DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4099#0317
286 RUINS OF AN ANCIENT CITY.
dashing against the projecting precipices of the mountain. Near the.
village are the remains of an ancient city, situated on a bare
precipitous rock, the edge of which is encircled b}' the ruins of the
walls. These are in the fourth style of construction. Three dilapi-
dated churches appear within the walls, with two ancient altars, a
sepulchral cippus, enriched with sculptured foliage, and two frag-
ments of the maeandered ornament in white marble. I could find
no inscription, nor the remains of any temple, which could elucidate
the ancient name of the place. Here are some modern walls and
restorations; probably the construction of the middle ages, or the
work of the Venetians ; for the position is exceedingly strong, and
Avell adapted for a fortress. None of the gates are remaining:
there was one facing the south, and another on the opposite side,
but their foundations only are visible.
The port is at the foot of the mountain, where there are also some
remains of ancient walls.
The view by which the traveller is here gratified is richly charac-
terised by the magnificence and the sublimity of the particular parts,
as well as of the general whole. This grand assemblage of pic-
turesque scenery is heightened by the associated interest of past
times. We do not merely behold an inanimate landscape, but a
landscape enlivened by events, and immortalized in the recollections
of history. The shadows of great men, of the good, the brave, and
the wise, appear to wave over the prospect both by sea and land ;
and every locality in the picture not only delights the eye, but agi-
tates the breast. The Saronic gulf, once the scene of commercial
activity, and of the highest naval renown, is here beheld in its most
attractive features, and in all its diversified forms of classical cele-
brity. The combinations, the details, the tints thrown over the
varied surface—all harmonize in a panorama that is at once impres-
sively grand, and exquisitely beautiful. We gazed with rapture
upon the soft waving lines of the Saronic islands, and the Attic,
mountains, the blue expanse of the open iEgean sea, with its distant
dashing against the projecting precipices of the mountain. Near the.
village are the remains of an ancient city, situated on a bare
precipitous rock, the edge of which is encircled b}' the ruins of the
walls. These are in the fourth style of construction. Three dilapi-
dated churches appear within the walls, with two ancient altars, a
sepulchral cippus, enriched with sculptured foliage, and two frag-
ments of the maeandered ornament in white marble. I could find
no inscription, nor the remains of any temple, which could elucidate
the ancient name of the place. Here are some modern walls and
restorations; probably the construction of the middle ages, or the
work of the Venetians ; for the position is exceedingly strong, and
Avell adapted for a fortress. None of the gates are remaining:
there was one facing the south, and another on the opposite side,
but their foundations only are visible.
The port is at the foot of the mountain, where there are also some
remains of ancient walls.
The view by which the traveller is here gratified is richly charac-
terised by the magnificence and the sublimity of the particular parts,
as well as of the general whole. This grand assemblage of pic-
turesque scenery is heightened by the associated interest of past
times. We do not merely behold an inanimate landscape, but a
landscape enlivened by events, and immortalized in the recollections
of history. The shadows of great men, of the good, the brave, and
the wise, appear to wave over the prospect both by sea and land ;
and every locality in the picture not only delights the eye, but agi-
tates the breast. The Saronic gulf, once the scene of commercial
activity, and of the highest naval renown, is here beheld in its most
attractive features, and in all its diversified forms of classical cele-
brity. The combinations, the details, the tints thrown over the
varied surface—all harmonize in a panorama that is at once impres-
sively grand, and exquisitely beautiful. We gazed with rapture
upon the soft waving lines of the Saronic islands, and the Attic,
mountains, the blue expanse of the open iEgean sea, with its distant