Beaufort, Francis: Karamania, or a brief description of the south coast of Asia-Minor and of the remains of antiquity: with plans, views, &c. ; collected during a survey of that coast, under the orders of the lords commissioners of the admiralty, in the years 1811 & 1812 (London, 1817)

2 PATAEA.

the river Xanthus winds through an ex-
tensive valley; and a little farther to the
eastward, the ruins of the city of Patara
stand near the sea-shore. This place,
once a celebrated oracle of Apollo, still
preserves its former name, and many
traces of its former grandeur; but as it
has been recently visited by a mission of
the Dilettanti Society, it will be suffi-
cient here to notice the most striking fea-
tures, leaving a more copious description
to the abler pen and pencil of Sir William
Gell.

The theatre at Patara is excavated in
the northern side of a small hill, and is
somewhat more than a semi-circle, whose
external diameter is about two hundred
feet: it contains thirty-four rows of mar-
ble seats, few of which have been dis-
turbed; but the superior preservation of
the proscenium distinguishes it from most
of the antient theatres which are extant,
and would render it well worthy of
more minute architectural detail. At