DOI Artikel:
Sterrett, John R. Sitlington: The Wolfe expedition to Asia Minor
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8680#0326
314
THE WOLFE EXPEDITION
Lines 1-5. The beginning seems to be: AeWo-ra "A-o/VW ko.1
'Ep/xei'a, yydadai 'Av'tio^os Kai BtaFcop (" beseech tliee" left out by
mistake), TrapoSeira, taSev ( = i£eo) Kai vp-qcrjJMV dperr/s a—dXavaoV
rj/xuv yap €K irpoyovtav p.avTocrvvr^v (gap, something left Out), TTqv oi
iropc <1?ol/3os A-rroAAon'.
Note that the inscription is an acrostic, beginning with line 6.
The method of consulting the oracle seems to have been the follow-
ing : The soothsayers in charge of the oracle kept a box with, say,
pebbles, in number equal to the number of the letters of the alpha-
bet. The person wishing to consult the oracle was made to choose
at random one of these pebbles. The officiating soothsayer then
turned to the line beginning with the letter chosen by the inquirer
and read it off to him. This method of consulting the oracle is
simpler than that with which he became acquainted in Nos. 339—342.
From the site of the oracle we retrace our steps to Malek Kalesi
[Ritter, Klein-Asien, II. p. 563], whose ruins are neither so exten-
sive nor so imposing as those of Kodja Assar, and then descend
south to Pambuk Ovasti, crossing first the Kutchiik Tchai, then the
Kodja Su by Eyiler Koprti, and encamping in a grove of frankincense
trees at a portion of the village Tchandyr. Wild olive, fig, and pome-
granate trees abound, but the people are the most ignorant, wretched,
and shiftless of any I have ever met in Asia Minor, and that is saying
a great deal. The villages Syghyrlik, Selimler, Melikler, Tchandyr,
and Milli, are really no villages at all, and the names are those of
districts. There are houses scattered about throughout the region,
but they do not form villages properly speaking. The same state of
things exists on the Eurymedon River. During the summer the peo-
ple abandon their houses and dwell in tents, or else in the open air
under trees.
September 4. Tchandyr to Yazulti [Kaya], 1 h. 55 m., and thence
to Girme, 7 h. 2 m. We went back north to the bridge over Kodja Su.
Tradition says the bridge was built in one night by angels, and hence
it is called Eyiler Koprti [Eyiler = ot aya0ol~]. Another tradition
says it was spirits who built it [guduretden yapylmysh]. We go up
the left bank of Kodja Su about east for an hour, when the eastern
limit of Pambuk Ovasti is reached, and we enter a narrow gorge
down which the Kodja Su comes. The gorge becomes narrower and
narrower until finally horses can proceed no further ; the river rushes
roaring and foaming down the gorge.
THE WOLFE EXPEDITION
Lines 1-5. The beginning seems to be: AeWo-ra "A-o/VW ko.1
'Ep/xei'a, yydadai 'Av'tio^os Kai BtaFcop (" beseech tliee" left out by
mistake), TrapoSeira, taSev ( = i£eo) Kai vp-qcrjJMV dperr/s a—dXavaoV
rj/xuv yap €K irpoyovtav p.avTocrvvr^v (gap, something left Out), TTqv oi
iropc <1?ol/3os A-rroAAon'.
Note that the inscription is an acrostic, beginning with line 6.
The method of consulting the oracle seems to have been the follow-
ing : The soothsayers in charge of the oracle kept a box with, say,
pebbles, in number equal to the number of the letters of the alpha-
bet. The person wishing to consult the oracle was made to choose
at random one of these pebbles. The officiating soothsayer then
turned to the line beginning with the letter chosen by the inquirer
and read it off to him. This method of consulting the oracle is
simpler than that with which he became acquainted in Nos. 339—342.
From the site of the oracle we retrace our steps to Malek Kalesi
[Ritter, Klein-Asien, II. p. 563], whose ruins are neither so exten-
sive nor so imposing as those of Kodja Assar, and then descend
south to Pambuk Ovasti, crossing first the Kutchiik Tchai, then the
Kodja Su by Eyiler Koprti, and encamping in a grove of frankincense
trees at a portion of the village Tchandyr. Wild olive, fig, and pome-
granate trees abound, but the people are the most ignorant, wretched,
and shiftless of any I have ever met in Asia Minor, and that is saying
a great deal. The villages Syghyrlik, Selimler, Melikler, Tchandyr,
and Milli, are really no villages at all, and the names are those of
districts. There are houses scattered about throughout the region,
but they do not form villages properly speaking. The same state of
things exists on the Eurymedon River. During the summer the peo-
ple abandon their houses and dwell in tents, or else in the open air
under trees.
September 4. Tchandyr to Yazulti [Kaya], 1 h. 55 m., and thence
to Girme, 7 h. 2 m. We went back north to the bridge over Kodja Su.
Tradition says the bridge was built in one night by angels, and hence
it is called Eyiler Koprti [Eyiler = ot aya0ol~]. Another tradition
says it was spirits who built it [guduretden yapylmysh]. We go up
the left bank of Kodja Su about east for an hour, when the eastern
limit of Pambuk Ovasti is reached, and we enter a narrow gorge
down which the Kodja Su comes. The gorge becomes narrower and
narrower until finally horses can proceed no further ; the river rushes
roaring and foaming down the gorge.