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we alighted, Jamenting the silence and complete humiliation, as we conceived, of Ephesus. The caravanserá, to which we had been directed, was exceedingly mean and wretched. A marble coffin, freed from the human dust, served as a water

trough to a well in the front. Some figures holding Roman ensigns have been carved on it; and, as we learn from the inscription,* it once contained the bodies of a captain of a trireme, named the Griffin, together with his wife. Close by, some tall camels, just arrived, stood pensive; or with their knees tied, to prevent their rising from the ground, mildly waited the removal of their burthens.

The caravanserá being full, we were distressed for a place to lodge in, but after some time a Turk offered us a shed by his cottage, open to the south-east, the roof and sides black with smoke. Some martens had made their nests against the rafters; and we were told, their visits were deemed to portend good, and that the Turks wished them to frequent their apartments, leaving a passage for their admission. Our horses were disposed among the walls and rubbish, with their saddles on; and a mat was spread for us on the ground. We sate here, in the air, while supper was preparing; when suddenly, fires began to blaze up among the bushes, and we saw the villagers collected about them in savage groups, or passing to and fro with lighted brands for torches. The flames, with the stars and a pale moon, afforded us a dim prospect of ruin and desolation. A shrill owl, named Cucuvaia from its note, with a night-hawk, flitted near us; and a jackall cried mournfully, as if forsaken by his companions. on the mountain.

*See Hesselius, Append. ad Gudium.

We retired early in the evening to our shed, not without some sensations of melancholy, which were renewed at the dawn of day. We had then a distinct view of a solemn and most forlorn spot; a neglected castle, a grand mosque, and a broken aqueduct, with mean cottages, and ruinous buildings, interspersed among wild thickets, and spreading to a considerable extent. Many of the scattered structures are square, with domes, and have been baths. Some gravestones occurred, finely painted and gilded, and fairly embossed, as the Turkish manner is, with characters in relievo. But the castle, the mosque, and the aqueduct, are alone sufficient evidences, as well of the former greatness of the place, as of its importance.

The castle is a large and barbarous edifice, the wall built with square towers. towers. You ascend to it over heaps of stones intermixed with scraps of marble. of marble. An out-work, which secured the approach, consisted of two lateral walls from the body of the fortress, with a gate-way. This faces the sea, and is supported, on each side, by a huge and awkward buttress, constructed chiefly with the seats of a theatre or stadium, many of them marked with Greek letters. Several fragments of inscriptions* are inserted in it, or lie near. Over the arch are four pieces of ancient sculpture. The two in the middle are in alto relievo, of most exquisite workmanship, and evidently parts of the same design; one, representing, it seems, the death of Patroclus; the other, plainly the bringing of his body to Achilles. The third exhibits a corpse, it is likely that of Hector, with women lamenting; is in basso relievo, not so wide, and, besides, differs so much, that

See Hesselius.

it can be considered as connected with the former only in having a reference to the Iliad. These were carefully drawn by Mr. Pars; and two of them, the first and last, may be seen, engraved by Bartolozzi, in Mr. Wood's Essay on Homer. The fourth is carved with boys and vine-branches, is narrower, and much injured.* Within the castle are a few huts, an old mosque, and a great deal of rubbish. If you move a stone here, it is a chance but you find a scorpion under it.

The grand mosque is situated beneath the castle, westward. The side next the foot of the hill is of stone; the remainder, of veined marble, polished. The two domes are covered with lead, and each is adorned with the Mahometan crescent. In front is a court, in which was a large fountain to supply the devout mussulman with water, for the purifications required by his law. The broken columns are remains of a portico. The three entrances of the court, the door-ways of the mosque, and many of the window-cases. have mouldings in the Saracenic style, with sentences, as we supposed, from the Koran, in Arabic characters, handsomely cut. The windows have wooden frames, and are latticed with wire. The inside is mean, except the kiblé, or portion toward Mecca, which is ornamented with carving, painting, and gilding. The minaret is fallen. We found a long Greek inscription nearly effaced, in the wall of the side next to Gallesus The fabric was raised with old materials. The large granite columns, which sustain the roof, and the marbles, are spoils from ancient Ephesus.

The aqueduct, on the opposite side of the castle-hill, reaches from the foot quite across the plain, eastward to

*See Tournefort. + See Pococke, Ins. p. 19 n. 15.

mount Pactyas. The piers are square and tall, and many in number, with arches of brick. They are constructed chiefly with inscribed pedestals; on one of which is the name of Atticus Herodes, whose statue it has supported. We copied, or collated several, but found none which have not been published. The minute diligence of earlier collectors had been extended to the unimportant fragments, and even single words within reach, from the first to the forty-fifth pier.* The marbles yet untouched would furnish a copious and curious harvest, if accessible. The downfall of some may be expected continually, from the tottering condition of the fabric; and time and earthquakes will supply the want of ladders, for which the traveller wishes in vain at a place, where, if a tall man, he may almost overlook the houses. The water was conveyed in earthen pipes, and, it has been surmised, was that of a famous spring named Halitæa. It is now intercepted, no moisture trickling from the extremity of the duct on the mountain. The ruin abounds in snakes. We saw a very long one twisting between the stones, which are not accurately joined; and the peasants with us attacked and killed it. We likewise disturbed many cameleons and lizards, which were basking in the sun. We were in danger near the village from large fierce dogs, which the boys encouraged to worry and to attack us.

In the way from Aiasalúck to Guzel-hissar or Magnesia, by the Meander, about four or five miles distant, is a narrow woody valley, with a stream, over which is an ancient bridge of three arches. Two long lines, one in Latin, the

*See Hesselius.

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other in Greek, are inscribed on it, and inform us, it was dedicated to the Ephesian Diana, the emperor Cæsar Augustus, Tiberius Cæsar his son, and to the people of Ephesus; and also that Pollio, a Roman, erected it at his own expense. This fabric has been deformed by a subsequent addition; the three arches now sustaining six, intended to convey a current of water across the valley, probably to the aqueduct of Aiasalúck.

*

CHAP. XXXIV.

Aiasalúck not Ephesus-Tamerlane at Aiasalúck-History of the two places confounded-Origin of Aiasalúck-Thunder-storm-A flood.

AIASALUCK has had an affinity with Ephesus similar to that of Sevri-hissar with Teos. We found no theatre, nor stadium, nor temple. The whole was patch-work, composed of marbles and fragments removed from their original places, and put together without elegance or order. We were convinced that we had not arrived yet at Ephesus, before we discovered the ruins of that city; which are by the mountains, nearer the sea, visible from the castle-hill, and distant above half a mile.

A change in the names of places, with the new settlements, which had been established under the Turks, renders it difficult to follow Tamerlane in his marches through Asia Minor; but from Guzel-hissar, or Magnesia, by the Mæander, he

*Inscript. Ant. p. 11.

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