DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4326#0023
18
C N J D U S.
tween it and the city. This peninsula is united to the main by a low sandy isthmus, through
which there was anciently a canal connecting the two ports. The entrance of either harbour was
narrowed by moles, 500 feet in length, composed of immense masses of squared stone, and at
the outward extremity constructed in a depth of near 100 feet, forming altogether a work which
impresses the spectator with a profound respect for those, who have left such an enduring monu-
ment of their skill and power.
" The ancient city having occupied the side of a steep hill, was entirely ledged upon terraces,
the remains of which by their excellent and durable construction attest the abilities of the archi-
tects who raised them. One of these, marked M in the plan, was nearly 400 feet in length, and
9
supported a continued colonnade of the Doric order, of which the details, though not the precise
plan, have been ascertained. A foundation formed out of the rock, and some remains of marble
steps, indicate that at either end there was an entrance through a hexastyle portico. In the stoa
itself a ditriglyph interval, requiring ten feet from centre to centre, would present forty one co-
lumns of three feet diameter towards the port.*
" At the eastern end of this fine piece of architecture a street descending to the sea, at right
angles to the portico, passed to the west of a small theatre of white marble, which was so close to
the water, that the street or passage in front of the theatre passed under a portico constructed be-
tween the scene and the port. This theatre was nearly 200 feet wide, the seats remain perfect
from top to bottom, and within its area are still the scattered fragments of some of the statues
which once adorned its area.
" Adjoining the great Doric Portico to the north and on the same level, a heap of ruins over-
grown with mastic and myrde mark the site of a small tetrastyle temple of the Corinthian order
(L) forty-eight feet long, constructed in antis at one extremity, but prostyle at the other, the half
columns of the sides attached to the wall of the cella decide its species to be pseudo-peripteral.
Its details will be found in Plates IV-X of this chapter.
" To the north-eastward half way up the mountain was the principal theatre, in a less perfect
state than that upon the water's edge, but remarkable for the solidity of its masonry, many of the
stones measuring nearly ten feet in length. Its width is about four hundred feet: above it in the
rock or quarry are niches for votive offerings or dedications. Still higher up are two large terraces ;
above which and crowning the whole site is the citadel, the walls and towers of which extend
along a continued ridge precipitous on all sides, and in some places inaccessible. Of one of the
towers twenty courses remain, thirty-three feet in height. In another is an irregularly formed
arch, four feet four inches wide, to which it would be difficult to assign a date, or any urgent
reason for its insertion, inasmuch as the stones nearly reach across the aperture without its aid.+
* This seems to be the stoa or pensilis ambulatio, built by
Sostratus. Vid. sup. p. 9.
f See Vignette to this Chapter.
C N J D U S.
tween it and the city. This peninsula is united to the main by a low sandy isthmus, through
which there was anciently a canal connecting the two ports. The entrance of either harbour was
narrowed by moles, 500 feet in length, composed of immense masses of squared stone, and at
the outward extremity constructed in a depth of near 100 feet, forming altogether a work which
impresses the spectator with a profound respect for those, who have left such an enduring monu-
ment of their skill and power.
" The ancient city having occupied the side of a steep hill, was entirely ledged upon terraces,
the remains of which by their excellent and durable construction attest the abilities of the archi-
tects who raised them. One of these, marked M in the plan, was nearly 400 feet in length, and
9
supported a continued colonnade of the Doric order, of which the details, though not the precise
plan, have been ascertained. A foundation formed out of the rock, and some remains of marble
steps, indicate that at either end there was an entrance through a hexastyle portico. In the stoa
itself a ditriglyph interval, requiring ten feet from centre to centre, would present forty one co-
lumns of three feet diameter towards the port.*
" At the eastern end of this fine piece of architecture a street descending to the sea, at right
angles to the portico, passed to the west of a small theatre of white marble, which was so close to
the water, that the street or passage in front of the theatre passed under a portico constructed be-
tween the scene and the port. This theatre was nearly 200 feet wide, the seats remain perfect
from top to bottom, and within its area are still the scattered fragments of some of the statues
which once adorned its area.
" Adjoining the great Doric Portico to the north and on the same level, a heap of ruins over-
grown with mastic and myrde mark the site of a small tetrastyle temple of the Corinthian order
(L) forty-eight feet long, constructed in antis at one extremity, but prostyle at the other, the half
columns of the sides attached to the wall of the cella decide its species to be pseudo-peripteral.
Its details will be found in Plates IV-X of this chapter.
" To the north-eastward half way up the mountain was the principal theatre, in a less perfect
state than that upon the water's edge, but remarkable for the solidity of its masonry, many of the
stones measuring nearly ten feet in length. Its width is about four hundred feet: above it in the
rock or quarry are niches for votive offerings or dedications. Still higher up are two large terraces ;
above which and crowning the whole site is the citadel, the walls and towers of which extend
along a continued ridge precipitous on all sides, and in some places inaccessible. Of one of the
towers twenty courses remain, thirty-three feet in height. In another is an irregularly formed
arch, four feet four inches wide, to which it would be difficult to assign a date, or any urgent
reason for its insertion, inasmuch as the stones nearly reach across the aperture without its aid.+
* This seems to be the stoa or pensilis ambulatio, built by
Sostratus. Vid. sup. p. 9.
f See Vignette to this Chapter.