldtiK^g re ^djioiu re TranraXoivarjc 'Aortptg ov jj.eya.Xi]' Xifilrec 3' tvi vaiiXo-^ot avrrj 'AfjKpidv/uoc Trj tov ye jievov Xo-^otovreg 'A^atoL
Od. A. v. 844.
XXII.]
ITHACA.
47
tions of places, a kind of error which can seldom or never be imputed to Homer.
If the Laertian capital of Ithaca was at Pol is, it will follow that the Mount Neium} below which it stood !, was the mountain of Oxoi, and its southern summit the hill of Hermes, from which EumcBus saw the ship of Telemachus entering the harbour2 ; it becomes probable, also, that the harbour Rheithrum, which was under Neium, but not near the city 3, was in the bay of Afales, towards Perivolio : having derived its name per- haps from the stream which flows from the fountain of Koraka. Such a position for Rheithrum accords perfectly with the fiction which the poet represents Minerva to have employed when having assumed the form of Mentes, king of the Taphii, she pre- tended to Telemachus that Mentes was on his passage from Taphus (now Meganisi) with a cargo of iron, to be exchanged for copper at Temese in Calabria, and that he had left his ship at Rheithrum while he came to the city. It is obvious that the bay of Afales was more in the route from Taphus to Temese than any other harbour in Ithaca.
By Plutarch, Stephanus, and Istrus of Alexan-
1 'H/X£«C f's "WuKT]Q VTTO NlJlOV £t \>/\oi>0/Z£J'.
Od. T. v. 81.
2 "llSr) vKsp TroXtog, odey'JLn^ia'iog Xotyog tar'tv.
Od. n. v. 471.
3 N^i/e Zi fxoi ijc1 'iarrjKEV fV' aypov v6o<bt. TroXrjog, 'Ev Xtfiivi 'Feidpa) vtto N?ytw vXijEvri.
Od. A. v. 185.
Lycophr. v. 768, represents rum, but in this he differs from Ulysses as landing at Rheith- Homer.
48
ITHACA,
[chap.
dria, an author cited by Plutarch, we are informed that the proper name of the capital of Ithaca was Alcomenae, or Alalcomense ; that Ulysses bestowed this name upon it from his having been born on the road near Alalcomenaa in Bceotia, and that hence he was sometimes described as Ulysses the Alcomenian \ But this name is not found in Homer, and if it ever existed, was probably not so early as the Trojan war, nor lasted so long as the time when Scylax or Ptolemy wrote, but was employed in an intermediate period, beginning from the time, perhaps, when Ulysses was re- established in his kingdom. A passage in Strabo tends to the belief, that Alcomence was the town at Aeto 2, a place where Ulysses may well be supposed to have fixed his residence, for the sake of the advantages of position already noticed. At Polis I conceive to have stood the city of Ithaca, referred to by Homer, as well as by Scylax, and Ptolemy. We may readily believe that in every
1 Plutarch. Quaest. Graec. Istrus apud Plut. ibid. 'AX- KOfi£vait ttoXiq tv 'I0a/oj rrj y{]ffo), a<j> ?iq 'AXKOfxsvevg 6 'QIvooevq. — Stephan. in voce.
2 Mtra£u Zk ttjq 'IQa/oje Kal r»/c Ke(j>a\\rjvlag i) 'Aarepta vrjaiov, 'Aorcpie frinro rov Tloit}- tov Xiytrai' ffv 6 fxev So/i/ztoc u») \iivuv roiavrrjv, o'lav cp-qerlv 6 IToi7;r>}c, " Xifxiueg & tvi vav- \o\oi ahrn afxtylfivfioi'" o £e 'ATToWuSwpos [lively ical vvv (cat
itoKiy\'iov Xt'yei iv avrrj 'AXaX- Kofisvag, to i-K ai/rw rw ladfxu Ktifitvov. — Strabo, p. 456.
As Alcomenae was certainly not in Asteris, which is too small to contain a town, there is some reason to believe that Strabo mistook the meaning of Apollodorus, and that the lat- ter referred to the situation of Alcomenae on the isthmus of Ithaca, which is the precise de- scription of Aeto.
XXII.]
ITHACA.
49
age, i) noXic, or the city, was among the Ithacans the most common designation of their chief town.
As natural causes are likely to produce in all ages similar effects, it is probable that the pecu- liar conformation of Ithaca has always caused it to be divided, as it now is, into four districts ; and that those which are now called Vathy, Aeto, Anoi, and Oxoi, are very nearly the same as the four divisions of the island noticed by Heracleon, an author cited by Stephanus l. Three of these were named Neium, Crocyleium, and iEgireus, the fourth is lost by a defect in the text. iEgireus was probably the same as the iEgilips of Homer : Strabo, indeed, places Crocyleia and iEgilips in Leucas 2 ; but if Neritum was in Ithaca, of which Homer in several passages leaves no room to doubt, there is nothing in the poet which connects Crocyleia and iEgilips with Leucas 3, and the tes- timony of Heracleon is opposed to Strabo. In another place Stephanus favours the supposition that Crocyleia was the name of the capital of
1 KpoKvXewv, vrjcrog 'Waicrjg'
QoVKvSlCiTIQ TpiTTJ, TO iQviKOV
KpoKvXivg' 'HpatcXiwv 8e 6 VXcivkov, TE-pafxeprj (prfct t>)v 'LQiiKrjv, r/c to pav npaJTOV etti liEcriiiifipiav ku\ OuXarray, ical
TO CEVTEpOV Nj/'fOJ', KCU TO TpiTOV
KpOKvXEWV, TO TETUpTOV Atyi-
prja — Stephan. in, KponvXewv. Stephanus here confuses this Crocylium with another in iEtolia mentioned by Thucy- dides.
2 Strabo, p. 3 7 G, 453.
3 Ol p' 'IduKijv eJ)(ov rai NypiTOv EivoaifvXXov, Kal KpoKvXei kvifxovTO, koX AiylXiwu Tpr)-)(E~tav.
II. B. v. 632.
VOL. III.
50
ITHACA.
[chap.
Laertes ' ; but this is obviously inconsistent with the latter having been in the quarter of Neium. On the other hand, Heracleon is adverse to the placing of Crocyleia at Vathy, because he states the unnamed town to have been in the southern part of the island. But where a bearing is con- cerned, little reliance can be placed upon ancient authority, and if Crocyleia was the second town in importance, as the ancient notices of it seem to show, we cannot but believe Vathy to have been its site. The rugged iEgilips can be nowhere so well placed as at Anoi.
But of all the topographical questions arising from the Odyssey, that of the site of Dulichium is the most puzzling, and the same difficulty was felt by the ancient critics. Hellanicus sup- posed Dulichium to have been the ancient name of the island of Cephallenia : Andron that of one of its cities, which Pherecydes conceived to have been Pale, — an opinion supported by Pausa- nias 2. But Strabo insists that Dulichium was one of the Echinades, which were occupied (together with Dulichium) before the Trojan war by some of the Epeii of Elis, under Meges, grandson of Augeas, who led 300 ships from the Echinades to
1 tv-ttov iv 'I0a»o/ bv kuI fj.o£. This refers to the line in KpoKvXsiov. — Stephan. in A*/- the Odyssey, A. v. 103.
Sri; o '10uki]q lv\ A?//xw irri irpodvpo~ic 'OcWjJoc.
On which Eustathius ohserves 2 Straho, p. 450. Pausan.
that Dermis was the name of Eliac. post. c. 15. a town in Ithaca.
XXII.
ECHINADES.
51
Troy l. The opinion of Strabo, therefore, is in con- formity with the poet, and there seems no good reason for doubting; that Dulichium was the head of an insular state, which, as well as that of the neigh- bouring islands of the Teleboee and Taphii, and like some of the islands of Greece in modern times, may have attained by maritime commerce, not un- mixed perhaps with piracy, a degree of populous- ness and opulence, beyond the proportion of its dimensions and natural resources.
Petala being the largest of the Echinades, and possessing the advantage of two well sheltered har- bours, seems to have the best claim to be considered the ancient Dulichium. It is indeed a mere rock, but being separated only by a strait of a few hundred yards from the fertile plains at the mouth of the Achelous and river of CEnia, its natural deficiencies may have been there supplied, and the epithets of grassy and abounding in wheat, which Homer ap- plies to Dulichium 2, may be referred to that part of its territory. But in fact, there is no proof in the Iliad or Odyssey that Dulichium, although at the head of an insular confederacy, was itself an island ; it may very possibly, therefore, have been a city on the coast of Acarnania, opposite to the Echinadcs, perhaps at Tragamesti, or more pro- bably at the harbour named Pandeleimona, or Platya, which is separated only by a channel of a
1 Strabo, pp. 351, 458, 459. Oi 3' Ik AovXi^ioio, 'E^iva'w)' 0' lepdwv Nj/ffwv, at vaiovai izipr]v aXoc'llXiCog aura' Tdv avQ' fiyEfjiciyeve Meyrjc, &c. — II. B. v. 625.
2 AovXiylov TwXvrrvpov TTOu'lEVTOe. (M. II. V. 396.
e2
52
miACA.
[chap.
mile or two from the Echinades. The Oxeiae seem not to have been included in this little state, for Homer in another place alludes to them under the name of Those, a synonym of Oxeioe !.
Sept. 21. — In proceeding to the port of Frikes I observe, near a ruined church of the Panaghia, several ancient blocks of stone carved in furrows, as if for a rustic basement. Here are also two in- scriptions, one of which is in Latin. Like all those found in the district of Oxoi, they are sepulchral, and of the time of the Roman empire2. At Frikes are several magazines, and here the Oxoites prin- cipally carry on their maritime trade, though the harbour is exposed to a swell when the wind is strong at east, as well as to dangerous gusts from the narrow gorge which communicates with the vallejr of Oxoi. It is much safer, however, than the open bays of Polis and Afales. Ships generally anchor at Mavrona, on the southern side, or at Limeni, to the north, in preference to Frikes itself. At Mavrona there is a convent of St. Nicolas, and behind it vineyards, on the ascent as far up as Anoi. Having embarked in the Manzera, we beat out of the harbour at noon, soon meet the Mae- strale, and quickly pass the port of Kioni, which is at the foot of a steep descent from Anoi. Here are several houses and magazines on its shore, but the harbour, like Frikes, is exposed to danger from the eastward. Having crossed the entrance of the
1 'H$c 7rap' "HXt^a ciav, oQi Kpariovaiv 'E7r£iot,
"EvOev $' av vijaoiffiv iiwrpoirjKe Qoijaiv. — Od. O. v. 298. Strabo, p. 351, 458. 2 V. Inscription, Nos. 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113.
XXII.]
ITHACA.
53
Gulf of Molo, we pass a small port to the north-east of Skhino, named Ghidhaki, having an islet of that name before it, then a bare coast, then Filiatro and Sarakiniko, two little bays at the foot of the ridge which separates this coast from the plain of Vathy, and reach Port Lia in time for me to land and visit the fountain, which by the learned of Vathy is supposed to be the Arethusa of the poet. The spring is in a ravine midway between the shore and a long perpendicular cliff which closes the ravine, at a distance of a mile from the sea. This precipice forms the point of junction between Mount Merovugli and a range of hills which follow the eastern and southern shore of the island. In seasons of rain a torrent falls in a cascade over the precipice, and from its foot descends rapidly between slopes covered with vines, corn, and fig trees, and leaving the pigadhi or fountain on its left, joins the sea at port Lia. The fountain is a natural and never-failing reservoir in a cavern, before which a wall has been built with a trough for the convenience of watering cattle. There is every reason to believe that this is really the foun- tain Arethusa intended by Homer, and that the precipice above it is the rock Corax, which the poet had in view in describing the station of the swineherd Eumceus. Such a source of water must always have been valuable and celebrated in this thirsty land ; the cliff is sufficiently remarkable to have deserved the poet's notice, and the station of Eumaeus, as I before remarked, was evidently at the southern extremity of the island. It would even seem that the poet alluded to this precipice when
64
ITHACA.
[chap.
he represented Ulysses as confirming the assur- ances which he gives to the incredulous Eumaeus of the approaching return of his master, hy per- mitting the swineherd to throw him over the " great rock" if his words should prove false \ Near the pigadhi is another smaller cavern, which also contains water.
Below them the torrent continues its rapid course to the sea along a narrow glen, where a deep channel in the lime-stone rock is overhung with the trees which cover all the heights around, and which consist chiefly of lentisk, agnus-castus, myrtle, and holly-oak. The scenery of the Arethusa and Corax is very beautiful, not only in its nearer fea- tures, but as commanding a noble prospect of the sea, of the Echinades, and of the coasts of Acarnania and iEtolia, seen through the openings of the woody precipices. The port of Lia is well shel- tered from the north by an island, on either side of which there is a convenient access to the har- bour, and a considerable depth of water near the shore, as in every part of the coast of Ithaca. The island is covered with brushwood, and is up- wards of a mile in circumference ; it is called Parapigadhi, from its position with respect to the fountain, of which the pure and never-failing sup- ply is as useful to ships as to shepherds. After having doubled the cape of St. John, which is the south-eastern extremity of the island, we sail close
1 Et ()i tee fii) 'iXdrjcriy avai, teoq we ayopevu), Ajuwac E-nrtaosvaac, ftaXieiv /xeyuXr/c Kara irirpiic, "Oippu kcu aXXoc irriitxps aXevcrai iiwEpontvtiv.
Od. S. v. 398.
XXII.]
CEPHALLKNIA.
55
under the coast with a pleasant maestrale, and having- passed the little harbour of St. Andrew under the southern termination of Mount Mero- vugli, stand over for Cape Khelia, in Kefalonia. The wind coming afterwards from that shore, we are obliged to beat into the anchorage of Agrili, in the south-eastern angle of the great bay of Samo.
Sept. 22. — Samos, which has preserved its name ever since the first establishment of a Greek city on this spot, is now nothing more than a street of magazines, situated at the north-eastern extremity of a wide valley which borders the bay, and which is overlooked to the southward by the great sum- mit called 'Elato, and by the Italians Montenero. Same, or the city of the Sapiioi, as we find it written on the coins of this place, stood on the north-western face of a bicipitous height, which rises from the shore at the northern end of the street of magazines. The ruins and vestiges of the ancient walls show that the city occupied the two summits, an intermediate hollow, and their slope as far as the sea. With the exception of some terraces of olive trees and corn on the northern side of the two hills, they are entirely covered with wild shrubs, and are connected behind with higher ridges in a similar state, which follow the coast to the southward, as far as the vale of Pronos. On the north- ern of the two summits are the ruins of an acropolis, consisting of the entire circuit of the foundations, and in some places of several courses of masonry of the most regular kind ; the stones are fitted together with the greatest nicety, and some which 1 measured are equal to cubes of 6 or 8 feet. All
12
56
CEPHALLENIA.
[chap.
the ground within the citadel, with the exception of a rocky height in the centre, is cultivated with corn, and strewn with fragments of ancient pottery. In the midst of the ploughed ground are the re- mains of a large cistern built of Roman bricks. On the summit of the southern height stands a monastery dedicated to the ayloi Qavevrig, on one side of which are some remains of a Hellenic wall, which appears to have encircled this summit, thus forming a second but smaller castle. This agrees with Livy, who mentions both the arx major, or greater citadel of Same, and another named Cy- atis.
Same was considerably smaller than Leucas, its circuit being barely two miles. The south-eastern or upper wall of the city, which united the two citadels, is still in part preserved on the side of either hill ; the eastern and western faces of the town walls may also be traced in places, as well as some parts of that side which was parallel to the sea beach ; one piece in particular towards the western angle, is of the most regular kind and finest workmanship, being formed of stones exactly equal, with projections in the middle of the face of each stone, and as usual in this kind of masonry, with one narrow course near the ground. In the hollow between the two hills towards the center of the site are many foundations of ancient masonry, and near the western angle of the city some re- mains of moles, which were probably connected with the maritime wall of the city, project from the beach into the sea ; they formed an artificial shelter for vessels, which was very necessary here,
XXII.]
CEPHALLENIA.
57
as the bay, although well adapted to a large modern fleet, was too much exposed for ancient ships. Near the jetties are some shapeless ruins of Roman brick. Some other remains of the same construction, vulgarly called the zecca, or mint, are to be seen at a considerable distance to the eastward of the ancient site, near a metokhi of the monastery ; and there is a third ruin of brick- work on the western side of the walls, behind the modern street, which by the apertures in its walls seems to have been a bath. These ruins of Roman construction are the more remarkable, as Strabo, who correctly describes the situation of Same, asserts that in his time there remained only a few vestiges of the city \ It would seem that Same, like many other Greek cities, revived after the time of Augustus, and that the existing re- mains belonged to buildings of a subsequent date. Many sepulchres have been discovered in the cul- tivated fields adjacent to the ancient site, as well as near the Mint, where in particular an old monk of the metokhi remembers two gold coins to have been found.
The solidity and finished construction of the existing specimens of the Hellenic walls of Same seem worthy of a city which stood a siege of four months against the Romans under the consul M. Fulvius Nobilior, in the year 189 b. c. 2. I have already hinted that the northern height seems to be the major arx, or chief citadel, noticed by Livy
1 >/ vvv [xtv ovkIt Etrrtv, V^vtj arr' avrfje So/iaioi KaXovvrai. — o avrriQ SeiMvrai. Kara [itoov Strabo, p. 455. rov irpog 'I0aA:// TropOfxuv' ol el' 2 Liv. 1. 38, C. 29.
58
CEPHALLENIA.
[chap.
on that occasion, and the height of the Fanendes that named Cyatis. Fulvius, after having reduced Ambracia and JEtolia, had passed over into Ce- phallenia, and received hostages from its four cities, when the Samaei, suddenly changing their conduct, shut their gates against the Romans. The siege was remarkable for the diligence with which the besieged retrenched their walls as quickly as they were demolished, and for the vigorous and frequent sallies by which they in- terrupted the operations of the enemy. In these sorties, their most effective opponents were 100 slingers of Achaia, who having been habituated from their youth to exercise, with pebbles found on the beach of iEgium, Patrse, and Dyme, had acquired a greater skill in their art, even than the slingers of the Balearic Islands. When at length the besieged had become weakened by fatigue and loss of men, the Romans scaled the Cyatis during the night, and from thence penetrated into the agora, upon which the Samaei retired into the larger citadel, and the next day surrendered and were enslaved.
The ruins of Same command a good view of the western side of Ithaca, and the outline of the four natural divisions of the island, Oxoi, Anoi, Aeto, and Vath}r, is particularly well marked from hence. The valley of Same is about 3 miles in width at the sea, and 5 or 6 in length from north to south. Above the latter extremity, in a lofty situation, stands the village of Kulurata, under Mount 'Elato ',
1 Pliny (1. 4, c. 12.) gives mountain, not of Cephallenia, the name of Elatus to the butof Zacynthus, which accords
XXII. ]
CEPHALLENIA.
59
and there are several other small villages on the heights around the plain. The whole forms the district of Samos ; it produces chiefly corn and olives. A brook, now dry, which rises in Mount 'Elato flows through the middle of the plain into the bay. According to Strabo, the ancient appel- lation of this great mountain, which is so lofty as to be visible at sea, together with i£tna in Sicily, was iEnus ; and he adds, that upon it stood a temple of Jupiter iEnesius \ A few years ago, an accidental fire, like that which happened in Mount Parncs, destroyed a great part of the woods of fir, from which Mount 'Elato derives its modern name. The bare stems are now conspicu- ous monuments of the misfortune.
Having with difficulty procured a mule and two asses, I depart from Samo for Argostoli at 3.30, p.m. ; we cross the plain in its widest part, and arrive in an hour at the village of Pulata, situated on the slope of the range, which is a continuation of Mount 'Elato, and occupies the whole length of the island, beginning southward at Cape Skala, and approaching the northern coast near Asso ; from whence it is prolonged northward in the form of a long promontory, which lies parallel to Ithaca, and terminates at Cape Viskardho, oppo- site to Cape Dukato in Lefkadha.
in some measure with the vXi)- ' fityiaroy $' opog kv avrn
eacra ZukwOoq of Homer, by Aiyog, iy J to tov Aioe Alyrj-
rendering it probable that the aiov iepov. — 'Strabo, p. 456. mountains of Zante, though now- bare, were formerly covered with firs.
60
CEPHALLENIA.
[chap.
After passing Pulata, we ascend the ridge slowly through bushes and rocks by a very rugged path, and arrive a little after sunset at the summit, from whence there is a fine view of both sides of the island. To the west appears the great bay and the town of Lixuri. Argostoli and its harbour are hid by a round mountain in face of us, which forms a ridge parallel to that of Mount 'Elato ; between them is a rugged valley poorly cultivated, with a torrent at the bottom. To the left of the round mountain, near the head of Argostoli Bay, is seen Livadho, the third town in the island, and having in its dependency 22 villages, with all the ancient plain of the Cranii, whose city occupied a site still called Krania, above the south-eastern angle of the bay of Argostoli. In the middle of the plain of Livadho rises the insulated height of St. George, crowned with a Venetian castle, now abandoned. Strabo seems to have had a most incorrect idea of Cephallenia, for he states that its circumference was only 300 stades, instead of which it is near 800, and that at the gulf contain- ing the cities of the Cranii and Palenses the island was divided into two parts by an isthmus, so low that it was sometimes covered by the sea !.
We descend on foot into the head of the valley just mentioned, and then passing over the second ridge, descend again until we arrive at the village of Faraklata, through which passes the road from Argostoli to Asso. Farther to the north, and at no great distance from Lixuri, is Deliklata, a vil-
1 Strabo, p. 4.56.
XXII.]
CEPIIALLENIA.
61
lage of 500 tufeks, and said to be the most rebel- lious and disorderly in the island. From Farak- lata we continue to descend a road something better than before, but which required a sure-footed mule and a fine moonlight night to make it tolerably safe. On every side are bare rocks, with very little cultivation in the intervals. At length we enter a narrow rocky torrent bed, which emerges at an hour below Faraklata, on a small level on the side of the Bay of Argostoli, opposite the northern end of the town ; thence proceed along the sea side to a ferry opposite the southern end, which we cross at 9.
The only place of amusement either at Argos- toli or Lixuri is a Casino at each of those places, where the people meet, drink coffee, and play. There is little society on account of the family enmities. The houses of Argostoli have in general only one story, on account of the earthquakes, to which this island has the reputation of being more subject than any of the surrounding countries ; the lowest part of the wall is of stone, and the upper of wood, and the stone-work contains a framing of wood, in order that the house may stand even if the earthquake should throw down the stones. The town is very irregular, and in the outskirts are a great number of miserable cottages. The fences of the surrounding gardens and fields are chiefly composed of American aloes.
Sept. 24.— The walls of the Cranii are among the best extant specimens of the military architecture of the Greeks, and a curious example of their attention to strength of position in preference to other conveniences, for nothing can be more rug-
62
CEPHALLENIA.
[chap.
ged and forbidding than the greater part of the site. The inclosure, which was of a quadrilateral form, and little, if at all, less than three miles in circumference, followed the crests of several rocky summits, surrounding an elevated hollow which falls to the south-eastern extremity of the Gulf of Argostoli. This extremity served for an harbour to the city, and may perhaps have been so nar- rowed by moles from either shore as to have formed a closed port. The highest of the mountains just mentioned is that which rises in face of Argostoli to the east. There are few or no remains of the town wall along the crest of this mountain, which formed the north-western face of the city ; but from its inland extremity commences the north- eastern face, through the whole of which the lower parts of the walls and towers are extant, and in the middle the principal gate of the city in a similar state of preservation, retired within the line of the walls, and having a quadrangular dromus before it like that of Platcea, about fifteen yards square. The south-eastern and south-western fronts of the city are in some parts, particularly towards the south, equally well preserved ; at the extremity of the latter the wall descends the heights abruptly, and terminates at the nead of the bay 01 Argostoli, near a marshy piece of ground, and some copious springs there issuing from the foot of the rocks. This south-western height had a double inclosure at the summit, but which can hardly be called an acropolis, as this is the lowest of the hills. At the eastern angle there seems also to have been an inclosure or citadel. The gate in the middle of
XXII.]
CEPIIALLENIA,
63
the north-eastern side led immediately into the ele- vated hollow already mentioned, which is grown with olives, and is watered by a torrent from the eastern summit, which, meeting another from the northern, flows to the harbour. The walls of the north-eastern front are a complete specimen of the second or polygonal species of masonry. A founda- tion stone in one of the towers is twelve feet long, eight feet high, and thick in proportion. On the south-eastern and south-western faces some of the masonry is more regular. On the outside of the north-eastern face, near the eastern angle, are the remains of a wall built at a right angle to the in- closure of the city, and stretching from that wall to a brook at the foot of the height, thus effectually ob- structing the passage of an enemy along the foot of the walls, and obliging him to make a great circuit. At Crania, as in other Hellenic fortifica- tions, the beautiful masonry of the walls was only a facing, all the middle of the work, amounting to a third of the thickness, having been formed of rough stones and mortar. Not a vestige of any foundations, either constructed or excavated, is to be seen among the rugged rocks within the inclosure, a remark which I have had occasion to apply to se- veral other ancient sites of great extent, and of the same rocky kind, and which seems to show that the chief intent of these extensive inclosures was to se- cure the inhabitants, cattle, and property, of the whole district in moments of danger, and that they were very partially occupied in times of tranquillity. The mode of warfare of the Greeks, and the tenor of their history, support this opinion.
64
CEPHALLENIA.
[CHAP.
Sept. 25. — Sail to Lixuri in company with the commandant of the Russian garrison and our vice- consul, Mr. Victor Karydhi. Dine with the prytano, and visit the Paleo-kastro, which is now nothing but a small height rising immediately from the side of the bay, about a mile and a half to the north of the town. It is formed of the same kind of white soil as the Castle-hill of Zakytho, and is cut into gullies by the rain in the same manner. In such a soil it is not to be expected that we should find many remains of antiquit}^; ac- cordingly there is nothing left but a receptacle for a single body, excavated in the upper part of a great rock on the summit of the hill, and a well or cistern, which is also cut out of a vein of rock. In the fields, however, at the foot of this height, near the sea, man}?- ancient squared blocks are scattered about, and there is a wall which, although built of loose stones and mortar, appears once to have had a Hellenic facing. An old man whom I meet, re- members to have seen an inscription found here, with the word TlaXeiwv on it, which was carried to Venice1. At a casino several large wrought quad- rangular masses have lately been dug out and car- ried away for use : and half-way between this place and the town are some fragments of small Doric columns and an inscribed cornice, which were found in excavating the foundations of a chapel. A little nearer the town there is a cata- comb, and close by it three receptacles, like the
1 In the year 1758. It is published in the Monumenta Pelo ponnesiaca of Paciaudi, p. 94.
XXII.]
CEPIIALLENIA.
<;.
one before-mentioned, excavated in the summit of a great rock. These are now the only remains of Pale aboveground, but the name in the slightly- corrupted form of Palio still remains attached to the plain, which extends about ten miles in cir- cumference around Paleokastro, and the whole Peninsula, as far as the western coast and Gulf of Asso, is called Paliki \ which, being purely Hellenic, is sufficient with the name of Palio, and the ves- tiges of antiquity on and around the hill of Paleo- kastro, to fix the latter for the site of the ancient Pale, or city of the UaXug, or Palenses, for such ap- pears to have been the local form of the name, which varies greatly in the printed authorities. Paliki is now divided into two districts Anot and Katoi2. The plain of Palio has a white argillaceous soil, similar to that of Zakytho, and consists chiefly of currant plantations fenced with aloes ; there are several wind-mills in it. The town of Lixuri is more irre- gular than that of Argostoli, the streets dirtier, the houses of the rich more mean, and the poorer cottages more numerous. A muddy rivulet crossed by two small bridges, traverses the middle of the town. It is reckoned more populous than Argos- toli, and the situation more healthy, which may easily be imagined as it is well ventilated, and has none of that shallow water and marshy ground which are at the head of the Bay of Argostoli : the inhabitants are for the most part seamen.
The island of Kefalonia is divided into eighteen districts. The population is about 60,000. The
1 HaXiKti. VOL. III.
'Ai'Wi), Karon'/.
66
CEPIIALLENIA.
[CIIAI\
exports in the order of quantity are currants, wine, oil, cheese, barley, caroubs, oats, oranges and le- mons, honey, melons, cibibo, madder, liquorice, squills, and aloes. Among the productions are also maize and wheat, but not more than sufficient for the consumption of two or three months ; with some cotton and flax, used in the manufacture of coarse stuffs, and a small quantity of coarse blankets and capots made from the wool of the island. The seafaring population, including fishermen, amounts to near 3,000. The soil is rocky in the moun- tainous districts, and stony even in the plains ; but the productions are generally good in their kinds, particularly the wine, of which the island would be capable of producing a great variety and quantity, if there were more care and intelligence in the cultivation and manufacture of it. Want of water is the great defect of the island. There is not a single constantly flowing stream : the sources are neither numerous nor plentiful, and many of them fail entirely in dry summers, creating some- times a great distress.
The ancient writers notice only four cities in Cephallenia1, of three of which I have already de- scribed the sites : the fourth, Proni or Pronesus, is shown by Polybius to have been opposite to the western extremity of Peloponnesus, and small, but strongly situated2. Its remains are found not far above the shore of Limenia, a harbour about three miles to the northward of Cape Kapri. But
1 Thucycl. 1. 2, c. 30; Liv. 2 noXicrfidTiov SvcriroXiopKi)-
1. 38, c. 28 ; Strabo, p. 455. tov.— Polyb. 1. 5, c. 3.
12
XXII.]
CEPHALL13NIA.
07
besides these four cities, all which were of suffi- cient importance to coin their own money, it ap- pears, from several Hellenic names still existing, that there were some other fortresses or subordinate towns in Cephallenia. The position of Asso, on a peninsula commanding two harbours, concurs with the evidence of a piece of Hellenic wall in the modern castle, to show that here stood a fortress named Assus. On the same coast, to the southward, at the north-western extremity of the peninsula of Paliki, the harbour of Aterra indicates an ancient site by its name, which differs only by a slight dialectic variation from Atella, a known name. Farther south, on the coast of the same peninsula, Tafio, where many ancient sepulchres are found, is the site apparently of Taphus, a Cephallenian town, noticed by Ste- phanus. Towards the opposite side of the island Rakli and Orisso, or Erisso, have every appearance of being ancient names. Rakli, which lies between the north-eastern side of Mount 'Elato and the maritime ridge, seems to indicate that there was anciently a Heraclia in that valley, and Erisso, that the long narrow peninsula so named at the northern extremity of the island, contained an- ciently a town of Erissus. The port of Viskardho is evidently the Panormus, which an epigram of Antipater of Thessalonica describes as being oppo- site to Ithaca ', and which Artemidorus, by attri-
1 <\>o~ifie Kf^aX\//vwv XifX£y6(TK07re, Q~ira Uayop/jLov Naiwi' T(tr}^iir]Q avrnrtpriv \I0nfcr/c.
Anthol. Jacobs, vol. ii. p. 99. F V>
GS
CEPIIALLENIA.
[CHAP. XXII.
buting to it a distance of twelve stades from that island *, sliows to have been in this the narrowest strait. The convenience of this harbour, at the part of the entrance of the channels of Ithaca and Leucate, has in all ages rendered it valuable. On a former journey I observed there some remains of Roman ruins near the shore, and there would seem, from the ancient authorities which I have cited, to have been a temple of Apollo on the point which shelters the northern side of the port, corresponding to a similar temple on the summit of Leucate. In the time of Strabo, Cephallenia was inhabited by the ex-consul Caius Antonius Nepos, uncle of Marcus Antonius, when he was exiled from Italy. The whole island obeyed him as if it had been his private property, and he pro- jected the building of a new city, but being recalled from banishment, and dying soon afterwards, his intention was never executed. Pale, Pronus, and Crania were then small, and Same a mere ruin2.
1 Artemidorus ap. Porphyr. Ant. Nymph.
2 Strabo, p. 455.
CHAPTER XX111.
CYTIIERA, jEG^AN ISLANDS.
Arrival at Tzerigo — Kapsali — Cythera, Phcenicus, Scandeia — Milo — Khora — Kastro — Ruins of Melus — Paro, ancient city — Description of the Island — Andiparo — Ancient Quarries of Parus — Kosto — Marmara — Naxia, Naxus — Island of Palati — Villages, Population, Produce — Dhiles— Delus, Hierum of Apollo, Mount Cynthus, Olympieium — Rheneia — Mykono, Myconus — Skyro, Scyrus — Port Achilleium — Skanghero — Scopelus, Scialhus, Halonesus, Icus — Aistrati.
Sept. 30. — We anchor this evening at Kapsali, in Cerigo, after having encountered oft* the Twnarian promontory some stormy weather, which threatened to send us to the coast of Africa. It was in con- sequence of an adverse gale in the same place and at the same season that I had the misfortune, in company with Mr. Hamilton and the late Lieut. Col. Squire, to be shipwrecked at Avlemona, in this island.
Oct. 1. — Remain at the port in my tent, and receive our vice-consul Calucci, to whose kindness on that occasion we were extremely indebted. In the evening we walk up to the town together, and attend a baptism at the house of Mr. Mormori, the Russian vice-consul, the PrytanoGeorge Arvanitaki, of Zante, standing godfather. This Prvtano is well
70
CYTHERA.
[chap.
spoken of by the Cerigotes as disinterested, liberal and impartial. The pay of Prytano is 90 dollars a month, that of Legislator 80 dollars, of a Senator 60. The Prytano keeps a table for aides-de-camp and secretaries, for which he has no allowance. The garrison of Cerigo now consists only of two Russian officers with one company, and a few Albanians, chiefly Suliotes.
The obscurity of the history of Greece during the middle ages, renders it impossible to trace the modern appellation of this island to its origin. It is almost the only instance of a Sclavonic name in the Greek islands. Tzerigo was perhaps a Ser- vian chieftain, who obtained possession of Cy titer a when the 2/cv0cu 2«:Xa/3ot, or barbarians of Scla- vonic race settled in the Peloponnesus in such numbers that a name of Sclavonic origin has ever since remained attached to the peninsula \ T&/01- yog, in Italian Cerigo, contains about 50 villages and 7000 inhabitants : in the town there are scarcely 1000. The most fruitful parts are the plains of Mylopotamo and Livadhi ; the latter, which I formerly crossed on my way from Avle- mona to the town, consists of vineyards and corn fields, interspersed with olive and other fruit trees, as well as with villages, single houses, and labourers' huts. The town of Cerigo stands on a narrow ridge 500 yards in length, terminating at the south-eastern end in a precipitous rock, crowned with a castle which is accessible only on
1 Morea, from More, (sea,) as being the maritime province
XXIII.]
CYTHERA.
71
the side towards the town, by a steep and winding path, but is commanded by a conical height at the opposite end of the ridge. The town is enfiladed by a battery of three guns in the castle, which was erected or repaired by the French when they took possession of the Venetian Islands.
In the north-western height, which is composed of a bluish calcareous stone, the most common rock in the island, are some hard argillaceous veins, noted for containing numerous bones per- fectly resembling the natural bone, except that the place of the marrow is filled with pellucid crystals. The people of Cerigo long believed, and most of them probably still believe, that these bones are human ; but anatomists have pronounced some jaw bones and teeth which have been found among them, to have belonged to a species of deer. Another kind of limestone which is brought to Cerigo from Candia, for the purpose of being pounded and mixed with the new wine, contains petrified fish, very much resembling those of Mount Libanus.
Heraclides Ponticus describes the people of Cy- thera as laborious, and lovers of money, and the island as productive, particularly in honey and wine !. The character of the people is the neces- sary consequence of the rocky soil on which they dwell. Although the productions, like those of some others of the dryest islands, as Kefalonia and Zia are good in their kinds, their quantity, with the exception of honey and wine, is seldom more
(pepii yap ?'/ vfjtfOg iroWu, KM [ii\t teat ulyov . . . <f>i\up-
■yvpoi Si Et(Tl KCU tylXoTTOVOt.—
Heraclid. Pout, in KvOtjplwv.
11
CYTHERA.
[dlAP.
than sufficient for the consumption of the inhabi- tants. There is nothing, therefore, to attract commerce to Cerigo, and the people have very little of that carrying trade which has enriched some much more barren rocks. As in Zakytho and Kefalonia, many of the men obtain subsistence abroad as agricultural labourers, not however in general like the natives of those islands, on the neighbouring continent, but in Asia Minor, where they cultivate the Turkish lands, and gather madder in the mountains. By these means they often bring back a few purses to their native island, and are enabled to buy some land here. Beef is scarcely ever eaten, as there are no more oxen in the island than are required for the plough. Pork and mutton, hares and quails, of which there is a great quantity in the autumn, are the prin- cipal meats ; the consumption of which is much economized by the 150 fast days of the Greek calendar. The island is very subject to earth- quakes ; several occurred last July.
The situation of the modern town of Cerigo so much resembles that of the generality of ancient sites in the islands of the JEgcean, and the harbour although not good with reference to ancient navi- gation, was so important by its position on the line of maritime communication between the eastern and western coasts of Greece, that one cannot but presume that the modern site was occupied by some ancient town or fortress ; but there is some difficulty as to the name. We learn from Thucy- dides that the island contained three cities: namely, the maritime city of the Cytherii, the upper Cy
XXIII.]
CYTHEHA.
73
thera which was near it, and thirdly Scandeia, which had a harbour *, and was in a part of the island distant from the two former places.
In the eighth year of the Peloponnesian war, the Athenians undertook an expedition against this island with GO triremes, 2000 hoplitae, some cavalry, a body of Milesii, and a few others of the Athenian allies, the whole commanded by Nicias and two other generals. While a detachment of 2000 Mi- lesii and 10 ships captured Scandeia, the remainder proceeded to the shore opposite to Cape Malea in Peloponnesus, and having debarked, inarched to the maritime city of the Cytherii 2, who met the invaders, but having been defeated, retired to their upper city 3, where they capitulated to Nicias on the sole condition that their lives should be spared. The Athenians then took possession of Scandeia, left a garrison in the city Cythera, and proceeded against Asine, Helos and other ma- ritime places in Laconia.
At Paleopoli, about three miles inland from the port of Avlemona, are the ruined walls of an ancient town, and as the situation is not far from the Cape of Cythera opposite to the promontory of Laconia, which is still named Malea, it seems evidently to have been the upper Cythera intended by Thu- cydides, in which case it cannot but follow that
1 ti)v itrl daXdatrrj 7r6Xiv cnroflavTEQ tjjq vr}aov tg ra 7rpoc
Swii'^eiay KaXovfxivr\v MaXeav rtrpa/x^tVo, Lyjopovv
to IttI Xi/jLtfi Tru\iajj.a. — Thu- £7rt rtjy Lttl daXdtrtn] ttuXiv tGjv
cyd. 1. 4, c. 53. Kvdqpiwv. — c. 54.
3 ru £e <"i\Xm <7Tpa.rtvfj.aTi 3 ig tiju oj'w 7r6Xiv.
74
CYTHERA.
[chap.
Avlemona was the site of the maritime Cythera. From Xenophon there is reason to believe that this lower town was also called Phcenicus, for in de- scribing an expedition similar to that of Nicias, which was undertaken by Conon and Pharnabazus in the Corinthiac war, the historian relates that when the fleet anchored at Phcenicus, the Cytherii abandoned their city, and that Conon, having sent them over to Laconia, strengthened the walls of Cythera and left an Athenian garrison in it1. This happened in the year b. c. 393, in the spring suc- ceeding the naval victory of Conon at Cnidus, and the same year in which the Long Walls of Athens were rebuilt.
The name Phcenicus was obviously derived from that Phoenician colony which, according to Hero- dotus, imported into Cythera the worship of the Syrian Venus, by the Greeks surnamed Urania, and whose temple (described by Pausanias as the most ancient and holy of all those, dedicated in Greece to Aphrodite) stood in the city of the Cy- therii 2. The whole circuit of Cerigo being very deficient in harbours, there is no point on the coast at which it is so probable that the Phoenicians should have landed, as in the sheltered creek of Avlemona3. And the appearance of the ruins
1 Xenoph. Hellcn. 1. 4, c. 8.
2 Herodot. 1. 1, c. 105. Pau- san. Lacon. c. 23. The statue still remained in the time of Pau- sanias, made of wood, and repre- senting the goddess as armed.
3 Avlemona itself may he an ancient name : avXr]/j.wy derived from abXog, in allusion to its long narrow form, hordered hy steep rocks.
XXII1-]
CYTHERA.
at Paleopoli, which I examined on my former journey, is equally in agreement with the remote antiquity of the town, which may be inferred from that of the temple.
Every circumstance, therefore, in the transac- tions related by the historians favours the supposi- tion that Paleopoli was the site of upper Cythera, and Avlemona that of Phoenicus or the lower town ; and that Scandeia stood at the modern town of Cerigo. Pausanias, however, is directly op- posed to this conclusion; for he describes Scandeia as the ztt'ivsiov, or harbour of the city which contained the temple of Venus, and as situated only ten stades below it, which leads directly to the conclusion that Cythera was at the modern town ; that Scandeia was at Kapsali, and that it was the same place as the lower Cythera — which cannot be reconciled with the historians.
The island to the south-east of Cerigo, called Cerigotto by the Italians, is named Litis by the Greeks of Cerigo and the Morea, and by the Sfak- hiotes of Crete Seghilio, a corruption or dialectic variation of AlyiXia, which, as we learn from Pliny and Stephanus ', was the ancient name of the island ; the former places iEgilia at 15 M.P. from Cythera, and at 25 from Phalasarna in Crete : Ly- cophron alludes to it under the name of iEgilus 2. There are about 40 families in Seghilio, of whom
1 Plin. H. N. 1. 4, c. 12. AlylXov r aicpov. — Lycophr. Stephan. in Alyikia. v. 108.
2 Opifcuj birsp S/cav^tiav
76
MA LEA.
[chap.
tour are from Cerigo. The island is a nominal dependence of Cerigo, and consequently belongs to the Septinsular state ; but there being no gar- rison, it is in fact in the hands of the Sfakhiotes. It produces good wheat, of which a portion, in favourable years, is sent to Crete : the port is bad, and open to the north. The small island named Porri by the Italians, lying to the north of Cerigotto, is called Prasonisi by the Greeks.
Oct. 3. — Sail in the afternoon from Kapsali : anchor at night at Furnus, and
Oct. 4. — Visit this morning the cavern of Mylopotamo, two miles north of Furnus. It is winding and intricate, with many branching passages, columns of stalactites, and basins of clear water formed by droppings from the roof : in most parts it is very low, and there is no large opening or chamber in any part. The village of Mylopotamo is about a mile above it, and is so called from a rivulet which rises there and turns twelve mills : in the present season the water is all consumed before it reaches the sea, but some- times it forms a cascade through a precipitous opening in the rocks near the cavern. At noon we sail from Furnus, and pass in the evening through the passage between Elafonisi and Cape Mudhari of Cerigo. A little within the latter is Platania, on the site probably of the Platanistus of Pausa- nias.
Oct. 5. — After having past Cape Malea, or Malfa, we are driven back by a N.E. wind, which is the usual direction here, when the Maestrale
XXIII.]
MET/US.
77
blows on the western coast, and anchor in the bay of Vatika1, from whence we sail.
Oct. 7. — And having again passed Malea and Cape Kamili :
Oct. 8. — Find ourselves this morning a little south of Ierakunia, called Falcon era by the Ita- lians. Arrowsmith has correctly marked the situa- tion of these rocks as well as those which he calls Ananes and Paximadhi, near the southern extre- mity of Milo. Those names, however, are un- known to my sailors, who call them Ktinia and Prasonisi.
Oct. 10. — Light adverse winds or calms, ac- companied with rain having continued to prevail, it is not until this morning that we enter the port of Milo, and anchor near the head of the bay. Land, and visit the hot springs : the hottest is on the sea- beach, a mile from the old town. The ground around them is impregnated with sulphur, as appears by a yellow crust on many of the stones. In the side of a little rocky height above is another hot source in a cavern, and a vapour issuing from the fissures so hot that the water appears less so than it really is. A thick crust of salt is formed on the rocks around, and flakes of salt float on the sur- face. Turks from the neighbouring continent sometimes come here to take a course of bathina*. To the south-east of this height are some salt- pans, and a marshy level, in which, towards the hills, stands the khora, or town, once containing 16,000 inhabitants, but now not more than 200
1 For a more extended see Travels in the Morea, journal of Oct. 4, 5, 6, 7, vol. i. p. .507.
78
MELUS.
[chap.
families. There are 25 Greek and 2 Latin churches still remaining. The ruins and the naked valley surrounded by white rocky heights, and with scarcely any vegetation except a few meagre date-trees, give the place a most dismal appearance. The air is said to be very unhealthy. In the afternoon I proceed to the village called Kastro, which is situated on a peaked rocky height above the northern side of the entrance of the bay, and lodge in the house of the English vice-consul, Mr. Peter Mikhelis, who with many of his relations, and all the richer Miliotes, gain their livelihood as pilots for the JEgcean sea. At the highest point of the village they have a look-out room, where some of them are always on the watch for ships making signals for pilots. They are well supplied with English telescopes, and have good boats, with which they sometimes meet vessels at a distance of 12 or 15 miles from the island. The rule is, that whoever first discovers a ship has a prior right to offer himself as pilot.
Milo has now not more than between 2 and 3000 inhabitants, who, in addition to the produc- tions consumed by themselves, raise for exporta- tion, in tolerable years, 2000 kila politika of wheat1, and 12 or 14000 of barley, 2 or 300 kan- tari of cotton, and 1500 barrels of wine. The island would derive also a considerable profit from its mines of alum and sulphur, if the fear of the Porte did not prevent the inhabitants from working them. The mines are on the eastern side of the island,
1 The tcolXov twXitikov, or kilo of Constantinople, is con-
sidered to contain 22 okes, or 00 English pounds.
XX1T1.]
MELU9.
79
near a height which emits smoke, and has every appearance of having been a volcano \
The oil produced in the island is seldom suffi- cient, even in good years, for its consumption. They depend upon their neighbours for cheese, and import a few European articles of household furniture. The men are all dressed in the white cotton cloth made in the island, with the excep- tion of a few of the more opulent, who wear striped cottons from Turkey. The dress of the women is also of Miliote cotton, generally with a red edging or fringe of flaxen lace, which is also home-made. There are a few looms in the island for the mak- ing of a coarse woollen cloth. They have few sheep, and oxen only for tillage. The soil is not in general good, the cotton pods are small, and the wheat and barley, though sometimes returning 10 to 1, supply only a dingy disagreeable bread.
The island is capable of producing excellent wine, as some specimens prove, both sweet and dry, but little care is observed in the making, and water is generally mixed with the wine before it is offered for sale. The island suffers often from drought, potherbs are very scarce, and there is no fruit of any kind. At the present season grapes are brought for sale from Sifno.
Oct. 11. — Between the hill of Kastro and the northern shore of the harbour are the ruins of the ancient city of Melus, which seems to have ex- tended quite to the water side, as there are re- mains of walls and of a round tower on the beach.
1 See the description of it in Olivier.
80
MELUS.
[chap.
On the highest part, which is immediately over- looked by the village, are some remains of poly- gonal walls, and others of regular masonry with round towers. The western wall of the city is traceable all the way down the hill from the sum- mit to the sea : on the east it followed the ridge of some cliffs, but some foundations remain only in a few places.
Within the inclosure, on the slope of the hill, are many other pieces of ancient wall, faced with regular masonry, but filled within with rubble and mortar. There is, particularly, a fine angle of the most regular kind, and preserving twelve or four- teen courses, a little eastward of a pointed hill, near the middle of the site, on the summit of which stands a church of St. Elias, and a small monastery, with a lodging for a single monk. This building occupies probably the site of a small temple, as near it lies a stone which formed one of the angles of a pediment, including part of a Co- rinthian cornice below it. The stone is 3 ft. 10 in. in length, the same in thickness, and 3 ft. high in the highest part. In a field immediately below this spot are other fragments of the same edifice, among which is a capital of a pilaster of the Corinthian order, 2 ft. 9 in. square at bottom. Here also for- merly stood an altar, with ornaments of sculpture, which has since been transported to England. That all the architectural remains belonged to one and the same building can scarcely be doubted, as they are all of Parian marble, with blue veins, and the dimensions of the pediment and cornice correspond exactly to those of the pilaster and
XXIII. j
MELUS.
Si
column. The building seems, therefore, to have been a temple in antis, with two columns in the portico, and having a total breadth in the front of from 15 to 18 feet. On the upper member of the cornice is the beginning of an inscription, showing that the building was erected by one Sabinius, son of Zopyrus1. The form of the cha- racters concurs with the Corinthian order in indi- cating an early period of the Roman Empire. At the foot of the same height, a little to the west- ward, is a quadrangular foundation of regular masonry, of which, in one part, four or five courses remain, and near it is a cistern in the usual form, lined with stucco. On several parts of the slopes are remains of walls, some of which perhaps were interior inclosures of defence ; others were evi- dently terraces to support buildings.
On the height immediately to the eastward of the ancient city is a village named TouTrrjrrj, from the small catacombs with which the hill is pierced in every part. Some of these are of very irre- gular shapes, with narrow passages and niches on each side. They were generally made for three, five, or seven bodies. Some of them have been converted into magazines for straw and corn, and a few into dwellings. Others having passages de- scending from the entrance, have been converted by the inhabitants into cisterns, which are filled by the rain, or by hand, in the winter, and supply water all the summer, each family keeping its cistern locked.
1 Vide Inscription, No. 116.
VOL. 111.
(i
82
MELUS.
[chap
Kastro depends also for water upon its cisterns, which are of modern construction. The only spring in the vicinity is to the westward of the ancient city, on the sea-side, where is a chapel of St. Nicolas. The water of this source is excellent, which is a great rarity in Milo. Eastward of Try- piti, a narrow valley, which is planted with olives, and gardens, and slopes to the sea, has several sepulchral excavations on its western side, most of which are composed of two chambers, having a niche on each side in the outer chamber, and five niches in the inner, two on each side and one at the end. Of one, which I measured, the outer chamber was 11 ft. square ; and the inner, 16 ft. 10 in. by 12 ft. 1 in. ; 7 ft. 3 in. in perpendicular height in the centre, and 6 ft. 3 in. at the walls, the roof terminating in an angle. Another, con- siderably larger, is open in front ; and another, very long and narrow, has only one chamber, in which are three niches on each side, and one at the end. This valley of the dead terminates at the sea, at the eastern angle of the city, where are the remains of buildings in the water, and the ancient round tower already mentioned. Here also is an ancient mole in the water, and ruins of a modern round tower, now serving for a boat- house. From thence, eastward, a cliff borders the coast, in the face of which are some catacombs near the water's edge, but they are inaccessible, except by sea in a calm, and as it blows a gale to-day, it is out of my power to examine them. The labourers in the valley eastward of Try pit i
XXIII. J
MELIJS.
83
often find coins, small earthen figures, and vases, sometimes with drawings on them \
The Voivoda of Milo is a Sifniote, named Con- stantine Bagho2, who bought the place of the Kapitan Pasha ; he collects for his own benefit the customs, kharatj and dhekatia. The latter is a sixth of all agricultural productions, besides which the island pays the kharatj for the ancient popu- lation of 16000 inhabitants; but as this is too glaring an injustice, it is customary for the Voi- voda to make a present every year to the island of six purses. His annual payment to the Kapitan Pasha is about 25 purses, and he is supposed to gain G or 7, which he might greatly increase if he were such an extortioner as many of the Greek farmers of the revenue are, or if he followed the common practice of exciting and profiting by dis- putes among the inhabitants 3,
1 Since my visit to Milo, a theatre has heen discovered, of the existence of which the Kas- trites at that time were uncon- scious, unless for some inex- plicable reason they thought proper to conceal their know- ledge. But the indifference of the islanders to their antiquities is greater even than that of the continentalGreeks ; and I should perhaps never have known of the ruins of Melus at all, if I
Mount St. Elias, S. 40| W.
with Cape Vani, southern entrance of the harbour. . 70° 47' The same with southern Cape of Eremomilo,
or Andimilo 74 3
G '2 [The
had not observed some indi- cations of them from Kastri. From similar causes they were unknown to Tournefort and Choiseul : the first published account of them was by Olivier, whose work I had not seen.
2 M7rayw.
3 The following measure- ments from the summit of Kastro at Milo may possibly be of use to geographers ;
84
MELUS.
[chap.
Oct. 12. — In beating- out of the harbour agaicst a west-south-west wind, remains of the western extremity of the walls of the city are visible, where they terminate on the water side, immediately be- yond which is the spring of good water before mentioned. At a considerable distance farther westward are some catacombs, a little westward of Turko-vuni, which forms the northern cape of the harbour. The point opposite to the rocks named Arkudhia is called Kidhari, not Lakkidi, as in Arrowsmith's chart. A light S. E. breeze in the night carries us round the north-western end of Sifno, called Sifanto by the Italians, and in the morning we are between that island and Syra.
Oct. 13. — The town of Sifno is spread over a large space, or rather is divided into several vil- lages on a mountain, above which, on the highest part of the island, appears a small church, con- spicuous at a distance. The town of Syra stands on a peaked height, near the middle of the island, and has a harbour below it on the eastern coast. In steering for Paro, leaving Dhespotiko and An- diparo on the right, Naxia makes its appearance beyond Paro, which differs again from the chart.
The same with northern cape of the same island 87 55 The same with the passage between the Ar- kudhia rocks 123 55
North Cape of Andimilo with Cape Kidhari, which is
opposite to the north-easternmost of the Arkudhia . . 44 5
The same with the western Cape of Serfo .... 64 46
The same with the eastern Cape of Serfo .... 80 0
The same with the N.E. of Sifno 97 44
The same with the western end of Kimolo .... 112 38
XXIII.]
PAULS.
85
The approach to Parikia1, the chief town of Paro, is dangerous, there being several small rocks far out at sea, and one in particular just above water. A squall of wind with rain drives us before it into the harbour, which is capable only of receiving small vessels ; ships are obliged to anchor on the outside of a chain of rocks which border the coast from Andiparo to the northern side of the bay of Parikia.
Kyr Mavrogheni, in whose house I am lodged at Parikia, is nephew of a prince of Wallachia, who was beheaded by a Grand Vezir without orders from the Porte, for which his own head followed the prince's. When interpreter of the Kapitan Pasha, Prince Mavrogheni constructed an aqueduct to supply his native city with water. The town, although not large, nor affording any great appearance of comparative opulence, has an agreeable aspect, as it consists of neat small houses with terraced roofs, surrounded by gardens of oranges and pomegranates, mixed with vines upon trellises. Though dry and well ventilated, without any impediment from neighbouring mountains, it is said to be subject to intermittents in summer.
On a rocky height on the sea-side, in the middle of the town, are the ruins of a castle, constructed chiefly of marbles which belonged to some ancient buildings once standing upon the same spot. Re- mains of one of these arc still in situ forming a part of the belfry of a small church. Half the cell of a temple remains, built of small quadrangular blocks
1 [lapoiKiu, or more vulgarly Qupidm.
8G
PARUS.
[chap
of Parian marble, with a semicircular niche at the extremity, 10 ft. 2 in. in diameter, having an elegant Ionic frize surmounted with a cornice of eggs ; the body of the cell has a cornice of very large eggs and anchors. In the wall of the tower close by some pieces are inserted of a small Doric cornice having a plain metope 8-f- inches broad, as well as other fragments of a Doric edifice, particularly many rows of portions of shafts placed in the wall with the ends outwards. These co- lumns were 2 feet in the upper diameter, and unfluted but polygonal at the lower extremity. Here also are many portions of an architrave, one of which is 18 feet 8 inches long, and 3 feet high, the interval between the guttse 1 foot 8 inches. An- other piece of it has an imperfect inscription, con- taining, together with that of the archon, the name of the person who dedicated the building1. Ancient fragments and sepulchral monuments are numerous about the town. On several of the latter the de- ceased is represented, stretched on a couch having very high legs ; underneath the couch the children are seen, and below all is the name. In the wall of a private house a very ancient bas-relief represents a procession of females, each having her hand upon the head of the preceding one ; on another, in a still more archaic style, are a man and woman facing each other, and each holding a torch. In the metropolitan church of Parikia, which is a large building surrounded by a quadrangle of cells, are many fragments of ancient architecture, and among them two sepulchral stones, and two
1 V. Inscription No. 117.
XXIII.]
PARUS.
87
Ionic cornices. One of these has a double row of eggs and anchors. Several inscribed marbles are found at Parakia, chiefly in the castle and mo- nastery l.
The island of Paro consists of a single round mountain, sloping evenly to a maritime plain which surrounds the mountain on every side. The plain is well cultivated with corn and vines, as well as many parts of the mountain itself. The island produces no oil, and, ex- cept in a few dispersed gardens, there are no trees of any kind ; the largest garden, which belongs to Mavrogheni, is on the shore oppo- site to Andiparo. In good years there is an exportation of ten or eleven thousand barrels of wine, twelve or fifteen thousand Constantino- politan kila of barley, and five to seven thou- sand of wheat. The population is about 6000, of whom Andiparo contains 150, the remainder reside in Parikia and six villages named Aussa, Lefkes, Kosto, Marmara, Tzilidho, and Dra- gota. The cattle are reckoned to be 14,000 sheep and goats, 1500 oxen, and 900 asses. The annual contribution to the Voivoda is sixty purses, of which 1650 piastres are from Andi- paro. The island possesses two excellent ports, Aussa2, at the north end, and Dryo 3, to the south-east.
Oct. 14. — A four-oared boat lands me at the northern end of Andiparo, near the kastro, or castle, which is nothing more than a quadrangle
1 V. Inscriptions, Nos. 118, 110, 120, 121.
'Ayovacra. Tfjuyoc, or T(no£, or Ajjuog,
88
ANTIPARUS.
[chap.
of houses with a gate. It affords, however, some degree of security against a surprise by pirates or lawless seamen, who have ever been the scourge of the Levant : times are rather improved since Malta has been English, and the Maniates have entered into a treaty with the Kapitan Pasha ; but the seamen of the Ottoman navy are still very dangerous visitors. Andiparo was formerly much frequented by the Maltese and by piratical vessels, because they could always find shelter on the opposite side of the island to that on which the enemy appeared.
From the kastro to the grotto is an hour and half on ass-back. The route crosses a small valley which separates the ridge of kastro from the prin- cipal mountain of the island, and which is grown with vines. This is the only produce of the island ; the rest of its cultivable land being neglected, as all the working hands except thirty are em- ployed at sea. The celebrated cavern is on the southern side of the mountain, just above a cliff which borders the coast, facing Nio and Santorin. The entrance is extremely picturesque, but the descent into the cavern not at all agreeable ; for the constant humidity renders the sloping rocks, as well as the cord by which the patient holds with both his hands, so slippery, that with all the caution possible, it is necessary for him to trust in great measure to the strength and dexterity of the conductors, who precede and are ready to catch him if he falls. The grot below presents as fine a specimen of stalactitic formation as can be ima- gined, but is not admirable either for its form or
XXIII.]
PARUS.
89
dimensions, the length of all that the eye can take in at once, being about 150 feet, the breadth 100, the height 50. A board preserves the names of some of the visitors, among which Lady Craven's is conspicuous, with those of a multitude of French- men. The memorial which De Nointel left of his celebration of mass on Christmas-day 1673, is not much less defaced by the rapid increase of the stalagmatic surface than the Hellenic inscription, which has been exposed on the outside of the cave for two thousand years longer to an obli- terating action of a different kind. The latter me- morial could be decyphered without the assistance of Tourneforts cop}7, which he made more than a century ago, with the assistance of a transcript in the possession of a native1. Having returned to the village and dined with the Proestos, we row back to Parikia.
Oct. 15. — Departing on horseback from the north-eastern end of Parikla at 7.15, I gra- dually ascend the northern slope of the moun- tain, through small corn-fields fenced with walls of stone and surrounded by fig-trees, at 8 leave some ancient quarries half a mile on the right in a ravine of the mountain, where great heaps of ^Ae- KiofxaTa, or chippings of stone, are lying before them,
1 The inscription was no- thing more than a record of the names of persons who had visited the grotto : — 'E7rt Kpi- twi'0<; o'lee i)\6ov, MivavBpog, ^w^apjuoc) Mere^pdrrir, 'Avti- TTdrpor, ' L7T7ro/uf'cw>', 'Apiurtar,
<bi\eaQ, Topyoc, Aioyirrjc, <bt- XoKpd.T7]g, 'Otn'iatjdog. Crito was undoubtedly Archon, for that such was the title of the chief magistrate, appears from the fragment (No. 117) in the castle of Parikia.
90
PARUS.
[chap.
and continuing to ascend from thence by a rugged path over rocks of white marble, arrive at 8.25 at the great quarries of Mount Marpessa\ which are situated a little below a convent of St. Mina. There are several excavations, from which an immense quantity of marble seems to have been extracted at different times ; the largest, which is on the side of the hill below the convent, is about 100 yards long and 25 feet broad, having a branch from the middle to the right, and another from the end to the left, each leading into a chamber, from which almost as much stone has been taken as from the great gallery itself. Of the latter, one side has been excavated so as to form a regular curve, and the other has been left rugged. The marks of the wedaes with which the an- cients wrought are conspi- cuous everywhere.
On the rise of the opposite hill, but very near the bottom, is another much smaller quarry, where on one side is the sculptured tablet on the face of the rock which Tournefort has described ; it is very rudely wrought, though of good design, and has suffered much from time. The tablet is semi-circular, and has two com- partments, of which the upper, or curved, is only half the height of the lower. In the middle of the upper is a large human head, horned and
1 Ma(iirr)rraa opor llaoou, t£ ov oi \lQot efaipoPTat. — Stephan. ill voce.
XXIII.]
PARUS.
91
bearded, and supported upon two short legs ; on one side of it is a figure with the horns of a Pan and the belly of a Silenus, sitting cross-legged ; on the other are some small full-length figures. In the lower compartment a female is seated, having her hair arranged in the Egyptian or archaic Greek style, and bearing in her lap a smaller figure very indistinct1; a young man stands before the chair turning his face towards the goddess, and holding up one arm ; behind him are three females in procession, facing in the opposite direction, and draped from the neck to the feet. Behind the seated deity the upper parts of several figures are introduced, particularly an old bearded head ; some children also appear, but this part is mucli injured 2. On the rock to the right of the tablet, immediately below the three females, and facing them, are several figures on half the scale, appar- ently worshippers. Below the tablet an inscrip- tion, in characters of the best times, shows that it was dedicated to the Nymphs by Adamas, a man of the Odrysae of Thrace 3.
The worship of Pan and the Nymphs was so general in the caverns of Greece, that we can have
1 In Stuart, vol. iv. pi. 5, it is represented as a lion.
2 Two sculptures in relief, in which the same subject is somewhat differently treated, but both evidently belonging to Nymphaea, and represent- ing the worship of Bacchus, the Earth, and Hours, have been engraved in the Museum
Worsleyanum, and in Pa- ciaudi Monum. Peloponn., p. 207. They were both found at Athens. Subjoined to the latter is the inscription ol ir\v- rfjc vv/xcpaiQ tv^aixiroi avidtatty cat GeoTc irdaiy, followed by the names of the bathers. 3 V. Inscription No. 122.
92
PARUS.
[chap.
no hesitation in recognizing Pan in the cross-legged figure of the upper compartment : the great human head with horns I take to be Bacchus Cornigerus, and the figures near him to he Silenus and his other attendants. The seated female in the lower compartment is probably Cybele, or the Earth, with her various attendants behind her, and those in front Atys and the three Horre. It is not im- possible that this sculpture may have originated in an accident alluded to by Pliny, who says, " In Pariorum (lapidicinis) mirabile proditur, gleba lapidis unius cuneis dividentium soluta, imaginem Sileni extitisse." The outline of a Silenus having accidentally appeared in the progress of quarrying, Adamas may have completed the work as a dedi- cation to the Nymphs. There is another quarry near this, and a fourth near the great one. Every- where the round grains by which the Parian marble is generally known is observable, and in some places they are larger than I have ever seen them in an- cient monuments.
From the quarries we begin, at 9.40, to cross over the ridge of the mountain, and leaving the harbour of Aussa in sight on the left, descend to Kosto, and at 10.20 pass through that village. The flies are in these islands a greater torment than I have ever witnessed on the continent of Greece. They are particularly so to the cattle in the meri- dian hours, and annoy them so much, that it is impossible to ride without a covering over the nose of the horse, ass, or mule. Our guide having forgot this necessary article, I am obliged to complete on foot the journey to Marmara, where we arrive at
XXIII.]
NAXUS.
9:i
1 1 .30. There is a considerable plain round this place, which is reckoned unhealthy, particularly in the present season : the disorder is a severe inter- mittent, which is probably, as well here as at Pa- rikia, the consequence in great measure of un- wholesome diet during the long fast of August, and the total want of vegetable food, until the vin- tage and season of figs. Nothing is to be procured but mutton, or goat, lean and ill-tasted for want of pasture.
Having crossed from Marmara to Naxia in three hours in a small boat, I procure a lodging in the house of his holiness 6 Uapova^iag, as the metropo- litan bishop of Paro and Naxia is designated, and to which is added the title, though not the autho- rity, of head of all the i^Egaean sea. The metro- politan church has been lately rebuilt ; in digging the foundations of a small house adjoining to it, many marbles were found, and fragments of statues. At a point of land below the metropolis are the remains of a massive ancient wall, or mole, corresponding to another similar projecting from the southern side of the little island of Palati, which is separated from the main by a strait of fifty or sixty yards. This mole may have served the double purpose of a bridge to the island, and to protect the strait on the northern side of it against the sea, by which means that strait may have served as a harbour to the town, although now shal- low, and useless for such a purpose. Palati received this modern name from a ruined temple which stood in the middle of it. The western portal, or door- case, still stands as Tournefort and Choiseul Gouf-
94
NAXUS.
[chap.
fier have drawn it, and stands in spite of an attempt which was made (so say the Naxiotes) by the Scy- thian Alexis Orloff to beat it down with cannon- shot. The foundations of the temple have all been removed to serve for building materials, and it would seem from the excavation which remains, that the cella was about eighty feet in length. The door-case, and a small part of the pavement on which it stands, alone remain. The mouldings of the door seem to be of the Ionic order, and the massy proportions have an appearance of remote antiquity. It consists only of three stones ; the uprights are 21 feet 6 inches high, and in thickness 4 feet 5 inches by 3 feet 5 inches ; the width of the open- ing is 12 feet 1 inch. The rock of the island Palati is grey granite, and so are the hills around the town of Naxia, as well as the highest summits and many other parts of the island, but there were likewise quarries in the island of white marble with a very large grain, of which the portal in Palati is a specimen.
Naxia, or Axia, as it is more vulgarly called, contains 42 villages besides the city ; 16000 of the natives are of the Greek and 350 of the Latin church. The latter live in the castle, and are almost all under French protection. They have a convent of Capuchins, another of Lazarists, which formerly belonged to the Jesuits, and a Latin archbishop, who is metropolitan of all the iEgaean Sea. The town and neighbouring gardens are supplied with water from wells.
The island contains several fertile valleys, besides the plain near the town ; the latter yields corn :
12
XXIII.]
NAXUS
95
another which is separated from it by a range of rocky heights, and lies between them and the great central range of hills, is covered with olives. Thirty thousand Constantinopolitan kila of barley are ex- ported, and a considerable quantity of wine, oil, honey, oranges, lemons, citrons, and emery, of which last there is a mine in Mount Zia, towards the southern end of the island.
At the northern end, near a cape called Apol- lona !, in an ancient quarry near the sea, is an unfinished colossal bearded statue, which, though the modern name of the cape would lead one to suppose it to have been intended for an Apollo, was more probably a bearded Bac- chus, such as he is represented on some beautiful small brass coins, of which great numbers have lately been found at the town near the sea side. The principal mountain is called Zia, and has pro- bably borne that name ever since the island was named Dia. Korono, another mountain, recalls to recollection the nymph Coronis, who had care of the education of Bacchus. On one of the heights beyond the plain are some ruins, which some of the Naxiotes believe to be the ancient city ; but the mole, the temple, and other re- mains, afford ample proof that the ancient capital of the island stood on the same spot as the modern town.
Oct. 17.— Sail at 10 a.m. for the Dhiles 2, with a fresh breeze from the south-west, which carries us over in three hours. On entering the strait between the two islands, the first object which
1 vtov ' AirnWwva.
rrralc A>'/\n<c«
96
DELUS.
[chap.
presents itself is a heap of squared stones on the height in Great Dhili, or Rheneia, which forms the south-eastern cape of that island. There is no appearance of sculpture. We pass between the great Rematia, or Rematiari, anciently the island of Hecate, and proceed to anchor between the small Rematiari and Delus, the shore of which is strewed with broken columns and epistylia of marble, showing that notwithstanding the spolia- tion of Greek masons and makers of Turkish tomb- stones in the time of Tournefort and Stuart, this rich mine of antiquities is far from being ex- hausted, and probably still contains many rare productions of art, as well as inscriptions valuable to history and philology. Having landed, I visit in succession the several objects described by Spon, Wheler, and Tournefort : the stoa of Philip, the temple of Apollo, the oval basin, and the gymna- sium. Besides these, of which there are still suffi- cient remains to leave no doubt of their identity, the Latoum and Heracleium, which are the only other monuments mentioned by the ancients, would probably be ascertained by a diligent search. The inscription on the altar of Mithra- dates Euergetes, half of which had disappeared between the time of Spon and that of Tournefort, is exactly as the latter found it \ That on the altar of Nicomedes I cannot find. The basis of
1 It is unnecessary to refer more particularly to the in- scriptions of Delus, as M. Boeckh has given a collection of all the known inscriptions
of this island, illustrated wit" his usual learning and ability. — V. Corp. Inscr. Gr. part. 12.
XXT
II. 1
DELUS.
97
the colossal Apollo dedicated by the Naxii, still remains. The words Na£ioi 'AvroAXam in front of the stone are in perfect preservation, although the form of the N and I, given accurately by Stuart, indicate considerable antiquity. The much more ancient line on the opposite side, which long ago exercised the learning of Dawes and Bentley, could hardly be decyphered without the assistance of the faithful copy in Stuart. The first letter has always been uncertain. The words, written in ordinary Hellenic characters, are as follows :
. O AFYTO AIGO EMI ANAPIA2 KAITO Sd>EAA2,
which in the cursive Greek, supplying the first letter, is
)V X'ld
\ ' $ \
(ptXag,
tov avrov Aiuov tifii avopiag /ecu to a
meaning that the basis and statue were both parts of the same mass. The stone, nevertheless, has a great square excavation in the centre, clearly showing that the statue which stood upon it, was a separate piece of stone. A passage in Plutarch's life of Nicias may perhaps furnish the solution of this difficulty. He relates that Nicias, having been appointed by the Athenians to conduct the Theoria to Delus, re-established the ancient cere- monies which had fallen into neglect ; that he entered the island in procession from Rheneia over a bridge the materials of which he carried with him from Athens ; that after having superintended the sacrifices, the games, and a feast, he made an en- dowment of some land for the support of an annual
VOL. III. H
98
DELUS.
[CHAP.
sacrifice and supper, and finally, that he set up a brazen palm-tree as a dedication to Apollo ] ; which palm-tree, adds Plutarch, was afterwards thrown down by the wind, and in falling carried with it the colossal statue which had been dedicated by the Naxii. It is not improbable, therefore, that the more ancient inscription may have been coeval with the monolithal dedication, and the latter with a restoration of the statue after the accident. Of the thighs of the statue as designed by Tourne- fort, some fragments only remain ; but a part of the shoulders, with the hair hanging over them, as Apollo is usually represented, is still conspicu- ous. The statue appears to have stood in front of the temple, facing the sea.
Not far from it are the remains of a portico of which the columns are three feet in diameter. These are of Parian marble. The stoa of Philip, and the colossus, seem to be of Naxian. Near the former portico are the remains of pilasters, of which the capitals represent bulls' heads in high relief, so as to include the dewlap. Behind the northern end of the portico of Philip are Ionic columns 2 feet 1 inch in diameter.
The oval basin, which is about 100 yards in length, and which Spon, Wheler, Tournefort, and Choiseul all took for a naumachia, appears to me
1 Latona was said to have brought forth Apollo and Diana under a palm-tree in Delus ; and the antiquity of the my- thus is shown by the Odyssey, where Ulysses compares Nau-
sicaa to the palm-tree of De- lus (Od. Z. v. 162). The Delii of the time of Cicero and Pliny pretended to show the identical palm-tree of Latona.
XXIII.]
DELUS.
99
to be the Limne Trochoeides of Herodotus and Theognis, and the Trochoessa of Callimachus, which contained the water required for the service of the upov, or sacred inclosure of Apollo ', such tanks having been customary and neces- sary for the sacred offices in places distant from rivers or springs. In Egypt there are remains of several, but none of them are, to my recollec- tion, circular, like that which Herodotus states to have existed at Sais, and to which he compares the limne of Delus. There are some remains, however, of a /cpr?7nc, or marginal wall, com- posed of small squared stones, in which particular this basin seems exactly to have resembled that of Sais. That the Trochoessa was circular or oval is sufficiently indicated by the name, and still more clearly perhaps by the epithet 7r£/>»jy?jg, applied to it by Callimachus in the Hymn to Apollo 2. Near it was an altar made of the horns
1 lv Sat iv rw Ipu ri/e Adr]- \iivr] ev kvkXu) ku'l fieyaOoc, wc
vnir]Q tjucn etlo/JEE, oai) irsp ?/ tv A// Aw
Xijivr] te kaTi kyo\x.ivr] XiOli')/ 1/ Tpo-^oEi.Et)g xaXeofAevr). He-
Kpr]Tr~ih KiKoajx-qfxivri ical ipyaa- rodot. 1. 2, c. 170.
4>o7/;>£ avai, ore ixiv <te 6ea teke irorvia Ar/rw
iboiviKOt: paciviJQ yEpelv Eipaxpa/iiyr], 'Adat'ctroji' KaXXirrrov kir\ Tpo^OEihi'i Xifxvrj.
Theogn. v. 5. Xf)u<ra) <5e Tpn-^oeacra izavi]^iEpoQ tppee Xlfiyj],
Callim. Hymn in Del. v. 201.
2 KaXfj iv \)pTvyii) Tvepii^yioQ kyyvdi Xiuyr/Q ' ApT£/jic aypurjoovoa tcapijara ovvvEyEQ alywv Kvvdidciov (popteaicev, 6 ft ettXeke piofidv 'AiroXXwf.
Callim. Hymn in Apoll. v. 59,
ii 2
100
DELUS.
CHAP.
of stags, which was said to have been constructed by Apollo himself, and was considered so ad- mirable and sacred that a temple was built to in- close it ; some ruins which touch one side of the Trochoessa may perhaps be the remains of this temple ; for Callimachus places the altar near the Trochoessa, and Plutarch, who saw and admired it, describes it as being in the hierum of Apollo l. The theatre stood at the western foot of Mount Cynthus, facing Rheneia, and not far from the stoa of Philip. Its extremities were supported by walls of white marble of the finest masonry, but of a singular form, having had two projections ad- jacent to the orchestra, by which means the lower seats were in this part prolonged beyond the semi- circle, and thus afforded additional accommodation to spectators in the situation most desirable. The diameter including only the projections is 187 feet. The marble seats have all been carried away, but many of the stones which formed their substruc- tion remain. Immediately below the theatre, on the shore, are the ruins of a stoa, the columns of which were of granite. In a small valley which leads to the summit of Mount Cynthus, leaving the theatre on the left, many ruins of ancient houses are observable, and above them in a level, at the foot of the peak, there is a wall of white marble, which appears to have been the cell of a temple. Here lies an altar, which is inscribed with a dedication to Isis by one of her priests, Ctesippus,
1 Plutarch, de solert. Anim.
XXIII.]
DELIS.
101
son of Ctesippus of Chius \ Like many others, remaining both in this island and in Rheneia, it is adorned with bulls' heads and festoons. Ano- ther fragment of an inscription mentions Sarapis, and as both these were nearly in the same place where Spon and Wheler found another in which Isis, Anubis, Harpocrates and the Dioscuri were all named, it is very probable that the remains of white marble belonged to a temple of Isis. Among them is a portion of a large shaft pierced through the middle, 4 feet 5 inches in diameter, and there is another of the same kind 5 feet 8 inches in diameter, half way up the peak of Cynthus. The latter lies just below the gate represented in the drawing of Wheler. This structure, which bears an appearance of remote antiquity, was probably the entrance of a subterraneous chamber, perhaps the treasury of Delus, which may still exist, as the passage is buried in ruins to within a few feet of the roof, and is quite obstructed at the end of 15 feet. The roof is formed of two stones rudely shaped, and resting against each other at an angle so obtuse that the rise is only 4 feet 2 inches above a breadth of 16 feet 2 inches.
From this ruin, the ascent is short to the summit of Mount Cynthus, which is a mere rock of coarse granite, and seems anciently to have been inclosed by a wall. There are many architectural frag-
1 Kx//<Ti7T7roe K.r?7<7t7T7rou X7oc, fxtkuvq^opoQ. The Melancphori and Therapeutse are mentioned as priests of the Egyptian deities
in other inscriptions of Delus. The Melanephori, it is to he supposed, were dressed in hlack.
102
DELUS.
[chap.
merits of white marble on it. To the south of the mountain is a small plain, which seems the only cultivable part of the island. A brook from the mountain flows through it, and joins the sea at the port of Furni : being the only running stream in the island (and that only in winter) we may con- clude that it is the ancient Inopus, unless we are to suppose, with Tournefort, that the Inopus was not a river but a well or fountain which exists near the northern extremity of the island. Callimachus, however, as well as Strabo, refers to Inopus as a river, and we may pardon the poet's exaggeration in applying to it the epithet of deep !, when the geographer describes Cynthus as a high mountain2. Ruins of private houses surround Mount Cynthus on every side. On the heights above the Tro- choessa, which form the north-western promontory of the island, are many other similar ruins of an- cient houses, neatly constructed with mortar, and for the most part having niches in the walls. On the summit of the same hill, near the remains of a large house, are some shafts of white marble, a foot and a half in diameter, half polygonal and half plain. As this quarter was entirely separated from the town on Mount Cynthus by the valley containing the sacred buildings, there is great probability that it was the New Athenas Hadrianaa, which was built at the expence of the Emperor Hadrian,
1 Xouctw oe wXi'inixvpt fiadvQ OpOQ V\p7]\6v o Ki>v6o£ teal rpu-^u. 'Ii(07roc iXixdtiQ. — Callimach. Ilorojuoe <5e ciiappeT. rrjv vrjcov Hymn, ad Delum, v. 262. 'lywirds ov /ue'yciG, ku\ yap }i
2 'YTrepKurai Se rijs noXtwc vt]<JO£ fxiKpd. — Strabo, p. 485.
XXIII.]
RHENEIA.
103
in a position called Olympieium1, perhaps from a temple of Jupiter Olympius, to which the shafts just mentioned may have belonged. Each of these towns had its small theatre. The great theatre, forming part of the Hierum, was reserved perhaps for the periodical festivals, which attracted visitors from every part of Greece.
Oct. 18. — On the shore of Mheneia, on a small beach immediately opposite to the great Rema- tiari, the ground is covered on either side, for several hundred yards, with stelae, sepulchres, lids of sori, and fragments of columns. To the south, not far from the beach, lies a piece of architrave, with a metope of 10 inches ; among the remains, in the opposite direction, are plain shafts, 3 ft. 4 in. in diameter. On the summit of a hill, which rises from the beach, are many other remains of ancient buildings, and among them a Doric capital, with a small portion of a shaft, 2 ft. 7 in. in diameter, formed out of a single stone. The immense num- ber of sepulchres in this island is accounted for by its having been the cemetery of Delus, after the purification of the latter, which took place in the sixth year of the Peloponnesian war, when all the ancient coffins and bones were removed to Rheneia, and it was thenceforth forbidden, as in the Hierum of Epidauria, that any one should be born or die in the island of Delus2. Besides the sepulchral monuments, Rheneia contains many ruins of private houses, similar to those of Delus. The town ex- tended to the north-eastern angle of the bay, in
1 Phlegon ap. Stephan. in 'OXv/j-iriewy.
Thucyd. 1. 3, c. 104.
104
RTIENEIA.
[chap.
which direction among the ruins are seen a pro- digious number of square altars, adorned with a few mouldings, sufficient apparently to have sup- plied each house or family in the island with one. Rhencia has some good pasture, and in many parts, especially about the ancient town, is capable of pro- ducing corn. It is about ten miles in circumference, divided in two by a narrow isthmus at the head of a great bay, on the north-western side of the ancient town. On the promontory which forms the north- ernmost point of this bay stands a small monas- tery and church, now abandoned, the island being inhabited only by two or three men, who tend some oxen, sheep, and goats belonging to people of Mykono, of which island both the Dhiles are a dependency. In the smaller, which, according to Tournefort abounds in rabbits, I saw no quadruped but a hog, and I believe the only use which the Mykoniotes make of the island of Apollo is to pas- ture some of their cattle and sheep in the spring, and in the autumn to turn in their swine to gather the acorns, or other productions of the wild bushes.
From the strait of Dhiles, we cross over to the harbour of Mykono, the entrance of which is dis- tant about five miles from the little Dhili, and beating into the bay or gulf (/cop^oc), as it is called, against a strong south-easter, anchor under the town at 10 a.m. This part of the bay is much exposed to the west, but round the town to the southward there is a harbour running far in to the east and south east, and sheltered from the west by a cape and island. Here ships winter in
XXIII. J
MYCONUS.
105
perfect safety. The island of Mjkono ' is for the most part a miserable rock, the only cultivated or cultivable ground being a few declivities round the town, where are some corn fields and vineyards. The rest affords pasture for a few flocks, but has no habitation except a monastery to the eastward. Nevertheless, the town is one of the largest and most prosperous in the JEgoean sea, in consequence of its maritime commerce. There are twenty-five ships belonging to the islanders, and a great num- ber of boats. The population is reckoned at 6000 souls, the produce at 500 kila of wheat, which is not sufficient for a month, 10,000 kila of barley, which suffices for home consumption, 5000 barrels of wine in good years, of which about 1000 are exported, 400 kila of tyaoovkia, or kidney beans, and 200 kila of figs. Some of the houses and streets are better than in most of the islands, but in general they are equally mean and dirty, and the hogs as usual have undisturbed possession of them. My Corfiote boatmen hearing rumours of war between Turkey and Russia, begin to murmur at proceeding any further, so I dismiss them, hire a sakoleva of the place, and
Oct. 19, at 10 in the forenoon, sail from My- kono with a fresh south-east wind. At noon we are becalmed, for a short time, under the northern extremity of Tino, a high bare mountain ; from thence cross the bay, which is formed by Andhro and Tino, and at sunset pass the town of Andhro, which is situated near the sea, and is crowned
Mu/0OM'O£.
10(3
SCYRUS.
[chap.
with a castle on the summit of a peak, about one- third of the length of the island from the northern cape. From hence we steer for Skyro, and at day- break
Oct. 20, find ourselves near the southern end of that island. Pass along the eastern side, leaving a little to the west of the southern cape the two islands which form the triple entrance of Port Tpi/iiTTov^aic:, a corruption of Tre Bocche *. Soon after sunrise the wind freshens, and as we pass along the coast, which is lofty, rocky, and pre- cipitous, it increases to a gale, and descends from the hills in such squalls, that we fail in fetching- Port Akhili, and anchor in a dangerous situation to the eastward of the town of St. George, which covers the northern and western sides of a high rocky peak, which to the eastward falls steeply to the sea. Having landed in the surf with some dif- ficulty, I walk up to the town, and send from thence a pilot to conduct the boat to Puria, an an- chorage for small vessels, five miles to the northward of port Akhili, where an islet shelters a low point, terminating a plain which extends southward from thence as far as the heights of the town. This
1 This harbour, in which I afterwards anchored in one of His Majesty's ships, is situated at the foot of the highest moun- tain in Skyro, and is surround- ed by desert woody hills. The entrance at either end is about one-third of a mile in breadth. The third entrance between the two islands is narrower. All
are safe and dee*) r in the mid- dle of the harbour there is u depth of twenty fathoms ; be- hind the small island, seven fathoms. There is no source of fresh water, useful to ship- ping, nearer than the great har- bour of Kalamitza, six or seven miles to the northward.
XXIII. J
SCYRUS.
107
plain, which is about four square miles in extent, is grown with corn, vines, and figs, and is refreshed by a small perennial stream, watering many gar- dens, as well in the plain, as in a little valley above it, where the oaks and planes, the walnut and other fruit trees, which shade the banks of the stream, give this little district an appearance very different from that of the dry and naked Cyclades. Akhili, the harbour which lies south-east of St. George, is evidently an ancient name, properly 'AyjiWuov, and a memorial of Achilles.
Skyro is divided into two parts, nearly equal, by an isthmus, which lies between Port Akhili and the great harbour called by the Greeks Kalamitza, and by the Italians Gran Spiaggia. All the southern portion is uncultivated, and consists of high mountains, which are intersected by deep gullies, and are rugged and bare, except towards the summits, where they are clothed with oaks, firs, and beeches. The northern part of the island is not so mountainous : and all the hills bear corn, vines, and pilapi, or madder ; besides the plain adjacent to the khora or town, there are two other fertile levels, one at the northern extremity of the island, and another at Kalamitza. The wheat of Skyro is equal to the best in the 2Ega.an. The pro- ductions are 10,000 barrels of wine when the vintage is good, of which three fourths are ex- ported, 15,000 kila of corn, of which 2,000 are exported, and 500 kantars of fasulia. The other exports are 2,000 okes of wax, 8,000 okes of honey, 600,000 oranges and lemons, and 400 kantars of madder, which is cultivated only upon very steep
12
108
SCYRUS.
[cn
\l>
ground, and is grown from the seed, which is sown in February. The island abounds in sources of water, and affords pasture to a few oxen, and to 15,000 head of sheep and goats, of which 2,000 are annually exported. The taxes amount to 20 purses a year, paid by 500 families, all of whom have dwellings in St. George, the only other vil- lage in the island being merely an occasional residence of those who take care of the cattle. There are three kaiks belonging to the island, and many feluccas are built for sale with the fir wood of the mountains. The oaks are used only for fuel, and though many of them are of the Velanidhi kind, no use is made of the acorn.
On the table summit of the rock which crowns the town, are the ruins of a castle, inclosing many houses, which are now all abandoned except the bishop's, and some store houses where the rich in- habitants place their valuable effects whenever they are in danger from pirates or lawless Turkish seamen. The castle was the site of the acropolis of the ancient city of Scyrus, justly described by Homer as the lofty Scyrus1. Remains of Hellenic walls are traced round the edge of the precipices, particularly at the northern end of the castle ; others half way down the peak, just include the town in that part, and in another place a piece of wall occurs among the modern houses. But the greater part of the ancient city was to the eastward, towards the sea. In this direction there remains a
1 . . . dlog 'A^iWevq
Skv^ov k\wy alirtlay, 'ILyvfjoQ TTToXieOpov.
II. I. v. 664..
XXIII.]
SCYRUS.
109
large semicircular bastion almost entire, and built of horizontal courses of masonry which diminish in the height of each course towards the top. From thence the wall is traced along the slope above the sea, as far as a round tower which is still standing to half its height : about fifty yards beyond it are the remains of another, and from each of them a wall is traceable down the slope as far as the cliffs which overhang the sea. These walls were be- tween three and four hundred yards in length, and served, like the long walls of other maritime cities, to protect the communication between the city and the shore, which was probably sheltered by a mole. Not a trace of it however now exists, which is not surprising as all this rocky coast is much exposed to the easterly winds. At the southernmost round tower the city terminated in that direction, as ap- pears by the remains of the town walls which from thence ascend to the precipice of the castle. The circumference was barely two miles. The only other objects of antiquity are a sepulchral stone in one of the churches, and a cornice of dentils in a chapel in the gardens. Nor can I hear of the existence of any other remains in the island, except those of a large arched cistern at Kalamitza.
The houses of Skyro, though flat roofed like those of the Cyclades, are in other respects very differently built, being generally of two stories, of which the lower is formed of stone and the upper of wood. The latter has projections on the outside in the Turkish fashion ; the terraces of the roofs are covered with a peculiar kind of earth found on
110
SCYRUS.
[chap.
the descent towards the plain, and which is said to possess the property of resisting the most continued rain. In form the apartments resemble those of Turkish houses; but round the floor are arranged boxes of antique shape, covered with gilding and other ornamental work, and the walls are hung as thickly as it is possible to cover them with earthen jars and pots, pewter plates and dishes, merely for the sake of decoration, being in far too great a number to be of any use. The houses of the richer natives exceed the others in the dimensions of their apartments, and in the quantity of their vases and plates, but not in the quality, which is all German of the coarsest kind. In one angle of the room there is generally a very wide chimney rounding into the room, and below it a hearth a few inches above the level of the floor. This kind of chimney is also peculiar to Skyro, unless it may be found at Lemno or Thaso, the only larger islands of the JEgcean which I have not visited. The women, unlike those of the other islands, live quite retired in the houses, and hide themselves on the approach of a stranger.
In the hope of being able to sail in the night, I leave St. George this evening and descend to Puria, distant three or four miles, but the wea- ther being still unfavourable, take up my abode in a little church, of which the inner part is an ancient sepulchral excavation, in the side of a cubical rock ■ many of the other rocks around have been quarried, but none of them afford any appear- ance of that veined or spotted kind of marble, of
XXIII.]
SCYRUS.
Ill
which, according to Strabo, large quantities were sent from Scyrus to Rome. The island was famous also for its breed of goats1.
Oct. 21. — The gale not abating, I am detained in the catacomb until the evening, when it mode- rates ; at 10.30 p.m. we sail, and
Oct. 22, at sunrise, find ourselves near Skan- ghero 2. This is probably an ancient name. Of the islands which lie between Skanghero and the Cape of Magnesia, Scopelus and Sciathus preserve their names unchanged 3. Scopelus I take to be
1 Strabo, p. 437.
2 ^Kuyyepoc. Sometimes written 2mVr£oi/pa.
3 liicoTreXog, Sdados, or vul- garly 2/aa0o. Skopelo is one of the most flourishing islands of the JEgcean, for which it is indebted to its wines, sent by the people in their own ships to the Black Sea, and many parts of the Levant ; oranges, lemons, and some other fruits are also exported. The town, which is on the eastern side of the island, con- tains about 1200 houses, and has a striking appearance in sailing through the channel of Khilidhromia. It is the resi- dence of the bishop of Sciathus and Scopelus. On the western coast are the village of Glossa and the harbour of Panormo. The island abounds in sources, which encourage the growth of fruit- trees, and enable the in-
habitants to raise a sufficiency of the necessaries of life for their consumption, with the exception of bread corn.
Skiatho, like Skyro has a harbour to the southward shel- tered by an island. The port is called Oreokastro, and seems to have been the site of an ancient town, but not of the homonymous capital of the island, which was situated at the village, still called Ski- atho, on a rock over the north- ern extremity of the island, as appears from the following inscription existing there :
Wyadrj Tv^rj. Tui> fiiyiarov Kal dewrciTOv avroKparopa Aov- kiov 2e7rr/yLUO»' Stvrjpov Heprl- vaxa SeficHTTOv, i) fiovXi] mi 6 ^rjfxoQ SuiaO/wj', eTrifxe\r](Ta- {.ievov TImjtov tov 'YaKivQov. " AvQt)q iip£,ei> rrJQ tTrwyv/xov apxVQ'
112
SCYRUS.
[chap.
the same island as Halonesus, celebrated by means of one of the orations of Demosthenes, for Strabo, who takes no notice of Scopelus, shows Halonesus to have been one of the principal islands on the Magmesian coast \ and names it together with Sciathus and Peparethus, the same two islands which Ptolemy about two centuries after- wards, and still later Hierocles, associate with Scopelus without naming Halonesus 2. In this case Peparethus, the importance of which may be ar- gued as well from its history 3 as from its name Tripolis 4, and its existing coins, was probably Khilidhromia 5, an island of about the same size as Skopelo, and which, although now little inha- bited or cultivated, produces wine, which finds a good market at Saloniki. Peparethus in like manner was particularly noted for its wine 6. Sa- rakino is probably the ancient Icus, which, ac- cording to Scymnus of Chius, was near Pepare- thus, and was colonized at the same time by the Cnossii of Crete 7. Livy relates, that when the fleet of Attalus in the Macedonic war (b. c. 200) made a tour in the iEgaean, chiefly it would seem for the sake of plunder, their course from Gersestus
1 Il?6:.zivTa.i Fc t&v Mayv^- tu)v vfjtroi trv^vax fiEV, at £' kv ovofian 2icla.66c re KO.I Il£7ra- prjOog teat "Ikoc, 'AXowtjitoq re Kai 2/cupoe, ofnorvfjiovQ k^ovcrai TroXeig. — Strabo, p. 436.
2 Ptolem. ]. 3, c. 13.— Hierocl. Synecd. p. 643. Wessel.
3 Thucyd. 1. 3, c. 89.— Liv.
I. 28, c. 5 ; 1. 31, c. 28,— Diodor. 1. 15, c. 95. — Strabo, p. 436.
4 Dicoearch. v. ult.
5 XiXidpufiia, or 'llXtoSpo/iiu, or AiSpofiia.
6 Aristophan. ap. Athen. 1. 1, c. 23. — Heraclid. Pont, in Iit7rap. — Plin. 1. 14, c. 7.
7 Scyran. v. 581.
\ X 1 1 1 .
IIIERA.
13
in Eubcea was past Skyrus to Icus, where they were detained by the north wind ; they then sailed to Sciathus, and from thence to Mende in Pallene \ Peiaghisi 2, which is opposite to the northern end of Khilidhromia, may perhaps be the Polyasgus which Mela mentions in conjunction with Scia- thus and Halonesus 3.
Our course carries us not far to the westward of Aistrati 4, which has about 30 houses, and is in- habited by cultivators and a few sailors, of whom we took two on board at Skyro. The island is low and has no port. It corresponds to the Hiera or Nea, near Lemnus, in which Philoctetes was said to have been bitten by the serpent, and which received its name from the circumstance, that when Chryse had been swallowed up by the sea, this island was reported to have made its appear- ance soon afterwards in a different situation5. Pliny indeed describes Nea as being between Lemnus and the Hellespont6, but as there are shoals only in that situation, they would rather seem to be the remains of Chryse.
1 Liv. 1. 31, c. 45.
2 UeXayi'icn.
3 Mela, 1. 2, c. 7.
4 'Ayiar purine, which Mcle- tius seems to suppose a cor- ruption of 'Apxi(TT(Htrj]-yoc.
