Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 2 of 2)

It was this king who obliged the inhabitants of every town to enter their names in a book, kept by the magistrate for that purpose, with their professions, and manner of living. Solon inserted this custom among his laws.

200

Now in the vestibule of the university library at Cambridge.

201

Herodotus; Apollonius Rhodius; Rollin; Egmont and Heyman; Clarke.

202

II. Chronicles, ch. xi.

203

Rees; Malte-Brun; Browne.

204

Σεβαστός, in Greek, signifies Augustus.

205

Clarke; La Martine.

206

Chap. iii. 1-4.

207

Phalaris.

208

The Pactolus flowed through the centre of the Forum at Sardis, and brought, in its descent from Tmolus, a quantity of gold dust. Hence the vast riches of Crœsus. It ceased to do this in the age of Augustus.

209

Herodotus; Pindar; Polyænus; Plutarch; Arrian; Quintus Curtius; Rollin; Wheler; Chandler; Peysonell.

210

Lib. i. v. 10.

211

Lib. i. c. 17, 18, 19.

212

Most authors agree that the Parthians were Scythians by origin, who made an invasion on the more southern provinces of Asia, and at last fixed their residence near Hyrcania. They remained long unnoticed, and even unknown, and became successively tributary to the empire of the Assyrians, then of the Medes, and thirdly, of Persia.

When Alexander invaded Persia, the Parthians submitted to his authority, like other cities of Asia. After his death, they fell successively under the power of Eumenes, Antigonus, Seleucus Nicanor, and Antiochus. At length, in consequence of the rapacity of Antiochus’s lieutenant, whose name was Agathocles, Arsaces, a man of great military powers, raised a revolt, and subsequently founded the Parthian empire, about two hundred and fifty years before the Christian era. Arsaces’ successors were called, after him, the Arsacidæ.

213

For the precise situation of Seleucia, Ctesiphon, Modain, and Bagdad, cities often confounded with each other, see an excellent geographical map of M. d’Anville, in Mém. de l’Académie, tom. xxx.

214

Dion, l. lxxv. p. 1263; Herodian, 1. iii. 120; Gibbon, vol. i. 335.

215

Pietro della Valle, Olivier, Otter, &c.

216

Pliny; Prideaux; Gibbon; Gillies; Rees; Brewster; Malte-Brun; Porter; Robinson.

217

Vid. Mannert, Géographie des Grecs et des Romains, t. v. p. i. p. 397, 403, &c.

