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 Thyamis 1 . 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' 9 tL * £ 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 Limen 1 , 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 Amaxikhi 1 ,
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.
shore 1 . 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 island 1 .
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
• T VG 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 Pasha 2 , 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
Euripides 1 , 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 oxen 1 . 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 night 1 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 $£ rt olvoc
riyytrai' altl & ofifipoQ tyti, TtBaXv'id t ttparj.
Alylporog t)' dyad)) xat fiovfioroc' tan fitv vXi]
llarroii], tv c' dpd[.io'i tirr)tTavoi rrapiaaiv.
Od. N. v. 242.
A//£i<, tuv ye avtaai Trapi'iptvoi'' at It vifxorTat
Hap KopaKog TTtVprj iizi re Kp{) rt] 'Aptdovay,
" V.aBovaai (oliXayov uevoeiKta, xal /xtXay vciop
Uirovaai, ra 0' iieaai rptQsi redaXvlav dXoi(j>)'iv.
Od. N. v. 407.
1 Od. N. v. 81.
XXII.]
ITHACA.
33
£<x)(araj, or extremity 1 of the island which was nearest
to the Peloponnesus 2 , the first might, perhaps, have
been better obtained by a landing in some port of
the northern peninsula, but the second would have
been impracticable from thence ; 3dly, the situation
of Mount Neritum, which rises directly in face of
Skhino, is exactly adapted to the speech of the
disguised Minerva, when she proves to Ulysses
that he is in Ithaca, by pointing to the mountain 3 ;
4thly, the road from Skhino to the station of Eu-
maeus was exactly as Homer describes, rugged,
and leading through woods and mountains 4 .
The island is now divided into four parts,
Vathy, Aetos, Anoi, and Exoi or Oxoi 5 . Vathy and
Oxoi, the two extremities, have each a fertile val-
ley. In Aetos and Anoi, which occupy the middle
part of the island, the rocky mountains admit of
little cultivation. Aetos is the only division which
has not a homonymous village ; the name, vulgarly
Aeto 6 , is specifically attached to the remains of
1 Od. a. v. 149.
2 Avrdp etti)v wptjrrjv oIkt^V 'I0a'(C»j£ ctytKijai.
Od. O. v. 36.
Telemachus was sailing from the Peloponnesus.
3 QopKvvog [xtv oh' tori Xtfiijv aXloio yipovroQ'
Tovto £e Niipirov zotiv opoc, Karadfievov vXy.
Od. N. v. 345.
4 Avrdp o Ik Xifxevog Trpoaefir) rpi]\fiav aVapirov,
XCjpov aV vXi'ievra Bi axpiae.
Od. SS. v. 1.
5 Ba$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 names 1 . 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 Afales 1 . 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 Korakini 1 .
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 harbour 2 ; 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 ijc 1 '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£vai t 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 empire 2 . 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
Venice 1 . 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 Katoi 2 . 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
Cephallenia 1 , 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 situated 2 . 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 ruin 2 .
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 it 1 . 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
Avlemona 3 . 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 Vatika 1 , 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
wheat 1 , 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 Zopyrus 1 . 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 Bagho 2 , 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
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 Parikia 1 , 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 building 1 . 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,
Aussa 2 , 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 native 1 . 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 indistinct 1 ; 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 mountain 2 .
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 Olympieium 1 , 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 Delus 2 . 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 Scyrus 1 . 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 goats 1 .
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 situation 5 . Pliny
indeed describes Nea as being between Lemnus and
the Hellespont 6 , 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 relic 2 .
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 odour 1 .
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 Xiropotamu 2 , 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 it 1 . It was perhaps the same men-
tioned by Thucydides as the harbour of the Colo-
phonii 2 . 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 Zografu 2 . 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 men 1 , whence the mo-
nastery was called Zwypa^ou, or that of the
painter.
Oct. 24. — From Xeropotami to Kares, or Karyes 2 ,
a beautiful ride of an hour and a half across the
ridge of the peninsula, leaving the 'Athona, as the
peak of Athos is called 3 , 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 Tov t Ayiov''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.
XXIV.]
MACEDONIA.
127
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 persons 1 . 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
MACEDONIA.
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 Lavra 1 , 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.