5 Pausan. Arcad. c. 33. — Antigon. Caryst. c. 9. — Ste- phan. and Suid. in Neat.
6 Plin. H. N. 1. 2, c. 87.
VOL. Ill
CHAPTER XXIV.
MACEDONIA.
Monasteries near the southern extremity of Athos — Arrival at Xeropotami — Other monasteries on the southern side of the Pe- ninsula— Town of Karyes — Iviron — Filotheo — Mylopotamo — Lavra — Karakalo — Stavronikita — Pandokratora — Vato- pedhi — Ancient Inscriptions — Simenu — Khilandari — Pro v- laka — Isthmus of Acte — Sane — Canal of Xerxes — Erisso, Acanthus — Ancient cities of Acte, Sithonia, and Pallene.
Oct. 22, continued. — We now stand over to Mount Athos, which appears very near, though still 40 miles distant ; the wind blowing down the gulf of Saloniki will but just allow us to lay our course, and it is not until sunset we are abreast of Cape St. George, anciently called Nympheeum \ from whence Mount Athos rises abruptly to the very summit. A strong current setting out of the Singitic gulf is a further impediment. The first monas- tery that appears is Aghia Anna, surrounded by many small houses, and situated in a beautiful hollow of the rocks at some distance above the sea,
1 elm AipptQ' elra Nw^0aioi' "Adwara aKpov kcli ttoXiq — to
tv Tuj " Adwi'i irpdc ra> SryyirtKw' [itaov tov ooovq — Nw/Li^aioj' a-
t6 I'E TTpctg rw SrpvfioviKip 'Aicpa- Kpov. — Ptolem. 1. 3, c. 13. flwc ctKpoi'' oh' jiera^v o'Adwt'. — Strabon. Epit. 1. 7, p. 330.
CHAT
XXIV.]
MACEDONIA.
115
just such a place as we may suppose to have been a NymphcBum. St. Anna is not considered one of the twenty monasteries of Athos, but only a /uov«W and an aaKnT^iov, that is to say, a subordinate monastery and place of ascetic retreat, dependent upon Lavra, which possesses all this end of the peninsula. The houses around the monastery of St. Anne, called cells (keAXho), are inhabited by ascetics chiefly employed in handicrafts. St. Anna was greatly augmented by a patriarch of Constan- tinople, a native of the isle of Andhro, who im- proved the roads around it, and built many cells, towers, and chapels, as well here as at Lavra, Iviron, and in other parts of the 'Aion Oros !, or holy mountain, which name is not confined to Mount Athos, but comprehends the entire penin- sula, anciently called Acte. The church of Ai Anna is noted for possessing the left foot of the saint, a most miraculous and odoriferous relic2. We afterwards pass in succession St. Paul, St. Dionysius, and St. Gregory, all near the shore, and all situated under the great ridge which ad- vances from the peak of Athos and extends to the isthmus of the Holy Peninsula. St. Paul is a monastery of Servians and Bulgarians, and is said to take its name from the founder, who was an eunuch, son of the emperor Maurice. The church was constructed at the expence of a lord of Semen-
1 to " Ay iov "Oooq.
2 Xelxparoy Travdavfiaaroi' Kal evwieg. YlpoaKvinjTapioy tov ' Ay iov "Opovg. Venetiis, 1745. p. 12. The original
work by John Comnenus was published in 1701, and was re- printed by Montfaucon in his Palaeographia.
i 2
11G
MACEDONIA.
[chap
dra in Servia, but the towers, cells, and all the more modern parts, by one of the family of Vas- sarava, Waiwode of Wallachia. St. Dion)<sius was built in the year 1380, by Alexius Comnenus, king of Trapezus, in honour of a saint of Korysso, near Kastoria, who was brother of the bishop of Trapezus, and became a hermit in this place. The Waiwodes of Wallachia and their families have greatly contributed to the buildings of this monastery, which is rich in relics, such as a piece of the cross, the crania of St. John the Baptist and of St. Thomais, the lower jaw of St. Stephen, and a part of the hand of St. John Chrysostom. The monastery of St. Gregory was named after the founder, St. Gregory the younger, but the present building was erected by a hospodar of Moldavia. Next to St. Gregory, at a distance of two miles from the sea-coast, is Simopetra, situated on a lofty precipitous rock in the midst of the forest. Its name, properly tj llptwoq Tier pa, or the rock of Simon, is derived from a hermit of that name who founded the church, but the present building was chiefly the work of John Ungles, king of Servia and Romania, who retired hither from his kingdom and became a monk. This monastery possesses the right hand of St. Mary Magdalen, entire, and diffusing in abundance an agreeable odour1.
At 10 p.m. we arrive at Xeropotami, the only good anchorage on the southern side of the penin- sula, and so called from a torrent which here flows
1 Tro\\y)v KOi TravTepirvov tvwliav tKirijJL-KOv. — Hpo<TKvrr)Tapiov, p. 80.
XXIV.]
MACEDONIA.
117
from Mount Athos into the sea. A little above it is the monastery of the Forty Saints l, more com- monly known as that of Xiropotamu2, or the dry river.
Oct. 23. — This building was founded by the Emperor Romanus, and is one of the largest on the mountain. It is an irregular quadrangle, flanked by towers having pointed roofs covered with lead, in the style of the Heptapyrgium, or Seven Towers of Constantinople, and other works of that time. Within, in the midst of the inclosed court, stands the church ; in many parts of the building wooden kiosks project from the walls, which are posterior additions. The monastery was once abandoned in consequence of the attacks of pirates, but was afterwards restored and enlarged by a hospodar of Wallachia. Like the other religious establishments of the peninsula, it possesses some much esteemed relics, such as a piece of the cross, and various fragments of the Forty Martyrs, to whom it is dedicated. In one part of the interior of the quadrangle two ancient sculptures in low relief are inserted in the wall, one representing a woman seated in an antique chair, with a table before her and a mirror behind the chair ; the other seems to have been part of a frize representing wrestlers, but being high in the wall, and in a corner difficult of access, there is some difficulty in distinguishing the figures. The walls are in part constructed of Roman tiles, and contain many small fragments of antiquity besides
'wr Aytwj' Sapawct.
"' ^.rirtoKvra^xov.
118
MACEDONIA.
[chap
those already noticed. At the harhour I observed an ancient altar or pedestal on the beach, and two or three granite columns in the adjoining valley. These remains, together with the con- venience of the anchorage, warrant the belief that here stood one of the ancient cities of Acte. The port or landing-place is known by the name of o 'Apjretvac, or the Arsenal, whence it may be in- ferred that some buildings once existed there, for purposes of naval commerce and defence. AH the larger monasteries are said to have had similar establishments on the adjoining shore, where small vessels were formerly built ; they were fortified with walls and towers, some of which still remain, but at present the peninsula possesses only a few fishing boats, or such as serve for communication along the shore in fine weather, and which chiefly belong to the monasteries on the northern coast.
The situation of the Forty Saints is extremely beautiful. Hills covered with a thick forest of oak, beech, and chestnut, in which are intervals cultivated with the vine and olive, surround it towards the land, while in front it commands a noble view of the Singitic Gulf, bounded by the peninsula of Sithonia, above which rises Mount Olympus. This peninsula is now called Longos, from its being principally a forest. The only in- habited places in it are Sykia, in a good har- bour on the eastern side towards the southern ex- tremity, another small village or two, and three ' Ay lop'iTiKa /ucto^io, or farms, belonging to monas- teries of Athos, cultivated by the Caloyers, who have a church and dwellings at each metokhi. Longos
12
XXIV.]
MACEDONIA.
119
does not possess such good timber as the Aion Oros, and is not so well watered, but affords excellent pasture for cattle and for bees, which are carried over in the spring from the Oros to swarm and make honey. The extreme cape seen from Xero- potami is named Kartali, it is situated five miles beyond port Sykia, and hides another cape called Dhrepano at the entrance of the Gulf of Kas- sandhra : a little to the north of which is Kufo, a land-locked harbour, and then the ruins of Toronc, still preserving the ancient name. Kufo also is ancient, being the ordinary Romaic form of Koxpov (deaf), which gave rise to the Greek pro- verb KwcporepoQ rov Topwvaiov Ainti'oc;, the harbour
having been so called, according to Zenobius, because, being separated from the outer sea by two narrow passages, the noise of the waves was not heard in it1. It was perhaps the same men- tioned by Thucydides as the harbour of the Colo- phonii2. Capes Kartali and Dhrepano are evi- dently the ancient Derrhis and Ampelus. The latter is shown to be the nearer to Torone by He- rodotus, who describes it as the Toronaean pro- montory, and as opposite to Canastrseum of Pal- lene 3. The epitomizer of Strabo might indeed
1 Strabo, p. 330. Mela, 1. 2, c. 3. — Zenob. Prov. Graec. cent. 4, pr. 68.
2 KarETrXevaev ig tup KuXu- d>wvi(x)v Xifuva, rwv Tupiovaiwv diriyovTCL oh ttoXv rrjg TruXewg. — Thucyd. 1. 5, c. 2. Ought we not to read Kwrixiy instead of KoXo^wv'iojpI
3 " A^nreXor, tijv Topu>va(r)v aicptjv. — Herod. 1. 7, c. 122. Stephanus in "A/.nrtXug has probably only followed Hero- dotus in his remark, etrri kcu iiKpa Toptovaiwv, "AfxweXug Xe- yo/j.ei'T].
120
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
induce the belief, that Derrhis and Ampelus were the same, since he describes Derrhis as a promon- tory opposite to Canastrum and near portCophus; but Ptolemy expressly distinguishes them, though he is opposed both to other authorities and to actual appearances in placing Torone between the two capes l.
Besides the monasteries of the western side of the peninsula of Aion Oros already mentioned, there are five others to the northward of Xeropo- tami. Their names and order are Russiko, Xenofu, Dhokiariu, Kastamonitu, and Zografu2. Russikon is a monastery of Russians, situated on an elevated well-watered level just above the sea. It was founded by a Knez of Servia named Lazarus, who retired here and became a monk. Xenofu is near the sea, and well fortified against pirates. Its name is de- rived from Saint Xenophon the founder, but the chief constructors of the present building were several Wallachians, one of whom was a hospodar of the family of Vassarava. It is inhabited by Ser- vians and Bulgarians. Beyond it is Dhokiariu, which was founded by a Saint Euthymius, in the reign of Nicephorus Botoniates, and was aug- mented by successive benefactors. The present church was entirely built by a hospodar of Wal- lachia in the year 1578. Kastamonitu is situated in a rocky romantic wilderness, and is said to have derived its name, properly Konstamonitu, from its founder Constantine the Great. That it was
1 Ptolem. 1. 3, c. 13. ptlov, Kckttu^wi'Itov or Kwr-
2 'Vovogikov or 'Vohtwv, St- am /lot'tTOV, i\nd Zioypufov. i(')(pov or &eio<j>wrTor;, ^n-^fia-
XXIV.]
MACEDONIA.
121
renewed and augmented by Manuel Palseologus is better authenticated. Zografu is a convent of Servians and Bulgarians, founded in the reign of the emperor Leo, the philosopher, by three brothers of 'Akhridha, of the family of the em- peror Justinian, who became monks here. It is noted for two wonderful pictures of St. George, one of which conveyed itself without human means from Palestine, the other from Arabia : the former is said also to have been painted by Divine will, and not by the hands of men1, whence the mo- nastery was called Zwypa^ou, or that of the painter.
Oct. 24. — From Xeropotami to Kares, or Karyes2, a beautiful ride of an hour and a half across the ridge of the peninsula, leaving the 'Athona, as the peak of Athos is called3, five miles in a direct line on the right: the ridge branches immediately from the foot of the great peak, and descends steeply to a high point above Iviron, from whence the fall is more gradual to the line of our road to Karyes, where the ridge is lower than on either side of that line. The great peak by its height, its abrupt- ness, and conical form, crowns the landscape in the most imposing manner, and consisting towards the summit of a white rock broken with precipices, offers a striking contrast to the rich unbroken forests of the lower ridge. We pass through woods of oak and chestnut, in the thickest parts of which are openings where verdant lawns covered with cattle, or slopes cultivated with vines, are in-
a^iiponotiiTO^.
2 Kapalc, Kupvaic.
"AOoi
122
MACEDONIA.
Ten A P.
terspersed with /ceXAaa, or cottages, inhabited by monks who have charge of the vineyards, or cattle. In the highest part of the ridge the wood is entirely of chestnut. As we descend the north- ern or eastern slope, the town of Karyes pre- sents itself, covering a large space in the midst of woody declivities, where the houses are dispersed among gardens and vineyards. Immediately around the town the most common tree is the XerTTOKapva, or hazel, from which the town has per- haps taken its name : the trees are cultivated for the sake of the nuts ; which, with planks of deal and scantlings of oak or chestnut, are the only productions of the soil exported from the penin- sula.
At Karyes resides the Turkish governor of the Holy Mountain : a bostanji of Constantinople, who is supported, together with a guard of Albanians, at the expence of the holy community ; but with- out having any authority except for the general police of the mountain, and for its protection against thieves and pirates. Towards the centre of the town the houses are more closely built, and there is a sort of bazar containing shops of grocery, with those of a few artisans, among whom black- smiths and locksmiths are the most numerous. Ou Saturdays there is an ayopa, or market, to which the manufactures of the mountain are brought for sale. Karyes is the residence also of the Archons or Epistatae'. These are Caloyers deputed from the twenty monasteries to superintend the civil
1 ol " Apxpvrtg r) 'EnifTTarat tov 'Ayiov'Opouc-
XXIV.]
MACEDONIA.
123
affairs of the mountain, to take cognizance of any matters in which the whole community is inte- rested, to assign to each monastery its portion of the payments to the Turks, and to enforce the collection of it. The revenue and internal s;overn- ment of each convent is its own concern. The Epistatas are four in number, and are changed every year ; each monastery sending one deputy in its turn, but in such manner that one of the four is always from one of the five great monasteries, Lavra, Vatopedhi, Iviron, Khilandari, and Dhiony- siu. Besides these principal officers the community have an agent at Saloniki and another at Constan- tinople. Ecclesiastically the Oros depends imme- diately on the patriarch of Constantinople. The archons are competent to punish small offences, and to determine such differences between the monasteries as are not sufficiently important to be decided at Constantinople, where, however, the monks are too apt to carry their causes and to spend money in litigation for the benefit only of the Turks. In the time of the Greek Empire the mountain was under the direction of a great eccle- siastic styled o n-pioTog TovtAyiov''Opovg, whence the name Protato still attached to the church at Ka- ryes where he resided. This church is supposed to be the most ancient on the peninsula, and to have been built by Constantine the Great. It is celebrated on the mountain for a miraculous pic- ture which once called out ! to the officiating priest to read his liturgy quicker, in order that he
1 ifojvTjae.
124
MACEDONIA.
CHAP.
might administer the communion to a dying monk. Near Karyes to the southward is Kutlumusi \ situated in one of the most cultivable parts of the peninsula, amidst gardens, vineyards, olive planta- tions, and corn-fields. It was founded by the Emperor Alexius Comnenus, but partook of the fate of all the early buildings in being destroyed by plunderers. It was afterwards renewed and enlarged by several successive Waiwodes of Wal- lachia. Kutlumusi boasts of possessing the other foot of St. Anne among its relics. Like the other monasteries it has a port, which is below Karyes, not far to the north-west of the Arsanas of Iviron.
After dining at Karyes, I proceed in two hours to Iviron, situated near the northern shore of the peninsula, in a small bend of the coast, midway between the other two principal monasteries of this shore, Lavra and Vatopedhi. The road de- scends the hills obliquely by a rugged path through vineyards, and amidst a great diversity of hilly ground covered with wood. Iviron, or the monas- tery of the Georgians, (rwv 'I/3/?pwv,) was so called as having been founded by four pious and wealthy men of that nation, of whom three were brothers, and the fourth was Tornicius, a general officer of the Emperor Romanus, who, having been recalled from his retreat by the widow of Romanus, to de- fend the frontiers of the empire against the Per- sians, received from the empress, on his successful return to Constantinople, the means of building
1 KvurXovfAovati.
XXIV.]
MACEDONIA.
125
the present church, which is the largest on the peninsula next to that of Lavra. It stands in the midst of an irregular quadrangle, comprehending also a church of the Panaghia surnamed Portai- tissa. This church is renowned for a picture which was thrown into the sea in the reign of the icono- clast Theophilus, and some years afterwards made its appearance again on the neighbouring shore. Besides several valuable Metokhia in the adjacent parts of Macedonia, it has a large dependent monastery at Moscow, and another in Wallachia, and it has always been the favourite and most pro- tected monastery of the Russians. No convent on the Oros is so rich in relics. There are 300 monks belonging to the house, but a third of them are either absent on eleemosynary missions, or dwelling on the metokhia and kellia of the monas- tery. The library, which is kept in tolerable order by an old Didascalus, consists chiefly, as he ob- serves, of the fathers, or books appertaining to the church service 1 ; but it contains also several Greek and Latin classics, a recent gift of a Mavromati of Arta, who was bishop of that see, and whose nephew I met there last year. None of the Latin books have been touched, because nobody can read them : indeed, the whole library is nearly useless, such is the extreme ignorance of the monks. The house has the reputation of being the best ordered on the mountain. Like all the monasteries, or at least the larger, Iviron has an hospital for the sick, presses for wine and oil,
1 irarepiKa Kal eKK\r]<ria<TTiKa ftiftXtn.
126
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
and among the monks some tailors and shoe- makers, who make all the clothes of the inmates. It is often the residence of retired Greeks. The Patriarch of Constantinople, who was deposed eight years ago, and who has lived here ever since, has just been recalled to the capital, on the change of the Turkish ministry to resume the patriarchal throne.
Oct. 25. — In the afternoon I proceed to the con- vent of Filotheu, in the way to Lavra : the road follows the slope of the mountain through a thick forest of chestnuts, oaks, and elms, mixed with a great variety of shrubs, particularly the arbutus, now covered with ripe fruit. The oaks are small, but many of the chestnuts are fine trees : a small portion of the fruit is consumed on the mountain, or exported in the boats which come to load fire- wood ; the remainder perishes on the ground, or is washed into the sea by the torrents. The mo- nasteries levy a small contribution upon the wood- cutters.
In a green valley near the sea, between Iviron and Filotheu, stand the ruined monidhi, or subor- dinate monastery ' of Mylopotamo, and a tower belonging to Lavra. Filotheu 2, though one of the smaller establishments of the peninsula, is among the most ancient ; it was founded by one Philotheus, in company with two other Greek saints named Arsenius and Dionysius, the last of whom was founder of the great monastery of St. Dionysius on Mount Olympus. Filotheu
1 fiot'ihor, [.lorvCptoi .
<bt\odiov.
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was enlarged by a prince of Kaket in Georgia in 1492.
Oct. 26. — Being detained at Filotheu by a vio- lent gale of wind from the north, I look over the books of the monastery, which are laid aside as useless lumber in a corner above the church, more for amusement than with the hope of finding any- thing valuable, as they have been lately examined by much more competent persons1. Among them are a few fragments of MSS. of the classics, but the far greater part are volumes of the Fathers of the Church, which are all in good condition on handsome parchment. In the afternoon T return on foot to Iviron, disappointed to find that the season for ascending the 'Athona is considered to be past. But when the autumnal tempests have be- gun in this the stormiest quarter of a sea in all parts fickle and subject to gales, weeks may pass away before such a day occurs as would secure a perfect view of distant objects from the summit. The
1 See the interesting narra- tive of the tour of Dr. Hunt and Mr. Carlyle in Mount Athos, in the Rev. R. Walpole's collec- tion of Memoirs, p. 198. The following was the result of Mr. Carlyle's examination of the libraries of Athos, where he inspected near 13,000 MSS. He found one copy of the Iliad and another of the Odyssey ; a few of the edited plays of the tragedians ; co- pies of Pindar and Hesiod ;
the orations of Demosthenes and iEschines ; parts of Aris- totle, and copies of Philo and Josephus : several MSS. of the New Testament, hut none so old as the Alexandrian MS., or that of Beza ; two copies of parts of the Septuagint ; and several beautiful MSS. of the Greek fathers, with a prodigious quan- tity of polemical divinity ; Lives of the Saints ; and trea- tises on the doctrines or offices of the Greek Church.
128
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I CHAP.
monks are in the habit of repeating that Constanti- nople may be seen from thence, but this is un- doubtedly a vulgar error ; for though very high land might in a peculiarly favourable state of the atmosphere be visible at the distance of Constanti- nople, so low a situation as that of the capital can- not possibly be above the horizon. But undoubt- edly with a clear sky the angular intervals might be measured from thence between many of the most remarkable points of Asia, the islands, and Greece. The principal Macedonian and Thracian summits, Mount Ida, the islands Lemnus and Scyrus, the Eubcean mountains Ocha, Dirphe, and Telethrium, and the Thessalian summits Othrys, Pelion, and Ossa, might all be con- nected by the sextant, and possibly the Bithy- nian with the Macedonian Olympus.
The ordinary route from Filotheu to Lavra is by land to Karakalo, and by sea from the port of the latter to the Arsana of Lavra, the route by land being a rugged path, best travelled on foot.
The monastery Lavra1, originally the retreat of Athanasius, a hermit of Athos, was named v fxovrj rwv Ht\avwv perhaps because the monks were clothed in black, until it was enlarged by the emperors Nice- phorus Phocas, and John Tzimisces, and enriched by the munificence of many subsequent benefac- tors of lower rank. It is an irregular quadran- gle, standing in a situation similar to that of St. Anna, that is to say, exactly at the foot of the peak of Athos, above a neighbouring cape, the
1 >/ Aavpa.
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ancient Acrathos, now Kavo Zmyrna. At a small harbour below it is the Arsanas, and a tower for its protection. The monastery generally contains 200 caloyers, besides whom there are as many more travelling to collect charity, or in the cells and hermitages of the mountain, employed in handicrafts, or in taking care of the vineyards and olive plantations. Besides these there is a great number of Koa/niKol, or laymen. The objects for which Lavra is most celebrated among; the Greeks are its refectory in the form of a cross, containing 24 marble tables, a great vase of marble and bronze adorned with figures, 6 palms high and 17 in cir- cumference, into which a perpetual stream of water is conveyed by a canal ; the tomb and iron staff of the founder Athanasius, with which he drove away the demons *, and many holy relics, among which are the crania of several saints, the hand of St. Chrysostom, and the foot of St. Cerycus, who died a martyr at three years of age. Midway between Lavra and its askiti of St. Anna is another named Kapsokaly via 2, similarly placed at the foot of the peak of Athos above the sea, and where is a church with numerous ascetic cells. Kerasia, St. Antony, St. Demetrius, and St. Paul, are similar depend- encies, but not so large ; at the two latter are the principal vineyards of Lavra. In the territory of this monastery, which comprehends the entire peak of Athos, are more than 20 solitary chapels, one of which is on the summit, and in all the paths about
tciioKe to. catpdvia. VOL. III.
Kov^oka\u/3tn, Kav<xova\u/3ta.
K
130
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[chap.
the mountain there are seats for resting \ The monastery of Karakalo received its name from the founder, Antonio Caracalo, a Roman, but the principal part of the present structure was built at the expence of a hospodar of Moldavia.
Oct. 27. — The stormy weather still continues. At a kelli above Iviron I find some monks em- ployed in building a boat on the side of the moun- tain, a mile from the sea, and learn from them that boats are sometimes built in much higher situations, as they find it easier to convey the boat to the sea side than the timber for build- ing it.
Oct. 28. — From Iviron to Vatopedhi in three hours : first crossing a projection of the mountain, on which to the right stands the monastery of Sta- vronikita 2, and then descending to Pandokratora 3, which is midway to Vatopedhi. Stavronikita was founded by a Patriarch of Constantinople named Jeremiah. It is agreeably situated just above the shore, in the midst of gardens and orange groves, and contains a celebrated picture of St. Nicolas of Myra, to whom the church is dedicated. This picture is called the Stridhas 4, because it has an oyster upon it, which is supposed to prove the tale related of it, namely, that it was thrown into the sea in the time of the iconoclast contest 5, and long afterwards found its way again to the shore. Pan- dokratora wTas built in the 13th century by two brothers, one of whom was Alexius, the general of
|
1 fioi'a^iKa KaditTpara |
ThiV |
3 HavroKpciTopaQ. |
|
hovycMTTibv. |
4 2rpi£a£. |
|
|
2 2raj;poreo/7-nc. |
5 tiKovoua\la. |
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131
Michael Palseologus, who recovered Constantinople from the Franks. On a summit to the left is St. Elias, a large askitiri, occupied entirely by Russians.
From Pandokratora we cross another ridge, passing constantly through woods to Vatopedhi \ This monastery, which, with its lofty walls flanked by towers mounted with cannon, looks more like a fortress than a religious house, is beautifully situated on a commanding height, separated from the shore of a little bay by slopes covered with plantations of olives and oranges. The bay is the termination of a small valley, surrounded by steep woody heights, and watered by a torrent. These heights are separated by the vale of Karyes from the hills which lie between the latter and Xeropotami, so that the longitudinal ridge of the peninsula here becomes double. Vatopedhi is larger than any of the monasteries except Lavra, and is the most ancient of all, its first foundation having been by Constantine the Great. It was augmented by Arcadius, and after having been ruined by the Saracens in the 9th century, was renewed by three citizens of Adrianople, who here adopted the mo- nastic life. Its principal benefactors after that time, were Manuel Comnenus, Andronicus Palseo- logus, and John Cantacuzenus, the last of whom, under the name of Ioasaph, passed a great part of his days here after his retirement from the throne. No monastery has larger possessions of olive plan- tations, vineyards, and foreign metokhia, the best
Baro7Tf^(or K 2
132
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of which are in Moldavia, and none is better pro- vided with all sorts of internal conveniences. The treasury nevertheless is now poor, in consequence of a cause which the monastery has lately gained against Zografu, concerning the property of a me- tokhi, and in which they prevailed, not so much by the evidence of their ancient charters, as by the expenditure of 200 purses at Constantinople ; the Grand Vezir, before whom the cause was heard, took occasion at the conclusion to give the parties a good lecture on their folly. The ordinary annual expences of the house are 200 purses, including all the imposts which they pay to the Turks. Three hundred monks are attached to the establishment, but more than half of them are absent in the Me- tokhia or in eleemosynary missions ; besides these, are a great number of cosmics, both in the house and the kellia. The affairs of the monastery are directed by twelve -hyovptvoi, among whom the chief dignities are the aKtvofyvXaKug or sacristan, the twl.- TpoTToq or inspector, the St/ccuoe, who has the care of the stores, mules and lodgings, and the •ypa^cn-i/coe or secretary. One of the oldest residents, but who has no direction of affairs, is the Bishop of Mos- kopoli, whose fears of Aly Pasha drove him from that place 12 or 15 years ago.
On a hill adjoining the monastery is the school of Vatopedhi, now empty, but which for a short time, under the learned Eugenius Bulgari, of Corfu, attained such reputation, that he had more scholars than the building could well lodge, although it contains 170 cells for students. But notwithstanding the advantages which the healthy situation, beau-
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tiful scenery, and seclusion, seem to promise in Mount Athos, as a place of education, the friends of learning among the Greeks have been compelled to apply their exertions elsewhere. The ignorant are generally persecutors of knowledge : the school was viewed with jealous eyes by all the vulgar herd of caloyers, and there were other objections to the Holy Peninsula which, combined with the former, proved at last the ruin of the school.
The monks at the head of the monasteries of Mount Athos are generally those who have brought some money to the treasury ; sometimes those who have travelled to collect charity, and who, by re- taining a part of the produce, acquire thereby the means of influencing the Patriarch, who has always some weight in the election of the Igu- meni, though nominally they are annually elec- tive, wherever the monks are ISiopiOpoi, as they are at Vatopedhi, and in the greater part of the monasteries of the Oros. When so denominated, they contribute something to the treasury on en- tering the society, receive a cell and a ration of bread and wine, but provide every thing else themselves. The Koivo/3ia/cot, on the other hand, are headed by a single iiyov^evo^, appointed by the Patriarch. They dress and live uniformly, receive raiment as well as food from the house, and are in every thing more despotically governed. Seven only of the twenty monasteries of the Oros are Koivofiia, namely, Karakalo and Simenu, on the northern coast, and on the southern, Dhionysiu, Simopetra, Russiko, Xenofu, and Konstamonitu. The monks are of three degrees of rank, Swa/iot, in a state of probation, oravptHpopoi, bearing the
134
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sign of the cross, and to juc'ya <Tx^"a> or the highest rank. When the /ctXAeia, or detached houses, are in small clusters, the monks and laics who inhabit them are under an elder of the parent monastery, but many of these cells are solitary cottages occupied by hermits1. There are more than 300 scattered kellia on the mountain. The KiXXtitorai are either cultivators of vineyards, gar- dens, or corn-fields2, of which latter however there are very few, or they tend the bees3 and cattle4 of the peninsula. Some of the inmates of all the monasteries are employed in spinning wool and making articles of clothing, generally those con- fined to the house by incapacity for out door employ- ment, but the manufactures are chiefly carried on in the retreats called aoTcrji-rjom, more vulgarly aaici\- ratc, or (t/ct)t£c, or (T/c/jTia, from whence the bazar at Karyes is supplied with articles of monastic dress, caps and bonnets of almost every kind used in Greece, beads, crosses, wooden spoons, and other ordinary implements used in the monas- teries. Some of the ao-KrjTai, or ascetics, par- ticularly at St. Anna, are book-binders, paint- ers, and framers of church pictures 5, and there are some calligraphers 6, the last remains of a profession which was very extensive before the invention of printing, and was probably a great resource to the monks of Athos. The askiti is under the direction of a monk of the monastery on which it depends, and who is entitled Succuoc
tprjfiirai. yijcnrovot. [itXioffovpyoi.
fioaKOi.
fiifiXiodircu, £ioypa<l>ui.
KaXXiypd<poi.
XXIV.]
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135
The principal askites besides those dependent on Lavra, are the new skiti of St. Paul1, that of Xenofu 2, St. Elias of Pandokratora 3, St. Deme- trius of Vatopedhi 4, Prodhromo, or the skiti of Kutlumusi5, the skiti of A.Triadha near Simopetra, and a monidhi of St. Basil on the shore not far from Karyes.
The Oros supplies its inhabitants with timber, firewood, oil, olives, figs, walnuts, potherbs, grapes, and wine, but for bread corn they are entirely de- pendent upon their metokhia beyond the isthmus : of which the Oros possesses no less than fifty-five in the adjacent parts of Macedonia, or in the island of Thaso. Fish is the only animal food permitted on the peninsula, except to strangers of distinction, who are always expected to contribute something to the treasury. The ordinary food therefore of the Aghiorites6, even when there is no fast, is vegetables, salt-fish, olives, and cheese. Fresh fish they make little use of: their timid and indolent habits, the deep and tempestuous sea that surrounds them, and the want of boats, combining to deprive them of the best nourishment their rules allow. The mountain is forbidden ground to all animals of the female sex. Neither cow, nor ewe, nor sow, nor hen, nor she-cat, is to be seen ; but of course the wild ani- mals and birds defy them ; rats and mice multiply and devour them, and they are obliged to confess their obligations to the queen bee, without whose
1 Nea S(c>;rij tov 'Ayiov TLav- 4 "Aytoe A?7/x//rptoe tov Ba-
XOV. TVTT6<i>io\>.
2 S£i'V(j)i)Tr]Kt) 2/o/r?j. ° VLpoBpofioQ ?/ »/ KvrXovfJiov-
3 Tlpo(j)iJT 'EX/uc tov Uupto- auivi) aKijrt]. Kparopog. a Ol 'Ayiopirat.
136
MACEDONIA.
[chap
assistance they would be deprived of one of their staple productions. All the buildings swarm with wild pigeons in search of food, fortunately for the carnivorous traveller, who without this resource, and that afforded by a few cocks which are kept either for his sake or for a retired prelate in case of illness, would find it difficult to make a dinner. The vulgar believe, or affect to believe, contrary to the evidence of their senses, that nothing femi- nine can live1 upon the peninsula; and I have heard the sailors of the JEgcean relate stories of women who have been punished with immediate death for having had the audacity to land upon it. The pastures of the mountains are chiefly peopled with mules and young bulls2, which, as well as some oxen, rams, and goats3, are bred at the me- tokhia beyond the isthmus, and brought here to grow and fatten. A sheep or goat is killed occa- sionally at Karyes for the use of the Aga, and his household, but even he cannot have any female in his house.
The amount of the contributions to the Porte and to the Pasha of Saloniki is about 150 purses, of which the fixed sums are 7500 piastres for miri, 9000 for takhri, 22000 for kharatj. Last year 7000 were paid for a khatsherif of the Sultan to the Pasha of Saloniki restraining him from any further exactions.
Most of the monasteries, if not all, have a debt, for which they pay a high interest, and like some larger communities find this part of their yearly
1 ByjXvKot' irpuyfiu civ ifjino- ()tT va (y'lfri).
2 fivXcipia, ravpoi or ravpia.
3 fto'tSia, Kpiupia, rpoyoi.
XXIV. ]
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obligations more burthensome than their direct taxes and current expences.
The inhabitants of Mount Athos are assembled of course from all parts of Turkey, and consist chiefly of men in the decline of life, who retire hither from motives of piety, or more commonly for the sake of securing the remainder of their days from the dangers of Turkish despotism. Any man who brings money with him is welcome ; if old, he is not received without it, but the young and laborious are admitted free of expense, and after serving for some years as cosmics they become caloyers. As these persons merely seek their living, they are generally of the lowest classes. Not a few of every period of life are fugitives from the effects of their own crimes, or from Turkish vengeance, whether just or unjust. Hence it seldom happens at present, though it was proba- bly otherwise during the Byzantine empire, that more than a few of the monks in each monastery know any thing beyond the liturgy, the remainder being at the utmost just able to read the church service. Several were pointed out to me, who having formerly become Musulmans and then re- pented, have fled to this place as the only one where they can return to the church and save themselves from the punishment which awaits the Turkish apostate. Not long since a young Jew of Saloniki came to the Oros to embrace Christianity and the monastic life ; but as soon as he had been well-clothed, returned to Saloniki, and there re- ceived new favours from the Jews for renouncing Christianity. One of the monks of Vatopedhi, who
138
MACEDONIA.
[CHAP.
had been instrumental to his first conversion, in- forms me that he found this Jew soon after at Adri- anople practising as a physician. A young Turk of Constantinople, who, being the son of a Janis- sary of the Patriarch, had been brought up in the constant view of the ceremonies of the church, and had thus become thoroughly acquainted with them, finding himself totally destitute on his father's death, came to Vatopedhi and served for three years as an tfoj/xcpog, or one of the priests who take their turns to say the daily mass, and who have frequent opportunities of sharing in the gifts of pilgrims or others. After having conformed himself during that period to all the forms of con- fession as well as to the usual mortifications, such as an occasional retirement to a hermitage to live on bread and water, he became tired at length of such a life, and desirous of spending some of the piastres which he had collected. Presenting him- self therefore one day to the Igumenos, he asked his commands for Constantinople, stating that he had now finished his affairs at the Oros, and that his name was once more Ismail. These tricks are the more ridiculous at Vatopedhi, as this monas- tery is noted for the strictness of its discipline. It is probably a consequence of their diet that cuta- neous disorders and ruptures are very common among the monks in general. The ordinary punishment for breaking the rules of fasting, or other venial offences, is that of /ueravouuc, or repentances, which are generally reckoned by the hundred. The peydXti furdvoia, or great repent- ance, is to make the sign of the cross followed by
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a prostration of the body to the ground. The /ui/CjOTj, or little metania, is a cross and bend with- out prostration. The price of an ayovn-via, or vigil and mass for the benefit of the purchaser's soul, is 25 piastres, of the irapp^a'ia, 50 piastres : by means of the latter sum the donor is mentioned in a par- ticular prayer on certain feast days as long as the monastery endures.
Among the present inmates of Vatopedhi is an old Chiote, who has been long in the Russian ser- vice in various parts of Europe, and now enjoys a pension as a retired captain : he had intended to pass the remainder of his days on the Oros, but disgusted with the companions whom he finds here, is about to return to Teresopol, where he has a daughter married to a Russian colonel. He was at Kherson when Catherine, anxious for the prosperity of her newly-founded city of Kherson, sent thither the Corfiotes Eugenius Bulgari, and Theotoki, with the princess Gkika, all persons well qualified to improve their countrymen, many of whom had been induced to settle there by the ad- vantages which the empress held out. The go- vernor, however, was a Russian, and as such, hated the Greeks. To a new colony, at such a distance from the capital, this was fatal. The poorer settlers perished in great numbers in the winter of 1780 ; and in 1784 the plague was in- troduced into Kherson, by which the Chiote cap- tain lost five grown children in four days.
Vatopedhi having greater natural advantages than any other situation on the northern coast of the peninsula, may be presumed to occupy the site
12
140
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
of one of the towns of Acte, but the only antiquities 1 can find are two sepulchral inscriptions in the church. One of these is in memory of one Hero, daughter of Pancratides, and wife of Astycreon, son of Philip, to whose name that of Astycreon himself was afterwards added1. The other in- scription is in the magazine of the convent, on a large sorus, now full of oil. Germanus, son of Heracles, being still alive, constructed the tomb for his wife Dionysia, daughter of Dionysius, and for himself, and declared that if any other person should dare to open it, or to place in it another body, he should pay a fine to the public chest of 2000 de- naria, and the same sum to the city : dated in the year 351, the second of the month Panemus2.
Nov. 2. — From Vatopedhi to Khilandari3 in two hours and three quarters : the road very stony and winding, and traversing a succession of heights not far from the sea. Half an hour short of Khi- landari stands Simenu, properly 'Ecr^iy^ov, situ-
1 Vide Inscription, No 123,
2 Tepfiavuc 'HpakXa Aiovv- aiq. Aiovvaiov Trj avfipto) Kat lavro) £5>V el $e tiq ToXjxijOti erepog dvdl^ai y KaruBiadai
ETEOOI', GhHTf.l VOOtTriUOV T(0 TCl-
fjieiu) /3' «ca« rij tcoXel p' . "Erouc 'tvol, firjvdg Wavifjiov fi'. If the epoch here referred to is that of the battle of Actium, the date is A.D. 321, in the reign of Constantine and Licinius.
V. Inscription No. 124, where it is stated that the following Latin inscription is inscribed
on the same monument: — Diis Manibus. Publio Marroni, Publii filio Voltinii Narcissi, aedili Philipporum,annos quad- raginta, Marronia Regermina patri erigi curavit. But I sus- pect some error here in my notes, and am unable to state positively where this Latin memorial was found. If not at Vatopedhi, it was some- where on my route from Vato- pedhi to Amphvpolls, or at Ata- jihipolis itself.
3 XtXavrapt or StXiavrdpi.
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141
ated close to the sea, at the mouth of a torrent in a little narrow valley, from which compressed posi- tion the name is taken. The monastery was founded by Theodosius the younger and his sister Pulcheria. About a mile to the eastward is a secure little creek ; and on the hill which separates the vale of Simeim from that of Khilandari is a tower standing on the eda;e of the cliff above the sea : some part of its wall is said to be of Hellenic ma- sonry, though I saw no appearance of this in riding along the beach below it. It is also reported that there were formerly many Hellenic foundations at the Arsana. of Khilandari, which is a mile below that monastery, and in particular the remains of a mole, part of which is now left. So many of the elder monks agree in this, that there seems little doubt that here stood one of the ancient cities of Acte, the situation being moreover one of the most likely from its natural conveniences. A rock at a little distance from the coast affords some shelter, but the anchorage is safe only in fine weather. Khilandari is delightfully situated in a vale watered by a torrent, and surrounded with pine-clad hills. There is a good garden below the monastery, and beyond, as far as the sea, the torrent is shaded with trees. The monks are almost all from Servia and Bulgaria, and the Illyric only is spoken in the convent or read in the church, though many of them can speak and read Greek. The library consists entirely of Illyric books. The monastery was founded by two ascetics, Symeon of Servia and his son Sabbas, but the present church was built by Stephen, king of Servia, son-in-law of the em-
142
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[CHAP.
peror Romanus. Khilandari is the tenth and last monastery of the northern shore of the peninsula. Three hours walk from it, towards the opposite shore, is Zografu another Servo-Bulgarian monastery, and the tenth and last of the southern side of the penin- sula. These two houses, but particularly Khilan- dari, possess larger territories than any of the others, but the land is barren or uncultivated, and does not even produce the useful trees which clothe the eastern parts of the ridge. The pastures alone are of any value.
Nov. 3. — At an early hour this morning I pro- ceed from Khilandari to the Isthmus of Acte, over hills intersected by narrow valleys ; the latter are watered by torrents flowing from the heights on our left, which are covered with pines unmixed with any other trees, or with any intervals of cul- tivation. The route follows the direction of the shore, at no great distance from it, for 2h.45m., when at the summit of the ridge which terminates in the cape forming the northern extremity of the peninsula, and the eastern side of the entrance into the Gulf of Erisso, we leave the highest point of this ridge on the left, and descend to a sandy beach which borders the Gulf of Erisso and extends north- ward as far as the foot of the mountain of Nizvoro. Three miles to the right, at the descent and just within the Cape, is the port of Frango Limiona, and a little nearer that of Platy, where many boats are now at anchor. We first cross the ter- mination of a fertile and well cultivated valley, which extends two or three miles to the left among the hills ; and in the middle of which stands a me-
XXIV.]
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143
tokhi of Bulgarians belonging to the monastery of Khilandari : then, after passing over a rocky point clothed with wood, enter the low undulated ground forming the Isthmus which connects the Peninsula of Acte with the great peninsula of Chalcidice. The first metokhi on the isthmus is that of Iviron ; a quarter of an hour beyond which is the Vatoped- hino. These farms and monidhia stand on the shore of the bay of Erisso, the former to the eastward of the narrowest part of the isthmus, the latter a few hundred yards of it to the westward. The modern name of this neck of land is Prov- laka, evidently the Romaic form of the word ■n-poavXaZ, having reference to the canal in front of the Peninsula of Athos, which crossed the isthmus and was excavated by Xerxes. The breadth of the isthmus, or length of the canal, appears to me not quite so much as the Roman mile and a half which Pliny assigns to it 1. It is a hollow between natural banks, which are well described by Herodotus as ko\wvo\ ov ^yaXoi 2, the highest points of them being scarcely 100 feet above the sea. The lowest part of the hollow is only a few feet higher than that level. About the middle of the isthmus, where the bottom is highest,
1 Plin. H. N. 1. 4, c. 10 — In a plan of the Isthmus by MM. Chanaleilles and Racord, published in the second vol. of the Travels of M. de Clioiseul Goufficr, the breadth of the Isthmus on the line of the canal is 1200 toises.
2 'O yap " A0wc iari opoc f-ttyti
re Kai ovvofxaarov, eq ddXavauv K"arJ/KOJ', oiKqfxivov vnb civQpw- Trcjy' rfj ce reXevry. eg rrji' ?'/7ret- por to opoc XEpaovotiliQ ri kari Kfll IctO/jloq <1)Q Ow^fka oraciiu)}', irehiov St rovro kcu koXujvoi ov fXE-ydXoL Ik QaXda(T7]Q tT]q 'Akclv- diu)v Eirt OaXairacip rijv Iivt'iov Topojvtjg. — Herodot. 1. 7, c. 22.
144
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[chap.
are some traces of the ancient canal ; where the ground is lower, it is indicated only by hollows, now filled with water in consequence of the late rains. At the northern end in particular, there is a large pond, divided only from the sea by a narrow ridge of sand. On either side of this pond, are seen foundations of Hellenic walls. Those to the eastward are at some little distance from the poiid, but on the opposite side they are close to the edge of it, and of the sea beach, and are traceable for some distance parallel to the beach towards the Vatopedhino metokhi. At the opposite end of the isthmus, or that which borders the Sinyitic Gulf, the canal passed for the last 200 yards along the bed of a rivulet, which originates above Erisso, and discharges itself into the sea between two small heights, which embrace this end of the canal, and behind the eastern of which, above that bank of the canal, are two other similar eminences. The middle of the three has a flat summit, apparently artificial, on the slope of which, towards the canal, are foun- dations containing several large squared masses of stone, and a block of white marble. On this height stands a small metokhi of Khilandari ; the third height is formed entirely of a mass of stones and mortar, the remains of some ancient building. All the fields around are covered with stones, among which is here and there a large squared block. These are all that remains above ground of the ancient Sane, for that Sane occupied exactly this situation is shown by Herodotus and Thucydides, both of whom place it on the isthmus, but within Acte, of which the canal of Xerxes was the limit,
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while Thucydides adds, that it was towards the sea of Euboea f.
The canal seems to have been not more than 60 feet wide. As history does not mention that it was ever kept in repair after the time of Xerxes, the waters from the heights around have naturally filled it in part with soil in the course of ages. It might, however, without much labour, be renewed : and there can be no doubt that it would be useful to the navigation of the JEgcean, for such is the fear entertained by the Greek boatmen of the strength and uncertain direction of the currents around Mount Athos, and of the gales and high seas to which the vicinity of the mountain is subject during half the year, and which are rendered more formidable by the deficiency of harbours in the Gulf of Orfana, that I could not, as long- as I was on the peninsula, and though offering a high price, prevail upon any boat to carry me from the eastern side of the peninsula to the western, or even from Xiropotami to Vatopedhi. Xerxes, therefore, was perfectly justified in cutting this canal, as well from the security which it af- forded to his fleet, as from the facility of the work, and the advantages of the ground, which seems made expressly to tempt such an undertaking.
1 IV C£ T(p ladfXW TOVT'D IQ " Adu)Q aVTtjg ODOg V\pT]X6v Tt-
tov reXevry 6" Adu)£, 2ui>r} iroXig Xevtq eg rb Alya'tov ireXayog.
'EXXag o'iKTjTai. — Herodot. 7, IluXeig Se t'x£t' 2ai/jji' /xeV, *Aj/-
c. 22. Zpiwv diroixiav, 7rap' uvt))v t))v
. . . . n)j> 'A/cn/v KaXovfievi]v' ^iwpv^a, tg to wpbg JLvfimav
tan C£ a7ro tov (jaaiXiwg £110- TriXayog TeTpnfifiipi]y, — Thu-
puy/xaroc e<tw Trpov-)(pvoa tcai 6 cyd. 1. 4, c. 109.
VOL. III. L
146
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The experience of the losses which the former ex- pedition under Mardonius had suffered suggested the idea. The circumnavigation of the capes Am- pelus and Canastraeum was much less dangerous, as the gulfs offer some good harbours, and it was the object of Xerxes to collect forces from the Greek cities in those gulfs as he passed. If there be any difficulty arising from the narrative of Herodotus, it is in comprehending how the operation should have required so long a time as three years l, when the king of Persia had such multitudes at his disposal, and among them Egyptians and Babylonians, who were accustomed to the making of canals.
The view from the site of Sane comprehends only a small portion of the southern coast of Acte, a cape near Zografu hiding all the more distant part ; the island of Muliani, which is only a mile or two distant, impedes also the prospect of all the eastern coast of Sithonia, except that of Port Vurvuri, before which are some islands seen in a line with the northern extremity of Muliani, and to the right of which appears the coast at the head of the Singitic Gulf. At Vurvuri is the isthmus of the Sithonian peninsula, much wider than those of Acte or Pallene, being not less than three miles in a direct line.
The road from Sane to Erisso follows up the rivulet from where it joins the canal of Xerxes to an opening in a range of hills which, crossing from the one gulf to the other, thus separates the vale of Provlaka from the plain of Erisso, ter-
Herodot. 1. 7, c. 22.
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minating on the northern coast in a cape which lies half way between Erisso and the Vatoped- hino metokhi, and shuts out all view of the one valley from the other. At the opening in the ridge, stands another metokhi, belonging to one of the convents of the Holy Mountain, and half a mile beyond it, on a height adjoining the ridge, is Erissos or Ierissos *, consisting of 150 scattered houses, inhabited entirely by Greeks, and of which those nearest to the sea are about a quarter of a mile distant from it, and half an hour from the Vatopedhino metokhi. The height of Erisso is crowned with a ruined castle of the middle ages, and on the shore stands a windmill, the only one I have seen on the continent of Greece, except at Megara : here also is a large ancient mole, ad- vancing in a curve into the sea, and though in ruins still serving to shelter the boats which navigate the Strymonic Gulf. As Herodotus denominates the sea at the northern end of the Canal of Xerxes the Sea of the Acanthii, the mole seems sufficient evi- dence of the position of the port of Acanthus, and consequently, that Acanthus occupied exactly the situation of the modern Erisso ; in confirmation of which I find on the maritime or northern side of the hill upon which the village stands, some re- mains of a Hellenic wall, constructed of square blocks of grey granite, of which stone there is an ancient quarry near the port of Platy. There are some foundations of similar construction at a greater distance from the sea, particularly near a
1 'EpilTfTOC, 'lepitJ(T(')C.
L 2
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new khan in the lower part of the village ; these seem to have belonged to the town walls, the for- mer to the Acropolis. It can hardly be doubted, therefore, that Ptolemy and the Epitomizer of Strabo have erroneously placed Acanthus on the Singitic instead of the Strymonic Gulf, in which they are opposed by Herodotus, who is extremely accurate in his topography of the Persian invasion, and with whom Scymnus and Mela are in agree- ment. The error of Strabo and Ptolemy may perhaps have arisen from the territory of Acan- thus having stretched for a considerable distance along the shore of the Singitic as well as the Stry- monic Gulf, from the former of which Erisso is not two miles distant. It would even seem from Livy that Acanthus had a harbour on that gulf; for in describing the course of the fleet of Attalus and the Romans in the Macedonic war, B.C. 200, when after their failure at Cassandria they sailed to Acanthus, he states only that they sailed round the promontory of Canastraeum and that of To- rone !, thereby implying that they did not double the cape of Athos.
Among many ancient coins which I have pur- chased of the people of Erisso, and which had all been found on the spot or in the fields cultivated by the villagers, those of Acanthus are much more numerous than any others, and are of very distant times, some in silver being of a remote antiquity, while those of copper are generally of a late date. Next in number to the coins of Acanthus are those
1 Liv. 1. 31, c. 45.
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of Uranopolis, or the city of the Uranida?, Ovpavl- Swv tt6\e(i)s, as the name is inscribed upon them, of which place history has left us no information, except that it was founded by Alexarchus, brother of Cassander, king of Macedonia !. Possibly it may have occupied the same site as Sane, as Pliny, the only author besides Athena?us who names Uranopolis, has not included Sane among the towns of Athos 2.
Herodotus, Thucydides, and Strabo, agree in showing that the peninsula of Acte contained five cities, named Dium, Thyssus, Cleonse, Acroathos, or the city of the Acrothoi, and Holophyxus 3 ; to these Scylax adds Charadrise4. As all these autho- rities agree in showing the city of the Acrothoi to have been near the extremity of the peninsula, there seems no situation with which it can be iden- tified but that of Lavra, where alone the site and a small harbour offer some natural conveniences. The proximity of Lavra to the adjacent cape Zmyrna is a further proof, for Acroathos was a cape as well as a town, and it is evident that Zmyrna and St. George are the Acroathos and Nymphaum described by Strabo as being the former the termination of the Strymonic, the latter that of the Singitic Gulf. Strabo, indeed, or his Epitomizer, as well as Pliny and Mela, seem to have supposed that Acroathos stood on the peak of
1 Athen. 1. 3, c. 20, et Heraclid. Lemb. ibid.
2 Plin. H. N. 1. 4, c. 10.
3 Herodot. 1. 7, c. 22.—
Thucyd. 1. 4, c. 109. Stra- bon Epit. 1. 7, p. 331. 4 Scylax in MaktcWta.
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Athos ; but to any person who has seen the moun- tain, that supposition cannot but appear almost as incredible as that the inhabitants should have seen the sun three hours before those who dwelt on the sea-shore \ These absurdities are the more glaring in Strabo, as his description of the peak is correct and forcible. A statue of Jupiter Athous, and some altars, were probably all that ever occupied the position of the modern chapel 2.
Of the situation of the other four cities ofActe we have no means of judging, but by the order in which they are named by the four authors just cited. But, unfortunately, they do not all agree in that order, and a comparison of them, as often hap- pens in similar cases, leads to no certain result. Scylax, whose work, being a periplus, ought to be the best authority, arranges them in the fol- lowing order, coasting from Torone: — Dium, Thyssus, Cleonse, the mountain Athos, Chara- drise, Holophyxus, and then Acanthus, whence it would appear that Thyssus and Cleonae were
1 . . . 'Aicpadioovg' owrij Se 7rpo£ rrj Kopv(f>fj rov" AOwvoq Keirai. "Eoti o' 6 "Adcov bpoc yn.tJrottSte, S'&Tfi-cv, v*pr}\6-
TCLTOV' OX) 01 T1]V KOpV(j>f)V OIKOVV-
ree bpwm rbv i'/Xiou (ii'art'X- Xovra Trpb wpiovrptioi' rrjc ev rrj TrapaXicf. dpaToXrjg. — Strabo, Epit. 1. 7, p. 331.
Oppidum in cacumine fuit Acrothon. — Plin. 1. 4, c. 10.
In summo fuit oppidum
Acroathon. — Mela, 1. 2, c. 2.
"Adioov atiroQ Zrjpog. — jEschyL Agam. v- 293.
"Ad(t)OQ' 6 £7Tt TOV " A6w TOV
bpovg IcpvfiivoQ dvlpiixc, O Zevq. — Hesych. in"A0wo£.
Capit opinio fidem, quia de aris, quas in vertice sustinct, non abluitur cinis, sed quo re- linquituraggcre,manet. — Mela, 1. 2, c. 2.
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on the southern, and Charadriae and Holophyxus on the northern coast. Neither of the two histo- rians mention Sane among the cities of Acte, though it was within the isthmus. Herodotus places next to it, Dium, then Holophyxus, Acrothoum, Thyssus and Cleonae ; while Thucy- dides thus names them !, beginning also from Sane : Thyssus, Cleonae, Acrothoi, Holophyxus, Dium. If then we suppose the two historians to have followed opposite directions round the penin- sula, they concur both with one another, and with Scylax, in favouring the opinion that Thyssus and Cleonae were on the southern coast, and Holophyxus on the northern, but they differ from him as to Dium, which they tend to place on the northern coast.
As they all agree, however, in showing that Dium was the nearest town to the isthmus, in which Strabo concurs by thus enumerating the towns of Acte — Dium, Cleonae, Thyssus, Holophyxus, Acro- thoi, it is very possible that Dium was neither on the northern nor southern shore of the peninsula, but on the western, or in the gulf of Acanthus. In this case, if it be admitted that Vatopedhi and the Arsana of Khilandari were ancient posi- tions, it will follow, if we trust to the order of names in Scylax, which in this instance is not opposed to the testimony of the historians or of Strabo, since they all omit Charadriae, that the latter site was that of Holophyxus, and that
1 It occurs in relating an ex- in the eighth year of the Pelo- pedition of Brasidas into Acte, ponnesian war. after lie had taken Amphipolis
12
152
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Vatopedhi is the position of Charadrice. As to Thyssus and Cleonae, one of them appears to have occupied some situation near Zografu, or Dho- khiari, and the other that of Xeropotami ; but it is impossible to come to any more precise con- clusion, unless we consider the periplus of Scylax as a weightier authority than the others ; for Hero- dotus and Strabo seem to place Cleonae in the more western position, while Thucydidcs accords with Scylax in giving that situation to Thyssus. In this case Xeropotami occupies the site of Cleonae, and Thyssus stood near Dhokhiari or Zografu. The discovery of an inscription, with the name of any of these towns, would tend greatly to eluci- date this question of the ancient sites of Acte.
Pliny has so mixed up the names of the cities of this part of Macedonia, that no positive inference can be drawn from him, though it may be worthy of remark, that he, like all the other four authors who enumerate the towns, names Thyssus and Cleonae contiguously.
From Erisso a road, which soon joins that from the southern end of the Provlaka, or site of Sane, leads along the extremities of the Singitic and To- ronaic Gulfs to Pinaka, the site of Potidcsa, which was afterwards named Cassandreia \ The isthmus on which this city stood is now called the Gate of Kassandhra2, as being the entrance into the penin- sula of Pcdlene, the whole of which is known by
lrrhucyd. 1. 1, c. 56. Strabo, Monrovia. Scymn. v. 628. Epit. 1. 7, p. 330. Scylax, in Liv. 1. 44, c. 11.
3 f) Ilopra tt]q Kacr<7avt/pac.
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the name of Kassandhra. The road from Erisso to the Porta passes by Aio Nikola, a village not far from the north-western extremity of the Singitic Gulf, thence to Ermylies, or Ormylia1, situate a few miles from the north-eastern angle of the Toronaic Gulf, and by Molivo-pyrgo to Aio Mamas, both situated on the same shore, the latter two hours from the Porta.
In the Singitic Gulf, according to Herodotus, the maritime towns between Sane and Cape Am- pelus were Assa, Pilorus, Singus, and Sarta2, and as the historian was describing the progress of the fleet of Xerxes, we can hardly doubt that their situations were in that order. Sykia is probably a corruption of Singus, from which the gulf was named Singitic. Assa perhaps occupied the site of some ruins called Paleokastro, which are at the northern extremity of the Singitic Gulf, about midway by land between Erisso and Vurvuri, and on the road to Porta about midway between Erisso and Ormylia. The position in the centre of a fer- tile country at the head of the gulf seems to cor- respond to the apparent importance of Assa, as deducible from Theopompus, Aristotle and Pliny 3 ; if we suppose, as can hardly be doubted,
1 orotic 'Epfxv\iQ.ig, ard 'Opfiv- Xw, and sometimes 'PiofxvXia. 3 Herodot. 1. 7, c. 122. 3 Theopomp. ap. Stcphan. in
" Aaoqpa.
iv Trj XaXcicWj/ Trj exl rrjg QpaKriQ kv Trj 'AaavpvTiSi. — Aristot. Hist. Anim. 1. 3, c. 12. Here was a river which from its
coldness was called the xpv^pdc, and which had the reputation of causing the sheep which drank of it to produce black lambs.
Oppidum Cassera, faucesque alterae Isthmi, Acanthus, Sta- gira, &c. — Plin. 1. 4, c. 10.
The real orthography was probably " Aoorjpa, as it oc-
154
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that the Assa of Herodotus is the same place as the Assyra of Aristotle and the Cassera of Pliny ; Pilorus, on this supposition, may liave occupied Port Vurvuri, or one of the harbours adjacent to it on the north, and Kartali may be a corruption of Sarta, marking the site of that city, which probably, like many others of the Greek cities of Thrace, declined after the Macedonian conquest.
In the gulf of Kassandhra, anciently known as the Sermylian, or Mecybernaean \ as well as the Toronaic, the towns on the eastern and northern sides were situated in the following order, ac- cording to their occurrence in Herodotus : Torone, Galepsus, Sermyle, Mecybcrna, Olynthus. Of the situation of Sermyle there can be no doubt, there being no greater difference between ScjouuAj/ and the modern 'OpuvAia, or 'EppvX'uQ, than might even have existed anciently between the local and the general form of the word. The site of Olyn- thus at Aio Mamas is known by its distance of 60 stadcs from Potidcea, or the isthmus of Palle/ie2, as well as by some vestiges of the city still exist- ing, and by its lagoon or marsh, which is men- tioned in history as having been the place where the captured defenders of Olynthus were put to death by Artabazus when he wintered in this part
curs in the Lexicon of Ste- phanus, who sufficiently iden- tifies it with the Assyra of Aristotle, by describing it, in common with that author, as a
city of the (Thracian) Chalci- denses.
1 Plin. H. N. 1. 4, c. 10.- Mela, 1. 2, c. 3.
2 Thucyd. 1. 1, c. 03.
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of Thrace, after having escorted the defeated Xerxes to the Hellespont1. From Athenaeus, on the authority of Hegesandrus, we learn that the name of the marsh was Bolyca, and that it re- ceived two rivers, named the Ammites and Olyn- thiacus 2.
The ruins of Torone preserving their ancient name, and the positions of Olynthus and Sermyle being obtained, it follows from the order of names in Herodotus, that Mecybema was at Molivopyrgo where some remains of antiquity are said to be preserved ; and the site of Galepsus is to be sought for in some part of the shore about 25 miles in length, which lies between Torone and the port of Sermyle. Galepsus I take to have been the same place afterwards called Physcella 3, a distinction having probably been required because there was another Galepsus at no great distance, on the sea- coast, eastward of the Strymon.
In the peninsula of Pallene there were eight towns in the time of the Persian invasion, and in the following order, coasting from Olynthus to the Thermaic gulf: Potidsea, Aphytis, Neapolis, i£ge, Therambo, Scione, Mende, Sane. Of these it appears from other authors, and especially from Strabo, who names no others, that the principal besides Potidaea were Aphytis, Mende, Scione,
1 Herodot. 1. 8, c. 127.
2 Athen. 1. 8, c. 3. ?/ BoXvki) Xi/dPT] is nothing more than the lake of Olynthus, the B heinga common Macedonian prefix : though probably both names
originate in a word having refe- rence to the marsh, and having the same import and origin as 6o\6q.
3 Plin. II. N. 1. 4, c. 10.— Mela, 1. 2, c. 3.
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and Sane. All these, except Sane, were suf- ficiently opulent to coin their own monev, of which specimens are still extant. Aphytis is de- termined by the modern name 'Athyto, attached lo a village on the eastern shore, about one third of the distance between Porta or Cassandrcia and Cape Paiiiiri, the ancient Canastraeum. Theram- bus appears from Stephanus to have been on or very near a promontory ', to which circumstance of position Lycophron seems to have alluded in mentioning Therambus in a passage relating to Phlegra2, which was the ancient name of Pallene. Therambus therefore occupied a position very near Cape Canastraeum. The south-western cape of Pallene, by Livy called Posidium3, and by Thucy- dides Posidonium 4, probably from a temple of Neptune which stood upon it, still retains the former appellation5, vulgarly pronounced Posidhi.
Mende appears, from the following circum- stances, to have been situated near this cape on the south-western side. When Attalus and the Romans, in the year b.c 200, sailed from Scia- thus against Cassandria, they first touched at Mende, and then doubled the cape before they arrived at Cassandria. Having failed here, chiefly in consequence of the weather, they returned round the Cape Canastrseum and that of Torone to the port of Acanthus in the Singitic gulf 6.
1 Qpafx/joe akpuTt'ipiov Ma«- Sovlag. — Stephan. in voce.
2 r^J Tracra <&\iypag ala Bov- Xw6f/<rerat, Qpcifxfiuvaia re 3ei- pdg. — Lycophr. v. 1404.
3 Liv. 1. 44, c. 11.
4 Thucyd. 1. 4, c. 129. 6 HoalEiov.
8 Liv. 1. 31, c. 45.
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■
■
According to these data it seems evident, that some Hellenic remains which have been observed on the shore, near Cape Posidhi, to the eastward, as well as on the heights above it, are those of Mende, such a position of Mende with rela- tion to Posidium according; moreover with the transactions of the ninth year of the Peloponnesian war, when the Athenians, proceeding from Po- tidaea against Mende and Scione, sailed to Posi- donium, and after having taken Mende, proceeded against Scione, of which the territory was con- terminous with that of Mende \ The order of names in Herodotus, therefore, which tends to place Scione between the Capes Paliuri and Po- sidhi, agrees perfectly with the narrative of Thucydides : and the remains of Sane should, ac- cording to Herodotus, be sought for between Cape Posidhi and the western side of the isthmus of Porta. Mela accords with the same conclusion as to Scione, inasmuch as he states it to have occupied together with Mende the broadest part of the peninsula, but he is opposed to it in regard to the position of Sane, which he places near Ca- nastrseum 2.
1 Thucyd. ubi sup.
2 Mela, 1. 2, c. 2, 3.
CHAPTER XXV.
MACEDONIA.
Stratoni, Stratoniceia — Nizvoro — Mines of lead and silver — Lybjadha — Kafkana — Caprus — Stavros, Stageirus — Gulf of Posidium, plain Syleus, lake Bolbe, Anion, Arelhusa, Bromis- cus — Argilus — Ferry of Strymon — Eton — Orfaini, Phagres — Neokhori, Amphipolis — Lake Cercinitis — Inscription — Buttle of Amphipolis — Capture of Amphipolis by Brasidas — Takhyno — Serres, Sirrhce — Inhabitants of the Strymonic plain, &c.
Nov. 4. — From Erisso to Nizvoro : distance, three hours and three quarters. A ride of forty minutes brings us to the end of the cultivated lands of Erisso, which bear corn, Kalambokki, and vines. The low undulations of ground which border the isthmus become higher as we advance, and at length are blended with a woody ridge which, branching from the mountain of Nizvoro, has a direction parallel to the shore at the head of the Singitic gulf. Having passed some low hills which termi- nate in a projection in the Bay of Acanthus, we enter a small valley, and from thence cross over some other inconsiderable heights into a plain which produces maize, and is bounded to the south-west by woody hills. Here are many fine plane trees. At the end of this valley, one hour and fifty minutes from Erisso, we cross a rivulet from the hill on our left, near its junction
CHAP. XXV.]
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159
with another from the mountain of Nizvoro, follow a wide torrent, a branch of the latter, and ascend some narrow valleys, which conduct at length by a steep path to Nizvoro. This town stands in a lofty situation on the south-western face of a woody mountain, the extremity of a ridge, which stretches westward from thence across the Chalcidic penin- sula. In the ascent we passed in several places large heaps of the burnt ore of the silver mines, which have given to the surrounding district the name of Sidhero-kapsa, and we looked down to the right on an inlet which branches from the northern side of the Acanthian bay. At the head of this bay, on a small level, a Hellenic castle is described to me as situated on a height, and as enclosing a space of four stremata; below it, on the sea-side, there are said to be many Hellenic foundations with remains of an ancient port. The place is called Stratoni, and is supposed to be the ancient Stageirus. An agoyates, who accom- panied the horses on foot, remarked to me that it was i7 7roTpt'Sa tov ' ApiororiXovQ, or the native town of Aristotle. Yesterday, in like manner, a monk of the Vatopedhino metokhi showed some know- ledge of the history of the invasion of Xerxes, and that notwithstanding- the mass of ignorance col- lected in the monasteries of the Oros, some recol- lections of ancient history are still preserved here. This may be attributed in great measure to the Chalcidice and its three smaller peninsulas being inhabited by Greeks unmixed either with the Bul- garian or Albanian race, and having very few Turks among them. Nevertheless the tradition as to
160
MACEDONIA.
[CHAP.
Stageirus is probably erroneous, for Stageirus was a place of greater importance than the vestiges at Stratoni and its confined valley indicate, and the latter name so nearly resembles Stratoniceia that there is a strong presumption of the identity. It is true that Ptolemy, the only author who mentions Stratoniceia, places it in the Singitic gulf, but this may be a consequence of his having improperly assigned Acanthus to the same gulf1.
Nizvoro contains three or four hundred houses, divided into two nearly equal Makhaladhes, situ- ated half a mile apart, the one inhabited by Greeks, at the head of whom is the bishop of Erissos, one of the suffragans of the metropolitan of Thessalonica, and styled also bishop of 'Aghion Oros ; the other by Turks, and the residence of Rustem Aga, who, as Madem 'Agasi, has the direction of the neigh- bouring silver mines, together with the government of twelve eleftherokhoria in the Chalcidic penin- sula, which from this union of the Mukata are named the Sidherokapsika, or Mademokhoria. Not long since Rustem was nearly expelled from his post by the united complaints of all the villages under his government, but having, by the power- ful support of Ibrahim Bey of Serres, his patron, overcome all difficulties, as well at Saloniki as at Constantinople, he revenged himself upon the Greek Proestos of Nizvoro, who was instigator of the combination against him, by putting him into a well, and keeping him there till he had gradually extorted all his property, when he cut
1 Ptolem. 1. 3, c. 13.
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off' his head. My Janissary, who relates this anec- dote, considers it as a proof of Rustem being a doghru adSm, or upright man. Rustem pays the Porte 120 purses and 200 okes of silver for the mukata of the villages and mines, but as he never makes more than 100 okes from the mines, he is obliged to supply the difference in money. This he is enabled to do by the Greeks of the Sidherokapsika, who are well content to make good the deficiency for the sake of the advantages they derive from be- longing to the government of the mines. The owner of the house in which I lodge pays 300 piastres a year in SoajjjuaTa of all kinds. Belon, who visited the mines of Sidherokapsa in the middle of the sixteenth century, asserts that he found five or six hundred furnaces in different parts of the mountain, that besides silver, gold was extracted here from pyrites, that 6000 workmen were then employed, and that the mines some- times returned to the Turkish government a monthly profit of 30,000 ducats of gold. The name Sid- herokapsa, although implying a smelting of iron, is generally applied to places where any appearances of metallurgy remain ; it is not probable that there ever existed any iron works in this place.
The villages attached to the government of the Mines are chiefly situated in the highlands of the Chalcidic peninsula on either side of the central ridge, and in a part of the country to the south-west of Nizvoro, towards the isthmus of Sithonia. In this direction, four hours distant, is Reveniko, con- taining 200 houses. On the direct road to Salo- niki, which is eighteen hours distant, are Eleri-
VOL. III. M
162
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gova, four hours from Nizvoro, containing 400 houses, Galatista, or Galatzita, of 500 houses, eight hours farther, and Vasilika of 400, midway from the latter to Saloniki. Galatista is near the origin of a stream which separates the highlands of ( 7ial- cidice into two parallel ridges, and joins the sea in the bay of Saloniki. The road from Galatista fol- lows the river nearly to its mouth. Not far short of Vasilika, to the right of the road, is the monastery of St. Anastasia. To the southward of Galatista, towards Polighyro, are Vavdho, of 300 houses, two hours distant, and beyond it, at a like dis- tance, Rizitnikia. To the northward of Galatista, in the mountains towards the valley of Klisali and Besikia, are Adhami, Zakliveri, and Ravana, the last of which is on the road from Saloniki to Pazarudhi.
The ridges which extend westward from Nizvoro rise to a central peak called Solomon, or Kholo- mon ', possibly an ancient name, from whence the waters flow southward to the gulfs of Aion Oros and Kassandhra, westward to that of Saloniki, and northward, into the lake of Besikia. There are said to be some remains of an ancient town, at the foot of the peak, not far to the southward of Eleri- gova, on a stream which flows to the Gulf of Kas- sandhra.
The district of the Mademokhoria borders to the south-west upon that of Khassia, or the Khasika, which are fifteen Eleftherokhoria, forming a con- federacy similar to that of the mines, and having an aristocratic2 administration to each village,
1 2o\oj.iwv, XoXofxiuy. its Greek meaning, — or con-
2 Aristocratic, according to sisting of the best men in pro-
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with a council or deputation for the repartition of the taxes, and other general concerns, which as- sembles at Polighyro, the residence of the Turkish aga, who farms the revenue from the Porte. Po- lighyro contains 600 families, and stands at a dis- tance of three hours from the shore of the Gulf of Kassandhra, at the foot of the heights of Kholomon. The Khasika comprehend all the r^too fiowa \ or cultivable heights and undulated country, which fall southward from those mountains to the Toro- naic and Thermaic Gulfs. The northern part of the district bordering on the latter gulf is known by the name of Kalameria, and is one of the most productive districts in Macedonia. With the ex- ception of some Turkish tjiftliks, and some metok- hia of Aion Oros, the land of the Khasika is pos- sessed entirely by the villages. Besides affording excellent winter pasture for cattle and sheep, it produces an abundance of grain of superior qua- lity ; its wool, honey, and wax, are also consider- able, and silk-worms are raised in the villages, particularly in the two principal towns, Polighyro and Ermylies, which alone contain four or five hun- dred silk-looms.
Kassandhra, or the peninsula of Pallene, forms a similar union of villages, under a Turkish Voi- voda, who resides at Valta, towards the centre of the peninsula. The villages are twelve in nura-
perty and influence, which are the general qualifications of the 'Arkhondes in the Elef- therokhoria of Greece.
1 A common Greek expres- sion in contradistinction to aynia fivvru.
M 'I
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ber, of which 'Athyto, Valta, Furka, Kalendria, and Aghia Paraskevi, are the principal. The produce of the peninsula is similar to that of the Khasika, which adjoins to it, besides which the Pallenceans have numerous boats and small vessels, and derive great benefit from their maritime traffic.
Nov. 5. — The mines now wrought are about half an hour from Nizvoro, between two hills, in a deep ravine, where a stream of water serves for the operations of washing, as well as to turn a wheel for working the bellows for the furnace. The whole is conducted in the rudest and most slovenly manner. The richest ore is pounded with stones upon a board by hand, then washed and burnt with charcoal ; the inferior ore is broken into larger pieces, and burnt twice without wash- ing. The lead, when extracted from the furnace, is carried to Kastro, where the silver is separated, in the proportion of two or three drams to an oke of 400 drams. When the present shafts are ex- hausted, the mines will probably be abandoned. From the mines I return, by a circuitous path, to a point not far above Nizvoro, and set off from thence on the road to Stavros at 4.30 (Turkish time).
The heaps of wrought ore, some of which I passed yesterday, but which are seen in much greater quantity on the side of the mountain below the present works, show how very extensively these mines have once been wrought. The lofty mountains which lie at the back of Nizvoro are covered with forests, consisting on the southern side chiefly of elms, on the summit of chestnuts,
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and to the north of oaks. Some of the elms are very fine trees. All the forenoon we travel amidst the clouds, which, as the wind is to the south-east, hang low upon the hills, and at 6.30 descend upon the southern corner of the plain of Lybjadha, around which all the sides of the hills are covered with great heaps of scoriae, similar to those near the Maden of Nizvoro, but much larger and more numerous.
The plain, which is a dead level in the form of an equilateral triangle, surrounded by woody mountains, is covered with fields of kalambokki, and intersected with torrents shaded by large plane trees. The scoriae are seen in the greatest quantities in the bed of one of these torrents, be- low the corner where we descended ; but a peasant who has the care of a magazine for the maize, informs me, that towards the summit of the moun- tain there are heaps of the same substance larger than any near the valley, and shafts of a much greater depth and size. Some of these may be works, perhaps, of the ancient Macedonians, whence a part of the silver money was derived, the prodi- gious quantity of which is proved by the proportion of it still existing. I am not aware, however, that any ancient author has noticed mines in this part of the country.
On inquiring for ancient buildings, the keeper of the magazine conducts me to the southern angle of the bay, where I find the remains of a thin wall constructed of small stones and mortar, built across the neck of a promontory, and a little within the same point towards the plain, many fragments
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of ancient pottery on the side of the hill, with a piece of Hellenic wall crossing a little ravine or water-course. In the adjacent angle of the bay- is a place called the Skala, where plank and scantling are now lying ready for embarkation. The bay is sheltered by an island in the middle, distant a mile and a half from the shore, and about as much in circumference. It is called Kafkana !, a word derived from Kavuy, like Kafkhio and Kapsa, names wrhich we generally find at- tached to places preserving appearances of metal - lurgic operations.
The bay, plain, paleokastro, and skala, are all known by the name of Lybjadha, which the natives derive from that of the mother of Alexander, and not without probability ; since the omission of the initial o, the third case, and the conversion of Au/u- TriaSa into AvfiiTTliaSa, are all in the ordinary course of Romaic corruption. A situation a little below the serai of the Aga at Kastro, where some frag- ments of columns are still seen, is said to have been the site of Alexander's mint. Both Turks and Greeks, and even the poorest peasants, are full of the history of Alexander, though it is some- times strangely disfigured, and not unfrequently Alexander is confounded with Skauderbeg.
The port and island of Lybtzadha are probably those which in the epitome of the seventh book of Strabo are described as being near Stageirus, and named Caprus 2, for this is the only island in the
KavKavdc. 'AkcLvQov 6 irtpiwXove rfjg Xep-
Kal iotiv aVo ttoXiwq riji- pov//<rou (Actes sc.) ioc Sra-
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Strymonic Gulf, except Leftheridha, and the lat- ter being close to the cape now called Marmari, which forms the northern side of the entrance into the bay of Acanthus, is too far from Stageirus, if that place, as I suspect from the name, stood at the modern Stavros. Leftheridha, moreover, being nothing more than the Romaic form of Eleuthevis, seems to indicate the preservation of an ancient name. Within that cape to the northward there is a small harbour.
Leaving the skala at 8.30 Turkish, and follow- ing the beach, I arrive at 9 at the point which forms the northern extremity of the bay and plain, and from thence follow the sea shore under the mountains, winding to the left as we enter upon the shore of the bay of Rendina, as this extremity of the Strymonic gulf is called, until we arrive at 10.50 on the beach immediately below the village of Stavros, and about a mile eastward of the west- ern extremity of the gulf, where now lies a ship loading wood. An ascent of a quarter of an hour brings me to the village of Stavros, which stands on a height at the foot of woody mountains, similar to those enclosing the plain of Lybtzadha.
Stavros contains about 50 houses, inhabited by cultivators of kalambokki grounds in the plain at the head of the gulf, or by pastors of the fine cattle, of which there are numerous flocks in every part of the Chalcldic peninsula. The position is
ytipov -rruXewQ roii 'ApiaroTtkovQ vvjxov T<p XifievC elra ai tov OTcicia TerpaKoaia' iv r) \ifii)v ^rpvfxuyoc tKpoXai. — Strabo, bvofxa Kairpoc Kat vr\alov bjxw- p. 331.
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very much that of a Hellenic town, the height being detached in front of the mountain, flanked on either side by a torrent, and falling to a level which is itself higher than the plain adjacent to the sea-shore. There are even some appearances of ancient walls of a very rough and irregular species on the eastern side above the torrent.
These remains, the position, and the name Stavros, which, the accent in ^Taynpog being on the first syllable, is a natural contraction of that name, seem decisive of Stavros being the site of Stageirus.
Herodotus in describing the march of the army of Xerxes from the mouth of the Strymon to Acanthus, states, that after passing Argilus and leaving the gulf of Posidium on the left, they traversed the plain called Syleus, and then pass- ing Stageirus arrived at Acanthus !, all which accords perfectly with the supposition just stated, the plain which lies between it and the sea being sufficiently wide for the army to have left the city on the right. That Stageirus was not far from Acanthus is rendered probable by their having: both been colonies of the Andrii, and be- cause when Acanthus surrendered to Brasidas in the eighth year of the Pcloponnesian war, Sta~
1 '£Iq ce diro tov ^iTpv/xovog eiropevETO 6 crrparoc, ivdavTa Trpoe j/X/'ou Evfff-iiwv iarl alyi- aXog, kv tuj olK7]/J,evr]v ApyiXov ttoXiv 'EWa'Ja irapelffiie avri] ce, kcu »/ KarvTrtpde ravrr}^ ko- Xccrai lUrjaXri))' ivBevTev St
koXttov tov tTrl HoaiSqiov ii, dpiarepiii; x^pog i^tov, i]ie diet SvXeoq tteciov Ka.XEOjJ.Evov, Sru- yeipov iroXiv 'EXXacu Trapajj.ei- fiofUEVog icai qitIketo e.q" AkclvBov. — Herodot. 1. 7, c. 115.
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geirus immediately followed the example '. In the fact of the restoration of Stageirus by the influence of Aristotle 2, we have a proof that it had fallen to decay before the time of Alexan- der ; at the same time that the few vestiges now remaining, and the want of all coins of Stagei- rus 3, give reason to believe that the improve- ment was not permanent. The city therefore was probably in the height of its prosperity about the time of the Persian war, and with the other Greek colonies in this quarter, declined when western Thrace became a part of the kingdom of Macedonia.
Nov. 6. — From Stavros to Orfana, distant 5 h. 40 min. without the baggage, which is left to fol- low as on the three preceding days. Our pace, notwithstanding, is not more than a man's walk, as the agoyates, from whom I hire the horses, accompany them on foot. The rain begins very soon after we set out, and continues with little intermission all the day ; half an hour beyond Stavros, leaving a khan in the plain, a quarter of a mile on the left, we cross a wooden bridge over a small stream which issues from the lake of Besikia 4, and from thence passing through an
1 Thucyd. 1. 4, c. 88. authority of a fragment in the
2 Plutarch, in Alexand. — Geographi Minores, Vol. iv. Diogen. Laert. 1. 5, § 4. — Pliny (1. 4, c. 11.) however
Theophr. Hist. Plant, c. 102 — ^lian. Var. Hist. 1. 3, c. 17
3 Unless those inscribed Maronea. 'OpflayopfW are of this place, * M7rtatKia
as Eekhel supposed on the
favours the opinion that Or- thagoria was the old name of
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opening in the mountain, which remains a mile on our left, falls into the sea at the same distance to the right of the bridge. The opening being in the great post road from Saloniki to Constanti- nople, and in a country which has often been infested by robbers, there is a guard-house in the pass, occupied by a few soldiers, commanded by a bolu-bashi, who examines all passengers, and ex- pects a present of a few paras.
Herodotus calls this maritime plain Syleus. and Thucydides has exactly described the places in relating the march of Brasidas from Arnae in the Chalcidice to Amphipolis. Moving from Arnae, he arrived towards the evening at Aulon and Bro- miscus, where the lake Bolbe discharged itself into the sea, and after supper marched forward !. As the word Aulon sufficiently indicates the pass, Bolbe was evidently the lake of Besikia and Bro- miscus, near the mouth of the river. Arnae I sus- pect to have been the same place called Calarna by Stephanus, the existence of which latter place near this part of the coast is shown by the name Turris Calarnaea, which Mela mentions as between the Strymon and the harbour Caprus 2.
Arethusa, noted for containing the sepulchre of Euripides, appears to have stood in the pass of Aulon, for Arethusa is described by Ammianus as a
1 6 BpaaiSae cipac e£ 'Apvwv i&rjmv tg OaXarraav. — Thueyd.
rijg Xa\Ki(}iKiJ£, kivopivtro Tf 1. 4, c. 103. GTpaTf' Kal cKpiKo/xeyoc nepl 2 Stcphan. in KdXapva. —
SeiXrjv enl tuv AvXuiva kcu Mela, 1. 2, c. 3. Bpu>f.ii(TKov, j) v BoXfirj Xifxyrj
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valley and station very near to Bromiscus \ By a station he probably meant such a guard as now occupies the pass. It appears from the Jerusalem Itinerary, that in the time of the Greek Empire there was a mutatio, or place for changing horses, at the tomb of Euripides, which was on the road from Amphipolis to Apollonia, twenty Roman miles distant from the former and eleven from the latter 2.
The plain diminishes as we advance, and at length becomes a narrow level between the foot of woody mountains and the northern shore of the gulf, partly cultivated with maize and corn, and partly covered with groves of large plane-trees. It belongs, as well as the plain nearer to the Aulon of Arethusa, to Vrasta, a large village of a mixed population of Greeks and Turks, which stands on the mountain, not far from the Aulon, but not in sight from our road. This mountain was comprehended in the ancient Bisaltia, which, according to Stephanus, contained a city of the same name. Argilus, another city of the Bisaltce, occupied a position not far from the sea, between Bromiscus and the mouth of the Strymon. It seems from Herodotus to have been like Stageirus, a little to the right of the route of the army of Xerxes in marching from the Strymon to Acan-
1 Bromiscus, cui proxima ii. p. 226, Jacobs. — Stephan.
Arethusa convallis et statio est in qua visitur Euripidis sepulchrum. — Ammian. 1. 27, c. 4. — Plutarch, in Lycurg. — Addaei Epig. in Antholog. vol.
in BopfxiaKoc, whence "Op/j,og seems to have been the Ety- mon.
2 Itin. Hierosol. p. 004.
Wessel.
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thus, and may therefore be sought for on the mountain. Its territory extended as far as the right bank of the Strymon ; for Cerdylium, the mountain immediately opposite to Amphipolis, was in the territory of Argilus '.
At the end of two hours and a half from Stavros a violent fall of rain detains us an hour in a hut near the sea, after which we follow the di- rection of the shore at no great distance from it. In approaching the Strymon, the hills are much diminished in height ; instead of being covered with wood as before they are partly cultivated, and they terminate in a plain which towards the mouth of the river is sandy, and intersected with marshes. In one hour and forty minutes from the hut, we arrive at the Tjai-agsi, or the river's mouth, as the Turks call the ferry of the Strymon, though it is situated a quarter of a mile from the sea. The river is about 180 yards in breadth.
A store-house for the grain of the Strymonic plains, which is exported from hence in large quantities to Constantinople, stands on the right bank, together with a hut of the Gumrukji, or publican, who farms the toll of the ferry, and re- ceives four paras for every head of cattle which passes. There being several caravans collected, and only one boat, capable of carrying about six- teen men or beasts at a time, we are obliged to wait an hour before we can cross. Immediately beyond the ferry are some extensive ruins of thick walls, constructed of small stones and mortar,
1 Thucyd. 1. 5, c. 6.
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among" which appear many squared blocks in the Hellenic style. Though the walls are little more than heaps of ruins, enough remains to show that there was a large quadrangular inclosure, with other smaller detached buildings. The greater part of what now remains is evidently of the time of the Byzantine Empire. By the native Greeks the ruins are most erroneously supposed to be those of Amphipolis : elsewhere I have heard them attributed to a town of the Lower Empire named Contessa ; but Ko/luti<toti, which the Italians have converted into Contessa, and from which they have named this gulf, was, according to the monks of Aionoros, a town or fortress of the Lower Em- pire, at the western extremity of that peninsula. Among the Greeks, the gulf, as I before observed, generally bears the name of Rendina, which was an imperial-Greek town and bishop's see, occupy- ing a position in or near the pass of Aretlmsa \ The gulf is sometimes known also as that of Stavros or of Orfana. The ruins at the ferry of the Strymon, whatever may have been their name under the Greek Empire, stand nearly, if not exactly, on the site of that Eion on the Strymon, from whence Xerxes sailed to Asia after his defeat at Salamis2 ; for it seems evident from some of the circumstances attending the battle of Amphipolis, in the tenth year of the Peloponnesian war 3, that Eion stood on this bank of the river.
Three quarters of a mile beyond the ferry, and
1 Melet. vol. ii. p. 4G4. Svo. Venice. 1807.
2 He.rodot. 1. 8, c. 108.
3 Thucyd. 1. 5, c. 10.
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about the same distance from the sea, the hills which border the plain on the eastern side, termi- nate in a point higher than the part of the ridge behind it, divided into terraces, and having a flat summit, with some appearances of art, but I search in vain for any unequivocal remains of antiquity on it. Along the side of the mountain, of which this height is the termination, stand several Turkish villages, forming a district called Orfana, belong- ing to the Serres kazasi. The Turks of Orfana are descendants of those Osmanlis who came into this country with the predecessors of Mahomet II. and who, like those of Thessaly, are called by the Greeks Kovidpidtg, or Iconians, a name which re- calls to memory the most ancient capital of the Turkish power in Asia Minor. They occupy a large portion of the cultivated mountains of Mace- donia, and some parts of the plains distant from the large towns. Around the latter the lands are generally tjiftliks belonging to Turkish inhabitants of the towns, which are farmed by Christians. The Koniaridhes, on the contrary, cultivate their own lands, and seem to be the only Turks in Europe who do not consider agricultural labour a degrada- tion. As at Orfana, they generally occupy dis- tricts of small villages, each of which lias its sepa- rate appellation besides that of the district. These people, though all armed, are peaceably disposed, attached to their landed property, and seldom seek their fortune at court or obey the summons of the Porte for foreign wars. Hence it is rare to hear of any of them attaining to high station, though Mehmet Ali, the present Pasha of Egypt,
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who belonged to an agricultural family of the neighbourhood of Kavala, is an illustrious excep- tion. His uncle, who was governor of that town, having fallen a victim to the arts of his enemies, Mehmet All, deprived of this support, was induced to seek his fortune in Egypt, at the head of a small number of followers. The Yuruks, who in Asia live a wandering life, like the Kurds and Turkomans, as their name implies1, have become more sedentary in Macedonia and Thrace, where they have villages, and have become cultivators. Those in the Pashalik of Saloniki have a chief called the Yuruk Bey, who resides in that city. Their principal abodes are in the districts of Gumertzina, Drama, Nevrokopo, Serres, Strii- mitza, Radhovitzi, Tikfis, Karadagh.
From the height above-mentioned, which lies to the left of the direct road, I proceed, over open downs covered with corn-fields, to one of the vil- lages of Orfana, situated at an hour and a half from the ferry, in a hollow between two heights watered by a small stream, which flows directlv to the sea. The village contains fifty or sixty houses, all Turkish except those of five or six Greek shopkeepers. Although not the largest of the makhalas of Orfana, it is more especially known by that name as being a post station on the great road from Greece to Constantinople. Above
1 As there is no difference nians of Europe, they are, I
in language, and very little in helieve, often confounded,
manners and mode of life, be- though the names sufficiently
tween the Yuruks and Ico- show the original distinction.
12
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it rises the great mountain, which, stretching east- ward from the left bank of the Strymon, at the pass of Amphipolis, bounds all the eastern portion of the great IStrymonic basin on the south, and near Pra- vista meets the ridges which inclose the same basin on the east. The mountain is now known by the name of Pirnari, and is evidently the same which has been celebrated by poets and historians under the name of Pan&aeum \
Nov. 7. — Being detained this day by the wea- ther at the menzil hane, or post house of Orfana, I discover in the course of the day that the height which overhangs the village to the eastward was the site of an ancient city. Only a few small pieces of the walls remain in situ, but all the space now ploughed for corn, which thej^ once enclosed, is strewn with fragments of ancient pot- tery, and the remains of former buildings, among which are a few squared blocks of stone. Greek coins are very often found here, and among other small productions of Hellenic art, oval sling-bullets of lead 2, generally inscribed with Greek names in characters of the best times, or with some emblem such as a thunderbolt. In walking over the ground
1 See iEschylus Pers. v. 491. Pindar Pyth. 4, v. 320. He- rodot. 7, c. 112, 113. Thu- cyd. 1. 2, c. 99. Euripid. Rhes. v. 922. 972. Virgil. Georg. c. 4, v. 462.
Inde faces et saxa volant, spatioque solutae Aeris et calido liquefactae pondere glandes.
Lucan. 1. 7, v. 512.
These are the glandes which Lucan in his description of the battle of Pharsalia, re- presents as liquefied in their passage through the air : —
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I found several of these bullets, and purchased others, together with coins from the people of the village. There is reason to believe that the site is that of Phagres, a place of some import- ance1, situated in a district which was named Pieria, because it was inhabited by descendants of emigrants from Pieria near Mount Olympus, who had been driven from thence by the Mace- dones. Hence the valley included between Mount Pangaeum and the sea, in which Phagres was situated, was still called in the time of Thucydides o UupiKog KoXirog, or the Pieric bay 2 ; the latter word is explained by the nature of the extensive hollow which reaches from Orfana. to Pravista, and is included between Pangceum and a lower maritime ridge which at Pravista forms a junction with that mountain and there separates the head of the Pieric valley from the plain of Philippi. The army of Xerxes followed this valley in their march into Greece, leaving, as Herodotus observes, Mount Pangaeum on the right 3. It is true that the order
1 Hecataeus ap. Stephan. in *«ypj/c.— Herodot. 1. 7, c. 112. — Thucyd. 1. 2, c. 99 — Scylax in QpaKt). — Strabo (Epit. 1. 7,) p. 331.
.... Ilitpac, ol vtrrepov, V7ro to Uayyawv irepav Hrpv- /lovog yKrjoav iba-yprjra teal (iX- Xa ywpLa ical tVt teal vvv Wie- piKOQ koXttuq tcaXe'irai »/ V7r6 rw Uuyyaiu) Trpuc daXaaauv yij. — Thucyd. 1. 2, c. 99. Xeno- phon in like manner employs
VOL. III.
(vo\7roc to describe a branch of the plain of Mantineia : rbv
OTTiadEV KoXlTOV TT]Q MciVTlVUCfJQ
kvkXu) vpr) 'iyovTa, (Xenoph. Hell. 1. 6, c. 5.) and the word is still often used in the same sense.
3 IiapafXEi\\iajX(.voQ he 6 &ip- £,r)c Tr/v eiprjiJ.£yr)v (regionem Sa- trensium sc.) davrepa tqvttwv Trapaf.itij3ero rei^ea to. YiiipioV ruiv kcu erl^uyprjc earlv ovi'0/.ta, Kat ertpa) He oya/xo^' rovrn ^eu
N
178
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[chap.
in which the historian names Phagres and Per- gamus, as the two chief places in Pieria, tends to the belief that Orfana occupies the site of Perqa- mus rather than that of Phagres ; his words how- ever do not absolutely require that Xerxes should have passed the two places in the order in which the names occur, and Orfana is the only situa- tion in which Phagres can be placed, so as to conciliate the testimony of Herodotus and Thucy- dides, in attributing it to the Pieric valley, with that of Scylax and Strabo, who show that it was the first town beyond the Strymon l. If Phagres stood at Orfana, Pergamus was most probably the modern Pravista.
The march of Xerxes serves also to give a negative intimation of the position of Galepsus and iEsyme, colonies of the Thasii, which were taken by Brasidas after the capture of Amphi- polis 2 ; for as neither of these places is mentioned as having been in the line of march of the Per- sians, we may infer that they were on that part
£j) nap' uvto. ra ret^ea rrfv bcov ETrouero, Ik Ee^tfjc \epbg to IJay- yaiov ovpoc airipyojv, kbv fiiya (fat vi£'!7\c'v.--Herodot. 1. 7, c. 112.
1 AirjKei $e r) QpaKrj euro HrpvfxoroQ irorafiov fJ-iyjpi "la- TpOV TTOTCtflOV rov kv Ttj> Ei>£«V^ T\.6vry. Eifft ce kv QpaKy iru- Xug'FiXXjjviceg aide' 'AfX^lnoXic, <$>a.yprig, TaXtjxpdc., Ol(rvfxr\ teal dXXa kfiTropia 'Layiov (Sa/wv). Kara rain-a kar\ Qaaoq vrjooe.
'FiTrdveifit t)£ trdXiv 6Qev
k£,£T paiv 6 firjy. NtdnoXig, &c. — Scylax in Qpdicj}.
The Saii were the same people as the Sapaei. — Strabo, p. 549.
Etra ai rov Srpvynoroe ktcpo- Xai' elra <f?dypric, TaXrjxpbg, &c. —Strabo (Epit. 1. 7, p. 331.)
