DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.65890#0126
88
beach. At about the middle of this line the channel
contracts suddenly, where the old isthmus com-
menced, which was cut through by the Corinthi-
ans, according to Strabo*. A little dismantled fort
called the Russian fortress, marks the spot. By
crossing the channel there directly, in a boat, the
remains of the bridge described by Strabo are dis-
covered at the Acarnanian side. This very ancient
and interesting ruin consists of a line of large square
stones laid together two and two, and constituting
a narrow road of about five feet in width, leading
from the continent for several hundred yards across
the shallow part of the channel, until it reaches the
deep water at the Acarnanian side; from this point
springs the abutment of a bridge; and a little nearer
to the island, may be discovered under water, in
clear weather, the piers of some of the arches. At
about the middle of the narrow road leading to the
bridge is a little islet, upon which are the founda-
tions of several small square buildings of cut stone,
and probably belonging to some little temple* which
• Strabo, book. x.
+ Palmerius (de Antiq. Grsec. book ii. chap. 10.) refers to a passage
in Dion. Halicarnass. who, in book 1. speaking of the flight of ./Eneas
and the Trojans, says, that they built a temple to Venus between
Dyoryethos and Leucas on a little island. Whether ./Eneas ever
arrived here or not, the description of the site of the temple
corresponds to the ruins here in question, which appear
to have been at least coeval with the bridge, and agree exactly to
the description of Palmerius. The passage quoted is: exn&x
artXayio, woiwaj*wot t wXai> sis Aaixa'^a xarayorraw xarsj^onTw et» to
Axapvawn. xc£» Tavrn waXw Ifyvovrcci a w> sflv tv t»
beach. At about the middle of this line the channel
contracts suddenly, where the old isthmus com-
menced, which was cut through by the Corinthi-
ans, according to Strabo*. A little dismantled fort
called the Russian fortress, marks the spot. By
crossing the channel there directly, in a boat, the
remains of the bridge described by Strabo are dis-
covered at the Acarnanian side. This very ancient
and interesting ruin consists of a line of large square
stones laid together two and two, and constituting
a narrow road of about five feet in width, leading
from the continent for several hundred yards across
the shallow part of the channel, until it reaches the
deep water at the Acarnanian side; from this point
springs the abutment of a bridge; and a little nearer
to the island, may be discovered under water, in
clear weather, the piers of some of the arches. At
about the middle of the narrow road leading to the
bridge is a little islet, upon which are the founda-
tions of several small square buildings of cut stone,
and probably belonging to some little temple* which
• Strabo, book. x.
+ Palmerius (de Antiq. Grsec. book ii. chap. 10.) refers to a passage
in Dion. Halicarnass. who, in book 1. speaking of the flight of ./Eneas
and the Trojans, says, that they built a temple to Venus between
Dyoryethos and Leucas on a little island. Whether ./Eneas ever
arrived here or not, the description of the site of the temple
corresponds to the ruins here in question, which appear
to have been at least coeval with the bridge, and agree exactly to
the description of Palmerius. The passage quoted is: exn&x
artXayio, woiwaj*wot t wXai> sis Aaixa'^a xarayorraw xarsj^onTw et» to
Axapvawn. xc£» Tavrn waXw Ifyvovrcci a w> sflv tv t»