XXIV.]
MACEDONIA.
129
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
MACEDONIA,
[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 w T as 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.
XXIV.]
MACEDONIA.
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
MACEDONIA,
[chap.
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-
XXIV.]
MACEDONIA.
133
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
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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 hermits 1 . There are more
than 300 scattered kellia on the mountain. The
KiXXtitorai are either cultivators of vineyards, gar-
dens, or corn-fields 2 , of which latter however there
are very few, or they tend the bees 3 and cattle 4
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.]
MACEDONIA.
135
The principal askites besides those dependent on
Lavra, are the new skiti of St. Paul 1 , that of
Xenofu 2 , St. Elias of Pandokratora 3 , St. Deme-
trius of Vatopedhi 4 , Prodhromo, or the skiti of
Kutlumusi 5 , 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
Aghiorites 6 , 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 live 1 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 bulls 2 , which, as well as
some oxen, rams, and goats 3 , 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. ]
MACEDONIA,
137
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
XXIV.]
MACEDONIA.
139
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 added 1 . 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 Panemus 2 .
Nov. 2. — From Vatopedhi to Khilandari 3 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.
XXIV. J
MACEDONIA.
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
MACEDONIA.
[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.]
MACEDONIA.
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
MACEDONIA.
[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,
XXIV.]
MACEDONIA.
145
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
MACEDONIA.
fcHAP.
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.
XXIV. J
MACEDONIA.
147
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
148
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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.
XXIV.]
MACEDONIA.
149
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 Charadrise 4 . 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.
150
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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.
XXIV.]
MACEDONIA.
151
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
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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
Kassandhra 2 , as being the entrance into the penin-
sula of Pcdlene, the whole of which is known by
lr rhucyd. 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.
XXIV.]
MACEDONIA.
153
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 Ormylia 1 , 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 Sarta 2 , 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
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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/ie 2 ,
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.
XXIV.]
MACEDONIA.
155
of Thrace, after having escorted the defeated
Xerxes to the Hellespont 1 . 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.
156
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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
Phlegra 2 , 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 Posidium 3 , and by Thucy-
dides Posidonium 4 , probably from a temple of
Neptune which stood upon it, still retains the former
appellation 5 , 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.
XXIV.]
MACEDONIA.
157
■
■
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.]
MACEDONIA.
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 gulf 1 .
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.
XXV. J
MACEDONIA.
161
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
MACEDONIA.
[ CHAP.
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 aristocratic 2 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-
XXV.]
M AC i: DON I. \.
163
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
164
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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,
xxv.j
MACEDONIA.
105
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
166
MACEDONIA.
[chap
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 w r hich 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-
XXV.]
MACEDONIA.
107
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.
168
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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.
XXV.]
MACEDONIA,
169
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
170
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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
XXV.]
MACEDONIA.
171
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.
172
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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.
XXV.
MACEDONIA.
173
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 Salamis 2 ;
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.
174
MACEDONIA.
[chap
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,
XXV.]
MACEDONIA.
175
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 implies 1 , 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
176
MACEDONIA.
[chap
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 : —
XXV.]
MACEDONIA.
177
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-
ance 1 , 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
MACEDONIA.
[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.
XXV. J
MACEDONIA.
179
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 w r as 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
180
MACEDONIA.
[chap
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.
XXV. 1
MACEDONIA.
181
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 included 1 , 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 Thrace 2 . 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.
182
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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 Cercinitis 1 , 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.
XXV.]
MACEDONIA.
183
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
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
and there was formerly a village of that name 1 .
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 eels 2 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.
XXV.]
MACEDONIA.
185
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
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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.
XXV.J
MACEDONIA.
187
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
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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.
XXV.]
MACEDONIA.
189
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.
190
MACEDONIA.
[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 country 2 . 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,
XXV.]
MACEDONIA,
191
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.
192
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-
XXV.]
MACEDONIA.
193
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
194
MACEDONIA.
[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
XXV.]
MACEDONIA.
19")
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.
xxv.]
MACEDONIA.
197
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
MACEDONIA.
[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.
XXV.]
MACEDONIA.
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.
200
MACEDONIA.
[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
XXV.]
MACEDONIA.
201
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.]
MACEDONIA.