2 Thucyd. 1. 4, c. 107.— Galepsus was retaken by Cleon in the ensuing year. — Thucyd. 1. 5, c. 6.
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of the coast where the line diverged from the sea and followed the Pieric valley. The point where they quitted the shore must, from the nature of the country, have been at or near Kavala ; Galepsus and JEsyme, therefore, were probably on the coast between Kavala and Orfana, and one of them at the harbour of Nefter which is situated 2 hours to the southward of Pravista, just within the cape forming the western entrance of the Gulf of Kavala, where still remain the ruins of a Greek city now known by the name of Paleopoli, or Nefteropoli, or Dhef- teropoli ; the other in that case was at some point of the coast between Nefter and the mouth of the Strymon. The former would rather seem to have been the site of Galepsus than of JEsyme, because Livy in relating that Perseus, when flying from the Romans after his defeat at Pydna, sailed from the mouth of the Strymon to Galepsus on the first day, and on the second to Samothrace ', renders it probable that Galepsus was towards the middle distance between the Strymon and Samothrace, and that it wras one of the most remarkable har- bours of the intervening coast, which data can only be reconciled at Nefteropoli. Scylax, it must be admitted, gives an opposite testimony as to the relative situation of iEsyme and Galepsus ; but when the assertions of the geographers are at va- riance with the circumstantial evidence of history, the latter is generally to be preferred.
Although the modern route from Constantinople to Orfana and Saloniki, leading by Pravista through
Liv. 1. 44, c. 45. N 2
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the Pieric valley, along the southern side of Mount Pang oeum, exactly in the line of that of Xerxes, is the most direct, it does not coincide with the Ro- man road, or Via Egnatia, which passed along the opposite base of that mountain through Philippi and Amphipolis, probably for the sake of compre- hending in the line both those important cities, the former of which was a Roman colony. Were it not certain from the Itineraries that such was the direction of the Roman road, there might be some doubt whether Neapolis, which lay on that route about 12 M. P. short of Philippi, were not at Nefteropoli ; but as there would have been in that case a needless detour of near 20 miles by an angle to the north-east, such a supposition cannot be entertained. Neapolis, therefore, or Neopolis according to its coins, occupied the site of Kavala ; and Acontisma ] which was 8 or 9 miles eastward of Neapolis, may be placed near the other end of the passes of the Sapaei 2, which were formed by the mountainous coast stretching eastward from Kavala.
There is perhaps another ancient city which some persons may be inclined to place at Orfana in pre- ference to Phagres, namely, Myrcinus of the Edoni. But to this it may be objected that the Edoni, as far back as the Persian war, were not in possession of any of the maritime country, and that if Myr- cinus had been near the sea, its name could hardly
1 Anton. It. p. 321, Hierocl. p. 731 Wessel. — Ammian. Mar- cel. 1. 27, c. 4 ; 1. 36, c. 7.
2 Appian. de B. C. 1. 4, c. 87. 105.
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have been omitted by Herodotus in his account of the march of Xerxes, or by Scylax in his Peri plus of this coast. Myrcinus therefore was in the interior, to the northward of Mount Pangwum, where the Edoni then possessed all the country as far as Dra- bescus included1, and probably it was very near the site of Amphipolis, which before the Athenian colonization was only a subordinate place called the Nine Ways in the district of Myrcinus, then the chief Greek city in this part of Thrace2. When Amphipolis rose to eminence, Myrcinus naturally declined.
Nov. 8. — This morning, at 2.40 Turkish, we return for some distance on the road to Saloniki, then leaving it to the left, arrive at 3.22 at the point mentioned on the 6th, where the surface of the ground has an artificial appearance. The intermediate space between this point and the sea consists chiefly of marshy ground and salt pans, near which latter are some magazines on the sea- beach. Turning again to the right, we follow the direct route to the bridge of the Strymon at Neok- hori, proceeding along the foot of the hills. At 3.45 Longuri is a mile and a half on the right : it is the largest of the Koniaro-makhaladhes as the Greeks call the detached quarters of Orfana ; though bearing, like Orfana, a Greek name, it is inhabited entirely by Turks, dwelling in pyrghi or towers. From hence we approach the strait where the Strymon issues from between the hills into the
1 Thucyd. 1. 1, c. 100.
2 Hcrodot. 1. 5, c. 11, 23, 126.— Thucyd. 1. 4, c. 102, 107.
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maritime plain, and at 4 mount the heights which advance from Mount Pangceum to form the strait. At 4.15, below the little Turkish village of Aly- bassa, or, as the Greeks call it, Alibassiates, the ground is covered with broken pottery and frag- ments of buildings, which mark the beginning of the site of Amphipolis. On the road side, as well as in an adjacent field, are several sori of stone, but without any inscriptions now visible on them, at least on any of those which I examined. The ground appears to be full of sepulchres. Here some remains of the walls of Amphipolis are visible on the crest of the hill to the left.
Before us, at the same time, opens a fine view of the Strymonic lake mentioned by Thucydides, and by Arrian named Cercinitis1, together with the extensive plains of Serres and Zikhna extend- ing thirty miles from west to east, along the foot of a range of lofty mountains. To the southward this great valley is inclosed by the parallel ridge of Pirnari, or Pangceum, and by the mountain of 'Orsova and Vrasta, which is separated only from Pirnari by the pass of Amphipolis, and of which we followed the southern foot from the site of Bro- miscus, along the shore of the Strymonic gulf. To the westward this great ridge is prolonged nearly to Saloniki, but at one third of the distance thither sends forth a branch of equal height to the north- west, which incloses the western side of the Stry- monic valley, — so that these extensive plains are en- tirely surrounded by mountains, with the exception
1 Artian. de exp. Alex. 1. 1, c.-ll.
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of three openings, one for the entrance of the Stry- mon near Demirissar, another for its exit at Amphi- polis, and a third for the entrance of a large branch anciently called Angitas, and now 'Anghista, which, after crossing the plain of Dhrama, the ancient Drabescus, and receiving contributions from around that town and Philippi, joins the Strymonic lake six or eight miles to the north of Amphipolis. The plain of Drabescus is concealed from Amphipolis by the meeting of the lower heights of Pangceum with those which inclose the plain to the north-east. Through this strait the 'Anghista makes its way to the lake, and thus there is a marked separation between the Strymonic plain and that which con- tains Drabescus and Philippi. The river 'Anghista has its origin in some high mountains around Nevrokopo, and after watering the valley con- taining that town, is said to have a subterraneous course for some distance before it enters the plain of Dhrama. From the sepulchres on the ridge which connects the hill of Amphipolis with Mount Pangceum there is a descent of eight minutes to Neokhorio, in Turkish Yenikiuy, a small village situated on the side of the hill of Amphipolis above the left bank of the river, not far from where it issues from the lake, and is crossed a little below that point by a wooden bridge. Above the bridge, where the lake narrows before it becomes a river, stand two towers of the middle ages, on the oppo- site sides of the water. A little below the bridge, a stream of some magnitude joins the Strymon from the westward.
The site of Amphipolis is now called Marmara,
184
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and there was formerly a village of that name1. Neokhori, as the word implies, is of recent con- struction. It is inhabited by forty Greek families, and is included in the district of Zikhna, a town situated between Dhrama and Serres, at the foot of the great mountain which borders the Strymonic plains to the northward. Neokhori seems chiefly to owe its existence to the profitable fishery of those Strymonian eels2 which were celebrated among the ancients for their size and fatness, and were con- sidered not inferior to the eels of the lake Copais. They are caught at a dam which crosses the stream half a mile below the bridge of Neokhori, and which serves as well for this purpose as for a mill-head. Were it not for this artificial impediment, the river, although rapid, would be navigable to Neokhori and into the lake. The mill belongs to the con- vent of Pandokratora on Mount Athos, but the fishery, since it has become valuable, has been claimed by the Sultan, and is now farmed by Feta Bey of Zikhna, whose deputy I find at the mill, counting the fish as they are caught. Some thou- sands of eels had just been taken, many of which
1 It appears from Cantacu- a place of some importance. — zenus thai in liis time the name 1. 1, c. 35. was Map/j.i'ipiov, and that it was
2 • aperfjc fiiya Kapra (pipovai
KiOTrdlat Kal ^rpv/j-oyiat, yLEyakai te yap iioi Kat to iraypq davfxatTTal.
Archestratus ap. Athen. 1. 7, c. 13.
. TTorafidg (avofiacrfiirog ^Tpv^wp fiEylarac ey^tXug kekti}^.evoq.
Antiphanes, ibid.
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are of enormous size. Grey mullet and other mi- gratory sea-fish are sometimes intercepted here in the same manner, but always in a small propor- tion to the eels. Possibly the Strymonic lake is too distant from the sea for the mullet. The freshness of the water can hardly be an objection, as many of the lagoons of Greece and Asia Minor most productive of mullet are of mixed water; and some, as that of Butkrotum, are quite fresh. The Bey as Mukatesi levies on the spot 20 paras for each zevgari, or pair, of large eels; and the people of Neokhori sell them either fresh or salted at 30, 40, or 50 paras a pair, according to the distance to which they are sent. The fishery is said to produce annually about 40,000 brace of large eels, besides the smaller and other fish.
The late rains have rendered the moment fa- vourable for fishing, which is an unfortunate acci- dent for me, having brought hither Feta Bey's agent to superintend the fishing, from his usual re- sidence at a village an hour distant, of which he is voivoda. He refuses a present of a pair of pistols, gives orders to prevent my visiting the summit of the hill, and issues a proclamation forbidding the people to sell me any antiquities, but is afterwards so far pacified, though still refusing any present, as to retract the latter part of the order, and to send a messenger to the Bey, who is now at Zili- akhova, a village to the eastward of Zikhna, for permission that I may view the place. My firma.hn he cannot read.
Nov. 9. — The answer of the Bey of Zikhna is unfavourable : the only reason of which appears
186
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to be the persuasion among these barbarians that the site of Amphipolis contains hidden treasures. I am obliged, therefore, to leave this interesting site with a transient view of it, and it is not with- out difficulty that I succeed in copying an inscrip- tion in the wall of a fountain in the village ; for inscriptions are supposed by Turks to inform us where to dig for treasures : I fortunately observed it yesterday evening, and had transcribed it as soon as there was light enough, this morning, just when some of the Myrmidons of the Aga, who had probably formed some suspicion of my inten- tion, arrived with the design of preventing me. It is a document of great interest, as being written in the Ionic dialect, and as containing the exact words of some of the laws of Athens as cited by the Athenian orators, both which peculiarities are referrible to the fact of Amphipolis having been an Attic colony \ The letters are small, but beauti- fully engraved, and have the form which is sup- posed to indicate a date earlier than that of Alex- ander. The record is that of a decree of perpetual
1 Mr. Boeckh (Inscr. Gr. No. 2008) is of opinion that the dialect of this inscription is not the old Attic, but that which was used in Thasus, Abdera, and the other Ionic colonies of Thrace ; and al- though it is difficult to sepa- rate the use of the Attic law terms from that of the dialect, Mr. Boeckh is perhaps as usual in the right. The sub-
divisions of the dialects were very numerous. The Ionic of Thrace, of Attica, of the Ionic Islands in the iEgsean Sea, and of Asia, probably all differed from one another, as extant in- scriptions prove, in regard to the iEolic of Thessaly, Bceotia, and Mytilene, and the Doric of Corinth, Syracuse, and Cy- rene.
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banishment from Amphipolis and its territory, enacted by the people against two of their citizens, Philo and Stratocles, and their children. If they were ever taken they were to suffer death as ene- mies. Their property was confiscated, and a tenth of it was to be applied to the sacred service of Apollo and of Strymon. Their names were to be inscribed by the Prostata? upon a pillar of stone ; and if any person should revoke the decree, or by any art or contrivance give countenance to the banished men, that man's property also was to be forfeited to the people, and he was to be banished from Amphipolis for ever. l
The following is the Greek text in ordinary Hellenic :
' ESo£sv r<«> ?r)j«w OiAwva Kai ^.TparoicXta <f>tvyuv Afi<fniro\tv Kai ttjv "vtjv Tt]v 'A/dtynraiXiTwv at«f>vyiav Kai avrovg /cat tovq iraicag Kai tjv ttov aAioKtovrai iraoyziv avrovq tjg 7ro\£/LiiovQ Kai vt]TTOivei TtOvavai' ra Se -^piif.iaT avTixiv Sri/iooia eivai, to ce STTiceKaTOv lepov rov AttoX-
1 V. Inscription, No. 125.
2 I have here supplied the third line of the inscription, NTII1THNTQNAM*, from M. Cousinery's copy ; for it is evi- dent from that copy (see V. dans le Macedoine, tome i. p. 128) compared with that which I first published in Mr. Walpole's collection, vol. ii. that I neglected to copy that line. It may seem presump- tuous after this admission to oppose my readings of some of
12
the words to M. Cousinery's, but I shall state them, in the hope that some future traveller will determine the truth. In line 7, IIEAA2, Cousinery ; IIAIAA2, Leake. In line 11, 22, XPIIMATA AYTON, C. XPIIMATAYTfliN, L. ; in line 13, IEPON, C, IPON, L. ; in line 17, STHAHN, C, E2TH- AHN, L. ; in lines 19, 20, ANA^HOISEINKATAAEXH- TAI, C, ANA¥H*IZEIHKA- TAAEXETAI, L.
188
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Xojvog km tov ^rpvfxovog' rovg Sfc Ylpoararag avaypaxpai avrovg tig orrjAlv \161vyv' kav St rig to ip^cpiaua ava- \pr)tyiCu ?j KaraSeytrai rovrovg rtyvrj r\ jUfj^nvrj r^riviovv, ra vpjjuaT aurov Srj/xocria torio, Kai avrog ^tuytrw A/n(j>i- ttoXiv ati(pvyiav .
The dialectic peculiarities on the marble are, —
^foyav for <j>tvyziv — rrjyyt^v for rr)v yvv — 'Aprf>nro\i- rewv for Af.i<f>nro\tTUJV — ati(j)vyir}V for autyvyiav — avrog Kai rog for avrovg Kai rovg — rtynrou for tav trov — avrog cue iroXe/miOQ for avrovg ojg 7ro\tfiiovq — ipov for itoov — Tog St for rovg St — avrog eg for avrovg tig — r/v St for cav St — rovrog for toutouc — OTtwiouv for rjriviovv — avro for avrov — <ptoyer(v afi^vyajv for <f>tvytrit) ati^u- •yiav.
In the first Olynthiac oration of Demosthenes, the name of Stratocles occurs as one of two depu- ties who were sent to Athens from Amphipolis to request the assistance of an armament to save the city from Philip, who took it in the same year, after having beaten down the walls with engines and entered the place through the breach, but who treated the captured city with mildness, and was satisfied with banishing those who had been
1 <f>vyi>v hk Kai pi) dt\i](xag Kplffiv vwoaytly, (bevytrb) aetcjiv- yiav. — Plato de Leg.
vqiroivil rtBvavai. — De- mosth. adv. Aristoc. — Andocid. de Myst.
'Eai/ ?)£ l,ivoq dcrrrj fyvoihcrj Ttyvr} r\ prj-^avtj ijTiviovv, ypa- <j>i(rdu) npbg rovg QtapoQirag. — Dem. adv. Neaer.
rpotro) ?/ fxi]yitvri iitwwvv. — Dem. adv. Mid.
'EmSiicaToi'. — Harpoci'at. in voce. Plutarch de decern Rhet. in Antiph. Xenoph. Hellen. 1. 1, c. 7.
7ro\epi6g karat riov ' AQr)vaio>v Kai vqwoiyl redvuro' Kai ra \(n'ipara avrov dr} poena tarto Kai rijg dtou ro ETn^iKarov. — Ando- cid. de Myst.
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opposed to him \ It is probable that the inscrip- tion refers to the latter action of the conqueror, and that the Stratocles named in it is the same who harangued the Athenian people from the bema of the Pnyx, and was evidently one of the leaders of the party opposed to Philip. It is no objection to this supposition that the name of Philip does not appear in the edict, since, accord- ing to the usual practice of Greek diplomacy, it was the act of the people, though in truth they had lost their liberty, and were never afterwards free from a garrison of Macedonians until they re- ceived one of Romans. If this conjecture be well founded, we have the exact date of this inscrip- tion, namely, 358 B. C.
The acquisition of Amphipolis by Philip was one of the most important steps in the advance- ment of Macedonian power, as it opened to him the entrance into Western Thrace, and when added to Datus, which commanded the pass next in importance to that of Amphipolis, caused the whole of that country, as far as the Nestus, to be ever afterwards annexed to the crown of Macedo- nia. Not the least important consequence of these acquisitions was that of the mines of Mount Pan- gaeum and of Crenides, which was an ancient set- tlement of the Thasii, in the district of Datus, be- tween Neapolis and Drabescus. Here the ambi- tious monarch founded a new city, which he called Philippi, and soon extracted from the adjacent mountains five times as much sold and silver as
1 tovq fxiv aWorpiuiQ irpoc ab- ce uXXoiq tyi\avBpioiru)Q npoar- rov SiaKei/jirove £(f>vyi'i(}£v(TE,Tolc r/i't^^r/. — Diodor. 1. 16, c. 8.
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[chap.
the mines had ever yielded to the Thasii or any other people who had preceded him in working them. Pangaeum produced gold as well as silver; but the principal mines of gold were near Crenides, in a hill called, according to Appian, \6(pog Aio- vvaov, or the hill of Bacchus, being probably no other than the mountain where Herodotus informs us that the Satrae possessed an oracle of Bacchus interpreted by the Bessi, and enounced by a priestess, who uttered responses not less ambigu- ous than those of Delphi. These Satrae seem to have been the original of the Satyrae, as attendants of Bacchus \
Amphipolis, as Thucydides remarks, occupied a situation conspicuous both from the sea and the interior country2. Being situated at the only con- venient passage across the maritime ridge of mountains occurring between the passes of Aulon and Neapolis, and being at a point which leads immediately into the middle of one of the richest and most extensive plains in Greece, it was na- turally the centre of many roads, whence origi- nated the name of Nine Ways, which the place bore when possessed by the Edoni before the Athenian colonization. The site is not less strong in itself than important with regard to the surrounding country. Above the bridge the lake forms a bay at the northern foot of the hill of Amphipolis, and below the bridge the river makes a half circle round the hill, which, being very precipitous on that side, is easily accessible only on the side of
1 V. Apollodor. 1. 3, c. 5. cote r»/>' ijireipov.
2 Trepupavij £f duXaatruv re c. 102.
■Thucyd. 1. 4,
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the connecting ridge by which I approached from Orfana. The annexed sketch will give some idea of the position. It appears from Thucydides that originally a wall across the ridge, resting at either extremity on the river, was the only fortifi- cation of the town, and that on the summit of the hill stood a temple of Minerva. This was the state of Amphipolis when in the tenth year of the Peloponnesian war, it was the scene of that cele- brated battle which was fatal to the commanders on both sides \
01^ rncu/azi/i/S:
Scale of Miles.
1 Thucyd, 1. 5, c. 6, et scq.
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MACEDONIA.
[chap.
Cleon was waiting at Eion for some expected reinforcements of Macedonians and Odomanti, when Brasidas posted himself with a part of his forces on Cerdylium, a mountain in the territory of Argilus, opposite to Amphipolis, from whence all the motions of Cleon could be seen. The re- mainder of the army of Brasidas was in Amphi- polis. His whole Greek force consisted of 2000 hoplitae and 300 cavalry, but with these were joined about 4000 Thracian infantry and some cavalry. Cleon was about equal in numbers, but he had greatly the advantage in choice troops, having 3000 hoplitse, with 500 cavalry. As soon as Brasidas perceived that Cleon was advancing towards Amphipolis, he descended from Cerdylium and entered the city in the hope of seizing some advantageous moment of attack before his adver- sary should be reinforced. Cleon occupied the heights in front of the walls of Amphipolis, across which led the high road : his position commanded a view of the Strymonic lake, and in one part was so high that Brasidas was visible to the Athenians as he sacrificed at the temple of Minerva. The return of Brasidas into the city, together with the sacrifice, had already persuaded Cleon that his adversary was preparing for battle, when he re- ceived a report that the feet of men and horses were visible in great numbers under the Thracian gate. As soon as he had convinced himself of this fact with his own eyes, he resolved upon an immediate retreat, for he had moved from Eion without any intention of engaging, and only be-
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cause his men murmured at his inaction, there being moreover at that time no appearance of a large force in the city.
Having ordered his troops to move off by the left towards Eion, and soon becoming impatient at their tardiness in executing the movement, he faced also the right of the army in the same direc- tion, by which he exposed their right or uncovered side to the enemy. This was the favourable mo- ment for Brasidas, who had already made his pre- parations.
Leaving instructions, therefore, with Clearidas, the second in command, to advance from the Thra- cian gate against the nearest part of the enemy's line, or that which had been their right, as soon as his own intended movement should throw the centre into confusion, he instantly issued at the first gate of the Long Wall at the head of 150 chosen men, ran with them across the space lying between the wall and the high road, and thus fell upon the Athenians as they were marching along the road. The effect of this bold and judicious plan was the flight of the enemy's left, which had become the front in column, towards Eion, as well as the separation of his forces, and finally the defeat of his right, after some resistance on the highest part of the ridge. Cleon, flying at the first attack of Clearidas, was overtaken and slain by a targeteer of Myrcinus, about the same time that Brasidas, successful in the centre, received a mortal wound, unobserved by the enemy, just as he turned from the defeated centre of the Athenians towards their right wing. He was
vol. in. o
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[chap.
carried into Amphipolis, and survived only long enough to hear of the completion of his victory. Six hundred men fell on the side of the Athenians, the remainder effected their retreat over the moun- tain to Eion. No more than seven were slain on the side of Brasidas.
I have already remarked that Cerdylium was evidently the mountain which rises from the right bank of the Strymon, immediately opposite to the hill of Amphipolis ; it is equally evident that the position of Cleon was on the opposite side of the city, on the height which connects the hill of Amphipolis with Mount Pangaeum, exactly on the pass of the Nine Ways. The Thracian gate pro- bably opened in the direction of the modern route to Dhrama, and to the places in the plain eastward of the Strymonic lake, and it stood consequently on the north-eastern side of the ancient site, just at the beginning of the descent towards the lake ; in fact, this point is exactly opposite to a rising ground on the ridge of the Nine Ways which com- mands a comprehensive view both of the lake and of the mouth of the Strymon, and forms part of an inferior summit in advance of Mount Pan- gcEum. Here it is probable that the Athenians made their stand after the flight of Cleon. The gate at which Brasidas issued having been oppo- site to the centre of the retreating Athenians, and the Thracian gate to their right, which had become their rear, the former was evidently situated to the southward of the latter, and led probably to Phagres and the Pierian valley.
It was in the middle of the winter following the
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eighth year of the war, that Brasidas had made him- self master of Amphipolis \ After having persuaded the people of Acanthus and Stageirus to desert the Athenian alliance, he marched with all the force he could collect from his allies, on a snowy night, from Bromiscus to Argilus, from whence, under the guidance of the Argilii, he proceeded before the morning to the bridge of the Strymon, which he found slightly guarded, and by taking possession of it obtained the disposal of all the property of the Amphipolitans which was not within the city. This circumstance, together with the divided sen- timents of the people of various origin who inha- bited the city, and particularly of some Argilii who were much disinclined to the Athenians, made the influential persons willing to capitulate ; to which Brasidas himself was sufficiently dis- posed, as he was aware that Thucydides, who com- manded an Athenian squadron at Thasus, pos- sessed property in the gold mines of Pangasum, which might give him considerable influence over the neighbouring people, and, if time were al- lowed, might enable him to excite a formidable opposition.
The capitulation took place accordingly ; and it was not until the evening of the same day on which it occurred that Thucydides arrived with his squadron at Eion 2. Though he thus saved that place from being taken, and deserved no rea- sonable blame for the loss of Amphipolis, he in-
1 Thucyd. 1. 4, c. 102.
2 Thucyd. 1. 4, c. 10G.
90
MACEDONIA.
CHAT.
curred the displeasure of the Athenian people to such a degree that he was banished from Athens for twenty years ' : a fortunate event for literature, as by forcing him to exchange the public service for a residence on his estate at Scaptesyle, in Mount Pangaeum 2, it afforded him ample leisure for composing that /cr^ua eg an, or everlasting legacy, which, as long as the Greek language exists, will be the delight of all readers, and a model of genuine history.
In the time of Brasidas the bridge of the Stry- mon was probably in the same situation as at present, the same causes tending in all ages to render that position the most convenient, with regard to the external communications of those dwelling on the hill of Amphipolis ; besides which, it was exactly opposite to the center of the an- cient city. Thucydides remarks that in the time of the expedition of Brasidas, the bridge was at a small distance from the city, and that there were not then, as when he wrote his history, walls extending from the city to the river 3. By this and two other references which he makes to the fortifications of Amphipolis, he indicates very intelligibly the changes which were made in the defences of the place, and the manner in which at
1 Thucyd. 1. 5. c. 26.
2 2k-a7rn$ vXr) (foss-wood). — Marcellin. in vita Thucyd. Plutarch de Exilio.
3 Kariarricrav rov arparov 7Tp6aru) em ttjv ytcpvpav rov tto-
TClflOV' UTTl^et OS TO TToXltTfJia.
irXicv rfjc Siafidcxeiog' cat ov Kadtiro rei^r], wcnrep vvi>, <j>v- Xclkt) Si rig (ipa-^tia Kadeiam)- kei. — Thucyd. I. 4, c. 103.
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length it was fortified. Agnon, the founder of the Athenian colony, seems to have been satisfied with building a wall across the isthmus of the peninsula terminating at either end in the river ', and to have left the western half-circuit of the hill to the natural protection of its precipices. The only addition that appears to have been made to this fortification during the fifteen years which elapsed between the foundation and the battle was a (TTavoio/na, or pallisading with gates behind the Long Wall, on the most accessible parts of the hill, for Thucydides relates that Brasiclas issued through a gate in a pallisading, and then through the first 2,'ate in the Lon«- Wall 2. When the Athenians re- covered Amphipolis, they very naturally set about fortifying it more technically. The Long Wall seems, from the words totz ovtoq, employed by Thucydides, to have been neglected or destroyed ; the summit of the height was entirely enclosed with walls, of which remains still exist ; and all the northern face of the hill, where stands the modern village, was probably included within a wall which ter- minated at the lake, and comprehended within it the bridge of the Strymon. The road leading from the sea coast into the plains lying eastward of the lake would thus pass under the eastern walls of the city, and that into the western plains through the fortifications and across the bridge.
anoXafiiov Tei^EL ^aKnw Ik erravpiofia TrvXag, teal rag irpio-
Trorafxov eg irorafxoi'. — Thucyd. rug rov [xaKpov rei\ovg tote
I. 4. c. 102. bvTog £s£,\0w»'. — Thucyd. I. o,
KOLl V fJlEV (w'circi Tar tTTl TO c. 10.
198
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[CHAP.
Amphipolis was probably in this state when Philip besieged and took it.
The only remains of antiquity in Neokhori be- sides the inscription at the fountain, are many scattered blocks of ancient workmanship, and some mnemata, of which one is adorned with figures in low relief, and two others have names only upon them : there is also a plain Doric triglyph between metopes, which is said to have been brought from the Bezestein, a place so called on the summit of the hill, and where are some frag- ments similar to those in the village. If the triglyph belonged to the temple of Minerva, it was probably of small dimensions.
In the afternoon of November 9, I proceed in 3 hours and 20 minutes to Takhynos l, the rain falling continually. At 6.10, Turkish time, we cross the bridge of the Strymoji, which is 300 yards long ; then leaving the lake at some distance on the right, pass over downs which are connected with the mountains on the left, pass at 7.20 through a large Greek village called Kutzos 2 ; at 8.25 leave Palutro 3 a quarter of a mile on the right, and half an hour before arriving at Takhyno turn out of the direct road to the right. Takhyno, which is in the district of Series, stands on the edge of the lake, opposite to the last falls of the northern range of mountains, upon the lower de- clivity of which is situated the town of Zikhna : there are several boats upon the lake engaged in fishing for carp, tench, and eels. A mile or two
1 Ta^vj'oc.
Kovr£oi-.
TlaXoirpof.
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199
higher up it terminates in marshy ground, through which the river flows to join it ; Thucydides has ac- curately described this lake by the words to XijuvwSec tov Srpujuovoe l, as being in fact nothing more than an enlargement of the river, varying in size ac- cording to the season of the year, but never reduced to that of the river only, according to its dimensions above and below the lake. Besides the Str priori, the Angitas contributes to the inun- dation as well as some other smaller streams from the mountains on either side. I find a civil old Aga at Takhyno, the reverse of him of Neokhori, though both are Albanians, but they take their tone from their chiefs ; so much do the traveller's success and comforts in every part of Turkey depend upon the individual character of the chief- tains whom he encounters, and upon accidental circumstances. I should have found no difficulty at Amphipolis, if I had proceeded thither from Serres with a letter from Ibrahim Bey, whose authority is not disputed either in Zikhna or Dhrama, and serves to keep in some order the savage chieftains around him, who lose no oppor- tunity of exercising the crudest oppression on their Christian fellow subjects. The kaza of Zikhna, which is here separated by the lake from that of Serres, contains 70 or 80 villages ; the largest are Ziliakhova, already mentioned, and Lukovikia on the side of Mount Pirnari, above Alibassates.
Nov. 10. — From Takhyno to Serres. Setting- out at 2.40 Turkish, we coast the marshy ground
1 Thucyd. 1. 5, c. 7.
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[chap.
at the head of the lake, then follow the right bank of the Strymon along the center of the plain, for 2\ hours, until having arrived nearly abreast of Serres we turn eastward towards the town, cross the river at 5.55, over a new w^ooden bridge a mile below a large tjiftlik of Ismail Bey, called the Adda tjiftlik, where he has lately built a Serai, and at 7 enter the gate of Serres. Our pace, though with Menzil horses, has been slow, on account of the muddy state of the roads after the late rains. The Ramazan begins this even- ing, and is introduced, as usual, with firing of musquets at sunset, followed by an illumination of all the minarets.
Nov. 11. — Serres stands in the widest part of the great Sti^ymonic plain, on the last slope of the range of mountains which bounds it to the north- east. At a distance the town has a very imposing appearance ; its whitened walls, flanked by towers at distant intervals, being not less than three miles in circumference ; but they enclose, besides the town, a large space occupied by gardens, and even by meadows, in which cattle are now grazing ; and the walls themselves are nothing better than a thin fabric of unburnt bricks. The houses are of the ordinary Turkish construction, that is to sa}', the lower part of the walls is of masonry, and the upper of wood : the streets, as usual, are crooked and ill-paved , but they have the advantage of being watered by streams originating in the ad- jacent mountain, and serving to maintain in con- stant verdure the gardens which are attached to almost every house. The population is estimated
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at 15,000 Turks, 5000 Greeks and Bulgarians, and a few families of Jews.
The surrounding plain is very fertile, and besides yielding abundant harvests of cotton, wheat, barley and maize, contains extensive pastures now peopled with oxen, horses and sheep. No part of the land is neglected, and the district, in its general ap- pearance, is not inferior to any part of Europe ; though probably neither the agricultural economy nor the condition of the people, would bear a close inspection. To the north-westward, the plain ex- tends about 4 hours to Demirissar (iron castle), which occupies a position similar to that of Serres, but nearer to the left bank of the Strymon, just where it issues from the mountains. A little above the ravines of Demirissar the Strymon receives its principal tributary, from Strumitza to the right, and a smaller contribution on the opposite bank from Meleniko, a large Greek town, 6 hours from Demirissar to the north. The sources of the river are in the highest ridges of Rhodope around Dup- nitza and Ghiustendil. To the Greeks and Bul- garians the river is known by the name of Struma, to the Turks by the very common appellation of Karasu, or Black River.
The lower Strymonic valley, which extends from Demirissar to 'Anghista and the site of Amphipolis, is the greatest of the Macedonian plains, next to that which borders the head of the lliermaic Gulf, and if we add to it the levels watered by the tribu- taries of the Strymon, anciently constituting the Angitas, the entire extent is not inferior in magni- tude and fertility to those plains of Lower Macedonia.
202
MACEDONIA.
("chap.
A large portion of that part which is in the district of Serres, is the private property of Ismail Bey and his family, one of the richest and most powerful subjects of the Sultan, if he can be called a subject who is absolute here, and obeys only such of the orders of the Porte as he thinks fit, always, however, with a great show of submission. Besides his landed property he is engaged in commerce, and derives great profits from his farm of the imperial revenues. He has been rapidly increasing in power during the last ten years, and his authority now extends northward to the borders of Sofia and Felibe \ to the westward to Istib inclusive, and to the eastward as far as Gumurdjina inclusive. His troops are now fighting with Emin Aga of Has- kiuy beyond Gumurdjina, whom he will probably soon reduce. To the southward and westward the summits of the mountains which border the plain, separate his dominions from the district of Saloniki. His forces do not amount to more than 2000 in constant pay, who are chiefly Albanians, but upon occasion he might easily raise 10,000. When he builds a new palace, or repairs a road, or builds a bridge, the villages furnish the materials and labour, so that his household and troops are his principal expences. Deficient in the extraordinary talents of Aly Pasha, he is said to be free from his cruelty, perfidy, and insatiable rapacity. Though he never conceals his contempt of Christians, and treats them with the usual harshness of the most haughty Mussulman, he is spoken of by the
1 Tpta'cUr^a or ^iXnnroTroXuj
xxv.]
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203
Christians themselves as a just, attentive governor, and whose extortions are comparatively moderate. Hence his territory presents a more prosperous appearance than any part of Aly Pasha's. The culture of cotton being very advantageous to him, he is anxious to encourage its exportation, in which he is himself engaged, and hence the Greek mer- chants of Serres, who carry on an extensive trade with Vienna, enjoy sufficient protection, though personally they are often ignominiously treated by him.
As to the rayahs in general, it is sufficient to mention one of the labours and exactions imposed upon them, to show their condition even under a governor who has the reputation of being indulgent. Every village is bound to deliver the Bey's tithe of the cotton in a state fit for immediate exportation, that is to say, cleared of the seeds and husks, instead of supplying it as it comes from the field ; and even to make good the loss of weight caused by the abstraction of the seeds, by the addition of an equal weight of cleared cotton. The Turks justify this oppression, by alleging that it is customary in all cotton districts ; the only kind of answer they ever deign to give, when they are the strongest.
The Bey has four sons, of whom the eldest, Yussuf, carries on all the active business of the government \ while his father enjoys a rather in- dolent retirement at the Adda tjiftiik. The Greek
1 This is the same Yussuf Pasha who distinguished him- self in the Greek insurrection as Governor of 'Epakto, and
afterwards surrendered Varna, in the year 1828, to the Rus- sians.
204
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
community is governed with very little interference from the Bey, by the Greek metropolitan bishop, and the archons, of whom the chief is a Greek merchant, Matako Dhimitriu, whose brother is established at Saloniki. Another merchant, named Sponty, who acts as consul for several nations, is of a French family long settled in Candia, and here I again meet a Dr. P. of Ioannina, who after having served for some time as surgeon in the French army of Italy under Bonaparte, narrowly escaped being put to death by Aly at Prevyza on his return : he attended Vely Pasha in the siege of Suli, and was eye-witness to the heroism of the woman Kha'idho, and eight Suliotes, who came disguised into the middle of the Albanian camp in the night, and when discovered the next morning, retreated with such bravery and conduct as to kill or wound 20 Albanians in the retreat, without receiving a hurt.
The bishop is denominated o Sepjowv, and the modern name Serres is the Romaic third case of the same word1 ; but though Serrae was already the form about the fifth century, as appears from Hierocles, Sirrha or Sirrhai was the more ancient orthography, and that which obtained at least until the division of the empire, as we learn from an inscription now placed at the door of the metro- politan church, where it is said to have been found. It is a memorial in honour of one Tiberius Claudius Diogenes, of the Roman tribe Quirina. The forms of some of the letters, and the siglae by
trraiQ Zappait;.
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205
which they are combined, are not unfrequent in Macedonian inscriptions of the Roman empire1.
The only other vestige I can find of the ancient Sirrhse is on the highest ground within the modern walls, where is a piece of Hellenic wall faced with large quadrangular blocks, but composed within of small stones and mortar, forming a mass of ex- treme solidity. It now serves for the substruction of the Bash Kule, or principal tower of the mo- dern inclosure, half the height of which is of an intermediate date, between the Hellenic and the recent Turkish. Similar ruined walls of that middle period are to be seen in many parts of the north-eastern quarter of the city. They resemble in construction, and are supposed to be of the same origin, as two ruined fortresses which de- fended the two passes leading to the valley of Nevrokopo from Serres and from Drama, and which are attributed to the Servian kings, whose
1 Ot viol apx.upia ical ayw- voOt.rrjv rov koivov Mawcofwi', dpyiEpia $e Kai dywvoOerrji' kci\ rijg 'AfJ.(f>nro\eiTU>v ttoXewc;, Tpw- tov he dyu)roBiTr]i' rijg Sippcdiov ttoXewq, oIq ek tiov ihiwv yvfiva- (xiap^oy, Tt. KXavSiov, Aioyi- vovq v'ibv, Kvp/va, AioyeVjj, dpErije evekev, lirifX(.\i]QivTOQ KaaardvSpov rov Y^aaaav^pov . — Vide Inscription, No. 126.
Since my visit to Serres, another inscription has been found near the metropolitan church, in honour of the son of the above-mentioned Diogenes.
The following is the copy of it, from the fac-simile of M. Cou- sinery.
'H ttoXiq rov dp\iepea Kat dyioi'odirrjv rwv ^tj3acrwy, Tt- [ispiov KXavdiov <$>Xaoviav6i> Avert'uaxoJ', viovTiflrjpiov KXaw- dlov Aioyevovg, dp^iepewg rov koivov MaK^ocwc, tov ev ndaiv evepyirrjv, evvolag evekev ttjq
tig EUVTtJV KoX TtJQ dlTjVEKOVQ (pi-
XoSotyag, Sih ETTifiEXrjTUJv Awa-
KOVplSoV TOV TioaElhlTTTTOV, ITe-
\o7toq Etdi^wpov, JLlaiZwpov Ov- aXEpiavov.
206
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
dominions comprehended Serres. Two hours to the north eastward of the city, on the mountain behind it, stands the large monastery of St. Prodro- raus, which is known to have been founded by Stephen king of Servia, and his brother-in-law John Palaeologus, in the middle of the fourteenth century.
The hill of the Bash-kule is protected, towards the mountains, by a torrent flowing in a broad bed, and winding so as to encircle one-third of the town. The elevated situation of this quarter, the Hellenic and Servian remains, and the position of the metropolitan church in the midst of it, show that it was the site of Sirrhae both in ancient and middle ages. It is now the Varusi, or part inhabited by the Christians and Jews, the Turks dwelling in the lower or exterior part ; towards the western extremity of the latter quarter stands the palace of Ismail Bey, which, though extensive and splendid, is not above one-third of the size of Aly Pasha's. From the remains of the Servian walls, it seems evident that the city never covered so much ground as it does at present, and seldom or ever perhaps was so populous, having for many years been the centre of a considerable overland commerce, which, though it has been subject to some interruptions from the wrars of the Porte with Pasvant Oglu and with the Servians, has been benefited by the great European contest, in consequence of the injury which the commerce of Saloniki and of many other maritime emporia has suffered from that cause. Serres is not only the market at which the people of the surrounding country
XXV.]
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exchange their agricultural produce for manufac- tures both foreign and domestic, but that to which the natives of a great part of European Turkey resort to obtain raw cotton, for internal consump- tion, as well as for the manufacture of yarn, which they sell in Hungary and Poland. In favourable years, the Frank and Greek merchants settled here send not less than 30 or 40,000 bales of cotton to Germany by the caravans, and in return supply the Turks with cloths, stuffs, and other European manufactures, but cloth and raw cotton are the basis of the trade.
The principal roads leading from Serres, besides that of Orfana, by which I came, are, 1. To Kavala, by Zikhna and Dhrama. 2. To Nevro- kopo, directly across the great range of the moun- tains, which extend northward from Serres to Meleniko and Nevrokopo, and eastward towards Dhrama ; the circuitous route to Nevrokopo, how- ever, is often preferred, especially in the winter, passing through Zikhna, and falling into the route from Dhrama to Nevrokopo. 3. The northern road. This leads to Demirissar along the foot of the mountain of Serres, and near Demirissar enters the derveni, through which that river issues from the mountains. Beyond the pass, the road branches to Meleniko to the right, and to Strumitza to the left. 4. To Doghiran ; this road crosses the mountain which rises from the western side of the plain of Serres, by a pass which is seen from the city, bearing by compass N. 63 W. 5, 6. There are two routes to Saloniki, the more direct crossing the range of mountains
12
208
MACEDONIA.
[CHAP. XXV.
on the south-western side of the plain, by a village called Lakhana, and from thence descending into the vale of Langaza. The other, more easterly, traverses a continuation of the same range of mountains, and joins the great route from Con- stantinople at Klisali, to the eastward of Lan- gaza.
CHAPTER XXVI.
MACEDONIA.
Ancient Geography of the Slrymonic Plain and surrounding Mountains — Battle of Philippi — Nigrita — Sokho — Klisali — Lakes — Langaza — Khaivat — Saioniki — Antiquities, Popula- tion, &c.
Although Stephanus distinguishes the Siris which gave name to the Siro-pseones, from Sirrha, they were assuredly one and the same place, for that the Siro-pseones inhabited the banks of the Stry- mon is clear from Herodotus1, and that they did not dwell above the derveni of Demirissar may also be inferred from the historian, when he states, that Xerxes left a part of his sick at Siris in his retreat to the Hellespont2 ; for it is not conceivable that a place could have been chosen for that pur- pose, so far and inconveniently removed from the direct route of the army, as any position above the Straits of Demirissar would have been. The same inference may be drawn from Livy, who relates that P. iEmilius Paullus, after his victory at Pydna, received at Sirse a deputation from Per- seus who had retired to Samothrace3. As Sirae is
' Herodot. 1. 5, c. 13, 15, 98. 2 L. 8, c. 115.
3 Liv. 1. 45, c. 4. VOL. III. P
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[chap.
here described by Livy as a city of the Odoman- tice, it seems evident that the Odomanti bordered on the Siro-Pseones, and that in the reign of Perseus they were in possession of this city \ The Odomanti, therefore, probably occupied the great mountain which extends along the north- eastern side of the lower Strymonic plain from about Meleniko and Demirissar nearly to Pangceum, their vicinity to which latter mountain is rendered probable by their having been one of the three tribes who worked its mines, the two others hav- ing been the Pieres and Satrse 2, the former of whom dwelt on the southern side of the moun- tain, the latter to the eastward of it. It was very natural that Megabyzus should have subdued the Siropseones, who possessed the most fertile and exposed part of the Strymonic plain, while the Odomanti, who were secure in a higher situation, and still more the Agrianes, who dwelt at the sources of the Strymon, were able to avoid or resist him, as well as the Doberes, and the other Paeones of Mount Pangseum, and the amphibious inhabitants of the lake Prasias 3.
From the same authority we may be justified in concluding, that the lake Prasias was the same afterwards called Circinitis, or the Strymonic lake, though it be contrary to the opinion of D'Anville, who identified the Prasias with the Bolbe, now the
1 Ptolemy (1. 3, c. 13.) places Scotussa, which was at no great distance from Serres to the southward, in the Odomantice.
2 Herodot. 1. 7, c. 112.
3 L. 5, c. 16.
XXVI.]
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lake of Besikia, chiefly perhaps because Herodotus describes the lake Prasias as confining on certain mines, which afterwards produced to Alexander I. a talent a day l, and which were separated only from Macedonia by Mount Dysorum ; whence D'Anville, who must have known from the travels of Belon of the existence of the mines of Sidherokapsa, may have supposed those to have been the mines in question, and consequently that the neighbouring lake was the Bolbe. But on comparing Herodotus with Arrian, it is impossible to accede to this opinion. The former relates that the inhabitants of the lake Prasias procured the piles and planks with which they constructed their dwellings in the lake, from Mount Orbelus, whence it may be presumed that the lake was contiguous to Orbelus, and Arrian clearly shews Orbelus to have been the great mountain which, beginning at the Strymonic plain and lake, extends towards the sources of the Strymon, where it unites with the summit called Scomius, in which the river had its origin 2, for in describing the ex- pedition of Alexander the Great against the Triballi, Arrian remarks that Alexander in marching from Amphipolis to the Nestus, had Philippi and Mount Orbelus on his left3. Indeed, a comparison alone of the passage of Herodotus, in which he mentions the extent of the conquests of Megabyzus with that
1 Consistently with this re- mark of Herodotus, we find that the tetradrachms of Alexander I. are some of the earliest coins, of that size, in the Macedonian series.
2 Thucyd. 1. 2, c. 96. — Aristot. Meteor. 1. 1, c. 13.
:! Arrian. De Exp. Alex. 1 1, c. 1.
p 2
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[chap.
in which he describes the march of Xerxes through Pieria and Paeonia, seems to leave no doubt as to the Prasias ; for in the latter he states that the Doberes and Paeoplae inhabited the country north- ward of Mount Pangaeum !, these being precisely the tribes whom he had before associated with the inhabitants of the lake Prasias. In reference to the former passage it may incidentally be remarked, that as the people who were able to resist Mega- byzus were the mountaineers and the dwellers on the lake, the Paeoplae like the Siropaeones, probably occupied some portion of the plain which was not exactly on the banks of the lake. The Doberes seem to have shared Mount Pangaeum with the Paeonians and Pieres, and dwelt probably on the northern side of it, where in the time of the Roman Empire there was a mutatio, or place for changing horses, called Domeros, between Amphipolis and Philippi, 13 M.P. from the former, and 19 M.P. from the latter2. As to Mount Dysorum, if we sup- pose Herodotus to have referred not so much to the Macedonia of the reign of Amyntas, when Mega- byzus invaded Paeonia, as to the extent of the kingdom in the time of his grandson Perdiccas, which was that of the historian himself, when Mygdonia, Bisaltia, Anthem us and Crestonia had been added to the kingdom 3 : it then becomes credible, that Alexander the First wrought some mines in the Bisaltic mountain which is separated only from Mount Pangaeum by the pass of Am- phipolis, and that the further continuation of that
1 Herodot. 1. 7, c. 113. 2 Itin. Hierosol. p. 604. Wess. 3 Thucyd. 1. 2, c. 99.
XXVI. j
MACEDONIA.
213
mountain towards the modern Sokho, may have been the ancient Dysorum. That the Bisaltse, before they were annexed to the kingdom of Ma- cedonia, possessed silver mines, may be strongly presumed from the tetradrachm with the legend B12AATIK0N '.
1 V. Hunter, Tab. 13. IV. To the same cause may be at- tributed the existence of the coins of Ossa, an otherwise ob- scure town of Bisaltia(Ptolemy, 1. 3, c 13.) at a time when the royal coinage was very insig- nificant. When the kings had made themselves masters of Bi- saltia and the other argenti- ferous districts, the silver coin- age still bore a great resem- blance to the autonomous money, though it was naturally inscribed only with the name of the monarch. At the time when the Bisaltic coins were struck, the mines of Pangaeum were chiefly in the hands of the Thasii, who had also silver mines of their own, and hence the beauty and abundance of the early money of Thasus. The other people who, accord- ing to Herodotus, worked the mines of Pangasum, were the Pieres and Odomanti, but par- ticularly the Satrae, who bor- dered on the mountain. None of their money has reached us, but to the Pangaean silver mines we may trace a large coin of Gcta, king of the Edoni,
lately published by Mr. Mil- lingen, the characters on which perfectly agree with the time when the Edoni possessed Drabescus and the Nine Ways, and had therefore the power of working some of the mines. It is to some unknown places or people in the same argentiferous districts, that we may attribute a class of coins inscribed 0PPH2- KION or iiPIISKmN, and TE- TAION not AETAIflN, as has been supposed by a mistake of the ancient form of the Gamma for a A, which would refer these coins to Lete of Mygdonia. The resemblance of the more ancient coins of the Orcscii to those of Geta, king of the Edoni is very remarkable. The smaller and more modern, inscribed iiPHSKTltiN, have the same type as those of the TETAION, namely, a satyr carrying off a nymph. They seem therefore all to belong to Edonis or its vicinity ; the Satyrs were the Satra; and refer to the worship of Bacchus in ths mountains Pan- gaeum and Orbelus. (Hcrodot. 1. 7, c 111, v. 970.— Eurip. in
•214
MACEDONIA.
[CHAP.
Being here so near the interesting scene of cne of the most importnt amilitary occurrences in his- tory, where two hundred thousand Roman infantry and thirty-three thousand cavalry were encamped, and twice in the course of a few days engaged in general combat !, I cannot avoid making a few remarks on the topography of that event, more with a view to the convenience of future travellers than with the hope of throwing much light upon the historians, as I have never visited Philippi myself. But the general features of the country are not unknown to me, and the site of Philippi is perfectly ascertained by considerable remains of antiquity in the situation indicated by the Itinera- ries, and which are known by the Greeks to be those of Philippi ; by the Turks the place is called Felibedjik2.
Rhes. et Hecub. v. 1267.— Pomp. Mela, 1. 2, c. 2,) concern- ing which Apollodorus (1. 3, c. 5.) has left us some traditions, showing the connexion between the kings of the Edoni and the fables of Bacchus and the Sa- tyrs. The Orescii probably in- habited the mountains above Drabescus, in which was the oracle of Bacchus, one of whose epithets was opiaKioq. --(Anthol. vol. iii. p. 217, Jac.) It is remarkable, with a general re- ference to the silver coins of Ma- cedonia and Thrace, how large a portion of them belonged to places in the vicinity of silver mines. To those just men-
tioned, may be added the coins of Acanthus, Neapolis, Tra- gilus, Ossa, Bisaltia, Philippi, and those inscribed Maw^cwv irpu)Tr)Q, which were struck at Amphipolis after the Roman conquest. In like manner, we trace the gold coins of Philip to his extensive ela- boration of the mines of Cre- nides.
1 Appian de B. C. 1. 4, c. 101, et seq. Dion. Cass. 1. 47, c. 1, et seq. Plutarch, in Brut.
2 Filippopoli, which takes its name from the same king of Macedonia as Philippi, is named Felibe by the Turks,
XXVI.]
MACEDONIA.
•215
When the army of Cassius and Brutus was advancing from Asia along maritime Thrace, and their fleet had occupied several positions on that coast, Norbanus, who was in possession of the two principal passes, called the Stena of the Corpili and the Stena of the Sapan, thought it prudent to abandon the former for the better defence of the latter. The Corpili occupied the country near iEnus l, whence it is evident their passes were those of the mountains terminating in the promon- tory Serrium 2, and lying between the valley of the Hebrus and the maritime plains, in which the chief city was Abdera. Into the latter plains Cas- sius and Brutus led their army after having tra- versed iEnus, Doriscus, and the abandoned Stena of the Corpili ; but they found themselves at a loss to proceed farther, because the Sapaean passes which separated the plains of Abdera and of the river Nestus from those of Philippi and the Strymon were still in the hands of the enemy. In this emergency, by the advice of the Thracian prince lihescuporis, a road was made, not without great labour, through some woody mountains which are interposed between the maritime plains and the valley of the Harpessus, a branch of the Hebrus : a three days' march then conducted the Cassian army to the Harpessus, from whence there was only a single days march to Philippi.
Felibedjik therefore is little Philippopoli.
1 Stephan. in KopKiXol. Solin. c. 10.
2 Herodot. 1. 7,c. 59. Ap- pian. de B. C. 1. 4. c. 101, 102.
216
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
The Harpessus can be no other than the branch of the Maritza, or Hebras, which flows through the valley of Arda. If then we suppose the camp of Cassius to have been near the modern Gumerd- jina, which is about the centre of the maritime plains lying between the passes of the Corpili and those of the Sapmi, it would seem that the road to the Harpessus followed for a considerable dis- tance the valley of the Kurutjai, which from Herodotus seems to have been anciently called Travus x. From the valley of the Harpessus to Philippi, the route of Cassius was nearly in the modern track from Adrianople to Serres, which from the sources of the Arda crosses the valley of the Nestus and enters the plain of Philippi at Dhrama. When Philippi was the chief city in the plain, the road led probably more directly upon that point.
Appian thus describes Philippi and the position on which Cassius and Brutus encamped. The city, he says, was called Datus before the time of Philip, and still earlier Crenides, from numerous sources around the site, which formed a river and a marsh. It was situated on a steep hill, bordered to the northward by the forests through which the Cassian army approached, — to the south, by a marsh, beyond which was the sea, — to the east by the passes of the Sapaei and Corpili, and to the west by the great plains of Myrcinus. Dra- bescus, and the Strymon, which were 350 stades in length. Not far from the hill of Philippi was
1 Tpavotj. — Herodot. 1. 7, c. 109.
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that of Bacchus, which contained the gold mines called Asyla, and eighteen stades from the town were two other heights eight stades asunder, on the northern of which Brutus placed his camp, and on the southern Cassius : that of Brutus was protected on the right by rocky hills, and the left of the camp of Cassius by a marsh. The river Gangas, or Gangites, flowed along the front, and the sea was in the rear. The camps of the two leaders, although separate, were inclosed within a common entrenchment, and midway between them was the pass which led like a gate from Europe into Asia l. The triremes were at Neapolis, seventy stades distant, and the magazines of provisions in the island of Thasus distant 100 stades.
Dio adds, that Philippi stood near Pangaeum and Symbolum, and that Symbolum, which was between Philippi and Neapolis, was so called because it connected Pangaeum with another mountain which stretched inland 2, by which description Symbolum is very clearly identified with the ridge which stretches from Pravista to Kavala, separating the bay of Kavala from the plain of Philippi. The Pylae, therefore, could
1 TO Zt [AE(TOV TWV XotytJV, TO.
oktw crradta, diodog 7]v eg t))v 'Aaiav re Kal Evpw7rr7j/ ko.6- tnrep TrvXai. — Appian de B. C. 1. 4, c. 106.
2 &<rrv tovto (sc. Philippi) wapd Tt T<j> Ylayyaiy Kal rw "Sv fi ftoXat ivfirai* HvftfioXov yap to -^iopior 6)Ofxa(ovoi, Kad' o to
OpOQ EKelvO tTEptf) TLVl ££ fXECTO'
yeiav avareirovTi crvfifyaXXei, Kal 'i(TTL fiera^v Nf'ae TroXetJe Kal <i>iXi7nr(!Jv' »/ pev yap irpog QaXaaar] Kal dvTiiripag Qaaov i)v' >/ he ei'Tog twv opwv eirl rw Trehio) Tvt-KoXujTai, — Dion. Cass. 1. 47, c 35.
218
MACEDONIA.
[chip.
have been no other than the pass over that moun- tain behind Kavala, which being the commence- ment of the Sapcsan straits, extending eastward from thence about twenty miles along the abrupt maritime termination of the mountain as far as the valley of the Nestus, was in this sense a gate in the great route of communication between Europe and Asia. Norbanus, on hearing of the movemen* of the enemy upon Philippi, first evacuated that post, and soon afterwards Symbolum, from whence he retired to Amphipolis. By the possession of Sym- bolum the Cassians secured a ready communica- tion with the sea, and at the same time obtained security for their foraging decursions in the plains l.
Antony, having arrived at Amphipolis, pro- ceeded immediately to encamp in the plain at a distance of only eight stades from the enemy 2, where he fortified his camp with entrenchments and redoubts, and excavated wells which in that marshy plain produced an abundance of water. His own position was on the right, opposite to that of Cassius. Octavianus Caesar was opposed to Brutus on the left. On each side there were nine- teen legions : those of Antony were more com- plete ; but in cavalry he was inferior by 7000. His design was to intercept the enemy's commu- nication with Neapolis and Thasus, by a move-
1 tci E-!riTi)hta ravrt] re St 2 This remark of Appian
eXciTToroc: U rfjQ 6a\aaar]q tV//- hardly agrees with that of Dio,
yovTo, kcll Ik tov ntliov Kara- that the hostile camps were
Biovrts iXafiflavov. — c. 36. very distant from one another.
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219
ment in the rear of Cassius ; and in order to facili- tate this enterprise, he consumed ten days in con- structing a causeway across the marsh which separated him from the camp of Cassius. He proceeded with such caution, that the work was considerably advanced towards completion when it was first perceived by Cassius, who could then only erect countervallations to impede the enemy's progress when he should have crossed the marsh. An attempt upon these works of Cassius by An- tony brought on a general action, in which the troops of Brutus defeated those of Caesar opposed to them, and entered his camp, while Antony forced the works of Cassius near the marsh, routed his legions, and took possession of his camp. Cassius retired to the heights of Philippi !, to obtain a view of the combat, and there put an end to his life. The loss of the Cassians was 8000, that of Caesar and Antony twice as many.
Antony was now distressed for provisions and apprehensive of being left totally destitute in con- sequence of the superiority of his adversaries at sea, which had been increased by the loss of a Caesarian convoy in the Ionian sea under Domi- tius Calvinus. He therefore led forth his army every day, with the hope of bringing on a second and more decisive battle ; but Brutus being too cautious to afford him this advantage, he pursued his original object of intercepting his adversary's supplies, and with this view occupied with four
1 iq ruv *l>i\iTnrioi> \6fov. — Appian, c. 113. Plutarch, in Brut.
12
220
MACEDONIA.
[chap
legions a height which had been a part of the position of Cassius, but which Brutus had aban- doned. From thence he advanced ten more le- gions five stades towards the sea, and four stades farther two others. Brutus opposed him by simi- lar movements, as well as by constructing re- doubts, and it was not until after repeated insults, both by words and by throwing writings into the camp of Brutus, that the legions of the latter losing all patience, obliged their commander, very much against his inclination, to meet the enemy in the plain. It was the ninth hour of the day when the meeting took place ; the shock was ter- rible l, and the conflict obstinate ; but at length the Caesarians, who were superior in numbers, who knew that they were in imminent danger of starvation, and who were conscious that they had gained an advantage in inducing the enemy to give up his advantage of position, turned him to flight, and seizing the gate of the camp, as they had been directed in the previous harangues of Octavianus and Antony, prevented the enemy from returning to the heights, and thus obliged the fugitives to gain the sea by other routes, or to betake themselves to the mountains by the valley of the river Zygactes.
It seldom happens that the detailed narrative of an ancient author is found in every respect to correspond to the actual topography ; this may in some cases arise from those physical changes which are in constant operation, but is more gene-
1 t(puBo£ i)\> aofiapd rt Kai uVqj'j/e. — c. 128.
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221
rally to be attributed to the author's personal want of knowledge of the scene of action, and his mis- apprehension of the information of others. Future travellers may perhaps be able to explain the causes of the discrepancy which occurs in the pre- sent instance, on comparing the history with the scene of action, and to which I shall presently ad- vert. If, however, the opinion be admitted, that the pass leading over the mountain from the plain of Philippi to Kavala was the Pylce, which separated the camp of Brutus from that of Cassius, the topography will be found in perfect agreement with the narrative. The camp of Brutus, in that case, extended to the right of the entrance of the pass towards Philippi, that of Cassius to the left of it towards Pravista. The river Gangas, which rises at and around Philippi flows nearly parallel to the position in front ; and northward of Pravista there is a lake or inundation corresponding to that which lay between the camps of Cassius and Antony in the first position. Here alone, in the season when the battle was fought1, a marsh is likely to have existed, such as Appian describes.
The movement of Antony, which had been his design from the beginning, had the advantage of being on that flank of the enemy which was nearest his own post of Amphipolis, and it became more easy of execution when he had obtained possession of the heights near Pravista, after the death of Cassius. As in endeavouring to effect this object, a part of his legions had advanced
1 The autumn of 42, b. c.
222
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
nine stades nearer to the sea, his position seems then to have been about Pravista, from thence ex- tending towards Kavala ; a great part if not all the forces of Brutus were at the same time upon the heights, but when he was induced by the impor- tunity of his followers to risk a general action, both parties descended again into the plain.
The difficulty is, that Appian in stating that the camps of Brutus and Cassius were distant 18 stades from Philippi, and 70 from Neapolis, shews that the position was much nearer to Philippi than to Kavala, which does not accord with the pass over the mountain of Kavala. It would seem, therefore, either that the numbers expressing the distances have been reversed in the text of Appian, for in that case they would represent the two in- tervals with sufficient correctness, or that there was a movement, which Appian has omitted to notice, from the first encampment of Brutus and Cassius into the position which they occupied previously to the first battle. The latter supposition is coun- tenanced by Dio, who states that by the acquisition of Symbolum the Cassian army were better en- abled to protect its foraging parties in the plain, and that they obtained thereby a safe communi- cation with Neapolis, whence it would seem that they had not possessed those advantages when they were nearer to Philippi. In fact the pass of Ka- vala could alone have secured to them a passage to the sea free from hostile interruption ; and it seems evident, that wherever Brutus and Cassius may have encamped on their first arrival at Phi- lippi, their position immediately before the first
XXVI.]
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•223
battle extended from that pass as a centre, and occupied all the heights from near Philippi as far as Pravista. We are the more justified in suspect- ing some inaccuracy in Appian, as he evidently had not a correct knowledge of the country ; he supposed the marshes in the plain of Philippi to have extended, if not to the sea, at least to no great distance from it ' ; and he seems, therefore, not to have been aware that the plain is entirely separated from the sea by a range of hills, and in no part approaches the coast within several miles. In another error his text only may, perhaps, be to blame ; he represents the distance between the camp of Antony and Amphipolis to have been 350 stades, whereas that was the entire length of the lower Strymonic plain, as indeed he had before correctly stated. Dio also, although generally well informed, makes on this occasion an observa- tion which is at least inaccurate. He says, that while Norbanus and Saxa were intent on occu- pying the shortest route over the Sapaean moun- tains, their opponents took the circuit by Crenides, and so arrived at Philippi, as if Crenides and Philippi were not one and the same place, as we are assured by Appian, and several other autho- rities 2.
It is not so easy, however, to admit with Ap- pian, that it was the same place also as Datus. The "good things" which made Datus the subject
1 wpdc ri] nioiinfipiq. (rwv in Kprjvideg et ^IXnnroi. — <&t\tTnru)v) ekog earl rat da- Strabo (Epit. 1. 7), p. 331. — Xaoaa fitr avro. — c. 105. Diodor. 1. 16, c. 3.
2 Artemidorus, ap. Stephan.
224
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
of a proverb ! could not have been complete if it had not been a sea-port, as Strabo intimates Datus to have been 2 ; whence I am inclined to believe that Datus was the same place as Neapolis. Scy- lax indeed distinguishes them, but as he adds that Datus was an Athenian colony, which could not have been true of the original Datus, a place much more ancient than the earliest settle- ments of the Athenians in Thrace, his text per- haps is corrupt in this place, as in so many others, and his real meaning may have been, that Neapolis was a colony which the Athenians had established at Datus. Zenobius and Eusta- thius both assert that Datus was a colony of Thasus 3, which is highly probable, as the Thasii had several colonies on the coast opposite to their island, whereas there is every reason to be- lieve that the Athenians had no footing in Thrace until after the reduction of Thasus, which did not occur till the year b. c. 463, nor any permanent establishment until the foundation of Amphipolis by Agnon, 26 years afterwards, their previous attempts having been unsuccessful 4. If Neapolis was a colony of Athens, as its coins render cre- dible, it was probably of a still later date. It may be thought, perhaps, that JEsyme, having
1 Strabo (Epit. 1. 7), p. 331. Harpocrat. in voce. — Zenob. Prov. Graec. Cent. in. 71.
2 dpiarrfv iyei -^pav kclI ivKapirov Kal vavntiyta ical XPV" aov fxtTaXka, d<f ov Kal irnpoi- fita Au'roc dyad&v.
3 Zenob. ubi sup. — Eustatb. in Dionys. Perieg. v. 517-
4 Herodot. 1. 9, c. 75.— Thucyd. 1. 1, c. 100. 1. 4. c. 102. — Diodor. 1. 11, c. 70; 1. 1 2, c. 32. 08.— Pausan. Attic, c. 29.
XXVI.]
MACEDONIA.
225
been one of the Thasian colonies, and of such antiquity as to be mentioned by Homer !, is more likely than Datus to have occupied the po- sition in which the colony of Neapolis was after- wards settled, but JEsyme still existed under that name in the eighth year of the Peloponnesian war, when, together with Galepsus, it surrendered to Brasidas2. It was afterwards called Emathia, as we learn from Stephanus, and Livy mentions it under that name, as having, with Amphipolis and other towns of the Thracian coast, shut its gates against the Romans under the consul Hostilius in the Persic war, b. c. 170 3.
As Gangas, or Gangites, or (according to the text of Herodotus) Angitas, was the name attached to the river which rises at Philippi, it follows that the branch from Nevrokopo was the Zygactes, which agrees perfectly with the circumstance re- lated by Appian, that many of the defeated fol- lowers of Brutus retreated to the mountains by the valley of the Zygactes. It was in fact the only route towards the interior open to them. Although this stream is much longer if not larger than the Angitas, Herodotus shows that the united river took its name from the branch of Philippi.
Nov. 12. — Recrossing in an hour from Serres the bridge of the Karasti, we arrive in 2 hours more at Nigrita ; the road throughout traverses a rich plain, covered with corn or cotton fields, and en- livened by numerous cattle, farms, and small vil- lages. Tobacco is not grown in this part of the
3 Liv. 1. 43, c. 7.
4 II. 9. v. 304. 2 Thucyd. 1. 4, c. 107. VOL. III.
Q
226
MACEDONIA.
TCHAP.
Strymonic plain, but Dhrama produces a consi- derable quantity of it. Nigrita is a large Greek village, situated immediately opposite to Serres to the S.W. on the downs which form the last slope of the parallel range of mountains. It is divided only by a space of a few hundred yards from another village of the same description, named Serpa or Tjerpa. A mile farther westward, is a third collection of houses, inhabited chiefly by Turks, and named Tjerpista l. An hour and a half to the eastward of Nigrita, and similarly si- tuated at the foot of the mountain, stands Zervo- khori, a small village where the peasants find, in ploughing the ground, great numbers of ancient coins. Those found near Nigrita are almost equally numerous, and it seems evident that both these places were ancient sites. Of those which are brought to me by the people of Nigrita for sale, the greater number by far, like those I procured at Serres, are Macedonian, and of all dates, from Philip, father of Alexander, to a late period of the Greek Empire. Those earlier than Philip are extremely rare.
It is remarkable, that the termination of the word Tjerpista, like that of Pravista and 'Anghista, re- sembles one of those which the ancient Macedonians particularly affected 2. Zervokhori I take to be the site of Heracleia Sintica, for the following reasons : 1. Heracleia was near the Strymon, having been distinguished from other towns of the same name,
1 T£efj7ri<7ra. mination <tkoq was another tvwoq
3 Stephan. in Aloi>. — theter- of Macedonia and Thrace.
XXVI.]
MACEDONIA.
227
as Heracleia of the Strymon \ 2. The Sintice was to the right of the Strymon, for Livy informs us that when Macedonia was divided into four provinces at the Roman conquest, Sintice was asso- ciated with Bisaltia in the first Macedonia, of which the capital was Amphipolis, while all the remain- ing parts of the country between the Strymon and Axius, were attributed to the second Macedonia, of which the capital was Thessalonica2. 3. The position of Zervokhori agrees with that which the Tabular Itinerary ascribes to Heracleia relatively to Philippi, as indicated on two different Roman roads from the one city to the other ; one measuring 55 M.P. the other 52 M.P. and both sufficiently corresponding to the 37 G.M. of direct distance be- tween the site of Philippi and Zervokhori. There can be little doubt that one of these roads passed round the northern, the other round the southern side of the lake. On the former, the names and distances are Philippi, 12 M.P. Drabescus, 8 M.P. Strymon, 13 M.P. Sarxa, 18 M.P. Scotussa, 4 M.P. Heracleia, — total, 55 M.P. ; where Strymon corresponds exactly to the crossing of the river of Nevrokopo, which D'Anville, influenced perhaps by this authority, although directly opposed to that of Herodotus, supposed to be the real Strymon. Sarxa answers equally well to Zikhna 3, and Sco- tussa to the place where the Strymon was crossed just above the lake. The southern road was as
1 'Hpa'/cXfta Zrpvpovog. Hie- rocl. p. 639. Wess.
3 Liv. 1. 45, c. 29.— Diodor. Fragm. 27.
3 The true ancient name perhaps more nearly resembled Zikhna.
Q 2
228
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
follows : Philippi, 10 M.P. Triulo, 17 M.P. Graero, 8 M.P. Euporia, 17 M.P. Heracleia,— total, 52 M.P. Here the distance of Euporia from Heracleia combined with the name, seems to indicate that it stood at a ferry across the lake, perhaps at the spot where the lake first begins to narrow, 3 or 4 miles to the north-westward of Amphipolis, but more probably on the western side of the lake, because Euporia is named by Ptolemy among the towns of Bisaltia, together with Ossa and Argilus, whence it may be farther conjectured that the river which I before noticed as joining the Strymon a little below the bridge of Neokhorio or Amphipolis, is the ancient Bisaltes \
In reference to the place, which the Itinerary in- dicates by the evidently corrupted name Triulo, it is a remark of M. Cousinery, who resided many years as French consul at Saloniki, that coins with the inscription TPAIAION are not unfrequently found near Amphipolis 2, whence the conjecture may be admitted, that Triulo is a corruption of Trselio. The real name, however, I suspect to have been Tragilus, for Stephanus shows that there was a Macedonian town named TpayiXog, which is doubtless the true reading of the BoaytAoc or A/jayiAot;, found in Hierocles among the towns of the first or consular Macedonia, and situated apparently not far from Parthicopolis and Heracleia of the Strymon. In the local form of the name, the T may have been omitted, so that the TPAI-
Stephan. in BtaaXria.
Ap. Eckhel Doct. Num. Vet. vol. 2. p. 81.
XXVL.]
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229
AION of the coin may represent the Hellenic Tpa- yi\L<v. The Triulo of the Table would then only require to be corrected into Trailo. Tragilus, in this case, stood on the foot of Mount Pangceum, opposite to Philippi. The real name of the place 8 M.P. eastward of Euporia, which in the Table is written Graero, I take to have been Gazorus, which we learn from Stephanus to have been a Macedonian town, and from Ptolemy that it was in the land of the Edoni \ Gazorus, therefore, probably stood between Tragilus and Euporia, to- wards the north western end of Mount Pangceum. Berga being placed by Ptolemy on the borders of the Edoni, as well as near the Odomanti, who, in his time, occupied Sirrhae and Scotussa, seems to have been near the shore of the Strymonic lake, perhaps near the modern Takhyno. Scymnus describes it as lying inland from the mouth of the Strymon 2. If Zervokhori be the site of Heracleia Sintica, it is probable that a considerable district to the north- ward of that place and to the right of the Strymon was also included in the Sintice, and consequently that Nigrita was either Tristolus or Parthicopolis, for these are the only two towns, besides Heracleia, which Ptolemy ascribes to the Sintice.
Nov. 13. — At 6.25 Turkish, we begin to ascend the mountain, which rises from Nigrita, through a region of corn land, at the end of an hour enter a forest, here chiefly consisting of small
1 Stephan. in voc.. — Ptolcm. 1. 3, c. 13.
2 Berga was the native place of Antiphanes, a writer who
dealt so much in the marvellous as to give rise to the verh fiepyaifav. — Straho, p. 47, 100, 104.— Stephan. in Btpyr/.
230
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
oaks, which covers all this range of hills, and at 9.35 reach Sokho ', called by the Turks Sukha, a large village inhabited chiefly by Greeks, and standing in an elevated situation on the southern side of the mountain, under one of the summits. It commands an extensive prospect over the valley included between the mountains on which Sokho stands, and the parallel range which stretches from Mount Khortiatzi 2, above Saloniki to the mountain of Nizvoro. Above the middle of the latter ridge appears the peaked summit named Solomon, which falls to the Singitic and Toronaic gulfs, and by its prolongation forms the peninsula of Sithonia, which separates those two gulfs. Three lakes are seen from Sokho, that of Langaza, towards Mount Khortiatzi, that of Be- sikia in the same great valley, to the eastward, and nearly at the same distance as the last lake, in a south-easterly direction from Sokho that of Ma- vrovo. The last, which is situated in a valley sur- rounded by mountains, is considerably the smallest of the three lakes, and is said to be dry in summer. Some scattered fragments of Hellenic times on the heights around Sokho, mark it for the site of one of the towns of the Bisaltce, possibly Ossa, for the example of the Tkessaiian Ossa warrants the belief that the word had some reference to loftiness of situation, and the coins of the Macedonian Ossa show that this town was of some importance. There is said, however, to be another ancient site at
1 2w^0£.
2 XopTidr£i, usually pro- nounced Khortiatj, a word de-
rived probably from the Helle- nic yoprdfa, herbis pasco.
XXVI.]
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231
Lakhana, on the northern road from Serres to Saloniki, which being similarly situated on the crest of the same ridge of mountains, may have some claim to be considered the site of Ossa.
I lodge at Sokho, in the house of the Greek proestos Khariso, who prefixes to his name the Turkish title Hadji because he has been at Jerusalem. The side of the mountain sloping from the village is covered with vineyards, below which there is a fertile undulated country falling to the plain of Besikia, into which we descend.
Nov. 14. — this morning, through a pleasant country composed of corn-fields interspersed among groves, copses, single trees, and numerous ham- lets inhabited entirely by Turks, many of whom we meet on their road to the market at Sokho with their wool and corn. Klisali, where we arrive in three hours and a half from Sokho, is a miserable Turkish village on the last slope of the mountain, where it terminates in a plain lying between the lakes of Besikia and of Aio Vasili, or Langaza. The town of Besikia stands on the northern side of the eastern lake, opposite to Pazarudhi. It is perhaps the site of the town Bolbe \ The plain, with its two lakes, is in- cluded, as I before stated, between the ridge of Sokho and that of Khortiatzi, and is closed at the eastern end by the meeting of the two ranges, which are there separated only by the pass of Aulon, or Arethusa. A stream flows out of the lake of Besikia, through the pass of Arethusa to the Stry-
Ste^han. in Bo\/3>;.
232
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
manic Gulf. As the ancient authors indicate only one lake in this situation named Bolbe, it is likely that they were distinguished as the upper and lower Bolbe. Both now abound in a variety of fish, among- which, as in general in the waters of Greece having a current, is the Aaj3pa£, or perch, now called \apfipaKi ; the gastronomic poet often cited by Athenseus, particularly admired the perch of this lake as well as those of Ambracia and Calydon \
Klisali being a post station on the main route to Constantinople, we here change our horses supplied by the menzil of Serres, and at 7.50, Turkish time, pursue the foot of the hills, leav- ing on the right several small Turkish vil- lages. At 8.30 the eastern extremity of the lake of Aio Vasili is one mile and a half on the left, and near it a Turkish village named Doanji Oglu. The woody sides of the mountain of Khortiatzi rise steeply from the opposite shore of the lake, and beyond the western end of the lake assume a south-westerly direction At 9.10 we are opposite to the summit. Having descended into marshy ground, towards the north-western extremity of the lake, we arrive opposite to the end of it at 10.5, and then enter a vale containing many dis- persed hamlets and tjiftliks, known collectively by the name of Langaza. The Turks who inhabit them have the reputation of being savage and in-
1 Trtorepoi 3* ertpoi ttoWoI KaXvSwi'i re kXeivtJ, A/ifipuKiq. t iv\ irXvvroyopo), BoXftrj r' ei'l A/^o'j/.
Archestratus ap. Athen. 1. 7, c. 17.
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233
hospitable. At 10.30 the hot baths of Langaza are half a mile on the right of the road. Here are two old buildings, in the Turkish style, one of which is in ruins, the other still in use. It consists of two apartments covered with domes, of which the outer is used for dressing, and the inner is the bath, where the hot source is re- ceived into a large marble basin surrounded with seats, and overflows into the outer apartment. The water is almost tasteless, and of a very mode- rate degree of heat : close by, there is another hot source rising amidst a great quantity of black mud, into which patients plunge up to their necks for the cure of rheumatism and other chronic com- plaints, and afterwards wash in the neighbouring water-bath. Close to the baths there is a fine source of cold water. A mile beyond the baths, and two or three hundred yards on the right of the road, rises an artificial height with a flat top, and covered with fragments of pottery. There is another hill of the same description at the foot of the northern range, opposite to Demiglara, beyond which village the plain of Langaza terminates in a peaked rocky summit called Strezi, on either side of which there is a passage over some lofty downs into the great plain of Thessalonica. Half an hour from the baths we leave on the right Balzina, and then a mile farther from our road Demi- glara, both considerable villages, inhabited by Christians. Around these places the valley widens. We now enter a boghaz, or narrow glen, leading from the valley of Langaza into the plain of Saloniki. At the entrance some re-
234
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
mains of a wall constructed of mortar and small stones, are seen on the slope of either hill ; the pass, however, of which these works formed the defence, although remarkable, is not very im- portant, as the passage over the hills on either side is easy, particularly to the north. Towards the middle of the pass, on a small rock by the side of the paved road, the word OAI1AI is en- graved in large letters on the rock. Olpse may perhaps have been the name of the pass, derived from eXirlq, JEolick o\7rtc, in allusion to the ex- pectation which the traveller feels of being quickly gratified by a view of the maritime plain and sea, and by the speedy termination of his journey.
At the issue of the glen stand Khaivat on the right and Laina on the left. The latter is very small, but Khaivat contains a large church and 300 cottages, inhabited by Bulgarian Christians, a people which occupies, with the exception of two or three large Greek villages, all the great maritime plain of Lower Macedonia. Few of the women in the Bulgarian villages can speak Greek. The houses of Khaivat, like those of the Bulgarians in general, are neat and com- fortable, with plastered walls and floors, covered with a yellow wash which borders also the outside of the door. Our baggage, which I quitted to visit the baths, arrives at Khaivat at 11.40.
Nov. 15. — The late ^eifiiovag (so the Greeks call a day or two of stormy weather *) has covered
1 xtifjLwv is used in the Od. S. v. 522. as well as by sense of a storm by Homer, later authors.
XXVI.]
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the mountains to the north and west with snow, and this morning a strong gale from that direc- tion brings frost with it. At a well and large plane tree, a little below the village, lies a marble inscribed with characters of a good time, but con- taining only names \ In half an hour we descend into the plain of Saloniki, and winding to the left along the foot of the range of Khortiatzi, enter at the end of another hour the Turkish cemetery which surrounds the city, and which contains many fragments of columns and sori dispersed among the tomb-stones. The city walls towards their foundations, are in part composed of ancient marbles, and there is every appearance of their having followed the ancient line. At the end of an hour and three quarters from Khaivat, we enter the Vardar-kapesi, or gate of the Vardhari. In a tree before it hangs the body of a robber. Just within the gate the street is crossed by an ancient arch about 14 feet wide, supported by pilasters, which are buried apparently to half their original height. Below the capital of each pilaster, on the western side, a Roman togatus is represented in relief, standing before a horse. The frize above the arch is decorated with the caput bovis united by festoons. The whole construction consists of large masses of stone, but the monument could
1 V. Inscription, No. 127. At Saloniki I saw a sepulchral monument said to have been brought from Khaivat, which represents in relief a woman seated, and three young men
standing before her with their right anns in their cloaks. Be- low are the words, AIovtl ko1 N«K07roXi Tolg rtKvoiQ Srparo- vetKtj Kal NtiKoXaog avnp. — V. Inscription, No. 129.
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never have been very magnificent, and appears hardly worthy of the time of Antony and Octavius, to which it is attributed by Beaujour, who sup- poses it to have been a triumphal memorial of the victory of Philippi. Nor does an inscription below the arch which contains the names of the eight archons in whose magistracy the monument was erected seem to favour his opinion, as the names are chiefly Roman, which they would hardly have been at so early a period. They are styled Politarchse, as when St. Paul visited Thessalonica ', 93 years after the battle of Philippi. Two of these magistrates were the gymnasiarch and the tamias 2.
Nov. 17. — In the evening (being the proper time during the Ramazan) I visit Musa (Moses) Pasha. This is the same gentleman whom I saw in exile at 'Epakto, cooking his pilaf with oil for want of
1 iavpov tov Tdcrova rat ti- yae d^e\(f>ovg tVi rove 7roXeiTdp-
Xa£f 'Era'paijai' <5e tov
oyXov Kill tovq 7ro\£trap^ac. — Act. Apost. c. 17, v. 6. 8.
2 Ho\iiTapypvvTwv 2<t»(Tt7ra- rpov tov liXeoTrdrpae raj Aov- Kiov Hovtiov ^Lekovv^ov vlov, AvXov 'Aov'iov 2a/3«'»ou, Arjfir]- rpiov tov <f>avarov, Arj/jirjTplov tov NeikottoXeoc, Zw(t'Aou) TOV llapfXEvliovoe tov rat MerloKov, ratov 'AytXXjj'/ou Uoteitov, rafxiov ttjq ttoXeioq Tavpov tov 'A/xpat; tov raj 'PrjyXov, yvfi- viKTiapxpvvTOC Tavpov tov Tav- pov tov rat 'PijyXov.
The name of Cleopatra, the mother of Sosipatrus, may per- haps have preceded that of his Roman father, because she was a descendant of the royal family of Macedonia, and Nicopolis and Ammia may for the same reason have been named instead of the fathers of Demetrius and Taurus. Taurus, the son of Ammia, and Taurus, the son of Taurus, had probably been adopted by Regulus, and Zoilus by Meniscus.
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butter, and stealing our consul's wood. Since that time he has been in Egypt, whither he was sent to supersede Mehmet Aly, who was ordered by the Porte, on the plea of his being a Macedonian, to exchange the government of Egypt for that of Saloniki. Mehmet Aly, however, was not to be dis- placed so easily. Musa Pasha had chiefly founded his hopes of success on the dehlis in Mehmet's guard, the chiefs of whom were his friends and formerly in his service, and attributes his failure to the Kapitan Pasha, whom he accuses of having been bribed by Mehmet Aly to delay a march to Cairo, which had been concerted with Elfi and four other Mamluk beys, until it was rendered impracticable by the rising of the Nile. Musa's troops had a skirmish with Mehmet Aly's, but without any advantage on either side. The Porte, convinced that their project had failed, ordered Musa to assume the government of Saloniki, and the Kapitan Pasha to return to Constantinople with his fleet. Musa came with the fleet as far as Cos. He affirms that Mehmet's forces amount only to 4000 Albanians and 5000 others, that he is detested for his oppressions, and for having ruined commerce, and that no Red Sea goods can pass the desert, as the merchants are afraid of being plundered by the Pasha at Cairo.
On the event of the battle of Austerlitz, the Turkish government assumed a certain degree of in- solence, and supported by the French, immediately set about attempting two objects upon which they had long fixed their wishes, though until that moment without much prospect of attaining them :
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1. The extending of the Nizami-djedid, its imposts and military discipline over Rumili ; 2. The with- drawing from all rayahs the protections of the European courts, and particularly the Russian flags from the Greek ships. To effect the former of these objects a very large force was raised in Asia, and sent into Rumili, and for the latter a firmahn had already been issued last March. The Janissaries of Constantinople, however, and par- ticularly all the Turks of the country extending from Adrianople to the capital, having united against the Nizami, the Asiatics were entirely defeated and dispersed before they got beyond Selivria, where the remainder were surrounded and in danger of being cut off, while their adver- saries threatened to march to Constantinople and depose the Sultan as a ghiaour. The project of the Sultan was immediately renounced and the Turkish ministry changed.
Salonica, as the Italians and English name this city, is by the Turks called Selanik, by the Greeks laXoviicr), and by all the educated among them 9e(Tffa\ovi/cTj. Being situated in great part upon the declivity of a hill rising from the extremity of that noble basin at the head of the Thermaic gulf, which is included within the Capes Vardar and Karaburnu, and being surrounded by lofty whit- ened walls, of which the whole extent, as well as that of the city itself, is displayed to view from the sea, it presents a most imposing appearance in approaching on that side. The form of the city approaches to a half circle, of which the diameter is described by a lofty wall, flanked with towers,
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extending a mile in length along the sea shore, and defended by three great towers, one at each extremity, the third overlooking the skala or land- ing place, where stands a small suburb, between the tower and the sea shore. Since the invention of gunpowder, batteries on a level with the water have been added to the maritime defences in the most important points, and a fortress, or fortified inclosure, has been constructed at the western angle of the city.
The eastern and western walls follow the edges of the height, where it falls on either side towards a small valley watered by a rivulet, and terminate above in the walls of the citadel, which has a double inclosure towards the town flanked with square towers. The heads of the valleys on the east and west are separated only by a ridge connecting the citadel with the falls of Mount Khortiatzi, which command it at a short range. The citadel, like that of Constantinople, is called 'E7rTa7™pyiov, which the Turks have trans- lated into Yeddi Kulelar, the Seven Towers ; for doubtless at both places the name is older than the Turkish conquest. Saloniki bears the usual characteristics of a Turkish town ; no attention is paid to cleanliness or convenience in the streets, the exterior of the houses is designed to conceal all indications of wealth, nor can any correct opinion be formed of the population from the central part of the town, or a visit to the bazar, where crowds are collected during the greater part of the day, while the rest of the city is a solitude. The houses in the lower part of the
12
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town are shut out from all external view by the narrow streets and the high town walls, but in rising higher, a noble prospect opens of the grand outlines of Olympus, Ossa, and Pelium, seen above the promontory of Karaburnu, to- gether with a part of the Chalcidic peninsula to the southward, and to the westward the immense level which extends for 50 miles to Verria and Vodhena.
All the principal mosques were formerly Greek churches, and two of them were Pagan temples, which had been converted into churches. The most remarkable is that which is still known to the Greeks by the name of ira\ta M»jt/oo7toXic, or more vulgarly Eski Metropoli l, an appellation employed also by the Turks. Hence it seems to have been, in the time of the Byzantine Empire, the cathedral church of the metropolitan bishop. It is a rotunda built of Roman bricks, with two doors, one to the south, the other to the west. The thickness of the walls below is 18 feet, their height about 50 feet, the diameter within, 80 feet : above these walls was a superstructure of slighter dimensions, the greater part of which, as well as the dome which crowns it, may perhaps have been added when the building was converted to the service of Christianity. It is lighted by windows in the middle height of the build- ing, which in all is about 80 feet. Possibly these windows also are a Christian repair, the ancient
1 The Greeks of Macedonia are much accustomed to mix the two languages. Thus they call
the river Injekara-su Intzema- vro, and the Karasmak Mavros- maki.
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temple having perhaps been lighted from the dome. The inside of the dome is adorned with the repre- sentation of buildings and saints, in mosaic, in- terspersed with inscriptions which, as usual in Greek churches, explained the subjects, but are now too much injured to be decypherable, though the Turks have not destroyed any of these orna- ments, nor even a figure of the Almighty which occupied a niche opposite to the door where once stood the Pagan idol. In one place they have supplied a fallen mosaic with a painting in imita- tion of it.
Eski Djuma, or Old Friday, is the name of another mosque, the masonry and form of a great part of which shows that it was once a building of the same age as the Eski Mitropoli, or perhaps still older, but such have been the repairs and al- terations which it has undergone in its conversion first into a church and then a mosque, that the ancient plan cannot easily be traced. It is supposed by the learned to have been a temple of Venus. Ai Sofia is a mosque, so called by the Turks, and which like the celebrated temple at Constantinople, was formerly a church dedicated to the Divine Wisdom. The Greeks assert it to have been built by the architect of St. Sophia, of Constantinople : its form at least is similar, being that of a Greek cross with an octastyle portico before the door, and a dome in the centre, which is lined with mosaic, representing various objects much defaced; among these I can distinguish saints and palm trees. The Turks, contrary to their usual custom of destroying, or at least of hiding with a coat of plaster, the
VOL. III. R
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figures in the Greek churches which they have con- verted into mosques, have allowed all the figures of St. Sophia to remain, with the exception of a piece in the centre, which they have replaced by an Ara- bic inscription, having been justly shocked, perhaps, by a huge human face, looking down, as I have frequently seen in Greek churches, and which is generally inscribed with the word HavTOKparup. St. Demetrius is a long church with a triple aisle, supported by a double order of columns of several kinds of variegated marble, and very much resem- bling an old Latin church, such as are seen in Italy, Sicily and the Holy Land. It may possibly have been built by the Latins when in possession of Thes- salonica in the 13th century. Within this temple a sepulchral marble is inserted in the wall, which very much resembles many similar monuments in Christendom, being in that common form which re- presents the end of a sorus crowned with a pediment. It is ornamented with flowers well executed, within which is an inscription in twenty-two Greek Iambic verses, in honour of one Luke Spanduni, who is described as a scion of Byzantium and the Hellenes, and who died in the year 6989, or A.D. 1481, whence it would seem that the Turks did not de- prive the Greeks of their church of St. Demetrius immediately after the conquest. As the verses on this monument are rather creditable to the learning of that time, and have been published only by Paul Lucas, who, among other inaccuracies, has omitted two lines, I subjoin a copy of them l. The
1 Av^ifjxa cei^Oflr tov tuiv 'EAA?/vwj' yivovg
T<5 TTCpiOl'Ti TOV TMV CtptTUtt' KVkXoV,
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modern poet, to make his Hellenic attempt the more complete, has imitated the ancient character, and avoided any division of the words. The word ola shows that it is a woman who grieves for the loss of Spanduni.
Among the ecclesiastical antiquities, in which Saloniki exceeds any place in Greece, as the churches just mentioned show, are two of the most ancient pulpits in existence; they are single blocks of variegated marble, with small steps cut in them. One of these |3?V«aTa, as they are still called by the Greeks, is in the mosque of Eski Mitropoli : the other is lying in the yard of a church of St. Minas, which is still appropriated to the Greek worship.
Kal rf/y warpicia dTrofitfiXrjKwg, o'i/uoi, Trjg fiapfiapiKrjg ov fiETtayeg KrjXlfiog' Twv yap naTpiKwv dpeTwv i^rffi/JLevog, Xpvaug uxrirep Tig >/ ciorijp kwotyopog, "EXajui^er Xa/JTrpwg tw twv dperwv KaXXei, 2iW(f>po(TVvr)v yap Kal dvSptiav doKi'iarag, Ti'iv re (j>p6i'T)ariv Kal tt}v laovofxiav '£lg fid&pov tdov dptTwv twv evdiwv, "AyaXfxa delov ro'tg -rcaaiv dvtZtiyfti)Q, QiXywv II Tvavraq rrj twv Xoywv aeipijvt, Kat ttJ yXafvpa tov KaXXovg a'yXcua, Kal Tolg yevvaiotg twv 'ipyuv KaTaTrXi'iTTwy, 'Ev rjj dk/jiTJ, (f>ev, twv \ityioTwv IXiriSwv, O'ix*} pol to <pwg Kal KXtog Trjg £wfjg fiov, To koivov kXLoq, ?'/ GEipa tov ■yjpvaov ytvovg, TI rrjg (jivaewg Xafnrpd <ptXoTtfiia. At at 7-iye zfJ-VG Kal Koivrjg SvoTvyiag, Ola vTreuTrjv iirl aol, <f>ev tov wdOovg, $IXt] KtfaXfj, eXmg, £w>), <pwg, Tepxpig, Tov Bv^avTtov Kal twv 'EXXt]vwv op7rr)£,. 'EKoifxt'iO)] o $oi>\og tov Qeov AovKag o %TravT0vvr)g tv itu, Tft'\")7rflaJ iv flfjvl Tavovaplov a'1.
vol. in. n 2 -t—
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[chap.
Among the remains of Pagan times, may be men- tioned some small portions of the walls, which there is every reason to believe, follow the line and foundations of the inclosurc of Cassander, and which being in their general structure much higher and more solid than such as the Ottomans build, seem to consist for the most part of suc- cessive repairs of the Macedonian work, before the Turkish conquest. Therme we can hardly suppose to have been so large as Thessalonica, and as it could not have left the citadel unoccu- pied, probably did not extend as far as the sea. That the main street, and two principal gates, and consequently the whole inclosure, of the Ro- man Thessalonica, corresponded with those of the modern town, we have an infallible proof, in two ancient arches which still cross that street ; one already mentioned near the Vardar gate, the other not far from the corresponding gate at the eastern end of the same street. The latter, which had two smaller lateral arches annexed to it, now destroyed, consists of two piers 14 feet square, faced with stone, which were covered on all sides with a dou- ble range of figures in low relief, representing the sieges, battles, and triumphs of a Roman Emperor. A great part of the piers are concealed by shops of the bazar, which cover all the lower parts of the figures on one side, and the whole of them on the other. Entering a bakehouse in the latter situation, I found the sculpture still more defaced than in other parts, but in none is it in good preservation, and the whole appears to have been of a very declining period of art. The arch which rests upon
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the piers is still more deprived of its facing, and is now a mere mass of Roman tile and mortar.
Zosimus seems to give some support to the tra- dition which attributes this monument to Constan- tine, by his remarking, that when Constantine had subdued the Sarmatians, he went to Thessalonica, and there constructed a port1. But the execution of the sculpture is perhaps better suited to the age of Theodosius, whose victories over the Goths were a common subject on the monuments of his age.
To the westward of this arch, near the main street, are the ruins of a portico with a double order of architecture, consisting of four Corinthian columns, not of the best design or execution, and the shafts of which are now half buried in the ground. On their architrave stands an upper order, consisting of four plain pilasters, on the op- posite faces of which are Caryatides, eight in all : the figures are of the human size, or near it, and each of them represents a different subject. On one of the pilasters the two opposite figures are Leda and Ganymede ; the former embraces the swan, whose head reposes upon her breast : Gany- mede is held by the eagle, whose wings are spread over his back, and whose talons rest on his hips, while the head of the eagle reaches over the left shoulder of the youth, looking in his face. This is a very good piece of sculpture, and not much in- jured by time. The other figures seem inferior in merit as they are in preservation ; nor can the subjects be easily understood. The next to Gany-
1 Zosim. 1. 2, c. 22.
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[CHAP.
mede, on the same side, is a man with a Phrygian bonnet, at whose feet is a bull's head ; the third and fourth are females in light drapery, the latter with wings. On the opposite side, or that of the Leda, the figures are so much ruined that I cannot distinguish the subjects1. This monument is in the house of a Jew, and is known in the Spanish dialect of the Jews by the name of Incantada, " the Enchanted," on the supposition that the figures are human beings petrified by the effect of magic. Its central position, and the nature of the construc- tion, support the idea that it was connected with the ancient agora. The space which lies between the sea and that part of the main street where the Incantada and arch of Constantine are situated, is said to have been occupied by the hippodrome, noted for having been the scene of a promiscuous massacre of the assembled people of Thessalonica by order of Theodosius 2.
In many parts of the town, particularly at the fountains, sepulchral stones and inscribed sori are to be found. Wherever figures occur upon the latter, their heads have, as usual, been destroyed by the Turks, nor is it easy to find an inscription that is perfect. The most interesting that I have observed are, 1. A simple mnema, valuable only
1 In the time of Stuart they appear to have been in better preservation; for he has given drawings of all the figures, ac- cording to which the three re- maining on the same side as the Leda were a Flora, or Bac- chante, a Bacchus with a pan-
ther at his feet, and a Bac- chante playing on a flute and seen in profile. On the archi- trave of the columns he distin- guished the words yeysvrifxivoy biro.