218

The following observations are by the same hand. They may be taken as a supplement to our article entitled Ægina: – “In the Phigalian room of the British Museum, against the southern wall, a pediment has recently been erected, corresponding with that opposite, which contains eleven of the casts from the Ægina statues. On this are placed five more, which were brought from the ruins of the same temple of Jupiter Panhelleneus, in the island of Ægina. These five statues were all that were found belonging to the eastern front sufficiently in a state of preservation to assure of their original destination and design; and it is the more to be lamented, as that was the principal façade of the edifice, and contained the great entrance into the soros of the temple. This front was by far the most magnificent in its decorations; the esplanade before it extending one hundred, while that of the western was but fifty feet; the statues also on this tympanum were more numerous, there being originally on this fourteen figures, and but eleven on the other; they are also both in style and sculpture far superior, and appear as the work of the master, the others, in comparison, as those of the scholars. The superiority of conception and manner is apparent, the forms are more muscular and robust, the veins and muscles more displayed, an imitation of a maturer nature. At the first opening of the ruins twenty-five statues were discovered, besides the four female figures belonging to the Acroteria. To the artist the canon of proportion and the system of anatomical expression observable throughout the whole may be regarded as the models whence was derived that still bolder style of conception which afterwards distinguished the sculptors and made the perfection of the Athenian school; what the works of Ghulandia were to Raphael, these were to Phidias. The surprise of the common observer may be excited when he contemplates these figures, however disadvantageous the circumstances under which he views them. Perhaps he cannot call to mind in the capital of his country, however civilisation and the arts may have advanced, any sculptures of the nineteenth century which appear equally imposing; the more so, when he reflects that the history of their origin is buried in the darkness of two thousand four hundred years. Long after this period Lysippus held as a principal of the ideal which has in later times been too generally followed, to make men as they seem to be, not as they really are. In this group there is not, as seen in the opposite one, any figure immediately under the centre of the tympanum; that of Minerva, which was found, and which, no doubt, had occupied it, being thought too much broken to be placed. The one nearest is the figure of a warrior, who appears as having fallen wounded to the ground. He is supporting himself on the right arm, endeavouring to rise. The hand no doubt held a sword, as the rivets of bronze still remaining indicate. On the left arm is a shield held close to the body, the hand enclasping the τελαμών, or holder. The countenance, contrary to the one in a similar position on the opposite pediment, seems calmly to regard, and to mark the moment to resist with any chance of success an advancing adversary, who is rushing forward to seize his spoils. Whether this statue is rightly placed we think will admit of doubt. The figure rushing forward could not have inflicted the wound by which he has been disabled, and it seems more probable that an arrow, which an archer at the extreme of the pediment has just discharged, has been the cause of his wound, and that it should, instead of being on the ground, have been placed as if in the act of falling. In the attitude of the attacking warrior, a desire is shown to give the greatest interest to the action; the position of the right leg seems calculated to give movement to the figure as seen from below; behind the fallen an unarmed figure is stooping forward, apparently to raise him; but this statue would seem rather to belong to the other pediment, where a hollow is found in the pedestal on which the Goddess Minerva stands, which appears to have been made to allow room for its advance. Among the statues found, but broken, was one which stood nearly over the body of the wounded hero, to defend him against the advancing enemy before mentioned. Near the archer is another combatant on the ground; the countenance of this figure is aged, the beard most minutely sculptured; it is of a square form, and descends to the breast; on the lip are long mustachios. It is by far the most aged of either group, and appears to be a chief of consequence; he is raising himself on his shield; the expression of the face is very fine, it has a smile on it, though evidently in pain. The archer is a Phrygian, and his body is protected by leathern armour; as he has no shield allowed, he is holding the bow, which is small and of the Indian shape, in the left hand, with the arm outstretched; the bow-string has been drawn to the ear, the arrow seems just to have sped, and the exultation of the countenance shows it has taken effect. Three of these figures have that sort of helmet which defends the face by a guard descending over the nose, and the back by the length of the λόφος, or crest, or horsehair, crista; the shields are massy and large, they are the Argive ἀσπὶς ἔγκυκλος, circular shields, and the handles are nicely framed. The inside of all of them were painted in red colour, and within a circle of the exterior a blue colour was seen, on which was pictured, without doubt, the symbol adopted by the hero; for on a fragment of one of those belonging to this front was in relief a part of a female figure. The remaining figures belonging to this tympanum, the fragments of which were found, were principally archers.

“Those statues offer the only illustration now extant of the armour of the heroic ages. The bodies of all the figures of this pediment, with the exception of the archer who is encased in leathern armour, are uncovered. The great minuteness of execution in the details corresponds with the exactness which Æschylus, Homer, and the earlier writers of the heroic age have preserved in their descriptions; in the whole of these statues this is observable in every tie and fastening. It would appear that the whole had undergone the strictest scrutiny; as, in each, those parts which, from their position on the building, could not have been seen, are found equally exact: in every particular they are the same as those which are traced on the vases of the most Archaic style, where they are delineated in black on a red ground, as is seen in the Museum collection. The two female figures on the apex of the pediment are clothed; the drapery falls in thick folds around the figure; in their hands they hold the pomegranate flower; the feet are on a small plinth; they are the Ἐλπίς of the Greeks, the Goddess of Hope, so well known in museums and on coins, and their situation here is peculiarly appropriate, as presiding over an undecided combat. It does not appear that any of the figures on either pediment had any support to fix them in position but the cornice where they came in contact with it; they must all have been easily removable; and perhaps it may not be unreasonable to suppose, that on particular festivals they were so disposed as to represent the actions then in celebration, to recall to the imagination of the votaries the reason for those sacrifices then offered to the god who presided over the temple. This would account why almost all the celebrated groups of antiquity, which have decorated the façades of their sacred edifices, among which may be reckoned those of the Parthenon, the Sicilian Adrimetum, and the Ægina, are so completely finished, and shows how what would otherwise seem a waste both of talent and labour, was brought to account.”