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 word 1 ; 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;.
XXV.]
MACEDONIA.
205
which they are combined, are not unfrequent in
Macedonian inscriptions of the Roman empire 1 .
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 w r ars 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.]
MACEDONIA.
207
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 Herodotus 1 , 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 Hellespont 2 ; 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 Samothrace 3 . As Sirae is
' Herodot. 1. 5, c. 13, 15, 98. 2 L. 8, c. 115.
3 Liv. 1. 45, c. 4.
VOL. III. P
210
MACEDONIA
[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.]
MACEDONIA.
•211
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 left 3 . 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
'212
MACEDONIA.
[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 latter 2 . 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
Felibedjik 2 .
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.
XXVI.]
MACEDONIA.
217
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.
XXVI.]
MACEDONIA.
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.
XXVI.]
MACEDONIA.
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 fought 1 , 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.]
MACEDONIA,
•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 XP V "
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 Brasidas 2 . 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 Thessalonica 2 . 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.]
MACEDONIA.
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.]
MACEDONIA.
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.
XXVI.]
MACEDONIA.
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.]
MACEDONIA.
235
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.
236
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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-
X a £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.
XXVI.]
MACEDONIA.
237
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 :
238
MACEDONIA.
ICHAP.
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,
XXVI.]
MACEDONIA.
239
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
240
MACEDONIA.
[chap
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.
XXVI.]
MACEDONIA.
241
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
242
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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,
XXVI.]
MACEDONIA.
243
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,
T ft '\" ) 7rfl aJ iv flfjvl Tavovaplov a' 1 .
vol. in. n 2 -t—
244
MACEDONIA.
[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
XXVI.]
MACEDONIA.
245
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 port 1 . 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.
246
MACEDONIA.
[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 subjects 1 . 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.
XXVI.]
MACEDONIA,
247
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'.
248
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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 x w P'£ 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.
XXVI. j
MACEDONIA.
249
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.)
XXVI.]
MACEDONIA.
251
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-
252
MACEDONIA.
[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.
XXVI.]
MACEDONIA.
253
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
Homer 1 . 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.
254
MACEDONIA.
Fen A P.
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
XXVI.]
MACEDONIA.
255
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
256
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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
XXVI.]
MACEDONIA.
257
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.
259
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
MACEDONIA.
[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.]
MACEDONIA.
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
MACEDONIA.
[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.
XXVII.]
MACEDONIA.
263
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.
264
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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
treasure 2 ."
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
XXVII.]
MACEDONIA.
265
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.
266
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
sea by the Lydias to the royal residence of Mace-
donia 1 , which was 120 stades in length exclusive
of the Lydias 2 . 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 Ghianitza 4 , 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.
XXVII.]
MACEDONIA.
267
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 Axius 1 . The lofty and con-
1 So poor is the Turkish nomenclature, that black and
language in its geographical white mountains, and black,
268
MACEDONIA,
[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.]
MACEDONIA.
269
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
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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
XXVII.]
MACEDONIA.
271
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
272
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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.
XXVII.]
MACEDONIA.
273
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.
274
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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, w T ith 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
jujubes 1 , 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.
XXVII.
MACEDONIA.
275
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
270
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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
XXVII.]
MACEDONIA.
277
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 Diocletian 1 . 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.
278
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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.
XXVII.]
MACEDONIA.
279
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-
nia 1 . 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 first 2 , 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
MACEDONIA.
[chap.
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.
XXVII.]
MACEDONIA.
281
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.
282
MACEDONIA.
[CHAP.
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
XXVII.]
MACEDONIA.
283
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.]
MACEDONIA.
285
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
MACEDONIA.
[chap
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,
XXVII.]
MACEDONIA.
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 hoplita 1 ,
but as his forces were collected
in great measure from Southern
Greece, they hardly furnish a
proper comparison.
XXVI1.J
MACEDONIA,
289
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
MACEDONIA.
[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 Astraeus 1 ,
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 shoes 5 . 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 thee 2 ."
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' x a ~'( )E Kai <7V *" woeei.
Vide Inscription, No. 11-1.
XXVII.]
MACEDONIA.
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 Bora 1 , 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 Cassander 1 , 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 front 1 , 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.]