2 See Gibbon, c. 27.
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for its having a double date, by which it appears that the year 302 in one epoch corresponded to 186 in the other: as the difference 116 is the exact interval between the destruction of Corinth and the battle of Actium, there can be no doubt that these were the two events from which the dates were taken. 2. An epitaph in verse, want- ing one or two lines at the beginning, where the name of a woman occurred, whose husband Eutro- pus constructed the tomb for her and himself. In two prose lines in smaller characters, which fol- low the verses, he declares that whoever shall place -any other corpse in the tomb, except those of his children, shall pay a fine to the public chest of 10,200 denaria. 3. Another inscription con- tains the names of those who contended for the prize in a certain funereal contest, in which there were trials in the pancratium and in wrestling by boys, by young men, and by adults. It is to be supposed that the prior name of each pair was the victor !.
l.
1 M. 'lovXwc 'Fjpfiije 'iovXia \ia 'JLpfXioyij rij Ovyarpl frooiv Teprlq, yvvaticl tavrov, kul 'Iou- iiroiu, etovq <nrjj tov rat j3t.
2.
Tovru yap iv £wo7criv ETrwvvfiov 'eoke yvvaiKi EtV£K£V r'iQ dpf.rrjc /cat auxfrpoavvriQ fxa\' apiarrir. Tevije <5e tuvZe rdfov ()>i\ioq irocric \LvrpoiroQ avrrj, Q\t at/rw fieruinadev oVwc t^oi d/nravEcrdai 2v)- <}>i\ir) sui'wc dXo^y, KEKXwa^ivov avry Ttpii iaieiov ftu'iTUV dXvroti; bird yi'ifxaai fjLtipuJi'.
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The population of Saloniki is reckoned at 80,000, but probably does not exceed 65,000, of whom 35,000 are Turks, 15,000 Greeks, and 13,000 Jews, the remainder Franks and Gypsies.
' Eav ci Tig erepov ToX^iijay iEpurdry drjvdpia
Karadiadcu fxera to tpe Kara- Mupia £ter^«'Xta. — V. Inscrip- Tedfjyat xwP'£ T^v ftKvtav . . tion, No. 138. Swtrti TU>
f]?ov(f>^) Kal . KaXdvdiov 'OKTioftplojy aywi' IrctTiXiadr} E7riTa(piog de- fiaTiK^OQ r. Oiii-
ftiov Atizicov A^iXXtog' juetci dvatag Tavpov Kal fitra dvv^lag . . j3, £7rt (3u>fiovg /3, VTTO lepoanXiriKTqy Hievrjpov 'lipaKog Ka<r:ravc)pEa .... Kal iepoK7ipvKa K. K.aiid\wv KaX- Xhttov.
Ot dytaviadfiEvot. Ha'tSeg 7raXai(TTal, Ev^ocuVwv Kal i\ov- Kiog'AKparoc, Kal Zwatfiog, Mv- pioy Kal HitHriag. IlaTOfc iray- KpaTiaaTal, MapKog Kal Ma'£i- fxog, "SiVfj(popog Kal AiaSovfAEVog. 'Ay£i'tlu)yTrdXr),<i>av(7TogKalA(t>- pog. 'Ayeveiot TrayKpariaaTal, OvdXrjg Kal ^EKovvcog. 'Ai>- Spuiv 7ra'Xjj, Hpurag Kal 'JLpfirjr. 'AvSptHv TravKpar'tri, NeiKi']<popog Kal "HXtog. — V. Inscription, No. 137.
The following was communicated to me by a Greek gen- tleman.
AovKiog 2iTpaT0j'EiKr) Tij fitfTpl Kal KXeoiraTpa ttj vLvvn o tTOvg.
I was unable to obtain per- mission to enter the citadel. It appears from Beaujour, and other travellers, that there are some columns of verd antique, and an arch erected by the city
in honour of Antoninus Pius, his wife Faustina, styled 2e- fiatr-}), and his adopted sons, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Commodus, the former of whom is entituled Caesar.
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All the Turks of Macedonia who hear arms are Spahis, Yuruks, or Janissaries. The Spahis are the cavalry found by the holders of the zaims and timaria, when called upon by the government. The Yuruks cultivate their own lands chiefly in the mountainous districts. The Janissaries are the garrisons of the fortified places, among whom are generally enrolled the greater part of the heads of families engaged in trade or manufactures, or who have landed property in the neighbouring plain. A thousand pounds sterling a year in land is considered a large estate. Hadji Mus- tafa, the Bash Tjaus of the Janissaries, has seven tjiftliks worth 20,000 piastres a year (or 1200Z.), though he lives at the rate of not more than eight or ten thousand. Under a government which makes every one feel danger in displaying his wealth, and renders property and life insecure even to its most favoured subjects, the extremes of parsimony and extravagance are naturally to be found. Turks as well as Jews often carry the for- mer to excess, and the latter is by no means un- common among the young Osmanlis. An under- cmploye in the Mekheme is pointed out to me, who in a few years dissipated 2000 purses and seven tjiftliks. These Turkish landed proprietors, however, are the persons of the greatest stability in Turkey ; and the Frank merchants who bargain for their corn, cotton, and tobacco, can, without much risk, make advances upon their crops.
The Jews of Saloniki are descended from the largest of those colonies, which settled in Greece at the time of their expulsion from Spain at the
250
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
end of the fifteenth century ; but a considerable portion of them have become Musulmans since that time, though without being altogether ac- knowledged by the Osmaniis, and forming a sepa- rate class under the denomination of Mamins. Inheriting the Jewish spirit of parsimony and in- dustry, they are generally rich, and among them are some of the wealthiest Turks at Saloniki. Hassan Adjik, one of the ministry at Constantino- ple, and his brother, who is Gumrukji, or collector of the customs at Saloniki, are Mamins. They are naturally objects of extreme dislike to the idle, poor, and profligate Janissaries of the lower class. They go to mosque regularly, and conform to the Mahometan religion in externals, but are reproached by the other Turks with having secret meetings and ceremonies, with other peculiarities of which the best attested is their knowledge of the Spanish language. They are said to be di- vided into three tribes, two of whom will not inter- marry with the third, nor will the latter give their daughters in marriage to the Osmaniis.
The 7roXiT£ta, or Greek community, is presided over by the metropolitan bishop, who with the archons arranges all civil disputes in which Turks are not concerned, unless when the Christians think fit to resort to the Mekheme.
By a strange distortion of ancient geography, Thessalonica and Berrhcea are ecclesiastically £7rap^mi, or provinces of Thessaly ' ; thus the
1 This false chorography is and wc find it in the twelfth, as old as the ninth century; in Anna Comnena (1. 14, c. 10.)
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bishop of Thessalonica is styled vtteotijuoc kcu tfrip- %oq iraom QtrraXiag ; he claims the privilege of the epithet iravayiwraroc in his own province, but elsewhere is intitled only, like other metropolitans, to the Traviepu>Ta.TOQ. The bishoprics of his pro- vince are Kitro, Kampania, Platamona together with Lykostomo, Servia, Petra, Ardhameri, of which the residence is Galatista, and Ierisso which includes the Aion Oros.
There are some opulent Greek merchants at Salon iki, most of whom are indebted for the un- disturbed possession and increase of their wealth to the protection which they have enjoyed as dragomans or barataires of the European mis- sions. Now that these protections are about to be abolished, their situation will be much more pre- carious.
There are three sorts of kharatj paid by the rayahs ; the first, called edina, is of 3 piastres, to which boys under 14 are subject, but which is generally exacted from all under 11 ; the second, the efsat, of 6 piastres, is paid by artisans, servants, and all the poor, even beggars ; the third, alia, taken from all the classes above the last, amounts at Salonica to 12 piastres a head. Mr. N — , the principal Greek merchant, who is procurator for Mount Athos, informs me that he pays only 3600 kharatj es for the whole population of the peninsula, though there are 4000 monks alone, besides laics.
who with all her learning seems founds Philippi with Philippo- to have known but little of polis, 1. 5, c. 3. ancient geography, for she con-
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[chap.
It is almost the only place where the kharatj is un- derrated. Those who farm it having generally the means of making good their claims for an increase in the rayah population, it most frequently hap- pens that individuals pay more than the regulated sum, and scarcely ever the reverse. Sometimes they are called upon for the double or triple. The Turks are probably aware that Mount Athos is rated below its numbers, but being the abode of per- sons devoted to religion, it is intitled to favour by the Turkish usages, for custom is a powerful argument among them, though seldom employed, as in the instance just mentioned, for the benefit of any but themselves. A Pasha, of Saloniki having; received orders to join the Grand Vezir's army, was waited upon by a merchant acting as English consul, to whom he was indebted about 30/. My friend, said he, where am I to find a para ? I have not money to pay the bread 1 have been eating here ; the Porte indeed has sent me 500 purses, but it will not discharge one fourth of my debts. At least, says the consul, you will give me an ac- knowledgment in writing. Adet deil : it is not the custom ; was the only reply. It is the custom to admit Christians to see the mosques of Saloniki, which have been once churches, probably because the imam gets a fee by it.
The menials of a Turkish family at Saloniki, such as the kahuedji, tutunji, akhdji ', receive about 10 piastres (12 shillings sterling) a month. A yazji, or scribe, 30 piastres. Greek women
1 Coffee-man, smoke-man. cook.
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servants in the Frank families have about 50 piastres a year, with some articles of clothing- ; in all cases with board. The finest bread is now 15 paras the oke of 2 jibs., and mutton 18 or 20 paras an oke ; beef only 8 or 10, as it is consumed only by Jews and Franks. The ordinary price of silk is 50 piastres the oke ; and almost every family raises silkworms. Ordinary cotton and woollen stuffs for the clothing of the common people are also woven in the private houses as well as in the surrounding villages. A considerable quantity of cotton towels are made here, sometimes with a border of gold threads, for the vtyi/uov, or washing of the upper classes before and after meals, which in every part of Greece is practised as in the time of Homer1. Silken gauze for shirts and mosquito cur- tains, are another fabric of the city, but the chief manufacture is the tanning and dyeing of leather, which is entirely in the hands of the Janissaries. The commerce of Saloniki has very much declined during the war, and even since Beaujour described it in 1797. Tobacco sent from hence in imperial ships is now the only considerable export. No Eng- lish ship has loaded here for 12 years. The beys have their magazines full of corn, which by a fir- mahn of the Porte, issued last year and renewed this year, they are forbidden from sending to Christen-
1 Xipuifta & afx<pi7ro\()Q Trpo^oa) kiri\tve (pepovaa KaXjj ■^pvtrtirf vTrtp dpyvpeoio Xi^rjrog Wif/affOat. Od. A. v. 13G.
But we must now read copper and tin instead of gold and silver, even in the case of Pashas.
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dom. Meantime the Porte demands a certain pro- portion from all the most productive corn countries of the empire, Macedonia among the rest, at a low- price, on the pretence of fitting out fleets and armies. The consequence has been, that last year, when the price of corn at Athens was very high, it was sold by the government at Constantinople to foreigners, at a much lower price than they might have received for it in Greece, including the ex- pence of sending it there. Three or four hundred thousand Stambul kila of wheat might be procured here in a month, and cattle in any number that could be required. The Beys of Saloniki suffer more than the more distant landlords, because the smuggling of corn can be more easily carried on from any other part of the coast. In general the orders of the Porte against the exportation of corn are converted into a source of profit to the local governor ; but in a fortified place, under the eyes of a Pasha, and in time of war, more attention to the imperial orders is necessary.
In reading descriptions of China one is struck by the similarity of the customs of that country with those of Turkey, arising from the same Tartar origin. Their dress and architecture, their custom of interchanging presents, their habit of smoking, and the amusements at their festivals, are almost identical. Public employments are generally venal, in spite of the Sovereign. The quantity of escort when a man goes out, is the measure of his gran- deur. It is unpolite to speak of any but agreeable subjects at visits, and even to use certain words con- veying hateful ideas. The Emperor gives only two
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audiences to ambassadors, one at coming, the other at departing. When a great man passes through the streets, his approach is indicated by a small drum. A drum marks the watches of the night. Provincial governors are changed very frequently.
Tjay, of which word tea is the softened English form, preserves its original sound from Japan to the Adriatic. From the Lettres 'Edifiantes, we learn that the Mongol Tartars distinguish black tea by the name Kara Tjay, like the Turks. The latter, however, now make very little use of tea, except medicinally, nor is any brought to them overland as formerly, their supply being entirely, as well as that of the greater part of their coffee, from Europe. In Barbary the custom of drinking tea, particularly green tea, still prevails.
There are many words in Turkish, which having been borrowed from the Greek, seem to show that the Turks had not in their own country the objects expressed by them ; for example, lelck stork, liman port, keremid tile. The borrowing of titles is more easily accounted for, as Effendi from avdevrrfq. Effendem in Turkish, and aufovr^uou or more vul- garly a<ptvTi^iov in Greek, is the common mode of addressing a gentleman among both people.
The Turks have a certain manly politeness, which is the most powerful of all modes of deceit, and which seldom fails in giving strangers an er- roneous impression of their real character. It covers a rooted aversion to all European nations, as well as to the individuals who have the mis- fortune to have any dealings with these plausible barbarians. Though in the most splendid sera of
12
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their history their feelings may have been those of contempt, founded upon ignorance, fanaticism and the pride of conquest, it has been changed by their weakness and their dread of the Christians of Europe, into a mixture of fear and hatred. Thus there are two things which the European who has any political dealings with the Turk, should never lose sight of: 1, that he hates us : 2, that he fears us. By the latter only can we counteract the ef- fects of the former, added as it is, to the most pro- found dissimulation, a keen sense of self-interest, and an obstinate perseverance in defending it. The Turks have so long experienced the advantages of conduct founded on this basis, and that of the mutual jealousy of the several European powers, that we may rely upon their adhering to it, as long- as they have a foot of land on the continent of Europe. To say that the Turks have more honour and honesty than their Christian subjects, is a poor commendation : they have not the same necessity for the practice of fraud and falsehood. What other arms against their tyrants, are left to the un- fortunate rayahs !
It is not in the materials, but in the machinery of war, that the Turks are defective, and have hence become contemptible as a military power : they possess great numbers of armed men, strong, courageous, and enduring, and who, if properly managed, might oppose the most formidable re- sistance to the march of a numerous regular army through Turkey, where supplies are so scanty. Their very irregularity would in some respects render them more destructive to the formal tactics
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of an European power. But this powerful engine is rendered inefficient by the impotence of the government : repeated firmahns, which have lately- arrived at Saloniki for the movement of the Mace- donian troops to the northward, have produced only the march of a few Janissaries from this city. All the Yuruks and Janissaries of the subordinate towns have pleaded the insufficiency of their force for their own defence, and yet Macedonia is consi- dered one of the most military provinces in the empire. The Albanians justly hold both Janissa- ries and Yuruks cheap in comparison of them- selves ; but they have a considerable respect for the Turkish cavalry.
VOL. in
CHAPTER XXVII.
MACEDONIA.
Departure from Saloniki — Tekeli — Bridge of the Vardhari or Ax'ms — Alaklisi, or Apostolus — Telia — Yenidje, or Iannitza — Paleokastro — River of Moglena — Vodhena, Edessa — Vladova — Ancient Inscriptions at Vodhena — Via Egnatia — Niausta, Citium — Verria, Berrhcea — Kastania — Mount Bcr- mium — Khadova— Plain of Budja — Djuma — Eordcea — Suli- naria — Kozani.
Nov. 26. — From Saloniki to Alaklisi in five hours and fifty minutes, with menzil horses and bag- gage, and deducting halts. The road lies all the way through the plain. At an hour and a half from the city a rivulet named Galliko crosses the road and flows directly to the gulf; half an hour beyond it is Tekeli, a small village, where the horses are changed ; and an hour and a half far- ther a bridge over the river Axius, now called Vard- hari ', by which name it was known before the twelfth century, as appears from Anna Com- nena 2. To the right, between Tekeli and the bridge, two pointed tumuli are very conspicuous objects ; one in particular is of uncommon magni- tude. The bridge of the Vardhari is about 1800 feet long, and crosses an island lying in the middle
1 Bapcdpiov.
2 Anna Comnena, 1. 1, p. 18. Paris.
CHAP. XXVII.] MACEDONIA.
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of the river, which occupies about a third of the whole breadth between the banks. The stream is now rapid, deep, and swollen with rain, though not so high as it usually is in winter. Below the bridge, about midway to the mouth, the river leaves Kulakia, a large Greek village, at no great distance on the left, and widens so much before it meets the sea, as to be near two miles in breadth. Kulakia, which is in the road from Saloniki to Katerina as well as to Verria, is the residence of the bishop t^- Ka^wavlag, one of the subordinates of the metropolitan despot of Thessalonica. The bishop of Campania formerly resided at Kapso- khori, another Greek village, situated between the Karasmak, or Mavpovepi, and the Injekara, or Bkttp'itZu, in a well -wooded part of the plains, around which are some other Greek villages. All the rest of the population of these great plains of Lower Macedonia consists of Bulgarian culti- vators of the Turkish tjiftliks which are dispersed over it.
One hour and ten minutes beyond the bridge, a small flat-topped height is on the left of the road, on the summit of which are some ancient founda- tions, and around it a Turkish burying ground, in which are many fluted and plain shafts, and other fragments of architecture, together with a pedestal bearing an imperfect inscription. This place is about a mile distant from the south-eastern ex- tremity of a high mountain, which stretches from the right bank of the Vardhari in the direction of Vodhena. The valley of that river is seen to our right branching to a considerable distance among
s 2
•2G0
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[chap.
the mountains. Midway between the artificial height and Alaklisi, which is I hour and 10 minutes beyond it, a tumulus rises close to the road on the right, then five more, nearly in a line, the last of which is at a musquet shot from Alaklisi. These tumuli stand on the last slope of the mountain, where a mile on the left begins an immense marsh, which extends as far as can be seen southward towards the sea, and west- ward towards the Olympene range of mountains which border the plains on the west. The tumulus nearest to Alaklisi is a great heap of earth based upon the rock, which all around is covered only with a thin layer of mould. An opening cut in the rock, covered above with a semicircular arched roof of masonry, and having a small chamber on either side of it, leads on a descent 33 feet long, to two chambers, which are excavated in the rock, under the centre of the tumulus, and are now nearly filled with the earth washed into them through the entrance. Of these, the first cham- ber is 56 feet long and 10.9 broad, the inner 13* by 11*.
The plain between Saloniki and Alaklisi is by no means so well cultivated or peopled as that of Serres, on the road we met only some small cara- vans of camels ; but it feeds a great number of herds and flocks, and abounds in hares, plovers, and woodcocks. On the lake there are myriads of
i_n n_r
■y
n
XXVII.]
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26
the duck tribe in the winter ; and partridges of the red-legged species on the slopes of the hills. The English breed has been introduced by some of the merchants of Salonlki, but has not propagated far from the neighbourhood of the city. Alaklisi, meaning in Turkish Godchurch, is by the Greeks named gtovq ' 'Atto(tt6\ovq, and by the Bulgarians Postol. It contains 40 or 50 poor cottages, and belongs to Selim Bey, of Saloniki, who maintains here an Albanian Subashi, with a small guard. The village is not in the direct road to Yenidje, but half a mile to the right of it.
Nov. 27. — On the descent from Alaklisi into the main route, the fields are covered with fragments of former buildings, and of ancient pottery, such as are generally observable on the sites of Hellenic cities. The foundations of a wall of the construc- tion of those times is seen at right angles to the road, and terminating apparently at the marsh, the edge of which is parallel to the road at the distance of half a mile. A little beyond these foundations, following the road towards Yenidje, occurs a foun- tain, below which, on the edge of the marsh, is a small village, named Neokhori or Yenikiuy, where a low mound of considerable extent, and apparently artificial, seems to have been intended as a defence against the encroachment of the marsh. At 20 minutes from Alaklisi, and 10 beyond the first fountain, is another much more copious source, which is received into a square reservoir of ma- sonry, and flows out of it in a stream to the marsh. This source is called by the Bulgarians Pel, and by the Greeks UtXXri. As the ancient cities of
262
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[chap.
Greece often derived their names from a river or fountain, the same may have occurred in the in- stance of the celebrated capital of Philip and his successors, which the description of Livy; compared with the tumuli and other ancient remains, clearly show to have stood in this situation. It would seem as if the name of Pella had survived even the ruins of the city, and had reverted to the fountain to which it was originally attached. The word was appropriate to a fountain, whether derived from the same etymon as 7reXX»j mulctrum, or from in\6q black, an epithet which has been very generally applied by the Greeks to a source of water, from the jueXav v$(op of Homer to the mavromati of the present day. Below the fountain are some remains of buildings, said to have been baths, and still called to. Aovrpa. The baths of Pella are alluded to by a comic poet cited by Athenaeus !. There is nothing remarkable in the taste of the water, but it has a slight degree of warmth, which perhaps might not be perceptible in summer. The reservoir stands upon the foundations of a Hellenic wall, above which, in a corn-field, is a large piece of masonry, con- structed with mortar : all the cultivated land around is covered with pottery and stones, and hereabout the coins which the labourers of Aiakiisi collect in great abundance, are chiefly found.
Eight minutes beyond the baths begins a second line of tumuli, of which there are three parallel to the road, at a short distance to the right of it. The westernmost, or last towards Yenidje, is the largest
1 Macho ap. Athen. 1. 8, c, 9.
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of all, and has either been excavated, or has fallen in by natural decay, for it now exhibits the ap- pearance of a double summit, with a hollow in the middle. It might naturally be supposed, that some of these tumuli were royal sepulchres, especially the last mentioned, as well as that nearest to Alaklisi, which contains chambers in the rock ; but as we are informed upon good authority that iEgse continued to be the burial place of the royal family, even after the seat of government was trans- ferred to Pella, that the body of Alexander was destined to be sent to the same place, had not Pto- lemy caused it to be carried to Egypt \ and that Philip Aridaeus, his wife Eurydice, and her mo- ther Cynna, were buried at iEgae by Cassander 2 ; it is more probable that the tumuli of Pella are the tombs of some of the noble families of Macedonia. That which I examined near Alaklisi might have been the receptacle of a family during a long suc- cession of ages, and from the arched entrance it seems to have been used for this purpose, as late as the Roman Empire.
Although so little remains of Pella, a tolerable idea may be formed of its extent and general plan by means of the description of Livy, compared with the existing traces. The interval between the westernmost of the eastern tumuli and the eastern- most of the western was probably something more than the maximum of the diameter of the city, as we cannot but suppose these monuments to have
1 Pausan. Attic, c. 6.
2 Diodor. 1. 19, c. 52.
Diyllus ap. Athen. 1. 4, c. 14.
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stood on the outside of the walls. Its circum- ference, therefore, was about three miles. The two sources were probably about the centre of the site, and the modern road may possibly be in the exact line of a main street which traversed it from east to west. The temple of Minerva Alcidemus is the only public building mentioned in his- tory !, but of its exact situation we must remain in ignorance, unless some excavation or accidental discovery should hereafter reveal it. Of the con- struction of the city towards the lake, the historian has left us the following description, derived un- doubtedly from Polybius : " Pella stands upon a height sloping to the southwest, and is bounded by marshes, which are impassable both in winter and summer, and are caused by the overflowing of a lake. The citadel rises like an island from the part of the marsh nearest to the city, being built upon an immense embankment which defies all injury from the waters ; though appearing at a distance to be united to the wall of the city, it is in reality sepa- rated from it by a wet ditch, over which there is a bridge, so that no access whatever is afforded to an enemy, nor can any prisoner whom the king may confine in the castle escape but by the easily- guarded bridge. In this fortress was the royal treasure2."
1 Liv. I. 42, c. 51.
2 The word arx is wanting in our copies of Livy, but seems absolutely necessary, both to the sense and the grammar.
The passage is as follows : — " Sita est in tumulo, vergente in occidentem hybemum ; cin- gunt paludes inexsuperabilis altitudinis sestate et hyemc
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The mound near Neokhori marks perhaps the line where the wall was separated by the wet ditch from the citadel, but no vestiges of the island are to be perceived, which is not surprising as the citadel of Pella has now for not less pro- bably than fifteen centuries been abandoned to the incroachments of the lake and the effects of the seasons. Beaujour asserts that he saw the re- mains of a port, and of a nicely-levelled canal communicating from the port to the sea l. I am informed, that in summer when the marsh recedes from its present limits, some remains of a canal may be traced from the heights above Alaklisi, but as to the port, I can neither perceive the least traces of it, nor can I discover where M. Beaujour found any mention of it in ancient history. No- thing seems to have been wanted for a water communication between the city and the sea but to clear a passage through the marshes, which in all the deeper parts are capable of receiving ves- sels of a considerable draught of water. Scylax seems to have been sensible of this fact, for he merely states that there was a navigation from the
quas restagnantes faciunt la- cus. In ipsa palude, qua proxima urbi est, (arx) velut insula eminet, aggeri operis in- ge ntis imposita : qui et murum sustineat et humore circumfusa? paiudis nihil laedatur. Muro urbis conjuncta procul videtur : divisa est intermurali amni et eadem ponte juncta : ut nee obpugnante externo aditum ab
ulla parte habeat, nee si quern ibi rex includat, ullum nisi per facillimae custodiae pontem ef- fugium. Et gaza regia in eo loco erat". — Liv. 1. 44, c. 46. 1 On voit encore le pour- tour de son magnifique port et les vestiges du canal qui joig- noit ce port a. la mer par le niveau le mieux entendu. — Beaujour, tome i. p. 87, note.
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[chap.
sea by the Lydias to the royal residence of Mace- donia1, which was 120 stades in length exclusive of the Lydias2. The lake was named Borborus, as appears from an epigram, in which Aristotle was reproached for preferring a residence near the Borborus to that of the Academy 3.
From the baths of Pella to Yenidje is a ride of 50 minutes. Two miles to the right of the last tumulus of Pella is the village of Alatjaush- luk, standing on the slope of the mountain. Iannitza, or Ghianitza4, more commonly known to the inhabitants, being chiefly Turks, by the corrupted Turkish form of Yenidje, appears to have declined considerably of late years, as the number of houses is now by no means propor- tioned to the eight minarets which the town still exhibits. There are however several good Turkish dwellings, and in the middle of the town that of Abdurrahman Bey, an Osmanli of an ancient fa- mily, and possessor of a large proportion of the
1 Scylax in MaKeSovla. The text is corrupted, and the com- mentators differ as to whether the emendation should he Ht'AXa wvXiq or TroXig Alyai. There
can he little doubt that it was the former, as there could not have been any navigation to within many miles of iEgas. 2 Strabo, (Epit. 1. 7,) p. 330.
3 'Of £ia T))i> ctKparrj yaarpoQ (pvcnv elXero vaiziv 'Ayr ^KaSrjfxetac Hopfiopov iv irpo^oaiq. Theocrit. Chius ap. Plutarch de Exil. et Euseb.
According to Archestratus it mis, of great size, and particu- produced a fish called the Chro- larly fat in summer.
Toy xpofxiv iv IleXXj/ Xi'i^rj fxiyav' kari ()e Triwv *Av QipoQ y. Archest, ap. Athen. 1. 7, c. 24.
1 TayyiT^a, TtaviT^a.
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neighbouring lands, which produce grain, cotton, and tobacco. The last of these, which occupies most of the land in the immediate vicinity of Yenidje, is renowned in every part of Turkey for its aromatic tutun, which, together with coffee, sup- plies the Turks with a stimulant at least as agree- able as the meagre ill-made wines of modern Greece. The leaves have been lately gathered, strung together, and hung up to dry, which opera- tions are chiefly performed by the women : every wall in the town is now festooned with tobacco leaves, but particularly the open galleries which surround all the houses, and into which the inner chambers open. As the apartments in general have hearths only, without chimneys, the smoke of the wood which is burnt upon them circulates amidst the tobacco leaves, and gives the tobacco a peculiar flavour, which Italians object to, but Turks admire. The herb of Yenidje is of the species called garden tobacco, and has a small yellowish leaf. The territory yields in good years 2000 bales of 80 okes. The late harvest of corn has been abundant, and the Bey has his granaries overflowing for want of a market.
Yenidje is commonly known among the Turks in distant parts of the country by the name of Vardar Yenidje, to distinguish it from the Karasu Yenidje, still more renowned for its tobacco, and which is situated about as far from the Nestus or Karasu eastward, as the Vardar Yenidje is to the westward of the Axius1. The lofty and con-
1 So poor is the Turkish nomenclature, that black and language in its geographical white mountains, and black,
268
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[chap.
spicuous mountain which rises behind Pella and Yenidje, is named by the Bulgarians Paik, and bv the Greeks the mountain of Iannitza. The ancient name I know not where to look for. On the southern side it is for the most part bare and rocky, but on the summit and northern face it contains forests chiefly of chestnut trees. Beyond it is the district named by the Christians Moglena, and by the Turks Karadjovasi, into which there is a direct road across the mountain from Yenidje, but the more frequented route makes a circuit of the western end of the mountain.
Nov. 29. — Many remains of Hellenic antiquity, such as squared blocks of stone and fragments of architecture, are to be seen in the streets and burying-grounds of Yenidje, which has been built and repaired with the spoils of Pella. In quitting the town this morning for Vodhena I diverge to the right of the direct road, for the pur- pose of visiting Balakastra, as the Turks call Paleokastro, a tjiftlik of Abdurrahman Bey, which he recommended to my notice as a place contain- ing antiquities, and arrive there in forty minutes. Just above the tjiftlik a copious source issues from the foot of the mountain, turns several mills, and
white, blue, and yellow rivers are found in all parts of the empire. Though the Slrymon and Nestus are so near to each other, they are both called Karasu, or Black Water, and the Erigon, or great western branch of the Axius, has no other name than that of Kutjuk
or little Karasu. In Bulgarian it bears the synonym Tjerna, but among that people the epithet (little) is not necessary to distinguish it, as the two other Karasus preserve among the Christians their ancient names slightly corrupted.
XXVII.]
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waters some gardens belonging to the farm which is on its right bank. On the opposite side of the stream are many ancient wrought blocks in and around a ruined chapel ; others are observable in different parts of the tjiftlik, as well as at the mills near the source ; so that there can be little doubt that Paleokastro was an ancient site. The position is very agreeable, being well furnished with wood and water, and commanding a prospect over an extensive level bounded by the mountain of Ian- nitza, the lake of Pella, and the heights near Vod- hena. This plain is much better cultivated than any part of that towards Saloniki, being now almost a continued field of nascent corn, without a single fence.
Leaving Paleokastro exactly at noon, we follow a carriage-road through the plain, and pass several small Turkish villages with burying-grounds, in which the tombstones are for the most part ancient wrought blocks or fragments of architecture. Many of these have probably been brought from Paleo- kastro, or even from Pella, for the Turks often re- sort to a considerable distance for the stones, which they convert into sepulchral monuments. At 1.40 we cross a large river by a bridge which derives its name of Koluden Kiupresi from a small village a little below it on the left bank. The river flows from the valley of Karadjovasi, or Moglena, which is separated from the plain by a range of small hills, admitting only a narrow vale for the passage of the river, and connecting the mountain of Iannitza with the great range which is a continuation of Olympus. A lofty summit to the northward of
270
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Vodhena, called Nitje, bounds Karadjovasi on the west, and is the highest point of the range except Olympus itself.
Moglena is a Greek bishopric, under the name of Moglena and Moleskha \ The former name, as well as Vodhena, is older than the twelfth cen- tury, as we learn from Anna Comnena. They are both to be traced to the language of the Sclavonic tribes, who occupied the Macedonian plains about the ninth century, and drove the Greeks into the Chalcidic peninsula, or into the low grounds near the sea, where the marshes and rivers which inter- sect them offered means of resistance. To these two parts of Lower Macedonia the Greeks are now chiefly confined, and there the names of places are of Greek form and derivation. The Turks of Karadjovasi are supposed, for the most part, to be Bulgarian apostates from Christianity.
A high snowy mountain makes its appearance to the northward of Mount Paik, which is said to be not far from Istib and the plains of the Upper Axius. The river of Moglena is called Karadja by the Turks, Meglesnitj by the Bulgarians, and by the Greeks Moglenitiko. The ancient name is not certain, possibly it was Lydias, or Ludias, for it is the largest of the rivers which fall into the lake of Pella, and its course before it enters the lake is in the same direction in which the Karas- mak, or Mavroneri, which we know to have been the Lydias, pursues its course to the sea, after emerging from the lower end of the lake.
1 MoyXerwv Kal Mo\e(t\(ov
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At 2.10 we arrive at the extremity of the plain, which is not less than fifty miles long, in a direct line from its opposite end near Saloniki. Turning a point of the heights which branch from Mount Nitje, and bound the valley of Vod- hena on the north, we enter that valley, which is about a mile broad, and is included on the southern side by the lowest falls of Mount Turla, a summit of the Olympene range, which rises above Niausta. Nitje is a link in the same chain, and is separated from it only by the pass of Vladova behind Vod- hena. The valley of Vodhena, at the end of four miles, is closed by precipices over which the river falls in one principal and several smaller cascades. On the edge of the cliffs stands the town of Vod- hena. Ascending the valley we soon reach the left bank of the river formed by the reunion of the torrents which fall over the cliffs ; it is a small, but deep and rapid stream, confined by high banks. At 3.15 we cross it by a bridge, and immediately afterwards a smaller branch by another bridge, then enter the vineyards and mulberry grounds which extend to the foot of the precipices of Vodhena ; pass soon afterwards some foundations of Hellenic walls on the road side, and at 3.40 arrive at the cliffs. Leaving these to the right, we mount the heights by a circuitous stony road, which in one place is cut through the rock, and enter the town through a wall of sun-baked bricks.
Vodhena, in the grandeur of its situation, in the magnificence of the surrounding objects, and the extent of the rich prospect which it commands, is not inferior to any situation in Greece. As Horace
12
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said of Tibur and the precipitous Anio ', neither Sparta nor Larissa, although both combining sub- limity and beauty of scenery in the highest de- gree, appear to me so striking as the rocks, cas- cades, and smiling valleys of Vodhena, encased in lofty mountains which expand into an im- mense semicircle, and embrace the great plains at the head of the Tkermaic Gulf. There can- not be a doubt that this is the site of iEore, or Edessa, the ancient capital of Macedonia, to which it was well adapted by its lofty, salubrious, and strong position, at the entrance of a pass which was the most important in the kingdom, as lead- ing from the maritime provinces into Upper Mace- donia, and by another branch of the same pass into Lyncestis and Pelagonia. Such a situation would have been ill exchanged for the marshes of Pella, had not the increasing power and civiliza- tion of the Macedonians rendered maritime com- munication of more importance to their capital than strength of position, while in the winter Pella had the recommendation of a much milder climate.
Vodhena, so called from the Bulgarian Voda with a Greek termination, in allusion to its plen- tiful waters, is a metropolitan bishopric, compre- hending about one hundred villages of Bulgarian Christians, who in general are ignorant of the
Me nee tarn patiens Lacedaemon Nee tarn Larissa? percussit campus opimae
Quam domus Albuneae resonantis Et praeceps Anio et Tiburni lucus et uda
Mobilibus pomaria rivis. — Horat. 1. 1, carra. 7.
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Greek language. The bishopric is still known by the name of Edessa as well as Vodhena ' ; ecclesi- astically it is considered subordinate, together with several other metropolitan and episcopal sees 2, to the archbishop of Achris, or Bulgaria, who re- ceived this authority from the emperor Justinian, when he founded at Achris the town which he named Justiniana Prima. Hence the archbishop of 'Akhridha is still in the Greek church ayro/ct^aXoc, and independent of the three patriarchs ; though the Turkish government not acknowledging his independence of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the duties and influence of the hierarchy being almost entirely local, his authority is little more than nominal.
Numerous ruins of churches on the skirts of Vodhena show its former importance under the Greek Empire. At present it contains 1500 Turkish and 500 Greek houses, but many of the Turkish houses are let to Greeks. The bazar is extensive and well-furnished. There are five or six mosques, and a high tower containing a clock, but the most striking building, more however from situation than magnitude or structure, is the bishop's palace adjoining the metropolitan church. Standing on the edge of a projecting rock in the middle of the cliffs, it commands a
1 'EcitVajje v TZoSevtSv.
2 The other metropolitans are: 1. Kastoria ; 2. Pelago- nia, now Bitolia, in union with Prillapo ; 3. Korytza and Se- lasforo; 4. Vclagrada, or Berat,
VOL. III.
and Kanina ; 5. Tiberiopolis, now Striimnitza ; 6. Grevena. The bishoprics are : 1. Sisani and Siatista ; 2. Moglena and Moleskha ; 3. Prespa and De- bra ; 4. Kora and Mokra.
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prospect of the plains as far as the Bay of Salo- nika and Mount Khortiatzi, and itself furnishes a most picturesque object, especially when viewed in profile, crowning the cliffs which overhang a beautiful concave slope terminating in the valley which consists of gardens, vineyards, and orchards. The chief produce of Vodhcna is silk and fruit ; the yearly amount of the former varies from 2000 to 4000 okes, wTith a price equally variable, being sometimes 15 and sometimes 40 piastres the oke : this year it is 17. Every market day, which in Greece is commonly on a Sunday, is attended by men from Sarighioli, 'Ostrovo, Filiirina, and other surrounding districts, for the sale of their agricul- tural productions, or to furnish themselves with manufactures from the bazar, or with the fruit grown in the gardens of Vodhena, consisting of jujubes1, apricots, apples, plums, and grapes: the latter are raised in large quantities, and are chiefly used for making a sweetmeat common in Turkey, by boiling the juice of the fruit into a thick hard syrup, which is mixed with almonds and walnuts. Nov. 30. — At a distance of 50 minutes above the town there is an upper cascade, where the river falls over the rocks in a single body. The road thither leads through gardens watered by nume- rous derivations from the main stream, and affords many beautiful views of the town seen through the trees, with the great mountain of Niausta in the background. At a superb grove of plane-trees a fair is held on the 15th of August. Beyond the
1 (l%V(j)OC.
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gardens the plain narrows, and is occupied by meadows and vineyards on the bank of the river as far as the cascade, which is not large but ex- tremely picturesque, falling into the meadow over a rocky steep covered with bushes. The perpen- dicular fall is not more than 50 feet, but above it there is a rapid descent at an angle of about 45°, more than equal in perpendicular height to the former. Above the cataract stands the little vil- lage of Vladova, so named from the fall, at the entrance of a green valley which terminates at the end of two miles in a small lake, from which the river issues. The vale is about half a mile in width, and is bordered by the woody summits of two parallel ridges which meet at a pass at the further end of the lake : through the opening ap- pears the great snowy peak northward of Kastoria called Vitzi. The valley leads, at the end of two hours more, to the town and lake of 'Ostrovo, near which the road branches to the left into Sarighioli, and to the right by a precipitous ascent over the ridges which unite Mount Vitzi with the summits on the northern side of the pass of Vladova and with Mount Nitje. The latter route leads into the plains and valleys watered by the tributaries of the Erigon, or great western branch of the Axius, called Tjerna by the Bulgarians, and by the Turks the Little Karasu. The pass of Vladova being the open- ing made by nature for the passage of the river of Vodhena, which rises in Sarighioli and Mount Vitzi, is the easiest of all the communications which lead across the Olympene range from Lower into Upper Macedonia. The two others most remarkable are
t 2
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those behind Niausta and Verria, both which descend into the plain of Sarighioli, but are rendered less important than the pass of Vod- hena, as well by their difficulty and steepness as by their conducting into a part of the coun- try more distant from the passes which lead into the basin of the Erigon. Having- crossed the river near Vladova, I return to Vodhena along the right bank, and in descending the hill of the cas- cade pass through a deep passage which has been cut through the rocks for a road, and is probably a work of the ancient Macedonians. The rivulets diverted from the main stream for the sake of watering the gardens behind the town, are con- ducted through every street, and even through many of the houses, until approaching the cliffs they reunite, and fall over the precipices in four principal cascades, which, after watering the gar- dens below the cliffs, they again constitute the single stream which flows through the lower valley to the Moglenitiko. The largest fall of water over the cliffs is towards the northern end of the hill, where it forms the main river which we first crossed in arriving ; this branch receives a tributary from Mount Nitje before it unites with the streams from the other cascades.
Notwithstanding the importance of the ancient city which stood at Vodhena, the Hellenic remains are few ; the advantageous position has doubtless been always occupied by a considerable town, and new constructions have been continually operating the destruction of the more ancient. The only vestige I can discover of the Hellenic fortifications is a
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piece of wall which supports one of the modern houses on the edge of the cliff; but there are many scattered remains in the town, and among them some inscriptions of the time of the Roman empire. A stele, surmounted by a pediment, which has been placed over the gate of the Bishop's palace, preserves a catalogue of young- men who had passed through their ephebia under an ephebarch named Lysimachus, son of Abydi- anus. It is curious for two particulars : 1. Some of the ephebi are distinguished by the mother's name without any mention of the father's, as,
AA^avSpoc Kai EiouAioc ol MapKiac, ''EcxTTfpoc St/ufArje,
EiovAiocKaAAtCTTTjc* I have already given an example of this Macedonian custom from the Vardar gate of Saloniki. 2. The inscription has the date 328, which, calculated from the capture of Corinth, is the year a.d. 182, in the reign of Commodus, but from the battle of Actium, is a. d. 298, in the reign of Diocletian1. The latter epoch is to be preferred, not so much from the style of the mo- nument as from the certainty afforded by a coin of the emperor Philip bearing the date 275, and which was struck probably at Berrhcea, that the latter epoch was then employed in Macedonia.
In the metropolitan church are two fragments, which appear to have belonged to one and the same inscription. The epsilon and sigma are of a sin- gular form ^ £j, but of which there are other
1 V. Inscription, No. 138. The neighbouring Pella seems to have been indented to Dio- cletian's passion for building, and for a short time to have
changed its name to Diocle- tianopolis. — Cf. Anton. It. pp. 319. 330. Hierosol. It. p. 600. Hierocl. p. 638. Wess.
2 V. Inscription, No. 139.
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examples in Macedonia. A third inscription might be ascribed to a late period of the Roman empire, from the angular form of the omicron and theta, thus, /S A ; but this also may have been a Macedonian peculiarity, for the composition shows no decline of taste among the Edessaei, being an elegant epitaph in three elegiac couplets in me- mory of one Graphicus, whose wife survived him \ The poet in saying that " God had placed the divine soul of Graphicus in the plain of the blessed," may be thought, perhaps, to have written in Christian times, but the words are not incon- sistent with the Platonic doctrines. The epitaph is inscribed on a sarcophagus standing at a foun- tain (now dry) which is called by the Turks the fountain of the Mirror, because one of the lacu- naria of a Corinthian ceiling has been placed over it, with the stone set on its edge over the pipe. The sculpture thus placed the Turks have likened to a mirror.
Aly Pasha was not slow in discovering the advantages of the position of Vodhena, and having introduced himself into it ten years ago as Der- vent Aga, he has now the power of descending at pleasure into the plains of Lower Macedonia, or the means of defending this approach to his do- minions from the side of Constantinople. The Ayan who now governs is a native, but is entirely
1 "H£e izErpog kevQel TpatyiKov EifjLag, e{lg juak.a)pw»' de \pv)(i]v decnreffl-qv drjice deog irthiov, ovvekev i)v iravapiarog, kv ijyaQioig Se TroXelraig
Trpuira (j>epwy TrirvTyg KvCog tKapirioaTo' evl,o.to (? au fiaKapeaai cat t(fiepr))y irapaKotTiv rov^e Xay^elp tvja($ov yt'ipaog evte tv\oi.
XalpE rpafiKE. — V. Inscription, No. HO.
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under the influence of Aly, who maintains here a guard of Albanians.
The military importance of JEdessa was still greater under the Romans, in consequence of its lying in the great road from Dyrrhachium to Thessalonica, the establishment of which was one of their first cares after the conquest of Macedo- nia1. Although this road was furnished through its whole extent of 267 miles with milestones, and the distances of the several stations are given in all the three itineraries, the Antonine, Jerusalem, and Tabular, and some parts of it twice over in the first2, there are not many points on the road which can be accurately fixed until the whole shall be submitted to a careful examination, so as to ascertain some of the ancient sites. Nor until then can any safe criticism be exercised upon the itineraries themselves, which as usual differ from one another in many of the distances. A few remarks on this important route may nevertheless be acceptable to future travellers.
In proceeding westward from the pass of Vod- hena, the road crossed two great valleys and three remarkable ridges before it arrived at Clodiana, from which there was a bifurcation to Dyrrha- chium and Apollonia. From the Tabular Itine- rary we learn that at 19 m.p., beyond Lychnidus, the road crossed a bridge named Pons Servilii, which could have been no other than a bridge over the Drin, anciently Drilo, at its issue from the lake Lychnitis. We thus obtain the point
1 Polyb. ap. Strabon, p. 322.
a Vet. Roman. Itiner. Wessel, p. -317. 329. G0;>.
280
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from whence the road crossed Mount Candavia to Clodiana, which appears to have been situated on the Genusus, for the name Clodiana is probably de- rived from Appius Claudius, whose camp was upon that river when he was employed against Gentius, at the same time that the Consul iEmilius was carrying on the war against Perseus in Macedonia, in the year b.c. 168 '. And hence it becomes evi- dent that the Genusus was the river now called Skumbi, or Tjerma, consequently that the moun- tain which lies between the sources of that river and the northern end of the lake Lychnitis was the proper Candavia. It is the same mountain of which I observed the bearing from Korytza. to be N. 23 W. by compass. Although the distance of Clodiana from Apollonia is no less than 8 m. p. greater in the Jerusalem than in the Tabular, Itinerary, yet as both these authorities place the Apsus about midway, we have thus an approxima- tion which may assist in ascertaining the exact site of Clodiana a. Skumbi is obviously a corruption of Scampis, a name found in all the Itineraries at about 21 m. p. eastward of Clodiana, conse- quently on or near the Genusus, perhaps at the modern Elbasan. The branch of the Genusus upon which that town is situated may have been named Scampis as well as the town, and by a common kind of change may have superseded the name of Genusus, as that of the entire course of the stream below the junction.
1 Liv. 1. 44, c. 30.
2 As 31 M. p. from Dyrrha- chium to Clodiana in the Jeru- salem is evidently much nearer
to the truth than the 43 M. r. of the Table, the latter number is perhaps an error for 33.
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As there was a distance of about 17 m. p. from the bridge of Servilius to Lyclmidus, this chief city of the Dassaretii was near the southern ex- tremity of the lake, on the eastern shore, where the road, after having been diverted by the lake to the northward of its general direction, recovered that line by following the eastern shore from the bridge of Servilius to Lychnidus. From thence it crossed the mountains which rise from the eastern side of the lake into the plains watered by the Erigon and its branches. These mountains, which have a north and south direction, are divided into two parallel ridges by a longitudinal valley, where are situated Peupli and Prespa, and, if I am rightly informed, three lakes, of which the south- ern, called that of Ventrok, sends forth, as I have before observed, the river which flows through the pass of Tzangon, and forms the principal, or at least the longest branch of the Apsus, and which I suppose to be the Eordaicus of Arrian '.
The disagreement of numbers in the several Itineraries renders it difficult to deduce from them the exact position of any of the places on the road between Lychnidus and Edessa ; the only one of any importance was Heracleia, the chief town of the province of Upper Macedonia, called Lyncus, or Lyncestis. Heracleia was distant from Lychnidus about 46 m. p., from Edessa 64, — total from Lychnidus to Edessa 110; which, compared with the 56 g. m. of direct distance on the map, gives a rate of 2 m. p. to the horizontal g. m., not
1 Arrian. Exp. Alex. 1. 1, c. 5.
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an unreasonable rate in itself, as the road is in great part mountainous, nor as compared with the rate on the level road from Edessa to Thessa- lonica, which is 1.4 M. p. to the g. m. According to the proportional distances, Heracleia stood not far from the modern town of Filurina, at about 10 g. m. direct to the southward of Bitolia, which is now the principal town in that part of the country, and occupies the site of the ancient Pelagonia, thus agreeing in reference to the supposed position of Heracleia of Lyncestis, inasmuch as the ancient authorities show that the Lyncestse were situated to the southward of the Pelagones, and between them and the Eordaei, who appear to have occu- pied the country of 'Ostrovo and Sarighioli. But I shall have occasion to revert to the geography of Lyncestis, in reference to the military operations at the beginning of the contest between Philip, son of Demetrius, and the Romans.
Dec. 1. — Among the vineyards at the foot of the precipices of Vodhena are many fragments and foundations of ancient buildings, together with re- mains of barbarous times, probably those of Greek or Turkish houses, which were once dispersed among these gardens. It is said that several mar- bles sculptured in relief were once to be seen here, and among them some broken statues, in par- ticular part of a horse of very large dimensions. Lower down the stream there are some other frag- ments of antiquity ; from all which, as well as the foundations of Hellenic walls, both above and be- low, it is evident that Edessa occupied both sites. With the decline of Macedonia after the Roman
12
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conquest, the lower town may have gradually been abandoned, and the upper, which was anciently the acropolis, and probably the royal residence, may have become the part principally inhabited, as indeed the inscriptions, being all of that date, tend to show. At 10 we leave the point where we crossed the two bridges in approaching the town, and following the foot of the heights on the south- ern side of the valley, arrive at 10.30 at a pro- jecting point where a copious source of water issues from under the hill ; then pass along the plain at a short distance from the foot of the mountain, and at 11.25 join the direct road from Vodhena to Niausta, which descends from the southern extremity of the former town into a small circular plain lying at the foot of the hill on that side, and then crosses over the heights of Mount Turla, which enclose that plain to the southward. At 12.5 we halt, till 12.34, to dine at a brook, and then after having crossed a small stream which descends to the lake of Iannitza from the mountain on the right, arrive in sight of the sin- gular topography of Niausta, to which we soon begin to ascend, and arrive in the town at 1.45.
At the upper end of a deep rocky glen, between two of the highest summits of the mountain, three tabular elevations rising one above the other, look from the plain like enormous steps ; they present a front of cliffs not so high as those of Vodhena, but which terminate laterally also in cliffs separated on each side by ravines from the great heights of the mountain. Niausta occu- pies the middle and widest terrace, and, like Vodhena, is watered by numerous branches of a
284
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
stream which, flowing from a ravine behind the upper tabular summit, passes through the middle of the town in a deep rocky bed, over which there is a bridge. As at Vodhena derivations from this stream pass through every house in the town, and fall over the cliffs, after which they turn some mills, and are again united into one river in the low grounds.
Niausta is a Greek town, the Bulgarians not having obtained possession of the Olympene range to the southward of Vodhena. The name is pro- perly Nidyovara, perhaps a corruption of Nt'a Av- yovara. Although now in the power of Aly Pasha, it is still governed by its own magistrates, whose authority, the place being an imperial appanage, and the inhabitants well armed, has been gene- rally respected by all the neighbouring Pashas and other men in authority, including the robbers, though Niausta has occasionally been at war with them all. By an effect of the republican system of the place, I am detained two hours in an empty house, while the powers are consulting as to the konak in which I am to be lodged ; at length I am conducted to the house of Thomas, who is married to the widow of Lusa Papafilippo, a name of some note in Macedonia, and formerly proestos of Niausta.
The decline of the place, and its subjection to Aly, which will be followed by the usual conse- quences of his insatiable extortion, is to be attri- buted to that spirit of dissension which seldom fails to ruin the Greeks when they have the power of indulging in it. Not many years ago Niausta was one of the most commercial places in Northern
XXVII.]
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Greece, and like Verria, Siatista, and Kastoria, had merchants who traded to Christendom as well as Turkey, but not one of whom now remains here. Papafilippo, who is spoken of in terms of high respect by his own adherents as a benefactor of his native town, was poisoned with several others, about 20 years ago, by the adverse party, at the head of which was one Zafiraki, son of Theodosius, who afterwards became proestos, and enjoyed all the authority until last year, when the party of Papafilippo, by applying to Aly Pasha, gave him the long-desired excuse for in- troducing his myrmidons into the town. But he met with a stout resistance from Zafiraki and his brother Konstantino Musa assisted by a party of Albanians, under two Albanian brothers Vrakho and Litjo. Those whom the Pasha first sent having been fired upon from an inclosure of mud bricks, which is the only artificial defence of the place, he found it necessary to increase their numbers to 2000, who quickly destroyed every thing on the outside of the town, but not having cannon, could not ruin the fortifications, slight as they are. They proceeded therefore in the manner of an ancient 7roAiopKia, building towers on a level with the walls, from which they could fire into the town. Their loss was very great, according to the people of Niausta, of whom about fifty were slain. At length the besieged, after having lived for some time upon wild herbs, branches of trees, and bread made of the refuse of their rice mills, were obliged to surrender, but not until the four chiefs above
286
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mentioned bad fought their way one night through the besiegers with 50 paiikaria, and had arrived safe at Saloniki, where I saw them, and where they still remain. All the persons found in Zafi- raki's house have been carried to Ioannina, where they are now in prison, and the house is occupied by the Albanian commandant, and by a Stambuli Bostanji residing here as agent of the Sultana, who enjoys the revenue of the town and its dis- trict. In one year Aly has exacted 500 purses from the people, and no longer apprehending any resistance, has reduced his Albanian guard to 20, which, united with those stationed at Verria and Vodhena, are sufficient both to maintain his in- terests and to protect the passes against the rob- bers, to whom he has been indebted for his justifi- cation with the Porte for introducing his troops here. These kleftes during the last summer blockaded Verria as well as Niausta, and advanc- ing to the walls of the latter, carried away chil- dren, cattle, and sheep. At length Aly sent his trusty Tepeleniote Mutjobon, or Merlof-iTrovog, as the Greeks write his name, who has dispersed or taken them all, except a few men under a Musul- man Albanian named Sulu 1 Proshova, who not long before was at the head of 700 men, for the most part Christians. He still haunts these moun- tains which as far as Bitolia 2, Prillapo, and Ve- lesa 3, furnish so many impenetrable retreats, that
1 The Albanian form of Su- liman.
2 By the Turks called Mo- naster, or Toli.
3 By the Turks called Kiu- pruli (bridge town), probably the ancient Bylazora,
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287
it is almost impossible to eradicate the thieves from them. Not long since, Sulu took a boy of Niausta going to Verria, who was to have been ransomed by the village for 16 purses, when, two days before the money was to be paid, the boy escaped, and arrived here a day or two ago.
The principal church, dedicated to St. George, has a monastery attached to it, and is surrounded by a quadrangle of cells or small apartments for the monks, which they generally let to strangers. The people of Niausta were formerly noted for working in gold and silver, and still carry on the manufacture in a smaller degree. The productions of the territory are wheat, barley and maize in the plain ; rice in the immediate neighbourhood of the marshes adjacent to the lake of Iannitza ; on the heights vines, supplying one of the best wines in Macedonia, in sufficient quantity for a large exportation, and in the valley mulberry plantations, which yield about 300 okes of silk per annum. The town is well supplied with fish, particularly with large pike from the lake of Iannitza, and with trout from their own river, the principal source of which is at a short distance above the town. Many persons suppose it to be the discharge of a kata- vothra in the lake of 'Akridha, but can give no better reason for this opinion, than that the lake is the only one in Macedonia which produces trout. The sheep which feed on the mountains behind the town, furnish a fine wool, and mutton of the best quality.
Niausta, as might be expected from its natural
288
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
advantages, stands on the site of an ancient city, of this the coins which are found in the fields below the hill, and some vestiges of ancient buildings in the same situation, leave no doubt. But these are the only remains I can discover, except a Doric shaft, of a soft kind of stone, in the gallery of the church of St. George, and at one of the fountains in the town a sepulchral marble, with figures in low relief. The natives suppose that the Macedonian city stood higher in the mountain ; it occupied, perhaps, all the three terraces, the upper having been the citadel. I am inclined to think that Citium was the ancient Livy states that in the plain before Citium
name.
Perseus reviewed his army before he marched into Thessaly, when after a peace of twenty-three years, he began that celebrated war with Rome, which in four campaigns put an end to the Macedonian kingdom l. That Citium was between Pella and
1 Liv. 1. 42, c. 51. The army reviewed at Citium, which amounted to 39,000 foot and 4000 horse, was collected, with the exception of 3000, entirely from Macedonia and its depen- dencies, and was the largest ever assembled by any of the kings of that country. And yet of this number only about 19,000 of the hoplitae, or pha- lanx, were Macedonians, which seems small when compared to those of the southern states of Greece in the Persian and Pe-
loponnesian wars ; though it is in harmony with a fact men- tioned by Xenophon (1. 5, c. 2,) that Olynthus, with only 800 hoplitae, reduced most of the Greek cities of Thrace to sub- mission, and even took Pella from Amyntas. In the army led by Alexander into Asia, there were only 12,000 hoplita1, but as his forces were collected in great measure from Southern Greece, they hardly furnish a proper comparison.
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Berrhoea, may be inferred from the king having sacrificed to Minerva Alcidemus at Pella, just before he joined his army at Citium, and from his having marched from thence in one day to the lake Begorrites in Eordaea, and on the succeeding day into Elimeia, where he encamped on the bank of the Haliacmon, and thence proceeded to cross the Cambunian mountains into Perrhsebia. Hence also we may infer that the lake Begorrites was the Kitrini of Sarighioli, for the lake of 'Ostrovo would not have been in the direction from Pella to the Haliacmon, unless Citium had been at Vodhena, nor could the king have marched in one day from that lake to the Haliacmon.
In the epitome of the 7th book of Strabo, it is stated that the lake of Pella is formed by a certain a7ro(T7raa/ua, or stream diverging from the Axius ', which can only be reconciled with the reality, by supposing the sources of Pella and Paleokastro to be derived from the Axius through the mountain. But this would be so unusual a phenomenon, that it cannot even be considered probable, until a derivation from the Axius is found flowing into the opposite side of the mountain ; nor if it were true, would the quantity of water be any thing approaching to a sufficiency for the lake of Pella, which is evidently fed, not only by the springs of Pella and Paleokastro, but also by the Moglenitiko, the rivers of Vodhena and Ni-
"Oti rrjy IleWar ovaav >'/c o Aovciar irorafioc />£»' Trfv
fiocpav Trporepov, <$>i\nriroG £'G Be \lf.ivi]v irXripot roii 'AijioiJ ti
fj.tlkOQ rfb^rfae Tpcupelc; iv avrfj' tzutujxuv <i7ro<T7raffjua. — Stnnbo,
tyzi Be \ijxvr\v irpo avr?/e, ti; (Epit. 1. 7), p. 330.
VOL. III. U
290
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[CHAP.
austa, and many smaller torrents, assisted perhaps by some subterraneous springs ; the excess of all these over the water carried off by the Ludias, is the cause of this extensive tract of lakes and marshes.
Dec. 2. — Setting out from Niausta for Verria at 12.30, we descend the hills obliquely, and having reached the plain follow its margin, pass two small villages beautifully situated among the rich slopes of the mountain, while to the left is the plain, equally well cultivated, and extending to the marshes of the Pellcean lake. At 3, turning a pro- jecting point of the mountain, we arrive in sight of Verria, and at 3.30 cross a deep rivulet, which issues from a gorge in the mountain to the right. Here are some foundations of an ancient bridge, consisting of loose materials cemented with mortar, but faced with large quadrangular stones, accurately laid in the best Hellenic style. An ascent from thence of ten minutes conducts to the modern gate of Verria, after passing through a Turkish cemetery, which contains many fragments of ancient architec- ture, and a little beyond it a large piece of the wall of the ancient Berrhsea, founded on the rocky bank of the rivulet, and apparently one of the lower angles of the inclosure of the city.
Verria, as the name is pronounced, or Beppoia, as it is still written, stands on the eastern slope of the Olympene range of mountains, about five miles from the left bank of the Vistritza or Injekara, just where that river, after having made its way in an immense rocky ravine through the range, enters the great maritime plain. The territory produces
XXVII. J
MACEDONIA.
29
corn and maize in the lower plain, and at the foot of the mountain hemp and flax, which are supplied with the necessary irrigation from the rivulet on the northern side of the town. This stream, which has its origin in the mountains to the westward, emerges from a rocky gorge in them, falls in cas- cades over some heights which rise abruptly above the town, and after turning several mills, rushes down the mountain between steep rocky banks to the bridge, over which we crossed it, and from thence into the plain.
The town contains about 2000 families, of which 1200 are Greek : the houses are lofty, and for Turkey well built. Water flows through every street, supplied either from springs or from the rivulet ; which advantage, together with the lofty and salubrious situation, the surrounding gardens, many fine plane-trees interspersed among the houses, the vicinity of the mountains, and a com- manding view over the great level to the eastward, renders Verria one of the most agreeable towns in Rumili. The manufacturing part of the popula- tion spin the hemp and flax grown at the foot of the mountain, and make shirts and towels, parti- cularly the makrama, or large towel used in the public baths, and of which there is a great con- sumption in all Turkish towns, four of them being required for each bather, besides two more for sheets to the bed on which he reposes after the bath. Many of the water-mills around the town are for fulling coarse woollens and carpets, which are made in the surrounding villages or by the Jews of Saloniki.
u2
292
MACEDONIA.
[CHAP.
The remains of the ancient Berrhcea are very inconsiderable. I have already noticed that which appears to be the north-western angle of the walls or perhaps of the acropolis; these walls are traceable from that point southward to two high towers to- wards the upper part of the modern town, which appear to have been repaired or rebuilt in Roman or Byzantine times, as the large quadrangular stones of which the work is partly constructed are mixed with mortar, tiles, and fragments of ancient monu- ments. I can discover only three inscriptions at Verria * : in one, Popillius Summus the younger is honoured by the council and people ; the other two are sepulchral monuments, one of which was erected by Annia Epigone, in memory of her son Flavianus, and her grandfather, who is not named ; the other by Porus, son of Ammia, to Caius Scirtius Aga- thocles, his son, and Scirtia Zosime, his wife, who are styled heroes of virtuous life 2. In this inscrip- tion we have another instance of the Macedonian custom of recording in some cases the mother's name instead of the father's; and it is remarkable that one of the Politarchons of Thessalonica was also the son of an Ammia.
In the plain below Verria, at no great distance, are two barrows, or tumbe, as tin; Turks call them.
The name Vistritza, which is applied by the Greeks to the Haliacmon, although betraying a Sclavonic modification in its termination, may possibly be a corruption of Astrseus, for we learn
1 V. Inscriptions, No. 141, 142, 14.3.
1 -u
, l/ff<( )'-«(• (Tffl)'lOQ yjpwur.
XXVII.]
MACEDONIA.
•293
from iElian that there was a river called Astraeus1, flowing between Thessalonica and Berrhoea, which although not a veay correct description of the Vis- tritza, inasmuch as this river is not crossed on the road from Saloniki to Verria, would be still less suit- able to the Moglenitiko, or to the river of Vodhena, as lying so far to the right of that line, or indeed to any but the two great streams which we know to have been anciently named Axius and Lydias. Perhaps Haliacmon was the ordinary appellation of the river above the gorges of Berrhcea, and As- trseus below them : in the same manner as Injekara and Vistritza are used in the present day. The river is noted at Verria for guliani of immense size. I before remarked that the same fish grows to enormous dimensions in the lake at Kastoria, which is one of the sources of the Vistritza.
The district of Verria contains about 300 vil- lages, extending eastward nearly to the Lydias, or Karasmak, and to the west to Sarighiul. To the south the village of Kulindros, standing on the heights which terminate the plains at their southern extremity, not far from the gulf, formerly belonged to Verria, but is now enumerated among the vil- lages of Elassona. The voivoda of Verria is Halil Bey of Grevena, who lived here many vears as kharatji, or farmer of the Christian capitation tax, and upon the death of Osinan Aga, a short time ago, obtained the government, having first secured
1 iElian. Hist. Anim. 1. 15, from the same root as Strymon, e. 1. Astrseus was probably and perhaps our own stream. an old Macedonic word derived
294
MACEDONIA,
[chap-
the approbation of Aly Pasha, whose influence is thus established in Verria. Though the Verriotes suspect Aly to have been sometimes instrumental to their having been annoyed by the thieves in order to make the necessity of his own services manifest to the Porte, they are so far satisfied with the result as to agree in commendation of the police of Metjobon, and to admit that all this part of Macedonia now enjoys great security : nor has Aty yet ventured to lay any heavy contributions on a place which is at the farthest extremity of the country under his influence, and the revenues of which are attached to the imperial family. His encroachments in this quarter have, however, created a panic, and there are now several large houses in the town of which the building has sud- denly been suspended.
Dec. 3. — In the afternoon I receive a visit from Metjobon, who here assumes the Turkish name of Mehmet Bey : he is a little spare man, of simple Albanian manners and mild address, and is said to be gifted with a remarkable share of prompti- tude, coolness, and sagacity. He showed great ability lately in his proceedings against the rob- bers, most of whom he made prisoners.
In this part of Macedonia it is customary for the keepers of wine-houses to suspend an evergreen bush before them, being the same as the old English custom, from whence the proverb, " Good wine needs no bush.*' In the southern parts of Greece, it is generally a long stick with shreds of painted paper on a string.
I have frequently had occasion to notice the ex- 12
XXVII.]
MACEDONIA.
295
traordinary celerity of some of the pezodhromi, or foot-messengers in Greece. A celebrated one of Verria may compete with any of them. He car- ried letters on foot to Saloniki in seven hours, re- mained there one hour, and returned to Verria at the end of the fifteenth hour. After having per- formed this feat more than once, he was commonly known to the day of his death by the name of 'Anemos, an adjunct as honourable to a courier as African us to a Scipio.
Dec. 4. — The weather, which has been fine, with a northerly wind, ever since the day of my arrival at Saloniki, as well as on the road from thence, is said to have been the reverse at Verria for several days, and last night the rain fell hea- vily. At 6.30, Turkish time, I set out for Kozani, accompanied by one of Aly Pasha's tatars, a guard of six Albanians supplied by Metjobon, and Musa Pasha's tatar, who has accompanied me from Salo- niki. We begin immediately to ascend the hills at the back of the town, and soon, enter a narrow vale watered by the stream which descends to the town. At the upper end of this valley, at 8.4, stands the derveni, a straw hut for lodging the Albanian guard, from whence we begin to ascend Mount Bermium, in defiance of the assertion of Herodotus, that it is impassable l, and although the historian has every possible advantage in the season, and weather, that of last night having co-
1 if Btppota iv toaq virwptiaiQ Ki'iTcit rov Bep^t/ou vpovc. — Strabo, p. 330.
Ovpog litpfiiov ouvofxa, afia- tov vtto ^iifxioroQ. — Herodot. 1. 8, c. 138.
296
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
vered the mountain with snow to a great depth. Very soon after entering a forest of large chestnut trees, we arrive, at 9.40, at Kastania, a small vil- lage, of which all the houses, except two or three, are now deserted, in consequence of the demands for provisions, which were alternately made upon them by the robbers and their Albanian opponents. Aly Pasha, endeavours to encourage their return, and declares his intention of building here a large village, with kules on the mountain for his sol- diers, and thus to secure to himself this important pass between Lower and Upper Macedonia. The mountain abounds with wolves *, wild boars 2, fal- low deer 3, and roes 4. The swine are killed for the sake of their skins, which are in request for making shoes5. A peasant informs me that not long since he shot one of these animals in the woods, which weighed 90 okes. The flesh of the roe is esteemed by these people, but not that of the deer.
Dec. 5. — We leave Kastania at 3.5, Turkish time. The snow continued to fall during the night, but the weather has now become bright and calm, with a hard frost. As we advance the woods are of birch, in the highest parts of beech, and amidst them numerous traces of the wild ani- mals are observable. On the summit, which is not more than three miles in a straight line from the Vistritza, we leave the highest point of the moun-
1 XvKOl.
3 uypLoypipoi. i\d<pta.
4 £apKacia.
5 rCapoiiKia.
XXVII.]
MACEDONIA.
297
tain now called Dhoxa, or more commonly Xeroli- vadho, from a village of that name which once stood near it, six or eight miles on our right, and descend to Khadova, a village of about 50 Turkish families, from whence there is a further descent of about three miles to the Vistritza, which is seen from our road. There is no passage to the same point from Verria along the river, as both banks are here bordered by impracticable precipices. Above those on the right bank are the villages of Kokova, Katafyghi, and some others, from which the mouritain rises to a lofty summit, one of the Olympene chain, and separated only from Olympus itself by the elevated pass of Petra. To the north- westward of the mountains the Vistritza is again seen flowing in a valley which extends to Servia. Katafyghi is on the shortest route from Verria to Servia, which crosses the Vistritza near Verria, but in some parts is so difficult that the pass of Kas- tania. is often preferred. Having passed Khadova at 5.10, we descend from thence along a narrow valley, which at the end of an hour conducts into the plain of Budja. To the left this plain is separated from those of Tjersemba and Servia on the banks of the Injekara, by a low root of Mount Bermium, which is connected at the other end of the plain of Budja with the mountain of Kozani, which is a branch of Mount Burino. The highest and middle point of these lower heights is called by the Turks Ghioztepe, a name analogous to the Greek Skopo, and meaning a point which com- mands an extensive view. The plain of Budja widens as we advance, and contains many small
•29*
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
Yuruk villages, situated at the foot of the moun- tains on either side.
To our right a root of Mount Dhoxa, advancing to the westward, leaves only a space of two miles between it and a similar projection of the moun- tain of Siatista ; but beyond the opening the level again widens into the more extensive plain of Sarighiul. A little on this side of the opening stands the small Turkish town of Djuma, which contains a bazar, and is the market town of a dis- trict of small Turkish villages. The plains of 'Ostrovo, Sarighiul, Djuma, and Budja, seem, with the enclosing mountains, to have formed the ancient Eordaea. At 6.50 we halt to dine at a rising ground in the plain, spreading carpets and capots on the snow, which still lies here though the sun is now hot; then proceeding at 7.35, leave soon afterwards Djuma two or three miles on the right, and at length arrive in the lowest part of the plain, in which there is no longer any snow. The plain is fertile, and well cultivated with corn. The entrance of the Boghaz of Siatista appears at a distance of seven or eight miles on the right. At 9.20, having arrived at the end of the plain of Djuma, and passed a little to the right of several small Turkish villages situated at the foot of the hills of Ghioztepe, we turn to the left of our for- mer course, through a narrow passage between the Ghioztepe range and some other small hills connected with the mountains near Kozani. At the entrance of the opening stands a khan and a small Turkish village called Sulinaria : half an hour further begins an undulated country, which
XXVII.]
MACEDONIA.
299
extends on the right to Kozani, and the mountains behind it, and descends to the left to the Vistritza ; at 10.30 we arrive at Kozani, vulgarly pro- nounced Kodjani. This is a town of six or seven hundred houses, with a good bazar and a market on Saturday for the neighbouring coun- try : formerly it had a considerable commerce with Hungary and Germany, and several opu- lent merchants resided here. My lodging, which belonged to one of them, is constructed like the houses at Siatista, with thick walls, and apartments, which, though smaller, are more commodious than those in ordinary Greek and Turkish houses. There is a cellar below the house for the wine, which is here made from an extensive tract of vineyards surrounding the town. The greater part of the Kozanite merchants, whom Turkish oppression, particularly that of Aly Pasha, has driven from hence, have settled in Hungary.
Dec. 6. — The market this morning is much frequented by both Turks and Greeks from the neighbouring country. Kozani and Servia form one episcopal diocese in the province of Thes- salonica ; the bishop has a house in both places, and is now at Servia, but his ordinary residence is Kozani. At the foot of the steps of his house, is a square stone of the annexed form, which serves the bishop for a mounting-block when he rides out.
It is an tTriTVfjkfiioQ (TTTjXrj, erected in honour of one Cleopatra, by her husband Crispus, in union with
300
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
his daughter Crispina ' : a square excavation in the upper surface may perhaps have supported a vase of stone. On two opposite sides of the stele, is a repetition of words, intended probably for an Iambic verse, and signifying
" Farewell ye heroes : and fare thee well also traveller, and good journey to thee2."
The plural form of iJowec appears to indicate that these two inscriptions were added after the death of Crispus and Crispina, and when they had been buried in the same sepulchre with Cleopatra. The sigma is rectangular, and there are several siglae or conjoined letters, a mode of engraving which seems to have been more common in Mace- donia than in the southern provinces of Greece, but was probably seldom or ever employed even here, before the end of the first century of the Roman Empire, to which date the inscription may with probability be attributed. The monument having been discovered in one of the corn-fields above the village, where several small sepulchral marbles, with figures in relief, or other remains of antiquity, have also been brought to light, it is evident that Kozani occupies the position of an ancient town, though I search in vain for any other indications of it, such as town walls, or remains of architecture. Kozani is the native place of Dr.
1 Kpicrirug [metci rfjg dvyarpug irarpav ryv rvfi/jtoy fiXav^piag KpHnrEtvac, (G>v tri, KXed- evekev.
XaipeTE ijpioEg' xa~'()E Kai <7V *" woeei.
Vide Inscription, No. 11-1.
XXVII.]
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301
George Sakellario, translator of a part of the Voyage D'Anacharsis and some other works, which he undertook for the benefit of his countrymen. The comfortable residence in which I find his family, shews the sacrifice he makes, or rather is forced to make, in residing at Berat as physician to Ibrahim Pasha. His brother-in-law, Papa Kha- rismio, who is now residing at Kozani, is an author also, and has written a Pantheon for the use of the schools of Greece.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
MACEDONIA, PERRIIjEBIA.
Tjersemba — Geography of Upper Macedonia — Elimeia, Eordcea, Orestis, Lyncestis, Pcecnia, Pelagonia — Campaign of Sulpicius against Philip — Tripolitis of Pelagonia — Slymbara — Pelium — Dassaretia — Antipatria, &c. — Servia, / \>luslana, — Livadhi — Pass of Petra — Tripolitis of Perrhccbia — Pythium, Azorus, Doliche — Elassona, Oloosson — Mount Titarus, River Titare- sius — Mount Olympus — Tzaritzena — Pass of Meluna — Tiirnavo.
The plain or rather low undulated country in- cluded between the Vistrltza, the mountain of Kozani, Mount Burino and Ghioztepe, is called Tjersemba, a Turkish word, written by the Greeks TlepoE/jnrag. Its inhabitants are chiefly Turks, oc- cupying small villages. The soil produces good corn, but it is more particularly noted for saffron ', which is sent by land to Germany, by the merchants of Kozani and Tzaritzena. When the trade of Egypt was closed by the consequences of the French invasion, the saffron of this country was worth 80 piastres the oke, but it has now fallen to 50 and 40. The only other district which produces it, is that of Venja, on the opposite side of Mount Burino,
Kpoicoe.
CTTAP. XXVIII.]
MACEDONIA.
303
and lying between Tjersemba and Grevena. The name Burino appears to belong, like Vistritza, to the ancient language of Macedonia, and may have been derived from the same root as Bora1, Ber- Bertiscus.
mms,
Beyond Burino to the southward, is seen a ridge of nearly equal height, which takes a southerly direction towards Tr'ikkala, and separates the waters of the Haliacmon from those of the Peneius. They are the mountains anciently called Cambunii, a word of which flowog is obviously the root. They form a continuation of the heights above Katafyghi, and at their foot, a few degrees to the right of the summit of Olympus, is seen the town of Servia, called Selfldje by the Turks, a name which they attach also to the entire district stretching along the right bank of the Tnjekara, opposite to Tjer- semba. In Tjersemba there are said to be remains of antiquity in four places, but in none of them are they described as being formed of that beautiful masonry which is so distinguishing a mark of Hellenic works. This the Kozanites ! very justly account for, by the nature of the stone of the sur-
1 Bora seems to be nothing more than a modification of opog preceded by ft, which the Macedonians employed instead of the digamma or initial aspi- rate customary in other dialects. In Macedonic, according to Plutarch, (Q.u. Graec.) and Ste- phanus (in Bepoca) <pd\aKpoc,
QepEviKT) and <bi\nrn-og were (idXaKpog, HepoviKT], BtXnnror, Berrhcea seems in like manner to have been the same as <bepai, a name common in other parts of Greece, and Beres and Beron, the same as Pheres and Pheron. 2 Ko£aWrcuc.
304
MACEDONIA.
[CHAP.
rounding mountains, which being brittle and in- capable of being hewn into large blocks, apparently obliged the inhabitants of this part of Upper Ma- cedonia, who moreover were semi-barbarous before the time of Philip son of Amyntas, to build in a man- ner different from that of the Southern Greeks. The four ruins are : 1. At Ktinia, on the side of Mount Burino, where a height is crowned by a castle having a double inclosure, and thin walls. 2. At Kaliani, a small Greek village, three hours from K6- zani, near the left bank of the Injekara, a little on this side of a boghaz leading from the valley of Tjersemba into that of Venja. Here are the re- mains of a building, of which my informant gave me a rude drawing. It was constructed with a double row of arches, of which the larger were supported by white marble columns, with Corin- thian capitals, in bad taste. The building is in ruins on three sides, but the fourth still preserves the place where the statue is supposed to have stood. The arches have been walled to form it into a Greek church. The neio-hbourino; fields are said to be strewed with broken pottery ; coins also are often found, and sometimes small idols. 3. At Kesaria, about half way between Kozani and Servia, half an hour to the right of the direct road, are similar appearances, with fragments of marble and sepulchral monuments ; and there are remains of the same kind also between Kesaria and Kaliani. So deficient are the ancient details of Mace- donian geography, that no opinion can be given of these places, further than that one of them
XXVIII.]
MACEDONIA.
305
bore the common name of Kmaapla, and that they were all subordinate towns of the JElimeia, for that Elimeia extended thus far to the eastward, and here bordered upon Eordaea and Pieria, seems evident from Livy, in a passage already referred to, where he relates that Perseus marched from Citium to the lake Begorrites in Eordaea, from thence to the Haliacmon in Elimeia, and on the (olio wing day into Perrhcebia, which lies imme- diately to the southward of Tjersemba on the western side of Mount Olympus, whence it is evident that the encampment of Perseus, pre- viously to his entering Perrhsebia, was exactly on this part of the river. As it is equally manifest from other authorities that Elimeia ex- tended westward to the range of Pindus, it may be defined as comprehending the modern districts of Grevena, Venja and Tjersemba. Of the three other subdivisions of Upper Macedonia, namely, Eordcea, Orestis and Lynccstis, Eordcea compre- hended probably, as I have before remarked, the modern districts of Budja, Sarighiul and 'Ostrovo — Orestis those of Gramista, Anaselitza and Kastoria — and Lyncestis, Filurina and all the southern part of the basin of the Erigon. These seem to have been all the districts which properly belonged to Upper Macedonia, the country to the northward, as far as Illyria westward, and Thrace eastward, consti- tuting Paeonia, a part of which (probably, on the Upper Axius) was a separate kingdom as late as the reign of Cassander1, but which in its widest
VOL. III.
1 Diodor. 1. 20, c. 19. X
306
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
sense enveloped on the north and north-east both Upper and Lower Macedonia, the latter containing the maritime and central provinces, which were the earliest acquisition of the kings, namely, Pieria, Bottiaeis, Emathia, and Mygdonia. Even a part of these was occupied by Paeonians before the establishment of the Macedonian monarchy.
Paeonia extended to the Dentheletae and Maedi of Thrace and to the Dardani, Penestae and Dassaretii of Illyria, comprehending the various tribes who occupied the upper valleys of the Erigon, Axius, Strymon, and Angitas, as far southward as Sirrhae inclusive. Its principal tribes to the east- ward were the Odomanti, iEstraei and Agrianes, parts of whose country were known by the names of Parstrymonia and Paroreia, the former containing' probably the valleys of the Upper Strymon and of its great tributary the river of Strumitza (JEstrceus ?) the latter the adjacent mountains. On the western frontier of Paeonia, its subdivisions bordering on the part of Illyria inhabited by the Penestae and Dassaretii were Deuriopus and Pelagonia, which together with Lyncestis comprehended the entire country watered by the Erigon and its branches. The respective limits of these subdivisions were
not wen uenneu, nor m
iges;
♦h'
Line.
Strabo considered Pelagonia, as well as Lyn- cestis, a division of Upper Macedonia, but as Stobi is described by other authors sometimes as a city of Paeonia, and sometimes of Pela- gonia, as Stymbara, another important place on this frontier of regal Macedonia is stated by some as belonging to Deuriopus, and by others
XXVIII.]
MACEDONIA.
307
to Pelagonia, and as Bryanium, placed by Strabo in Deuriopus, was near the passes leading into Eordaea, and consequently in Lyncestis, it is evident that no exact definition of these districts prevailed, at least among the ancient writers whose works have reached us. Lyncestis, although originally a part of Paeonia, having become a separate king- dom, which was annexed to Macedonia as early as the reign of Philip, son of Amyntas, may, with reference to a later period, be ascribed to Upper Macedonia ; at the same time that all beyond it, to the sources of the Erigon, was still a portion of Paeonia, the whole of which, however, was united to regal Macedonia before the Macedonic wars of Rome.
There is no occurrence in ancient history which better illustrates the ancient geography of that part of the country than the operations of the consul Sulpicius against Philip, in the campaign of the year b.c 200 \ Philip, who flattered him- self that he should be able to deprive the Romans of the assistance of the i£tolians and Dardani, had for the purpose of preventing the entrance of the latter people into Macedonia, stationed his son Per- seus in the passes of Pelagonia, when the consul having marched from Apollonia of Illyria through Dassaretia into Lyncestis, there encamped on the banks of the Bevus, and from thence sent foraging parties into Dassaretia, where the corn of the open country had already enabled him, on passing through that district, to save the supplies which he brought with him from his winter quarters.
1 Liv. 1. 31, c. 33, et seq.
x2
308
MACEDONIA.
[chap
One of his parties having suddenly encountered a body of Philip's cavalry who were in quest of information, an action ensued, with a loss nearly equal on both sides. Upon learning the force and position of the enemy, Philip found it prudent to recal Perseus from the passes of Pelagonia, and having thus brought together 20,000 men, he occupied a height distant only 200 paces from the Roman camp, and which he fortified with a ditch and rampart. On the third ensuing day, the consul having drawn forth his line at a distance of 500 paces from the enemy, Philip ordered out 700 of his cavalry, attended by the same number of light infantry ; these the enemy met with an equal body of horse and foot, and obtained an advantage, the Greeks having shown themselves, in both kinds of force, inferior in firmness to the Romans, and the velites of the latter being much better armed than the Illyrians and Cretans who accompanied the Macedonian cavalry.
Two days afterwards, Philip equally failed in drawing the enemy into an ambuscade of peltasta?, whom he had stationed during the previous night in a position between the two camps. On the following day Sulpicius drew out his whole army, with elephants in front1, and offered battle to the king, when the latter, not accepting the defiance, the consul moved his camp 8 miles to Octolophus, for the sake of being able to forage in greater security than could be done while the enemy's camp was so near. The armies remained
1 Some elephants taken in the Punic war, which the Ro-
mans now employed in battle for the first time.
XXVIII.]
MACEDONIA.
309
inactive in their respective positions until the Roman foragers had become negligent of their security, when the king advancing suddenly with all his cavalry, and some Cretan infantry, cut off the Roman foragers from their camp, and slew many of them. The consul, upon being made acquainted with the occurrence, advanced his legions in a close column and sent forward his cavalry, who came to action with the king. At first Philip had the superiority, but at length he was defeated, and lost 300 horsemen, of whom a third were made prisoners, and the rest were killed or perished in some neighbouring marshes. The king him- self was nearly taken, having wandered for some time in the marshes before he recovered his camp. He now resolved upon a retreat, being partly actuated by the report that the Dardani, under Pleuratus, were approaching. He concealed this intention from his adversary by a proposal for a truce to bury the dead, and by lighting fires in his camp at night, while he was retiring towards the mountains.
The consul remained several days in the same position, ignorant of the enemy's movements, when, having exhausted the supplies of the neighbour- ing country, he removed to Stymbara, and from thence, after having collected the corn from the fields of Pelagonia, to Pluvina, still ignorant of the motions of Philip, who bad in the meantime encamped at Bryanium, and having better infor- mation of his opponent's proceedings, alarmed the Romans by suddenly approaching them, but did not venture to bring on an action. The
310
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
Romans then proceeded to encamp on the river Osphagus, while Philip entrenched himself at no great distance on the bank of the Erigon, when, perceiving that the Romans intended to cross the mountains into Eordsea, he retired, and fortified the passes with trees, stones, ditches, and ramparts. But from these works he derived little benefit. The Romans forced or turned them without difficulty, chiefly because the Macedonian phalanx was use- less and unmanageable in such a narrow and rugged field of action. Philip having retired, the Romans ravaged the fields of Eordaea, entered Elimeia, and from thence moved into Orestis. Here the consul received the submission of Cele- trum, and from thence, proceeding into Das- saretia, took Pelium, " a town conveniently placed for making incursions into Macedonia," and having placed a garrison in this place, he returned with his captives and plunder to Apollonia.
This narrative, extracted undoubtedly from Polybius, seems so clear, that a traveller com- manding sufficient leisure and security might hope to determine the position of the first encampment of Sulpicius as well as that of Octolophus, to iden- tify the branches of the IZrigon, named Bevus and Osp/iagus, and perhaps to ascertain the sites of Pluvina, Bryanium, and Stymbara. In this he would be greatly assisted by the evidence which the Itineraries have left us of the position of Hera- cleia, the chief town of Lyncestis \ As the histo- rian states the first encampment of the Romans
1 Ttolem. 1. 3, c. 13.
XXVIII.]
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311
to have been at Lyncus, on the river Bevus ', and as Lyncus is described as a town by Stephanus 2, it might be supposed that Heracleia was some- times called Lyncus, and that the camp of Sulpi- cius was at Heracleia itself. But notwithstanding the words " ad Lyncum " seem to favour this opinion, it is more likely that Polybius employed Lyncus on this occasion in the same sense which we find attached to it in two other passages of Livy, as well as in Thucydides and Plutarch 3 ; that is to say, as synonymous with Lyncestis, or the country of the Lyncestae, once a small independent kingdom, and afterwards a province of the Macedonian monarchy.
Lychnidus and Heracleia lying nearly in the line between Dyrrhachium, or Apollonia, and Thessalo- nica, were the principal places in the centre of the Candavian or Egnatian way — the great line of com- munication by land between Italy and the East, be- tween Rome, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. A road of such importance, and on which the distance had been marked with milestones soon after the Roman conquest of Macedonia, we may believe to have been kept in the best order, as long as Rome was the centre of a vigorous authority ; but it pro bably shared the fate of many other great establish- ments in the decline of the empire, and especially
1 Ad Lyncum stativa posuit Strabo, who mentions only the
prope fiumen Bevum. — Liv. 1. 3i, c. 33.
8 AvyKog, woXig 'IlTreipov. ItTpafiwv tftc6[.t,rj. — Stephan. in voce. No such name, how- ever, is found in our copies of
Lyncestae : and the ethnogra- pher is obviously wrong as to Epirus.
8 Liv. 1. 26, c. 25 ; 1. 32, c. 9. Thucyd. 1. 4, c. 83. 121. — Plutarch in Flamin.
312
MACEDONIA.
[chap
when it became as much the concern of the Byzantine as of the Roman government. Of this we discover some strong symptoms in the itineraries ; for although Lychnidus, Heracleia, and Edessa, still continued, as on the Candavian way described by Polybius, to be the three prin- cipal points between Dyrrhachium and Thessalo- nica (nature in fact having strongly drawn that line in the valley of the Genusus, branching from the maritime country of Illyria, and penetrating- Mount Candavia in the same easterly direction in which the vale of the river of Edessa issues into the plains of Lower Macedonia) there appears to have been a choice of routes over the ridges which contained the boundaries of Illy- ria and Macedonia, and which separate the lake of Lychnidus from the valleys watered by the Erigon and its branches l : a strong
1 'Ek £e ri/e 'AiroWuiviaQ elg M.aKeb'oviuv i) 'Eyrar/a larlv bbbg wpbg tio, ^f/Sariff^fVr/ Kara fAiXiuy Kal KaraoTTiKwuivr) ^XPl Kv\p£Xov Kal "E/3pou Trora/xov' fiiXiwu c)' larl TTEVTaKoaiwp rpia-
Kovra -kevte
Suju/BcuVei h' curb 'ioov biaari)- fiarog (TVfnriTtTeLv elg ri]v avrijy
bbbv, TOVQ T £K Tije 'AtToXXu)-
vLclq bpfirjOivrag Kal TOVQ il, 'JLwidafivov. II fJitv ovv ivaaa 'JLyvaria icaXcTrat" v be. irpwrt] ewl Kavbaoviug Xiyerai, bpovg 'IXXvpiKov, bia Av%vibov nuXewg Kal HvXwvog, totvov bpi(ov>Tog iv Ttj bif T)\v rt IXXvpica Kal
rrjv TAaKtZoviav. 'EkeWev £' iffrl ivapa JSapvovvra, bid 'llpa- KXsiag Kal A.vyKY)aTwv Kal 'Eup- bdJv eIq "E^fiT(rav Kal TliXXav ^iypi OEcraaXopiKEiaQ' piXia tS' Earl, (jjr)ul HoXbfiiog, ravra bia- Koata eUtfiKOVTCL ticra. — Stntbo, p. 322, 323.
Dyrrhachio, Clodiana, 43 M. p. Scampis 20, al. 22. Tres Tabemas 28, al. 30. Lychnido 27. Nicia 34, He- racleia 11 — al. Lychnido, Scir- tiana 27, Castra 15, Heracleia 12.— Antonin. It. p. 318, 330. Wess.
Apollonia, Clodiana o7 m. p.
XXVIII ]
MACEDONIA.
313
indication that the great Roman work was out of repair. In the original road described by Po- ly bi us, the portion between Lychnidus and Hera- cleia led through Pylon, which received that name from its being the limit of the two provinces. The Antonine Itinerary gives two routes in this part ; one passing through Scirtiana (Scirtonia ' ?) and Castra, the other through Nicia (Nicoea?), which is the same as that in the Tabular Itinerary 2. In the Jerusalem the road passes through Brucida (Brygiada, i. e. Brygias 3 ?) and Parembole.
Now there seems little doubt that these names Castra, Parembole, and Nicaea, have reference to the military transactions of the Romans in Lyncestis, who not many years after those events constructed a road, which happened to pass exactly over the
Scampis 2 1 , Trajectus 9, Canda- via 9, in tabernas 9, Claudanon
9, Patras4, Lychnidum 1 2, Bru- cida 13, Parembole 19, Hera- cleia 12. — It. Hierosol, p. 006.
This route has been re- versed, and some of the names corrected, in order to furnish a better comparison with the other Itineraries.
Dyrrhachio, Clodiana 31, Scampis 20, ad Genusum 9, ad Dianam 7, in Candavia 9, Pons Servilii 9, Lychnido 19, Nicea
10, Heracleia 11. — Tab. Peu- tinger, segm. 5.
1 Ptolemy, 1. 2, c. 17, couples the Pirustas and Scirtones as Illyrian tribes near Macedonia, and the Pirustae we know from
Polybius (1. 5, c. 108) and from Livy (1. 45, c. 26) to have been a people of Dassaretis.
2 A station has been omitted in the Table between Lychni- dus and Nicaea, the total dis- tance from Lychnidus to Hera- cleia being only half of that in the Jerusalem, and seventeen or eighteen miles less than in the Antonine.
3 B(ji/£, to tdvog kq.1 Bpv-yal
tlal £e Ma-
Ktdovutov kdvog Tvpoatytq 'IA\u- ptolg. — Stephan. in voce. See also in Bpi/yi'ar, Bpvytoi', each described as a 7r6\ig Maiceco- vidQ, but probably one and the same place.
314
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
scene of the former exploits of their army. Castra or Parembole, therefore, indicates the first encamp- ment of Sulpicius on the Bevus ; and Nicsea the place where he obtained the advantage over Phi- lip's cavalry, near Octolophus, which was eight miles distant from the first encampment : conse- quently, Nicsea was about eight Roman miles from Parembole or Castra — and probably to the north- ward of it, because after the battle near Octolo- phus, the consul proceeded in a northerly direc- tion to Stymbara, in search of provisions, having already exhausted the country around Heracleia. It appears, therefore, that Nicaea, Parembole, and Heracleia, formed a triangle, of which the sides were 8, 11, and 12 m. p. in length; that the northern route from Lychnidus descended upon Nicaea, or Octolophus, and the two southern upon Parembole, or Castra, on the river Bevus : this was evidently the southern branch of the Erigon, near the issue of which into the plains Heracleia might be sought for, and nearer to its sources the town of Beve \ As to the route described by Poly- bius through Pylon, the names which he mentions being of much earlier times than those in the Itineraries, it is very possible that the former route may have coincided with one of the latter, not- withstanding the difference of names.
The pass over the mountains which separated Lyncestis from Eordaea, where Philip made his un- successful stand against the Romans, is described by Polybius as al tig rrjv 'EopSalav w7T£pj3oX«t 2, and Thucydides terms a defile in the same mountains
1 Stephan. in Bei/t]. ' Polyb. 1. 18, c. 6.
12
XXVIII.]
MACEDONIA.
^ t(T/3oX77 tik Avjkov, in relating the attempt of Per- diccas against Lyncestis, in the eighth year of the Peloponnesian War, which ended in a separate ne- gotiation between his ally Brasidas and Arrhibseus king of the Lyncestae !. It was by the same pass that Brasidas, in the following year, effected a skil- ful retreat from the Lyncestae and Illyrians 2, when, having descended into the plains of Lyncus with Perdiccas and a joint force, composed of 3000 hoplitae, 1000 cavalry, and a large body of barba- rians of Thrace, they were obliged to retreat in consequence of the Illyrians, who had promised to join Perdiccas, having suddenly ranged them- selves on the side of Arrhibaeus. The Macedo- nians of Perdiccas, and the undisciplined barba- rians, having taken the alarm, moved tumult- ously in the night, and rendered it necessary for the king himself to accompany them without com- municating with Brasidas, who was stationed with his forces at some distance. Thus abandoned, the Spartan general began his retreat on the following morning towards the pass, forming his hoplitae in a square, placing his light-armed within it, and co- vering the retreat of this body with 300 chosen men under his own command. He thus not only resisted the attacks of the enemy, but having seized upon one of the heights which bordered the entrance of the pass, prevented them from intercepting him in it. He was then allowed to retreat without farther molestation, and arrived the same day at Arnissa, the first town in the territory of Perdiccas. Ar- nissa, therefore, seems to have been in the vale of
1 Thucyd. 1. 4, c. 83. 2 Thucyd. 1. 4, c. 124, et seq.
316
MACEDONIA.
[CHAP
'Ostrovo, and possibly it may have been the same place as the Barnus of Polybius, B being a com- mon Macedonian prefix ; for the words of Strabo are not imperative in placing Barnus between Lychnidus and Heracleia, although bearing un- doubtedly that interpretation.
