DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4719#0274
252
CARTA.
of the arts. The opinion I shall venture to give is founded
wholly upon my observation of the ruins as they exist, in per-
fect ignorance of any historical accounts. I have copied
many of the inscriptions, and hope to increase my knowledge
by their after examination.
On this site I see no trace either of the position, grandeur
of design, or hard style of sculpture, accompanied with the
beauty of simplicity, which so peculiarly mark the cities of
the early Greeks. In much of the material of the temple,
and perhaps in the arrangement of many of its columns, may
be traced a city probably of a date two centuries before the
Christian sera : its stadium on the north side of the city is
still magnificent, running from east to west, and having both
ends circular; most of its seats are still remaining, and in
itself this building alone would repay the trouble of a
visit to this city. On the south side is a small hill, arti-
ficially formed, probably to contain a theatre, the ruins of
which face the south-east; a few foundations would lead us
to suppose that temples may have ornamented this little
acropolis. In the centre of the city stood a beautiful Ionic
temple ; fifteen of its white marble fluted columns are still
standing, and some have tablets left uncut where the shaft
was fluted, telling by their inscriptions that they were offer-
ings to the temple of Yenus or Aphrodite, the goddess to
whom the city was dedicated.
These stand, I doubt not, upon their original bases, al-
though from their reversed tablets, the irregular joining of
the flutes, and several other points, I judge that they have
been thrown down and afterwards piled up in their present
form.
Many other remains, showing different orders of archi-
tecture, in columns and friezes, attest, without doubt, the
existence of numerous temples, and indicate a beautiful city
built wholly of white marble, large blocks of which are
found in all parts of the ruins, many measuring nine or ten
':■■-''
■
WI iIIi mm
'•i ;. ■•
'U
CARTA.
of the arts. The opinion I shall venture to give is founded
wholly upon my observation of the ruins as they exist, in per-
fect ignorance of any historical accounts. I have copied
many of the inscriptions, and hope to increase my knowledge
by their after examination.
On this site I see no trace either of the position, grandeur
of design, or hard style of sculpture, accompanied with the
beauty of simplicity, which so peculiarly mark the cities of
the early Greeks. In much of the material of the temple,
and perhaps in the arrangement of many of its columns, may
be traced a city probably of a date two centuries before the
Christian sera : its stadium on the north side of the city is
still magnificent, running from east to west, and having both
ends circular; most of its seats are still remaining, and in
itself this building alone would repay the trouble of a
visit to this city. On the south side is a small hill, arti-
ficially formed, probably to contain a theatre, the ruins of
which face the south-east; a few foundations would lead us
to suppose that temples may have ornamented this little
acropolis. In the centre of the city stood a beautiful Ionic
temple ; fifteen of its white marble fluted columns are still
standing, and some have tablets left uncut where the shaft
was fluted, telling by their inscriptions that they were offer-
ings to the temple of Yenus or Aphrodite, the goddess to
whom the city was dedicated.
These stand, I doubt not, upon their original bases, al-
though from their reversed tablets, the irregular joining of
the flutes, and several other points, I judge that they have
been thrown down and afterwards piled up in their present
form.
Many other remains, showing different orders of archi-
tecture, in columns and friezes, attest, without doubt, the
existence of numerous temples, and indicate a beautiful city
built wholly of white marble, large blocks of which are
found in all parts of the ruins, many measuring nine or ten
':■■-''
■
WI iIIi mm
'•i ;. ■•
'U