DOI Artikel:
Sterrett, John R. Sitlington: An Epigraphical journey in Asia Minor: during the summer of 1884
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8679#0311
IN ASIA MINOR.
30I.
August 14. Malatia, via Melitene, to the junction of the Tokhma
Su with the Euphrates, opposite Sheikh Hassan, 3 h. 16 in., and
return to Malatia. Melitene is now a mass of ruins; among them
many fine specimens of the ornamented architecture of the Seldjuks
are conspicuous. The whole country between Melitene and the
Euphrates is exceedingly fertile.
August 15. Malatia to Sara Hadji, 8 h. 37 m. West of Arga we
cross a mountain to Kiirdkieui; then comes a wild gorge and a steep
ascent to Sara Hadji on the mountain side. Here our whole party
escaped being murdered only by a miracle, and man and beast
hungered until the night of the following day.
August 16. Sara Hadji to Miighde, 8 h. 45 m. Leaving Sara
Hadji we reach the summit of the mountain in 43 m. Then we
descend to another Kiirdkieui, situated in a wild gorge, then another
great mountain is crossed, and finally the Tokhma Su is reached at
Bel-i-Gedik. At this point the river flows through narrows for half a
mile. A perpendicular wall of rock, three or four hundred feet high,
is on either side of the river. Consequently the road has to climb
the little mountain. Once across this mountain we go up the open
valley of the Tokhma Su to Miighde, where we halt a day to recruit
ourselves and horses after our long fast. The whole mountain coun-
try between Arga and the Tokhma Su is inhabited solely by Kurds,
an inhospitable, murderous set of filthy villains, who still preserve all
the ferocious characteristics of their ancestors, the ancient Kup&ovxoi,
of whom Xenophon has little good to report in the Anabasis.
August 18. Miighde, via Derinde, to Yenikieui, 6 h. 22 m. The
valley between Miighde and Derinde is very fertile. An hour east
of Old Derinde the valley contracts to a gorge, and New Derinde
stretches out on both sides of the river for the whole distance between
this point and the Derinde of the old map. Old Derinde was aban-
doned like Old Malatia, and for the same reason. It is now a grand
mass of ruins. Derinde means "in or at the gorge." Professor
Kiepert regards the name as a popular interpretation of the ancient
name AfAevSis. At Old Derinde the river has cut its way through the
solid rock, which rises perpendicularly to a height of three or four hun-
dred feet on either side of the river. The width of the pass through
which the river thus flows is about fifty feet. On the right bank is the
almost impregnable castle, probably dating from the time of the early
Turks ; at the foot of the castle and west of it lies the abandoned town.
30I.
August 14. Malatia, via Melitene, to the junction of the Tokhma
Su with the Euphrates, opposite Sheikh Hassan, 3 h. 16 in., and
return to Malatia. Melitene is now a mass of ruins; among them
many fine specimens of the ornamented architecture of the Seldjuks
are conspicuous. The whole country between Melitene and the
Euphrates is exceedingly fertile.
August 15. Malatia to Sara Hadji, 8 h. 37 m. West of Arga we
cross a mountain to Kiirdkieui; then comes a wild gorge and a steep
ascent to Sara Hadji on the mountain side. Here our whole party
escaped being murdered only by a miracle, and man and beast
hungered until the night of the following day.
August 16. Sara Hadji to Miighde, 8 h. 45 m. Leaving Sara
Hadji we reach the summit of the mountain in 43 m. Then we
descend to another Kiirdkieui, situated in a wild gorge, then another
great mountain is crossed, and finally the Tokhma Su is reached at
Bel-i-Gedik. At this point the river flows through narrows for half a
mile. A perpendicular wall of rock, three or four hundred feet high,
is on either side of the river. Consequently the road has to climb
the little mountain. Once across this mountain we go up the open
valley of the Tokhma Su to Miighde, where we halt a day to recruit
ourselves and horses after our long fast. The whole mountain coun-
try between Arga and the Tokhma Su is inhabited solely by Kurds,
an inhospitable, murderous set of filthy villains, who still preserve all
the ferocious characteristics of their ancestors, the ancient Kup&ovxoi,
of whom Xenophon has little good to report in the Anabasis.
August 18. Miighde, via Derinde, to Yenikieui, 6 h. 22 m. The
valley between Miighde and Derinde is very fertile. An hour east
of Old Derinde the valley contracts to a gorge, and New Derinde
stretches out on both sides of the river for the whole distance between
this point and the Derinde of the old map. Old Derinde was aban-
doned like Old Malatia, and for the same reason. It is now a grand
mass of ruins. Derinde means "in or at the gorge." Professor
Kiepert regards the name as a popular interpretation of the ancient
name AfAevSis. At Old Derinde the river has cut its way through the
solid rock, which rises perpendicularly to a height of three or four hun-
dred feet on either side of the river. The width of the pass through
which the river thus flows is about fifty feet. On the right bank is the
almost impregnable castle, probably dating from the time of the early
Turks ; at the foot of the castle and west of it lies the abandoned town.