It is from the remark of Polybius that the Canda- vian way passed through the country of the Eordsei, in proceeding from that of the LyncestaB to Edessa ', together with the historical authorities just referred to, and that other passage in the Latin historian, wherein he describes the march of Perseus from Citium in Lower Macedonia, through Eordsea into Elimeia, and to the Haliacmon 2, that we obtain a knowledge of the exact situation of JEordcea, which thus appears to have extended along the western side of Mount Bermius, comprehending 'Ostrovo and Katranitza to the north, Sarighioli in the middle, and to the southward the plains of Djuma, Budja, and Karaianni, as far as the ridges near Kozani and the Klisura of Siatista, which seem to be the natural boundaries of the province. The only Eordaean town noticed in history is Physcus, of which Thu- cydides remarks, that near it there still remained some of the descendants of the Eordrei, who had been expelled from all other parts of Eordaia by the Temenidae 3. But there is some reason to add to this name those of Begorra and Galadrae as Eordscan towns, the Begorritcs lacas, to which Per- seus marched from Citium, having probably been so called from a town of Begorra ; which stood
1 Ap. Strabon, p. 323, v. sup.
2 Liv. 1. 42, c. 53.
Tlnicyd. 1. 2, c. 99.
XXVIII.]
MACEDONIA
317
perhaps at Kaliari, by the Turks called Sarig- hiul, the central and otherwise advantageous posi- tion of which leads also to the conjecture that it may have been the city Eordsea of later times \ As Lycophron couples Galadrse with the land of the Eordsei, and as Stephanus attributes that town to Pieria 2, it might best be sought for at the southern extremity of Eordsea, towards the Haliacmon and the frontiers of Pieria, its territory having con- sisted chiefly perhaps of the plains of Budja and Djuma. If Galadrse was in the southern part of the province, and Begorra in the middle, Phys- cus was probably to the northward, about Katra- nitza, towards the mountains of the Bcrmian range, such a situation being the most likely to have preserved the ancient race 3.
The modern routes over the mountains which separated Lyncus from Eordcea, are, from Tilbeli to 'Oslova, to the eastward, and from Banitza to 'Ostrovo to the westward : the former is in the ordinary route from Bitolia to Vodhena; the latter from Filurina to the same place. Although Filu- rina is nearer than Bitolia to the site of Ilerackia, I should conceive the Egnatian Way to have crossed by the former route, as it descends into
1 Hierocl. p. G38.
2 Ta\a^pi]Q tov <rrparr;\ar?jv Xvkov.
Lycophr. v. 1444. Xojpctv t 'Eop&Jv Kal rtt\a£pa7oj> irtdov.
lb. v, 1342.— Stephan. in TaXdZpai. 3 Ptolemy, 1. 3, c. 13, evidently confounded the Eor- elasses three towns under the daei with the Eordeti, an Illy- Eordoei of Macedonia ; but as rian people. Scampoe is one of them, he has
318
MACEDONIA.
TCHAP.
the Eordcean valleys nearer to the situation of JEdessa. The only place which the three Itineraries agree in placing between Heracleia and Edessa, is Cellae, but the distances given are too conflicting to lead to any certainty as to its position.
At or near Banitza are the mineral acidulous waters of Lyncestis, much renowned among the ancients, who imagined that they possessed in- toxicating qualities ' ; they were noticed by Dr. Browne in the year 1669 2.
Although Livy employs the name Pelagonia in his narrative of the campaign of Sulpicius only as that of a large district containing Stymbara, it is evident from his account of the division of Mace- donia into four provinces after the Roman conquest, that if not at the former period of time, thirty-three years later at least, Pelagonia was the appellation of the chief town of the Pelagones, which then became the capital of the Fourth Macedonia 3. It was perhaps not specifically employed as the name of a town until the two other cities of Pelagonia were ruined : for that Pelagonia or a portion of it once contained three we may infer from the adjunct Tripolitis given to it by Strabo, who also shows, if I rightly apprehend his meaning, that one of the
1 "E<rn <)£ Trepi AvyKov kprjvr) Tig vdarog 6{,eoq. — Aristot. Me- teor. 1. 2, c. 3. — Theopomp. ap. Antigon. Caryst. c. 180, ap. Plin. 1. 2, c. 103; 1. 31, c. 2, et ap. Sotion. de flum, — Vitruv. 1. 8, c. 3. Ovid Me- tam. 1. 15, v. 329.
2 He passed them in the
road from Filurina to Egri Budja, from whence he pro- ceeded to Sarighiul : he calls the place Eccisso Verbeni ; pos- sibly this may be some corrup- tion of the name of the Derveni or pass. It sounds Wallachian. 3 Liv. 1. 45, c. 29.
XX VIII. J
MACEDONIA.
319
three towns bore the same name as the Azorus of Perrhsebia Tripolitis1. The name Pelagonia still exi sts as the designation of the Greek metropolitan bishopric, of which the see is Bitolia, or Monas- tiri 2, which latter Greek name the Turks have adopted. Bitolia is now the chief place of the sur- rounding country, and the ordinary residence of the governor-general of Rumili. At or near the town are many vestiges of ancient buildings of Roman times. These the natives suppose to have belonged to a city named Tripolis 3 : a tradition
1 'O 3e 'Epiywv TroXXd ce^ii- fievog pEVfjLciTa ek twv 'IXXv-
piKU) V 6pd)V Kai AvyKT)(TTWV Kai
UpvyiZv, Kai AeuptoVajy Kai Ue- Xayoptov tic top" A£iop EKSl^wcn. Uporepov fitv ovv Kai ttoXeiq i\aav kv tolq edvevi tovtolq. TpnroXiTic yovp ?/ HeXayovla iXtyero, i)q /cat" A£wpO£ i]V, Kai eVt r« 'Epiytim Trdaai al t(Hp
AtVptoVwj' 7T0\£tC $Kr)PTO, U)P
to Rpvdpiop Kai 'AXco/ievai Kai 2,Tvpfiapa. — Strabo, p. 327.
2 >/ M.TriTU)\ia, to Movaorr/- ptov.
3 The following are some
inscriptions which were found among the ruins called those of Tripolis, in an excavation made in that spot in the search of building materials in the year 1808. They were communi- cated to me by Aly Pasha, who at the same time presented me with a Hermaic bust, and a head which seems to have formed part of another. The former is in perfect preserva- tion, and is inscribed with the name AISXINHS. An engrav- ing of it has been published by Mr. Millingen. — Anc. uned. Monuments Series 2 pi. 9.
On a square stele, five feet high and two feet and a half square, adorned with mould- ings in the usual taste of the declining Roman Empire.
McikecWwv ol Hivvecpoi Ma'p-
INSCRIPTIONS FROM BITOLIA.
Kiav 'AKv\iap,$>afipiKiai>ov Atte- poq dvyaTEpa, avcpog uyaOov.
2.
On a similar stele — ' Ay adrj Tv^t)' To koipov tiUp Mcu'tcWwv MaVXiay JIovTEiav
320
MACEDONIA.
CHAP.
which accords with the existence of a Pelagonia Tripolitis as attested by Strabo, and which is not adverse to the identity of Tripolis with the city Pelagonia of Livy, since it is easy to conceive that after the reduction of the two other towns of the Tripolitis (and Strabo asserts that all the towns on the Erigon, Stymbara included, were ruins in his time), the surviving city may have been known by the name of Tripolis, as formed from the three former towns, and that it may also have been often known by the name of the district, Pelagonia. Bitolia being a word of Greek origin, may possibly be a corruption of a third name of the same place, or that which the city bore when the three towns of Pelagonia still existed : the Hellenic name most resembling it is Epitalia.
The passes of Pelagonia, in which Perseus was stationed by his father Philip, 1 take to have been the passage over the mountains in the modern
AovKOvWav ' Atypvtcdvqv AvXuv XIovtLov Bi/pou tov XafnrpoTarov ' Ai'dvTrcirov yvvciiica dperiic
h'EKEV.
3.
On a quadrangular stele unadorned, two feet and a half high and two feet broad —
NA-ctvcipog arparLbJTTjg l^tov dv£Br)Kzv eavrov ke -KthLov ke TepririQ rijg cEjuyorarqe nv/J.-
/3/ov
K£ avvaptOTEVovTiov rdv fiovwv Oeiordrtov fiov TrivQepiov
Ik t<Zv Iciojv \ivi\-
4.
On a sepulchral marble — TXafvpuJg fttJaairi dy?pi
fJ.OV(TlKO) Xpr)OTtp <J>l\t7T7rW 'Ep-
fxiovri fX}'i]f.ir]c ^ciptv. 5. On another stele — Zweoue 'Hpu(c\i£ rj; dvyarpi [ivi'ifirie \dpiv tT&v k'C kcl\ avrt) Ciooa tTToiei.
6. AiXiavrj 'lovXiat'ip.
7.
$>dj3iav .... (>o£av
M. ~2iTEpTlVlOQ K.O£l)TO£ fAvfyfltlQ
%dpiv.
XX VIII. j
MACEDONIA.
321
route from 'Akhridha to Bitolia, which now forms the main communication instead of the old line or lines of the Via Egnatia, that change having probably been caused by the circumstance that A'khridha and Bitolia being now the chief places instead of Lychnidus and Heracleia, and lying respectively to the northwrard of the two ancient places, have caused the road to assume a more northerly line in this part, and which has occurred the more easily, as anciently the Egnatia was here diverted from its direct line by the necessity of passing round either the northern or southern end of the lake Lychnidus, and had no advantage therefore in shortness over the present line.
The pass of Pelagonia was of great importance as one of the direct entrances from Illyria into Macedonia by the course of the river Drilon, now called Drin. Hence it was necessary for the kings of Macedonia to maintain strong gar- risons in Lychnidus and some other positions on the lake, as well as in Styinbara and Heracleia. By means of these garrisons and the strength of the frontier, the kingdom was not so liable to invasion here as on the side of Scupi, which commanded the entrance from Dardania into the plains of the Upper Axius, and which place having been generally held by the Dardani, gave them great facilities of offence against Mace- donia.
Stymbara or Stubera appears from Polybius and Livy to have stood in the most fertile part of the country, to the northward of Bito-
VOL. III. Y
322
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
lia1; a situation which accords with its having been the place from whence Perseus marched in three days to Uscana, the chief town of the Penestiana 2, situated probably on the Dr'don, at or near the modern Dibre. Stymbara would seem to have been near Prillapo, by the Turks called Pyrlepe, and Pluvina, between Stymbara and Bryanium which was not far from the passes leading into Eordaea. If Strabo is correct in naming Alcomenae as a town on the Erigon, its situa- tion appears to have been above Bryanium, for below that town, or betwreen it and the junc- tion of the Erigon with the Axius, the Tabular Itinerary shows that we ought to place Euristus (the orthography is not quite certain) and Stobi. By Ptolemy both these towns are ascribed to Pela- gonia, and by other authorities Stobi is designated a city of Paeonia ; but these, and some other con- flicting testimonies of the same kind, are recon- ciled, if we admit that Deuriopus was sometimes considered a subdivision of Pelagonia, and the lat- ter sometimes a subdivision of Paeonia.
I have already remarked how exactly Livy's de- scription of Celetrum, as well in relative position as in its situation on a peninsula in a lake, agrees with Kastoria. By means of this datum we have the exact course of the march of Sulpicius on his return from Pelagonia into Dassaretia. From Mordcea or Sarighioli he crossed a part of the plain
1 Polyb. 1. 28, c. 8. Liv. 1. 31, c. 39.
Liv. 1. 43, c. 10, 18.
XXVIII.]
ILLYRIA.
323
of Grevena, and through Anaselitza to Kastoria, from whence his route to Pelium in Dassaretia could have been no other than through the pass of Tzangon, which, being the only interruption in the great dorsal ridge of Northern Greece, was un- doubtedly one of the most frequented of the com- munications between the two sides of the country, and particularly from Ores'tis into Dassaretia. It was precisely near Pelium that Arrian describes a remarkable pass, through which flowed the Eor- daicus, leaving in one part space only for four shields abreast ' ; a description which corresponds so exactly with the pass of Tzangon, both as to the river and the breadth of one part of the pass, that the identity can hardly be questioned. Pelium was situated at the foot of a woody mountain, near the pass ; a description which may be applied either to Pliassa or to Poyani, but the former has the preference by its name, which seems to be a
vulgar Sounding of IIr)\iaaaa.
The march of Alexander in approaching Pelium, as well as his subsequent progress to Pelinnaeum in Thessaly, may furnish some further illustrations of the relative chorography. He was returning from an expedition against the Getae, who dwelt beyond the Danube, and had arrived in the coun- try of the Agrianes and Paeones, when he received intelligence that Clitus and Glaucias, who shared between them all maritime Illyria, had declared against him, and had prevailed upon the Autariatae to attack him on the route. But Langarus, king of
1 Arrian. de exp. Alex. 1. 1, c. 5.
y2
324
TLLYRTA
[CHAP.
the Agrianes, having frustrated the latter design by invading the country of the Autariatae, Alexander was enabled to march without interruption along the Erigon, and from thence to Pelium1, near which the Illyrians were encamped. After some opera- lions which are not very clearly described, he sur- prised the Illyrian camp in the night, when Glau- cias fled, pursued by Alexander as far as the moun- tains of the Taulantii, while Clitus retired into Pelium, from whence, after having burnt the city, he proceeded to join Glaucias in Taulantia. Soon after this event Alexander received advice of the revolt of Thebes, when, crossing Eordaea and Eli- meia, and passing the mountains of the Tymphaei and Paravaei, he arrived in seven days at Pelin- naeum in Thessaly.
Without the comparison afforded by Livy's ac- count of the proceedings of Sulpicius, it might be supposed from the circumstances stated by Arrian, that Pelium was not far from the Erigon, or the name Eordaicus might lead to the impression that Pelium was in Eordsea, instead of having been upon a river which flows to the western coast. It is clear, however, that Pelium was not far from the mountains of the Taulantii, a people who occupied the plains extending to the western coast. Again, it might be thought that Alexander marched from Pelium to Pelinnseum by the most direct route ; but as in that case he would not have passed through any part of Eor-
1 'AXt'ijai^poc £e napd rbr 'Epiyoya Trorafibv iruptvofiEVog ££ UiXXiov noXiv EoreWtro.
XXVIII. j
ILLYRIA,
325
daea, the historian has probably omitted to men- tion that Alexander returned home to Pella before lie received intelligence of the revolt of Thebes : on which supposition the road to Pelinnaeum would have led through the centre, first of Eordsea and then of Elimeia, as Arrian relates.
If the situation of Pelium as deduced from the combined evidence of Arrian and Livy be correct, it will follow that Dassaretia comprehended not only the great valley which contains the lake of Lychnidus, but also the plain of Korytza : and that plain being an extensive corn country, the in- ference accords with that abundance of grain in Dassaretia which enabled Sulpicius to save his own stock while he passed through that district, and which induced him afterwards to send back his foragers thither, though he was encamped in an equally fertile plain, but of which he had not the same military possession.
The western part of Dassaretia was a contrast to the eastern, consisting entirely of lofty and rugged mountains intersected by branches of the river Apsus : its extent was very great. If Benit be the site of Antipatria, as I have shown some reason for supposing, it will follow that the Dassa- rct<B possessed all the mountainous country lying between Korytza and Berat, beyond which latter the frontiers of the Dassareta? met those of the Tau- lantii, Bylliones, and Chaones of Epirus. On the north they bordered on the Eordeti and Penestae, and partly on the Taulantii, while to the eastward the crest of the great central ridge very naturallv formed the line of demarcation between them and
326
ILLYRIA.
[chap.
the Pelagones, Brygi, and Orestae, or in other words, between Illyria and Macedonia. It results from these boundaries that Dassaretia was not less than 60 miles in length, and as much in breadth, an extent such as we are in some measure led to expect from Polybius, who in addition to the towns on the lake of Lychnidus, represents the Phebatae, Pissantini, Calicoeni, and Pirustae, all as tribes of Dassaretia \
The situation of some of these tribes may be deduced from the testimony of the same author, as preserved in the Latin text of Livy2. When Sulpicius was encamped on the Apsus between Dyrrhachium and Apollonia, before he advanced into Lyncestis, he sent Apustius against the neigh- bouring possessions of Philip3. Corragum, Ger- runium, and Orgessus, were captured, not without resistance ; after which, Apustius laid siege to Antipatria, a large city in a narrow pass remark- able for the strength of its position and walls. Having taken this place he slew the men, de- stroyed the walls, burnt the town, and gave up
1 Polyb. 1. 5, c. 108. 3 Liv. 1. 31, c. 27.
a he words of Livy arc, " Apustius extrema Macedonia? populatus ;" where he seems to use the word Macedonia in the same sense in which Strabo (p. 326), informs us that it was sometimes employed, namely, as extending quite to the channel of Corcyra, the rea- son of which was that all the
people used the same tonsure, dialect, and chlamys. But this was evidently an improper designation, and never acknow- ledged in the country itself. When Macedonia was divided into four provinces at the Roman conquest, the Atin- tanes and Tymphaei were the most western tribes attributed to it.
XXVIII.]
ILLYRIA.
327
the plunder to his soldiers, which so intimidated the people of Codrion, that they surrendered to him, although their city was well garrisoned and fortified. Ilion, another town, was taken by force, after which the Romans, in returning to Sulpicius loaded with plunder, were attacked at the passage of the river by Athenagoras, one of the most dis- tinguished of Philip's officers1, but without suf- fering much damage.
Gerrunium (Gertunium ?) and Codrion seem to be the same places which in the text of Polybius are written Gertus and Chrysondion, for he names them together with Antipatria as frontier places which Scerdilaidas had taken from Philip, and which the latter retook in the second year of the Social war, b. c. 221. As Gerrunium and Anti- patria were in Phoebatis, and Orgessus was a town of the Pissantini, it seems probable, assuming An- tipatria to have been at Berat, that the PhaebatcB chiefly inhabited the valley of the Uzumi, and the Pissantini that of the Devol ; and that as Gertunium was attacked by Apustius before An- tipatria, it was lower on the Uzumi than Berat, perhaps, near the junction of the two rivers. To the eastward of it on the Devol, may be placed Orgessus, and somewhat nearer than either to the camp of Sulpicius, Corragum the first named
1 Athenagoras was a pur- puratus. He led the Mace- donians at the first engagement of cavalry against Sulpicius in Lyncus. In the ensuing year he commanded the portion
of the Macedonian army which was stationed on Mount As- naus, at the Aoi fauces, and he had the honour of repulsing the Romans in the battle of Cynoscephahc.
328
ILLYRIA,
[chap.
of the three. Codrion and Ilium seem to have been in the valley of the Uzumi above Berat on the slopes of Tomor. This great mountain still bears probably its ancient name, of which the Greek form was Tomarus. It is easy to conceive that, like the names of mountains and rivers in general, Tomor was a generic word belonging to the aboriginal language of Epirus, and that hence it became attached also to the more celebrated mountain near Dodona. The ancient fortress near the modern village of Tomor may, like that vil- lage, have borne the same name as the mountain itself, according to a custom which seems to have been prevalent in Greece in every age.
In the same chapter of Polybius just referred to, the historian proceeds to relate that Philip, after having recovered the three towns of Phce- batis abovementioned, proceeded to capture other places in Dassaretia, namely, Creonium and Ge- rions, (not the same place as Gertus,) and four towns on the lake Lychnitis, namely, Enchelaria3, Cerax, Sation, and Bcei, then Bantia of the Cali- cceni, and Orgessus of the Pissantini. That the four towns on the lake were on its western shore, may be inferred from the Itineraries, but especially from the Tabular, which evidently followed tho eastern side of the lake from the bridge of the Drilon to Lychnidus, and which makes no mention of any of the places named by Polybius. The same silence as to those towns may perhaps be considered as an argument to prove that all the three routes in the Itineraries led along the eastern shore, but it is very possible that one of them at
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least may have approached the southern end of the lake ohliquely from the pass of Candavia, so as entirely to avoid the western shore. I am inclined to believe that the road in the Jerusalem itinerary passed round the southern end of the lake, and that Patrse was situated at that extremity.
The Pirustae would seem to have been on the northern frontier of Dassaretia, as they joined the Taulantii and some other more northerly Illyrians, to assist the Romans in the reduction of Gentius '. They probably occupied an intermediate tract be- tween the Pissantini, on the lower part of the Devol, and the southern extremity of the lake Lychnitis, in which case there seems to remain only the plain of Korytza to the left of the Eordaicus for the situation of the CaVicoe.ni. Possibly Korytza may be the site of Bantia.
Dec. 6. — Quitting Kozani for Servia at 7.45, Turkish time, we leave Akbunar, by the Greeks called Nizvoro, or 'Izvoro, not far to the left, at the extremity of the vineyards of Kozani, then descend over downs covered with corn-fields, and inter- spersed with small villages, until at 8.45, Had- jiran, about the same size as Akbunar, is \\ mile distant on the left of the road at the foot of the Ghioz-tepe : all these places are Turkish. At 10.6 we arrive at the river Injekara, or Vistritza, which is bordered by white cliffs along the left bank, and on the opposite side by low level ground : fol- low the sands on the bank of the river for nine minutes, then cross it in a broad flat-bottomed boat,
1 Liv. 1. 45, c. 26.
330
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
capable of containing ten or twelve horses, and in an hour and 8 minutes from the river reach Ser- via, having passed over rich meadows and a fertile plain, beyond which is an ascent of 20 minutes to the town.
Servia 1 contains about 500 Turkish houses, and a few Greek. It is situated on the northern side of an opening, in the ridge which commences at the gorges of the Vistritza, near Verria, and ter- minates in the mountains of Khassia, to the north of Trikkala. The most valuable produce of the fields of Servia is a small species of tobacco, bear- ing a yellow leaf like that of Yenidje. The streets of the town are bordered with the herb which is hung to dry along the sides and galleries of the houses, as well as round the yards attached to all the better class of houses.
Dec. 7. — The episcopal church of Servia, which stands on a height rising from the lowest part of the mountain behind the town, is now in ruins, and the bishop's house, which is in the town, is not in much better condition, though he still occupies it. The bishop, whom I visit this morning, supposes Servia to be a Knapa, or colony of Servians, whose descendants were driven out by the Turks, which is not improbable. Another opinion of his holiness seems more questionable, though he advances it as a fact not to be disputed, and the honour of his see being; concerned I do not contest it with him. He asserts that St. Paul passed through Servia on his way from Berrhcea to Athens. Undoubt-
1 to. Stpfiia.
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edly, if the apostle crossed Mount Bermius, Servia was in his way to Athens by Larissa, but it does not appear whether he went to Athens by sea or by land ; and even if we suppose the words w? im OaXcKroav ' to mean, that in order to elude his ene- mies he departed from Berrhcea to the coast " as if he intended to embark," but that in reality he travelled by land, it is much more probable that he should have continued his way through Pieria and by the direct and level road of Tempe, or even by the pass of Petra, than that he should have made a circuitous journey over two ranges of mountains.
Having dismissed the guards who were fur- nished to me by Metjobon at Verria, I take six others from Aly Pasha's derventji at Servia, who is an Albanian Mussulman of Kolonia, and set out for Livadhi, first visiting a ruined castle on the summit of the hill above the episcopal church, and accompanied so far by the Albanian com- mandant, who when he finds that I have some knowledge of the distant objects in view from the castle, shows great satisfaction in answering all my geographical questions, for which he is well qualified by his extensive knowledge of Mace- donia, acquired in the course of his military ser- vices.
All Tjersemba is seen from hence, inclosed by Mount Burino and the Ghioz-tepe ; between which summits the mountain of Siatista shows itself nearly in a line with Kozani, and beyond it to the
1 Act. Apost. c. 17, v. 14. 12
332
MACEDONIA.
Ten A P.
left Siniatziko ; a little to the right of the latter Peristeri is also seen, which looks down on the plains of the Erigon and Bitolia. To the north-eastward rises the great Dhoxa, or Bermius, and to the right of it is seen Velvedhos, or Vel- vendos ', a town of 300 houses, which, though conspicuous by its minaret, is chiefly inhabited by Greeks. Velvedho is 3 hours distant from Servia, and similarly situated on the same moun- tain ; it lies in a line with the great ravine of the Haliacmon, through the opening of which appears the mountain above Pdla.
The castle of Servia was so placed as to com- mand the ascent to the Portes, as the highest point of the pass is called, which here conducts from the banks of the Haliacmon into the valleys watered by tributaries of the Peneius. Being the most direct and easy passage across the Cambunian ridge, it is the natural gate between Macedonia and Perrhaibia, and the position could not have been neglected by the ancients, though I have been unable to discover any Hellenic remains, either in the castle or town. It is now the most important station of the dervent Aga's troops on the beylik, or post road from Larissa and Trik- kala to Bitolia, the first post on which from hence is Kaliari, and the second Filurina. The road from the castle to the Portes is wide and level, and occupies the whole of a natural opening in the mountain.
At the farther end of the Portes are vestiges of a
' IhXfttCur, BlXjUITUr.
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333
fortification apparently of the same date as the castle, and once forming part of the same system of defence. The road to Trikkala follows the eastern foot of the mountain as far as another opening between it and a round hill on the left, where it enters the valley of one of the branches of the Titaresius. This round hill, which is visible through the pass of Servia from Kozani, is called Vigla, a modern word equivalent to Phyle, and is said to retain some vestiges of an ancient fortress. Instead of passing through the Portes, I pursue a higher track along the southern face of the moun- tain, which stretches northward to Katafyghi and the gorges of the Vistritza above Verria. As we ascend, the peak of Samarina appears to the north- westward through the upper straits of the same river, or those which at the southern extremity of Mount Burino, near Kaliani, separate the plains or valleys of Grevena and Venja from those of Tjersemba and Servia.
Our route all the way to Livadhi follows the side of the mountain, gradually ascending and crossing many deep ravines and rocky slopes 'of dangerous footing. At about half way we begin to look down to the right upon a plain which ex- tends five or six miles from the foot of this moun- tain to another called Amarbes, in the direction of Dheminiko. Amarbes is the principal summit of the Cambunii monies : westward it is connected with another named Bunasa, which rises from the left bank of the Vistritza, opposite to Burino. Amar- bes is the great link which connects the Olympene chain behind Servia and Velvendo with the hills of
334
PERRILEBIA.
[chap.
i
Khassia. A small river flows through the middle of the plain on our right, and passes through a glen at its south-western end, near which it receives another stream from some copious sources issuing from the southern foot of Mount Amarbes, where the Livadhiotes have some fulling mills ; then, after making a large angle to the eastward of its former course, enters another plain in which it is joined by the Elasonitiko, or River of Elasona, at Amuri, a small village not far from Dheminiko. The united stream is the Titaresius of Homer, which joins the Peneius in the plain of Larissa. The branch from the mountain of Livadhi is now- called Vurgari or Sarandaforo. At a small dis- tance from its right bank, near the Boghaz, where it quits the plain, is a village named Vuvala, and a metokhi of the monastery of Elassona, standing on a height at the foot of Mount Amarbes. The sum- mit is encircled with the ruined walls of an ancient city of some magnitude. This place, which is near the road from Servia to Trikkala, is reckoned three hours from Livadhi, and is less than one to the right of the road from Servia to Elassona, which, after its exit from the pass of Vigla, leaves the Trikkala road on the right, and crosses the plain diagonally, in a direct line towards Elassona.
At the end of five hours from the castle of Servia we arrive at Livadhi ' : a name which seems to have been given to the place by antithe- sis, the situation being one of the most rugged that can well be imagined, with hardly a foot of
1 Aifidhov.
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PERRII&BIA.
335
plain within some miles of it. The town contains 800 houses, situated in a rocky hollow below a peak in the range of mountains which extend from hence as far as the maritime plain of Katerina, and the right bank of the Vistritza, near Verria. The highest summit of these mountains is a conspi- cuous object from Saloniki, and has already been mentioned as one of the chief points of the Olympenc chain 1.
Livadhi is a Wallachian colony of ancient date, and is hence often called Vlakho-Livadho. The other Vlakhiote villages in this vicinity are Kok- kinoplo, on the side of 'Elymbo, three hours' dis- tant from hence towards Tzaritzena, Ftera at the same distance towards Katerina, and Neokhori situated between Servia and Livadhi, in a lofty situation on the mountain, an hour to the left of the road by which we came. Kokkinoplo has about 200 houses, Ftera 100, and Neo-khorio 20 or 30. Near Ftera. there is said to be an ancient quarry. These villages live chiefly by the manu- facture of the coarse woollen cloth called skuti, of which are made the cloaks named Ka-inraig, in Ita- lian cappe, extensively used in Greece and the Adriatic. The cloth is of two kinds, white and black, and is made shaggy in the inside : it is sent to Venice and Trieste in pieces called xyla, which are two peeks long and four or four and a half hands broad. The Kalarytiotes, who manu- facture the same kind of cloth in their own moun- tains, and whose merchants reside in the Adriatic,
See above, p. 297.
336
PERRII/EBIA.
[chap.
are in the habit of buying up that which is made by the Livadhiotes, and of sending it to some mer- chant, generally a Venetian, at Salonlki, who ships it to the Kalarytiote merchant in the Adria- tic, charging two piastres and a half per fortoma of 140 xyla as spedizionario. The Livadhiotes make annually from 150 to 200 fortomata. They grow very little corn, but possess an abundance of sheep, goats, horses, and mules. Like the Kalary- tiotes, they are proud of the excellent air and water of their town, but are so nice on the subject of the latter as sometimes to send three hours, in order to procure the choicest. The lake of Kastoria supplies them with fish at twenty-five or thirty paras the oke, better than the sea-fish which is sold at Salo- nlki for forty-five. On the other hand, the climate is so severe in winter, that the inhabitants are some- times snowed up in their houses for several days, and are forced to drink melted snow, not being- able to get at their wells and springs. It is now a hard frost, and we found it very difficult on arriving to drag our loaded horses up the steep and slippery streets. The view of Olympus from hence is magnificent ; but the highest summit, the direct distance of which is ten or twelve miles, is not seen, and the same number of hours would be required even in summer to reach it : the route passes by Kokkinoplo, which stands on the great steep, a little above the plain. The town pays 200 purses in contributions. My host, one of the primates, has already disbursed 800 piastres this year for his share, and expects to have some far- ther demands. On the outside of the town stands
xxvrn.]
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337
a monument of an Albanian chieftain, who was killed in fighting against the robbers of Olympus about thirty years ago.
It is now twenty-two years since Aly Pasha by his Dervent-Agalik obtained the command at Livadhi, since which time he has always been the farmer of its revenues. Its importance to him is chiefly derived from its proximity to the pass leading from Elasona or Servia into the maritime plains of Macedonia, and which is at once the most direct and least difficult of the routes across the Olympene barrier. In this pass one hour and a half from Livadhi stands the village of Aio Dhi- mitri, and one hour and a half farther, exactly on the Zygos, are the ruins of the village of Petra, which being a name recorded in ancient history is very useful in elucidating the geography of this frontier of Macedonia and Thessaly. Petra is de- scribed to me as situated on a great insulated rock which is naturally ayj.a^kvt], or separated from the adjoining mountain : the road passes through the opening and then descends into the plain of Kate- rina, which, being undoubtedly a part of the ancient Pieria of Macedonia, the situation of Petra thus illustrates Livy, who shows that Petra was a town of Pieria on the frontier of that province, in the pass which led into the maritime plain from Perrhsebia. l The distance from Livadhi to Katerina by St. Demetrius is reckoned ten hours. There is another road which leads over the same ridge from Servia, by Velvendos, to Katerina ; but it is
1 Liv. 1. 39, c. 20 ; 1. 44, c. 32 ; 1. 45, c. 41. VOL. III. Z
338
PERUIIJEBIA.
[CHAP.
not so easy as the pass of Petra : and it was a com- munication, if it existed anciently, not from Thes- saly into Macedonia, but from Elimeia of Upper into Pieria of Lower Macedonia.
I have already observed, that the mountains which rise from the right bank of the Vistritza, and extend from the plain of Grevena to that of Verria, were the ancient Cambunii, mentioned by Livy, from whom it is further manifest, that the pass of Servia is the defile in the same moun- tains, named Volustana \ the security of which appeared so important to Perseus on the approach of the consul Q. Marcius Philippus, in the third year of the last Macedonic war, that he occupied it with 10,000 men. It was probably the same pass through which Perseus had entered Thes- saly in the first year of the war2, the same by which the consul Hostilius invaded Macedonia in the following year, and one of the roads into
1 Liv. 1. 44, c. 2. In the word Volustana the V repre- sents probably the B, which was so common an initial in Macedonian names of places ; the two last syllables, arav'a, are perhaps the Macedonic form of areva, and have reference to the pass, the entire name in Greek being BwAou areva.
2 Profectus inde (Perseus a Citio sc.) toto exercitu Eor- daeam petens, ad Begorritem quern vocant lacum positis cas- tris, postero die in Elimeam ad Haliacmona fluvium processit.
Deinde saltu superatis monti- bus, quos Cambunios vocant, descendit ad (Tripolim vocant) Azorum Pythium et Dolichcn incolentes. Haec tria oppida paulisper cunctata quia obsides Larissseis dederant, victa tamen prsesenti metu in deditionem concesserunt. Benigne his ad- pellatis, baud dubius Perrlue- bos quoque idem facturos, ur- bem, nihil cunctatis qui inco- lebant, primo adventu reccpit. Cyretias obpugnare coactus, &c— Liv. 1. 42, c. 53.
XXVITI,
PERIUIjEBIA.
331)
Macedonia contemplated by Marcius when he was encamped between Azorus and Doliche, and before he had determined upon forcing his way across Mount Olympus by Lapathus l. Upon comparing the descriptions which the historian has left us of these transactions, there cannot remain a doubt that the valleys lying between the Cambunian mountains and Olympus, bordering to the north- ward on Elimeia and Pieria, and which extend from Portes and the mountain of Livadhi south- ward to within a few miles of Elasona, constituted the division of Perrhcebia named Tripolitis ; and it seems equally evident from two other occur- rences, one of which happened in the first Mace- donic war2, the other in the campaign of Anti- ochus 9 years afterwards3, that Perrhsebia proper,
1 Aliis per Pythium placebat via (in Macedonian! sc.) aliis per Gambunios montes, qua priore anno duxerat Hostilius consul : aliis praater Ascuridem paludem • . . Per eosdem dies Perseus, quum adpropinquare hostem sciret, quod iter peti- turus esset ignarus, omnes sal- tus insidere praesidiis statuit. In jugum Cambuniorum mon- tium (Volustana ipsi vocant) decern millia levis armaturae cum duce Asclepiodoto mittit ; ad castellum quod super Ascu- ridem paludem erat (Lapathus vocatur locus) Hippias tenere praesidio jussus. Ipse cum re- liquis copiis primo circa Dium, &c— Liv. 1. 44, c. 2.
z
2 Timor omnes qui circum- colunt Bceben paludem, relictis urbibus, montes coegit petere. iEtoli, inopia prcedoe inde aver- si, in Perrhaabiam ire pergunt. Cyretias ibi vi capiunt fcedequc diripiunt : qui Mallseam inco- lunt voluntate in deditioncm societatemque accepti. Ex Perrhaebia Gomphos petenti Amynander auctor erat, &c. — Id. 1. 31, c. 41.
3 Intra decimum diem, quum Pheras venerat, Cranonem . . . cepit (Antiochus sc.) inde Cy- pasram et Metropolim et iis circumjecta castella recepit : omniaque jam regionis ejus, praater Atracem et Gyrtonem, in potestate erant : turn adgredi
340
PERRIIJEBIA.
[CHAP
which contained the city of the Perrhaebi, Cyretiee, and other towns, lay to the southward of the Tri- politis, confining on Pelasgiotis and the Larkscea, and that it comprehended the valleys of Elassona and Dheminiko.
It is by means of these several passages of Livy, following Polybius, that we are enabled to clear up the obscurity which Strabo, or his de- fective text, have thrown on the geography of this quarter of Greece, by naming towns in conjunc- tion which were very wide of each other, and by confounding Perrhsebia Tripolitis, with Pelagonia Tripolitis, which was near eighty miles distant1.
Larissam constituit . . . Per eosdem dies Amynander . . . occupat Pelinnaeum ; et Menip- pus ... in Perrhaebiam profec- tusMallaeametCyretiasvicepit, depopulatusquc est agrum Tri- politanum. His raptim peractis, Larissam ad regem redeunt. — Id. 1. 36, c. 10.
1 TpnroXirig yovv rj tleXayo- via tXiyiTO, tjq teal "A^iopov i)v, Kal kirl rw 'Epiywjt iraoai at Ttvv Aev pLOTriov ttoXeic mki]vto, iov to Hpydvioy seal 'AXicouf.vat Kai HiTvfiftupa' KvEpat e?£ Upv- yuiv, Alyiviov 3e Tvju^niwi' ofiopov AldiKia Kal TpiKKy' TrXr/- alov S* i'l^r] Tijg te MaKE^oviag Kal rrjg QerraXiag Trepi to Holov opog Kal tov Yi'ivlov, AWikeq te Kal ai tov Hrjvtiov Trrjyal, wv dfX(piafti]TovaL Tvfx(f>a.7oi te Kal ol bird rrj HivSa QerraXoi' Kal
TroXig 'O^vvEia irapd tov "lova ■KOTajxov, dirE^ovaa 'A(iopov r//e TpfiroXiTtcoQ aTaoiovQ tiKOcri Kal EKaTOv' irXiqaiov Se Kal al 'AXvo- fiEPal Kal Alyiviov Kal Evpioiroc Kal al tov'Iovoq eiq tov Hi)veiov avfiftoXai. — Strabo, p. 327.
The most difficult part of this passage is the leap from Stymbara of the Deuriopes and Cydrae of the Brygi to iEgi- nium of the Tymphaei, a dis- tance of 100 miles ; and it is hardly to be accounted for, but on a supposition of the loss of a part of the text. The words iyc Kal "A£wpoQ 7jv, " in winch there was likewise an Azorus," would seem to imply that Strabo had made some previous mention of the Azo- rus of Perrhaebia in another lost passage. It appears that
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Perrhsebia Tripolitis was so named as contain- ing the three cities of Pythium, Azorus, and Doliche. Of these, Pythium appears to have stood exactly at the foot of Olympus, as well from its having been the point from which Xenagoras, a geometrician and poet, measured the perpen- dicular height of Olympus !, as from its having been in the road across the mountain by Petra, since both Livy and Plutarch couple Pythium with Petra in describing the route by which Scipio Nasica crossed Mount Olympus into the rear of the position of Perseus on the Enipeus 2. There seems no question, therefore, that Pythium stood on the angle of the plain between Kok- kinoplo and Livadhi, though I have not been able to ascertain the existence of any remains in that situation. We learn from the epigram just re- ferred to, that the name of Pythium was derived from a temple of Apollo Pythius, in whose honour
Azorus, Alcomenae, and Euro- Europus on or near the lower
pus, were all names found both Axius, and there were cities
in Thessaly, and in Mace- of the same names in Upper
donia. There was an Alco- Thessaly, near JEginium and
nienae on the Erigon, an the Ion.
1 Ou\v/.nrov Kopvtyijt; lirl UvOiou 'AttoWiovoq 'lepov, v\pog t^tt (wpog Kudtruv t)' IfxirpEi) \\\i}pt] fAtv StKcida GTahitov ulav, avrap iir avrij
H\ibpcoi> T£Tpa.ir£ty Xeiwofitvov fxeytdEi' ]Lv^u'l\ov S£ fxiv v'ioq edijkaTO fiirpa KtXevdov Seivaynpt]^' av c>' aval, \a~l9e kCt' tvQXa %i%ov.
Xenagoras. ap. Plutarch, in P. iEmil.
* Liv. 1. 41, e. 32. Plutarch, in Paul. Mmil.
342
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[chap.
it appears from another author that periodical games were there celebrated '.
The ten stades of perpendicular altitude which Xenagoras assigned to the summit of Olympus above Pythium seem to be not far from the truth, and what is uncommon in ancient computations of this kind, the error is more probably in defect than in excess2. It may here be observed, that the name 'Elymbo, i e. ''EXwjU7roc, which is now applied to the mountain, not only by its inha- bitants, but throughout the adjacent parts of Ma- cedonia and Thessaly, is probably not a modern corruption, but the ancient dialectic form, for the iEolic tribes of Greece often substituted the epsi- lon for the omicron, as in the instance of 'Op^o- jitvoe, which the Boeotians called 'Epyo/mevog.
If Pythium was in the situation which I have indicated, we may with some probability place Azorus at Vuvala ; for, as Strabo remarks that Azorus was 120 stades distant from Oxyneia on the Ion 3, which was a branch of the Peneius, it may be inferred, whether the distance be correct or not, that Azorus was the most south-westerly of the towns of Tripolitis which agrees with the position of Vuvala.
Nothing can more strongly show the importance of the pass of Pythium and Petra, than the many occasions on which it is noticed in connection with
1 Stephan. in Ylvdiov. feet are to be added for the
2 Ten stades are equal to height of Pythium above the about 6050 English feet, to sea.
which two or three hundred 3 Strabo, p. 327, v. sup.
XXVIII.]
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343
the military operations of the ancients. Xerxes sent his host this way into Perrhaebia, after having em- ployed a third of his army then encamped in Pieria, in preparing the road \ Brasidas, after his rapid march across Thessaly and Perrhaebia, in the eighth year of the Peloponnesian war, crossed by the same pass to Dium2. Agesilaus, returning into Greece from Asia Minor, in the year b. c. 394, entered Thessaly from Macedonia by the same route 3. Cassander, in the year b. c. 316 traversed the same defile, in proceeding from the Peloponnesus against Olympias at Pydna 4. And lastly, it fur- nished to L. iEmilius Paullus, in the year b. c. 168, the means of forcing Perseus to retreat from his strong position on the Enipeus, as soon as he learnt that Scipio Nasica had overthrown the Macedonian garrison at Petra, and was descend- ing into the plains in the rear of the king's po- sition on the Enipeus 5.
Dec. 8. — From Livadhi to Elassona 5 hours. At 4.50, Turkish time, we descend the mountain, and having reached its foot at the end of an hour and a half, soon leave to the right the plain of the Sarandaforo and enter a valley separated from it by a small ridge of hills which branches north- ward from the heights of Elassona. At the northern extremity of this ridge are some remains of a for- tress on the summit of a peaked hill, which we
1 Herodot. 1. 7, c. 132.
2 Thucyd. 1. 4, c. 78.
3 rrfv uvt))v cJie£«w*' ^wpnj', i)y Kdl Sip^rjij iwupevOi]. — Diodor. 1. 14, c. 83.
Diodor. 1. 19, c. 35. Liv. 1. 44, c. 35.
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[chap.
leave a little on our right, and a few minutes afterwards arrive at the small village of Duklista, situated at the foot of the same heights, where in a ruined church are two fragments of Doric columns 2 feet 8 inches in diameter, and in the burying ground a sepulchral stone, together with some squared blocks. These remains, combined with the name Duklista, seem to indicate the site of Dolichc, the third city of the lYipolitls. Here Kokkinoplo is two or three miles on the left, on the edge of the snow on the ascent of the steepest part of 'Elymbo ; below it to the southward, at the foot of the mountain, is Selos, another large village. We now cross the plain towards the mountain, and at 6.50 fall into the road from Katerina to Elassona. On the right, at a distance of about eight miles, on the summit of a ridge which is the continuation of the southern end of Amarbes, appears the village of Besharitza \ and the large monastery of Ghianota.2. Four hours beyond them in the same direction is Dhissikata, vulgarly Dhishkata 3, a large village in the dis- trict of Khassia, the mountains of which are seen extending to the southward and westward behind the hills of Bessaritza. At 7.30, continuing along the same valley, we leave Bazarli a quarter of an hour on the left of the road, and at 8.10 Ormanli, both large villages, and both Turkish as their names indicate. A mile farther some heights ter- minate the valley and separate it from that of Elassona ; having crossed these, we arrive at 9.50
1 M7r£(T(ra(j(V^«.
Tluvotuq-
&r](jaiKara.
XX VIII.]
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345
at the Panaghia of Elassona, a large ancient mo- nastery said to have been built by the emperor Andronicus.
The town of Elassona lies below the monastery on the edge of the plain, and is divided into two parts by a rapid stream proceeding from an immense chasm which separates the great summit of Olym- pus from an inferior range which stretches from near Elassona to Tempe, and borders the northern side of the Larissaian plain. This latter mountain I take to be the ancient Titarus, as the river now called the Elassonitiko is certainly the Titaresius, or JEurotas\ The height on which the monastery stands is defended on either side by a deep ravine, in the eastern flows the Elassonitiko, in the western a branch of it proceeding from the hills to the northward. Both these ravines, as well as those of some smaller torrents which open into them, consist of a white argillaceous soil worn into fur- rows by the waters, like that of Zakytho and many parts of Achaia, from which peculiarity, as Strabo remarks, Homer derived the epithet which he has applied to Oloosson 2. Of this the Greeks of Elassona are not ignorant ; they add, that at Selos are some remains of the Homeric Elone, which, according to Strabo, was afterwards called Lei- mone s.
1 Strabo, p. 440.
2 "OpOt/u, 'IIXwvjji' re, nokiv t 'OXuoaarova XevK))v.
II. B. v. 739.
Kui 'OAocxtctwv <)£, Xevki) KapyiXnQ uvea, koX 'H\wj'?7 Dtp- TrtHjauyuptvOuffa ano row \ev- paipiKdl ttoXziq ko.1 Tovvoq. 'II
346
PERRH^EBIA.
[chap.
The modern name Elassona can hardly be called a corruption, being in the usual Homaic form of the third case of 'EXaoouv, as Meletius writes the name. The initial E is only a dialectic variation, like ''EXvju7toc for ''OXujU7roc, and 'Epyo/xtvog for 'Op- -^ofitvog, all which were probably the ordinary local forms, although Homer and subsequent writers may have preferred the O to the E, as being general in other parts of Greece. The third o in the Oloosson of Homer seems to have been in- serted or omitted by the ancient poets as the verse happened to require it ^ ; so that the corruption of the modern name is confined to the first a.
The hill of the monastery, defended by the two ravines, and in front falling abruptly to the plain, afforded a strong situation for the ancient city of Oloosson, or at least for its citadel. The only remains are a few fragments of walls, and some foundations behind and around the monastery, consisting of large masses of rough stones and mortar, without any accurately hewn blocks in the ancient style. These have probably been re- moved for modern use, particularly for that of building and repairing the monastery itself, in the walls of which some stones of this kind may be seen. In the church is an inscribed column, but
0 'HXwvrj utrifiaXt rovyo^ia Qev tov Evpwra Tzora^iov, hi> o
Aeif-iajfr] fxerorufxaaBelaa' kcit- ttoit]t}}q TirapiiGtov ktt/Xtt. —
ioKaiTTai Se vvv' afX(j)(i) o vttot^ Strabo, p. 440. \)\vfjnr(t) Kelvrai, ov ttoXv uttu)-
1 HeppatfitKiiv
. Tuvov <ba\av6v t »/cT XyXooauvuv yvlag,
Lycoph. v. 905. 12
XXVIII. j
PERRH7EBIA.
347
the letters are so much defaced that I do not attempt to copy them. The library is well pro- vided with good editions of the classics, brought from Germany by an Igumenos, who had resided there 17 years, and who died here not long ago ; since which there has been nobody capable of read- ing these books, the present monks being as igno- rant and clownish as those of Mount Athos. I pur- chase from them a colossal votive hand of bronze, which was found in one of the ravines.
The town of Elassona, containing about 400 families is the capital of a district of 30 villages, many of which are large. The Voivoda who farms the revenues is an Albanian, and has a large house in the town in the Turkish style. Three mosques and many houses in ruins on the left side of the Elassonitiko show that the Mussul- man population was formerly more numerous. The Greeks, who now form three fourths of the inhabitants, were then confined to the right bank. Their church in that quarter contains an inscribed marble, much defaced, but evidently a record of the manumission of slaves, and of the sum which they paid on the occasion !.
Dec. 9. — From Elassona in 35 minutes to T£apiV££va, in vulgar pronunciation Tjaritjena, a Greek town of 7 or 800 houses, standing at the
1 One of these forms begins TauiEVOVTOQ tT]q TroXeug ttjv 7rpwn;v i^afirjvov 'Avnyuvov rov .... and ends upyvpiov ARIi. Another which has a similar beginning ends with
iXevdepojdelc vtto Euvoi^ou kui KXtO/rar/jag /cat AiKaioyepovQ ifihHce rrj ttoXei A KB. So that 22 denaria seems to have been the ordinary sum paid by the freedman.
348
PERRI-IiEBIA.
[chap.
foot of the range of hills which border the eastern side of the plain of Elassona, to which kaza it belongs. The name is Sclavonic, and not un- common in Russia, and other countries of Europe where dialects of the Illyric are spoken. The place is noted for the manufacture of the stuffs of cotton, or of a mixture of silk and cotton, of which there is a great consumption among both Turks and Greeks for men's vests and women's gowns : cotton thread is also dyed here of several colours and sent to Germany. Immediately behind the middle of the town a rocky aperture in the hills gives passage to a small torrent called Xeria, which rushes through the town into the plain. The rocks are a very white limestone. There are many good houses in the town, but it is not with- out some marks of decline, which are attributed as usual to the effects of Aly Pasha's govern- ment.
The gorges of the Elassonitiko and Xeria are the natural ascents into the upper regions of Olympus, where are several large villages and some cultivated plains situated between the great southern face of that mountain and the summits overhanging Tempe and the Pelasgic plain. It was through this ele- vated country that the consul Quintus Marcius Philippus turned the pass of Tempe and pene- trated from Perrhaebia to the Macedonian coast in the third year of the last Macedonic war1. The pass over this part of the Olympene range is formed like almost all natural routes over high nioun-
1 Liv. 1. 44, c. 2, et seq. Polyb. 1. 28, c. 11.
XXVIII.]
PERTUI/EBIA.
349
tains, by two rivers flowing from the same col, or ridge, in opposite directions. One of these is the Elassonitiko, or Titaresius, the other the river of Platamona ; the heads of the respective ravines through which they flow, are separated only by a plain, at the southern foot of the upper heights of Olympus, which contains the village of Karya, one of the largest on the mountain. This plain is about five miles long, in an E. and W. direction, and is the greatest level space upon Olympus. Like other similar plains on the moun- tains of Greece, it supplies only rye and pasture for flocks. On the fir-clad heights above it, to the north, stands the monastery of the Holy Trinity ', situated near a torrent which flows from thence through a part of the plain of Karya and then to Platamona. St. Triadha was for many years a favourite haunt of the robbers of 'Elymbo, until by the magic touch of Aly's sword the villages of the mountain were converted into tjiftliks of his own, and the robbers into armatoli for their protection.
Southward of the plain of Karya, and divided from it only by a ridge, is the parallel valley of Ezero, about half as large as that of Karya, and so called from a lake which occupies the greater part of it, and which the inhabitants of the village of Ezero endeavoured to draw off into a neighbouring- ravine, but were obliged to desist after having wrought several years at it. The lake of Ezero is evidently the ancient Ascuris. Eastward of this plain is another, not far distant from the summits
1 ciylu Tpuica.
350
PERRII/RBIA.
[chap.
which inclose the pass of Tempe to the northward ; it is separated only by a ridge from a cultivated region around the town of Rapsani, or Rapsiani !, which looks down upon the maritime level at the mouth of the Peneius, and southward is opposed to the face of Mount Ossa and Ambelakia. On the ridge to the westward of Rapsani are the remains of an ancient fortress, probably Lapathus, of which name Rapsani may perhaps be a corruption. In like manner as the plain of Karya and the gorges of the rivers Elassonitiko and Platamona form a separation, between the great Olympus and its sub- ordinate summits, which extend to the plains of Elassona and Larissa, and to Tempe, so these latter mountains are subdivided by the plain of Ezero and that near it to the eastward. The western por- tion of them was evidently the Mount Titarus adja- cent to Olympus noticed by Strabo ; the eastern probably bore the same name as the fortress Lapa- thus which stood upon one of its summits. The dis- tance from Karya. to Ezero is reckoned two hours, and from the latter to Rapsani three hours. Between Karya and Elassona there are two other villages on the mountain, namely, Skamnia, which is not far from the northern side of the plain of Karya, distant one hour and a half from that town, and Boliana one hour distant from Skam- nia, near the western extremity of the plain of Karya, where are some remains of anti- quity called Konispoli, situated at the division of the waters which flow in one direction along the
1 'Viv^dvq, 'Payptdyt].
XX VIII.]
PERRTI7EDIA.
351
plain to Karya, and in the other form the sources of the Xeria, or river of Tzaritzena. Konispoli appears to correspond to the Eudierum of Livy, which was fifteen miles from the Roman camp, between Azorus and Doliche, in the direction of Ascuris and Lapathus K The sources of the prin- cipal branch of the Titaresius are in the great flank of Olympus, between Skamnia and Selos, and particularly at a great perennial spring situ- ated two or three hours to the north-east of Elas- sona : after quitting the gorges of Olympus it ap- proaches Elassona from the north -eastward, turns southward through the town, thence flows west- ward near the foot of the hills on the northern side of the plain, and quitting it at the western extremity passes between hills into the valley of Dheminiko, where it joins the Sarandaforo, or branch from the mountains of Livadhi, near Amuri.
Dec. 10. — At 3.40, Turkish time, leaving Tzaritzena, we continue to cross the plain of Oloosson, not far from the foot of Mount Titarus, and at the south-eastern corner ascend a pass called the derveni of Meluna, where the road traverses a low rocky ridge which connects Titarus with the mountain of Turnavo, and on the descent commands a prospect over the superb plain of Pelasgiotis as far as the entrance of Tempe and Mount Ossa. Beyond the Peneius, to the right of Ossa, is seen the lake of Karatjair, the ancient Nessonis.
1 Liv. 1. 44, c. 3.
35-2
PERRNiEBIA.
[chap. XXVIII.
At 5.10 we arrive at the foot of the heights of Meiuna, and enter the plain at the small Turkish village of Karadere (Mack valley) called by the Greeks Ligara, then turning to the right and fol- lowing the foot of the mountain of Turnavo, cross at 5.35 a small stream just below the mati, or source where it issues from the foot of the moun- tain, and forms a small lake and marsh in the plain to our left. Here a large Turkish village, named Karadjoli, appears across the plain on the side of Mount lyitarus, two or three miles on our left. Some conspicuous remains of the Hellenic walls, inclosing the face of the hill, show it to be the position of a city of some importance.
Continuing to wind to the right along the foot of the mountain of Turnavo, we cross at 6.33 another rivulet flowing from a source on our right, called Krya-vrysi, pass a large tumulus to the left, and at 6.48 arrive in the town of Turnavo, or Tyrnavo1, which stands in the plain, but not far from the mountain.
1 Tovpvafioc;, TvpvaftoQ.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THESSALIA.
Turnavo — Manufactures — Kastri — Tatari — Larissa — Palea Larissa, Crannon — Argissa — Atrax — Metropolis — Karalar — Marmariani, Sy curium — First Campaign of the Persic War — Scea — Mopsium — Pha lanna — Elateia — Gyrton — Kiserli — Makrikhori — Vale of Dereli — Baba — Ascent of Mount Ossa — Ambelakia, its productions, &c. — Lykostomo, Gonnus — Pass of Lykostomo, Tempe — River Peneius — Ancient descrip- tions of Tempe — Gonnocondylus — Charax — Castle of Tempe.
Turnavo contains 1500 families; of these only 70 are Mahometan, a number which compared with the six mosques still existing, shows how much the Turkish population has diminished. It is said that there were once 4000 houses, which the great number of those in ruins, or uninhabited, renders credible. The causes to which the depopulation is ascribed, are several successive years of plague, the first Russian war which brought the Albanians into Thessaly in great numbers, and lastly, the acquisition of the place by Aly Pasha, which has driven away the Turks. Turnavo, like Tzaritzena, is a name of Sclavonic origin, and shows that a colony of that race, perhaps from Turnavo in Bul- garia, was once settled here, of which no other trace than the name now remains. Another Illyric name is found at the lake and village Ezero, in vol. in. a a
354
THESSALIA.
[(HAP
Mount Titarus, between Tzaritzena and Rapsani. These are the more remarkable, as there are few if any others in the great eastern Thessalo- Macedonian range to the southward of Vodhena. Like Tzaritzena, Turnavo has been and is still indebted for its importance to the weaving and dyeing of the stuffs made of cotton, or of a mix- ture of silk and cotton called bukhasia and aladja, and to the dyeing of cotton thread, which is chiefly sold to the Ambelakiotes. Long towels in the Turkish and Greek fashion interwoven with gold threads, and shawls for the head and waist, are also made here. There are three dyeing manufactories ; but the looms are all in private houses ; these are reckoned to produce daily 1200 Ko/x/icma, or pieces of seven peeks each. There are only 200 working days in the year, so numerous are the Greek holidays. Ninety okes of thread are made every day in the town ; the surrounding villages supply one third of that which is used in the looms, and all that which is dyed for exportation. Tzaritzena makes as many stuffs as Turnavo, but does not dye so much thread. As at Tzaritzena, Siatista, Kozani, and Kastoria, there are many persons here who speak German, and they were more numerous formerly ; but as in the places just men- tioned, those who have realized any property often prefer the secure enjoyment of it in Christendom, to the chance of increasing it here.
The metropolitan bishop of Larissa, who is now at Turnavo on a visitation, has been translated to this dignity from the see of Grevena since I met him last year at Ioannina. He paid sixty purses to the
XXIX.]
THESSALIA.
355
Porte upon this occasion, and finds the see bur- thened with a debt of 300 purses, bearing the cus- tomary high interest, which he finds the more dif- ficult to pay, as the exportation of grain from Thes- saly is forbidden to all but the agents of govern- ment, which disables the bishop's flock from con- tributing to the payment of his demands upon them, or at least supplies an excuse for withhold- ing them. Almost all the Greek bishoprics are burthened in the same manner with debt ; but like the public debts of other countries, they form a bond of union between individuals and the au- thorities, and in this country have the advantage of saving the former from the dangers of hoarding — the only alternative with those who are fearful of the risks of commerce. The necessity of being prepared to pay the interest gives the bishops also something more than a personal plea for enforcing the collection of their dues from the clergy and laity, in which they often find great difficulty. Aly Pasha's bishops are generally assisted by His Highness's buyurti, supported sometimes, espe- cially in the case of the bishop of Ioannina, by a palikari or two, to ensure attention to it. It was by Aly's influence at Constantinople that the bishop of Larissa obtained his promotion, the Pasha finding it useful to the support of his influ- ence in this part of Thessaly to have the chief Christian authority subservient to him, and in the hands of one who has long resided at his court. The largest house at present in Turnavo was built by Mukhtar Pasha for a young Antinous of this
a a2
356
TH ESS A LI A,
CHAP.
place, whom Aly has lately, upon complaint of his son's wife, ordered to be put to death, but who has been saved and concealed by Mukhtar.
There are many fragments of antiquity in dif- ferent parts of the town, some of which it is not easy to obtain a sight of, as they are in private houses : they are all said to have been brought from a height half an hour below Turnavo called Kastri. At a well in the town, a large sepulchral stone represents a woman sitting in a chair, with a couch before her on which lies a child stretching out its hands to join those of the mother. The attitudes and drapery indicate a high antiquity. In the churches are a few sepulchral stelae, with the remains of names on them. The most interesting monument is in the court which surrounds the epis- copal church and palace, where a plain quadran- gular block of white marble is inscribed on one of the narrow sides with four lines in the iEolic or Thessalian dialect : it is a dedication to Apollo Cerdous by Sosipatrus, son of Polemarchides, who had held the offices of Hieromnemon and Archi- daphnephorus '.
1 'AirXovvi Ktp^o/'ou ^aova'i- warpoQ Uo\efiap\iSaloe b dvrctQ oviBtiKt iF.po/.ivaiJ.oi'elffa.Q kcu dpxi^av^vacpopEiffaC' In common Hellenic — 'AttoXXiovi Kepoww 2<i><7t7ra- rpoc TloXenap-^i^ov u dvrrjc di't- OrjKE iepofj.yrifiovi](rac Kal ctpX'~ tia<pvr}(popiicrae.
Plato (in Cratyl.) says that the Thessalians called Apollo 'ATrXvg. It would rather seem from this inscription to have been 'A7r\oue, or 'AttXovv, 'A7r- Xovvoq. Aplu is the form of Apollo's name on Etruscan monuments, which supports the opinion as to the Pelasgic
XXIX.]
THESSALIA.
357
The lands of Turnavo produce corn, wine, and cotton, but are not extensive, being bounded at a few miles' distance by those of Larissa to the south, and to the east and north-east by the Koni- aro-khoria, named Kazaklari, Misalari, Karadjoli. All these places, as well as Tatari and Bakrina, are inhabited entirely by Turks, whose appellation of Koniaridhes indicates that they are remains of the original settlers from Konia or Icoiiium, who came here before the conquest of Constantinople. They are employed entirely in the cultivation of the soil, the surplus produce of which suffices to supply them with their other wants. They are poor and inoffensive, and their name is a bye-word of con- tempt among the Albanians, who esteem nothing but the power derived from the sword and the tufek.
Reapers in the plain of Turnavo receive from 80 to 100 paras a day, but without provision or wine : these high wages are not undeserved, as the heat in harvest is so excessive as often to cause sickness and even death among the labourers. In the vineyards they have generally 50 paras a day, with meat and wine, but no bread. The wine
origin of the Etruscans ; for the Larissaean plain was one of the peculiar seats of the Pelasgi, and was named Pelas- giotis to the latest period of antiquity. The epithet Ktp^woc here applied to Apollo, is found in Lycophron, v. 208, where the scholiast says that he was
so called as showing things profitable (tTrttcipcri) by means of his oracles. The possessive adjective instead of the noun, in the second case, to express the name of the father, appears from many other inscriptions to have been a Thessalian cus- tom.
358
TIIESSALIA.
[chap
made here would be good were it not for the haste with which it is drawn off from the fruit before the fermentation is complete. As usual throughout Greece, water is added to it before it is sold in the wine-houses ; but there is no mixture here of the resin, which in the poorer liquors of Epirus, Attica, and the Morea, serves to check, in some degree, the acetous fermentation. The wine called rirjXivoc is flavoured with several herbs, and has a taste by no means agreeable. The cotton, like that of Thes- saly in general, is reckoned superior to the Mace- donian, and second only to that of Magnesia ad Sipylum, and to some peculiar kinds of the cotton of Smyrna.
The mountain above the town is known by the name of Kritiri ' : its summit lies a little to the westward of a line drawn from Elassona to Tur- navo. The ridge has the appearance of extending to the southward as far as the Klisura, or opening noticed on my former journey, through which the Peneius issues into the Larisscean plain, but in fact there is another similar opening but narrower, about an hour to the southward of Turnavo, through which the Titaresius, here commonly called Xeraghi, enters the plain. This stream, after flowing parallel to the foot of the hill, and leaving the town near its left bank, turns east- ward, and finally joins the Peneius, at an hour's distance, between Misalari and Kazaklari. The Xeraghi deserves its name, having no water in it, which surprised me, as at Elassona there was a
»/7->/('
XXIX.]
THESSALIA.
359
considerable stream ; but this is sufficiently ac- counted for by the TroTiopaTa, for irrigating gardens and fields of maize, cotton, and tobacco, which in- tercept its waters in the plain of Dheminiko and valley of Dhamasi, and by a canal which carries water to Larissa. But notwithstanding these diver- sions, it is sometimes a respectable river at Tur- navo, as a bridge of fifteen arches at the entrance of the town testifies. Even now the bed, although apparently dry, is said to abound in dangerous quicksands, concealing a considerable quantity of water.
Sometimes the higher classes of Greeks show greater ignorance even than the peasantry. The master of the house in which I lodge, one of the richest men in the place, and who has resided in Germany, asks me for a herb to turn copper into gold, and learns, for the first time in his life, that the stream which flows by Turnavo is the same as that at Elassona, and that it has its origin in Mount Olympus. There are two routes from Turnavo to Tempe ; one leading to Dereli, on the northern side of the fauces ; the other to Ambelakia, on the southern side. The former of course does not cross the Sa- lamvria, but passes below Karadjoli and along the foot of Mount Titarus into the vale of Dereli, which has a communication by a bridge with Baba, a town situated on the right bank of the river below Am- belakia, at the entrance of the only road through the strait. The other road from Turnavo to Baba crosses the plain to a ferry over the Salamvria, in a district of small Koniaric villages called Bakrina. This ferry is midway to the northern extremity of
360
THESSALJA.
[chap.
the lake Karatjair, or Nessojiis, where the road joins that from Larissa to Baba, and then ascends an opening in a roeky ridge which here bounds the plain of the Peneius, and separates it from the vale of Kiserli at the foot of Mo ant Ossa. The road then follows that valley, without any farther inter- ruption of heights, to Baba.
Dec. 11. — A heavy fall of rain yesterday even- ing, and a thunder-storm at night, are succeeded by fair weather. In the afternoon I proceed to Larissa, crossing the bridge, and arriving in twenty-seven minutes at Kastri. At a small vil- lage named Amari, two miles to the right, is a large artificial tumulus, similar to that already re- marked in the opposite direction. Kastri is un- doubtedly the site of a Hellenic town, though there now remains nothing but the foundations of a square tower of those times on the summit of the hill, near which are many excavations which have been made for extracting wrought masses of stone, which have been transported to Turnavo. The hill and surrounding fields are strewed with frag;- ments of ancient pottery. Proceeding from hence at 6.30, Turkish time, we cross the plain to Tatari, leaving Kazaklari on the left, composed, like the other Koniaric villages, in this plain, of several makhakis, situated among vineyards, cotton planta- tions, and corn-fields. Large intervals, however, of this fertile plain remain uncultivated. At 7.20 we arrive at a rising ground, resembling that of Kastri, and similarly covered with pottery and the remains of ancient buildings. Several squared blocks of stone are dispersed around the height,
XXIX.]
TUESSALIA.
361
and at its foot a Turkish burying-ground contains among the tomb-stones the fragment of a Doric fluted shaft, five feet three inches in circumference. The height is called Magiila, a common name for an insulated hill in a plain, especially when pre- serving the vestiges of former buildings ; it stands in the midst of a district of small Turkish vil- lages named Tatari.
Leaving the Magula, which is about half an hour from the left bank of the Perieius, at 7.27, we halt at 7.45 at a khan at one of the makhalas of Tatari, near a very extensive Turkish burying- ground, in which, among many ancient sepulchral monuments and fragments of antiquity, I find another dedication to Apollo, under his Thessalian name Aplus, with the addition of the epithet Tem- pites1. iElian alludes to the worship of Apollo at Tempe in his description of that celebrated valley2 ; and it is easy to conceive that the deity may have been worshipped in some of the neighbouring cities under the same appellation. From the khan the bridge of Larissa is just one hour distant.
Dec. 13. — The road from Larissa to the ruins which the Greeks call Palea. Larissa, and absurdly suppose to be the site of the ancient city, diverges a few degrees to the right of the direct road to Fersala, and at the distance of five or six miles enters upon a low undulated tract which separates the lowest level, or that reaching to the banks of
1 'AtzXovvi TefXTrtira, Alcry^v- 2 ./Elian. Var. Hist. 1. 3,
\iq Sarupov e\svdii)ia. — V. C. 1. Inscription, No. 147.
362
THESSALIA.
[chap.
the river, from another rather higher. The latter though now little cultivated, is fertile, and was obviously the territory of one of the chief cities of Thessaly. It extends nine or ten miles south- eastward from the foot of the hill of Alifaka, as far as the ridge which separates this plain from the Pharsalian valley. At the beginning of the undu- lated ground, one hour and five minutes from La- rissa, several squared stones, and a piece of a fluted Doric column, occur in a spot where no Turkish burying-ground or remains of habitations appear. It is perhaps the site of a solitary temple. Ten minutes farther is Hassan Tatari, a small vil- lage, below which are two or three sori at a fountain, some ancient wells, and several wrought stones.
At the end of two hours and twenty-seven minutes from Larissa we arrive at Hadjilar, a tjiftlik belonging to Hadji Halil Aga of Larissa, but inhabited only by the Greeks who cultivate his lands. My lodging here is a cottage of the better sort, but of a construction common throughout the plains of Greece. It consists of one long- apartment in two portions, which have a difference of about two feet in the level. In the higher a hearth without a chimney, two or three shelves, with a few plates and earthen vessels on them, a pan, boiler, and sieve, hung upon the walls, an- nounce the habitation of the human portion of the family, which is separated from that of the cattle only by a barrier of tall baskets, some full of corn and others of dried peas. Two opposite doors form a passage through the building just below the par-
12
XXIX.]
THESSALIA.
363
tition of baskets, between two of which there is an opening serving for the communication between the upper and lower compartments of the cottage.
Half an hour from Hadjilar, in the direction of Fersala, is the place called Palea Larissa, a name which was undoubtedly attached to it when the remains of antiquity were much more considera- ble than they are at present. It supplies an ex- ample of the manner in which the ancient cities of the more fertile parts of Greece have gradually been obliterated, although built by a people with whom durability was the principal object. Besides applying the ordinary materials to reconstruction, the Turks are in the habit of searching for wrought stones of white marble, for the purpose of convert- ing them into tomb-stones, by which means an- cient sculptures and inscriptions are often defaced to make way for the rude representation of a Turkish turban, or for some words in Arabic. Even when the ancient letters have escaped erasure, the monument having been removed to a distance from its original position may only mis- lead the geographical enquirer. In rocky situa- tions, and the poorer parts of the country, the remains have a better chance of preservation than in such fertile plains as these, where large modern towns have succeeded the ancient cities, and where stone being scarce, every village finds it conve- nient to resort to the ancient sites for materials. At Palea Larissa, the sori, or stone coffins of the ancient cemetery, have been particularly in de- mand, as well in Larissa as in all the villages around Hadjilar, where they are used as water
364
THESSALIA.
[chap.
troughs. They were in such request, that the people of this village finding that they were some- times sunk three or four feet deep in the ground, were in the habit of sounding for them with iron rods. But Abdim Bey, chief Ayan of Larissa, in- formed me yesterday that he had forbidden the further search, lest the Porte, hearing false ac- counts of the proceeding, should suppose that trea- sure had been discovered. Notwithstanding* the spoliations to which the ancient remains have been so long exposed, some foundations of the walls of the town, or more probably of the citadel, may be traced along the edge of a quadrangular height called Paleokastro, which is nearly a mile in cir- cumference, and towards the upper part of which are some vestiges of a transverse wall forming a double inclosure. This height, and all the fields around, are covered with pottery, and on the side of the height, or on the rise of the hills behind it, are eight or nine small tumuli. Here the sori wTere found, and some of them are still left above- ground, not having been carried away after they had been dug out. They are plain coffins, roughly shaped, and with marks of the tool still remaining upon the stone. Nearly half a mile to the south- ward of the Paleokastro are two other artificial heights on the slope of the hills, at the foot of one of which a semicircular cavity in the ground looks like the vestige of a theatre ; but as its aspect is towards the hills, and not towards the plain, and as it is beyond the ancient cemetery, 1 am inclined to think it only a natural accident of the ground. A little beyond this spot, to the south-
XXIX.]
TTIESSALIA.
36/
ward, the road from Larissa to Maskoluri crosses the heights into the plain of the Enipeus.
Dec. 14. — The most interesting of the monuments found at Palea Larissa have been removed from thence and deposited b}^ the Greeks, who generally show this respect for the works of their ancestors, at the little village church of Hadjilar. The first to be mentioned is an inscription of forty lines, in small characters of the best times, wanting four or five lines at the commencement, as well as a few letters at the beginning and end of every line, but still preserving enough to prove Palea Larissa to be the site of Crannon1, or as the name is written on the marble Cranon2. This inscription is in the Thes- salic dialect, among the peculiarities of which is the conversion of the Hellenic Q into OY, so that TOYN TArOYN TN0YMA2 occurs for TON TA- TQN TNQMAS. The name of the people is written KPANOYNNIOI ; ONAAOYMA represents ANA- AQMA, and resembles the 0NE6EIKE of the in- scription of Turnavo ; of this form another instance is found in the words *A<J>I2MA ONrPA<PEI EN KIONA A16IN0N, which are repeated. The object of this record is the very common one of
1 Crannon is placed in the Pentinger table on the road from Larissa to Phalyra in the Maliac gulf, 15 M. p. from the former, and 38 m. p. from the latter, which nearly accords with the situation of Palea Larissa relatively to Larissa and the gulf.
2 On the coins we find KPAN, KPANNO, KPANNil- NI£2N. The single or double letter was generally a matter of indifference. KPANNOY- NIOYN is also found on some of the coins, and in like man- ner Yofxfirovv, $>epaiovr, on those of Gomphi and Pheroe.
366
THESSAMA.
[chap
a vote of citizenship to certain foreign benefactors of the city1. A stone in the wall of the church, upon which a Hermes on a pedestal is represented in relief, is inscribed with the words EPMAO X90NIOY2, in very neat characters well pre- served. On a handsome pedestal in the church- yard are the words NIKA2inn02 NIK0YNEI02 8, where the last word, which in Attica and most other parts of Greece would have been NIKQNOS, exemplifies both the provincial custom of convert- ing Q into OY, and that of employing the patro- nymic adjective instead of the father's name in the second case. On turning up a marble lying in the church, I find that it is sculptured in low relief, without any inscription, and represents a female placing a chaplet on the head of a horse, a large dog standing by. The priest allows me to carry it away on condition of leaving a present for the church. In one of the cottages is a sepulchral stone representing a man with a small dog leaping up to caress him, — the drapery heavy and figure unfinished. While I was copying the inscription in the church, a wedding* took place, this being Kwptafc?}, or Sunday, which after mass is the usual time for that ceremony among the Greeks. All the village was assembled. Boiled corn, bread, and raki were handed about, and the bride kissed the hand of all present.
It is reckoned an hour and a half from Hadjilar to the Paleo-kastro above the village of Alifaka,
1 V. Inscription, No. 149.
2 V. Inscription, No. 150.
V. Inscription, No. 151.
XXIX.]
THESSALTA.
367
near the right bank of the Peneius. The road passes by Taushan, a small village lying at the foot of the hill, and then over the ridge, leaving the summit to the left. We return to Larissa in the afternoon by the same route by which we came.
Dec. 15. — At 4.24, Turkish, having crossed the bridge of Larissa, I pursue westward for about a quarter of an hour a kalderim, or causeway along the side of an inundation which is formed by the river in winter, and then crossing the plain with the river at a short distance on the left, arrive, at 5.7, at a spot where some ancient foundations, two or three covers of sori, and several squared blocks are scattered on the ground. In a neighbouring field lies a fragment of a Doric column, of which the chord of the fluting is six inches. An inun- dation extends from hence to the river, which is half a mile distant. A third of a mile to the right are six tumuli standing nearly in a line, and stretching three quarters of a mile from east to west ; the two in the middle are large, particularly one of them, the others are small and low. Be- hind one of those in the middle there is a seventh. Tumuli being generally indications of sites of high antiquity, these probaby mark the position of the Homeric Argissa ; the remains in the road may be those of its successor Argura, which Strabo places exactly in this situation \
1 H fiev ovv " Apyiaaa. r; vvv ti)v h' aviifieaov Trorajxiav £<x°''
" Apyovpa tirl rw Et^veiw Ktirai. Ileppaij3oi. — Strabo, p. 440. —
'Yiripxtirai d' avrrje " At pat, kv Stephan in "Apyovpa. TerrapaKovTa erracioiQ, T(j> 7ro- Eustathius (in II. B. v. 738)
rrifi<p Tr\r)tna£ovffa ical avrr)' says that in some of the copies
368
THESSALIA.
[chap
Proceeding from hence at 5.17, we soon arrive on the bank of the river, and following it, pass at 5.47 for 7 minutes over fields covered with stones and pottery, on low eminences which terminate in an earthy cliff overhanging the river's bank. Five minutes beyond the end of this stony ground is another tumbe or tumulus on the right of the road, and as much farther one more.
At 6.45 we arrive at the ferry of Giinitza, which is a small Greek village on the opposite or right bank of the Salamvria, just where it emerges into the plain from the opening more than once men- tioned, which is a rocky gorge about half a mile long. A road ascends the left bank of the river along the pass to Zarko, and another branches from it to Dhamasi li hour distant. The fields on the left bank of the river just opposite to Gunitza, both on the slope of the hill and in the plain, are covered with stones and fragments of ancient pot- tery, and in one place there are foundations of a Hellenic wall. On the summit also are con- siderable remains of a wall of loose stones ex- tending from thence to a lower precipice of the hill. The latter is very rocky, and so abrupt, particularly towards the river, as hardly to have required any artificial fortification in that part. Just within the pass a copious source of water issues from the foot of the height. This place, now called Sidhiro-peliko *, agrees so entirely
of Homer the word was" Apyeia, l Zldripo-TrtXiKog means a
and that the place was founded place where chippings of iron
hy the sons of Larissa, daugh- are found. ter of Pelasgus.
XXIX. J
THESSALIA.
369
with that of Atrax, which stood on the Peneius, ten miles from Larissa, that I have no doubt of the identity, though little of Hellenic antiquity remains here. The strength of the height is in perfect conformity with the successful resistance of Atrax against the consul Quinctius, in the year b.c. 198 '. Neither Livy nor Strabo2, indeed, state on which bank of the Peneius Atrax stood, but as the former remarks that the inhabitants were Perrhaebi, and in another place shows its vicinity to other Perrhsebian towns 3, the left bank is the more probable.
Having crossed the ferry to Gunitza, I there find in a church a sepulchral marble erected in memory of one Coricus, by his wife Melete, daughter of Sosias 4. On the outside of the vil- lage, a great number of mill- stones are collected, which are made in a neighbouring quarry, and are here in preparation to be embarked on the river. Just below the village the river is partly diverted as a canal for mills and irrigation. The ferry is the ordinary communication from Tur- navo, the Larisscaan plain, and Elassona, towards Hadjilar and Fersala.
After having recrossed the river, and dined at the fountain on the bank, the weather clear and warm as in an English May, we proceed to Turnavo, setting out at 8.30, and riding along the foot of the rocky heights with the plain on the
1 Liv. 1. 32, c. 15. 17.
2 Strabo, p. 438. VOL. III.
Bb
3 Liv. 1. 36, c. 13.
4 V. Inscription, No. 152.
370
THESSAL1A.
[chap
right, until at 9.12 we cross a small canal derived from the Elassonitiko, or Titaresius, and which is car- ried from hence directly across the plain to Larissa. I have before observed, that this canal and the irrigations at Dhamasi, and in the plain of Amuri, deprive the river of so much water, that at Tur- navo the sandy bed absorbs all the rest. The opening in the ridge of Kritiri, through which the river issues, is similar to that of Gunitza, — steep rocky heights on either side leaving space only for the river. The pass is about 2 miles in length, and begins to widen a little below Dhamasi ; beyond which village it forms an extensive plain. At 9.22 the large tumulus near Amari is upon a rising ground near the right of the road ; and at 9.45, after having crossed the bed of the Elas- sonitiko, I again enter Turnavo. The Larisscean plain to the north of the Peneius is reckoned not so fertile as that to the south, although this year it produced 20 to 1, and from 15 to 18 is not an uncommon return. The corn of Dhamasi is not so productive, but is reckoned better than that of the LarissGean plain.
After a further inquiry for inscriptions, I dis- cover another, scarcely less interesting than the iEolic dedication to Aplus. It is on the edge or narrow dimension of a square plain marble, upon the top of which are some holes, apparently for the reception of a statue, which the inscription shows to have been that of Petrseus, son of Phi- loxenides of Metropolis, erected by the young men who had been under his direction as gym-
XXIX.]
Til ESS A LI A.
371
nasiarch '. The inference to be drawn from this inscription is that Kastri is the position of Metro- polis, since it is not very likely that the gynma- siarch should have been an alien. That there was a city named Metropolis in this part of the country different from that of Upper Thessaly which was near Ithome and Tricca2, there are proofs in Livy and Stephanus 3. From the historian we learn that Antiochus, in the year 191 b.c. having sailed from Chalcis, and landed at Demetrias, first took Pheraa, then Crannon, then Cypsera, Metropolis, and all the neighbouring fortresses, except Atrax and Gjrrton, after which he encamped before La- rissa, with the intention of besieging that place. But a portion of the Roman army under Appius Claudius, who had been detached by Baebius from Dassaretia, having arrived at Gonnus, and Antio- chus, who saw their fires, having mistaken them for an indication of the arrival of the whole allied force of Philip and the Romans, he was so much alarmed that, taking into consideration also the advanced season, he returned to Demetrias, after having re- mained before Larissa only one day, during which he was rejoined by his allies of Athamania and iEtolia, who had previously quitted his army on hostile expeditions, of which the Tripolitis of Perrhsebia and Pelinnaeum were the most distant points. It is evident that these operations were,
1 Ol yeaviiTKoi Hirpaloy <$i- 3 Liv. 1. 36, c. 10. — Mrjrpo- \o£,evlcov MrfrpoTrgXiTriv yvfjL- TroXig .... -frcipr?? QevtraXias
>aaiap-£))rravra. — V. Tnscrip- ^ekcitt], rrJQ ciyu) Qta-
tion, No. L53. rraXiac. — Stephan. in voce.
2 Strabo, p. 4'.\7-
n 1) 2
372
THESSALIA.
[chap
except in the single instance of the excursion to Pelinnaeum, confined to the Pelasgiotis and Per- rhaebia ; consequently, that the Metropolis there mentioned was in the same part of Thessaly, and distinct from that of Upper Thessaly, which was not far from Gomphi and iEginium, and was taken by Flamininus on his descent into that part of Thessaly after the battle of the Aous1. And thus we have an explanation of the distinction which Stephanus has made between the Metropolis of Thessaly and that of Upper Thessaly.
Dec. 16. — The plain having been dried, and the paths improved by the late fine weather, I return to Larissa this afternoon by the circuitous route of Amari, and from thence directly to the city, for the most part along the canal derived from the Titaresius. The circuit is not so great as by Tatari, but one sixth longer than by the direct paved road, which is about ten miles.
Dec. 17. — At 8.30, Turkish time, leaving La- rissa with horses of the post, and taking the road to Aghia, I observe, as we clear the town, at least sixteen tumuli in the adjacent part of the plain. After a halt of 10 minutes at a tjiftlik belonging to Vely Pasha, we continue our direction towards a rocky point conspicuous from Larissa. This point is the southern extremity of the rocky ridge extending from thence 10 or 12 miles in a northerly direction to the Salamvria, which separates that end of it from Kondo-vuni, as the eastern part of the range of Titarus is called. Approaching the
1 Liv. 1. 32, c. 15.
XXIX. 1
THESSALIA.
373
rocky point, we cross the Asmak, or profundity, a deep watercourse which carries the superfluous waters of the lake Karatjair, or JSfessonis, to the lake of Karla. In seasons of rain the Asmak is impassable, but now it has only water standing in pools, in which small fish are caught. Soon after having passed it, we are abreast of the rocky point, and at 11.15 arrive at a tjiftlik of Abdim Bey, called Karalar, having left the Turkish vil- lage of Marmariani on the slope of the range of Ossa, 2 miles on our left. Not having provided myself with a letter from Abdim, 1 find some diffi- culty in obtaining a lodging here, but at length find refuge in a small cottage, sending our horses to the khan. Two miles and a half beyond Karalar is Gkiuksan, another tjiftlik on the foot of some low ridges which branch from Ossa towards Pelium. About an hour to the south of Gkiuksan is the village of Kastri, at the foot of a hill which stands advanced in front of the heights of Pelium, and is inclosed by the walls of a for- tress, which has an appearance of Roman or lower Greek times, but may possibly be Hellenic ; for it is evident that the people of Thessaly were not always in the habit of employing the massive masonry of the southern parts of Greece, notwith- standing that they occupied the original seats of the Pelasgi, who seem to have taught the Greeks that mode of building. But in many parts of the extensive plains of Thessaly, quarries from which large homogeneous masses might be extracted, sucli as are found in the walls of the cities of southern Greece and the Peloponnesus, were so
374
THESSALIA.
[chap.
distant, that the labour and expence of fortifying in that manner would have been enormous.
An hour and a half beyond Gkiuksan is Aia, properly Aghia1, called Ghiaur Yenidje by the Turks, standing on some heights near the foot of the steepest part of Mount Ossa, exactly in the opening between Ossa and Pelium, and not more than 2 hours from the sea. From Aia to Volo the distance is 10 hours, leaving the lake of Karla on the left, about half way ; in the opposite direction the road from Aia to Ambelakia crosses the mari- time face of Mount Ossa, where are several small villages among the woods, and a path practicable only by mules.
Dec. 18. — We leave Karalar at 3.40, Turkish, but lose twenty minutes by taking the wrong road and wandering in a wood which stretches from Marmariani into the plain. A little below that village are some fragments of white marble, and many stones in the fields. A stream of water which flows through the wood originates in a source in the mountain above Marmariani called Yedi Kapelar, (the seven gates,) where a tank has been formed by means of an embankment. This plentiful supply of water, the marbles, and the name of Marmariani, which seems to have been derived from larger remains of the same kind once existing here, are strong indications of an ancient site, which, from Livy's narrative of the military operations at the beginning of the last Macedonic war, in the year 171 b. c, I infer to be that of Sycurium. We learn from the historian that
1 \\ytaV.
XXIX.]
THESSALIA,
375
Sycurium was situated at a distance of about ten miles from Larissa, at the foot of Mount Ossa, on the southern side, looking upon the Thessalian plains in that direction, and backed by Macedo- nia and Magnesia, abounding in fountains of peren- nial water, and commodiously placed for collect- ing corn from the neighbouring territories of Cran- non and Pherae l.
The consul, P. Licinius Crassus, commander of the Roman army opposed to Perseus, who had marched through Epirus and Athamania to Gom- plii in Upper Thessaly, considered himself fortu- nate in finding that part of the country free from the enemy, as his army had suffered severely in crossing the mountains. After a few days' repose, he continued his route towards Larissa, which was in possession of the Romans, and pitched his camp at Tripolis Scea, a village on the right bank of the Peneius, three miles above that city 2. Here he was joined by the brothers, Eumen.es and Attalus, of Pergamus, with a considerable reinforcement of infantry and a small body of Greek cavalry, chiefly Thessalian. Perseus, being superior in cavalry, endeavoured to draw the consul out of his position by laying waste the Pheraea ; but not succeeding in this design, he marched from Sycurium to the dis-
1 Liv. 1. 42, c. 54, et seq.
2 The vulgar reading is —
ad Larissam
ducit. Inde, quum tria rnillia forme abesset a Tripoli (Sceam vocant) super Peneium amnem posuit castra (c. 55), which im- plies that Scea was three miles
from a place called Tripolis. ]?ut we know of no such town in this part of the country; and as it is clear that the Roman camp was not far from Larissa, the true reading is perhaps " ad Tripolin."
376
THESSALIA.
[chap.
tance of a mile from the Roman camp, where he arrived at the fourth hour of the day. A partial combat ensued midway between the two camps, chiefly of cavalry and light infantry, in which Cas- signatus, chief of the Gauls, was slain. Perseus then returned to Sycurium. On the following day he made a similar attempt, and as the troops had before suffered from a want of water in a march of twelve miles over a plain where little water was to be found, they now carried a supply with them in waggons. But the Romans still remained within their camp, and were equally cautious during several successive days on which Perseus repeated the experiment. The king then moved his army to a distance of five miles from the ene- my, entrenched his position, and on the following day, drawing out his infantry at the same place as before, advanced at sunrise with all his light- armed and cavalry to the Roman camp. As he made his appearance at a much earlier hour than on the former occasions, the Romans were taken by surprise ; the consul, however, having drawn up his infantry behind the rampart of his camp, advanced with his light troops and cavalry against those of Perseus, who had formed around a height called Callicinus, when an engagement ensued in which the Romans were defeated and lost 2000 in- fantry and 400 cavalry. As soon as the Macedo- nian commanders, who had remained in camp, heard of the king's success, they led out the pha- lanx ; but Perseus, being advised not to risk a decisive action, gave orders for its return, of which he had quickly reason to repent, for the enemy,
XXIX. I
THESSALIA.
377
having crossed the river in the night, thus gave a proof of conscious weakness, such as was likely to have led to a complete overthrow. The king now removed to Mopsium, and the Romans, without quitting the bank of the river, retired to a safer situation, where they received a reinforcement of 2000 Numidian cavalry, with infantry in equal numbers, and twenty-two elephants. This position was probably not far from Atrax.
Mopsium, although described only by the histo- rian as a hill midway between Larissa and Tempe1, was a Thessalian city of some importance, as we learn from other authorities, and from its coins, and it was of high antiquity, as the name was said to have been derived from Mopsus, a Lapitha, who accompanied the Argonauts. Its ruined walls are still conspicuous, exactly in the situation mentioned by Livy ; that is to say, midway between Larissa and Tempe, near the northern end of the lake Karatjair or Nessonis, just where the road from the one to the other crosses the ridge which I have already described as extending from a rocky point near Karalar to the Salamvria, not far from the western extremity of Tempe. Mount Mopsium separates the great Larisscean plain from the vale of Kiserli at the foot of Mount Ossa.
1 Ad Mopsium posuit cas- tra (Perseus sc.) tumulus hie inter Tempe et Larissam me- dius est. — Liv. 1. 41, c. 61, 67.
2 Strabo, p. 441. — Stephan. in Mvxpiov. He adds, that the
Ethnic was M6\pwe, but the coins are inscribed Mo^e/wv, the dialectic form of Moni- tor, from Mo-^evg, like K«- pieiuv for Kiepuuiv from Kte- pievg.
378
THESSALIA.
[chap.
From Mopsium, after making proposals of peace, which had no effect in consequence of the unreasonable demands of the consul, Perseus re- turned to Sycurium, and while in that position made an unsuccessful attempt to set fire to the corn which the Romans had been reaping, and had collected in heaps before their tents ; soon after which, the consul, who had exhausted the country around him, removed into the Crannonia for the sake of further supplies. The two camps were now separated by a plain not less deficient in water, and much wider than when the con- tending forces were respectively at Sycurium and Scea. The king, therefore, in advancing against the enemy, began his march from Sycurium at noon, halted in the evening at some distance short of the Romans, and the next morning surprised them by occupying all the hills around their camp with the Macedonian cavalry. As they still de- clined an engagement, Perseus sent orders for his infantry to return to Sycurium, and soon afterwards retired with his horse, followed for a short distance by the Roman cavalry, but who did not venture upon an attack. From Sycurium he once more proceeded to Mopsium, and the Romans, having reaped the corn of the Crannonia, proceeded into the Phalan- naea. Here, while their dispersed foragers were engaged in the same operation, the king suddenly appearing in person with his light-armed and cavalry, captured 600 men and 1000 waggons, and sent them to his camp under an escort of 300 Cretans : he then attacked a body of 800 Romans under L. Pompeius, who retired to a height, and
12
XXIX.]
THESSALIA.
379
though surrounded by the Macedonians, resisted until the consul arrived to their relief. Upon hearing of his approach, Perseus sent to the camp at Mopsium for the phalanx, but in the meantime, having engaged with the Romans and sustained considerable loss, he was obliged to retreat before the succour could arrive. The advancing phalanx met the prisoners and waggons taken from the Romans in a narrow pass, which so impeded their progress that they killed the prisoners, and threw the waggons over a precipice ; soon after which they met Perseus and his forces retiring in con- fusion. Fortunately for him, the consul was as negligent in following up his advantage as the king himself had been at the battle of Scea. A few days afterwards, Perseus, leaving a strong- garrison in Gonnus, and a smaller body at Phila, for the purpose of gaining over the Magnetes and other neighbouring people, retired into Mace- donia. Licinius then moved to Gonnus, but find- ing it impregnable, turned towards Mallsea, which he took and destroyed ; then, reducing the Tripo- litis and other parts of Perrhsebia, he went into winter-quarters at Larissa, distributing his army among the cities of Thessaly.
If we admit Crannon to have been at Palea Larissa, Sycurium at Marmariani, and Mopsium at the ancient remains midway between Larissa and Tempe, nothing can be clearer, on an inspection of the real scene of action, than the preceding narra- tive of the first campaign of the Persic war. We may farther infer from it, that the remains at Ka- radjoli are those of Phalanna ; for it is evident that when Perseus placed himself the second time
3S0
THESSALIA.
[chap.
at Mopsium, the position of the Romans was on the opposite side of the great Larisscean plain, and consequently that Phalanna was either the ancient city which stood at Kastri, or that at Karadjoli ; Tatari, the third ancient site in this plain, being too near to Mopsium, and having only a plain tra- versed by a river between it and the site of Mop- sium, whereas the narrative requires hills and a pass. If Kastri be taken for the site of Metropolis, it will follow that Phalanna was at Karadjoli ; a position according much better than that of Kastri with the Homeric name Orthe, which, in the opinion of some critics, reported by Strabo, was the same as the citadel of Phalanna ' ; for Orthe is exactly descriptive of such a steep rocky hill as that of Karadjoli, and was a name scarcely applicable to situations in the plain such as those of Kastri and Tatari. This position of Phalanna accords more- over with its having been considered a Perrhcebian town, as well as Gonnus2, which was similarly situated as to the Pelasgic plain.
From Marmariani we cross a small rocky ridge into the plain of Kiserli, which lies between Mount Ossa and the parallel lower range of Mopsium. Kiserli, which supplies the market of Larissa with grapes, is a large Turkish village, beautifully situ- ated at the foot of Ossa, just below the peak. At 5.20 it is one mile on our right, while Toivasi, another Turkish village, is at the same distance on the left, the latter being just opposite the opening in Mount Mopsium. through which leads the road from Larissa to Baba. At 6.30, when passing close to
1 Strabo, p. 440.
Strabo, ibid. — Stephan. in voc.
XXIX. J
THESSALIA.
381
Little Kiserli, Utmanda, a large Turkish village, called by the Greeks Makrikhori, is two miles on our left, on the side of the ridge of Mopsium. At 6'. 48 we halt at a fountain, where the road begins to ascend Mount Ossa towards Ambelakia. On the opposite side of the river a beautiful semicir- cular plain presents itself, extending to the foot of Mount Olympus, and containing the Turkish town of Dereli, situated a mile and a half from the river, and occupying a large space of ground among vineyards and gardens, which are separated from the river by a wood of pirnaria. The river enters this valley from the great Larisscean plain through a pass formed by the northern end of the height of Makrikhori, or northern extremity of Mount Mopsium, opposed to Kondovuni, or the extremity of Mount Titarus. In the Klisura, or pass, the river is crossed by a bridge named that of Vernesi, above which, on the height of Makrikhori, are some re- mains of the walls of an ancient city. In a few words, Livy shows this to have been the site of Elateia, and Gonnus to have occupied the vale of Dereli !.
