DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4719#0276
254
CARIA.
tered upon the bases. and columns of temples which were
afterwards used to support Christian churches; the title of
archdeacon is sculptured in large letters on the fragment of
a frieze. In this age the temple of Venus must have un-
dergone great change. I have said that the columns are
still standing, and from their proportion, distance and form,
I doubt not upon their original bases—but how changed!
The cella has wholly vanished from the interior of the
colonnade; and many of the slabs of marble inscribed with
the affairs of the city, each bordered or grooved as those I
have seen at Nicaea, are now built into the walls surround-
ing the Byzantine city. A circular end is constructed of
rude stones, closing the east, probably for an altar, where
formerly the sun rose on the portico of the Pagan temple.
Surrounding the whole of this building, are traces of walls
of the same rude workmanship, in which cement was the
main support of the construction; and in this line there are
still standing several jambs of door-ways, of mean proportion
as compared with the old temple ; on these appear Christian
emblems and inscriptions. The outer colonnade of the
Temple of Venus must then have served to form a support
to the larger Christian church: at present all is in confused
but undecayed ruin. Surrounding this chief church are
several other columns, in pairs, supporting architraves of
pretty proportions, but perfectly eclipsed by the compara-
tively gigantic temple of the goddess, whose simple fluted
shafts of Greek workmanship display a beauty not dis-
coverable in the circularly surrounding flutes and laboured
ornaments of its diminutive Byzantine neighbour. Two
large tazze, or fonts, ten feet in diameter, and a sitting lion,
lie broken among the ruins : I know not to which age these
belong.
The walls of the town, in their present decay, show better
the extent of depredation and size of the former city than
any other remains ; it is equally a study for the lover of art,
t
■1?;.: .
*Ubr<*<
:::— :.,
VCv-;'
CARIA.
tered upon the bases. and columns of temples which were
afterwards used to support Christian churches; the title of
archdeacon is sculptured in large letters on the fragment of
a frieze. In this age the temple of Venus must have un-
dergone great change. I have said that the columns are
still standing, and from their proportion, distance and form,
I doubt not upon their original bases—but how changed!
The cella has wholly vanished from the interior of the
colonnade; and many of the slabs of marble inscribed with
the affairs of the city, each bordered or grooved as those I
have seen at Nicaea, are now built into the walls surround-
ing the Byzantine city. A circular end is constructed of
rude stones, closing the east, probably for an altar, where
formerly the sun rose on the portico of the Pagan temple.
Surrounding the whole of this building, are traces of walls
of the same rude workmanship, in which cement was the
main support of the construction; and in this line there are
still standing several jambs of door-ways, of mean proportion
as compared with the old temple ; on these appear Christian
emblems and inscriptions. The outer colonnade of the
Temple of Venus must then have served to form a support
to the larger Christian church: at present all is in confused
but undecayed ruin. Surrounding this chief church are
several other columns, in pairs, supporting architraves of
pretty proportions, but perfectly eclipsed by the compara-
tively gigantic temple of the goddess, whose simple fluted
shafts of Greek workmanship display a beauty not dis-
coverable in the circularly surrounding flutes and laboured
ornaments of its diminutive Byzantine neighbour. Two
large tazze, or fonts, ten feet in diameter, and a sitting lion,
lie broken among the ruins : I know not to which age these
belong.
The walls of the town, in their present decay, show better
the extent of depredation and size of the former city than
any other remains ; it is equally a study for the lover of art,
t
■1?;.: .
*Ubr<*<
:::— :.,
VCv-;'