MACEDONIA.
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) ^XP l
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 Tripolitis 1 . 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 northw r ard 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.
lia 1 ; 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 betw r een 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 Pelium 1 , 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 Livy 2 . 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 Philip 3 . 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 officers 1 , 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
XXVIII.]
MACEDONIA.
329
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.
XXVIII.]
MACEDONIA.
331
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.
XXVIII. j
PERRHiEBIA,
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.
XVIII.]
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.]
PERRII/EBIA.
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 war 2 , 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 war 2 , the other in the campaign of Anti-
ochus 9 years afterwards 3 , 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 distant 1 .
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
XXVIII.]
PERIlH.EJilA.
341
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~ l 9 e kCt ' tvQXa %i%ov.
Xenagoras. ap. Plutarch, in P. iEmil.
* Liv. 1. 41, e. 32. Plutarch, in Paul. Mmil.
342
RERRtl/EIJIA.
[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 excess 2 . 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.]
PERRHiEBIA.
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 Dium 2 . 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.
344
PERRH/EBIA.
[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.]
PERRH/EBIA.
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
'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 war 1 . 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 l y itarus, 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
Tyrnavo 1 , 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-
pites 1 . iElian alludes to the worship of Apollo at
Tempe in his description of that celebrated valley 2 ;
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
w T ere 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 Crannon 1 , or as the name is written on the
marble Cranon 2 . 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 city 1 . 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
X90NIOY 2 , 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 Strabo 2 , 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 Tricca 2 , 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 Aous 1 . 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 Aghia 1 , 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 Tempe 1 ,
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 Gonnus 2 , 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 Olympus 2 , 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 thread 2 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 ex T
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 Peneius 2 , 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.
T Hpt 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 Heracleia 1 . 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 Orpheus 1 . 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 Picria 3 , 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 Granicus 2 .
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 Octolophus 2 , 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 town 1 . 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 twins 1 . 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 deserter 1 , 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 ******** ;t he
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-
donia 1 . 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. Stobi 1 ; 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 war 2 , 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 Emathia 1 .
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 Pseonia 3 ; 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 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 Axius 1 , and
comprehending the lake Bolbe to the east 2 . 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
Crestonia 3 . 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.]
MACEDONIA
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 Euporia 1 .
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 Bottisea 2 , and
which is found three centuries later in Ptolemy 3 .
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 history 1 , as from its having given name,
like some of the other chief cities of Macedonia,
to a town in Asia 2 . As Thucydides shows its ter-
ritory to have bordered upon Bisaltia, Crestonia,
and Mygdonia 3 , 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 war 5 . 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<p y iavTov Ali'ov TrpotrayopEv-
I'UtQ, tpOa b Aiveiag fiEra r»)»' gev. — The Scholiast appears
G g 2 to
452
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.]
MACEDONIA.
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 Pallene 1 , 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, ounce 2 , 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
monarchy 5 , 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 Axius 1 . 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-
thus 2 , 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 Pallene 6 . 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-kxP 1
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 Olynthus 2 ; 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 submission 2 .
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
Alexander 2 , 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.
465
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 Edones 2 .
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-
hiran 2 . 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
Dardania 2 , 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 Scombrus 2 , 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 Secunda 1 , 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-
dra 1 , 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 Dardania 2 . 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 Tandessano 4 . 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 Servia 1 .
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 body 1 , 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 other 2 , 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
assistant 4 . 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 w r as 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 territories 2 . 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 Xenophon 1 . 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.
XXXII. j
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 avowee 2 , 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 vallonea 1 , gall-
nuts 2 , 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.]
ACARNANIA.
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/x 7 ?* 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 sea 1 .
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 sacrifice 2 . 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 w r ell 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 w T ho 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
klidhi 3 , or key to a piece named sivalma 4 , 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 peg 9 , 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 Alj r , 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 Oxia 1 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
Salitza 2 . 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 places 2 .
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
War 3 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 Straits 2 , 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
river 1 , 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 river 1 , 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
iEtolia 2 . 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
7r f )0<7 X ( *" 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 JSvenus 1 . 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
mountain 2 . 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.
gilbert and rivington, printers,
st. john's square, London.
I:nd,.l\iH..III
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