It was between Kondovuni and Karadjoli, at the foot of Mount Titarus, that I conceive the last action of the first campaign of the Persic war to have occurred, when Perseus, after having cap- tured a large body of the enemy who were en- gaged in collecting the corn of the Phalannsean plain, surrounded L. Pompeius and 800 Romans, upon a height which seems to have been one of
1 . Elatiam et adeunt : magis Gonnus. — Liv.
Gonnum. Utraque oppida in 1. 42, c. 54. faucibus sunt, quae Tempe
382
THESSALIA.
[chap
the last falls of Mount Titarus. The pass in which Perseus in his retreat was met by his advancing phalanx, was probably near the bridge of Vernesi ; for although Livy has not mentioned the river in his description of this affair, the previous positions and movements of the two contending armies show that it must have flowed between the two camps, and must therefore have been crossed and recrossed by Perseus in the operations of that day. The pass of Vernesi, or otElateia, is precisely suited to the circumstances related by the historian, espe- cially if we suppose a bridge to have existed in the same situation as at present, which would in some measure account also for Livy's silence as to the crossing of the river.
If the edges of the great plain to the north- ward of Larissa were occupied, as I have sup- posed, by Atrax, Metropolis, Phalanna, Elateia, and Mopsium, — Gyrton is the only place to which the remains at Tatari can be attributed, supposing Gyrton to have stood in this plain, on which point it must be confessed there is conflicting testimony. Strabo, by twice connecting Gyrton with the mouth of the Peneius \ seems to show that it was below the pass of Tempe ; and on that supposi- tion, the epitomizer of his seventh book, by add- ing that it was near the Peneius and the foot of Mount Olympus2, will require it to be placed on the left bank of the river. But the Peneius below Tempe having been the boundary of Magnesia and Macedonia, such a situation is very improbable,
1 Strabo, pp. 139, 441
2 Strabo (Epit. 1. 7) p. 329.
xxrx.J
THESSALIA.
383
as Gyrton was a Thessalian town. Nor could it be reconciled with Livy, whose circumstantial tes- timony, derived from Polybius, is far preferable to the vague indications of the geographer, and who seems evidently to require Gyrton to have been in the vicinity of Phalanna, Atrax, and Larissa, or in some part of the same plains in which those cities stood. When Perseus descended into them from Tripolitis, or the northern division of Perrhsebia, before his first occupation of the position of S}^cu- rium, he encamped, after having taken Cyretise and Mylae, in the southern part of Perrha3bia, at Phalanna, and the next day moved to Gyrton, from whence, on finding the place defended by a strong garrison of Romans and Thessalians, he turned away to Elateia and Gonnus. Such a march is quite incomprehensible, on the supposi- tion that Gyrton was below Tempe. Tatari, therefore, I take to have been the site of Gyrton. Its distance from Larissa seems to accord with the proximity of Gyrton to that city, as deducible from a fact mentioned by Soranus, the biographer of Hippocrates of Cos ; namely, that the sepulchre of that celebrated physician stood on the road which leads from Gyrton to Larissa : such a central situation in this fertile plain was well adapted to the importance and opulence which the tenor of history and other evidence attaches to Gyrton '.
lonius applies to it the epithet opulent.
1 See the coins of Gyrton, and its mention by Livy, Poly- bius, Strabo and Pliny. Apol-
"HXu0£ c' d<f>vtu)v TTpoXiirioi' Fvprivya KopwvoQ KaiysicriQ. Argon. 1. 1, v. 57
384
T II ESS ALIA.
[chap.
From the pass of Vernesi, or Elateia, the Pc- neius winds majestically along the vale of Dereli to Baba, where begin the straits of Tempe, or Baba Boghazi, as the defile is called by the Turks.
On the foot of Kondovuni, half way between the bridge of Vernesi and Dereli, stands the small Turkish village of Rughin ; and two miles from Dereli, in the opposite direction towards Tempe, another larger named Balamiit ; the latter is a little removed from the river, and nearly opposite to Baba. Half way between Dereli and Balamut, on some rocky heights at the foot of a point of Mount Olympus, about a mile from the river, are some remains of a Hellenic city, mixed with other ruins of a later date. The place is called Lykos- tomo, or the Wolf's Mouth, a name still applied by the Greeks to the pass of Tempe, but which occurs as that of a town in the Byzantine history as early as the eleventh century, together with seve- ral other names still existing in Macedonia and Thessaly, as Salambrias, Domenicus, Triccala, Serbia, Ostrobus, Achris l. Lykostomo, or Lykos- tomio, has continued from those ages to the pre- sent to give title to a bishop of the ecclesiastical province of Thessalonica, whose ordinary residence is Ambelakia.
From our meridian halt at the fountain we ascend to Ambelakia in one hour and eighteen minutes, by a winding path, along the woody flanks of Mount Kissavo, looking down to the left on the village and bridge of Baba. Ambelakia, a
Anna Comnena, 1. 5.
X X I \ . I
Til ESS A I.I A.
385
Greek town of about six hundred families, is situ- ated in a hollow included between two counter- forts of the mountain, which, descending steeply to the river, form together with the still more abrupt sides of Olympus, the southern or western entrance of the pass of Lykostomo, or Tempo. The entire hollow around Ambelakia is covered with vine- yards (whence the name), intermixed with the oak, olive, fig, and cypress. The overhanging mountain is covered with oaks, and completes the beauty of one of the most delightful summer re- treats in Greece. To the westward is seen the Peneius, winding through the valleys of Utmanda and Dereli, until a little beyond Baba, and imme- diately below Ambelakia, it enters the precipitous straits. To the northward the snowy summits of Olympus present themselves, towering above the woody slopes and rocks which surround the vale of Dereli or overhang the strait of Tempe ; and though not less than twenty miles distant, appear by the effects of their magnitude, of the clearness of the atmosphere, and of the small difference of the angle under which all the summits are seen, to be very little farther from Ambelakia than the rocks on the opposite side of the river. No view can present a closer and more complete contrast of the sublime and terrific with the tranquil and beautiful ; the former represented by the preci- pices of Ossa and Olympus, the latter by the wind- ing river and the villages of the valley reposing amidst gardens, meadows, corn-fields, scattered trees, and detached groves of oak and ilex.
Among the nearer heights of Olympus, which
vol. in. c c
386
TIIESSALIA.
(II \l>
rise above the eastern extremity of Tempe, is seen Rapsani, or Rapsiani, a town containing a greater number of houses than Ambelakia, but by no means so opulent.
The inhabitants of Rapsani are chiefly employed in the manufacture of aladjas, or mixed stuffs of silk and cotton ; those of Ambelakia in dyeing red cotton thread, which is sent overland to Germanv and Hungary. The principal Ambclakiotes have resided many years in Christendom, speak Ger- man, and though rather too mercantile in their ideas, are agreeable in manners and compara- tively enlightened. They maintain a Hellenic school, which seems to make good progress, under the superintendence and encouragement of the resident bishop. But notwithstanding these marks of superior civilization, there is no place where the Greek Ziyovoia is more prevalent than at Ambelakia. Party spirit, or envy and jealousy, have divided individuals, families, and relationships ; and al- though small disputes are generally terminated by the archons, the Ambclakiotes have often the folly to carry their complaints to Aly Pasha, who duly profits by it. It is now many years since Aly, by means of his Dervent-agalik, first set his foot \ to use the Greek expression, in Ambelakia. At this moment he has one of the chief archons in prison at Ioannina, for the purpose of extorting money from him.
The thread2 which is dyed here is procured from all the neighbouring parts of Thessaly, and
1 ifiaXe to wocapi rov.
ru viifxara.
XXIX.
THE9SALIA.
387
is partly spun by the women and children of the place itself. It is all formed by the spindle. The rizari or madder ', more vulgarly aXilapi, which forms the chief ingredient of the dye, is imported from Smyrna, and crushed here in mills turned by horses. The process, as well as I can com- prehend, or the Ambelakiotes are willing to exT plain it, consists of three parts ; first the washing, in which oil is used ; secondly, the impregnation with animal matter, in which the blood of oxen seems to be the chief ingredient ; and thirdly, the application of the dye. The value of the thread, which costs three or four piastres an oke, is more than doubled by the process. Nevertheless, the ultimate gain is by no means excessive, the freight to Belgrade being not less than 60 piastres the horse load, and two years being often required to give a profitable return on the first outlay. Another in- convenience is the increasing expence of the manufacture in consequence of the scarcity of madder, which grows wild on the mountains of Asia Minor, and for which the cultivated root cannot be substituted without injury to the dye. From 150 to 200 thousand okes of thread are sent to Germany every year, where it is chiefly em- ployed in stuffs, of which a large portion is sent to Spain for its American colonies. Some thread is dyed blue at Ambelakia for the use of the Thes- salian looms. Not many years ago, the manu- facturers of Ambelakia, or in other words the whole town, formed a single company, in which,
1 f>i£tif)i (the root near' I^oy^v.)
c c 2
388
T HESS ALIA.
CHAP-
as in the ships of the JEgcuan, and many Greek commercial enterprizes, every labourer had a share. The members residing abroad secured to the company all the profits of brokerage and agency. Nothing could be more economical and profitable than such a management. They are now divided into five or six companies, conducted upon the same principles, but by no means with an equal degree of advantage. They were all in great danger last year in consequence of the nu- merous failures at Vienna ; they now cannot re- ceive their remittances here on account of the low value of the florin, and they apprehend ruin if the paper of Vienna should be discredited. Ivo, the chief merchant, has the reputation of being worth a million piastres, which, though not more than 60,000/. sterling, is a large sum in this impo- verished empire \
One of the ancient cities of Ossa was celebrated, as Ambelakia is in the present day, for its red dye, but according to Lucretius it was procured from a shell-fish 2.
At Lykostomo fragments of sculpture, broken vases, coins, and other similar remains of Hellenic antiquity are often found. A stone inscribed with
1 For an account of the com- period, see Beaujour, Com- mercial company and republic merce de la Grece, tome i, of Ambelakia in its flourishing let. 12.
2 Purpura Magandro duplici Melibcea cucurrit.
Virgil. JEneid. 1. 5, v. 253.
Melibceaque fulgens Purpura, Thessalico concharum tincta colore.
Lucret. 1. 2, v. 491).
XXIX.]
THESSALIA.
389
the name Hippocrates was not long since brought to light there, and a small Hercules in bronze, which I have purchased from the Ambelakiote into whose hands it had fallen. These remains seem to leave no doubt that the Byzantine Lycos- tomium ' was built on the site of the Hellenic Gonnus ; for as this city appears from the testimony of Herodotus to have been on the northern side of the Peneius2, there cannot remain a doubt, on considering the several passages of Livy in which its mention occurs, that it was situated in the val- ley of Dereli s.
Eight or nine years ago the Turkish villages of the valley of Dereli joined some other allies in a predatory expedition against Ambelakia, and at- tacked the place with 3,000 men. The Greeks advanced to the height westward of the town, where now stands a ruined windmill, but were obliged to retreat before superior numbers. The assailants burnt some of the outer houses of the town, but could not penetrate into it. The war
1 AvKOITTOfllOV TToXt^'LOy.
Cantacuz. 1. 2, c. 28 ; 1. 4, c. 19.
2 Herodot. 1. 7, c. 128. 173.
3 Rex (Philippus sc.) effuso cursu Tempe petit. Ibi ad Gonnos diem unum substitit. — Liv. 1. 33, c. 10.
Oppidum Gonni viginti mil- lia ab Larissa abest in ipsis faueibus saltus quae Tempe appellantur situm. — Liv. 1. 36, c. 10.
.... Elatiam et Gonnum.
Utraque oppida in faueibus sunt quae Tempe adeunt ; ma- gis Gonnus. — Liv. 1. 42, c. 54.
Ad Gonnum . . . ante ipsa Tempe in faueibus situm Mace- doniae, claustra tutissima prae- bet, et in Thessaliam oppor- tunum Macedonibus decursum. c. 67.
Hie locus (Tempe sc.) .... per quatuor distantia loca prae- sidiis regiis fuit insessus : unum in primo aditu ad Gonnum erat. — Liv. 1. 44, c. 6.
390
T HESS ALIA,
[chap.
continued for some days, when the Beys of La- rissa interfered and put an end to it.
Dec. 19. — This morning the atmosphere is so diaphanous that I am able to distinguish the castle of Saloniki, and to connect it by the sextant with several important points ; though its direct distance is not much less than 60 geographical miles. But while distant objects are so clear, the whole of Tempe is covered with mist. A messenger from Vienna brings the news of the battle of Jena, intelligence which seems not more agreeable to the Ambela- kiotes than it is to myself. They have for many years been in the habit of maintaining a regular post, which was due every 15 days, but the mes- senger being a footman as far as Semlin, and the war and troubles in Servia having thrown many impediments in the way, he now arrives very irregularly.
Dec. 20. — From Ambelakia to Litokhoro. The snows of Olympus had just received a golden tinge from the rays of the rising sun, when we began our descent into the strait, or narrowest part of the vale of Tempe. The direct distance is not more than half a mile, but the steepness of the hill and the bad condition of the winding kalderim, cause the descent to occupy half an hour.
At 3.30, Turkish time, we arrive on the river's bank, and soon afterwards pass the extremity of the root of Ossa, on the eastern side of the theatre- shaped site of Ambelakia, which, separated only by the river from a similar projection of Olympus, forms the commencement of the strait. After traversing a beautiful grove of planes, we arrive
XXIX.]
THESSALIA.
391
upon the rocks, where the space between the foot of the precipices of Ossa and the river is sufficient only for the road, which is about 20 feet above the water. Here a current of cold air issuing from a small cavern, gives to the place the name of avtuoTnTpa. The wind proceeds, probably, from the channel of one of the subterraneous streams of water, of which there are many in the pass, rush- ing from the rocks into the Salamvria. The river flows with a steady and tranquil current, except where its course is interrupted by islands, or where dams have been constructed for intercepting fish.
After having passed some marks of chariot- wheels in the rock, we arrive at 3.55 at a spot where the bank is supported by the remains of a Hellenic wall, and at 4.8 at the ruins of a castle built of small stones and mortar, standing on one side of an immense fissure in the precipices of Ossa, which afford an extremely rocky, though not impracticable descent from the heights into the vale. Between the castle and the river there was space only for the road, nor is the level any wider between the opposite bank and the pre- cipices of Olympus, where several caverns are seen, some of which retain traces of painting. They were once probably ascetic retreats ; for one of them near the river side is still a church, dedi- cated to the Holy Trinity. It may formerly, per- haps, have been sacred to Pan and the Nymphs. As to the altar, or temple of Apollo Tempites, which once existed in Tempe, some of the circum- stances attending his worship seem to require a more open situation than these narrowest parts of the strait, and Baba appears the most probable
392
THESSALIA.
[chap.
situation for it. The ceremonies performed there were commemorative of the purification of Apollo by order of Jupiter, after which he was said to have proceeded to Delphi, bearing in his hand a branch of bay gathered in the valley. Hence the victors in the Pythia were crowned with bay from Tempe, and the Delphi every nine years sent hither a Theoria, which, having approached the altar of Apollo in procession, sacrificed to the deity, sang hymns, and cut branches of bay. On other occasions, the inhabitants of the surrounding parts of Thessaly were in the habit of assembling in Tempe for sacrifices, symposia, and parties of pleasure, and sometimes, according to iElian, so numerous were the offerings, that the whole air was perfumed with the incense \
At 4.18 we leave the castle, and at 4.30 begin to ascend a root of Ossa, of which the slope is more gradual than before, but which terminating at the rivers bank in a precipice, made it neces- sary that the road should pass over the hill. The traces of the ancient road, cut in the rock, and wide enough for carriages, still remain. In the begin- ning of the ascent, the rock on the right hand side of the road is excavated perpendicularly, and upon the face of it are engraved, in large letters much worn by time, and surrounded by a moulding of a common form, the words — L. Cassius Longi- nus Pro Cos. Tempe munivit. Here, again, on the opposite side of the river, the rocks meet the bank. After a halt of 5 minutes at the inscribed rock, we descend again on the other side of the
1 Plutarch, tic Music. — /Elian. Var. Hist. 1. 3, c. 1.
XXIX.]
THESSALIA.
393
ridge to the river side, and at 4.53 arrive at the end of the wolfs mouth, where a fine source of water, larger than any in the pass, rushes from the foot of the rocks into the river.
The walk of one hour and eight minutes from the foot of the mountain of Ambelakia to the eastern extremity of the pass, with a horse whose pace I have measured, will give a dis- tance of about four miles and a half for the length of the road through Tempe. In this space the opening between Ossa and Olympus is in some points less than 100 yards, comprehending in fact no more than the breadth of a road, in addition to that of the river, which is here much com- pressed within its ordinary breadth in the plains, and not more than 50 yards across. On the northern bank there are places where it seems impossible that a road could ever have existed, so that the communication was probably maintained anciently as it is now, by means of two bridges, or by ferries. It is evident, at least, from the marks of wheels, and the Latin inscription, that the via militaris, or main route, was in the present track.
In some parts of the pass there is sufficient space for little grassy levels, and even in the nar- rowest places the river's bank is overshaded by large plane trees throwing out their roots into the stream. In the meadows where the ground ad- mits it, are copses of evergreens, in which Apollo's own Daphne ! is mixed with the wild olive, the
1 Law us nobilis, still called Ad^r?/.
394
TH ESS A LI A.
fci-IAP.
arbutus, the agnus castus, the paliurus, and the lentisk, festooned in many places with wild grapes and other climbers. The limestone cliffs rise with equal abruptness on either side, but their white and bare sides are beautifully relieved by patches of dwarf oaks, velanidhies, and a variety of the common shrubs of Greece \ while occasional open- ings afford a glimpse of some of the nearer heights of the two mountains, clothed with large oaks and firs ; in other places, where both sides of the ravine are equally precipitous, a small portion of the zenith only is visible.
Of the ancient descriptions of Tempe by Livy, Pliny, and iElian 2, that of Livy alone seems to
1 Theophrastus (Hist. Plant. 1. 4, c. 6) notices the poplar, plane, and ash, as growing in these mountains ; the dif- ferent species of oak are now more common than any of them. But the manufactories of Am- belakia have thinned the woods of Ossa.
3 Sunt enim Tempe saltus, etiamsi non hello fiat infestus, transitu difficilis : nam praeter angustias per quinque millia, qua exiguum jumento onusto iter est, rupes undiquc ita ab- scissae sunt, ut despici vix sine vertigine quadam simul ocu- lorum animique possit : terret et sonitus et altitudo per me- diam vallem fluentis Penei am- nis. — Liv. 1. 44, c. 6.
Ante cunctos claritate Pe-
neus, ortus juxta Gomphos, interque Ossam et Olympum nemorosa convalle defluens quingentis stadiis, dimidio ejus spatii navigabilis. In eo cursu Tempe vocantur quinque millia passuum longitudine et ferine sesquijugeri latitudine, ultra visum hominis attollentibus se dextera lajvaque leniter con- vexis jugis. Intus sua luce (al. sub luco) viridante alla- bitur Peneus, viridis calculo, amaenus circa ripas gramine, canorus avium concentu. Ac- cipit amnem Orcon, nee recipit, sed olei modo supernatantem, ut dictum est Homero, brevi spatio portatum, abdicat pce- nales aquas dirisque genitas argenteis suis misceri recusans. — Plin. 1. 4, c. 8.
"Eon
XXIX.]
THESSALIA.
395
have been written by an eye witness, who was not Livy himself, but Polybius. It is remarkable that Strabo reverses the true interpretation of Homer's comparison of the Peneius and Titaresius ' ; and
"EOTI $rj ■%<i)pO£ /jL£TO.l,V KEl-
f.ieroc tov tf. 'OXvfiTrov Kal r?jje "Oaarjc' opt] $e ravT eutiv VTrep- ii\pT}\a Kal oiov vno tivoq dslac (ppuvricoQ Zttayiafxiva' KOI fii- aov CikyiTai ywpiov, ov to fiEv fj.i}Koc ettI TEaaapaKovTa Zu'ikei (TTCtclovg, roye uev ttXcitoc, rfj [xep tan irXiBpov, rfj ce Kal ttXeTou oXlyto. Aiappel ce pi- aov avrov b KaXovuevog 6 IItj- vewq' sIq tovtov ce Kal 01 Xonrol TrOTa/xol (Tvppiovari Kal uvaKairovvTai to iiSwp ai/rw Kal kpyuCovTai tov Xlr)veiov ekeivoi fxiyav. Aiarpt/iac & e^ei iroi- KtXac Kal TravTOcairac b tottoc
OVTOQ, OVK avBpU)Tvivr)Q \ElpOQ
epya, aXXa (pvaewe avTopaTa, ore eXduftave yeveoiv 6 yoipoc. Kittoq fiEv yap ttoXvq Kal EV fiaXa Xdfftoe EvaKfxa^Et Kal te- Qt)Xe Kal SiKrjv twv evyevior d/J.- ■7teXoji' Kara tHov v\pr]Xioi' cev- dpwv avip-KEi Kal (rvpirEfpvKev avTo'ig' -rroXXr) h~E fiiXaO,, fj jxev irpoQ uvtov Toy irayov dvarpi-
\£l Kal ETTltTKUl^El DJf TVETpaV'
Kal EKtivri pev vizoXavQavEi' bpa- Tai Ce to yXoaL,ov ixav Ka't £(jtiv ixpBaXjiibv irainiyvpiQ. 'Ei' au- to'ic iiE to'ic Xeioic Kal KaOrj/JEVoiQ aX(TT) re tort 7roiKiXa Kal biro- ('papal awe^e'tr, ev &pq dlpovr
KaTatyvyElv bconropoie ij^iaTa KUTaywyut a Kal dictoat)' daue- vu)Q ^v^dadai. Aiapplovai ce Kal Kptjvat ovyval Kal ewippel vdf.iaTa vEaTwr \pv^pii>i' KaliriE~iv ilCliTTUt'. AiyETUt £t to. vdaTa TcixiTa Kal to~iq Xovaapevotc dya- dov Eirai kuI Etc vyiEtay avTolc ovpfiaXXEcrdai. KaraSovai de Kal bpviQEQ dXXoc dXXt] ciecnrap- fxivot, Kal pdXiOTa ol povatKol, Kal eaTiuxTiv eu paXa Tac aKoac, Kal TrapaTTEpTTOvaiv aVoVwe; Kal crvv ii^ovij $ia tov jxeXovc Toy KapaTov tu>v irapiovTW ci<pavi- oarTEg. Hap' EKctTepa $e tov TvoTajiov ai ciarpifiai eIoiv at TrpoEipripivai Kal ai aVa7ravXai* cid piawv Ze t&v Te\x-kwv b Urji>eibg iroTafibc; 'ip-^ETai fr^oXrj Kal irpawQ irpoiioi' iXaiov (Hktjv. HoXXr/ Se car' av-ov >/ (TKid Ik tGjv TrapaTTEtyvKOTwv Sirbpu)}' Kal tuiv
i£,T)pTr]fXEVU)l> kXuC(i)1' TlKTETai
we. Eirl ttXe'kttoi' Trjc ijfiEpac av- T))y irpoi]Kov(rav dwooTEyEiv Ti)f dKT~it>a Kal ivapi\Ei.v toIq ttXe- ovai ttXeIv nard iLv^oc. — jElian. Var. Hist. 1. 3, c. 1.
1 To /JLEV OW WtfVElOV Kada- pOV ECTTIV VCWp, TO (>E TOV TlTa-
pr)(riov Xnrapbv ek tivoc vXx]c. — Strabo, p. 441.
12
396
THESSALIA.
[chap.
the same may be suspected of Pliny and iElian, especially from the words cXai'ou Si'ktjv of the latter. They were misled, probably, by the epithet apyv- poSa'vr/c, applied by Homer to the Peneius, infer- ring from it that the water of that river was trans- lucent, whereas the apparent reluctance of the water of the Titaresius to join with that of the Peneius arises from the former being clear and the latter muddy. Even in the description of Tempe by Livy, some reason may be found for suspecting that he has added embellishments foreign to the authority from which he borrowed ; for in describing the terrible sound of the Peneius, he approaches more nearly to the poetical exag- geration of Ovid ! than to the truth. Although the river is now full, it is not remarkable for its
1 Est neraus Haemoniae praerupta quod undique claudit Sylva, vocant Tempe. Per quae Peneius ab irao Effusus Pindo spumosis volvitur undis : Dejectuque gravi tenues agitantia fumos Nubila conducit, summasque aspergine sylvas Impluit et sonitu plusquam vicina fatigat. Haec domus, haec sedes, haec sunt penetralia magni Amnis : in hoc residens facto de cautibus antro, Undis jura dabat, Nymphisque colentibus undas.
Ovid. Metam. 1. 1, v. 508.
The description of Catullus is much nearer the truth and equally poetical :
Confestim Peneius adest, viridantia Tempe, Tempe, quae silvae cingunt superimpendentes, Nereidum linquens claris celebranda choreis, Non vacuas : namque ille tulit radicitus altas Fagos ac recto proceras stipite laurus, Non sine nutanti platano, lentaque sorore Flammati Phaethontis ct aeria cupressu.
Haec
X XIX.
TliESSALIA.
397
rapidity, and nothing can be more tranquil and steady than its ordinary course. On rare occasions only, after heavy falls of rain, it rushes with impe- tuosity through the pass, and then sometimes effects considerable damage in the maritime plain.
Although there may never have been any road through Tempe along the left bank of the river, there were routes from Gonnus to several places on the heights on that side, and from thence into the maritime plains. One of these probably fol- lowed the same track as the modern path from Dereli to Ezero and Rapsani, by the lake Ascuris and Lapathus, from which fortress there seems to have been a descent to the river in the Pass of Tempe, since Livy in naming Gonnus, Condylon, Charax, and " the castle which stood in the road," as the four fortresses which defended Tempe, adds that Charax was near Lapathus l. Charax there -
Haec circum sedes late contexa locavit Vestibulum ut molli velatum fronde vireret.
Epithal. Pel. et Thet. v. 285
Of the trees here mentioned, the aeria Cupressus, or pyra- midal kind of Cypress, which by the contrast of its form and colour with those of other trees is one of the most beautiful em- bellishments of Greek scenery, is not to be found growing na- turally. Nor is it a common native in any part of Greece, but has generally been planted for the decoration of gardens, mosques, and cemeteries.
1 Hie locus (Tempe sc.) tarn suapte natura infestus per qua- tuor distantia loca praesidiis regiis fuit insessus ; unum in primo aditu ad Gonnum erat : alterum Condylon castello in- expugnabili, tertium circa La- pathuntem quern Characa ad- pellant, quart uin vise ipsi, qua et media et angustissima vallis est, inpositum, quam vel decern armatis tueri facile est. — Liv. 1. 44, c. 6.
398
TH ESS A I.I A.
CHAP.
fore was on the left bank of the river, probably at an opening which ascends from that bank nearly opposite to the inscribed rock, and which leads to Rapsani. As to Condylon, the second castle men- tioned by the historian, it seems also to have been on the left bank of the river, for it was sometimes called Gonno-Condylon, which explains likewise why the Perrhsebi (Gonnus itself having been a Perrhsebic town) claimed Condylon from Philip when their claims were submitted to a Roman commission at Tempe in the year b. c. 185 '. Condylon therefore probably stood on the left bank of the river between Balamut and the ascent to Rapsani.
The fourth castle which Livy mentions without naming, could hardly have been any other than that of which the ruins still exist, half a mile to the westward of the inscribed rock, and which de- fended the only weak point on the right bank ; for the historian has exactly described it as over- hanging the road itself, in one of the narrowest parts of the Pass : it would be hypercritical to ob- ject that the position does not in strictness agree with the historian's word media, being nearer to the eastern than to the western end of the pass. This fortress was known probably by no other Dame than that of the Castle of Tempe. It may be owing to a succession of repairs very likely to have been made to a fortress in so important a situation, that no remains, decidedly Hellenic, are now to be observed in it. As to the inscription on the
1 Liv. I. ;39, c. 25.
X X I X
THESSALIA.
399
rock, there may be some doubt whether it relates to defensive works erected by Longinus in Tempe, or merely to the repairing of the road. Munire viam was a common expression, to signify the making of a road ; and, combined with the exca- vated rock upon which the words are engraved, leave little doubt that the cutting of the rock was a part at least of the labour commemorated by the inscription. Lucius Cassius Longinus was sent by Caesar from Illyria into Thessaly with a legion of new levies, and 200 horse, at the same time that C. Calvisius Sabinus proceeded into iEtolia with a smaller force, and Cneius Domitius Calvinus into Macedonia with two legions and 500 cavalry '. Calvisius was well received in iEtolia ; but Thes- saly was divided into two parties, one of which was strongly opposed to Caesar. Besides these, Longinus had to contend with the cavalry of Co- tys, king of Thrace, an ally of Pompey, which were hovering about Thessaly. When Scipio, there- fore, made an attempt from his camp on the Hali- acmon 2 to surprise Longinus, the latter, although Scipio was speedily recalled in order to save Favonius from the superior forces of Domitius, was so terrified on receiving intelligence of the approach of Scipio, and on seeing some of the cavalry of Cotys, which he mistook for that of Scipio, that he retreated towards the mountains which separated Thessaly from Ambracia, and
1 Caesar de B. C. 1. 3, c.
34.
2 Between Grevena and Sia- tista. — See vol. i. p. 314.
400
TTIESSALIA,
[CHAP. XXIX.
even began to traverse them l. Caesar makes no farther mention of Longinus, who probably, like Domitius, joined Caesar at JEginium on his arrival in Thessaly, after the battle of Dyrrhachium. It seems very improbable from these circumstances that Longinus could have had time to effect any great works in Tempe. Were it not that the first letter of the inscription is certainly not C, I should be more disposed to attribute the work to Caius Cassius Longinus, who, after having been consul in the year 171 b. c., served in Thessaly under the consul Hostilius, in the following year, and who, if he had not quitted the army when in the subsequent year it was under the command of the consul, Q. Marcius Philippus, would have had an undoubted right to style himself Pro. Cos. in an inscription — a right which is not so evident in the case of Lucius, the officer of Caesar. When Marcius was preparing his winter quarters at He- racleia, on the coast of Macedonia, to the north- ward of Tempe, the historian expressly states, that for the sake of securing his supplies from Thes- saly, he gave orders for repairing the roads 2, of which the most important was the road through Tempe.
1 Ambraciam versus iter facere coepit. — Caesar de B. C. 1. 3, c. 36.
2 vias commeatibus subve- hendis ex Thessalia muniri jubet. — Liv. 1. 44, c. 9.
CHAPTER XXX.
MACEDONIA.
Bridge of Salamvria — Karitza — Homole — Platamona, Heracleia River of Platamona, Apilas — Litokhoro — Mount Olympus — Malathria, Dium — River Baphyrus — Spighi — Katerina — Passage of Olympus by the Consul Marcius — Callipcucc, Phila, River Enipeus, Libethrium, Pimpleia — March of the Consul beyond Dium — Agassa? — Valla — River Milys — Hatera — Ascordus — Ayan — Kitro — Old Kitro — Elefther- okhori — Position of Perseus on the Enipeus — Defeat of the Macedonians at Petra — Battle of Pydna — Pydna — Methone — Alorus — Rivers Haliacmon, Lydias, Axius — Return to Sa- lonika
After emerging from the pass we traverse the plain, which extends from the exit of Tempe to the sea, and cross the Salamvria at 5.15 by a bridge, at which on the right bank is a toll-house and at the opposite end a khan. The course of the river from this point is at first northerly, after which it turns to the S.E. and in that direction crosses a maritime plain of four or five miles in breadth. At its mouth it is separated only from the foot of Mount Kissavo, or Ossa, by a lagoon communicating with the sea, in which there is a fishery. On the adjacent part of Ossa is a large monastery of St. Demetrius, and about two miles
VOL. III. d d .
402
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
beyond it Karitza, a large village situated just below the peak of Ossa, to the N.E.
The part of the mountain which lies between Tempe and Karitza is the ancient Homole, a name which appears sometimes to have been employed merely as a synonym of Ossa \ A town of the same name, otherwise Homolium, or the city of the Homolienses 2, stood at the foot of the moun- tain, but the ancient authorities differ as to its exact position : Scylax and Strabo seem to concur in placing it on the right bank of the Peneius, near the exit of Tempe 3 ; that is to say, at a dis- tance of several miles from the sea ; whereas the two poets of the Argonautics represent Homole as situated on the sea shore, and the order of names in Apollonius even interposes another town, Eury- mense, between it and Tempe 4. To discover some
1 Pausan. Boeot. c. 8. Theocrit. Idyll. 7, v. 103. Virg. ^n. 1. 7, v. 675. Ste- phan. in '0/ioX»j.
2 Stephan. in 'O/ioXiov. The legend of the coins is 'OfxoXUioy, which agrees with the gentile 'OfioXuvg in Ste- phanus.
Xiov, Mayvr]TiKf)£ ttoXeojc, i) earl Trapd rovnorafiov. — Scylax in 'A/xfipaKia..
To fiev ovv 'OfXuXiov ?*/ rt)v 'OliuXtjv (Xiytrai yap ayu^ort- pwg) cIttoBoteov avToig (Mayyi)- ratc sc.) eipriTai <)' ev role Ma-
KE^OPlKolg, &Tt l(TTl 7TpO£ TT} "OfftTt]
Kara -7}y dp-^i)y rev Uv,v£tov t/«a
3 'HLvtevQev (' AfxfipaKiag sc.) Tr}g rwv Teinrwy SunfioXijt;. — ap^erai t] 'TLXXag av vE\i]g dvai Strabo, p. 443. /if xpi TItjveiov iroTajxov Kal'Ofxo-
4 "EvQfv $e -n-poTEpwffE 7rap£^«0£ov MeX//3otav, 'Akttjv t alyiaXov te SvayvEiiov EKirvEvaavTEq. 'Hw0£j' £' 'OfioXrjv avroff\E^dv EiffopowvTEQ XlovTf kekXiuevtiv TrapEfiETpEov' oiifr irt lr}por
MiXXop
XXX. J
MACEDONIA.
403
remains of the city itself is the only mode of clear- ing up this difficulty ; for it cannot be explained by the changes effected by the Peneius, which, like the other great rivers of Greece, has, by the forma- tion of new land at its mouth, increased the breadth of the plain below Tempe ; and appears to have taken, in consequence of the accumulation, anew direction towards the sea. The ancient mouth of the river seems indicated by a low point which is exactly opposite to the chasm of Tempe, and in a line with the general course of the river through the pass.
The Salamvria now divides the districts of La- rissa and Katerina, as it formerly separated Thcs- saly from Macedonia or Magnesia from Pieria. Having crossed the bridge usually called that of Laspokhori from a neighbouring village we follow
MeXXov vtteic 7rorafJ.olo fiaXElv 'Afxiipoio peedpa. KeIOev & JLvpv/xivac re TroXytcXvcrrovg te (ftapayyug "OooriQ Ov\vjj.xoi6 t Effi^patcov' avrap 'iwEira KXirsa HaXXfivaia, Kava.ffrpa.iriv virtp aKpr)v, "llvvffav EvvvyjLOi, irvoirjg avEfioio Oeovteq. THpt Ze viffffofMEvoifftv " Adu) aVt'reXXe koXojvt] Qprjidr], Apollon. Argon. 1. 1, v. 592.
Tiffaii] S" anEKpvfdEv a^pij Kal ^rjiruiQ aVn), (bavd)] c!e 2»:ta0oe, AoXo7roc r dvE<j>a'ivero fffjfia, Ay^iaXor 9' 'OfioXr), pilQpov 0' aXifivpEQ 'Avavpov, (al. 'Afxvpov — IvavXov.) "Oc 3ia TToXXijv ya'iav 1(1 /JEyaXofipofiov vSwp. OvXvfXTTOv Se fiaQvffKOiciXov irpi]G)vaq Epvfivove ElffiSpaKov Mivvai Kal "Ado fcvdpwfoa Kafx\pav.
Orph. Argon, v. 402. ud 2
404
MACEDONIA.
[('HAP.
the river for near half an hour, and then traverse a muddy part of the plain, gradually approaching the sea. The soil of this maritime level is fertile, but little cultivated ; and a great part of it is covered with shrubs whieh shelter a great quan- tity of game. Maize is grown on the slopes of the mountains by the Greek inhabitants of some vil- lages, of which the principal, besides Rapsani, are Krania, in a lofty situation to the north of Rapsani, containing about 150 families, and Pyrgotos, im- mediately below Krania. Farther to the north are several smaller villages. At 6.25 we pass round the extremity of a root of the mountain, and at 7.20, after having followed the sea shore for a short time, halt at a pleasant kiosk, shaded by large plane trees, and standing near the beach, just below the hill of Platamona on the south, where a rivulet flows through the building into the sea.
Platamona, the derivation of which, according to Meletius, is irXarua fiovrj, or the level monastery, in allusion to its situation in the plain, appears rather from the mention made of it in the Byzan- tine history, to have been in the time of the Greek Empire, what we now find it, a fortress. It con- tains a few Turkish houses, and on the outside there is a ruined khan by the road side. Though standing at the bottom of a bend of the coast, it is a conspicuous object, from being the only elevation on a low shore of great extent. As the place has the advantage also of a perennial supply of good water, there can scarcely be a doubt that it was the site
XXX. j
MACEDONIA.
405
of one of the two ancient towns which history places on this coast between Dium and the frontier of Magnesia, namely, Heracleia and Phi la : for rea- sons which will be stated hereafter, I am disposed to believe that it was the former.
After having dined at the kiosk, we proceed at 8.5 to cross the neck of the hill of Platamona, descend again into the plain, which is uncultivated as far as the neighbourhood of Katerina, and at 8.50 cross the river of Platamona just above its junction with the sea : this is a wide torrent de- scending from an immense chasm which separates the highest part of Olympus from the inferior summits terminating in the cliffs of Tempe. If Platamona was the site of Heracleia, the lower part of this ravine will correspond to that defile or forest of Callipeuce, through which the Romans entered the maritime plain to the northward of Heracleia, after their perilous descent from near Lapathus, under the conduct of the consul Marcius, who among the other difficulties of the undertaking, had to contend with his own age and corpulence'. The appearance of the mountain from our road is sufficient to show how arduous must have been the task of conveying elephants by such a precipitous route. The historian relates that in the steepest places a succession of bridges or platforms were constructed ; and that as soon as an elephant had obtained a footing on one of them, the supports
1 Romanus imperator major sexaginta annis ct praegravis corporc. — Liv. 1. 44, c. 4.
12
406
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
being cut away, he was forced to slide down on his feet or rump to the next bridge.
The river of Platamona is not noticed by any ancient author, except Pliny, who places an Apilas near Heracleia1. The river is sometimes danger- ous, but is now dry ; for the weather ever since we left Saloniki, with the exception of one day at Vcrria and another at Turnavo, has been quite free from rain ; the last ten days have been even warm in the afternoon, and the sky without a cloud. A gentle north-eastern breeze has generally risen in the latter part of the day bringing with it a frost at night, which lasts all the ensuing day where the ground is shaded by high mountains or woods, but in other places yields to the power of the sun at an early hour. At 9.12, Leftokarya, a Greek village, is three miles on our left, on the lowest falls of Olympus. At 9.45 we quit the direct road, which follows a line parallel to the shore, and mount a long, barren slope, to Litokhoro, where we arrive at 10.45 the ascent having been very slow in consequence of our tired horses and the badness of the road. Litokhoro is situated at the head of the slope, immediately at the foot of the great woody steeps of Olympus, on the right bank of a torrent which has its origin in the highest part of the mountain, and here issues between perpendicular rocks five or six hundred feet in height. The opening presents a magnificent view of the summit of 'Elymbo, the snowy tops and bare
1 In ora Heraclca, flumcn Apilas. — Plin. 1. 1, c. 10.
XXX.]
MACEDONIA.
407
precipices of which form a beautiful contrast with the rich woody heights on either side of the great chasm above Litokhoro. From the village and opening, the ground falls on both sides of the river in a longeven slope to the sea side, terminating to the south at the river of Platamona, and to the north extending to the plain of Katerina. The torrent flows from Litokhoro in a wide bed between precipitous banks, which gradually diminish in height to the sea. On the opposite side of the gulf are seen Saloniki, Cape Karaburnu, Mount Khortiatzi, and a range of mountains which appear to form a continued range from the latter summit as far as the extreme Cape of Pallene. It is reck- oned four hours from hence to the monastery of St. Dionysius, which is situated just below the summit of Olympus, not far from the head of the great ravine of Litokhoro. The Litokhorites fabri- cate skutia, or cloth for making capots, and have several fulling mills in the ravine above the vil- lage.
Dec. 21.- — This morning, the sky still continuing cloudless, and the atmosphere of that extreme clearness which is its characteristic in Greece in the fine days of winter, the summit of the broad Olympus, as Homer so justly describes it !, pre- sents itself between the precipitous sides of the ravine of Litokhoro, with a still more admirable and imposing grandeur than yesterday evening,
1 fxaKpocis the epithet which that is ayavvupoc, from its be- the poet most frequently at- ing more snowy than any other taches to Olympus. Next to mountain in Greece.
408
MACEDONIA.
[CHAP.
when the sun, being behind the mountain, left its eastern side comparatively dark, but afforded a clear view of the Cfialcidic coast and hills ; the rising sun now lights up the snowy summit of Olympus, as well as all the rocks, woods, torrents, and precipices below it ; distinguishes them from one another by the strongest shading, and seems to bring them all within half their real distance.
At 3.10, Turkish time, we begin to descend the slope obliquely into the plain of Katerina. The ground is stony, barren, and quite uncultivated. Near the bottom an old church, situated in a little grove of trees at a small distance from the left of the road, contains some ancient squared blocks of stone and some capitals of columns. Arrived in the plain, we traverse, by a winding path, a wood where shrubs, particularly the paliuri or Jerusalem thorn, fill up the intervals between groves of handsome planes and oaks, and at 4.35 arrive at Malathria \ a tjiftlik lately established by Vely Pasha, occupied by Greek labourers, whom he has sent here, and managed by one of his Alba- nians. " A small tract of arable has been cleared by burning the paliuria. The other parts of the forest furnish pasture to large flocks of the Pasha's sheep, which are now assembled here from the mountains. The village consists of three rows of houses, forming three sides of a quadrangle, with a fountain in the centre. A church has been already built by the inhabitants, though one only of the
' Ma\a0(nac
XXX.]
MACEDONIA.
409
rows of houses is yet occupied. Five hundred yards below the tjiftlik, in a thick grove of trees and shrubs, are many copious springs of water, which unite and immediately form a large stream and a marsh, of which the discharge joins the sea at a bridge called Baba Kiupresi, in the direct road from Platamona to Katerina. At the river's mouth, which is not far from the bridge, there is a skaloma frequented by small boats, which are drawn up on the beach in bad weather.
In the space between the village and the sources, where corn is growing among the stumps of the burnt bushes, I find some remains of a stadium and theatre. None of the stone-work which mav be supposed to have formed the seats and super- structure of these monuments now exists, with the exception of two or three squared masses on the outside of the theatre ; and as the soil is a fine black mould, the effects of the seasons have reduced them both to mere hillocks of earth, but retaining their original form and dimensions sufficiently to show that the stadium was about equal in length to the other stadia of Greece, and that the theatre was about 250 feet in diameter. Below the the- atre, on the edge of the water, are the foundations of a large building, and a detached stone which seems to have belonged to a flight of steps.
Some foundations of the walls of the city to which these monuments belonged are visible also among the bushes ; but it would be in vain to attempt to trace them in such a labyrinth without a guide, an assistance which I cannot succeed in
410
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
obtaining, even to show me some ruined churches which are said to exist among the paliuria, lest the consequence to the poor Greeks should be an avania. I can only find one sepulchral stele, and that so much buried in the ground that no inscrip- tion is visible. There is a tumulus with a flat summit, about 500 yards to the southward of the theatre, and at an equal distance from the sea.
There can be no doubt that here stood the famous Dium, which, though not large, was one of the leading cities of Macedonia \\ and the great bulwark of its maritime frontier to the south. Nevertheless, it was easily occupied, and almost destroyed in the Social War by the iEtolians, whose capital soon paid the debt of cruelty and destruction which they contracted on that occa- sion 2. In the Persic war Dium seems to have thoroughly recovered that disaster, and by the im- portance of its situation it became at length a Roman colony 3. The remains near the sources are probably those of the temple of Jupiter Olym- pius, from which the city received its name ; for we are informed that public games called Olym- pia, instituted by Archelaus, the great improver of Macedonia 4, were celebrated at the temple of
1 . . . urbem sicut non mag- num, ita exornatam publicis locis et multitudine statuarum, munitamque egregie. — Liv. 1. 44, c. 7. Thucydides (1. 4, c. 78) describes it as a nokiafxa, or small city.
2 Polyb. 1. 4, c. 62.— 1. 5, c. 8.
3 Alov koXuvui, Ptolem. 1. 3, c. 13. — Colonia Diensis. Plin. H.N. 1. 4, c. 10.
4 Thucyd. 1. 2, c. 100.
XXX.]
MACEDONIA.
411
Jupiter Olympius at Dium \ The theatre and stadium served doubtless for that celebration, and they formed probably part of the 'Icpov, as at Olympia, Nemea, and the Isthmus. It is clear from Livy that the temple was not within the city 2, in which particular it resembled many other great temples in Greece. The historian, however, is not correct in asserting that the dis- tance between Olympus and the sea was little more than a mile, as indeed his own description of the place might alone give reason to suspect, since he adds, that half the space was occupied by the marsh of the Baphyrus, thus leaving little more than half a mile for the temple, theatre, stadium, and city, as well as for a level space between the walls and the foot of the mountain 3. Pausanias seems to have had a more correct idea of the distance ; for he states, that on proceeding twenty stades from Dium towards the mountain, there stood a monument, which, according to the
1 Diodor. 1. 17, c. 16.— Ste- phan. in A7ov.
2 Consul .... praemisso Popi- lio ad explorandos passus circa Dium, postquam patere omnia in omnes partes animadvertit, secundis castris pervenit ad Dium, metarique sub ipso tem- plo, ne quid sacro in loco vio- laretur, jussit. Ipse urbem in- gressus, &c. — 1. 44, c. 7.
3 Nam quum Olympi radices montis paullo plus quam millc
passuum ad mare relinquant spatium cujus dimidium loci occupat ostium late restagnans Baphyri amnis, partem plani- cia; aut Jovis templum aut op- pidum tenet : reliquum perexi- guum fossa modica valloque claudi poterat et saxorum ad manum silvestrisque materia? tantum erat ut vel murus ob- jici turresque excitari potuc- rint. — Liv. 1. 44, c. 0.
412
M ACKDOMA.
[C 11 A P.
Diastse, contained the bones of Orpheus1. The river Baphyrus or Baphyras, though so short in its course, and enveloped in marshes, was a stream of some celebrity. It is noticed by Lyco- phron 2, and by the poet Archestratus, who in the course of his travels. §ia yaarpi^apyiav, noticed the excellence of the revdiBeg, or cuttle-fish of the river Baphyrus, at the Pierian Dium, and recorded it in the same verse in which he celebrated those of Ambracia 3. Pausanias asserts that this was the same river named Helicon, which, after flowing 75 stades above ground, had then a sub- terraneous course of 22 stades, and on its re- appearance became navigable under the name of Baphyras.
Dium is one among numerous instances of an- cient cities of opulence and celebrity, situated in the most unhealthy spots. In some of those places the cultivation and draining which attend a dense population may have afforded a remedy to the natural inconvenience more or less effectual, but neither the nature of the place nor ancient testi- mony admit the probability that the marsh of Dium was ever drained. Its effects, combined
1 'loVTl $£ £(C ±i0V TtlV £TTL TO
bpoq Kal (TTacia TrpoeXtjXvdoTi e'ixoffi Kiwy tL iuriv iv £e£i£ Kal ETriOrjfxa etti rw Kioin vdpia Xi- 6oV k\ei <$£ tu oard rov 'Op^ewc if vcpia Kadii ol liri\u>pioi Xi- yuvai. 'PeT £t kuI iroTajxoQ 'EXiKojy «X(n otoZLuv tfidofxi)- kovra nlvrt' TrpoeXQurri £e to
Otvfxa a<pavi£tTai to uttu tovtov Kara tijc y>7c* ^iclXfattop t)e fia- Xiora c.vo Kal eiKoai ora&a, &v(.hti to vdwp avdig Kal ovofia Hatyvpac dvrt 'EXikwvoc Xajyuty KaTEiaiv Ig OdXaaaay yavaiiro- poc. — Pausan. Boeot. c. 30.
2 Lycoph. v. 274.
3 Ap. Athen. 1. 7, c. 22.
\ X X . j
MACEDONIA.
413
with that of the too groat vicinity of the steep sides of Olgmpus, could hardly have failed in having a pernicious effect upon the salubrity of the place ; and in fact, Malathria is now consi- dered a most unwholesome situation in the sum- mer. Were not the evidence conclusive as to the site of Dium, it might be supposed from the resemblance, that the modern Malathria is a corruption of the ancient Libethrium ; the simi- larity is to be attributed perhaps to the two names having a common origin in some word of the ancient language of Macedonia.
Leaving the tjiftlik at 6.20, we cross the plain by a winding road, and at 7.13 leave Andreotissa two miles to the left. This village is situated on the side of a long projection, advancing into the Pierian plain from the mountains which reach from Olympus to the ravine of the Haliacmon, where they are separated by that chasm in the great eastern ridge of Northern Greece from the portion of it which was anciently named Bermius. The highest summit of the Pierian part of the range rises about eight miles to the northward of Vlak- holivadho, and is a conspicuous object in all the country to the eastward, particularly from Salo- nika Its name seems from Pliny to have been Pierus \ Pausanias, in alluding to the moun- tain Pieria as near Dium 2, may be supposed to have referred to the mountains of this Macedonian province in a more comprehensive sense, and as including all the heights connected with Olympus
Plin. 1. 4, c. 8.
2 Pausan. Kceot. c. 30.
414
MACEDONIA,
[chap.
which border the Pierian plain. A Scholiast of Apollonius, alluding to the same ridges, describes Pieria as a mountain of Thrace J, which was a correct definition of it according to the most an- cient chorography of this part of Greece.
At 7.29 we pass through Spighi 2, a large vil- lage in the plain, near the extremity of the ridge of Andreotissa where it ends in a point, upon high which, in a very conspicuous situation, stands a tumulus overgrown with trees. This monument indicates perhaps the site of the principal town of Pieria, toward the middle of the province, or inter- mediate between Dium and Pydna. It would seem from Stephanus and Suidas, that there was a city named Picria3, which may have been here situated.
At 7.40 we cross a clear and rapid stream, noted for the abundance of its fish, and which, though now small, is said in times of rain to be wide, full of quicksands, and dangerous to pass : this may easily be imagined, as it appears to receive most of the waters from the northern end of Olympus, as well as those which descend from the southern extremity of its continuation, the Pierian ridge. Olympus rises abruptly from the plain on this side, dark with woods, and deriving from its steepness an increase of grandeur and apparent height. At 8.10 we enter Katerina a little be- yond a broad charadra or dry river. This town,
1 Schol. Apollon. Rhod. 1. 1, v. 31.
2 H/Trtjyr).
3 Uupla TruXig iv o/xwrvfif
%U)piu)' 6 TT0\lTT)Q Yll£piU)TT]g KCll
TlieptrriQ kcu Tliepisvg. — Ste- phan. in voce. — 7ro\ic c>£ Mave- doriac iariv >/ Hupia — Suid. in Kpiruv,
XXX.]
MACEDONIA.
415
which has eight or nine large villages in its de- pendency, besides tjiftliks, contains only 100 poor Greek houses, and as many Turkish. The pro- duce of the plain is corn and flax, and the Bey Saly is almost the only proprietor. Vely Pasha is married to his sister, since which alliance the district of Katerina has been free from thieves : on the other hand Saly's new kinsman, the great Te- peleniote, having heard that the Bey had lately made himself the heir of a deceased aga of Kate- rina, has just sent to borrow 15 purses of him.
I here learn that all the land about Malathria was entirely covered with bushes, until it was lately cleared by Vely Pasha, who was tempted by the richness of the soil to establish a farm there. Before that time the remains of antiquity were probably known only to the shepherds. In- deed I had not heard of their existence when I arrived at Malathria. The ruined churches, how- ever, show that a Christian village of some im- portance once occupied the site, which had been for many years a desert when Vely took it in hand. The deep mould may conceal, perhaps, and pre- serve many fine remains of antiquity, for Dium was noted for its splendid buildings and the multi- tude of its statues h Here were deposited twenty- five of the works of Lysippus, representing the sratpoi, or peers of Alexander, who fell at the battle of the Granicus2.
Having ascertained the site of Dium, it is not
1 Liv. 1. 44, c. 7.— Vide not. 1, p. 410.
2 Arrian. de Exp. Alex. 1. 1. c. 10.
416
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
difficult, after the tour of mount Olympus which I have just made, to apply the history of the third and fourth years of the Persic war to the real topography, though for the complete elucidation of the former year, it would be desirable at the proper season to cross the mountain from Platamona to Elassona, or the reverse ; and this would be the more interesting as Polybius, whose authority the Latin historian followed in his narrative of that campaign, was himself present in the passage across Mount Olympus !, having arrived in the Roman camp in Perrhsebia, on a mission from the council of the Achaean league just before the move- ment began. The consul, Q. Marcius Philippus, having landed at Ambracia in the spring, with 5000 men for the supply of the legions in Thessaly, marched from thence into the Thessalian plains, where he was met by his predecessor, Hostilius, who had moved for that purpose from his position at Pharsalus. Marcius, assuming the command of all the forces, then marched into Perrhaebia, where he encamped in the Tripolitis, between Azorus and Doliche, intending to carry the war immediately into Macedonia. The question as to the route by which he should enter that kingdom had been under consideration during the march, and was still undecided, when Perseus, hearing of the enemy's approach, occupied all the passes. Ten thousand light infantry were stationed on the^w- gum or pass of the Cambunian mountains, called
1 01 Se rrepi roy TloXvfiiov . . tig MaKtSoviav Kivdvvuiv fitrt't- . .twv £e Kara d)v tioolov rt)v \ov. — Polyb. 1. 28, c. 11.
XXX.
MACEDONIA.
417
Volustana (Servia) by which Hostilius had in- vaded Elimeia in the preceding year ; 12,000 under Hippias at Lapathus, above the lake As- curis *, and the remaining forces at Dium, from whence Perseus himself ranged the coast between Dium, Heracleia, and Phila, like a man in a state of utter indecision.
The consul having resolved to attempt the pas- sage by Octolophus2, sent forward his son with 4,000 men, under the command of M. Claudius, and followed immediately with his whole army. So difficult were the roads, that the advanced party only marched 15 miles in two days, at the end of which they arrived at a tower named Eu- dierum ; t>n the third day, at the end of seven miles, they found themselves in the presence of the Macedonians under Hippias. Marcius, who had reached the lake Ascuris when he received the report of Claudius, continued his route until he arrived at the distance of a mile from the enemy, when he occupied some heights which
1 Ad castellum, quod super Ascuridem paludem (Lapathus vocatur locus) Hippias tenere saltum cum duodecim millium Macedonum praesidio jussus. — Liv. 1. 44, c. 2.
2 Consuli sententia stetit eo saltu ducere ubi propter Octo- lophum dixlmus regis castra. — Liv. 1. 44, c. 3. —These last words show that there has been a loss of text at the end
of the preceding book, where some mention was made of the king's movements after his re- turn into Macedonia from an unsuccessful expedition into Acarnania in the middle of winter. It appears that in the ensuing spring he had en- camped at Octolophus, and had retired from thence into Pieria on the approach of the Roman army.
VOL. Ill
e e
418
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
commanded a view of all the sea coast between Dium and Phila.
Octoloplius was probably near the issue of the Titaresius, or Elassonitiko, from Mount Olympus into the valley of Elassona. Ezero being the only lake in the part of the Olympene ridges traversed by the Romans on this occasion, is evidently the Ascuris, and the ancient remains at Konispoli lying in the direction towards that lake from Octo- loplius as well as from the Roman camp between Azorus and Doliche, seem to answer perfectly to those of Eudierum : the latter interval moreover cor- responding with tolerable correctness to the fifteen miles of the historian. The ruggedness of the mountains sufficiently explains the length of time which it required for the Romans under Claudius to reach Eudierum. Nor is the ancient castle near Rapsani less adapted to Lapathus, not only by its proximity to Tempe, as I before remarked, but by that part of Livy's narrative also, from which we may infer that Lapathus, although de- scribed as having been " super Ascuridem palu- dem," was at some distance from that lake, since Claudius, when he found himself in presence of the enemy in the pass of Lapathus, had to send a messenger to Marcius at Ascuris to inform him of the fact, and the consul had a march to make to arrive at the position which he assumed, at the distance of a mile from the enemy. The histo- rian's remark, moreover, that the consul's position commanded a view of the sea coast from Hera- cleia to Phila, exactly accords with the heights of Rapsani.
XXX.]
MACEDONIA,
419
After a day's repose the consul led his forces against Hippias, and both on that day and the following there was a continued combat, but of light troops only, the nature of the ground not ad- mitting of any more serious conflict. The fame and power of Rome were at this moment in the utmost peril ; but the consul fully sensible of his hazard- ous situation, judged that it would be still more dangerous to retreat than to advance, and Perseus fortunately having made no attempt to support or relieve the fatigued troops of Hippias, the consul left Popillius with a sufficient force to observe them, and began a descent to the maritime plain, in which at the end of four days of extreme labour, he pitched his camp between Libethrium and Heracleia. Even here, had he not been opposed to an enemy who was under the influence of that dementation which is the surest prognostic of falling power, his position was still little better than desperate, as he was surrounded on every side by strong passes, in the hands of superior forces, and without means of obtaining sufficient supplies for his army by sea. But his foolish opponent, as soon as he received intelligence of the approach of the consul, quitted his excellent position at Dium, ordered the garrisons to be with- drawn from Phila and the positions above Tempe, and retreated to Pydna.
The consul having detached Sp. Lucretius against the enemy's posts in his rear, and to open a communication with Larissa, advanced cautiously to Dium, which Perseus had unac- countably abandoned, since it would have been
e e 2
420
MACEDONIA,
[chap.
easy for him, observes Livy, to have fortified the space between the city and the mountain by a rampart and ditch, or even by walls and towers, for which the neighbouring mountain would have supplied ample materials of wood and stone. After having halted one day at Dium, the consul proceeded to the river Mitys. On the next day he received the submission of Agassse, and on the following marched to the river Ascordus, but finding that supplies became scarcer as he ad- vanced, he returned to Dium, where he soon re- ceived the grateful intelligence that Lucretius was in possession of Phila and Tempe, and had found an abundance of provisions in these and the neigh- bouring fortresses. Marcius then retired from Dium to Phila, for the sake of strengthening that place, and of supplying his soldiers with corn, — a movement which having the appearance of avoid- ing the enemy was not generally approved in the Roman army. Its immediate consequence was, that Perseus returned to Dium, and after having repaired the damage which the walls of the city had received from the Romans, placed his army at a distance of five miles in front of the city, behind the Enipeus. This river is described by the historian as descending from a valley of Olym- pus, and as enclosed between high and precipitous banks, containing little water in summer, but full of quicksands and whirlpools in the time of wintry rains. It is almost unnecessary to remark how exactly both the description of the river, and its distance from Dium correspond to the river of Litokhoro.
XXX. J
MACEDONIA.
421
The next operation of Marcius was against He- racleia, now the only place on the Pierian coast southward of the Enipeus which was not in his possession. It was situated five miles from Phila, about midway between Tempe and Dium, on a rock overhanging a river \ Being strong and well garrisoned, and within sight of the king's fires on the Enipeus, Heracleia made an obstinate resistance, but was at length taken by means of the Ktpa/jiu>Tov, or testudo, by which the assailants advanced to the wall upon the united shields of a dense body of their comrades below them. The Roman commander then removed his camp to Heracleia, ordered roads to be made into Thessaly, magazines to be erected at convenient places, and huts for those who were to convey the supplies. From Livy's description of Heracleia, some doubt may arise whether it was situated at Platamona itself, or at the mouth of the river of the same name : either place would sufficiently suit the words " media regione inter Dium Tempeque," but Platamona cannot be said to overhang the river which I suppose to be the Apilas of Pliny, being more than two miles distant from it. On the other hand there is no rocky height at the mouth of the river, and Platamona being the only hill on this coast, and the only post possessing any natural strength, is obviously the position in which the principal fortress is likely to have been situated. It would seem, therefore, that the " amnis at the foot of the rock
1 Media regione inter Dium nente positum. — Liv. 1. 44, Tempeque in rupe amni immi- c. 8.
422
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
of Heracleia'" was no other than the rivulet which flows through the kiosk at Platamona. Phila hav- ing been the frontier fortress of Macedonia towards Magnetis, and distant 5 miles from Heracleia, ap- pears to have stood near the mouth of the Peneius on the left bank.
Libethrium was situated, as evidently follows from the transactions related by Livy, between Dium and Heracleia. Pausanias reports a tra- dition, that the town was once destroyed, together with all its inhabitants, by the inundation of a torrent called Sus ; and that on the preceding day the tomb of Orpheus, which was near Libe- thrium, had been injured by another accident, which exposed the poet's bones to the light, and induced the people of Dium to remove them to a spot 20 stades distant from their city towards Olympus, where they erected a monument to him, consisting of an urn of stone upon a column !. The only two torrents which could have effected such havoc as Pausanias states, are the rivers of Platamona and of Litokhoro. The former, how- ever, was near Heracleia, and probably in the territory of that city ; we can hardly fail to con- clude, therefore, that the Sus was the same river as the JEnipeus, and that Libethrium was situated not far from its junction with the sea, as the upper parts of the slope towards Litokhoro are secured from the ravages of the torrent by their elevation above its bank. Litokhoro itself I take to be the
1 Pausan Boeot. c. 30. In the time of Alexander the Great there was a statue of
Orpheus made of cypress at Libethrium. — Plutarch, in
Alex.
XXX.]
MACEDONIA.
423
site of Pimplcia, for this birth-place of Orpheus appears to have been near Libethrium, and the Baphyrus ', and the aicoTrrj, or atcon'm U^mXriiq of the poets, corresponds remarkably with the ele- vated situation of Litokhoro and its commanding;
o
prospect.
It is not easy to afford any illustration of the three marches of the Romans beyond Dium ; the first of which terminated at the river Mitys, the second at Agassse, and the third at the Ascordus ; for these names are not found in any other ancient authority, unless the last be the same as the Acer- dos, which occurs, though not marked as a river, in the Tabular Itinerary, where it is placed at a distance of 12 m. p. short of Bercea 2, on the road thither from Larissa by Tempe and Dium, which could not have been very different from the route of Marcius. As Pydna is not mentioned in the consul's march, he followed probably a direction more westerly than that town, which was on the sea coast, and crossing the Pierian ridge descended upon the Haliacmon, not far from where it issues
1 KtKkaVffflivOQ
Nvfxcpataiv at (ptXavro ftrjtyvpov ydvog Aiprjdptrjv 0' vnepde HifiirXelae okottiiv.
Lycophron. v. 273 UpaJTci vvv 'Op<prjoQ fxyjjai/jfjieda rdv pa. ttot avryj KaWioiTT] Qpi'i'iKi (parl^erai cuvTjOtTira Qidypy crKOTrifjg UifxnXrjiSog ciy^i TEKeadai.
Apollon. 1. 1, v. 23.
2 Larissa 15 m. p. Olympum 10 m. p. Stenas (Tempe) 15 m.p. Sabatium 12 m. p. Bium (Dium) 12 m. p. Hatera 12
m. p. Anamo 7 m. p. Bada 20 m. p. Arulos 15 m. p. Acerdos 12 K. p. Bercea. — Tab. Peutinger, Seg. v.
424
MACEDONIA,
[CHAP.
from the ravines into the plain of Verria. The distance of this point, indeed, from Dium, being not more than twenty-five miles in a straight line, is little for a three days' march ; but the consul was suspicious of some hidden design in the enemy's retreat, and was chiefly intent upon col- lecting supplies, whence he may be supposed to have made small progress in direct distance. The Mitys was perhaps the river of Katerina, and Agassce may have been situated about midway between Katerina and the passage of the Vistritza, in the way to Verria. I should have suspected that Ascordus was an error for Astrseus, aud that the river which the Romans reached was the Hali- acmon itself, which, as I have before remarked, bore the name of Astrseus in the lower part of its course. The Acerdos of the Itinerary, however, is opposed to this opinion by its resemblance to Ascordus, which may, therefore, have been a tri- butary of the Haliacmon, joining it from the right and having a town upon it of the same name.
Katerina so nearly approaches in sound to the Hatera, which is the first place occurring in the Table on the road from Dium to Berrhcea, that we can hardly doubt of the identity. That Hatera is not mentioned by Livy, although lying on or very near the route of Marcius, may be explained by the great difference of date between the Itinerary and the Persic war, when Hatera may have been a very inconsiderable place, or may not have ex- isted at all. It may certainly be objected that the interval between Dium and Hatera in the Table is greater than the real distance from Malathria to
XXX.]
MACEDONIA.
425
Katerina ; but this excess is less than a due pro- portion of that which occurs on the whole line from Dium to Berrhcea, which is 78 m. p. in the Table, and less about 36 English miles in direct distance. Bada in the same geographical docu- ment has some resemblance to Balla, or Valla, which we learn from Ptolemy and Pliny to have been a Pierian town1. In that case Valla would seem to have been about midway between Dium and Berrhcea ; but I am more inclined to place Valla in the mountainous part of Pieria, because we are told by an author cited by Stephanus that the inhabitants of Valla were removed to Pythium 2, and Pythium was in Perrhcebia, at the south- western foot of the Pierian mountains. Possibly Velvendo may have derived its appellation from a corruption of Valla.
Dec. 22. — At 5.7, Turkish time, we proceed from Katerina with the menzil, and follow a good carriage-road across the beautiful Pierian plain, which is here near ten miles in breadth from the sea to the woody falls of the Olympene range, or Mount Pierus.
The soil is excellent, but very partially culti- vated : large trees occur at intervals, and towards the sea are some extensive woods, which are famed among the sportsmen of Saloniki for their phea- sants. A place on the shore where boats anchor in fair weather, or are drawn up in foul, serves for the skaloma of Katerina.
1 Ptolem. 1. 3, c. 13.— Plin. 1. 4, c. 10.
2 Theagenes ap. Stephan. in BuXXu.
426
MACEDONIA,
[chap.
At 6 the plain terminates, and we begin to cross a range of low hills, which, advancing from the Pierian mountain, meet the shore at the north- western angle of the Thermaic Gulf. At 6.7 we arrive at Kutjuk (or Little) Ayan : Buyuk (or Great) Ayan is one mile on the left. Both these villages are the property of Saly Bey. The labourers who inhabit them furnish all the labour, cattle, and instruments of agriculture, receive seed- corn from the Bey, and share half the crop after the dhekatia has been deducted from it. At Little Ayan, in the wall of a church which is sur- rounded by some ancient foundations of squared blocks, is a piece of a statue with drapery of fine workmanship, and an inscribed stone, erected by one Ophelion in memory of his father of the same name !.
Continuing to cross the heights where the varied surface is clothed with a beautiful mixture of rich corn-land and woods, we have half a mile on our right, on the slope towards the sea, two tumuli standing close together, one with a flat top, the other peaked. They indicate the vicinity of the position of Pydna, either as monuments of the battle, or as common accompaniments of a site of high antiquity such as Pydna was. The sea is a mile and a half beyond the tumuli, and a little farther northward begins a lagoon, which covers all the low ground at a projecting point of the coast, and com- municates with the sea by a narrow opening. Half a mile short of Kitro, a ruined church on the left
V. Inscription, No. 156.
XXX.]
MACEDONIA.
427
of the road contains a Corinthian capital and many wrought blocks of stone. Kitro, which is one hour and eight minutes from Ayan, stands at two miles from the sea, on a hill which although of inconsi- derable height is one of the highest of these mari- time ridges. Though now consisting only of the houses of a few Greek labourers, with that of a Turkish subashi, placed here by the Bey of Kate- rina, to whom the greater part of the land belongs, Kitro retains proofs of former importance in six churches, three of which are in ruins, and in seve- ral Turkish pyrghi in the same state.
In all the churches are to be seen squared blocks of Hellenic times, together with some remains of architecture which are chiefly of later date. At one of the churches are three sepulchral stelae bearing inscriptions, only one of which is in a copyable condition. It is a memorial of a com- mon form, followed by two elegiac couplets show- ing that the monument was erected by Arte- midorus to his brothers Eiarinus and Sporus of Heracleia, who were twins1. Another church, which is almost new, contains a sepulchral monu- ment, erected by one Ulpia, for herself, in her life- time. Like the former, it is engraved in charac- ters indicating a late date in the Roman Empire.
1 'Aprtui^wpoc EtapiJ'w Kal 27ropw to~iq dStX(j>olc {J-vtiaq yapiv.
Trjfie KaTCUpdifxivovQ StSvpovg tivo <pu)rag dpiarovg
Eiaptjw tv/a(3o£ Kal ~Lir6pov tiae'Xa^ev*
Ilarpic <>' 'Hpti/cXfia Kal 'Aprefii^oipog 6 rtvijac
Adlvov dfuf>OTEpoig (3u)fj.dv v-rrepde ratyov.
V. Inscription, No. 157. 3 V. Inscription, No. 158.
428
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
Around the latter church are some ancient foun- dations, and in another part of the hill of Kitro a sorus, which is now employed for the reservoir of the public fountain, its lid serving for a trough underneath. On leaving Kitro at 1.33, we take the road to its skala, which is merely an open beach near the lagoon before mentioned ; but at two-thirds of the distance, we cross the fields to the left and fall into a carriage-road which leads along the coast from Katerina to Elefthero-khori with- out passing through Kitro.
A little further, we arrive at 9.10 at some ruins called Paleokastro, or Paleos Kitros, consisting only of the foundations of a small oblong rectangular castle which occupied the summit of a cliff on the sea side. In one place a piece of wall remains, formed of small stones and mortar intermixed with pieces of Roman tiles. Some square blocks among the foundations are the only appearances of Hellenic antiquity, nor is there any thing in the situation or construction of this castle that tends to refer it to those times. After a halt often minutes, we proceed for a short distance near the brow of the cliffs which border the shore, and then cross the heights obliquely to Elefthero-khori, which is two miles from the sea, and where we arrive at 10.15. Our route was about twenty minutes longer than by the direct road.
In the fertile hills which extend from Kitro to Elefthero-khori, not a third part of the land is cul- tivated ; and as the same good soil is seldom grown with corn two successive years, it is extremely pro- ductive : every granary and cottage is full of corn,
XXX.]
MACEDONIA.
429
for which there is at present no sale. The Turkish granaries in these parts are immense square wooden cases, with a kiosk at the top : they are generally the most conspicuous buildings in the village. The Turkish houses correspond to the natural fertility of the soil, and are spacious and tolerably commodious. Beyond Elefthero-khori, on the slope of the same hills, stands Kulindros ', and then Libanova 2, about seven miles from Elefthero- khori, near the point of the heights where they project farthest into the maritime plain. Kulin- dros is the largest of the three villages.
The Epitomizer of Strabo, and a Scholiast of Demosthenes, assert that the Klrpog of their time was the same place as the ancient Pydna 3 ; but as their authority is of no great weight, not much better indeed than the opinion of a modern Greek would be, and as the facts of history seem to re- quire a more southern position for Pydna, I am inclined to place it at Ayan, Kitro itself having probably risen in the middle ages upon the decay of Pydna and Methone in an intermediate position between those two Hellenic cities.
When Perseus heard of the approach of the new consul L. iEniilius Paullus, as successor to Q. Mar- cius Philippus, in the command of the Roman army in Macedonia, among other preparatory mea- sures by land and sea, he sent 5000 Macedonians to garrison Pythium and Petra, in order that his camp on the Enipeus might not be turned through
1 KovXtvrpoc-
2 \r)fnrdvofta.
3 Strabo, (Epit. 1. 7) p. 330. — Schol. in Demosth. Olyn. 1.
430
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
Perrhaebia : he adopted at the same time various precautions for the defence of the Enipeus, which is naturally a position of singular strength. Not- withstanding these efforts, he was obliged to re- treat to Pydna in consequence of his detachment in the pass of Petra having been overthrown by P. Scipio Nasica, who had been sent against it accompanied by the consul's eldest son, Q. Fabius Maximus. As secrecy was essential to the suc- cess of this design, Scipio had been detached with 5000 chosen men from the camp in front of the Enipeus to Heracleia, for the pretended purpose of being there embarked on a maritime expedition against the Macedonian coast ; but where, instead of embarking, he placed himself under the guid- ance of two Perrhaebians, who conducted him by a circuitous march to Pythium on the fourth watch of the third day !. Their route was probably through Tempe, and by Phalanna, Oloosson, and Doliche, to Pythium, — a distance of more than sixty miles, — and consequently requiring the time which Livy has stated upon the incontestable au- thority of Polybius. Plutarch, therefore, seems to have been extremely ignorant of the places and distances in question, or totally regardless of accu- racy, in asserting that Scipio reached Pythium on the night of his march from Heracleia 2. As to the circumstances of the engagement at Petra, there is unfortunately a deficiency in this part of the text of the Latin historian, so that we have only Plu-
1 Liv. 1. 44, c. 35.
3 Plutarch, in JEmil.
XXX.]
MACEDONIA.
431
tarch to refer to ; but as in questioning the accu- racy of Polybius upon an important circumstance relating to it, he has given us an intimation of the statement of the Greek historian, we have thus the means of choosing between the two authorities on this point. Polybius, as we have seen from Livy, represented Scipio's detachment to have been 5000 strong. Plutarch, on the contrary, on the autho- rity of a letter of Scipio to a certain king, asserts that they amounted to more than 8000. Another disagreement is of smaller moment, or rather is no more than natural : Polybius, an old soldier, was satisfied with saying that the enemy were surprised in their sleep, and driven before the Romans ; while Scipio, who was in his first campaign, took a pleasure in relating that there was a brisk action on the mouutain, that he himself killed a Thracian, and that Milo, the Macedonian commander, fled in his shirt.
During the three days in which Scipio was effect- ing his circuitous route, the consul arrested the attention of Perseus by skirmishes of light infantry, which chiefly took place between the precipitous banks inclosing the bed of the river : on the third day he made a demonstration of crossing the river near the mouth. These operations had the desired effect, for they were suddenly interrupted by the unexpected intelligence which the king received from a Cretan deserter1, of the attack and defeat
1 Livy says : — Tertio die praelio abstinuit (Consul sc.) degressus ad imam partem eas- trorum veluti per devexum in
mare brachium transitum ten- taturus. Perseus quod in ocu- lis erat ********;the remainder is lost, but may be
12
432
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
of his forces at Petra. Thus threatened with an assault from the enemy on both sides, he made a rapid retreat to Pydna, while the consul, having effected a junction with Nasica, followed the enemy with all possible expedition, and at mid-day had advanced so near to the king's position at Pydna that it was a question whether, notwithstanding the heat and the fatigue of the troops, he should not then attack the Macedonians. The distance from the Enipeus to Ayan being not more than a four or five hours' march, the whole operation might have been effected in the long days near the summer solstice, when the event occurred *, — but not very easily if Pydna had stood at Kitro.
supplied from the following words of Plutarch: Tu Ylepaii, tvv AlfiiXwy drpefiouvra Kara yjopav bpuivTi (cat firj \oyi£o- jdivu) to yivufitvov, diroSpdc Ik rijg bdov Kpt)g avrofioXoQ r']KE
fiTjl'VtOV TY]V TTEplOCOV TU>V 'Pw-
jucuW. Plutarch then proceeds, in defiance of probability and of the testimony of Polybius, to state that Milo, with 2000 men, was at this juncture sent by Perseus to defend the pass. Milo is named by Livy as one of the commanders of the Macedonians sent to Pythium when the king first took up his position on the Enipeus.
1 The eclipse, which both Livy and Plutarch relate to have occurred on the night be-
fore the battle, fixes its exact date to the 22d June, 168 b.c. and shows the " pridie nonas Septembres" of Livy to be er- roneous, although it is con- sistent with some other dates in 1. 45, c. 1, 2, as well as with the Qipovq i)v &pa tyQivovroq of Plutarch. On the other hand, if we refer to the time of the de- parture of iEmilius from Rome, (protinus post kalendas Apriles, Liv. i. 44, c. 22,) and tu his speech after his triumph, given by Plutarch, wherein he states that a month only intervened between that departure and his victory, the inference would be, that the battle was fought long before the solstice.
XXX.]
MACEDONIA.
433
The description of the field of battle furnishes another argument in favour of the opinion, that Pydna was at Ayan. Livy, Strabo, and Plu- tarch, agree in showing that the hostile encounter occurred in the plain before Pydna, which was traversed by a small river, and bordered by heights affording a convenient retreat and shelter to the light infantry, while the plain alone con- tained the level ground necessary for the phalanx, — circumstances which accord perfectly with the plain extending from Katerina to the heights of Ayan, whereas the entire country from the latter to Elefthero-khori, in the midst of which Kitro is situated, affords no sufficient plain, but consists, with the exception of some small level spaces on the sea shore, entirely of the last falls of a moun- tain, which Plutarch names Olocrus.
The hostile camps were separated during one night by the river. On the following day the action was brought on by an accident, and had not been long engaged on the whole line, when Perseus set an example of flight, which was followed by all his cavalry ; the phalanx nevertheless resisted with obstinacy, but when at length the consul had suc- ceeded in penetrating it, the overthrow of the Mace- donians was so complete, that 20,000 were slain, and more than 10,000 made prisoners, with a loss of only 100 killed on the side of the Romans.
It appears from Diodorus, that Pydna stood originally on the sea side, but that Archelaus, king of Macedonia, having taken it in the year B.C. 411, removed it to a distance of 20 stades
Ff
vol. rir.
434
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
from the shore l. This distance accords with that of the heights of Ayan from the sea, as well as with the relation which the same historian has left us of the capture of Pydna by Cassander. Towards the close of the year b.c 316, Olympias, the mother of Alexander, retired into Pydna with a large army, attended by cavalry and elephants. Cassander being unable to besiege the place on account of the season, encamped around it, formed a circumvallation terminating at either end at the sea, and blockaded the port with his ships 2. Olympias resisted until the spring, when her sup- plies totally failing, the horses and beasts of bur- then having been devoured, the elephants having died 3, great numbers of the men having perished of disease and starvation, and others having de- serted, the queen herself attempted to escape by sea but was taken prisoner. The fall of Pydna was followed by the surrender of Pella and Am- pin polis to Cassander, who was not long in con- firming his claim to the Macedonian throne, by marrying the sister of Alexander, by putting his mother to death, and by shutting up his widow and young son in Amphipolis, where a few years afterwards they were murdered 4.
No remains are distinguishable from Avan or
1 Diodor. 1. 13, c. 49. ku>Xve. — Diodor. 1. 19, c.
2 TTEpia-paTOTrtdeiHTaQ cie n)v 49.
ttoXiv ica'i -^dpaxa l3aX6/.i.£yoc 3 An attempt was made to
aV6 daXdaarjc rig OdXaaaav, keep the elephants alive by
ttti St £<popfiuJv rw Xi/xert, nav- feeding them upon saw dust. to. ftovXdfiEvov tTTiKovpyjaai Su- 4 Diodor. 1. 19, c, 51, 105.
XXX.]
MACEDONIA.
435
Kitro of the port of Pydna, but the coast has doubtless undergone a considerable change by means of the alluvion of Olympus, and the Pierian mountain.
As Methone is named in the Periplus of Scy- lax — as it was one of the Greek colonies established in early times on this coast, then considered a part of Thrace, and as it was possessed by Athens when she was mistress of the seas *, there can be little doubt that it was upon or very near the shore. Elefthero-khori is so advantageous a situ- ation that we can hardly suppose it to have been neglected by the ancients ; and it is for this reason principally, that I conceive it to have been the site of Methone, for its distance from Ayan is certainly greater than the 40 stades which the epitomizer of Strabo places between Pydna and Methone. The epitome, however, is not much to be depended upon in this passage, as it names the Haliacmon in the place of the river of Katerina and an Erigon in that of the Haliacmon ; whereas the only Erigon known from ancient history was a branch of the Axius, which joined it 80 miles inland.
As Alorus is stated to have been situated be- tween the Haliacmon and Lydias by Scylax 2,
1 Thucyd. 1. 6, c. 7.— Scy- lax in MaKtCovla. — Demosth. Olynth. 1 .— Diodor. 1. 16, c. 34. — Strab. (Epit. 1. 7) p. 330.— Plutarch in Q,u. Gr. states that Methone was a colony of Ere- tria.
2 'Atto c5e Hr]P£iov Trorafiov MaKeloveg tiolv 'idvoQ Kai tcoX- tvoq Oepfxaloc' 7rpu>Trj 7rvXi£ Ma/ce<Wf'ae> 'IlpdicXeiov' A7oy, TlvSva iroXic 'EXXtjvIc, Meddjyn] iroXig 'E\\?7v<C) ical 'AXicucfitov iroTtifios," AXwpnc iroXig K<ti wo-
pf2
43G
MACEDONfA.
[chap.
whose correct enumeration of the other places between the Peneius and Thessalonica entitles him to confidence in this particular, it seems to have stood not far from Kapsokhori, the position of which, opposite to the innermost part of the Thermaic gulf, agrees with the description of Alo- rus given by Stephanus \ Perhaps Palea-khora, near Kapsokhori, may have received its name from its preserving some remains of Alorus.
Dec. 23. — The wind being " from the Vardar," according to the local phrase, and consequently fair for the City, I descend over rich hills and through small woods of oaks, and embark at the skala of Elefthero-khori, which is a little more than half an hour distant from the village where the hills terminate, and the great plain begins, which is watered by the Vistritza, Karasmak, and Vard- hari, and occupied in great part by the lake of Ian- nitza, ovPclla. Elefthero-khori seems thus to be the natural frontier of Pieria and Botticea. Besides the lake ofPella, the maritime part of the plain contains a long succession of lagoons, beginning near Elef- thero-khori and reaching nearly as far as Saloniki. Of these lagoons, Herodotus has noticed that be-
Taiiog AvSiag, lit Wet noXtg /cat (jaaiXttov iv avrij xal avair Xovg elg avT>)y aVa rov AvCiav, "A£«o£ TTorafxog, 'E^cwpoc tto- 7-ayuoc, Qepfxr) ttoXiq. — Scylax in MaiceBovia.
1 "AXwpog -rroXig MaKECoviag' ioTt Zk to ixvya.iTa.T0v tov Qep- fialov koXttov. — Stephan. in ' AXiopog.
Alorus was an important town ; Ptolemy Alorites, natu- ral son of Amyntas, took his appellation from thence, and Polybius (1. 5, cc. 63, 65) men- tions a certain Cnopius 6 'AXw- ptrrje.
XXX.]
MACEDONIA.
437
tween the Axius and the Echidorus \ They pro- duce an abundance offish and salt. Of the latter, large heaps are seen near the extremity of the heights of Elefthero-khori on the water-side. A gentle breeze carries us at the rate of five miles an hour along the coast ; in an hour and a half we arrive at a projecting cape formed by the allu- vion of the Haliacmon. In the time of Herodotus this river was joined by the Lydias, or discharge of the lake of Pella, but a change has now taken place in the course of the latter, which joins not the Haliacmon but the Axius, The Haliacmon itself appears to have moved its lower course to the eastward of late, so that in time, perhaps, all the three rivers may unite before they join the sea. In all the large rivers of Greece, similar changes of direction in the lower parts of their course are observable. The new soil which is brought down by the water, and distributed along the shore by the sea, acted upon by prevailing winds and currents, produces a continual change of obstacles and of relative levels in the maritime plain, which speedily gives a new course to the waters, even in the land which is not of the latest formation. The joint stream formed by the Lydias and Axius is still navigable into the lake, and probably up to Pella, as it was in ancient times. After having passed Cape Karasmak, which is exactly opposite to tha outer extremity of Cape Karaburnu, the wind
1 . . . . 'Eve/dwpov, og ek irapd tu eXog to kiz 'Asi'w -no- K()»;«77W)'C(/w^ dnidfXci'ix: piti r«/xw. — Herodot. 1. 7, c. 124. eta Mvyoovt'jjc X'''."'?'-'' Kai t^tet
438
MACEDONIA.
[CHAP. XXX.
heads us a little, and we proceed more slowly than before, but in half an hour, at 6 o'clock Turkish, arrive at a second point, about midway between the Vistritza and Vardhari, where nu- merous monoxyla belonging to Kulakia are em- ployed in catching shell-fish and octopodhia, while at no great distance from them some large squadrons of wild swans are floating lazily on the gently-swelling surface, and appear to enjoy the fine weather. To the right, the cliffs of Kara- burn li extend for three or four miles in length. The cape seen from Saloniki is the westernmost point. This conspicuous promontory seems, from Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who consulted some early Greek writers, to have been once the plat- form of a temple of Venus, said to have been founded by iEneias \ There cannot be a more beautiful situation for such a building. At 6.25 we are opposite the mouth of the Vardhari, which now joins the sea in a bay between the last cape which we passed and another called Kazik-burnu, which we pass at 6.51. It is not improbable that the former was produced by the Lydias and the latter by the Axius, at some period when they fell separately into the gulf. From hence the wind falling and coming more a head, we do not reach Saloniki till 9.
1 (AlvEtag ko.1 Tpwec,) vt(t>%> A'ivaav iKTioav. — Dionys. Hal. 'A<ppo^irt]c i^pvaayro kni twv 1. l,c. 49. nKpwrripiwv h'be Kai ttoXiv
CHAPTER XXXI.
MACEDONIA.
Comparative Geography of Macedonia — River Galliko, Echi- dorus — Doiran, Tauriana — Gallicum — Stobi — Stena of the Axius — Idomene — Invasion of Sitalces — Mount Cercine — Gor- tynia — E uropus — A Imopia — Em a I h ia — Mcedi — Amphaxia — Anthemus — Mygdonia — Crosscea — Mount Cissus — Boltiatoe — Chalcidenses — Apollonia of Chalcidice — Olynthns — Apol- lonia of Mygdonia — Lete — Pceonia — Strumitza, Astrceum — Roman roads from Stobi — Velesa, Bylazora — Almana, Desudaba, Mcedica — Ivorina, Jamphorina — Mount Scomius — Dentheletce, Bessi — Istip, Astajms — Ghiustench'l, Pautalia — Theranda, Ulpiana — Towns on the Malhis — Skopia, Scupi — Edict of Amphipolis after the conquest by Paullus — Limits of the four regions — Coins of the Telrarchy.
Having been prevented by the occurrence of hos- tilities between England and the Porte from pro- secuting my travels in Macedonia, I can here only offer a few remarks on the comparative geography of those parts of that celebrated province of Greece which I have not visited, illustrated by such an im- perfect delineation as oral information can supply. I have already remarked, that between Saloniki and the Vardhari a river called Galliko crosses the road. This is evidently the Echidorus of Hero- dotus, and as in the Tabular Itinerary, Gallicum is the name of a place situated 16 m. p. from
440
MACEDONIA.
[CHAP.
Thessalonica, on the Roman road to Stobi ' ; it would seem that in this, as in some other in- stances which might be mentioned, the ancient name of the river had fallen into disuse, and had been replaced by that of a town' which stood upon its banks. Hence also we perceive that the road to Stobi followed the valley of the Echidorus, and not that of the Axius. Next to Gallicum on this route occurred Tauriana, to which the modern Doghiran, or Do'iran, corresponds so nearly in name that we can hardly doubt of the identity, the more so as the road thither from Saloniki led in the direction of the course of the Galliko. Nor is the distance of Do'iran from Saloniki very dif- ferent from the 33 m. p. which the Table places between Thessalonica and Tauriana. Do'iran has been described to me as a town situated on a small lake which discharges itself into another lake, and that into the Axius. Kilkitj being nearly midway from Saloniki to Do'iran, seems to occupy the site of Gallicum.
Stobi, upon which the road was directed as being a Roman colony and municipium 2, and consequently the capital, in those ages, of the north-western part of Macedonia, appears to have been already a place of some importance under the Macedonian kings, though probably it had been greatly reduced by the incursions of the Dardani, when Philip had an intention of founding a new
2 Tab. Peutinger Segm. v. 2 Plin. H. N. 1. 4, c. 10. Ulpian. dig. de Cons, lex ult.
Some of the coins of Stobi are inscribed Munic. Stobensium.
XXXI.]
MACEDONIA.
441
city near it, in memory of a victory over those troublesome neighbours, and which he proposed to call Perseis, in honour of his son. At the Roman conquest, Stobi was made the place of deposit of salt for the supply of the Dardani, the monopoly of which was given to the third Mace- donia1. Some vestiges probably still exist to prove its exact site, although I have not been able to obtain any account of them. According to the Tabular Itinerary, it stood 47 m. p. from Heracleia of Lyncus, which was in the Via Egnatia, and 55 m. p. from Tauriana ; and as the sum of the Tabular distances from Heracleia to Stobi, and from Stobi to Serdica, now Sofia, is not greater than the real distance from the site of Heracleia near Filurina to Sofia, we may infer that Stobi was in the direct road from Heracleia to Serdica. Hence its position appears to have been on the Erigon, ten or twelve miles above the junction of that river with the Axius, a situation which agrees with Livy, inasmuch as he describes Stobi as a town of Pseonia, in the district Deuriopus, which was watered by the Erigon. Strabo, indeed, who names three towns of Deuriopus, and adds that they were all situated on the Erigon, has not noticed Stobi 2, but possibly he may have considered the lower part of that river as in Pela- gonia, for the respective confines of these districts were very uncertain, especially after the Roman conquest.
1 Liv. 1. 33, c. 19; 1. 39, 2 Strabo, p. 327.
c. 53 ; 1. 45, c. 29.
442
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
On the road in the Tabular Itinerary from Tauriana to Stobi occur the following distances and names : — 20 m. p. Idomene, 12 m. p. Stena, 11 m. p. Antigoneia, 12 m. p. Stobi1; where the Stena or Straits are evidently the pass now called Demirkapi, or Iron gate, where the river Vardhari is closely bordered by perpendicular rocks, which in one place have been excavated for the road. Idomene consequently stood on the Vardhari, 12 Roman miles below the Demirkapi, and probably on the right bank, as it is included by Ptolemy in Emathia, a province bounded eastward by the Axius, which river may be supposed to have formed in remote times a protection to the Emathian towns from the barbarians of Paeonia and Thrace. These evidences as to the situation of Idomene, although not yet confirmed by the discovery of any ancient remains, already furnish a valuable illustration of Thucydides, whose narrative of the invasion of Macedonia by the Thracians, under Sitalces king of the Odrysse, in the third year of the Pelopon- nesian war2, contains some incidental remarks on the geography of Macedonia, which are among the most useful to be found in the ancient au- thorities.
The expedition of Sitalces having been under- taken in concert with the Athenians, who had
1 The names in the Table are Idomenia, Stonas, Stopis, which there can be no difficulty in correcting as above. As to Stonas, the most important of these corrections, we find that
12
Tempe is noticed in the Table by the word Stenas, one letter nearer to Stena, the real word belonging to both places. 8 Thucyd. 1. 2, c. 95.
XXXI.]
MACEDONIA.
443
several subject cities on the Thracian coast, the king was accompanied by Agnon of Athens, as well as by a pretender to the Macedonian throne, in the person of Amyntas, a nephew of Perdiccas the reigning monarch. As the authority of Sitalces extended from the shores of the Euxine and Pro- pontis to the frontiers of Macedonia, where even the Pseonian tribes to the left of the Strymon were subject to him, he was enabled to enter Macedonia with no less than a hundred and fifty thousand men, one third of whom were cavalry. His route from Thrace into Macedonia crossed Mount Cercine, leaving the Pseones on his right, the Sinti and Masdi on his left, and descended upon the Axius at Idomene ; from thence he moved by Gortynia, Atalanta, and Europus, into the maritime plain, but instead of proceeding to Cyrrhus and Pella, he turned to the left and ravaged Mygdonia, Cres- tonia, and Anthemus, without entering Bottisea, still less Pieria, both of which were within Cyrrhus and Pella \
From a previous knowledge of the relative situ- ations of Sintice, Idomene, and Pella, it may con- fidently be inferred, that the Thracians invaded Macedonia from the plain of Serres, then con- sidered a part of Thrace, and that crossing the mountains which close that plain to the westward, and separate it from the valley of the Axius, they
1 'iiriiTa Ze kcu Iq rr)v dWijv taw $e tovtwv eg rr^v BorrtQiiau ^laKECovlav Trpovyjopti ri)v tv koX Jlieptav ovk dtyiKOVTO. — npittTtpq YleWrjg Kill Kvppov' C. 100.
444
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
entered the latter not far below the straits of De- mirkapi passing near Do'iran. Hence the moun- tains at the extremity of the Sirrhcean plain are identified with Cercine, and Doberus appears to have been not far from Do'iran. This is in some measure confirmed by Hierocles, who names Dio- borus next to Idomene among the towns of the Consular Macedonia under the Byzantine empire \ From Idomene the Thracians evidently descended the valley of the Axius, until arriving in the great maritime plain, a little to the eastward of Pella, they turned from thence to the left towards Sa- lonika
As Gortynia and Europus, which occurred be- tween Idomene and the plains of Cyrrhus and Pella, are placed by Ptolemy together with Ido- mene in Emathia, it is probable that like Idomene they stood on the right bank of the Axius below that'city. Not far above the entrance of the great maritime plain, the site of Europus may perhaps hereafter be recognized by that strength of position which enabled it to resist the invaders. We have the concurring testimony of Ptolemy and Pliny, that this Europus of Emathia was different from Europus of Almopia, which latter town seems from Hierocles, who names Europus as well as Almopia among the towns of the consular Mace- donia, a provincial division containing both Thes- salonica and Pella, to have been known in his time by the name of Almopia only ; and hence we may
1 Hierocl. p. G38. Wess.
XXXI.]
MACEDONIA.
