DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4324#0041
PRIENE. 19
the temples to which they belonged, and the office was accounted very honourable. It was some-
times conferred on cities, and is found inscribed among their titles.
The Greek emperor Manuel encamped near this lake with his army, about the year 867. " His
camp," says Cinnamus, " was situated towards the mouths of the Maeander. There an immense
quantity of water issues forth at the foot of the mountains, as it were the produce of a thousand
springs ; and, spreading a deluge over the adjacent country, first composes a lake, then, forming
for itself a deep bed, becomes a river." Its junction with the Maeander is computed to be half a
mile in length. The city of Myus had anciently an intercourse by water with Miletus.
PLATE II.
MAP OF PRIENE.
The acropolis is situated upon a natural terrace, incircled, excepting towards the plain, by an
ancient wall of the masonry termed pseudisodonium. This has been repaired and made tenable
in a later age by additional out-works. A steep, high and naked rock rises behind, and the terrace
terminates in front, in a most abrupt and formidable precipice, whence the spectator looks down
with awe on the diminutive objects beneath. The massive heap of the temple below appears to
the naked eye but as chippings of marble.
A winding track leads down from the acropolis to the city; the steps cut in the rock are
narrow; the path no wider than sufficient to permit the approach of a single person.
The temple of Minerva-Polias, although prostrate, is one of the remains of Ionian elegance and
grandeur too considerable to be hastily or slightly examined. When entire it overlooked the city,
which was seated on the side of the mountain on terraces cut out of the slope, descending in
gradation to the edge of the plain. The communication from one terrace to another was by stair-
cases cut in the solid rock, many of which are still remaining. Below the temple are the ruins of
the Agora, consisting of fragments of the Doric and Ionic orders of architecture.
On a lower terrace the remains of a stadium are seen, one of its sides being supported by the
ancient wall of the city, which is strengthened by buttresses, for the purpose of resisting the
pressure of the masonry, forming the seats of the stadium on the side next the plain. The seats
of the opposite side still remain.
All the buildings are constructed with the marble of the mountain, which in some instances
assumes a dark hue, although the general tint is grey.
the temples to which they belonged, and the office was accounted very honourable. It was some-
times conferred on cities, and is found inscribed among their titles.
The Greek emperor Manuel encamped near this lake with his army, about the year 867. " His
camp," says Cinnamus, " was situated towards the mouths of the Maeander. There an immense
quantity of water issues forth at the foot of the mountains, as it were the produce of a thousand
springs ; and, spreading a deluge over the adjacent country, first composes a lake, then, forming
for itself a deep bed, becomes a river." Its junction with the Maeander is computed to be half a
mile in length. The city of Myus had anciently an intercourse by water with Miletus.
PLATE II.
MAP OF PRIENE.
The acropolis is situated upon a natural terrace, incircled, excepting towards the plain, by an
ancient wall of the masonry termed pseudisodonium. This has been repaired and made tenable
in a later age by additional out-works. A steep, high and naked rock rises behind, and the terrace
terminates in front, in a most abrupt and formidable precipice, whence the spectator looks down
with awe on the diminutive objects beneath. The massive heap of the temple below appears to
the naked eye but as chippings of marble.
A winding track leads down from the acropolis to the city; the steps cut in the rock are
narrow; the path no wider than sufficient to permit the approach of a single person.
The temple of Minerva-Polias, although prostrate, is one of the remains of Ionian elegance and
grandeur too considerable to be hastily or slightly examined. When entire it overlooked the city,
which was seated on the side of the mountain on terraces cut out of the slope, descending in
gradation to the edge of the plain. The communication from one terrace to another was by stair-
cases cut in the solid rock, many of which are still remaining. Below the temple are the ruins of
the Agora, consisting of fragments of the Doric and Ionic orders of architecture.
On a lower terrace the remains of a stadium are seen, one of its sides being supported by the
ancient wall of the city, which is strengthened by buttresses, for the purpose of resisting the
pressure of the masonry, forming the seats of the stadium on the side next the plain. The seats
of the opposite side still remain.
All the buildings are constructed with the marble of the mountain, which in some instances
assumes a dark hue, although the general tint is grey.