219

Livy; Rollin; Swinburne; Parker; Knight; Hamilton.

220

Dodwell.

221

Clarke.

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A stadium was a place in the form of a circus, for the running of men and horses.

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Williams.

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Pausanias; Barthelemy; Rollin; Wheler; Clarke; Dodwell; Williams; Byron.

225

Gen. x. ver. 15.

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Gen. xlix. ver. 13.

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Drummond’s Origines, vol. iii. p. 97. Homer makes the Phœnician woman speak, of whom mention is made in the Odyssey b. xv. – “I glory to be of Sidon abounding in brass, and am the daughter of the wealthy Arybas.”

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Zidon-rabbah: ch. xi. v. 8.

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“Neither did Ashur drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon.” – Judges i. 31.

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“Now, therefore, command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants; and unto thee I will give hire for thy servants, according to all that they shall appoint; for thou knowest that there is not amongst us any that has skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians.” – 1 Kings, ch. x. v. 6.

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Dictys Cretensis acquaints us that Paris returned not directly to Troy after the rape of Helen, but fetched a compass, probably to avoid pursuit. He touched at Sidon, where he surprised the king of Phœnicia by night, and carried off many of his treasures and captives, among which probably were these Sidonian women. – Pope.

232

“The common voyce and fame runneth, that there arrived certain merchants, in a ship laden with nitre, in the mouth of the river; and beeing landed, minded to seath their victuals upon the shore, and the very sands: but that they wanted other stones, to serve as trivets, to beare up their pans and cauldrons over the fire, they made shift with certaine pieces of sal-nitre out of the ship, to support the said pans, and so made fire underneath; which being once afire among the sand and gravell of the shore, they might perceive a certaine cleare liquor run from under the fire, in very streams, and hereupon they say came the first invention of making glass.” —Philemon Howard, Pliny, xxxvi. c. 26.

233

Book viii. ch. 8.

234

Chap. xxviii. ver. 20, 21, &c.

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Vol. I. b. 4, c. 1.

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During the Crusades, Sidon fell into the hands of the Christians. They lost it A. D. 1111. In 1250 it was recovered by the Saracens; but in 1289 they were compelled to surrender it again to the Christians.

237

In the sixteenth century.

238

Herodotus; Diodorus; Pliny; Plutarch; Arrian; Quintus Curtius; Justin; Prideaux; Rollin; Stackhouse; Volney; Drummond; Buckingham; Robinson.

239

A very ancient basso-rilievo, among the antiquities at Wilton House, brought from Smyrna, represents Mantheus, the son of Æthus, giving thanks to Jupiter, for his son’s being victor in the five exercises of the Olympic games; wherein is shown, by an inscription of the oldest Greek letters, the ancient Greek way of writing that was in use six hundred years before our Saviour.

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Pausanias; Arrian; Quintus Curtius; Wheler; Pococke; Chandler; Barthelemy; Hobhouse; La Martine.

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The valour of Diocletian was never found inadequate to his duty or to the occasion; but he appears not to have possessed the daring and generous spirit of a hero, who courts danger and fame, disdains artifice, and boldly challenges the allegiance of his equals. His abilities were useful rather than splendid; a vigorous mind, improved by the experience and study of mankind; dexterity and application in business; a judicious mixture of liberality and economy; steadiness to pursue his ends; flexibility to vary his means; and, above all, the great art of submitting his own passions, as well as those of others, to the interest of his ambition, and of colouring his ambition with the most specious pretences of justice and public utility. Like Augustus, Diocletian may be considered as the founder of a new empire; like the adopted son of Cæsar, he was distinguished as a statesman rather than a warrior; nor did either of those princes employ force whenever their purpose could be effected by policy. – Gibbon.

242

De Administrando Imperio.