445
infer that it was the chief town of the ancient dis- trict Almopia. As Almopia was one of the earliest acquisitions of the Temenidae \ it was evidently contiguous to the original seat of the Macedo- nian monarchy about Berrhcea and Edessa. The other districts were Pieria on the south, Bottisea on the east, and Eordaea on the west. Almopia, therefore, was on the north ; being the same coun- try now called Moglena, which borders immedi- ately upon the ancient capital of Macedonia to the N.E. And this accords sufficiently with the inti- mation given by Thucydides, that the next con- quests of the kings were in Anthemus, Crestonia, and Bisaltia: that is to say, after having* obtained all the country to the right of the Axius, they crossed that river, and increased their dominions as far as the Pseones and Sinti ; though they were still ex- cluded from the greater part of the sea coast by the Greek colonies of Pieria and Mygdonia, and those which occupied the whole of the Chalcidic peninsula. Homer, whose writings are long ante- rior to the Argive colony of the Temenidee 2, alludes only to two provinces beyond the Greek
1 Thucyd. 1. 2, c. 99.
2 There is nothing to im- peach the general truth of the early history of Macedonia, though that of its kings be- fore Amyntas I. is obscure. Alexander, son of Amyntas, who reigned at the Persian invasion made out his Greek genealogy to the satisfaction of the judges at the Olympic
games, when appearing there as a competitor for the prize. — Herodot. I. 5, c. 22. Justin. 1. 7, c. 2. — But the origin of the name Macedonia it seems impossible to ascertain, amidst conflicting testimony of almost equal weight. — Herodot. 1. 1, c. 56; 1. 8, c. 43.— Hesiod Hellanicus et Clidemus ap. Constant. Porph. Them. 2.
446
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
cities of Thessaly ; lying between them and Pse- onia and Thrace — -namely, Pieria and Emathia1. By the first he probably intended the country be- tween the Peneius and Haliacmon, or as Hesiod describes Pieria, around Mount Olympus 2 ; by the latter that beautiful region beyond the latter river, and on the eastern side of the Olympene ridge, which protected on all sides by mountains or marshes, at a secure but not inconvenient dis- tance from the sea, gifted with three magnificent positions for cities or fortresses in Verria, Niausta, and Vodhena, blessed with every variety of eleva- tion and aspect, of mountain, wood, fertile plain, running water, and lake, was admirably adapted to be the nursery of the giant monarchy of Mace- donia, where its wealth and power might thrive, and increase, until the time came for the aug- mentation of its territory on every side.
I have already observed that Niausta, the mid- dle of the three towns just alluded to, stands probably on the site of the ancient Citium, a very remarkable name, as, like the Citium of Cyprus, it is of Phoenician origin 3, and may warrant the belief that a colony of that nation occupied at a remote period this most desirable of all the districts
"' Iheplrjv c' tirifiaaa teal 'lif.iad'ir)y t.pa.Ttivi)V.
II. SB}, v. 22G. 2 Ot Kept Ylifpirfp Kul'OXvfXTrov ^wyuar' ivaiov.
Ap. Const. Porph. ubi sup. 3 The Citienses of Cyprus The Sacred Writers appear by used the Phoenician language to the word Kittim to have in- a late period. — See Pococke's tended Greece, and sometimes Travels, vol. ii. pi. 33. Boeckh. Macedonia in particular. Inscr. Graec. vol. i. p. 523. —
XXXT.]
MACEDONIA.
447
at the head of the Thermaic Gulf for a colony, which could not venture to establish itself in a maritime site. It appears from Justin, that a por- tion of Emathia was occupied by the Bryges l, who were expelled from thence by the Temenidae ; and Herodotus, in stating that the gardens of Midas, who was their king, were situated at the foot of Mount Bermium 2, seems to show that their situa- tion was around Berrhcea.
It is not surprising that Emathia in later times should have had more extensive boundaries than those which Homer may have understood, or that Ptolemy should have advanced its limits to the right bank of the Axius. Polybius, indeed, and Livy, his transcriber in this place, assert, contrary to the ten- dency of Homer's notice of Emathia and Pseonia, that Emathia was formerly called Pseonia3 ; but this may be reconciled by supposing that Emathia, be- fore its colonization, was inhabited by the Pseonian race ; whereas Pieria, the other province mentioned by Homer, is acknowledged to have been occupied by a Thracian people before its conquest by the Temenidaj, whence Orpheus was called a Thracian, and Pydna and Methone in Pieria were described as Greek colonies on the coast of Thrace.
It is not easy to reconcile the situation of the Msedi, as indicated in the passage of Thucydides descriptive of the march of Sitalces, with other testimonies as to that people. They there appear to have dwelt, together with the Sinti, to the left
1 The same people as the Phryges of Asia. The initial B in the place of 0 was a Ma- cedonian -Wor.
2 Herodot. 1. 8, c. 138.
3 Polyb. 1. 24, c. 8.— Liv. 1. 40, c. 3.
448
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
of the route of the Thracians over Mount Cercine into Macedonia ; whereas, according to other authors, as will be seen more fully hereafter, the Msedi occupied the country at the sources of the Axius and Margus (now Vardhari and Morava) as well in the reign of Philip, son of Demetrius, as under the Roman emperors ; nor does any author but Thucydides notice any Msedi near Lower Ma- cedonia. Possibly they had become extinct in the course of the two centuries intervening between the reigns of Perdiccas and Philip, or had migrated to Mount Scomius, like the Pieres to Mount Pan- gseum, and the Bottigei into the Chalcidic penin- sula. It is clear, at least, that the Ma?di could not have occupied any great extent of territory to the south of the route of Sitalces ; for in the coun- try which is bounded northward by that line, southward by the ridge of Mount Khortiatzi, east- ward by the Strymonic plain, and westward by that of the Axius, and which is a space not more than equal to a square of forty geographical miles the side, we have to place Mygdonia, Crcstonia, Anthemus, and Bisaltia.
Mygdonia comprehended the plains around Sa- lonika, together with the valleys of Klisali and Besjkia, extending westward to the Axius1, and comprehending the lake Bolbe to the east2. Cres- tonia adjoined Mygdonia to the northward ; for the Echidorus, which flowed through Mygdonia into the gulf near the marsh of the Axius, had its sources in Crestonia3. The pass of Aulon, or Arethusa, was
1 Herodot. 1. 7, c. 123.
2 Thucyd, 1. 1. o. 58.
3 Herodot. 1. 7, c. 124.
XXXI.]
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449
probably the boundary of Mygdonia towards Bisal- tia, which latter extended to the Sintice north- ward, and eastward to the Strymon, on the right bank of which it included Euporia1.
The maritime part of Mygdonia formed a dis- trict called Amphaxitis, a chorographical distinc- tion first occurring in Polybius, who seems to divide all the great plain at the head of the Ther- maic Gulf into Amphaxitis and Bottisea2, and which is found three centuries later in Ptolemy3. The Amphaxii coined their own money ; but as no mention of a town of Amphaxia occurs in his- tory, and the silence of Ptolemy is adverse to the supposition, those coins were probably struck at Thessalonica 4.
1 Ptolem. 1. 3, c. 13.
2 Polyb. 1. 5, c. 98.
3 Ptolemy introduces Am- phaxitis twice among the sub- divisions of Macedonia, in one instance placing under that name the mouths of the Echi- dorus and Axius, with Thessa- lonica as the only town, which accords generally with Poly- bius, and particularly with Strabo, who says, 6 "Aijioe li- aipu>v t!)v re JioTTiaiav Kai Tr/v Afj.tpatl.Tiv yfjf. In the other
place, Ptolemy includes Sta- geira and Arethusa in Am- phaxitis, which if it were cor- rect, would indicate that a portion of Amphaxitis, very distant from the Axius, was VOL. III. G
separated from the remainder by a part of Mygdonia, for Ptolemy himself names Apol- lonia among the towns of Myg- donia, which we know to have been exactly interposed be- tween Thessalonica and Are- thusa. But it is not probable that any places so far from the Axius as Arethusa and Sta- geira were ever considered in the Amphaxitis ; the word is perhaps a textual error
4 Mr. Millingen has lately published a silver tetradrachm, inscribed MaKeduvtov 'A/xcba- frW, exactly resembling some other coins of the Macedonians, after the fall of the monarchy.
g
450
MACEDONfA.
THAI'.
Anthemus appears to have been a city of some importance, as well from the mention made of it in ancient history1, as from its having given name, like some of the other chief cities of Macedonia, to a town in Asia2. As Thucydides shows its ter- ritory to have bordered upon Bisaltia, Crestonia, and Mygdonia3, there seems no situation in which it can be placed but to the south-east of Crestonia. Probably it comprehended, therefore, the vale of Langaza, with the surrounding heights.
As to the towns of Mygdonia, which possessed the fertile plain included between Mount Khorti- atzi and the Vardhari, their population was un- doubtedly absorbed in great measure by Thessalo- nica on its foundation by Cassander, and it cannot be expected, therefore, that many remains of them should now exist. Nor are the ancient references sufficient to fix their sites. One of them would seem from the inscriptions which I found at Khai- vat to have stood in that situation, and others pro- bably occupied similar positions on the last falls of the heights which extend from Khaivat nearly to the Vardhari. One in particular is indicated ap- parently by some large tumuli, or barrows, situ- ated at two-thirds of that distance. Sindus, ac- cording to Herodotus, was a maritime town be- tween Therme and Chalastra, which latter stood to the right of the mouth of the Axius 4. Altus
1 Herodot. 1. 5, c. 94.— De- mosth. Philip. 2.— vEschin. de falsa legat.
2 Stephan. in 'AvQcftovq.
3 Thucyd. 1. 2, c. 99, 100.
4 Herodot. 1. 7, c 123- Strabo, (Epit. 1. 7) p. 330.
XXXI.]
MACEDONIA.
451
was a place near Thessalonica ', and Philerus and Strepsa appear to have occupied inland situations in the same part of the country 2.
The Crosssea, Crusasa, or Crusis, was sometimes considered a portion of Mygdonia 3, but is distin- guished from it by Herodotus, who describes the Crossaea as comprehending all the maritime coun- try on the Thermaic Gulf, from Potidsea to the bay of Therma, where Mygdonia commenced 4. The cities of Crosssea were Lipaxus, Combreia, Lisaea, Gigonus, Campsa, Smila, and iEneia. Of these, Gigonus and iEneia alone are noticed by later writers : of iEneia, coins are still extant with a type referring to the reputed foundation of the city by iEneias after the Trojan war5. The situa- tions both of iEneia and Gigonus may be presumed from their having been situated near two capes 6, and from there being no promontories worthy of
4 eg avrov re tov Qep/xaloy <6Xirov .... Kal yfjy ri]v Mvy-
Bovltjv. — Herodot. 1, 7, c. 123.
•' Lycophr. v. 1236, etSchol. — Liv. 1. 40, c. 4. — Dionys. Hal. ubi sup. — Virg. iEn. 1. 3, v. 16. — Stephan. in Aheia. — Scylax in Mou'tcWm.
1 Theagen. ap. Stephan. in 'AA-of.
2 Plin. 1.4, c. 10.— ^Eschin. de fals. legat. — Stephan. in
3 Strabo ap. Stephan. in Kpovcric. — Dionysius of Hali- camassus (1. 1, c. 49) names the inhabitants Kpovaaloi.
6 Scymn. Ch. v. 627. -Dionys. Hal. ubi sup. 'Oc (iEneias sc.) irputTa jxiv 'YaiKijXov oikijitei fxoXiov K:'«t(tov 7rap' alirvv irpon'n ....
Lycophr. v. 1236. Sch. 'PaiKrjXoc MaKscovwv ciXwaiv rfjg TpolciQ wKrjae Kal ttoXiq' Kt<T(Toc ce opoc; MokeSo- a<py iavTov Ali'ov TrpotrayopEv- I'UtQ, tpOa b Aiveiag fiEra r»)»' gev. — The Scholiast appears
G g 2 to
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MACEDONIA.
fCHAP.
notice on this coast, except the little Karaburnu, the great Karaburnu, and the cape of Apanomi, the first of which is so near to Thessalonica, and so inconsiderable compared with the great Kara- burnu, that it can hardly enter into the question. Of the two others, the great Karaburnu being about 10 g.m. in direct distance from Thessalonica, seems to be sufficiently identified by this circumstance with the Cape iEneium of Scymnus, as we learn from Livy, that the town of iEneia was fifteen Ro- man miles from Thessalonica \ He adds, indeed, that it was opposite to Pydna, which, if it were correct, would imply an error in the distance just stated, as the two conditions are incompatible, and would lead us to place JEneia and Cape JEneium at Apanomi, which is nearly opposite to the site of Pydna. It is evident, however, from the order of names in Herodotus, that Gigonus was the more southern of the two capes, and from another fact which occurs in history, that its situation was nearly that of Apanomi. We learn from Thucy- dides, that in the year before the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, an Athenian force which had been employed against Perdiccas marched in three days from Berrhcea to Gigonus, from whence they proceeded against Potidaea '\ Gigonus, therefore, was not more than an ordinary day's march from Potidcea, which can hardly be said of Karaburnu ;
to have confounded vEnus of Thrace, and iEneia of Mace- donia.
YiytoviQ, uKpa fiera^v MaKe- coviue Kul UeX\tii'T]Q. — Etymol.
Mag. in voce — Ptolemy (1. 3, c. 13) notices the same cape, but under the name Egonis.
1 Liv. 1. 44, c. 10.
2 Thucyd. 1. 1. c. 61.
XXXI.]
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453
whereas, placing Gigonus at Apanomi, we have four days' march of about twenty miles each, the second to Saloniki, and the third to Apanomi. Stephanus also favours the more southerly situa- tion of Gigonus by intimating that its territory con- fined upon that of Pallene1, which was probably true in later times, when the intermediate places mentioned by Herodotus having fallen to decay, the maritime country was divided between Thes- salonica, iEneia, Gigonus, and Cassandreia. Still, however, I am inclined to defer to Livy's words adversus Pydnam, so far as to look for ^neia on the southern rather than the eastern side of Cape Karaburnu, the former better answering moreover to the same author's 15 m. p. from Thessalonica.
In illustration of the great number of towns which in the time of Herodotus occupied Pallene and Crossaea, it may be worthy of remark that this is now considered the most fertile and best cul- tivated part of Macedonia, and the advantage of the harbour of Apanomi, added to that of a rich surrounding territory, will equally account for that place having retained its pre-eminence both in ancient and modern times.
Cissus was a mountain (with a town of the same name) which a comparison of Xenophon and Lyco- phron seems to identify with Khortiatzi, the former by mentioning it among the mountains which pro- duced beasts of prey, the latter by describing it as a lofty summit not far from Rhaecelus, which appears from Lycophron to have been the name
1 Tiyiovoc, 7toXic Op(fKr]g, Trpoffe^rjQ rrj IIaA\//v»/. — Steplian. in voce:
454
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
of the promontory where iEneias founded his city l. I cannot learn, indeed, that the Frank merchants or consuls, many of whose country houses are on or near Mount Khortiatzi, or that the villages near it, are ever disturhed by the formidable inhabitants of Mount Cissus enumerated by Xenophon, such as the lion, ounce2, lynx, panther, and bear; but Khortiatzi is the only high mountain within a mo- derate distance of the site of JILnevi which we can conceive to have been the haunt of those animals. That the town Cissusw&s not far from Saloniki, seems evident from its having contributed, together with iEneia and Chalastra, to people Thessalonica 3.
Although it has been generally found convenient to apply the name Chalcidice to the whole of the great peninsula lying southward of the ridge of Mount Khortiatzi, in consequence of the influence which the XaA/aSi/cov yhog, or people of Chalcidic race, enjoyed in that country in the meridian period of Greek history, the original Chalcidice did not comprehend Crussea nor the districts of Acanthus and Stageirus, which were colonies of Andrus ; nor that of Potidaea, a colony of Corinth 4 ; nor even Olynthus, or the territory around it to the northward, which was occupied by a people who had been driven out of Bottiseis, westward of the Lydias, in the early times of the Macedonian monarchy5, and who, as it appears from their coins,
1 Xenoph. de Venat. c. 11. — Lycoplir. v. 123G, v. sup.
2 irdpSaXic.
3 Strabo (Epit. 1. 7) p. 330. — Dionys. Hal. 1. 1, c. 49.
4 Thucyd. 1. 1, c. 66.- Scymn. ch. v, 628.
5 Herodot. 1. 8, c. 127.- Thucyd. 1. 2, c. 99.
XXXI.]
MACEDONIA.
455
were in subsequent times written Bornatot, and their country Bottikt), to distinguish them from the Bor- Tiarai, or inhabitants of Boi-rem, or BorTta, a district and town to the westward of the Axius1. The prin- cipal possession of the Chalcidenses, in the earliest time of their migration, seems to have been the peninsula of Sithonia, and their port and fortress to have been Torone ; from thence they extended their power inland, until at length they occupied all the part of Mygdonia to the southward of the ridges which stretch westward from Nizvoro, toge- ther with the Cruscea.
The Chalcidenses were indebted to the Persians for the acquisition of Olynthus. Artabazus, on his return from the Hellespont, whither he had escorted Xerxes after his defeat at Salamis, having reduced Olynthus together with some other places in this quarter which had revolted from his master, slew all the Bottiaei, who had garrisoned Olynthus, and gave up the place to the Chalcidenses \ The Bot- tiaei after this period seem to have been the humble allies of the Chalcidenses, with whom we find them joined on two occasions 3. Spartolus, which
1 Compare Thucyd. 1. 1, c. 57, 65, 1. 2, c. 79, 101, and Etymol. Mag. in Bon-em, where Bottim), »/ XaXddinri yi) ought obviously to be Bottikt) // XaXKidiKi) yrj. That Borrta'rqc, the gentile of Botte ia, belonged to the western Bottiasis is con- firmed by the coins, inscribed BoTTedrwv, which resemble those of Pella. On the other hand, one of the silver coins,
VOL. III.
(.
inscribed BottiuLiov, is pre- cisely similar both in type and fabric to those of the Chalci- denses, impressed with the head of Apollo and his lyre.
2 T))y ce ttvXiv 7rapadico~i KpiTofiovXh) Topwimio) ETrirpo- ttevelv Kai rw XaXKihitcui jeveI icai ovrio "QXvydov XoXkiCeec egxov- — Herod. 1. 8, c. 127.
3 Thucyd. 1. 1, c. 65; 1. 2, c. 70.
4 -$-
456
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
was at no great distance from Olynthus ' to the northward, belonged to them, and was perhaps their capital. Scolus, another town near Olyn- thus2, was of sufficient importance to be mentioned, together with Spartolus, in the treaty between Sparta and Athens, in the tenth year of the Pelo- ponnesian War 3. Angeia * and Miacorus, or Mil- corus 5, are two other names which may be assigned to the interior of Chalcidice.
Proof is wanting of there having been a town of Chalcis in any part of the country occupied by the colonists of Eubcea. Stephanus, who enumerates five cities of that name, is silent as to any such in the Thracian Chalcidice, and Eudoxus, whom he cites, merely describes Chalcis as the coast lying between Athos and Pallene6. Aristotle also, who knew Macedonia well, employs Chalcis or Chalci- dice of Thrace, as the name of a district, not a town 7. Nevertheless, it can scarcely be doubted that before the time when Olynthus became subject to the Chalcidenses, and at length obtained the supremacy over their other towns, there was a chief city of the Chalcidenses where the most ancient of those beautiful coins were struck which have
1 Isaei Orat. de Dicaeogen. haer.
2 Strabo, p. 408.
3 Thucyd. 1. 5, c. 18. 1 Ptolem. 1. 3, c. 13.
5 Theopomp. ap. Stephan. in Mia'/cwpoc, MtXicwpog.
6 jxtTa £e tov "AOoj fJ-kxP1 IIoAXj/j'JH, V t^1 Onrtpa ire- TroirjKE KuXnov fiadvv cat 7rXa-
tvv, XaXk/oa kixovo[ia'C,6\xwov . — Stephan. in XaXdc
7 kv rr\ XaXic/oi kwl Qp^Tjc. — Aristot. de Mirab. auscult.
kv rrj XaXKiditcrj kn\ Opq.Kr]c, de Hist. Anim. 1. 3, c. 12.
In like manner, ol XctXucitTe £7ri Qpq.KT)Q is the common ex- pression of the historians for the people of the Chalcidic league.
xxxr.]
MACEDONIA,
457
the head of Apollo on one side, and on the reverse his lyre with the legend XaX/a&wv ; for that these were the coins of the Thracian Chalcidenses, and not of the Eubcean, I can have no doubt, having found several of them in or near the country of the former people, and not one in any other part of Greece, while those of Chalcis in Eubcea bearing the eagle and serpent on one side, and a female head on the other, are everywhere extremely nu- merous. The coins of the Chalcidenses of Thrace were the produce perhaps of the mines of Sidhero- kapsa, to the possession of which the colony may have been in great measure indebted for its pros- perity. The Acanthii may have derived the silver of their fine coins from the same source.
The name of the ancient capital of Chalcis I conceive to have been Apollonia, in conformity with that worship of Apollo which is recorded on the coins; for that there was an Apollonia of Chal- cidice different from Apollonia of Mygdonia, is clearly shown by Athenseus and Xenophon : an author cited by the former remarks that two rivers flowed from Apollonia into the lagoon Bolyca, near Olynthus x ; from the latter we learn that Apollonia was only ten or twelve miles from Olynthus2 ; whence
1 Hegesandrus ap. A then. 1. 8, c. 3.
2 Xenoph. Hellen. 1. 5, c. 3. The circumstances related by Xenophon show that there is no numerical error in this distance : six hundred Olyn- thian cavalry ravaged the lands of the Apolloniatae, and ad- vanced about midday to the
walls of Apollonia, when Der- das, prince of Elimeia, who happened to be in the city with his horsemen, suddenly issuing from the gates, put them to flight, and pursued them 90 stades, slaying many, until they were driven quite to the walls of Olynthus.
458
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
it is evident that the Apollonia intended by these two authors was on the southern side of the ridges which intersect the Chalcidic peninsula from east to west. Apollonia of Mygdonia, on the other hand, as the indubitable testimony of St. Luke and the Itineraries demonstrate, stood to the north- ward of the same mountains, on the direct road from Thessalonica to Amphipolis, by the pass of Arethusa l. In fact, the ruins of this Apollonia are still to be seen exactly in that line to the south of Pazarudhi, at a place preserving the ancient name in a corrupted form, and nearly at the proportionate distance between Thessalonica and Amphipolis indicated by the Itineraries 2.
1 Act. Apost. c. 17. v. 1. Thessalonica — Melissurgin
m. p. 20 Apollonia, m. p. 17 Amphipoli m. p. 30. — Anton. It. ed. Wessel. p. 320.
Thessalonica — Apollonia m, p. 3G Amphipoli m. p. 32. — Anton. It. p. 330.
Thessalonica 20 (m.p.) Mc* lissuvgi 18. Apollonia 30. Amphipoli. — Tab. Peuting. Segm. 5.
Civitas Amphipolim — Mu- tatio Pennana m. 10. Mutatio Peripidis (Arethusa) M. 10. Mansio Apollonia m. 1 1 . Mu- tatio Heraeleustibus m. 11. Mutatio Duodea m. 14. Civi- tas Thessalonica m. 13. — Itin. Hierosol. p. G05.
2 Besides the Apolloniae of Chalcis and Mygdonia, and a
third in the peninsula of Acte, which I have before noticed, it appears from Pomponius Mela and the epitomizer of Strabo, that there was a fourth at no great distance. It was not so near, however, as might be supposed from those two wri- ters, for the better authority of Livy (1. 38, c. 41) manifestly shows that they have incorrect- ly described it as having been situated westward of the Nestus, and that it was between Maronea and Abdera, or not less than 20 miles to the eastward of that river. Nor is the evidence of the Latin historian on this question without support, for Stephanus evidently alludes to the same Apollonia, when referring to its mention by Demosthenes he de-
XXXI.]
MACEDONIA.
459
The distance of the Chalcidic Apollonia from Olynthus, stated by Xenophon, and the circum- stance of its not being in the direction of Acan- thus, which his narrative also indicates, combine to place it at or near Polighero, which, like Apol- lonia of old, is now the chief town of the Chalci- dice. Spartolus would seem from the transactions related by Thucydides not to have been so far from Olynthus as Apollonia was, which is somewhat confirmed by Iseeus, who describes it as Spartolus of the Olysia l, or territory of Olynthus. It was in consequence of the complaints of the Apollonians of Chalcidice and of the Acanthii, that the Lace- daemonians sent an army against Olynthus, which, after losing two of its commanders, succeeded in the fourth campaign, B.C. 379, in reducing the city to submission2.
When Olynthus became a part of Chalcidice, it is not surprising that its maritime situation should have caused it gradually to eclipse the ancient capital. It was particularly after the Peloponnc- sian War, that it became one of the greatest cities in Greece, made successful war with Macedonia, took Pella from Amyntas 3, and was of such im- portance to the league which it headed, that when
scribes it as the " Apollonia of the Ionians of Thrace," (£<\octt>) devrepr], tuiv tVt QpaKrjg 'Iwvuv, f/v ^rjfxoadtprfQ (j>T]<Tii'. — Ste- phan. in 'A7ro\Xwvta.) The Ionians of Thrace were so cal- led because Abdera was a colo- ny of Clazomenae and Teus, and Maronea a colony of Chius,
(Herodot. 1. 1, c. 1(38. Scymn. ch. v. 66o, 675).
1 Isaei orat. ubi supra.
2 Xenoph. Hellen. 1. 5, c. 3. £7ri Qpq.Kr)Q fxeylarr) noXig
"OXwdog. — Xen. Hellen. 1. 5, c. 2.
' OXwdog iroXig fivpiaydpog. — Diodor. excerpt. Ex. 1. 32.
460
MACEDONIA,
[CHAP.
reduced by Philip, it was followed in its submis- sion by thirty-two other towns l.
Nor can there be any difficulty in conceiving, that when Chalcidice had been between three and four centuries subject to Rome, the received chorography of the country should have been different from that which prevailed in the time of its freedom. Pto- lemy appears to have divided the whole peninsula into two parts, Chalcidice and Paralia ; for thus I read the word which in all the printed copies of his works is Paraxia 2. Paralia contained all the mari- time country between the bay of Thessalonica and Derrhis the Cape of Sithonia : thus the western coast of Sithonia was at that time included in Pa- ralia, and the eastern in Chalcidice, together with Acanthus, the entire peninsula of Acte, and all the maritime country adjacent to the Strymonic Gulf, as far north as Bromiscus, with the exception of Stageira.
Livy mentions an Antigoneia of Crusis between iEneia and Pallene 3 : it was perhaps one of the towns of that coast noticed by Herodotus, which had been repaired by one of the Antigoni. By Ptolemy it is surnamed Psaphara, probably in order to distinguish it by this adjunct from ano- ther Macedonian Antigoneia on the road from the Stena of the Axius to Stobi. As Chsetae and Moryllus are placed by Ptolemy together with
1 Demosth. Philip. 3. — Mr. Millingen has lately engraved a coin of the Chalcidences of Thrace, on which the letters OAYNO surround the head of
Apollo, and the word XAA- XIAEQN his lyre.
2 Ptolem. 1. 3, c. 13.
3 Liv. 1. 44, c. 10.
XXXI.
MACEDONIA.
461
Antigoneia Psaphara in Paralia, and their names do not occur in the periplus of the fleet of Xerxes, they were places perhaps in the bay of Thessa- lonica, between the city and Cape JEneium, or Karaburnu. Ptolemy has not noticed either this cape or the city iEneia.
On the road from Thessalonica to Apollonia of Mygdonia, a Melissurgi occurs in two of the Itine- raries : this place still preserves its ancient name in the usual Romaic form of Melissurgiis, and is inhabited by honey-makers, as the word implies. It was 20 or 21 m. p. from Thessalonica. The third, or Jerusalem Itinerary, seems to have fol- lowed a different line from Apollonia to Thessalo- nica, leaving probably the summit of Khortiatzi to the right, whereas the two others seem to have passed on the opposite side of it. But both roads evidently crossed that mountain, the Romans hav- ing seldom allowed such an obstacle to divert them from their direction. The modern barbarians, on the contrary, have found a circuit by the pass of Khaivat, which avoids the ridge entirely, more convenient for the caravan route to Constanti- nople ; and in consequence of this change, they follow the northern shore of the lakes, instead of the heights on the southern side of them, which was the direction of the ancient road. These routes reunite in the pass of Arethusa, now called that of Besikia, and by the Turks the Rumili Bog- hazi, as being one of the most important defiles on this great line of communication.
In the list of Greek bishoprics as arranged by the emperor Leo the philosopher, Lete, conjointly with
462
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
Rendina, was the see of a bishop subordinate to the metropolitan of Thessalonica, and styled o Atjt»/c Kal 'Pevtivtjc. Rendina having been at or near the pass of Besikia, it would seem that Lete was not far from thence, which agrees with the intima- tions derived from the ancients as to the position of Lete, the lake of Besikia having been in Myg- donia\ and Lete being named by Ptolemy next to Apollonia of Mygdonia 2. On the other hand, it seems difficult to find a place for Lete in the Mygdonian valley, if Stephanus is right in assert- ing the existence of a town Bolbe, since in that case this valley seems sufficiently occupied by Bolbe, Apollonia, and Anthemus. Possibly Mav- rovo may be the site of Lete, or Sokho, if we place Ossa at Lakhana.
I shall now offer a few remarks on Pseonia, a geographical denomination, which prior to the Argolic colonization of Emathia, appears to have comprehended the entire country afterwards called Macedonia, with the exception of that portion of it which was considered a part of Thrace. As the Macedonian kingdom increased, Paeonia was curtailed of its dimensions on every side, though the name still continued to be applied in a general sense to the great belt of interior country which covered Upper and Lower Macedonia to the N. and N. E., and a portion of which was a monarchy nominally independent of Macedonia until fifty years after the death of Alexander the Great.
The banks of the Axius seem to have been the
Thucyd. 1. 1, c. 58.
2 Ftolem. 1. 3, c. 13.
XXXT.]
MACEDONIA.
463
centre of the Paeonian power, from the time when Pyraechmes and Asteropaeus led the Peeonians to the assistance of Priam l, down to the latest exist- ence of the monarchy. When the Temenidae had acquired Emathia, Almopia, Crestonia, and Myg- donia, the kings of Pseonia still continued to rule over the country beyond the straits of the Axius, until Philip, son of Amyntas, twice reduced them to terms, and they were at length subdued by Alexander2, after which they were probably sub- missive to the Macedonian sovereigns 3. The coins of Audoleon, who reigned at that time, and who adopted after the death of Alexander the common types of that prince and his successors 4, prove the civilization of Pseonia under its kings. Diodorus informs us that Cassander assisted Au- doleon against the Autariatae, an Illyrian people, and that having conquered them, he transported 20,000 men, women, and children, to Mount Or- belus 5, whence we may infer that regal Pseonia lay between the Autariatae and Mount Orbelus.
1 II. B. v. 848, $. v. 154. —V. et Thucyd. 1. 2, c. 99.
2 Diodor. 1. 19, c. 2. 4. 22 ; ]. 17, c. 8.
3 An inscribed marble re- cently discovered in the acro- polis of Athens records an in- terchange of good offices be- tween the Athenians and Au- doleon in the archonship of Diotimus, b. c. 354, or a few years after the succession of Philip, son of Amyntas, and
12
Audoleon, to their respective thrones, and two years after Philip is stated by Diodorus to have reduced the king of Paeonia to submission. If this Audoleon was the same as the cotemporary of Cassander, he reigned at least fifty years.
4 The head of Alexander in the character of young Hercu- les, and on the obverse, the figure of Jupiter Aetophorus.
5 Diodor. 1. 20, c. 19.
464
MACEDONIA
[chap.
From a comparison of Appian and Strabo, as well as from an incident in the life of Alexander the Great, to which I before adverted \ it is evident that the Autariatse bordered to the eastward upon the Agrianes and Bessi, to the south upon the Maidi and Dardani, and in the other directions on the Ardisei and Scordisci. Upon the whole, there- fore, it is consistent with history and the general chorography of the countries to the northward of Macedonia, to conclude that regal Paeonia com- prehended all the central and most fertile part of the more extended Pseonia, and that it was situ- ated above the straits of the Axius, occupying all the countries on the upper branches of that river, with the exception of those districts towards the sources of the Erigon, which had been united with Upper Macedonia. Bylazora, although described by Polybius as the chief city of Paeonia, was not the capital of the kingdom, perhaps on account of the inconvenience of its proximity to the Dardani. The royal residence, as we learn from Polyaenus, was situated on the river Astycus 2, evidently the
1 Appian. Illyr. c. 2, et seq. —Strabo, p. 315.— See p. 323 of this volume.
2 Ariston, who was probably son of Audoleon, after having distinguished himself in the command of the Paeones under Alexander in Asia, (Arrian. 1. 2, c. 9 ; 1. 3, c. 12. Q. Curt. 1. 4, c. 9. Plutarch, in Alex.) was conducted into Paeonia by Lysimachus, who pretended to
establish him in his kingdom, but intended to seize it for him- self. Ariston fled to the Sctpckelc (Serdica?) on discovering the treachery of Lysimachus, who while Ariston was bathing in the Astycus, previously to the royal feast, according to an- cient custom, suddenly armed his followers, and thus, adds Polyaenus, obtained possession of Paeonia. — Polyaen. 1.4, c. 12.
xxxr.j
MACEDONIA.
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Vravnitza, or river of Istib, which, next to the Erigon, is the greatest of the tributaries of the Axius.
Of the tribes on the Thracian frontier of Pseonia which were subject to Macedonia, as early at least as the reign of Philip, son of Amyntas, I have already shown reasons for believing that the Odomanti occupied the whole of Mount Orbe- lirs from above the Stena of the Strymon near the modern Demirissar to Zikhna inclusive, where they confined on Mount Pangceum. Thus their north-western portion lay to the right of Sitalces as he crossed Mount Cercine : and their general situ- ation accords with the description of Thucydides, according to whom they dwelt beyond the Strymon to the north ' ; that is to say, to the northward of the Lower Strymon, where alone the river has such an easterly course as can justify the historian's expres- sion. It is observable, that the Panaei, whom Thu- cydides couples with the Odomanti, are stated by Stephanus to have been a tribe of the Edones2. These authorities agree, therefore, in confirming the situation of the Odomanti just indicated.
Between Meleniko and Petritzi, above Demiris- sar and the Strymonic straits, the main branch of the Struma, or Strymon, is joined by a large tri- butary named Strumitza, upon which stands a town of the same name, situated a day's journey beyond Petritzi, in the road from Serres to Velesa. Strii-
Thucyd. 1.2, c. 101; 1.5,
Stephan. in Havaloi.
,-. 0.
VOL. III.
II ll
466
MACEDONIA
[chap.
mitza I am disposed to identify with the ancient Astraeum, to which Philip sent his son Demetrius, when he gave directions for his death to Didas, governor of Paeonia \ though it was not there that Didas executed his orders, but at Heracleia (Sin- tica) having invited Demetrius thither on the oc- casion of a festival during which poison was admi- nistered to the prince. Didas, in return for his services, was favoured by Perseus when he came to the throne ; and hence we find Didas, at the beginning of the Persic war, commanding a body of 3000 men, who consisted of Paeones, Paroraei, Parstrymonii, and Agrianes 2. The Paeonian mo- narchy was then extinct, and its territory, with the exception probably of a part occupied by the Dardani, had been united to the Macedonian kingdom ; from which fact, and the names of the people who were governed by Didas, it seems evi- dent that the Paeonian province, at that period of the Macedonian monarchy, comprehended the val- leys of the Upper Strymon and Upper Axius, with the intermediate mountains, and including the country of the Agrianes, who dwelt near the sources of the Strymon 3. Astraeum seems to have been a central position in this country, and the provincial seat of government. The site of Strumitza. was well adapted to be the chief fortress of such hardy tribes : its strength is particularly attested by Nicephorus Gregoras, when he was sent in a. d. 1326 to Skopia
1 Liv. 1. 40, c. 24.
2 Liv. 1. 42, c. 51.
! Strabon. p. 331.
(Epit. 1. 7)
XXXI. J
MACEDONIA.
467
on a mission to the Krai of Servia from the Em- peror Andronicus the elder : he relates, that after having travelled half a night and one day from a ferry of the Strymon, he arrived at Strumitza, a fortress so lofty that the men on the walls looked from the plain like birds '.
Ptolemy, in assigning to the iEstraei Doberus as well as iEstrseum, shows those two places to have been at no great distance from one another; which is true, on the supposition that Mstrceum or As- trceum, was at Strumitza, and Doberus near Dog- hiran2. Strymon, Struma, Astraeus, and Stru- mitza, seem to be all dialectic modifications of
1 Nicephor. Greg. 1. 8, c. 11. Grcgoras had been pre- ceptor of the children of Meto- chita, for which reason he was chosen by the Emperor for a mission, one of the objects of which was to persuade the widow of John Palaeologus, who was the Krai's mother- in- law and the daughter of Meto- chita, to return to Constanti- nople. Gregoras was accom- panied by one of the lady's brothers. Of his journey as far as the Strymon he relates only that the country was at that moment deserted in con- sequence of an expected inva- sion of Scythians. And it seems in general to have been nearly in its present state. At the Strymon, for instance, he
II h
found only a single ferry-boat, which required the greater part of the day to carry over his 150 beasts of burthen. His place of crossing was probably near Demirissar, for had it been lower he could not have reached Strumitza at the end of the next day. The timidity and inexperience of the peda- gogue magnified the alarms and difficulties which he met with in prosecuting his journey during the greater part of the night through the forest beyond the Strymon, and which afford- ed him an opportunity of showing his learning by com- paring the darkness to the caverns of Taenarus and Tro- phonius.
2 Stephanus in 'Atrrpalt
2
468
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
some original word of Macedonia, meaning river. The name Astrceus, as I have already remarked, was applied to the lower part of the Haliacmon, and Vistritza seems to be nothing more than the corruption, or modern Bulgaric form of Astrcens. The town of Strumitza, therefore, as well as its predecessor Astraeum, I conceive to have taken its name from the river on which it stood, as being the position of greatest importance upon that great branch of the Strymon, and the natural capital of its valley. The name implies the lesser Strymon.
In the north-western part of Pseonia, the prin- cipal place under the Romans, as I before hinted, was Stobi. From this point four roads are drawn in the Tabular Itinerary ] One proceeded north- west to Scupi, and from thence north to Naissus, a position on the great south-eastern route from Viminacium on the Danube to Byzantium, — the second north-eastward to Serdica 100 m. p. south- east of Naissus, on the same route 2, — the third
evidently intended the same verse of the Alexandrias of Macedonian town mentioned Adrianus which couples it with by Livy ; for he cites part of a Dobera —
Of $ i~)(ov 'AtTTpaiav te Aofiypav re ...
Stephanus, it is true, de- scribes Dobera as a tvi'Aiq 'IkXvpUiQ ; but this may be explained from Hierocles, a writer of the same age as Stephanus, from whom we loam that the first, or Con-
sular, as well as the second, or Ducal Macedonia, were only subdivisions of the lirapyja, or province of Illyricum.
1 Tab. Peutinger, Segm. 5.
2 Ant. It. p. 134. It. Hierosol. p. 566.
XXXI.]
MACEDONIA,
469
south- eastward to Thessalonica, and the fourth south-westward to Heraclcia ; the last forming a communication with that central point on the Via Egnatia, or great Roman road from Apollonia to Thessalonica, leading through Stohi from all the places on the three former routes.
In the valleys which are watered by the conflu- ents of the Upper Axius, and which were traversed by the two roads branching northward from Stobi, there are three considerable towns, of which the modern names sufficiently resemble the ancient, to lead at once to a presumption of identity. These are Skopia, Velesa, and Istip. In regard to the first there can be no question, as the name which in Ptolemy and Hierocles is Ikovwoi, is still found in the same form in the history of Nicephorus Brj'ennius at the beginning of the twelfth cen- tury, though Skopia, the present Greek form, is used by Anna Comnena at an earlier period, and at a later by Nicephorus Gregoras, who has ex- actly described Skopia as situated on the banks of the Axius, which was then, as it is now, called BapSapiov \ It may be objected, perhaps, that the number of m. p. between this place and Stobi is much greater in the Table than the real distance from Skopia to the supposed site of Stobi; but as the Table often fails in the accuracy of its num- bers, particularly in excess ; and as there can be no doubt as to Scupi, we are fully authorized in this instance in preferring to that authority the
1 Nicephor. (Jre»\ 1. 8, c. 1-1, 1. 3, c. 2.
470
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
evidence derived from the agreement of the sup- posed site of Stobi with all the other requisites derived from ancient testimony.
The identity of Velesa, or Velesso ', with Byla- zora, besides the similarity of sound in modern Greek pronunciation, is supported by the circumstantial evidence of history. Advantageously placed on the Upper Axius, in the midst of the fertile country watered by that river and its branches, and on the edge of the mountains which here separated Paeonia from Illyria, Bylazora was well qualified by situa- tion to become "the greatest city of Paeonia," while the situation of Velesa exactly illustrates the further remark of Polybius, that Bylazora was near the passes leading from the Dardanice into Mace- donia 2 ; that is to say, through Paeonia, for which reason it was taken and fortified by Philip, son of Demetrius, as a barrier against the Dardani, pre- viously to his descent into Greece in the last year of the Social War. As the Paeonian power was then extinct, it was probably from the Dardani that Philip took the city, and it may have been upon the ground of their temporary possession of the western part of Paeonia that the Dardani, on the division of Macedonia into four regions at the Roman conquest, claimed Paeonia of the Senate of Rome, as having formerly belonged to them 3.
BeXeca, TSeXecraog. fioXag rag airo rrjg AapSayticfjc
2 BvXafapa, \x,iyLaTt)v ovaav elg Maicedoyiay. — Polyb. 1. 5,
iroXtv rfjg Tlaiuyyiag Ktu Xiay c. 97. tvKciiixog KEijj.ivt)i> irpog Tag eia- 3 Liv. 1. 45, C. 39.
XXXI.]
MACEDONIA
471
It may be thought, perhaps, an objection to this position of Bylazora, that the name is not found in the Tabular Itinerary on the road from Stobi to Scupi, although Velesa lies exactly in that line : I am inclined to believe that it does occur under the very corrupted form of Anausara.
Bylazora is again mentioned in the history of that eventful year, b.c. 168, when Perseus, not long before the battle of Pydna, endeavoured to obtain the mercenary services of 20,000 Gauls, who in the expectation of being employed by him, had advanced in equal numbers of horse and foot as far as Desudaba in Maedica. Perseus with the view of drawing them into Macedonia, moved with half his army from the river Enipeus in Pieria to Alinana on the Axius, which was 75 miles distant from Desudaba. Having ordered supplies to be in readiness on the intended route of the Gauls, he sent a messenger to Desudaba, requiring the Gallic army to advance to Bylazora, and inviting their chiefs to visit him at Almana, where he gave them to understand by the messenger that he had prepared some rich presents for them, by these means hoping to obtain the services of the Gauls without farther expence. But they were not a people to be so duped : they refused to move beyond Desudaba until they should receive the stipulated present of ten pieces of gold for each horseman, five for each foot soldier, and 1000 for each chief, and such an advance of treasure being more than the avaricious monarch could consent to advance, the Gauls returned to the Danube,
472
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
ravaging the parts of Thrace through which they passed '.
As Perseus had left a most formidable enemy in Perrhagbia and Pieria on this occasion, we can- not suppose that he advanced farther up the Axius than was absolutely necessary. Almana, there- fore, was probably below the straits of Demirkapi, between the Stena and Idomene, and Desudaba having been 75 m.p. distant from thence, on the direct route to the Danube by the valley of the Margus, will fall at or near Kumanovo, on one of the confluents of the Upper Axius. This indeed is nearly the greatest southern extent that can be given to Maedica towards Paeonia and the respec- tive situations of Desudaba, Bylazora and Almana, as just indicated, will then perfectly agree with the circumstances stated by the historian, and the more so as Perseus had undertaken to fur- nish the Gauls with provisions, and as Bylazora, the intermediate station, was in the middle of the most fertile part of Pasonia. Maedica thus placed accords also with the remark of Strabo, that the Maedi bordered eastward on the Thunatae of Dardania2, for the Dardani extended to Skopia,
1 Liv. 1. 44, c. 27. If the aurei here mentioned were the regale numisma Philippi, one can hardly wonder at the hesi- tation of Perseus, for the amount of this marching mo- ney alone, would have been almost equal in weight, with- out considering the relative
value, to a quarter of a mil- lion of sovereigns. But Livy thought that the fate of Perseus depended upen it, and that if the Gauls had marched into Thessaly, there would have been no escape for the Romans. 2 Strabo, p. 316.
XXXI.]
MACEDONIA.
473
tuid the Thunatce therefore we may suppose to have been a tribe of the Dardani, possessing the modern Katzaniki. If the southern boundary of the Maidi was near Kumanovo that people must have possessed the sources of the eastern branch of the Morava, or Margus, and its upper valleys, in one of which Vrania, or Ivorina, has very much the sound of Jamphorina, the capital of the Mcedi, which was taken by Philip, son of Demetrius, in the year b. c. 211. On this occasion the king, whose design it was by previous intimidation to keep his troublesome neighbours quiet, while he should be employed in Greece against the iEto- lians, had first assaulted Oricus and Apollonia, from whence he marched into Pelagonia, took a city of the Dardani !, which had facilitated the entrance of that people into Macedonia on the side of Pelagonia, and then passed through Pela- gonia, Lyncus, and Bottiaea, into Thessaly 2. The situation of the Msedi is farther illustrated by the fruitless excursion of the same king of Macedonia to the summit of Mount Haamus in the vain ex- pectation of beholding from thence at once the Adriatic and Black Sea, the Danube and the Alps. He arrived at the foot of the mountain in seven days from Stobi, passing through the country of the Maedi ; after a laborious ascent of three days, and a
1 The name of this city may perhaps have been mentioned by Polybius, from whom Livy borrowed his narrative, and may have been lost cither by the Latin historian or his tran-
scribers. It stood probably to the northward of Stobi or Stymbara, a country yet un- explored by modern travellers. 2 Liv. 1. 26, c. 25,
474
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
descent on his return of two, he rejoined his camp in Msedica ' ; thence made an incursion into the country of the Dentheletse for the sake of pro- vision, re-entered that of the Maedi, where he re- ceived the momentary submission of a place named Petra, and from thence returned into Macedonia. It seems evident from the number of days' inarch, that the mountain visited by Philip, and named Haemus by the historian, could have been no other than that which by two of the best authorities is denominated Scomius, or Scombrus2, being that cluster of great summits between Ghiustendil and Sofia, which sends tributaries to all the great rivers of the northern part of European Turkey ; for this, in fact is the most central point of the conti- nent, and nearly equidistant from the Euxine, the iEgoean, the Adriatic, and the Danube. The Den- theletse would seem from the circumstance men- tioned by the historian to have bordered on the Maedi towards the south-east. Haemus itself was chiefly occupied by the Bessi 8, who from their fastnesses defied the power of Rome until the reign of Augustus 4, and according to Pliny extended as far to the southward and eastward as the Nestus 5.
1 Philip and his companions told a traveller's tale on their return, hut it did not impose upon Livy, who remarks, fol- lowing perhaps Polyhius : " Ni- hil vulgatae opinionis digressi inde detraxcrunt : magis, credo, ne vanitas itincris ludibrioesset, quam quod diversa inter se nia-
ria montesque et amnes ex uno loco conspici potuerint.
2 Thucyd. 1. 2, c. 96.— Aristot. Meteor. 1, 1, c. 13.
3 Strabo, p. 318.
4 Dion. Cass. 1.54, c.34.— Flor. 1. 4, c. 12.
5 Plin. H. N. 1.4, c. 11.
XXXI. j
MACEDONIA.
475
Astibon, the third of the ancient towns of Paeonia, the names of which still subsist in a corrupted form, was on the road from Stobi to Serdica. It is now by the Turks called Istib, and stands exactly on that line, at a distance from each of those ancient sites which, as well as our present imperfect geographical materials ad- mit of judging, sufficiently corresponds with the numbers in the Table. It occupies probably the site of the capital of the kings of Paeonia, which appears from Polyoenus to have been situated on a river named Astycus l. The modern Djustendil or Ghiustendil equally accords with the Pautalia of the Table, and the situation of Ghiustendil at the sources of the Strymon is remarkably in accord- ance with the figure of a river god, accompanied by the legend ^Tpvpuiv on some of the autonomous coins of Pautalia, as well as with the letters ENIIAIQ, which on other coins show that the Pautaliotse considered themselves to be Pseonians, like the other inhabitants of the banks of that river. On another coin of Pautalia the produc- tions of its territory are alluded to, namely, gold, silver, wine, and corn 2, which accords with Ghius- tendil. In the reign of Hadrian, the people both
1 So incorrect are the gene- rality of the names in the Table, that Astibon is liable to sus- picion. If the town and river bore the same name, as seems likely, it was perhaps neither Astycus nor Astibon, but As- tapus, for Astapus was .applied by the Macedonian Greeks to
one of the branches of the Nile, while Astaboras and Astasobas, names equally of Macedonic formation, were attached to two other tributaries of the same great river.
2 Eckhel. num. vet. vol. ii. p. 38.
12
476
ILLYRIA.
[chap.
of Pautalia and the neighbouring Serdica added Ulpia to the name of their town, probably in consequence of some benefit received from that emperor. This title in the case of Pautalia would seem at first sight to warrant the supposition, that it was the same place as Ulpiana, which, ac- cording to Procopius, was rebuilt by Justinian, with the name of Justiniana Secunda1, and the modern name Ghiustendil lends an appearance of confirmation to this hypothesis by its resemblance to Justiniana. But there is an insurmountable objection to this hypothesis. Both Procopius and Hierocles notice Ulpiana and Pautalia as distinct places, to which we may add, that Ptolemy as well as Hierocles ascribes Ulpiana to Dardania, which seems never to have extended far to the eastward of Scupi, or Skopia. A further argument against the identity arises from a comparison of the Tabu- lar Itinerary with a passage in Jornandes, who relates that Theodemir being at Naissus, sent a body of troops, under his son Theodoric, through Castrum Herculis to Ulpiana 2, where Castrum Herculis is evidently the same as the Ad Hercu- lem of the Table, which was on the road from JYaissus to Scupi, and consequently very far to the westward of Ghi listen dil. Ulpiana, or the Second Justiniana, therefore, was probably situ- ated in one of the valleys of the branches of the Morava, northward of Skopia, but not in the route from Scupi to Naissus, as it is not mentioned in the Table.
1 Procop. de JEcLif. 1. 4, - Jornandes de Reb. Get.
c. 1 . c. 56.
XXXI.]
ILLYRIA.
477
From a place named Hammeno, which was in that road, at an uncertain distance from Scupi, but evidently in a N.W. direction, and probably not very far from it, there was a branch to the westward leading to Lissus, now Lesh, near the mouth of the Drilon. Of the ancient places on this route, Theranda bears some similitude in sound to the modern Prisrend, though it must be admitted that the proportion of distances on the route, even without any addition for the interval between Scupi and Hammeno, would place The- randa farther westward. As Ulpiana does not occur either on this road nor on that from Scupi to JVaissus, it lay probably between them in the country to the northward of Prisrend, which is watered by the western branch of the Morava, perhaps at the modern Pristina. Beyond The- randa the route to Lissus seems to have fallen into the valley of the Mathis, where I should be disposed to look for Gabuleus, Crevenia, and the other names in the route of the Table ; for on the more direct line occurred the " solitudes of Scor- dus," which mountain being described incident- ally by Livy as lying in the way from Stymbara to Scodra, and again as giving rise to the Oriuns which flowed through the lake Labeatis to Sco- dra1, seems clearly to have comprehended the great summits on either side of the Drilon, where its course is from east to west.
The important position of Scupi at the debouche from the Illyrian mountains into the plains of Paeonia and the Upper Axius, caused it in all
1 Liv. 1. 43, c. 20; 1. 44, c. 31.
478
ILLYRIA.
[chap.
ages to be the frontier town of Illyria towards Macedonia. There is no evidence of its ever having been possessed by the kings of Macedonia or of Paeonia. Under the Romans it was ascribed to Dardania, as well in the time of Ptolemy \ as in the fifth century, when it was the capital of ducal Dardania2. The position " ad fines," which in the Tabular Itinerary stands at 35 m. p. beyond Anausara (Bylazora) on the road from Scupi to Stobi, would seem to indicate that the Romans had there fixed the boundaries of Dardania and Macedonia, and consequently that they had given Bylazora to Dardania, thus yielding in part to the demand which the Dardani had made, on the establishment of the tetrarchy of Macedonia after the conquest by iEmilius.
Scupi was probably seldom under the complete authority of Constantinople. In the reign of Michael Paleeologus it was wrested from the Em- peror by the Servians, and became the resi- dence of the Krai 3. Here Nicephorus Gregoras met the court of the ap^u>v rwv Tpi|3aAXwv, as he learnedly denominates the Krai, whose successor (in 1342) afforded protection and hospitality to John Cantacuzenus when he retired before Apocauchus. By the treaty afterwards made be- tween Cantacuzenus and the king of Servia, the latter obtained a temporary authority over a great part of Macedonia, the Romans, as they called themselves, giving up to him Zikhna, Pherae
1 Ptolem. 1. 3, c. 9.
2 Hierocl. p. G55. — Wessel.
3 KpuXrjg "BaaiXsKt. tacuz. 1. 4, c. 19.
-Can-
xxxr.j
MACEDONIA.
479
(Serres *), Meleniko, Striimitza, and Kastoria, and retaining Servia (the town), Bcrrhoca, Edessa 2, Gynsecocastrum 3, Mygdonia, and the towns on the Strymon, as far as the district of Serres and the mountains of Tandessano4. Tt may be not un- worthy of remark, that in the histories of Anna Comnena, Gregoras, and Cantacuzenus 5, several other existing names occur, as : — on the Illyrian frontiers, Dibra (Aeuprj), Velesso (BiXeaaog), Pril- lapo (ITpiXXaTroc), Morava (Mopoj3o), and Pristino (Upiarrtvog), which last Cantacuzenus describes as
a Small town without walls (kwjujj aTiiyjOTOq) : —
towards Thessaly, Servia (2£p/3ia), Kastri (Kaa- rp'iov) G, Lykostomi (AvKoaropuov), and Platamona
(Yl\a.Ta/j.wv TroXig 7rapaQa\aaaia) : — to the eastward,
Rendina (Pevnva) and Dhrama (Apaua), besides Zikhna (Zlyva) and Meleniko (MsXtviKog) ; — and near Edessa and Berrhoaa, 'Ostrovo ("0<rrpoj3oc), Notia (Nona), and Staridhola {Irapi^oXa), with some others which might probably be found by
1 Cantacuzenus, contrary to all other writers, always gives this place the name of $>epal ; but in fact, Siris, Sirrae, Serrae, and Pheroe, as well as Bercea, seem to be merely dialectic va- riations of the same name.
2 Anna Comnena, an older author, uses the modern name Vodhena.
3 TvvaiKoKaoTpov, Turc. Avrethissar.
4 TCI opri TOV TaVTEfftTlU'OV
KaXovpeva : apparently the
great mountain on the northern side of the plain of Serres, the ancient Orbelus.
5 See Anna Comnena, 1. 5, 6, 12. Niceph. Gregor. ubi sup. Cantacuz. 1. 1, 3, 4, but particularly 1. 3.
6 This is so common a name, that the Kastri alluded to can- not easily be identified. It may either have been the Kas- tri near Tvtrnavo, or that to theS.W. of Aghia.
480
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
a diligent search. Soskos (2w<tkoc) appears from Anna Comnena to have been between the lake of 'Ostrovo and Servia1.
1 shall here subjoin, as containing a compen- dious view of Macedonian geography, the edict for the division of Macedonia into four regions, issued by the authority of the Roman Senate b. c. 167, the year after the conquest 2. It was read at Amphipolis to the assembled Macedonians by L. iEmilius Paullus, and then explained to them in Greek by Cn. Octavius the praetor : —
Unam fore et primam partem quod agri inter Strymonem et Nestum amnem sit : accessurum huic parti trans Nestum ad orientem versum qua Perseus tenuisset vicos, castella, oppida, praeter iEnum et Maroneam et Abdera : trans Strymonem autem vergentia ad occasum, Bisalticam omnem cum Heraclea quam Sinticen adpellant. Seeun- dam fore regionem, quam ab ortu Strymo am- plecteretur amnis praeter Sinticen Heracleam et Bisaltas ; ab occasu qua Axius terminaret fluvius, additis Paeonibus qui prope Axium flumen ad re- gionem orientis colerent. Tertia pars facta, quam Axius ab oriente, Peneus amnis ab occasu cingunt : ad Septentrionem Bora mons objicitur : adject a huic parti regio Paeoniae, qua ab occasu praeter Axium amnem porrigitur : Edessa quoque et Bercea eodem concesserunt. Quarta regio trans
1 The Macedonic termina- tion of Soscus gives some rea- son to suspect that it was an ancient name.
Liv. 1. 45, c. 29.
XXXI.]
MACEDONIA.
481
Boram montem, una parte confinis Illyrico, altera Epiro. Capita, regionum ubi concilia fierent, prima? regionis Amphipolim, secunda? Thessaloni- cen, tertiae Pellam, quartae Pelagoniam fecit. Eo concilia suae cujusque regionis indici, pecuniam conferri, ibi magistratus creari jussit * * * *. Regionibus quae adfines barbaris essent (excepta enim tertia omnes erant) permisit ut praesidia armata in finibus extremis haberent.
By this celebrated decree the Macedonians were called free, each city was to govern itself by magis- trates annually chosen, and the Romans were to receive half the amount of tribute formerly paid to the king's, the distribution and collection of which was probably the principal business of the councils of the four regions ; for none but the people of the extreme frontiers towards the barba- rians were allowed to defend themselves by arms, so that the military power was entirely Roman. In order to break up more effectually the national union, no person was allowed to contract marriage, or to purchase land or buildings, but within his own region. They were permitted to smelt copper and iron on paying half the tax which the kings had received ; but the Romans reserved to themselves the right of working the mines of gold and silver, and of felling naval timber, as well as the importa- tion of salt, which, as the Third Region only was to have the right of selling it to the Dardani, was probably made for the profit of the conquerors on the shore of the Thermaic Gulf. No wonder that the Macedonians compared this division of their country and interruption of the mutual intercourse
VOL. HI.
i 1
482
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
between the several parts of it to the laceration and disjointing of an animal body1, or that they should have been ready to join a few years after- wards in the revolt of Andriscus 2. The historian then remarks : —
Pars prima Bisaltas habet fortissimos viros (trans Nestum amnem incolunt et circa Strymonem) et multas frugum proprietates et metalla et opportu- nitatem Amphipolis, quae objecta claudit omnes ab oriente sole in Macedoniam aditus. Secunda pars celeberrimas urbes, Thessalonicam et Cassandriam habet ; ad hoc Pallenen fertilem et frugiferam terram : maritimas quoque opportunitates ei prse- bent portus ad Toronen ac montem Atho (vEneae vocant hunc) alii ad insulam Eubceam, alii ad Hellespontum opportune versi. Tertia regio no- biles urbes Edessam et Beroeam et Pellam habet et Vettiorum bellicosam gentem : incolas quoque permultos Gallos et Illyrios impigros cultores. Quartam regionem Eordsei et Lyncestae et Pela- gones incolunt : juncta his Atintania et Stympha- lis et Elimiotis ; frigida haec omnis duraque cultu et aspera plaga est ; cultorum quoque ingenia terrae similia habet ; ferociores eos et adcolae bar- bari faciunt, nunc bello exercentes nunc in pace miscentes ritus suos.
After all that has been offered on the situation of the districts and places here mentioned, scarcely any explanation is necessary beyond a reference
1 Regionatim commerces in- terruptis, ita videri lacerata,
2 Liv. Epit. 1. 49.
tanquam animalia in artus. — Liv. 1. 45, c. 30.
XXXI. ]
MACEDONIA.
483
to the Map at the end of this volume. Macedonia Prima comprehended all the former possessions of Perseus in Thrace to the eastward of the Nestus, with the exception of the three principal maritime cities between that river and the Chersonese ; and it contained all the country between the Nestus and Strymon probably as far as the sources of those rivers, together with Sintice and Bisaltia, to the right of the Strymon. Amphipolis, the capi- tal of this region, is justly described as the great defence of Macedonia from the eastward ; and we have an illustration of the allusion made by the historian to the mines of Mount Pangseum, which Amphipolis commanded, in the numerous existing silver coins of the time of the tetrarchy bearing the head of the Amphipolitan deity Diana Tauro- polus ', with an obverse representing the club of Hercules within a garland of oak, and the legend Ma/ctSovwv 7T(0WTr)c : these coins were evidently struck at Amphipolis.
The second Macedonia comprehended all the country between the Strymon and Axius, except the Sintice and Bisaltia, and extended as far towards the sources of both rivers as the boundary of the Macedonian kinoxlom had reached. The eastern turn of the Strymon below Serres shows at once why the Sintice and Bisaltia were excepted from the countries between the Strymon and Axius,
1 Amphipolim .... in tem- the temple of Minerva, alluded plum Dianae quam Tauropolon vocant . . . . — Liv. 1. 44, c. 44.
The types of the coins of Amphipolis often refer to this deity, whence it would seem that
vol, 111. i i 2
to by Thucydides as standing on the acropolis of Amphipolis, was not the principal temple of the Amphipolitae.
484
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
and placed in the first instead of the second Mace- donia. The second region was the richest and most populous of the four, no part of Macedonia being comparable in fertility and other advan- tages to Mygdonia, Chalcidice, and the three con- tiguous peninsulas, where the historian especially notices the productive Pallene, and the convenient havens of Torone and Athos. The name iEneia, which Livy attaches to the harbour of Athos, is not found I believe in any other author, nor is it certain to which of the ports of Acte it applies.
The third region is very clearly described as bounded by the sea, by the Axius, and by the Peneius, on three sides — as containing the cities Pella, Edessa, and Berrhcea, and as extending northward to Mount Bora, where its limits were such that it was the only one of the three pro- vinces not in contact with the Barbarians, the nearest of whom were the Dardani. Hence Mount Bora, which is not noticed by any other author, appears to have been the summit northward of Vodhena, now called Nitje, one of the chief links in the Olympene or eastern chain, of which the others are Bermius, Pierus, Olympus, Ossa, and Pelium. This great ridge terminates in a northerly direction at the fork of the Erigon and Axius. Here, there- fore, the Third Region terminated, and thus Peeo- nia was interposed between the northern extremity of the Third Region and the lllyrians. The Paao- nians to the westward of the Axius, were an ex- ception to the definition otherwise given of the extent of the Third Region, as they lay beyond Mount Bora to the N.W. ; and hence the parti-
XXXI.]
MACEDONIA.
cular mention of the Paeonians in the edict, which refers undoubtedly, like History at this period in general, not to the original Paeonia in its fnllest extent, but to the limited portion of it which had formed a monarchy, until, about a century before the Roman conquest, it was incorporated with Ma- cedonia. The portion of Paeonia separated from the rest of that country, and attributed to the Third Macedonia, while the remainder of it was attached to the Second, was situated on the lower Erigon around Stobi, and this city was decreed to be the place of deposit for the salt, sold to the Dardani, the monopoly of which was given to the Third Macedonia.
To the fourth division remained every thing be- yond the district of Stobi to the west and south- west, as well as all the country beyond the crest of the Olympene range, as far as lllyria and Epirus. The historian enumerates the following districts as composing it : namely, Pelagonia, Lyncestis, Eor- dsea, Elimiotis, and Atintania, where he has obvi- ously omitted Orestis, which lay between Atintania and the rest of Upper Macedonia. Thus it appears that the Fourth Macedonia extended nearly to Berat and Tepeleni, and included Konitza. To the southward its limits were nearly those of the modern districts of Grevena and Trikkala, where Upper Macedonia confined upon Upper Thes- saly 1.
The warlike nation of the Vettii, mentioned to- gether with Pella, Edessa, and Berrhcea, as forming
1 Strabo, p. 430. 437.
486
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
part of the third region, are evidently the Bottiaei, and this allusion to them, showing that they were still of some importance, accords with the apparent date of their coins. The Chalcidic Bottiatae had probably been long extinct. Numismatic evidence, therefore, concurs with Polybius and Strabo, in showing that the great maritime plains after the Roman conquest were divided between the Bottiaei and Amphaxii. The chief place of the latter, as we learn from Ptolemy, was Thessalonica, that of the former probably Alorus. The strength of the " bellicosa gens" of Bottiaea was derived from the intersection of rivers and marshes, natural defences which have maintained in the same position some unmixed Greeks to the present day in the midst of surrounding Bulgarians and Turks.
There exists a silver tetradrachm with the le- gend Ma/ceSovwv Sevrapaq, coined probably at Thes- salonica, of which city no money bearing its name has been found more ancient than the Roman empire. The silver of the mines of Nizvoro may have supplied the coinage of the Second Macedonia. No silver money of the Third and Fourth Mace- donia has been discovered, nor is it known that either of those regions possessed mines. The only other coin bearing an allusion to the tetrarchy, besides those I have mentioned, is a small one in bronze, so rare that I met with only one. It is inscribed M. nra^T^Q, and presents on one side the Dioscuri on horseback, on the other the head of Minerva. But there is another coin of the Fourth Macedonia in the Caesarian Museum, bearing a head of Jupiter, and on the obverse the common
XXXI.]
MACEDONIA.
487
Macedonian type of a club within a garland of oak, with the legend MokeSovwv rei-aprr^. We are to infer from Livy that these were struck at Pe- lagonia.
The rarity of all the money of the Macedonian tetrarchy, except that which was coined at Am- phipolis, is to be attributed to the shortness of its duration. Only 18 years after the edict of Am- phipolis, Andriscus, calling himself Philip, son of Perseus, reconquered all Macedonia *, but was defeated and taken in the following year, by Q. Csecilius Metellus, after which the Macedonians were made tributary 2, and the country was pro- bably governed by a praetor, like Achaia after the destruction of Corinth, which occurred two years afterwards, b.c. 146. From that time to the reign of Augustus, the Romans had the troublesome duty of defending Macedonia against the people of Illyria and Thrace, and during that time they established colonies at Philippi, Pella, Stobi, and Dium.
1 Totam Macedoniam aut voluntate incolentium aut armis occupavit. — Liv. Epit. 1. 49.
Porpliyr. ap. Euseb. p.
178.
CHAPTER XXXII.
FOURTH JOURNEY.
EPIRUS, ACARNANIA, jETOLIA.
Prevyza — Aios Petros, Anaclorium — Vonitza — Ruga — Nisi — Balimbey — Lutraki — Katuna — Hellenic city — Makhala — Expedition of Agesilaus into Acarnania — Skortiis — Lygovitzi — Prodhromo — Agriculture and productions of Acarnania — Forest of Manina — Podholovitza — Guria — Hellenic ruin cal- led Palea Mani — Return to Guria — Mastu — Anatoliko — Mesolonghi.
Prevyza, March 1809. — Since my visit to this place in 1805, the Porte having found that very little accrued to it from Prevyza and the other ex-Venetian places, after paying the expences of the residents and their little garrisons, was tempted to sell them to Aly Pasha, as a malikiane or farm for life, for the sum of 800 pnrses !, thus virtually violating the treaty of 1800, by which the Sultan engaged to maintain these places in their Venetian laws and privileges, and liable only to a fixed duty on commerce and land, to be paid to a resident Bey ; instead of which, he now gives
1 The exchange at present pound sterling, the purse of 500 being 17 or 18 piastres to the piastres is worth from 28 to 30/.
CHAP. XXXII.]
EPIRUS.
489
them over to a man whom he cannot control, and who has already treated them with every kind of vexation. Prevyza has been the principal sufferer. Its alliance with the French when the place was taken by assault in 1798, furnished the Vezir with an excuse for extortion and cruelty, which has lasted ever since, and the population is now reduced to less than half its number at that period. In 1807, when the war broke out be- tween Russia and the Porte, the Prevyzans were obliged to labour at an entrenchment across the peninsula near two miles in length, to construct which the Pasha, sent for men from all parts of his territory, as far as Katerina beyond Mount Olym- pus, and gave them nothing but a ration of koro- mana, or black bread. In this light soil, with few palisades to support it, this entrenchment is already falling to ruin. Afterwards his new fortress and serai were constructed in the same manner, by an angaria or compulsory labour.
Since his bargain with the Porte, Aly considers himself absolved from the necessity of keeping any measures with the Prevyzans, giving away their land to his Albanians, sending whole families to people new tjiftliks in unhealthy situations, and quartering his soldiers upon those whom he has allowed to remain. But notwithstanding the forced labour, which has given him materials as well as construction at little cost, Prevyza has been very expensive to the Vezir : Albanian soldiers must be paid, the fortress armed, and the palace furnished from his own pocket, and the maritime situation has required the aid of some small vessels, which
490
EPIRUS.
[chap.
could only be obtained by purchase. Parga, moreover, though he has paid for it, he has not much prospect of obtaining. Nevertheless, his bargain is an excellent one, on account of the military importance of the places, and the facili- ties which they give him in making further acqui- sitions in Tzamuria.
The only part of the ancient privileges of Prevyza now remaining, is its system of taxation. The present revenue of the Crown is as follows : —
Livaria (fisheries)
Dhekatia (tithe of produce of land) Dogana (custom-house) . . .
Monopoly of bread
of tobacco ....
of butchers' meat .
of raki (brandy)
of playing cards . .
of to Trtpapa (the ferry
to Punta)
— of sealing tanned leather
of gunpowder
of statiri, the public
weighing ■ of the retail of oil
ro Nop<TTpov, a capitation tax upon cattle fed in the pastures of Prevyza
PIASTRES.
22,000
10,000
15,000
2000
5000
3000
6000
500
1500
800
1000
800 1200
600
Total 69,400
XXXII.]
EPIRUS.
491
All the articles are farmed except the dogana, which is collected by a person named by the Vezir. Under the Venetians the same practice obtained, and the different heads of revenue were sold by auction every six years. The amount was then about 18,000 or 20,000 piastres a year. The increase has been chiefly owing to the debasement of the coin, and to the great increase of late years in the produce of the fisheries. For the same rea- son, the livari of Vutzintro, which, united with some other branches of revenue, produced, in 1805, only fifty-five purses, is now alone let to the same (jwrpoQia, of which the bishop of Ioannina is the head, for eighty purses.
The revenue of Vonitza consists of the same arti- cles, and amounts in value to 20,000 piastres a year. That of Parga to 10,000. So that deduct- ing the latter, the Vezir has given 800 purses for a life annuity of 200 at the age of sixty, and having as good a prospect of keeping his head upon his shoulders as any man in his station in Turkey.
The excavations which have been made at Nico- polis for the purpose of obtaining materials for the fortress and palace of the Vezir at Prevyza, have not led to any interesting discoveries, partly it seems because the city having been hastily built, more in the Roman than Greek manner, little more was found than fragments of walls formed of tiles, mortar, and broken stones, unfit for the pur- pose of the masons, and which did not much encou- rage them to persevere. By order of the Vezir, the sculptured pieces were set apart, but the only
492
EPIRUS.
[CHAP.
result has been two inscriptions, which have been placed at the gate of the Serai. One of these ! is a dedication to Augustus by the Mallotae, or people of Mallus, a great maritime city of Cilicia ; the other2, which from the form of the letters seems to be of a later period of the Empire, was in honour of a praetorian praefect of Macedonia, who was tribune of the first legion surnamed the Minervia Pia Fidelis, procurator of the corn of Epirus, procurator of the province of Pontus and Bithynia, and procurator of the dismissions of the Emperor 3. The monument was raised agreeably to a decree of the council (of Nicopolis) by Mnes- ter, a freedman of the Emperor, in token of his gratitude to the prefect, of whom he was the assistant4. Several of the letters in the inscrip- tion require to be supplied, particularly in the prefect's name, which seems to have been Lucius Ofellius Maius.
March 15. — At 3 p. m. we make sail for Vonitza in a large sakkoleva belonging to the Vczir, which has a covered deck and cabin, and is riffgred with two high latin e sails and a small sail aft. A fresh inaestrale soon carries us past Punta ; and along the side of a woody plain, on the southern shore of
1 AvTOKparopt Kattrapi Oeov v\f 2e/3aorw MaXXwrai. — V. Inscription, No. 159.
2 AovkLu 'CtyeW/w Mai'w, MaKECOvictQ ETrdp-^o), tvl Kal ek rijg Trpaircjpiag, ^iXiap^u) \e"/e- Cjvog a MivEpfiiag, ev(te(3ov£, TTKTrijc, EiriTpoirtj) GiTov 'Wirtipov, ETTirpoTTb) ETrap^iag Uovtov kuI
THidvviac, EiriTpotry and rwv anoKvaEwv Se/3aoroi/, Mvtjarijp ~2iEfiaoTov c'itteXevBepoq fiojjdug avrov Kara to ^(piojia rijg fiovXrjg tuv "iZwv EVEpyErrjy. — V. Inscription, No. 100.
3 Procurator a dimissionibus imperatoris.
4 Adjutor.
XXXII.]
ACARNANIA.
493
the Gulf of Prevyza, beyond which towards the lake of Vulkaria are heights clothed with larger trees \ On the northern side of the gulf the coast is higher, and forms a peninsula in which is a hamlet of five or six houses, called Skafidlniki, and below it a lagoon, communicating, by a small opening, with the sea, and having a fishery which belongs to Arta.
Having crossed the Gulf of Prevyza to its south- eastern extremity, I land at the ruins of Anacto- riiuu, for such I shall venture to denominate a cir- cuit of Hellenic foundations, surrounding a rocky promontory between two bays, and following the crest of some heights which embrace a little plain on the shore of the smaller or southern bay, where a small church of 'Aios Petros gives name to the place. The distance of these ruins from Punta accords exactly with the forty stades placed by Strabo between Actium and Anactorium.
\ A.NACTORIVM
\
gate.
The circumference of the town was less than two
See the route through this country in Vol. I. p. 17-3.
494
ACARNANIA.
[chap
miles. In most parts foundations only are trace- able ; but to the southward there are remains of several towers : the interior wall of the acropolis in part subsists also, and between it and a marsh in the middle of the plain are some foundations, apparently those of the peribolus of a temple. From the vestiges of a gate at the eastern angle of the town, a walk of an hour across the heights which fall north-eastward to the commodious little harbour of St. Mark, leads me in a south-easterly direction to the limeni, or limni of Vonitza, from whence there are two roads to the town ; that to the right by a stone causeway along the southern side of the limni, at the foot of a steep hill covered with brushwood, from the foot of which issues a body of water so large as to render the limni almost fresh. I follow the northern shore, passing for a mile through a wood of bramble, myrtle, mastic, dwarf oleaster, and ilex, to Myrtari, at the entrance of the limni, from whence I cross in the ferry-boat to Vonitza, to the house of Kyr K., witli whom 1 lodged on my former visit to this place. My host, in conjunction with Kyr G. of Prevyza, has lately purchased of the Vezir for one year, for 95,000 piastres, the farm of the salt works and fisheries of Arta, in which is included the sole right of fishing throughout the gulf, ex- cept within the district of Prevyza.
March 1G. — A strong easterly wind prevents me from leaving Vonitza until 3.30 p. m., when, embarking in the sakkoleva with Messrs. K. and G. and our vice-consul of Prevyza, we follow the coast for two hours as far as a bay between the capes Volimi and Khaliki, where a
XXXII.J
ACARNANIA.
495
paleokastro called Ruga induces me to laud. It is a Hellenic fortress, about half a mile in cir- cumference, surrounded on three sides by a lake about 500 yards wide, beyond which are heights covered with thick woods. The lake communi- cates at its two extremities with the sea in sea- sons of rain, but at present is separated by a narrow beach. The walls are more or less pre- served in the whole circuit ; and in one or two places there are some foundations of rectangular towers of the ordinary kind. Near one of them a piece of wall, which is standing to the height of twelve feet, is a complete specimen of the second or polygonal kind of Greek masonry : the stones being of various shapes, accurately fitted to one another without cement, and none of them rectangular. On the summit of this wall are a few other masses which seem to show that the upper courses of the walls were of more regular masonry. Perhaps these, as well as the towers, were repairs or addi- tions to the original work. The inclosed space, which is one of the very few ploughed spots on this woody shore, is not much above the level of the sea.
From Ruga we follow the coast, with a favour- able breeze, and soon pass Cape Khaliki, which is a sandy point projecting from a low woody cape. The wind falls as we approach Nisi, and in conse- quence of the turn of the coast becomes contrary. So that it is eight in the evening before we anchor opposite to this tjiftlik of the Vezir, which is built in the usual manner of this part of the country ; — that is to say, the dwellings inclose a quadrangle
496
ACARNANIA.
[CHAP.
into which all the doors and windows open ; thus the outside presents only bare walls, and serves as a fortress against the robbers of Xero- mero and Valto. Whenever there is any suspicion of danger, the cattle and other stock are collected at night within the square, the only entrance into which is a large strong gate. Some boats of Kyr K. of Vonitza having been very successful in spearing in the bay of Nisi, we have a plentiful supper of fish, and keep out the cold with a large fire, though not without some inconvenience from smoke, as there is no chimney. My companions sleep upon a carpet by the fire ; I spread my mat- tress in the further part of the cottage where is a raised floor made of a few planks.
The tjiftlik of Nisi possesses some cornfields among the velani oaks which cover the heights between it and Cape Khaliki ; in the other direc- tion there is a marshy bottom, grown with ashes, oaks, and other trees, and frequented by wild hogs \ Those who hunt them say that the animal generally makes directly at the man who wounds him, and if the hunter is not very alert, the hog by his strength and. quickness seldom fails to in- flict a most severe wound with his short thick reverted tusk. No wonder the ancients without fire-arms held these animals in so much respect. The forests extend from hence, with a few inter- vals only of cultivated country, as far as Lefkadha, and besides swine, abound with three species of deer, the tXatyi, irXaruvi, and lapicah, which by the
uypiu-^oipoi.
XX
XII. 1
ACARNANIA.
497
description of them are the red deer, the fallow deer, and roe.
March 17. — The wind being contrary for Lu- traki, and the passage round the inner curve of the bay of Nisi being muddy for loaded horses, we cross the bay in boats, and ride up to Palim, or Balim Bey. This operation, as we have an escort of thirty Albanians besides our own bag- gage, takes us till 10.30. Palim-bey is another farm of the Vezir, having a few kalambokki and corn-fields and flocks belonging to it, in the midst of the woods. It differs only from Nisi in having a larger house, by way of a serai or pyrgo, and a garden of fine lemon and cypress trees attached to the house, with a few kalyvia on the outside of the quadrangle. We had intended to pass the last night here had the wind been more favourable. The level which separates the farm from the sea is covered with large plane trees, together with some oaks, both common and velani, wild pears, paliuria, and other shrubs. In the most marshy parts ashes are numerous ; this tree, which is not very common in Greece, is generally called by its ancient name Melia, but is here known by that of Fraxo, an abbreviation of the Latin Frax- inus. The hills behind the tjiftlik are clothed with oaks, velanidhies, and pirnaria ; beyond them, three miles from Palim-bey, formerly stood Aghius Saranda, and beyond it Tersova and Vus- tri. Beyond a peaked snowy summit, 2 hours to the southward of the summit of the mountain of Pergandi, was the monastery Robo, reckoned 4 hours from Palim-bey. These and twenty other villages
vol. in. k k
498
ACARNANIA.
[chap.
or monasteries in this part of Acarnania are now deserted and ruined. On the western side of the mountains were Zaverdha, Sklavena, Runisi, Sy- nodhi, and Bogonia, formerly all large villages, but now reduced to insignificance, or totally deserted. Having remained at Palim-bey until our Al- banians have dined, we leave it at 12.20, and at 1 cross a stream shaded by large planes, and flowing from the southern side of the summit of the mountain of Varnaka. After passing over a root of the same hills, we proceed along the side of them until, at 1.20, they slope into the narrow harbour of Lutraki, where on its western side are a Dogana and Kula surrounded with a wall ; from the head of the harbour we proceed through a narrow gorge, called Dhafnies l, from the nume- rous bay trees which grow here, and which are mixed with bushes of Paliuri and wild Kharub 2 ; the hills on either side are covered with thick underwood. This is a strong pass, and like those of Amvrakia and Kekhrenia, may be considered one of the gates of Acarnania. At Lutraki, and in a halt for our Albanian infantry by the way, we lost 15 minutes. Having entered the valley, we begin at 2.20 to skirt the marsh, on the op- posite side of which I passed when coming from Amvrakia to Lutraki, on June the 19th, 1805. Little streams ooze from the foot of the hills on our right, and flow into the marsh. At 2.45 we are opposite to the end of the marsh, and to the hollow on the slope of the opposite moun-
1 An(pi'ialc.
'Aypialg Kovr^nrlnic-
XXXII.
ACARNANIA.
499
tain, through which leads the road to Amvrakia. Leaving this to the left, we mount the hills through ravines shaded with olives, and at 3.55 arrive at Katuna, at the house of Mr. George Mavromati. Katun a is situated on a fertile range of hills, which are divided by an elevated valley from Mount Bumisto ; on one side of this valley, beyond a hill, is the river which, taking its rise near Komboti, joins the sea between Palim-bey and Lutraki. The heights of Katuna extend southward, with a little inclination to the east, for a distance of about 12 miles. This ridge consists of hard limestone, covered with a stratum of fertile soil, which feeds numerous sheep and oxen, and has some intervals cultivated with wheat and barley. These and the produce of the velanidhies scattered in the woods, once supported a considerable population in the towns of Katuna and Makhala, which are now mere villages, and in several subordinate places now abandoned. The JEtolian plains, though still cultivated to a considerable extent, and better peopled than Acarnania, have declined nearly in the same proportion, and among the Beys of Vrakhori, some of whom formerly derived 3000/. a year from their landed property, not one has now a third of that income.
In Katuna there remain not more than forty inhabited houses ; seventy were abandoned in the course of the last year, chiefly in consequence of the excessive expence attending the quartering of Albanians, who all pass through this derveni in their way to or from JEtolia, or the south-western parts of Acarnania. This grievance has particu-
k k 2
500
ACARNANIA.
[chap.
larly pressed upon them since the death of Yusuf Aga, the Valide Kiayassy, when Aly obtained the Mukata of Karlili, and immediately sent his Albanians into the country. He is now making his first visit in person. His chief object is to substitute his own Albanians for the Greek arma- toli, who under the command of their captains were in the service and pay of the villages. As soon as his intentions were known, many of the armatoli fled into the islands, and returned from thence as robbers. The individual among them whose enterprize and knowledge of the country renders him at present most formidable, is named Dhrako Griva !, first cousin of the Katziko-Iannis, two celebrated characters of the same stamp, whom the Vezir succeeded in destroying.
Griva began his career at an early age, like most of these heroes, by entering into a band of robbers, to whom he recommended himself by his activity, hardiness, and cruelty. It wras his prac- tice to tie every Musulman who fell into his hands, or any unfortunate Christian who had given him offence, to a tree, to be fired at by his followers as a mark. Having rendered himself the terror of the villages of Karlili, and long defied the efforts of the Vezir as Dervent Aga, he was at length, at the Pasha's suggestion, taken into the service and pay of the district as captain of armatoli, to keep the country clear of thieves. He was after- wards disgraced by the same influence, and super- seded by Katziko Ianni, because he could not, or
1 Dhrako is an addition to his real name, meaning any thing monstrous.
XXXII.]
ACARNANIA.
501
would not (as it is said), murder Mitjo ' Mavro- mati of Katuna for His Highness. Griva had then no other resource than to enter into the Russian service in the Islands, from which he passed into that of the French, and in both has succeeded in tormenting the Vezir by continual depredations on his territories2. Varnaka, a village once of 400 families, but now deserted, is at present the prin- cipal resort of the. thieves. To the spoliation of the kleftes is to be added that of the Albanians sent against them ; these, together with the simi- lar effects of the collection of troops in 1807 against the Russians at Lefkadha, and of those now assembled to observe the French, have almost depopulated the entire country around Mount Bumisto, or between the Ambracian gulf and Leu- cadian sea.
The Vezir, when he halted here the day before yesterday, lodged at the house of the son of the very Mavromati whom he had formerly put to death. Mitjo was a man of considerable property, and much beloved in Acarnania, where he long acted as agent of Kurt Pasha in the management of the armatoli and police of this province. His
1 M/r£o£, familiariter, or ^a'iSevTiica, as the modern Greeks say, for Ajj/xZ/rpjoc.
2 In October 1809, he be- came our prisoner at the cap- ture of Zante, together with his comrades in the French service. The greater part of them en- tered into the Greek regiments which were then formed. Griva
did not like the terms of ser- vice, which rendered him liable to be sent to any part of the Mediterranean, and preferred trusting to Aly, who accepted his offer of services, taking care to retain a part of his family as a pledge of his fidelity, and made him koledji of Vonitza and Plaghia.
502
ACARNANIA.
[chap.
friendship with Kurt was a crime in the eyes of Aly, which Mitjo's riches rendered unpardonable. Conscious of the injury he had done to the family, the Vezir ordered the house to be searched before he entered it, though when he announced to Mav- romati at Prevyza that he intended to lodge with him in passing through Katuna, he pretended never to have heard that his old friend Mitjo, as he called him, was dead. After dining at Katuna he went forward to Makhala, accompanied by 1500 Albanians, whose pay is four months in arrear. Scarcely any chieftain but Aly could take such a liberty with these men, as there is nothing on which Albanians are so sensitive. In the meantime, rovg icvfiepvau, he quarters them on the places which he passes through, and thus they can live without pay, which they have no doubt of receiving in the end, that being a point in which Aly dares not deceive them.
March 18. — The view from Katuna, though confined by the mountains to the west and east, commands some distant objects through the open- ings to the north and south — namely, Mounts Olytzika and Tzumerka in the former direction, with the mill above Arta, which was one of my former stations. To the southward beyond JEtulia appear the great summits of Voidhia and 'Olono in the Morea.
Our escort of thirty Albanians from Prevyza is joined by ten more from Vonitza by direction of Kyr K., who, as Hodja-bashi of that place, has the direction of these troops within his own dis- trict. The necessity of this reinforcement shows
XXXII.]
ACARNANIA.
503
how insecure the country is supposed to be beyond the range of the Albanian muskets.
Half a mile below the lowest houses of Katuna, a little on the left of the road to Makhala, is the upper extremity of a Hellenic fortress which occu- pies the slope of the ridge of Katuna on its east- ern side. The valley into which it descends is a continuation of that which we followed yesterday coming from Lutraki, being the same as that I described on the 18th of June, 1805, as included between the parallel ridges of Amvrakia and Ka- tuna. The existing remains consist of foundations of regular masonry belonging to an acropolis which surrounded a theatre-shaped piece of ground at the head of a water-course : vestiges of the town walls are seen also on the descent towards the valley, and I am told there are others quite at the foot of the mountain. The city, therefore, was large as well as important by its position, which com- manded the principal passage from Epirus through Acarnania into JEtolia. It is supposed by the learned of this part of the country to be Conope, because there is a small village, situated a few miles to the south-west, named Konopitza. Co- nope, however, was certainly beyond the Achelous, in JEtolia ; and Konopitza no more indicates the position of Conope than Amvrakia does that of Ambracia.
Our road continues to follow the crest of the ridge over heights remarkable for their variety of form, and for many immense circular cavities, covered within with trees, and at the bottom of some of which are deep pools of water. The
504
ACARNANIA.
TCHAP.
trees are chiefly pirnaria, and the rocks, as gene- rally in this part of Acarnania, a hard yellow limestone, or marble, which is very handsome when polished. The heights are uncultivated, but produce a fine herbage, affording an excel- lent pasture for sheep. At 3 p.m., after hav- ing ridden 50 minutes from the Paleokastro, the monastery of Agrilio is a mile and a half to the left, on a point of land on the western side of the lake of Valto or Amvrakia, opposite to that part of the mountain of Kekhrenia which I de- scended on the way from that village to Amvrakia. The projection on which Agrilio stands, is an abrupt termination of the ridge beginning on the eastern side of Lutraki, and upon which stand the villages Sparto, Amvrakia, and Stanu. Below Agrilio is the narrowest and deepest part of the lake. In dry summers nothing remains but a cir- cular pool in that part, all the rest being dry or muddy. It is the opinion at Katuna, that by means of a few canals of drainage, and at the ex- pence of about 60 purses, all but the pool near Agrilio might be made capable of bearing maize or any other kind of grain in abundance. Some parts of the edges of the lake when dry are now cultivated in that manner, as I witnessed below Amvrakia on my former journey.
We now leave the few dispersed houses which form the village of Konopitza, or Konopina, two miles on the right, and at 3.35 pass through the ruins of the village of Anino, from whence came the family of that name which is now one of the principal in Cefalonia. On the opposite slope of
XXXII.]
ACARNANIA.
505
the mountain of Kekhrenia were formerly Alpitza and Makri, from which latter came the Makris of Zante. At 3.50 we halt for a quarter of an hour at a large well of ancient construction resembling another which I observed close to the walls of the Paleokastro of Katuna. Several others, all pro- bably works of the ancient Greeks, are said to exist in this ridge, which is totally deficient in superficial sources. All the larger houses at Katuna and Makhala are provided with cisterns for collecting rain water. At 4.45 we pass Papad- hates, or Papalates, standing on the crest of the ridge, and now containing only a few cottages, and there arrive in sight of a valley to the westward, included on one side by the mountains which pro- trude from Bumisto towards Tragamesti, and on the other by the ridge which, trending westerly from that of Makhala, borders the great plain of the Achelous to the north-west. In an opening between the two ranges the sea appears. On the opposite side of the valley, at the foot of the hills towards Tragamesti, are the villages of Babini, Makhera, and Khrysovitzi, lying in that order from south- east to north-west. At 5.15 we arrive at the highest point of the ridge, where stands a ruined windmill, visible from Katuna, and which is a con- spicuous object to all the surrounding country. Immediately below it begin the houses of the vil- lage of Makhala, which are dispersed over a slope falling towards the plain of the Achelous.
It may be a question, whether the lake of Agrilio, or the marsh between Katuna and Lutraki, was the
506
ACARNANIA.
[chap.
scene of a transaction of the year b. c. 391, which is related by Xenophon1. The Achaeans, who were in possession of Calydon, finding themselves greatly annoyed by the Acarnanians, who were assisted by some Athenians and Boeotians, craved the succour of the Lacedaemonians, who sent Age- silaus, with two morse and some allies, to join the Achaeans. Agesilaus, previously to entering the hostile territory, sent a message to Stratus, threat- ening to destroy the whole country unless the Acarnanians quitted their alliance and joined that of Sparta ; but they disregarded his menaces, re- tired into their cities, and drove their cattle to a distant part of the country Agesilaus then en- tered Acarnania, and destroyed every thing within his reach ; but marched not more than ten or twelve stades each day, by which mode of proceeding, at the end of fourteen or fifteen days, he had thrown the Acarnanians so much off their guard, that many of them resumed their rural employments. He then made a sudden march of 160 stades in one day to a lake surrounded by mountains, where the greater part of the cattle of the Acarnanians was collected 2, and thus captured a great quantity of horses, oxen, and sheep, besides men, all which he sold the next day. In the evening he was attacked by the Acarnanians and forced to descend from his po- sition on the heights, into a plain and meadow on the bank of the lake, from whence there was only
1 Xenoph. Hellen. 1. 4, c. 6. /3o<7K>//ia7-a tCjv 'AKapvuvojv 3 tin ri]v XifxvTjv, irepl r\v ra a\tS6y wavTa i)v.
XXXII.]
ACARNANIA.
507
a narrow and difficult outlet across the mountains \ By this pass Agesilaus attempted to retreat on the following day, but the Acarnanians had occupied the mountains on either side of it, from whence their light armed annoyed their opponents by missiles, easily escaping into shelter when pur- sued by the cavalry or hoplitae. The Acarnanian hoplitse, with the greater part of their peltastae, were posted on the summit of the mountain to the left of the enemy's line of march ; and this moun- tain happened to be the more accessible of the two to horsemen and hoplitae. Agesilaus, there- fore, after sacrificing, during which operation many of his troops were wounded, ordered an advance upon the height to his left. All the hoplitae who had arrived at 15 years beyond the age of puberty ran forward, preceded by the ca- valry, and followed by Agesilaus himself with the remainder of the forces. In this manner they reached, and slew or put to flight the Acarnanians on the declivity of the mountain, by whom they had been annoyed. Nor did those on the summit of the ridge wait for the encounter, though the peltastae had slain some of the horsemen and horses of the enemy in the ascent. The loss of the Acarnanians on this day was about 300. Agesilaus then continued to ravage the country, and even presented himself at the request of the Achaeans before some of the cities, but none sur-
1 i)v [itv 7/ i&doc tK tov 7T£(h irepti-^ovTa opt)' Kara\a(i6vTi(; n)v Xifivrjv XiifitHvoQ re Kal C£ vl 'AKapvaveg, &c. ntdiov artvi), Cia rd kvkX^
508
ACARNANIA.
[chap
rendered to him ; and as the autumn was advanc- ing, he decided upon retiring from Acarnania, replying to the Achaeans, who requested him to remain, so long at least as to prevent the Acar- nanians from sowing their corn, that the more they sowed the more inclined they would be to peace. His retreat through yEtolia, adds the historian, was by passes through which it would have been impossible for any numbers to have found their way, had the .ZEtolians, who hoped for his assistance in the recovery of Naupactus, been desirous of preventing him *.
Although the Valto, or lake of Agrilio, may seem better to deserve the description of a A/juvr? in the present time of the year than that between Katuna and Lutraki, there is probably little dif- ference in their dimensions in the season of the expedition of Agesilaus. Both are surrounded by mountains, that of Valto more closely ; but for that reason it was less adapted to the assemblage of the Acarnanian cattle than the lake of Lutraki, which has at all times a greater extent of pasture around it. The latter had also the advantage of being farther removed from the frontier of JEtolia, whereas the southern extremity of the lake of Agrilio is not many miles from Stratus and the Achelous. The ravine therefore by which I as- cended from the marsh of Lutraki to Katuna seems to have been the defile in which the Acar- nanians opposed the Spartans. In this case the
1 roiavrag bdovg, ag ovte woWoi ovre tiXiyoi cvvaur av aKovrior AirwXwv TropevtaOai.
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ACARNANIA.
509
hill of Katuna itself was the position of the Acar- nanian hoplitae and peltastaB, which was taken by the bold charge of the Spartans. There is indeed another opening conducting from the marsh of Lutraki, which leads towards Amvrakia ; but as this would have carried Agesilaus farther from the frontier, and would have obliged him to march along one side or the other of the lake of Agrilio, both difficult routes, and that to the westward defended by the fortified town near Katuna, it is not probable that he should have ventured into so hazardous a situation. It seems evident, more- over, that he retreated by the same route by which he had arrived, that is to say, into the plain of Aetos ; for on this side of the ridge of Katuna lay the principal extent and the more fertile parts of Acarnania, through which he had made his fifteen marches, probably in various directions, as convenience or plunder prompted. The last day's march of 160 stades, by which he surprised the Acarnanians, would seem from the distance to have been begun from a position on the Achelous. It is almost unnecessary to point out how perfectly the geography of Mtolia justifies the remark of Xenophon, as to the diffi- culty which Agesilaus would have found in re- treating through that country to Calydon, had the iEtolians been adverse to him, his only routes being along one side or other of the lake of Apokuro, or through the passes of Zygos, or if he entered the maritime plains from Acarnania, along the borders of the lagoons of Anatoliko and Mesolonghi.