243

Adam’s Antiquities at Diocletian’s palace at Spalatro, p. 67. Thus the Abate Fortis: – “E ‘bastevolmente nota agli amatori dell’ architettura, e dell’ antichità, l’opera del Signor Adam, che a donato molto a que’ superbi vestigi coll’ abituale eleganza del suo toccalapis e del bulino. In generale la rozzezza del scalpello, e ‘l cativo gusto del secolo vi gareggiano colla magnificenza del fabricato.” – Vide Viaggio in Dalmazia, p. 40. For the plan and views of the palace, temples of Jupiter and Æsculapius, with the Dalmatian coast, vide “Voyage de l’Istrie et de la Dalmatie.”

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Gibbon; Adam.

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Rollin; Chandler.

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This is Quintus Curtius’ account. Plutarch says 40,000 talents.

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Or five thousand talents weight. Dacier calls it so many hundred-weight; and the eastern talent was near that weight. Pliny tells us, that a pound of the double-dipped Tyrian purple, in the time of Augustus, sold for a hundred crowns. – Langhorne.

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Plutarch says, that in his time specimens were still to be seen of the same kind and age, in all their pristine lustre.

249

Rollin.

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Fragments of earthenware, scattered in the greatest profusion, are found to the distance of twenty-six miles. – Walpole’s Travels in Turkey, vol. i. 420.

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Nearchus, p. 415.

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When taken prisoner by Sapor.

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The Pagan writers lament, the Christian insult, the misfortunes of Valerian. Their various testimonies are accurately collected by Tillemont, tom. iii. p. 739, &c. So little has been preserved in eastern history before Mahomet, that the modern Persians are totally ignorant of the victory of Sapor, an event so glorious to their nation. See Bibliothèque Orientale. – Gibbon.

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Strabo; Plutarch; Arrian; Quintus Curtius; Prideaux; Rollin; Gibbon; Vincent; Rennell; Barthelemy; Kinneir; Walpole.

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Rollin.

256

Lempriere.

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Lempriere; Rollin; Swinburne; Eustace.

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Wilkinson; Malte-Brun.

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He was, according to most historians, the son of a potter, but all allow him to have worked at the trade. From the obscurity of his birth and condition, Polybius raises an argument to prove his capacity and talents, in opposition to the slanders of Timæus. But his greatest eulogium was the praise of Scipio. That illustrious Roman being asked, who, in his opinion, were the most prudent in the conduct of their affairs, and most judiciously bold in the execution of their designs, answered, Agathocles and Dionysius. (Polyb. 1. xv. p. 1003, edit. Gronov.) However, let his capacity have been ever so great, it was exceeded by his cruelties. —Rollin.

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Swinburne.

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This account Mr. Swinburne suspected of exaggeration; but after spending two days in tracing the ruins, and making reasonable allowances for the encroachments of the sea, he was convinced of the exactness of Strabo’s measurement.

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Brydone.

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Plutarch relates, that Marcellus took the spoils of Sicily, consisting, in part, of the most valuable statues and paintings of Syracuse, purposely to adorn his triumph, and ornament the city of Rome, which, before his time, had never known any curiosity of that kind; and he adds, that Marcellus took merit to himself for being the first, who taught the Romans to admire the exquisite performances of Greece.

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Swinburne.

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Brydone.

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Brydone.

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Plutarch; Rollin; Swinburne; Brydone.

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Saturday Magazine.

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The folly of the Egyptians in respect to their deifications is well known; and for this they are ingeniously reproached by the Satirist.

Who has not heard, where Egypt’s realms are named,What monster gods her frantic sons have framed?Here Ibis gorged with well-grown serpents, thereThe Crocodile commands religious fear.Through towns Diana’s power neglected lies,Where to her dogs aspiring temples rise;And should you leeks or onions eat, no timeWould expiate the sacrilegious crime.Religious nations sure, and blest abodes,Where every orchard is o’er-run with gods!

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Parker.

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Knight.

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Anon.

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In antiquity, the pyramids of Egypt surpass every other monument now existing; but they do not, of course, from the nature of their construction, at all vie with the magnificence of the ruins of Karnac. – Wilkinson.

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Jacob went into Egypt with his whole family, which met with the kindest treatment from the Egyptians; but after his death, say the Scriptures, there arose up a new king, which knew not Joseph. Rameses-Miamun, according to archbishop Usher, was the name of this king, who is called Pharaoh in scripture. He reigned sixty-six years, and oppressed the Israelites in a most cruel manner. He set over them task-masters, to afflict them with their burdens. “And they built for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pithom and Raamses; and the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigour, and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field; all their service wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.” – Prideaux.

275

Harmonies of Nature.

276

Saturday Magazine.

277

Belzoni’s Narrative. London 1820, p. 39.

278

Parker.

279

Penny Magazine.

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Why was this necessary? and who recompensed the poor villagers?

281

Herodotus; Diodorus; Strabo; Tacitus; Prideaux; Rollin; Pococke; Savary; Fleurieu; Sonnini; Lindsay; Browne; Denon; Belzoni; Carne; Champollion; Soane; Heeren; Wilkinson; Richardson; Penny Magazine; Saturday Magazine; Egyptian Antiquities; Encyclopedia Metropolitana; Rees; Brewster; Londinensis.

282

Not of Virgil, but of Lucan. Phars. lib. ix.

283

“I am inclined to believe,” continues he, “that if Helen had been actually in Troy, the Trojans would certainly have restored her to the Greeks, with or without the consent of her paramour.”

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The signification of the name Sigéum appears in an anecdote of an Athenian lady, celebrated for her wit, not her virtue. Wearied by the loquacity of a visitor, she inquired of him, “Whether he did not come from the Hellespont?” On his answering in the affirmative, she asked him “how it happened that he was so little acquainted with the first of the places there?” On his demanding, “Which of them?” she pointedly replied, “Sigéum;” thus indirectly bidding him to be silent. – (Diogenes Laertius.) Chandler.

285

Two promontories forming the bay before Troy.

286

An island in the Ægean Sea.

287

Annal. lib. ii. c. 54.

288

Sir John Hobhouse says, “I traced all the windings of the Mendar, startling young broods of ducks, and flocks of turtle-doves, out of every bush. Nothing could be more agreeable than our frequent rambles along the banks of this beautiful stream. The peasants of the numerous villages, whom we frequently encountered ploughing with their buffaloes, or driving their creaking wicker cars laden with faggots from the mountains, whether Greeks or Turks, showed no inclination to interrupt our pursuits. The whole region was, in a manner, in possession of the Salsette’s men, parties of whom, in their white summer dresses, might be seen scattered over the plain, collecting the tortoises which swarm on the sides of the rivulet, and are found under every furze-bush.” – LETTER XXXIX. 4to.

289

Callifat water is the Simois. Dr. Clarke says, that he saw in this stream hundreds of tortoises, which, being alarmed at his approach, fell from its banks into the water, as well as from the overhanging branches and thick underwood, among which these animals, – of all others the least adapted to climb trees, – had singularly obtained a footing. Wild-fowl, also, were in abundance.

290

“Turks were employed raising enormous blocks of marble from foundations surrounding the place; possibly the identical works constructed by Lysimachus, who fenced New Ilium with a wall. The appearance of the structure exhibited that colossal and massive style of architecture, which bespeaks the masonry of the early ages of Grecian history.”

291

It is only by viewing the stupendous prospect afforded in these classical regions, that any adequate idea can be formed of Homer’s powers as a painter. Neptune, placed on the top of Samothrace, commanding a prospect of Ida, Troy, and the fleet, observes Jupiter upon Gargarus turn his back upon Troas. What is intended by this averted posture of the God, other than that Gargarus was partially concealed by a cloud, while Samothrace remained unveiled? a circumstance so often realised. All the march of Juno, from Olympus, by Pieria and Æmathia to Atlas, by sea, to Lemnos; and thence to Imbrus and Gargarus; is a correct delineation of the striking face of nature, in which the picturesque wildness and grandeur of real scenery are further adorned by a sublime poetical fiction. Hence it is evident, that Homer must have lived in the neighbourhood of Troy; that he borrowed the scene of the Iliad from ocular examination; and the action of it from the prevailing tradition of the times. – Clarke.