510
ACARNANIA.
[chap.
March 19. — The ruined windmill behind Mak- hala commands a magnificent prospect. As at Katiina, I recognize to the north Mount Olytzika, near Ioannina, and to the south-east the mountains Voidhia and 'Olono, in the Morea, to which are here added, the Sandameriotiko of Elis and the Mavra Vuna near Dyme. But the principal ob- jects are the Mtolian plains, with their noble river and lakes, the positions of Stratus, Thermus, and Conope, the great summits called Arakhova and Viena, and Mount Rigani, near Naupactus. In the midst of the basin which lies to the westward of the ridge of Makhala, and which is surrounded on the other sides by Mount Bumisto, by the moun- tains towards the sea coast, and by that which slopes on the opposite side to the right bank of the Achelous, rises an insulated height, surrounded by Hellenic walls, on the western point of which stands a monastery, called Porta, properly -h Ua- vayia cxtt)v Uoprav. In the lower part of the in- closure a ruined tower is conspicuous, having eight courses of regular masonry still standing, and on either side of it some walls of polygonal masonry, which have an appearance of a more remote an- tiquity than the tower.
Makhala, to judge by the ruins dispersed over the hill on which it stands, was once a con- siderable town ; there are now not more than 50 families. It is said to be the healthiest position in the interior of Karlili. Katuna, although nearly as high, does not enjoy such good air in summer, because the day breeze which draws through the opening of Lutraki passes over the marshes. In the
XXXII.]
ACARNANIA.
511
winter and spring it suffers from cold, and in the end of the summer and autumn from the vicinity of the Valto of Agrilio and the effluvia of the mud which is continually stirred up by the wild hogs.
Makhala, Katuna, Zavitza, Tragamesti, Katokhi and Stamna, now reduced to inconsiderable vil- lages, were all flourishing towns in the time of Kurt Pasha. Katuna was considered the richest and most polished. Many families have migrated from these places to the islands.
From Makhala to Skortus takes us an hour and twenty minutes, with our Albanians on foot. At Skortus there are only two families left. The ruins of the village stand at the foot of a small height, surrounded with an ancient Greek wall, of which there remain in some places two or three courses of regular masonry. From hence I pro- ceed to the summit of the hill of Lygovitzi, which rises immediately above Skortus, in search of some ruins which a woman of the latter place, probably for the sake of getting rid of us, described as a /ucya Kaorpov, but where I find nothing, after an ascent through a thick wood of velanidhi oaks, and over difficult rocky paths, but the ruins of four or five churches among the trees, and on the summit some remains of a small castle, apparently of the same date as the churches. I have since been informed, however, that among the woods on the south-eastern face of the hill, the walls are traceable of an ancient Hellenic city, which, by its position relatively to Conope at Anghelo-Kastro, would seem to have been Metropolis.
The persons left in charge of the monastery, on
12
512
ACARNANIA.
[chap.
perceiving our approach, locked it up and fled into the woods, taking us for thieves. My Alba- nian Palikaria had not only climbed up the hill on foot, but found their way into the building before I could reach the summit on horseback. The monks have not occupied the house since the country has been tormented by the frequent incursions of robbers from the islands : its landed property is considerable, but not so large as that of Vlokho. There is a neat small church, a cistern, and several cells.
The prospect from the monastery, which stands just below the summit, repays the trouble of ascend- ing the hill. To the south are seen Kastro Tor- nese, and the plains of Elis and Achaia ; to the north-eastward the mountains of 'Agrafa, from whence extends the hilly country which terminates in the plain of Vrakhori, bounded on the S.E. by the lake and hills of Apokuro, and the great ridge of Zygos or Aracynthus. Beyond the mountains of Apokuro are seen those of Kravari, ending to the south in Mount Rigani over 'Epakto. The great mountain Viena, which hides Velukhi, has its whole range extended before us. As well from its vicinity to the capital lliermus, as from its be- ing the most extensive and central summit 01 JEtolia, this mountain seems exactly suited to the Panaetolium, which Pliny names as one of the mountains of iEtolia. No other author, I believe, has alluded to it, although one of the highest and greatest of the ridges of Greece.
At the foot of the steep woody descent of the mountain is a large deep perennial lake, abound-
XXXII.]
ACAUNANIA.
513
ing in fish and wild fowl, and discharging a copi- ous stream into the Achelous, the broad bed of which is separated only from the lake by a narrow plain. The junction of this discharge of the lake with the Achelous occurs a little below that of the river anciently called Cyathus, which flows from the lake of Vrakhori and joins the main river op- posite to Anghelokastro. Two miles below the union of the discharge from the lake of Lygovitzi, the Achelous is joined by a second tributary on the right bank proceeding from a marsh, and between them on the same side by a third smaller stream. The broad white bed of the Achelous, from which it derives the modern name Aspro, is widest be- tween the site of Stratus at Surovigli and the lake of Lygovitzi. On the right bank, between Suro- vigli, the extremity of the mountain of Kekhrenia and the northern side of the lake of Lygovitzi, is a triangular plain, once the chief support of Stratus, but now almost entirely uncultivated, as it always has been in the memory of the present Acarna- nians, though nothing inferior in natural fertility to that of Vrakhori.
Having dined upon some provisions brought with us from Makhala, very much in the manner of the kleftes, whom we are taken for, we descend through woods of velanidhi, among which are a few corn-fields, and some horses belonging to the monastery, into the direct road from Skortus to Prodhromo, — pass through some large flocks of sheep, which are attended by Vlakhiote Karagu- nidhes of Mount Pindus, and arrive at Prodhromo
VOL. III. l 1
514
ACARNANIA
[chap.
at half-past 4 p. m. The distance from Skortus is an hour and a quarter.
Prodhromo ' stands exactly opposite to Khryso- vitzi as Skortus does to Babini. In the valley between the two former, and about a mile in a direct line from Prodhromo, rises an insulated hill, the summit and one side of which are enclosed with the remains of Hellenic walls, the summit forming a separate inclosure. It appears to have been nothing more than a small fortified kw/*ij, like that at Skortus, and very inferior in importance to the cities which stood at Porta and near Katuna. Anciently it would seem that every village in Acarnania was walled, whence we may infer that their insecurity was almost as great as it is now. It may easily be conceived, indeed, that between the sea pirates of the adjacent islands, who were at all times XriioroptQ avowee2, and the semi-bar- barous tribes of the Epirotic and iEtolian moun- tains, their position was one of continued vigilance. Its effects, however, had not injured their cha- racter ; for Thucydides speaks favourably of the Acarnanians, and they seem not to have altogether degenerated when compared with other Greeks.
The Proestos of Prodhromo, who is upwards of seventy years of age, remembers when there were 60 or 70 houses in his village : there are now only six. It is situated just on the skirt of the woods which occupy all the range of hills from Lygovitzi to where they terminate in the plains towards the mouth of the Aspro. The air is said to be very
1 Upo^pofioc 2 Homer, Od. O. 420, II. 426.
XXXII.]
ACARNANIA.
515
healthy. In the valley, and on the slopes adja- cent to this side of it, the Prodhromites cultivate wheat and barley, and they gather vallonea1, gall- nuts2, and a seed or berry used in dyeing, called /unploairopog, on the hills. The soil is a dark- coloured friable mould, like that of the greater part of Acarnania. The grinia wheat, is sown from November to January, whenever there is an interval of dry weather favourable to it : — the dhiminio from the 10th of February to the 25th of March (old style.) If the spring be very dry this yields no more than 3, 4, or 5, to 1 ; but it usually gives 10, while the grinia never more than 6 or 7. The latter would perhaps yield as much as the dhiminio if it were carefully cleared of weeds, but this is seldom done in Greece. Barley is sown in the same season as grinia : the harvest is in the middle of June (old style.) Upon the kind of weather which leads to a good harvest they have this proverb —
Xapa ora ^joioroyEva areyva,
Ta (jnorn viovKJutva, Me ttiv \afX7rpi)v (Sptyovpsvrjv,
Ta /uwapia yto/Luapeva.
"Joy to a dry Christmas, a snowy Epiphany, and a rainy Easter, then the barns will be filled."
The Sicilians say — Gennaro sicco borghese ricco.
Prodhromo, like all the smaller villages of Kar- lili, is a Spahilik, and pays two fifteenths of the crop to the Spahi. The rest belongs to the Pro- dhromite s, who is his own labourer, and pays all the expences of cultivation. His condition, which
1 lu\ai
KtJKlCt.
L 1 2
Tlpodpof.tlT)]r.
516
ACARNANIA.
[CHAP.
from this statement would seem to be independent, is quite the reverse. The Hodja-bashi, or Proestos of Tragamesti, or of any other place upon the coast where the Prodhromite carries his corn or other produce for sale, prevents him from communicat- ing with the islanders, who would give him a good price, and forces himself in as an intermediate purchaser, at a much lower : hence the current price of wheat here at present is not more that 31 piastres the kilo of 22 okes, which is equivalent to about 3s. 6d. the bushel. The velamdhi, which being procured for the trouble of gathering would be a great advantage to the peasant, is monopo- lized in the same manner by the Proesti, who give him for the small sort, called ya/iaSa, 20 piastres the milliaja of 1000 lire grosse Venete. One of my companions tells me that he has himself lately bought a quantity from the primates of Karlili for 37 piastres and sold it for 50. The large inferior kind of velanidhi, called Kay\a, sells at 12 piastres the milliaja. Kikidhi, or gall-nuts, are sold by the gatherers for 1 5 paras the oke, and merzosporo the same. The surrounding hills upon which these productions are gathered abound in stags, deer, roebucks, and wild boars, as well as in jackals, which make a dismal howling at night.
Another disadvantage of which the Prodhro- mites, in common with the other small villagers of Acarnania, complain is, that although surrounded with pasture, they are unable to have any flocks, which all belong to the Vezir and his sons, or to rich Turks, or to other persons who pay the Vezir for permission to feed their flocks in this part of
XXXII.]
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517
the country, all which are in the care of Vlakhi- otes, or of Albanians from Mount Pindus. But even this oppression, or that which prevents the indus- trious man from employing his means in the most advantageous manner, or from carrying the fruits of his labour to the best market, is less grievous than the direct taxes and extortions which often deprive him at one blow of his scanty earnings. The kefaliatiko, or kharatj, is 7 piastres for every male above ten years old, in which is included half a piastre for the expences of the Proestos of Tragamesti, the chief town of the district, or of the persons whom he sends here to collect it. The vostina, which is paid to the Spahi, is a capi- tation tax of 60 paras for every married, and of 30 paras for every unmarried man. Ta xpr?, or the dues, as the taxes are denominated collectively, amount at Prodhromo to near 500 piastres a year for each family, a large part of which consists of the share of an arbitrary imposition laid upon the village by the Proestos of Tragamesti in acquit- tance of the demand which the Vezir makes upon Karlili, to defray the expence of troops, or jour- neys, or wars, or upon any other pretence, and for the amount of which he is supposed to be account- able to the Porte, but does not account to any one. The Hodja-bashis assemble and divide the bur- then among the different districts, according to their population. Each of them afterwards adds to the sum the expences which he himself incurs, or pretends to have incurred, in journeys to attend the Vezir, or for entertaining and lodging Turks and soldiers, or for horses in the public service,
518
ACARNANIA,
[chap.
or upon any other plausible pretext. The impo- sition upon the village being as arbitrary as that of the Vezir upon the district, the Proestos en- riches himself quickly, unless he should happen to be a man of extraordinary humanity, of whom there cannot be many in a country where honour and honesty are so little encouraged. In the ter- ritory of the Vezir they are particularly rare ; for it is his usual policy to appoint the worst men to be primates, that he may make them disgorge when they are full of plunder ; after which he often allows them to begin their extortions anew. In the smaller villages where the chief is styled protoghero, or chief alderman, he arranges in like manner the mode of payment of the khrei among the families, and generally in the Vezir's terri- tories, or at least in those where his authority is firmly established, one person is charged with this office, or at most two in the large towns, whereas, in the Elefthero-khoria of Greece, it is the com- mon custom for all the primati, or arkhondes, to meet and allot the taxes. If there be jealousy among them, as frequently occurs, so much the better for the great body of contributors, unless, which too often happens, one party complains to the Turkish authorities, and
prouaoiy
ribi
them for the sake of the delightful advantage of triumphing over some hated opponent, and of acting the Turk over his fellow Christians.
But the most dreadful of all evils to the Acar- nanian peasant is the konakia ', or lodgings which
TU Kvl'dKlU.
XXXII.]
ACARNANIA.
519
he is obliged to give to the Albanian soldiers, although it is only upon such extraordinary occasions as the present progress of the Vezir that small villages situated so far out of the route as Prodhromo feel the inconvenience in its highest degree by the actual presence of the de- tested palikaria. Musta Bey, of Konitza, who was quartered upon Makhala, after having been sup- plied with provision and forage for himself and 250 followers, insisted upon a present of 100 piastres at departure, but was contented with 45. This was an unpardonable extortion, even by the laws of the Aly code, and would meet with punishment if it were made known to him, as he only allows the chief armatolos to demand presents in this man- ner. The poor Makhaliotes, however, stand pro- bably too much in awe of the resentment of the Albanians to complain of the injury.
March 20. — From Prodhromo to Bodholovitza !, distance 4 hours 7 minutes, with Albanians on foot. We set out at 9.25, ascend the pass which lies immediately at the back of Prodhromo, and in less than half an hour arrive at the summit of the ridge, when there appears before us a vast extent of velanidhi woods, frequented only by robbers, or by Karagunidhes with their flocks, and traversed by winding paths difficult for a horse, and much more so for baggage. This is called the forest of Manina. I had taken a path to the left of the direct road, with a view of finding my way to some ruins on the bank of the Aspro,
1 fIoc>oAo/3«r£tt.
520
ACARNANIA.
[CHAP.
called Palea Mani, but now perceive that it can- not be effected with the baggage horses. As the bolu-bashi of our Albanian escort declares at the same time that we are too few to be separated in these perilous times and places, we regain the common route from Prodhromo, having lost about 8 minutes by the detour. Our guide from Pro- dhromo points out a place where three Turks were murdered two years ago, by robbers who came from the Islands, then occupied by the Russians. During a halt which we make, from 11.40 to 12.30, to dine at a well in a little opening in the midst of the forest, some families of Karagunidhes pass us ; they consist chiefly of women and chil- dren, walking by the side of the horses, which carry the tents, maize, barley, and all the do- mestic furniture. The infants are in baskets slung over the shoulders of the women, who with their bodies bent forward and a hurried step, drag along a horse, or a string of two or three horses, and are employed at the same time in spinning wool. These persons are Vlakhiotes from the mountains of Kalarytes, and are on their way to the plains of Katokhi, where the men have pre- ceded them with their flocks. The forest consists entirely of the velani oak, which never grows to a great height, but is sometimes broad and spreads into a great number of branches. The little under- wood there is, consists chiefly of the paliuri and wild kharub. The khrysoxylo (Cotinus) used as a yellow dye, is also found here. Half an hour from Podholovitza, we emerge from the forest and enter on the plain which extends along the banks
XXXII.]
ACARNANIA.
521
of the Aspro to the sea. Though generally inun- dated in winter, it is now dry. The soil, consist- ing of a stiff white clay, is now under the plough for the reception of kalambokki, which they have not the means here of irrigating artificially.
Podholovitza consists only of a tower and a qua- drangular inclosure of cottages surrounded by some wicker kalyvia : it is situated at the foot of a small height, surmounted by a church, on the right bank of the Aspro, which being now collected into a narrower bed than in the plain of Vrakhori, and augmented by the tributaries which join it near Anghelokastro, may be compared to the Thames at Staines. In summer it is very shallow, and may be crossed on foot at Podholovitza ; but a quarter of a mile lower down, where a projecting rocky bank on the opposite side narrows the river to fifty yards, it is never fordable. Here is the ordinary ferry, and the only one except that of Katokhi.
We are informed by the people of Podholovitza that an epidemic disorder now reigning in Karlili has lately carried off six persons in the village. We therefore cross to Guria, which is situated about the same distance below the ferry that Pod- holovitza is above it. Here I find that the Xoi/uacrj, as they call the sickness, was much exaggerated at Podholovitza, in order to frighten us away from thence, and that it has been worse here, though in neither place does it appear to be of a very malig- nant nature ; for though hardly a Greek house in this village out of 30 or 40 has escaped it, two or three persons only have died. It is said to begin
522
ACARNANIA.
[CHAP.
with head-ache and fever ; but if the patient is blooded, which is almost their only remedy, he generally recovers in fifteen days. There are a few Turkish families at Guria, and a little mosque without a minaret. Below Guria the river spreads over a large space, and has some sandy islands in it. It then takes a long bend to the left towards the extreme point of the hills which slope from Stamna into the plain. In the opening between this point and some heights towards the mouth of the river, appears the village of Magula, on a small eminence in the plain, and Palea Katiina at the foot of the hills to the right. Katokhi is hid by a projection of them.
Our Albanian escort consists partly of Maho- metans and partly of Christians, who are all from the country near Berat and Kolonia. Since we got rid at Makhala of a bolubashi who had per- suaded some of the Mussulmans that it was be- neath their dignity to inarch before ghiaurs, we have had no difficulties with any of them, and have kept them in perfect good humour by pre- senting them with a sheep or two every evening for their supper. Unlike the lazy, proud Turk, or the poor Greek peasant often deprived of all energy
by the effects of continued misery and oppression, these Albanians are remarkable for their inde- fatigable activity. Every commanding height near the road I find occupied by one or more of them, by the time I come in sight of it, and it seems to be an object of emulation who shall arrive first. They answer all questions upon the topography with remarkable intelligence and ac-
12
XXXII.]
ACARNANIA.
523
curacy, and permission to look through my teles- cope is an ample reward.
Nothing can be more dissimilar than the Alba- nian manners and those of the Osmanlis, the most indolent and phlegmatic of human beings, unless when roused by some extraordinary excitement. In one respect, however, the two people accord, — namely, the love of gaming, though it is forbidden by the religion of Mahomet. As the Albanian soldier seldom burthens himself with provisions, he commonly solaces himself at a halt upon the road with a pinch of snuff and a draught of water. On arriving at a village, the first thing they gene- rally do is to form a party at cards with heaps of paras, while those who do not play look on. A young man, who particularly distinguishes himself by his activity, named Alius, informs me, that in his younger days, like many of the Albanian sol- diers, he attended cattle in his native mountains, and that at Arza, a place on Mount Trebusin, two hours from Klisura to the north-eastward, five hours from Tepeleni, and eight from Premedi, he was often in the habit of finding ancient coins of silver and copper.
March 21. — Having procured some horses at Guria for some of the escort, and mounted others on the post-horses which we brought for the bag- gage from Prevyza, I cross the ferry with twelve of the palikaria, and proceed in an hour and a half to Palea Mani. The road is a horse-path, which, after crossing the little plain of Podholovitza, fol- lows a narrow level on the bank of the Achelous, along the edge of the forest at the foot of the lowest
524
ACARNANIA.
[chap.
slopes of the hills of Manina. Palea Maui is the modern name of a Hellenic fortress standing upon one of the points of these hills, in the thickest part of the woods. As in the ruins of Stratus, one of the gates stood very near an arm of the Achelous, which is separated from the main stream by a portion of its broad gravelly bed. This gate is eight feet wide, diminishing towards the top, which is formed by two opposite stones hollowed into a curve, but not quite meeting, and covered in the middle with a single quadrangular stone ten feet in length, three feet and a quarter in height, and two feet and a quarter in the lower dimension or soffit. I re- marked the same kind of construction in a small gate at Kamarina. Beams similar to the upper stone of the gate covered the passage in its whole length of eighteen feet ; but of these only two re- main in their places. This gateway leads into a small court of an irregular pentagonal form, which was defended externally on the side to the right in entering by a tower open to the court. Nearly opposite to the tower, a small gate leads from the court into the principal inclosure of the town or fortress. This inner gate standing on a slope, the beams of stone above the door project beyond one another like steps, and there are probably some corresponding steps below, which are now buried in the ruins and earth. The natives call the outer gate the Avloporta \ being in fact the entrance of a sort of aif\n, or ante-chamber, of the fortress, which formed a good protection to the inner gate.
! Au\o-Tro!>Tu.
XXXII.]
ACARNANIA.
525
I have never seen any similar example of this kind of outwork.
From the inner gate the two walls of the prin- cipal inclosure mount the height to a small qua- drangular acropolis at the summit of the hill, the wall to the right more directly, that to the left em- bracing a larger portion of the height, but both in curved lines, and that to the left in the upper part, forminc; a second curve, concave towards the exte- rior. The acropolis has an outer inclosure flanked by towers : both this and the Avloporta are obvi- ously posterior additions to the original work, being of more regular masonry, while that of the body of the place was entirely polygonal, without towers, and of an irregular plan, bearing strongly the character of a rude people, who possessed little of the science of military architecture as it existed in the more civilized parts of Greece. Such, in fact, was the condition of Acarnania before the age of Alexander. The original walls are in some parts near eleven feet in thickness, but are formed in the middle of rubble and are faced only with large uncemented masses. Among the posterior addi- tions are the remains of a tower at the lower part of the citadel, of which ten or twelve courses of regular masonry remain on one side, and a small part of the adjacent side. The thickness of the wall here consists of single stones, not more than two feet and a half or three feet thick. In the mid-height of the remaining courses there is a loop-hole, or window, with a course of masonry narrower than the rest, and projecting a few
526
ACARNANIA.
[chap.
inches ; there is a similar projection also at the foot of the wall.
The defence of the acropolis on the lower side towards the town is partly formed by a perpendi- cular excavation of the rock, upon which a wall has been built consisting of irregular blocks ex- actly fitted to the rock and to one another. The ruins are in no part more than eight or ten feet high, except at the Avlo-porta. The inclosed space is so extremely rugged that one is surprised how such a place could ever have been inhabited, nor is there a single excavated foundation to be found. The greatest length, which is from the Acropolis to the Avloporta, is about 600 yards.
In position this ruin seems to accord perfectly with Old (Enia, which Strabo describes as a de- serted place situated on the Achelous, midway between Stratus and the sea. It is not to be in- ferred, however, that the Old GEnia *, so called in the time of Strabo, was the same city which was founded by Alcmseon after the Trojan war, and named (Eneia in honour of (Eneus ; for Thucy- dides clearly indicates that place as identical with
1 Kai ?/ Ah'la (lege Olvia) £e kai avrj; etti tu> 7rora/iw (rw 'A^tAww), j'/ fxtv TraXatd oi> ko.t- oiKovfiivi), 'iffov diriyovaa tTiq rt 6a\aTTT)Q Kai rrjc ^rpdrov, ?/ Be vvv oaov t^doji^Kovra ora- hiovQ virep rfJQ ic/SoX^e Sti^ov- <ra. — Strabo, p. 450.
It is surprising that the word Alvia is still retained in all the
editions of Strabo, since it is clear, from // vvv in contradis- tinction to 11 traXaid, that Strabo meant Olvia, or the city of the CEniadse, the orthography of which is certain, from various authors, from its coins, and from the derivation of the
XXXII. j
ACARNANIA.
527
the famous city of the (Eniadae near the mouth of the Achelous \ It would seem, therefore, that the ruins at Palea Mani are those of a small and very ancient city of the Acarnanes, which, having been deserted long before the age of Strabo, and its his- tory forgotten, had improperly received in his time the name of Old QSneia, as often occurs in the instance of ruins and deserted sites. It may pos- sibly have been Erysiche, mentioned by the poet Alcman, which Stephanus improperly confounds with the city of CEniadse, as seems evident from Apollodorus, whom Strabo cites to show that the Erysichsei were an inland people of Acarnania 2. In later times, in consequence of the commanding situation in the pass leading along the right bank of the Achelous from the upper to the maritime plain, the original work may have been repaired and furnished with towers to serve as a fortress. Some part of the remains at the acropolis con- sists of Roman tiles, mixed with small stones and mortar, built on the Hellenic wall. As the pass naturally divided the territory of the CEniada? from that of the Metropolitan, to one of those two people probably the fortress belonged. At present there is no road to the northward beyond Palea Mani ; the wide branching bed of the Achelous, the marshes and lake at the foot of the steep woody mountain of Lygovitzi, and the thick forest be-
1 Thucyd. 1. 2, c. 102. rua'c ^jjgtj' 'A7ro\\o£wpoe \i-
2 Stephan. in 'Epuff/x7?* yeardui, ale 'AX/^iaV /jiifivrjTat. Oiveiadai. Owe' ^Rpvai^alog KaXv^ojyioc
Tfjg ce fxeaoycuaq Kara /xey ovce TrotfiriP, 'AXXa SapcJiwj/
ri]v 'Aicapvavlav ^pvai^aiovc dir &Kpag. — Strabo, p. 460.
528
/ETOLIA.
[chap.
tween the latter and Palea Mani, being impass- able, except to the shepherds and peasants of the neighbourhood. The woods around the ruin con- sist of oak, ilex, maple, and various kinds of un- derwood, festooned with wild grapes.
On the opposite side of the river stands a small tjiftlik and pyrgo called St. Elias, around which the lower falls of Zygos reach to the river side, and are covered with the cultivated fields belong- ing to Stamna. This village, distant three or four miles to the south-eastward, is situated upon a ridge, sloping on one side into a narrow plain on the bank of the Aspro, and on the other to the lagoon of Anatoliko, on the border of which Stamna has a skala and some magazines. At Anghelokastro, which is two or three miles to the north-eastward of St. Elias, is a ruined castle of middle times, standing upon the lowest heights of Zygos, with a small village below it in the corner of the JEtolian plain. The mountain above An- ghelokastro and Stamna is separated from the highest woody summit of Zygos, upon which stands Khierasova, by the pass of Klisura, already described as leading directly through the lofty ridge of Aracy?ithus, by a narrow rocky cleft forming a natural gate of communication between maritime iEtolia and the great interior plain '.
Having returned from Palea Mani to Guria, we proceed in the afternoon to Anatoliko, over a plain of the same clayey white soil before remarked, and producing maize, wheat, barley, and flax. It
1 See Vol. I. pp. 119. 154.
XXXII. J
/UTOUA.
520
is marshy in some places, and near Anatoliko is artificially drained. In the parts most distant from the mountains dhiminio is not sown, as little rain falls in the spring, and they have not the means of irrigation. The distance from Guria to the ferry of Anatoliko is two hours menzil pace ; but in a direct line much less, because the road makes a great turn to avoid the ridge, which, sloping from Stamna, ends in a point at which stands a hamlet called Mastu, where we arrived in forty minutes from Guria. In approaching Ana- toliko we pass through some of its gardens and olive plantations, at the foot of a hill which is quite unconnected with the heights of Stamna, and borders the lagoon on the west almost as far as the outer sea. Having crossed the lagoon in a monoxylo, we proceed to the house of an iatros, who is brother-in-law of my travelling companion
K . The island of Anatoliko is about three
miles distant from the northern extremity of the lagoon at the foot of the ridge of Stamna, and a mile distant from the bank on either side to the east and west. The island is so small as to be entirely covered with the town, which contains about 400 houses. Though some of these are large, the place is not at present in a flourishing state. Being, like Mesolonghi, supported chiefly by the profits of its ships and maritime commerce, it has suffered by the war, and many of the lower orders are deprived of their employment as sailors. The territory extends three or four miles along either shore of the lagoon, and produces corn for about two months' consumption, wine rather more vol. in. m m
530
VETO LI A
[CHAP.
than sufficient for the place, with a quantity of oil which admits of an export to the value of 40,000 piastres in the alternate years, when the full olive crop occurs. The fresh and salted fish from the lake furnish a traffic with Zakytho and other neighbouring places. The Vezir takes 46 purses a year for the fishery and other revenues of the crown from the proesti of Anatoliko, who share the farm with other principal persons of the place. These 23,000 piastres include 700 kharatjes, toge- ther with the imposts of the two villages of Magula and Neo-khorio, near the mouth of the Aspro.
My host the Iatros says, that during the six years he has lived here he has been five years ill ; while the natives have not such bad health — a melancholy state of affairs for the doctor, but which would be much more so were it not that according to the common custom in Greece he receives a fixed stipend. From the looks of the inhabitants I should not have supposed the place healthy : indeed, the narrowness of the lagoon in this part and the woody mountains which inclose it on three sides, seem far less favourable to health than the open and well- ventilated situation of Mesolonghi, where the people in every sense of the word are a well-looking race. The small quantity of salt held in solution by the water at Anatoliko, as I was surprised to find on tasting it, may also affect the quality of the air : the lagoon towards Mesolonghi, on the contrary, is as salt as the sea. This shows that all the northern part of the lake is chiefly formed by springs from the surrounding moun- tains, of which indeed there are several to be seen 12
XXXII.
iETOLIA.
531
on the neighbouring shore, particularly one near Klisura, and another near a fresh-water marsh opposite to the town to the eastward. Though the water of the former is considered much the better, the monoxyla are more frequently sent to the latter because it is nearer. In the town there are only cisterns for rain water.
March 22. — From Anatoliko the ruined mill above Makhala is visible to the N.N.W. ; and a little to the left of it is seen the hill of Lygovitzi, then Mount Bumisto in a line with Stamna, and a pointed height to the southward of that village on the same ridge, called St. Elias. In all other directions the view is much circumscribed by the neighbouring part of Mount Zygos and by the height on the western side of the lagoon.
The distance in a direct line from Anatoliko to Mesolonghi is about 6 g. m. With a monoxylo it is almost double the distance, on account of a long low cape which separates the lagoon of Anatoliko from that of Mesolonghi, leaving only a communi- cation between them half a mile broad, between the extremity of the cape and the ramma or thread of land which separates all the lagoons from the open sea. Having landed on the eastern shore at 3 p.m. we proceed to Mesolonghi by land. Al- ready have the post-meridian thunder-showers, which characterize the Grecian spring, com- menced. Both yesterday and to-day the clouds collected on the mountains about noon, and fell afterwards in rain accompanied with lightning. After an hour's ride, we are obliged to take shelter from one of these storms in a tower at the Aliki,
m m 2
532
^TOLTA.
[CHAP. XXXII.
or salt-works, which are situated to the right of the road, on the narrow point of land. These salt-works belong to Mesolonghi, and produce 28000 piastres a year. Instead of repeated sup- plies of water being let into the salt-pans, as at Lefkadha, by which each pan produces a thick- ness of a foot or two of salt, and only the lower part of the salt is impure, it is here gathered as fast as each admission of water is evaporated ; the consequence of which is, that a great quantity of earth is mixed with the salt, and only small por- tions of it are white and pure. There is another salt-work in the lagoon of Bokhori. As soon as the weather clears we proceed, and soon enter the olive-grounds, gardens, and marshy ditches of Mesolonghi. In the town I find the Vezir Aly and all his court.
CHAPTER XXXIIJ.
.ETOLIA, ACARNANIA.
Kurt-aga, Calydon — Temple of Diana Laphria — River Evenus — Mount Chalcis — To Aia Triadha — Neokhori — Stamna — (Etolo-Acarnanian agriculture — Return to Neokhori — Ma- giila — Kurtzolari — Katokhi — Trikardho-kastro, (Eniadce — March of Philip from Limncea to (Eniadce — Phceteice — Medeon — Metropolis — Conope, Ithoria, Pceanium — Elceus — Artemita — Oxeice — Lakes Melite, Cynia, Uria — Lake of Calydon — Course of the Achelous below (Eniadce.
March 25. — Kurt-aga, the site of Calydon, is a ride of 1 hour and 35 minutes from Mesolonghi. Midway, opposite to the eastern termination of the lagoon of Mesolonghi, at a fcuyaAan, or farm be- longing to Stathaki, one of the proesti of Meso- longhi, are some remains of ancient buildings, resembling Roman baths. Two chambers subsist which have curved and arched niches in the walls, and on the outside several holes, one of which is partly filled with indurated sediment formed by a long; continued course of water. These remains mark, perhaps, the position of Halicyrna, which Pliny states to have been near Pleuron, and
534
JETOLIA.
[chap.
Strabo describes as a kwjutj situated 30 stades below Calydon towards the sea1.
The first object which arrests the attention on approaching the remains of Calydon, is a wall of regular masonry formed of quadrangular blocks about three feet in their longest dimension, and standing on the side of a projecting hill, from which many of the stones have rolled down into the bed of a small torrent. This wall formed part of an oblong quadrangular building, inclosing all the summit of the height, which being much steeper towards the torrent than on the other sides, required in that part the support of a strong but- tress, or projection from the quadrangle ; this is the portion of the building which is now so con- spicuous ; its height is about 18 feet. As this ruin is entirely separate from the enclosure of the city, it is probably the remains of the peri- bolus of a temple, such edifices having often been placed on the outside of Greek cities, where, protected by their sanctity, they were left open to the use of the surrounding country. Al- though not a vestige of the temple itself re- mains aboveground, the magnitude of the peri- bolus, with the beauty and grandeur of the posi- tion, give the greatest reason to believe that here stood the temple of Apollo Laphraeus, which, ac- cording to the words of Strabo, would seem to have been not within but near the town of Caly-
1 Strabo, p. 460. For AUvpva read 'AXlicvpva. — Plin. H. N. 1. 4,_c. 3. — Stephan. in 'AXtVupva.
XXXIII.]
iETOLlA.
535
don \ Diana Laphroea, or Laphria, was another of the protecting deities of the Calydonii, and was worshipped perhaps in the same temple, or in an adjoining sanctuary. When Augustus founded Pa- tree, and peopled it in part with the inhabitants of Calydon, he directed the statue of Diana Laphrsea to be given to the new colony, where it was placed in the acropolis, in a temple dedicated to the god- dess, who was honoured with an annual festival, a procession, and a very cruel sacrifice2. The re- mains of the walls of Calydon are traceable in their whole circuit of near two miles and a half; they subsist in most parts to the height of three or four feet, and are formed of the same kind of masonry as the peribolus of the temple. They included the last falls of Mount Zygos towards the river Fidhari or Evenus, with the exception of the ex- treme point, which was excluded. On the western side the wall descends along the left bank of the torrent before-mentioned, until, after receiving the waters from the slopes of the city itself, through an opening made in the wall to admit their pas- sage, the torrent changes its course from south to west, and flows parallel to the longer side of the peribolus into the plain. Between the peri- bolus and the part of the city wall opposite to it are several foundations. The breadth of the city was very much diminished at the southern ex- tremity, so as to present a small front towards the Evenus. On the east the walls ascended the crest
1 nepl £e ri]v KaXvEaiva ttrri to row Aa<f>paiov 'A7ro\\wroc iepov. — Strabo, p. 459.
2 Pausan. Achaic. c. 18. — See Travels in the Morea, vol. 11. p. 127.
536
iETOLIA.
[CHAP
of a narrow ridge to the acropolis, in a convex form, and were protected in the steepest part to- wards the citadel by some short flanks.
The northern front of the city crossed a ridge which connects the heights occupied by the city with the neighbouring part of Mount Zygos ; in the middle of this side, on the highest part of the ridge, was the acropolis, which was wrell protected with towers without, and within consisted of a rectangular inclosure unequally subdivided by a cross wall. Many parts of the inclosure of the lower town are flanked by towers, and foundations of terraces are observable on the slope of the hill within the inclosure. There was a large gate on the south-eastern side of the town, and small ones in other places. I searched in vain for any vestiges of a theatre, or for any remains of civil architec- ture. At the foot of the ridge, the crest of which is occupied by the eastern walls, flows a small branch of the Evenus, and another waters the similar parallel valley of Potamula, which village is only half an hour to the north-eastward, but not in sight.
I have taken it for granted that these are the ruins of Calydon, though it must be admitted that the writer wTho indicates their situation most pre- cisely is not among the best of geographical au- thorities. I allude to Pliny, who says that Calydon was near the Evenus, about 1\ miles from the sea ', which accords exactly with this position. But he is strongly supported by probability. It is
1 Plin. H.N. 1. I, c. 2.
xxxm.j
/ETOLIA.
537
evident that the fertile plain of Calydon, over- against the land of Pelops, in which fifty fields of vineyards and arable were offered to Meleager ', could have been no other than that which lies between Mount Varassova and the lagoon of Mesolonghi, nor is it easy to conceive that the extensive remains at Kurt-aga are those of any less important city, placed as they are so centrally with regard to that plain, and in so commanding a situation at the entrance of the vale of the Evenus, where that river issues from the interior valleys into the maritime plain. As to the epi- thets which Homer gives to Calydon, it must be confessed that tpawrj seems more suitable to this site than either Trsrpritcraa or a'nreivrj, both of which would be better applied to that immense mass of
1 KovprJTtg t t/ucf)(ovTO Kal AtrwXoi liiviylipfiai, 'AfMpi tcqXlv KaXutSwva Kal aXXyXovg lvdpi(ov' AlrwXol fitv, a/Jivvofxevoi KaXvduivoQ Epavvrjg' liovprjrig ce, Siairpadhty fiEfiawrec "Aprj'i.
II. I. v. 525.
'Oirirudt ttwtutov iriciov KaXvddivog epavvfjg "Eyda fxiv i'li'ojyov TC^iEvog 7reptKaXXeg kXiadai
HtVTT}Kovr6yvoV to [iev ij/xiav olroirihoio, "llfiiov $t 4'iX?/*' apoaiv tteSioio rafiiadat.
II. I. v. 577.
RaXi/c^wy fiev rjSe ya'ia JleXoiretaQ ^dovog 'Ev avrnropdfiolg 7riSi i^ovtr evEaifXoya.
Eurip. Meleag. ap. Lucian. Synip.
XaXk't^a r dyyjiaXov KaXvcuiya re iriTpiitaoav.
II. B. v. 640.
"Of Trdarr) HXsvpuivi Kal airreivji Kuhvdwvi AhioXo'itTiv avaooE ....
II. N. v. 217.
538
iETOLIA.
[chap.
rock anciently named Chalcis, and now Varas- sova, which rises directly in face of the ruins, on the opposite side of the river. In truth, the situa- tion is as low as it could have been, not to be in the plain ; Strabo, indeed, seems to have been sensible that the epithets ntTpwacrri and a'uruvr) were not very well adapted to Calydon, since he re- marks that they are to be applied to the district.
From the summit which rises above the ruins, the ridge of Zygos branches westward to the Aspro, and that of Apokuro northward to its union with Mount Viena, having the lake of Apokuro on its western side, and the valley of the Fidhari on its eastern. From Mount Varassova branch the great ridges of Kravari, which though like Apokuro, covered in the higher parts with forests, was well cultivated by the inhabitants of numerous Elef- therokhoria, until the country fell into the hands of Aly Pasha, since which event the population has greatly diminished, and some of the largest villages are now almost deserted. Not long ago some person informed the Pasha that the daughter of the Proestos of Megadhendhro, a village in the vale of the Evenus, 5 or 6 hours above Calydon, was a girl of extraordinary beauty ; he demanded her accordingly of the father, who thought it bet- ter to comply than to fly from the country, and abandon all his property : a few days before I arrived at Prevyza she was received into the Pasha's harem there, and was sent to Ioannina on the Vezir's departure.
In a valley at the back of Mount Varassova, where stood the village of Perthori, now deserted,
XXXIII.]
^ETOLIA.
539
and below it Mavromati, are said to be some well preserved remains of an ancient Greek for- tress. It was probably only a subordinate castle, as the towns of Chalets and Macyneia were very near the sea shore. Admitting the ruins at Kurt- aga. to be those of Calydon, there can be little hesitation in considering the Pleuronia, which as I have before shown was the territory next to the Calydonia in a westerly direction, to have been that which is now attached to Mesolonghi. Hav- ing again examined the remains at Ghyftokastro, behind Mesolonghi, I find that a low rocky height, separated by a branch of the plain of Mesolonghi from the foot of the mountain of Ky- ria Irini, was entirely surrounded by walls. Some parts of the masonry are constructed in the most regular Hellenic manner, and others are of narrow stones laid carelessly without cement, among which are seen some very large wrought blocks, the work apparently of a remote age. The walls seem not only to have surrounded the summit, but to have extended also over a lower height which is connected with the mountain of Kyria Irini, and which advances farther into the plain. I observe also the foundations of a tower or other quadrangular building at the foot of the height in the plain. I have before remarked that these are probably the ruins of the Pleuron of Homer !, and that Kyria Irini was the city which the Pleu- ronii built on Mount Aracynthus, after the de- struction of the former by Demetrius iEtolicus 2.
1 11. B. v. 639; N. v. 217; S. v. 116.
2 Strabo, p 451. See Vol. I. p. 118.
540
JETOLIA.
[chap.
It is remarkable, that among the numerous Meso- longhites, by whom I have been visited, one only has ever been at the Castle of Kyria Irini, and he probably would never have gone there, had he not accompanied an Englishman.
March 26. — The Greeks of Karlili, particularly of that part of it which constituted the ancient Acarnania, enjoyed, until the time of Aly Pasha, a considerable share of security and prosperity. They had a profitable traffic in cattle and provi- sions with the Islands ; and although the country was often infested by robbers and pirates who had a secure refuge in some of the smaller islands, the armatoli kept them in check : there was generally a good understanding between the chief Greeks of Acarnania and the Dervent-aga, and they received some advantage from Karlili having been an imperial appanage. They speak with great respect and regret of Kurt Pasha, the guardian of the Dervenia to whom Aly succeeded. In consequence of the easy circumstances of many of the Acarnanian families, education received a little encouragement, and some remains of its effects are still apparent in the manners and con- versation of the natives, even in the present deso- late state to which the northern part 01 tiie country is reduced. But conscious of this advantage, they affect, in the true spirit of Greek Xenelasia, to un- dervalue most of their neighbours. The Korfiates and Zakythini they qualify as ayjpuoi and illiterate, in which they are certainly right, considering the advantages which those people have had in a Christian government. The Kefalonites they ad- mire for irvtvfxu kcu (f)i\o'£tvia — for wit and hospi-
XXXIII. J
;etolia.
541
tality, but do not speak very favourably of their honesty or regard to truth. The people of Meso- longhi and Anatoliko are regarded as xpapopvaXol, or fish-brained, and Bia/coc, an Ithacan, seems to be a common term of contempt. The Leucadians, as a part of their own nation, are well spoken of, and I believe not undeservedly.
The Mesolonghites are agreed in commenda- tion of the conduct of Tahir Aga. of Konispoli, who for the last year has been their governor. Nobody understands better than an Albanian how to con- duct himself in office when there exists a control over the avaricious disposition which invariably obtains the ascendency when there is nothing to prevent it. The Vezir, wishing to act with mode- ration towards Mesolonghi at the beginning of his government of this place, sent purposely a person as his deputy who was suited to execute that in- tention, and he is now about to employ Tahir Aga, with the advantage of the reputation which he has gained at Mesolonghi in a similar mission in Kra- vari. Aly's authority over Mesolonghi and Anato- liko is derived solely from his office of Dervent Aga, and his farm of the miri, six-sevenths of which he underrents yearly from some Turks at Constanti- nople, and has purchased the other seventh from one Saly Aga of Mesolonghi, who possessed it for life.
The plain extending from Mesolonghi to Bok- hori and the sea, although clayey is fertile and tolerably cultivated. Near the shore is a chain of lagoons, of which the eastern, belonging to Bok- hori, is much the largest. It is valuable for its salt-work and fisheries. The greater part of the labour in the plain is performed by men of
542
jCTOLIA,
[chap.
Kefalonia and Zakytho. The Kefalonites, who work in the vineyards, earn from 40 to 45 paras a day, with wine. The Zakythini are reckoned the best reapers. The chief produce of the Islands being grapes and currants, the principal harvest occurs there later than on the continent ; while their small quantity of corn is reaped earlier, and thus their labourers obtain employment on the continent without losing any at home, and pay for a part of the provisions with which the conti- nent supplies the Islands. In the territory of Bok- hori the land belongs to Turks : the Greek farmers receive the seed from the landlord and pay him half the crop after the deduction of the dhekatia.
March 27. — After 36 hours of a southerly wind, with rain, the weather improving, I embark to-day in a monoxylo, accompanied by six others, to con- vey the servants, baggage, and Albanian escort, and in two hours cross the lagoon to Aia Triadha, a small monastery situated on the extreme point of the ridge which borders the western shore of the lagoon of Anatoliko. Our monoxyla move about three miles an hour : they have large square sails, but these add very little to the velocity unless the boat is lightly laden. That in which I am em- barked moves as quick with a single pole, as ano- ther full of Albanians with the sail set and two men punting : the pole, by which a man at the stern gives the motion, is about ten feet long, with three prongs at the end. The water varies in depth from one foot to four. Fish are taken, as in the livaria of Arta, by kalamotes *, or chambers
>«Xoi
XXXIII.]
-ETOLIA.
i43
made of reeds fixed at the passages by which the fish pass from the lake into the sea. The kala- motes are left open from January till May 15, old style, when the water of the lagoon becoming hot or the breeding being complete, the fish begin to return to the sea, and each sort of fish having its season for returning, they are caught in this man- ner all the summer and autumn. The weather still continues showery and disagreeable. At 2.50 we leave Aia Triadha, and proceed along the foot of the height, on the other side of which, to the right, is the lagoon of Anatoliko. The hill is covered with olives, and adorned with all the flowers and verdure of an advanced spring, al- though scarcely a leaf was to be seen in the inte- rior. To the left a watery bog extends for five or six miles in the direction of the sea and the mouth of the Aspro. Opposite to the opening which leads to Anatoliko, between Mastu and the northern ex- tremity of the ridge which we have been following, we leave the road to Mastu and Guria on the right, and cross the plain over swamps, ditches, and marshy grounds, among which are many vine- yards, to Neo Khori, on the left bank of the Aspro — a village containing 80 families, of which 30 are Turks. A portion of it is a tjiftlik of Mukhtar Pasha. Magula is a mile lower down the river, standing on a small eminence in the plain : op- posite to it, on the other side of the river, is Katokhi, on a similar height at the extremity of the hills which begin about Palea Katuna and end near Katokhi. These hills are entirely sepa- rated from those of Manina by a plain which begins from the bank of the Aspro opposite to
544
.'ETC LI A.
[CHAP.
Guria, and ends in a great marsh extending to the foot of a rocky height called Khalkitza, near Pe- tala. The complexion of the inhabitants of Neo- khori shows the badness of the air ; nor can it be otherwise, surrounded as the place is, in so many directions, by extensive marshes.
March 28. — The Vezir having carried away the two 7TEpaT£|piaic, or ferry-boats of Katokhi and Guria, to convey his Albanians across the river at some place in the plain of Vrakhori, because the late rains have rendered the fords there imprac- ticable, I proceed to Stamna, there to remain in a better lodging and pleasanter situation until we can devise some mode of crossing the river. Leaving Neokhori at 8.30, we follow the bank of the Aspro, and in a little more than an hour arrive at Guria, from whence, ascending the ridge of Stamna by a rugged path, we pass at 10.15 the hamlet of St. Elias, at the foot of a peaked height which is very remarkable in all directions around, and at 10.45 arrive at Stamna, where I occupy the house of the Hodja-bashi, Demetrius Tzimbu- raki, who is now at Vrakhori, with the other Proesli of Karlili assembled at that place to meet the Vezir, who left Stamna on the 25th and travelled to Vra- khori, ail the way in his kot£i, a clumsy German four wheeled carriage. Several of these primates are in great trepidation, fearful of the effects of the part which they necessarily took against the Vezir, when the deputy of Yusuf, the Valide Kiayassy, governed this province.
Stamna, once a considerable town, now contains only 80 families ; and not a fifth part of its lands, which belong entirely to Greeks, is cultivated,
XXX III.]
/ETOLIA.
545
although it has suffered less in proportion than many places in Acarnania, from not being in the line of the most frequented communications. Its decline dates from the first Russian war, when Orloff sent hither a Kefalonite to originate a re- bellion in aid of Catherine's war with Turkey. Flags were made, under which men, women, and children assembled, to establish their liberty and independence ; very soon, however, some Albanians marched against them from Vrakhori, slaughtered the men, made slaves of the women and children, and pillaged the houses ; and thus ended the epanastasis of Stamna.
The lands of the larger Greek proprietors in the surrounding parts of Acarnania andJEtolia are gene- rally worked in the same manner as the Turkish tjiftliks, by a metayer, the terms varying according to the nature of the produce and quality of the land. The land-owner makes a yearly commutation with the Turkish farmer of the miri, and on bad lands sometimes derives no advantage, but that of taking the dhekatia in kind, which is one eighth or two fifteenths of the crop. In this case the cultivator is at all the expences. Where the land is particularly good, it is common for the owner to furnish the seed, and for the cultivator, after bearing all the other expences, to account for half the crop, de- ducting the dhekatia. In ordinary kinds of arable a third is received by the proprietor upon the same conditions, or he supplies seed and stock and pays all the expences, the farmer contributing only his labour, and receiving a fifth of the crop after the dhekatia is deducted. In the culture of
VOL. III.
n n
546
.ETOLIA.
[CHAP.
maize this mode is general in Western Greece, except that the peasant receives a fourth instead of a fifth, because the labour and attention required is greater, and the expence of seed for maize is small compared to the produce, which is generally fifty to one in the gross. The seeds on an ear of maize are from three to five hundred, and there are often three heads on one stem. A measure of 15 okes is the common proportion of seed for a strema (a square of'l 12 feet) of wheat, or for five stremata of rokka, as maize is here called. The only expence imposed upon the Acarnanian metayer in ordinary cases, is half the expence of threshing, called alo- nistiko in wheat and barley, and stumbistiko in rokka ; the first being performed by horses on an aloni or threshing-floor, the latter by a stick.
When maize is irrigated, the crop is seldom so good as when it is watered only by the spring rains ; but it is in particular situations only on the mountains that these can be depended upon. The irrigated fields of rokka are chiefly near the river. The crop of this grain is usually followed by one of wheat, and the farmer takes the land for two years. For wheat and barley the land is ploughed twice ; for rokka three or four times. Guinea- corn, or small kalambokki, is almost out of use in Western Greece ; a little is sown in Lamari and Luro.
Around Stamna the wheat is all grinia, giving a return of about seven to one ; those who can, turn in sheep, and with that assistance, if the land is good, they have a second year of wheat, then barley, then oats, which last is considered
XXX1II.J
^ETOLIA.
547
nearly as good as fallow. It seems, however, that the two successive crops of wheat generally occur on land which has lain some time fallow ; an advan- tage which the cultivator in Greece can generally obtain, as land is more plentiful than labour. By the same means they often change the position of their plantations of rokka on the river side, and obtain crops of wheat and rokka alternately with- out any manure. It is even doubted whether the change of ground be necessary, as the torrents from the mountains, and the inundation of the river, deposit fresh soil every year. Dhiminio wheat is not sown in the plains, but higher up the river where it can be irrigated, and in some parts of the mountains, where they are sure of rain in the spring, it gives fifteen to one. This grain is not thought fit for use until the January after the crop, but will keep three years : the grinia is not good beyond the year.
There is a mode of preparing the land for wheat, barley, flax, and beans, with the hoe, as in Sicily, without ploughing. The hoers come from Kefa- lonia, provisions are furnished by the master, and are paid for by the labourer out of his share of the crop, which is half, after the dhekatia has been deducted. The produce with the hoe is more plentiful, the plough being too light for the soil, and often weighing not more than the yoke. The corn measures used here are the KaBog and KaSapa ; the former is a fifth greater than the koIXov of Constantinople, and is generally reckoned to contain 26 okes ; the kadhara 15 okes. The more opulent cultivators have four or five oxen to
n n 2
548
/ETOLIA.
[chap.
each zevgari or plough-yoke, and consider that they can plough 60 stremata with them. The subjoined figure will show the form and construc- tion of the plough (aporpov, aptrpt, or ciAtrpt).
The zygos, or yoke !, furnished at either end with zevles, or collars 2, is fastened in the middle by means of a lashing and a peg, called the klidhi3, or key to a piece named sivalma4, the other end of which embraces that of the stovari, or beam 5, and is tied to it by cords. The stovari at the other end enters the aletropodha, or plough- foot G, which at the upper end is embraced by and lashed to the khiroladhi, or handle 7. The stovari forms an angle in the middle, where it is pierced by the spathi, or sheath 8, which is steadied by a sfina, or peg9, and at the lower end enters the aletropodha through the middle of a trifurcated piece, one end of which is tenoned into the lower end of the aletropodha, and covered with the yni, or share 10 ; the two other branches, called the ftera, or wings u, serve to throw out the clods on
C,vy<)£.
4 OtfictXfia.
7 ^eipoXact. 10 bvi.
2 at £ifi\aig.
5 /I i
aropapi. 8 (nrddi. 11 (prepd.
3 icXeth'.
6 ciXtrpoiroda.
9 ff(j)ll'U.
XXXIII.]
vETOLIA.
549
either side as the plough advances. The zygos is 6 feet 8 inches long, and 11 inches in circum- ference ; the aletropodha 4 feet 1 inch following the bend, and I foot 4 inches in circumference at the head ; the stovari 7 feet 2 inches long, and 1 foot 2 inches in circumference at the sfina ; the sivalma 3 feet long; the khiroladhi 1 foot 10 inches; the ftera and spathi each 2 feet 1 inch ; the yni weighs 3 okes. This is the plough drawn by oxen, for buffalos the dimensions are larger, or at least the share is heavier, weighing 5 okes. The construction is the same in every part of Acarnania and JEtolia, or at least with little variation. At Makhala the wings are two separate pieces of iron inserted into the sides of the aletropodha. The vukendro l is a pointed stick, near seven feet in length, to goad the oxen.
My absent host, who has the reputation of being one of the few Proesti in Karlili that do not plunder their districts, has in consequence of his moderation no more than 500/. a year out of a considerable landed property, which income is farther diminished by the Vezir's demands upon him. He keeps only two men and two women servants, has no glass to his windows, and only one room tolerably furnished.
The mode in which the Vezir put to death the two brothers Katziko-Ianni, who lived at Plaghia, opposite to Lefkadha, furnishes a good example of Albanian policy. He had long been on ap- parent terms of friendly intercourse with them,
1 poVKtVTpOV.
550
^ETOLIA.
[chap.
but amidst which there was strong mistrust on their part. One brother at a time had often visited him when he came to Mytika ; he was con- vinced that little would be gained by destroying only one of them, and they were aware of the danger there would be in both placing themselves in his power. At length by bribery and promises he persuaded them to carry off from Lef kadha the family of a Greek captain of armatoli, who was a refugee with the Russians, and to deliver these cap- tives to him. By this action they lost their credit with the Russians. The Vezir then called Bekir Aga, the commander of my Albanian escort, who relates the story to me, and who is usually called from his love of gaming Bekir Giocator. Bekir is of Berat, and left the service of Ibrahim Pasha for that of Aljr, bringing with him 200 men, half from Berat and the rest from Kolonia and other places. The Vezir suddenly ordered Bekir to Karlili, tel- ling him, that if he did not succeed in destroying the Katziko-Iannis, he had better drown himself in one of the lakes. Upon receiving this com- mand, Bekir sent a messenger to Plaghia, inform- ing the Katziko-Iannis that he had a commission from the Vezir against one Captain Ghiorgaki, an enemy of theirs, and requesting them to meet him and concert measures accordingly. Kitzo (Khris- tos) the elder of the brothers, fell into the snare, but not without having taken the precaution to write to his brother, desiring him to remain at some distance, that they might not both meet Bekir Aga together. Bekir, who had foreseen this, laid his plan so well that he intercepted the
xxxnr.]
iETOLIA.
551
letter. Kitzo, as soon as he saw his brother, ex- claimed, "Why did you neglect what I said? we are both lost !" and so it turned out. The Vezir immediately wrote to the Russians, making a merit of his having chastised the men who had had the audacity to carry off the family of a person under their protection, and who had often committed depredations on travellers passing through the channel of Lef kadha ; which in fact they had done.
Two years ago the Vezir took a famous Vlak- hiote captain of robbers, Katz-Andonio, one of the greatest of the Kleftic heroes, and the subject of many a song. He ordered him to name the per- sons from whom he had received encouragement and presents. Andonio very coolly named all the Vezir's enemies, including the Russians, with whom the Turks were then at war. The Vezir knew that the robber was rich, and offered to spare his life for a share of his wealth, but without any effect upon him, as he knew Aly too well to trust to his promises. The Vezir then ordered his legs to be broken, which- was done in the most cruel manner, in the midst of a crowd of Turks, whom Andonio abused all the while, saying they would not dare stand so near him if his legs were still whole, and joking with a relative who was suffering the same torture close by.
Bekir lately accompanied a Frenchman, by order of the Vezir, to collect cattle from the vil- lages, in payment of a debt due by the Pasha for jewels, which having been assigned to the govern- ment, or commissary of provisions . at Corfu, the
552
iETOLIA.
[chap.
garrison was to be supplied in this manner with beef. The Vezir obliged the Proest'i to guarantee his payment of the cattle to the owners, allowing the former to deduct the amount from their ac- counts with him. Between the two, the poor owners of course are in a bad way.
St. Elias, two miles to the southward of Stamna, is distinguished from the tjiftlik of the same name on the left bank of the Aspro, opposite to Palea. Mani, by the name of St. Elias at the Almond- trees \ Here I find an ancient cistern, shaped as below in the vertical section, and covered within with a coat of stucco.
The pointed height which rises above St. Elias commands an extensive and interesting prospect. The mountain of Tragamesti, and Mount Bumisto terminate the view to the northward ; to the right of the latter appears Lygovitzi, the ruined mill above Makhala, and the whole course of the Aspro upwards to the site of Stratus. From Petala. to Mesolonghi are spread the maritime plains, marshes, and lagoons, beyond which appear Kefalonia, Zakytho, and Elis. To the eastward the mountains of Zygos impede the prospect, and particularly the height of the Panaghia, which rises from the plain at the head of the lagoon of Anatoliko, leaving nothing seen of the interior of lEtolia, except the summits of Mount Viena. All on this side of the height of Panaghia is named Kato-Zygos, on the other Apano-Zygos.
1 "Ayioc 'HXiiar orate, MvyhaXtaic.
XXXIII.]
iETOLIA.
553
On a projecting point of the Stamna ridge, half-way between Mastii and the Aspro, are the foundations of a fortified jcw^m, nearly of the same size as those at Skortus and Prodhromo.
April 1. — Return to Neokhori, and from thence visit Magula, a name often attached, as in the present instance, to a small height in a plain, and therefore wherever it occurs a likely place to find antiquities. But there are no such appearances at this Magula. It is a village of 30 houses, be- longing to Yakub Bey, of Vrakhori, who takes a third of the crop, and makes an allowance for the seed, all the other expences being borne by the cultivators. Wheat and rokka are the only pro- duce of the lands. The eminence upon which the village stands is half a mile distant from the left bank of the Aspro and commands a view of the plains and marshes towards the mouth of the river.
Kurtzolari and Oxia1 are conspicuous in that direction, the latter immediately to the left of the mouth of the Aspro, the former a little farther to the left ; Mesolonghi, the castle of Patra, and Mount Varassova, are also seen from Magula. Kurtzolari is a high peaked mountain falling into small hills which form a promontory opposite to Oxia, and which on the land side border the Acheloian plain. To the north-west, the heights reach nearly to the mouth of the river ; at the opposite end are some marshes and lagoons which extend with small intervals of plain to the western
1 Kovpr^oXdfH. — '0£c<a.
554
iETOLIA.
[chap.
extremity of the great lagoons of Anatoliko and Mesolonghi. Cattle feed upon the mountain, but with the exception of two or three kalyvia there are no habitations nearer to it than Magula. In the plain near its eastern extremity is a deserted convent of St. John. The Kaloghero who ma- nages its property resides at Magula. The Proto- ghero points out to me a place on the last slope of the nearest part of Mount Kurtzolari, where stands a quadrangular Hellenic ruin, about the size of one of the houses in his village : the wall remains in some parts to the height of six feet. He knows of no other Paleo-kastro in that direction.
The plain around Kurtzolari and Magula, as well as that of Katokhi, on the opposite bank of the river, furnishes pasture to a great number of cattle ; 5000 might easily be purchased here at a short notice : they fatten especially on the young- shoots of the reeds in the marshes of Katokhi and Trikardho. It is the custom to set fire to these reeds in the summer, which causes a plentiful supply of young shoots soon afterwards. Young- oxen are broken in for the plough by tying them by the horn to the old oxen when two years old, and thus allowing them to range about : whenever the young one is inclined to be frisky the old one corrects him with his horn. When fit for labour he is worth a hundred piastres ; the expence of his board and education is about 20 piastres. A cow or ox for slaughter is sold from the pasture to the Islanders for 35 piastres. The cow yields six or seven okes of butter a year, only producing it for about three months : a buffalo cow yields 30 okes
12
XXXIII.]
ACARNANIA.
555
of butter, and sells for 80 piastres ; a buffalo for labour 150 piastres ; a buffalo skin for 40 or 50 piastres ; the skin of a large full-grown ox 15 piastres. Butter 100 paras the oke. The people of Magula have the care of the greater part of the cattle to the left of the river, those of Katokhi to the right : the monastery of Ai Ianni possesses 70 oxen.
A Maguliote, describing to me the bad air of the place in summer, said, "When you wake in the morning your head is so large l :" holding his hands at some distance from his ears, as a poetical mode of describing the waker's sensations. They believe that Katokhi and Neo-khori, especially when the wind is southerly, are less unhealthy, and that the excessive heat of Magula is caused by the hill being of gypsum, but of which I saw- no appearance.
April 2. — The Skaloma at the mouth of the Achelous is known by the name of Salitza, or Great Salitza2. A boat which I had sent for to Meso- longhi had advanced so far on its way to Katokhi, when a quarrel ensued among the boatmen, and they returned to Mesolonghi. I had just sent some persons to drag up to Neokhori another boat which had arrived at Salitza ; when the regular ferry- boat unexpectedly made its appearance, having been sent down by the Vezir, as soon as he had crossed the river yesterday at Lepenu. At length, therefore, we are enabled to pass over to Katokhi,
1 Sray S,r)fxepu)veiQ, to Ki(j)a\i uvai Tonov -^ovtoov.
Tpavi] 2a'Atr£a.
556
ACARNANIA.
[CHAP.
where we lodge in the house of the Proestos, which commands a view down a long reach of the Achelous. The bed of the river is here 400 yards in breadth, and now quite full of water, though there has not been any rain even in the mountains since the 27th, and the sky has been without a cloud, with land and sea breezes in regular alternation, as usual near the coast in summer.
Katokhi ' contains 100 families, and was once undoubtedly a place of greater importance, having a large ancient church of St. Pandeleemon 2, which is said to have been built by Theodora, wife of Justinian. On a rock in the middle of the village stands a tower with very thick walls, apparently of the same age as the church. A sepulchral stone, forming part of the altar in the church, is inscribed with the name of Phormion, the son of Thuion, in characters of the best Hellenic times 3.
April 3. — Four miles to the westward of Ka- tokhi is Trikardho, or Trigardhokastro 4, the mo- dern name of the ruins of a large Hellenic city, which was undoubtedly (Enia, or the city of the (Eniadre, that place having been situated near the mouth of the Achelous, on the frontier of Acar- nania towards iEtolia, opposite to the promontory Araxus 5, and to that part of the Peloponnesus which was inhabited by the Dymaei, all which
1 Karwx*;. 5 Thucyd. ]. 1, c. 11 1 ; 1. 3,
2 "Aytoc UayreXeri/jKov. c. 7.
3 V. Inscription, No. 163. rove yap OlridEag Ktlcrdai
4 TpiKapSov, TpiKctpdo-Kciff- avfifiaivei irnpa OdXarrav iirl Tpov,1piyapcu-Kaorpov. rqi irtpan TtJQ 'Axapyavlag, rw
IbI
^H
>$.r.
XXXIII.]
ACARNANIA,
557
data will agree with Trikardho. The city occu- pied an extensive insulated hill, in no part very high, now covered with a forest of velani oaks, and which is half surrounded on the northern and eastern, which are the highest sides, by a great marshy lake, called the lake of Lesini, or Katokhi. In the opposite direction the height throws out a low projection towards the Achelous, which, mak- ing a long semi-circular sweep round it, approaches nearest to the height on the western side. As at Cali/don the lowest point of the hill was excluded from the walls, which formed a narrow inclosure at that extremity, and presented a very short front towards the river. The entire circuit of the forti- fication still exists, following the crest of the height on the eastern and northern side, where it falls abruptly to the marsh, but to the westward leaving a considerable slope on the outside. At the highest or north-eastern point of the inclosure, a piece of wall with an adjoining tower subsist to the height of 20 feet. The former has not a single rectangular stone in it ; most of the polygons are equal to cubes of 2\ and 3 feet, and the beauty
TrpoQ AlrwXovg (rvvdirrovTi irepl r>)i> up-^riv rov KoptvdiaKOv koX- ttov' Trjg Be neXoTrovviiarov ri- TaKTai fiey y 7r6Xig KarapriKpv Ttjg trapuXiag rfjg tuv AvfiaitoV iyyterra & avrfjg birdp\Ei toIq Kara tov" Apa£,ov tuttoiq' diri-^ei yap ov ttXeTov iKarbv ora&'wv. — Polyb. 1. 4, c. 65.
The distance is greater than
100 stades, even in a right line. Strabo is still wider of the truth, as he measures 100 stades from Araxus to the island Doliche, probably the modern Makri.
■>l fiiv A.oXt%a Ktlrai Kara OlvidSag kcl\ rrjv ek(3oXi)v tov 'A^eX^'ou hii-^ovaa 'Apdfyv ri/C
TWV 'HXeIUJV UKpClQ OToZlOVQ
ekutov. — Strabo. p. 458.
558
ACARNANIA.
[CHAP.
and accuracy of the workmanship are admirable. Westward of this point, the inclosure falls towards the marsh, which extends from hence 5 or 6 miles north-westward to Mount Khalkitza, a rocky, steep, and woody mountain, which separates these plains from the valley of Tragamesti. Next occurs, pro- ceeding in the same direction, a small gate in a retired angle of the walls, leading to a large cavern in the rocks at the foot of the walls full of water, very clear and deep, but which, the sides of the cavern being perpendicular, is inaccessible. My guide from Katokhi shows it to me as one of the cisterns of the ancient city, and adds that there is another on the opposite side of the hill. An in- exhaustible cistern it certainly is, but entirely the work of nature. From hence the great marsh is seen extending for ten miles in the direction of Khrysovitzi, where it reaches the hills, which are a continuation of the mountain of Lygovitzi, and which unite westward with Khalkhitza, the moun- tain already mentioned. About two thirds of the distance from Trikardho to the eastern end of Khalkitza rises a rocky island resembling the hill of Trikardho, and equally covered with trees and bushes. On another insulated hill near the north- eastern extremity of the marsh, two or three miles from Palea Katuna, stands the monastery Lesini, which gives name to the lake. This island con- tains vineyards, and the monastery has monoxyla for communicating with the shore, where are its herds, flocks, and cornfields.
The marsh is so full of reeds that the water is scarcely anywhere apparent from Trikardho, ex-
XXXIII.]
ACARNANIA.
559
cept at the foot of the hill itself, where from some large deep pools issue several streams, which, joined by others from the northern part of the marsh, form a large river flowing into the sea at Petala, and which thus supplied a most convenient water com- munication from the excellent port of Petala up to the very walls of the city. Beyond the cistern the walls are extant only a few feet above the ground, and the heights are not much above the level of the marsh. Having followed them for a short dis- tance, we arrive at what is called, and I believe justly, to \ipavi, or the port, the deep water reach- ing from hence to the sea at Petala. The annexed delineation represents the form of the walls in this
part. Those marked a a a are of polygonal masonry ; but the towers b b are more regular, particularly the larger, of which the outer face is 26 feet long, and still subsists at one angle to the height of 35 feet. It consists of nine regular and equal courses of masonry of two feet and a half each, between the ground, and a narrow projecting
560
ACARNANIA.
[chap
course, which was perhaps -at half the height of the tower when it was complete. In the middle of the face of the tower all above the projection has fallen, but towards the angle the courses which completed the tower above the projection remain. These courses are not so regular or equal, as those below the projection. But the most remarkable part of these works is the gate at c, which led from the port to the city, and terminated an oblique pas- sage through the wall eight feet long, at the end of which there was a further length of one foot ten inches, where a projection on one side of the passage corresponded to a retiring on the other. Though the passage is ruined, and the gate half buried, the elevation of the upper part of the latter is perfectly preserved, and is one of the most curious ruins in Greece, as it shows that the Greeks com- bined the use of the arch with that of polygonal masonry. The opening is ten feet six inches in width ; the arch semicircular, or nearly so, and coin- posed of nine stones one foot ten inches in thick- ness, of unequal breadth, but having concentric junctions. There is not the least reason for sup- posing this arch a posterior addition or repair to the surrounding walls. The upper and under sides of the stones on either side of the opening below the arch are indeed horizontal, which gives the gate a less ancient appearance than the rest of the work ; but in polygonal masonry, the angles of the towers, when they occur, which is not fre- quently, as well as the passages, are generally so constructed : with this exception, all the stones in the gate or near it are either trapezoidal, or have
XXXIII.]
ACAHNANIA.
56
five or a greater number of unequal sides. About five feet above the top of the arch a quadrangular window, formed by three stones, crowns the ruin, the wall on either side of it having fallen. As this window seems to have been made to give light to the passage, there was probably another similar gate and window at the other end, and the passage perhaps was arched throughout, the soffit of the existing arch being oblique conformably to the direction of the passage. At d the rock is cut perpendicularly. In one place above this natural substruction, which is ten feet high, a part of the constructed wall remains, formed of five or six- sided stones mixed with irregular quadrangles, fitted to the rock and to one another, with so uniform a surface, and a junction so perfect, that at a little distance it is difficult to perceive where the wall ends and the rock begins. In another place where the excavated rock is higher, several parallel constructed masses of masonry project from the rock, having the appearance of buttresses ; but as no support could have been wanted to such a substruction, the intervening spaces were perhaps receptacles for boats. One of these masses has detached itself bodily from the rock, against which it was built, and lies upon the ground below.
Having quitted the port, my guide conducts me through the woods of velani to the remains of a theatre which stood near the middle of the ancient city, and commanded a view towards Kurtzolari and the mouth of the Achdous. It is difficult to determine its exact dimensions or the
VOL. III.
o o
562
ACARNANIA.
[chap.
original number of seats, but the diameter at the orchestra appears to have been about eighty feet ; there are some foundations of a proscenium pro- jecting forty-five feet, and twenty -five rows of seats still exist cut out of the rock. The ruins and woods of Trikardho are singularly picturesque, and the fine figures and dresses of the Albanians, as they scramble over the ruins or wind through the woods, furnish most appropriate accompani- ments to the scenery. The subjoined sketch will give some idea of the situation if not of the exact form of the city, of which it is impossible to obtain a general view in consequence of the continual obstruction of the trees and broken ground.
At a there is a small door crowned with a semi- circular arch formed of five stones, and still lower
fv'H.v>^3
XXXIII. J
ACARNANIA.
563
towards the plain I remarked another door, which, although formed equally on the principle of the arch, has the curve on one side flatter than on the other. Near it is another door, the top of which is formed in the common Hellenic manner, witli straight converging sides crowned with a single stone.
The walls in general are from eight to ten or eleven feet thick, filled up in the middle with rough materials and an abundance of mortar. In many parts they form curved instead of right lines, having few towers, but many short flanks ; peculiarities which prove the great antiquity of those parts of the work, and lead to the belief that the towers where they exist have been a subsequent addition to the original fortification : an opinion which is also supported by the regu- lar masonry of the towers, and in some places by the mode in which they are connected with the walls. The general use of towers would naturally be accompanied with straight and with longer lines of wall, and evidently belonged to a more advanced stage of the art of defence than that in which curves, or broken lines, or short flanks were used. All the towers which I observed are closed at the back, and project a little from the line of wall within. The lower part of the inclosure towards the Achelous seems in general of a later date than the walls on the upper parts of the hill. The circuit appears to me about equal to that of Calydon, and not quite so great as that of Stratus.
CEneia is one of those cities the name of which o o 2
564
ACARNANIA.
[chap.
always occurs in history under that of the people, or (Eniadae. Their coins of copper, which bear the head of the tauriform Achelous, and the le- gend OINIAAAN, in the Doric dialect, are found in great numbers in the surrounding parts of Greece. The position of (Eniadae comprehended the chief requisites of a Greek city : a plain and lake abounding in the necessaries and lux- uries of life ; with a height strengthened by that lake, by marshes, and by two rivers, whicii afforded an easy communication with two points of the coast, at a distance sufficient to leave no fears of surprise from the sea. Compared with such advantages, insalubrity was a consideration of little weight with the Greeks, as many of their ancient sites attest in Asia, Greece, and Italy. In some instances, undoubtedly, the abandonment of the soil has caused the malaria, to which drainage and cultivation were anciently a remedy. But it seems impossible that the marshes of (Eniadae could have been drained to any great extent, such is their depth and magnitude. Placed on the right flank of the great line of defence which the Achelous afforded to the Acarnanes against their formidable neighbours of iEtolia, and of which Stratus protected in like manner the left, (Eniadae was of immense importance to the Acar- nanian koivov, though its situation at the extremity of that province, in an angle of the maritime plain the greater part of which belonged to iEtolia, and possibly the influence of some possessions on the iEtolian side of the river caused it sometimes to
xxxiri.]
ACARNANTA.
565
be politically dissevered from Acarnania or even in alliance with the iEtolians.
Twenty-three years prior to the Peloponnesian war, (Eniadae resisted Pericles, who attempted to reduce it with a small Athenian squadron from Pagse in the Megaris, and who appears to have been induced to attack it as being the only city in Acarnania which was adverse to the alliance formed soon afterwards between Athens and Acarnania !. Its policy was the same in the third year of the Peloponnesian war, when Phormion with the Athe- nian fleet from Naupactus, made an incursion into Acarnania for the purpose of ejecting the adverse party from Astacus, Stratus, and some other towns, but was deterred by the season from making any attempt upon (Eniadse, which in winter was too well protected by its marshes and inundations. In the following year, his son Asopius, having summoned all the Acarnanes to his assistance, sailed up the Achelous towards (Eniadse with twelve ships from Naupactus ; but his expedition had no other result than that of laying waste the territory. It was not until the eighth year of the war that the city was compelled by the other Acarnanes, assisted by the strong fleet which Demosthenes then commanded at Naupactus, to join the Athenian alliance 2.
When the /Etolians had increased their power by the addition of the country afterwards called iEtolia Epictetus, they became too powerful for the
1 Thucyd.l. 1, c. Ill; 1.2,
c. 08. Diodor. 1. 11, c. 85; I. 12, c. 47.
2 Thucyd. I. 2, c. 102
1. 3, c. 7 ; 1. 4, c. 77.
r>66
ACARNANIA.
[chap,
Acarnanes, and having taken (Eniadae they ex- pelled the inhabitants, and treated them with such cruelty that they were threatened with the ven- geance of Alexander the Great, who was diverted however by more important affairs from ever exe- cuting his menace \ Under his successors (Eniadae continued to be weak ; for Diodorus informs us that in the year b.c. 314, when Cassander marched into iEtolia to the assistance of the Acarnanes, and held a council with them on the river Campylus, in which he recommended them to abandon their minor fortresses and retire into Agrinium, Stratus, and Ithoria, the (Eniadae took refuge in the last of these places2.
In process of time the iEtolians obtained posses- sion of all the frontier towns of Acarnania, and re- tained them until they were liberated by Philip son of Demetrius, in the first year of the Social War3 b. c. 219. At that time Stratus, Phceteiae, Metropolis, and (Eniadae, were all in the hands of the iEtolians. Philip, after having taken Ambra- cus in the marshes of Ambracia, marched by Cha- radra to the Strait of Actium, which he crossed at Prevyza. Continuing his march through Acarna- nia. during- which he was joined by 2000 Acarna- nian infantry and 200 cavalry, he took the city of Phceteiae by capitulation after a siege of two days. On the following night he captured or slew 500 TEtolians, who were marching to the relief of the place in ignorance of its having fallen, and then
1 Diodor. 1. 18, c. 8.— Plu- tarch, in Alexancl.
2 Diodor. 1. 19, c. 67. Vol. I. p. 156.
3 Polyb. 1. 4, c. 63.
-See
XXXIII. J
ACARNANIA.
567
moved into the Stratice, where, encamping upon the Achelous at a distance of ten stades from Stratus, he laid waste the country, without meet- ing with any resistance. From thence he marched to Metropolis, and having burnt that city, which the iEtolians abandoned on his approach, retiring into the citadel, he then crossed the Achelous, at a distance of twenty stades from Conope, in the face of a body of iEtolian cavalry, who retreated into that city as soon as his infantry had forded the river. The king next attacked Ithoria, a fortress strong both by art and nature, and which stood exactly in his road. The garrison deserted the place as he approached, upon which he levelled it with the ground, giving direction also for all the other castles ' in the neighbourhood to be de- stroyed.
Having passed the Straits2, he met with no further opposition, and could permit his army to supply itself at leisure with every thing which the country afforded. In approaching (Eniadae he took Pseanium which was well built, but only seven stades in circuit ; and having totally de- stroyed it, floated down the materials to CEniadae. On his approach the .ZEtolians retired into the citadel but soon deserted it, upon which Philip took possession of the place, and from thence marched into the Calydonia, where he reduced a certain fortress named Elgeus, which Attalus had
1 7rvpyovQ. — c. 64. Xonrbv i'lct] fiahjy Kid 7rprie7av
2 AttXQwv De tci Sr£>'a, to ettoifato tt)v nope'iav. — c. (if).
568
ACARNAN1A,
[chap.
recently strengthened and stored for the use of the iEtolians. After having ravaged the Calydonia, Philip returned to (Eniadse, where he made use of the materials which he had brought from Pseanium to fortify the citadel and arsenal, and to unite the whole in one inclosure. But before he had completed this work, intelligence of a threatened irruption of the Dardani into Macedonia induced him to return home.
In the year b.c. 211, (EniadaB was taken by the Romans, under M. Valerius Laevinus !, and given up, together with JVasas (perhaps Petala), to the iEtolians, who were then their allies, but it was taken from them and restored to the Acarnanians 22 years afterwards, by the conditions of peace, which were dictated by the senate of Rome at the close of the iEtolian war 2.
From the slight resistance made by the yEtolians to Philip, and his subsequent fortifying of the city, it would seem either that the old Acarnanian for- tress had not been very strong, or that the iEtolians had very much neglected its repairs. The harbour which Philip undertook to join to the city when he was interrupted by the news from Macedonia, was probably on the Achclous, near the metokhi of Panaghula, for the narrow inclosure of this part of the town advancing towards the river, seems to indicate that the CEniadae had a navale in that situation. It is scarcely possible to con-
1 Liv. 1. 26, c. 24. Polyb. 2 Liv. 1. 38, c. 11. Polyb.
1. 9, c. P9, 1. 22, c. 1').
XXXIII.]
ACARNANIA.
>69
ceive that that which is now called the limani, although it had a water communication with the harbour of Petala, could have been the place intended by the historian, as it is immediately under one of the strongest parts of the height, which could not have been excluded from the original fortress, and where the work bears evidence of a remote antiquity.
Thucydides in asserting that (Eniadae could not be besieged in winter on account of the marshes, caused by the inundation of the Achelous, seems to afford support to his own opinion as to the rapid accumulation of soil at the mouth of this river1, since although the present season is nearly that in which the waters are at the highest, there is nothing to prevent an army from marching from Katokhi, and investing the walls in more than half the circumference, whence it would appear that the surrounding plain is more elevated now than it was in ancient times. The increase of
1 'O ydp 'A^tXwoc 7rorojuoc piwv tc Hivdov opovq did AoXo- ■jviaQ cat 'Aypawv cat 'A/xftXo- \(t)y cat did tov 'AKapvaviKov irtdiov, dvwQtv ftev napd Srpd- tuv irvXiv, ££ QdXaaaav dit^ttiq irap" Qlviadoq cat Tt)v iroXiv avroiQ 7repiXifji}'d£ii)v, dizopov iroul vttv tov vcarog ev yti\iQvi (TTpareveiy. Ketj/rat di cat ruiy j'»'/(rwi' rijjv 'E^ii'a'^wj/ at 7roXXat
KClTUiTlKpV OtJ'taOWV, TOV
'A^eXw'ou TiHv tc/3oXwr ovdev diriypvffcii' wtrre /Jtyae wr a
irorcifxoQ, irpoffxpi aei, cat euri rdii' v'k\amv at yneipwyrai' iXirig de cat Trdaag ovK iy.noXXo) tivi ay yjpuvio tovto Tvudtiv' to re ydp ptv/xd EffTi fiiya cat ttoXv cat doXepoy, at re yrjtroi irvKval cat aXXjjXatf ttjc irpocr^ojaewg, rw fit) aKiddvvvadat, avydeafiot yiyvovrai, 7rapaXXa£ cat ov Kara oTo~tyov cetuemt obd' i-^ovaat evdelag diodovg tov vijqtoc; ec ro TrlXayog' 'ipr/fioi o' elai cat ov fxeydXat. — Thucyd. 1. 2, c. 102.
570
ACARNANIA.
[chap.
soil, however, cannot be so rapid as the ancients imagined ; indeed, it is obviously slower than at the mouths of many other rivers of Greece. Strabo describes GEniadse as 70 stades above the mouth of the river1, which is more than the distance of Trikardho from thence in a direct line ; and Pau- sanias, who wrote six centuries after the Athenian historian, shows the failure of the earlier predictions as to the Echinades, by his remark that they were not yet joined to the continent, which he absurdly endeavours to account for by the desolation of iEtolia2. But it is evident that Thucydides was not very well acquainted with the locality. He supposed the marshes around the city to have been caused by the Achelous alone, and takes no other notice of the great expanse of lake or marsh on the northern side of CEniada, which is per- manent, which afforded a much greater protection to the city than the Achelous, and which has no connection with that river, being formed entirely by subterraneous springs, and by superficial tor- rents from the hills, and having an outlet to the sea by a river totally separate from the Achelous.
Herodotus goes so far as to state, that half the Echinades had been united to the mainland by the Achelous 3. The only heights however near the coast, which have any strong appearance of having undergone this change are, one which is
1 Strabo, p. 459, v. sup. iiitiQ eg QdXaaanv t&v 'E%ivd- p. 526. (iwv vi)<T())v rag iffiioeag i)Br)
2 Pausan. Arcad. c. 24. yTrupov ttettoiiikc. — Herodot.
3 teat ovk iJKHrra 'A^eXw'ou' 1. 2, c. 10. 0£ petoiv (V 'AKapvaviag, kciI
XXXIII.]
ACARNANIA.
571
separated by a narrow harbour from the island of Petala, and that of Kurtzolari, similarly situated with respect to Oxia, between which and the southern foot of Kurtzolari is the port of Skrofes, so named from three rocks near the shore, and which is well sheltered from the west by Oxia. There cannot be much doubt that Kurtzolari is the ancient Artemita, which the poet Rhianus couples with the islands Oxeise, and which Artemidorus, Demetrius of Scepsis, and Pliny, attest to have been a peninsula in their time \ During two thousand years, therefore, the coast has undergone little change, for Artemita is a peninsula as it was then, and Oxeia, though separated only from the shore by a strait of half a mile, is still an island. The plural form of Those in Homer, and that of Oxeia?, which
1 o <)£ 'AprefxiSwpoc, (prjfTiv OTi ion koX irXrjoiov TUJV 'O^eitiiv
\Epp6vi]aoq 7Tfpi ti)i> E^fioXrjv vr](TU)p vijaoq 'Aprifiira. 'Pia-
tov 'A^eXw'ou Trorafxov, \tyo- voq ?/ QEaaaXuaZv,
\iivr\ 'Aprifiira'
N/y«rotc 'Ofc/jjo-t kui 'Aprefjlrr] EirEj3aXXoy.
Stephan. in Apre'/ztra.
But notwithstanding the dis- tinction of Stcphanus, the poet prohahly alludes to the penin- sula Artemita, which tradition recorded to have been once an island.
Kut j/ Trporepov e)e 'Aprifiira XsyofiEvr], fita rwv 'E^ird^wr viiauv, ijwEipog yiyovE. Kcti uXXag Ee tuv TTEpi rby'AyEX^ov vrjoi^wv to avrb irddoc; <pr)<rl
(Demetrius Scepsius, sc.) ira-
Qe~IV, EK Tfjg VTTO TOV TTOTUflOV
7rf)0<7X(*"T£we T°v TTEXdyove. — Strabo, p. 59.
Amnis Achelous e Pindo fluens, atque Acarnaniam ab iEtolia dirimcns, et Artemitam insulam assiduo terrae invectu continenti annectens. — Plin. II. N. 1, 4, c. 2.
572
ACARNAN1A.
[chap.
continued to the latest period of antiquity, and is even now employed to comprehend Vromona and Makri as well as Oxia, may possibly have had its origin in the fact of Kurtzolari having once been an island, though it so much resembles an island from the offing, and is so exactly of the same form and nature as the neighbouring Oxia, that they were naturally coupled together in the nomen- clature of mariners, and the expression vijaot '0£aat may easily have obtained, although one of them was a peninsula.
Strabo in stating, without any accompanying remark, the conflicting opinions of Artemidorus and Apollodorus, who wrote about a century be- fore him, as to some of the places on the iEtolian coast, leaves great reason for supposing that he had not himself seen this part of the country. It is not surprising, therefore, that although he may have been generally well informed as to the names and order of the places on or near the shores of Acarnania and iEtolia, he has failed in a more precise description of them. This in particular is observable with regard to the lakes which form so remarkable a feature of the coast near the mouths of the Achelous and JSvenus1. Of these
1 dr' OivtdSiu
Kal 6 ,A^e\u>0£. Etra Xtf-nrj tQv Olvtactov MeXtr?? KaXov- fj.Evrj, jxrJKOQ ^.iv e^ovcra rptd- kovtci (Tradicov, ttXcltoq £e e'ikooi' kcu dXXq Kui'i'a ^nrXaaia rau- r»;G Kal jxiikoq kcu ttXcltov, rpirr) c Ovpla 7ro\Xw Tov-ior fiiKno-
ripa. 'H fxiv ovv Kvrta Kal tKdihwaiv tig n)v duXaTTav' at Xonral c virioKeivTat oaov ilfxtoTacioi'. — Strabo, p. 459.
'Eort o( Ttq Kal irpoc rfj Ku- XvCuiyt Xlfxj'ri /.uydXr) Kal evoifmg, fjv 'iyovoiv ot iv ndrpatr 'Pw- fxaiot. — Id. p. 4(J0.
XXXIII.]
ACARNANIA.
573
lakes he distinguishes four: — 1. Melite, or the lake of (Eniadae, which was 30 stades long and 20 broad. 2. Cynia, which was twice as much both in length and breadth. 3. Uria, which was considerably smaller than either. 4. A large lake near Calydon, belonging to the Romans of Patrse. He adds, that Cynia communicated with the sea, but that Melite and Uria were separated from it by land half a stadium in breadth. There are many difficulties in applying this description. In the first place, Melite, or the lake of (Eniadce, which we cannot suppose to be any other than that of Trikardho, or Katokhi, is much larger than Strabo asserts, and in his order of places from west to east, it ought to have occurred before instead of after the Achelous. Again, if we suppose " the large lake near Calydon " to have been that of Bokhori, and consequently the lagoon of Anatoli ko to have been Cynia, and that of Mesolonghi Uria, the dimensions which Strabo assigns to Cynia will indeed be tolerably correct, but Uria ought to have been described as much larger instead of smaller than Cynia. Or if we suppose the lagoons of Anatoliko and Mesolonghi, which in fact are but one lake, to have been the Cynia, and Uria to have been the lagoon of Bo- khori, Strabo's dimensions of Cynia will then be not half the reality ; and where in that case are we to look for the lake of Calydon ? Upon the whole, setting aside the numbers as being always the most questionable part of the ancient texts, and as relating in this instance to dimen- sions which may possibly have changed since the
574
ACARNANIA.
[chap.
time of Strabo, I am inclined to believe that the marsh of Trikardho was Melite, the lagoon of Anatoliko Cynia, that of Mesolonghi Uria, and that of Bokhori the lake of Calydon, which be- longed to the Romans of Patrae, and which is men- tioned by the gastronomic poet Archestratus as producing the labrax in great perfection !. It was the same perhaps as the Onthis which Nicander connects with Naupactus Rhypseum and a lofty mountain2. The island of Doliche, which Strabo supposed to be the Dulichium of Homer, appears to be the same which now bears the synonymous appellation of Makri, or Makry, derived from its long narrow form ; for it lies exactly as Strabo describes Dolicha, opposite to (Eniadce and the mouth of the Achelous, though its distance from the promontory Araxus is almost the double of that which he states.
The march of Philip to (Eniadae throws some light on the relative situation of several Acar- nanian towns. Phceteise, the first which he took, seems evidently to be the same place which in the text of Thucydides is written Phytia. When Eurylochus, the Spartan, whose movements from Delphi through Locris to Proschium in iEtolia I have before had occasion to refer to 3, moved from the latter place towards Amphilochia, he
1 Ap. Athen. 1. 7, c. 17.
AiwEivriv rt Ko\u>vr]r olwvoii re 'PvTraiov
'OvSt'cla t av \i/j.vr]v aTtiypv-EQ iaav Na.vTra.Krov.
Nicand. ap. Schol Nicand. Theriac. v. 214.
3 See vol. II. p. 61.';.
XXXIII.]
ACARNANIA.
575
crossed the Achelous to the left of Stratus, pas- sed from the territory of Stratus into that of Phytia, then by the frontier of Medeonia into the district of Limnaea, from whence he entered the Agrais '. As Stratus was the only city which the Acarnanes had not abandoned, it is highly probable that Eurylochus left it as far on his right as he conveniently could ; in this case his route would exactly lie through the valley in which the ruins at Porta are situated. Suppos- ing, therefore, Limncea to have been at Kerva- sara, we may infer from this passage of Thu- cydides, that the city which stood at Porta was Phytia (Phceteice), and the ruins near Katuna those of Medeon.
And this situation of Medeon accords with the occurrence of its name in history on two other occasions. In the year b. c. 231, the /Etolians
3 kv hE^icJ pep £\ovTeg Ti]V Srpartwi' ttoXlv kcu rt)v <f>pov- pdv avruiv, kv dpioTEpa hk rfjv uXXtjv 'Aicapvaviav' kcu hu\- Bovtec ri)v Srpar/wv yijy, kyw- povv hid Ttjg <f>vria£ KCU aiidig MEheaJvoc 7rap' toward* EirEira hid AijxvaiaQ kcu £TT£fir)oav rtjg 'Aypat'wJ', ovketi 'Atcapvavlae, (piXiaQ hi cr(j>i(Ti. — Thucyd. 1. 3, c. 106.
Stephanus (in $>oi-ici) shows that the name is correct in the text of Polybius, for he adds, that it was derived from Phce- tius, son of Alcmaeon. It is
12
further confirmed by an inscrip- tion which I copied at Punta, but from which we learn also that the gentile was not $>oi- tievq, as Stephanus and Poly- bius make it, but <boiridv, like Acarnan. Phcetiae is not to be confounded with Phytaeum, which, as I have already re- marked (Vol. I. p. 155.) was an iEtolian city, not far from Thermus, lying on the right of the road which led to that city from the ford of the Achelous, near Stratus.
576
ACARNANIA.
[chap.
having subdued several towns in Acarnania, but having failed in persuading the Medeonii to join them, laid siege to Medeon, and had reduced it to great distress, when they were suddenly at- tacked by 5000 Illyrians, sent in ships to the coast near Medeon by Agron, king of lllyria, from whom they had been hired by Demetrius II. king of Macedonia, for this purpose. Landing at break of day, either at Lutraki or at Kervasara, they attacked the iEtoIians, and assisted by the Me- deonii, defeated them with great slaughter, taking their camp, arms, and baggage \ The other oc- currence which illustrates the position of Medeon has been already referred to 2. It happened in the year b. c. 191, when Antiochus marching from Naupactus by Calydon and Lysimachia to Stratus, there met the iEtolians as well as his own army, which had crossed iEtolia from the Maliac gulf. He then proceeded to bring over the Acarnanes, and to attack those who refused to join him. He surprised Medeon, and from thence moved forward to Thyrium, but retired upon hearing of the ar- rival of the Roman fleet at Leucas 3.
It is probable that Metropolis occupied the hill of Lygovitzi, for the march of Philip seems clearly to show that Metropolis was to the right of the Achelous, nearly opposite to Conope. This situ- ation of Metropolis, therefore, accords with those of Phosteiri' at Porta, of Stratus at Surovigli, and of Conope at Anghelokastro. The steepness and
1 Polyb. 1. 2, c. 2.
2 See Vol. I. p. 153.
Liv. 1. 36, c. 11.
XXXIII.]
ACARNANIA.
577
altitude of the hill of Lygovitzi explains the king's disinclination to lose any time in attack- ing the JEtolians, when they retired into the citadel after having abandoned the town, and the ordinary ford of the Achelous was exactly in his way from thence to Conope.
Ithoria having stood below Conope in the ortva, or straits of the Achelous, which were formed on one side by the extremity of Mount Zygos, and on the other by the heights and forest of Manina, probably stood at or near St. Elias, nearly oppo- site to the ruined town at Palea Mani ; 1 have been informed, indeed, that some vestiges of a Hellenic fortress actually exist at St. Elias. Pce- anium I conceive to have been the ancient site between Mastu and the Aspro. Although Poly- bius does not remark that Philip recrossed the Achelous between Conope and GEniadse, it is evident that he must have done so, QEniadae having been upon the right or Acarnanian bank of the river, and the Macedonians having, as Polybius distinctly asserts, crossed it between Me- tropolis and Conope. But the historian is equally silent as to a third passage of the river, which was unavoidable when Philip proceeded from CEniadae to the Calydonia.
The Achelous below Katokhi flows for the dis- tance of two miles in the direction of Kurtzolari, and then takes the turn towards Petala, in which it approaches Trikardho ; from thence it again bends towards Kurtzolari, and joins the sea about two miles to the north of Oxia and the entrance
VOL. III.
pp
578
ACARNANIA.
[chap.
XXXIII.
of the channel between that island and Kurtzolari. The plain which extends from Trikardho to the sea, consists of fertile soil, and though not marshy, except in some places near the shore, is very little cultivated.
END OF VOL. III.
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