DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0078
50
STATUE OF CYBELE.
[Chap. iv.
some time be seen under the waters of the lake, which was
called Sale, or Saloe • it is, therefore, probable that the
site of the town of Sipylus, if it ever existed, was, as
Chandler imagined, in the marshy plain near Magnesia, at
the foot of Mount Sipylus,* where the character and ap-
pearance of the country agree with the vague accounts of
the position of Sipylus which have been handed down to us
by ancient writers. Thus we have a mountain of the same
name overhanging a considerable extent of marshy ground,
which in all probability is the same as the lake to which
Pausanias alludes under the name of Sale, or Saloe. The
connexion of this locality with the history of Tantalus is
further proved by the occurrence of a remarkable statue
sculptured upon the rocky base of Mount Sipylus, which
was visited at a later period by Mr. Strickland, and is by
him supposed to represent the statue of Cybele described
by Pausanias. f
* Asia Minor, vol. i. p. 307.
f The following extract from Mr. Strickland's Journal will illustrate the locality
in question:—" Mount Sipylus, composed of hard grey cretaceous limestone,
rises almost like a wall abruptly from the plain of the Hermus to a vast height.
Numerous springs flow from its base, and form a marshy spot, supposed by Chandler
to be the Lake Sale, mentioned by Pausanias as the site of the ancient town of
Sipylus destroyed by an earthquake. One of these springs near a cafinet is very
abundant, and at that early hour * felt warm to the touch, though its temperature is
perhaps not higher than the mean for that latitude. Immediately above this spring,
in the side of a cliff about 100 feet above the road, is a curious colossal statue, rudely
sculptured out of the solid rock. It represents a sitting figure contained in a niche,
and the height from the base to the top of the head may be about twenty feet. The
features and costume are so much corroded as to be hardly traceable. There can
be little doubt that this is the ancient statue of Cybele, mentioned by Pausanias
as the work of Broteas, son of Tantalus.f Its form is too regular and artificial to
agree with his account of the figure of Niobe.f No modern traveller seems to have
noticed it except Chishull, who considered it to be the figure of Niobe. Chandler
and Emerson both passed within 100 yards of it without seeing it. The former
fancied that he saw Niobe in the rude outline of some cliff near Magnesia, but I
believe no succeeding traveller has verified his conjecture. Emerson involves the
matter in confusion, by connecting Chisbull's description of the statue with Chand-
ler's fanciful account of the lights and shadows on the cliff at Magnesia.§ Whether
or not. the latter be right in his identification of Niobe, it seems pretty clear that the
* 7 a. m. April 14, 1836. t Pausan. Lacon. c. 22.
X Pausan. Attic, c. 21. § Letters from the Egean, vol. i. p. 225.
STATUE OF CYBELE.
[Chap. iv.
some time be seen under the waters of the lake, which was
called Sale, or Saloe • it is, therefore, probable that the
site of the town of Sipylus, if it ever existed, was, as
Chandler imagined, in the marshy plain near Magnesia, at
the foot of Mount Sipylus,* where the character and ap-
pearance of the country agree with the vague accounts of
the position of Sipylus which have been handed down to us
by ancient writers. Thus we have a mountain of the same
name overhanging a considerable extent of marshy ground,
which in all probability is the same as the lake to which
Pausanias alludes under the name of Sale, or Saloe. The
connexion of this locality with the history of Tantalus is
further proved by the occurrence of a remarkable statue
sculptured upon the rocky base of Mount Sipylus, which
was visited at a later period by Mr. Strickland, and is by
him supposed to represent the statue of Cybele described
by Pausanias. f
* Asia Minor, vol. i. p. 307.
f The following extract from Mr. Strickland's Journal will illustrate the locality
in question:—" Mount Sipylus, composed of hard grey cretaceous limestone,
rises almost like a wall abruptly from the plain of the Hermus to a vast height.
Numerous springs flow from its base, and form a marshy spot, supposed by Chandler
to be the Lake Sale, mentioned by Pausanias as the site of the ancient town of
Sipylus destroyed by an earthquake. One of these springs near a cafinet is very
abundant, and at that early hour * felt warm to the touch, though its temperature is
perhaps not higher than the mean for that latitude. Immediately above this spring,
in the side of a cliff about 100 feet above the road, is a curious colossal statue, rudely
sculptured out of the solid rock. It represents a sitting figure contained in a niche,
and the height from the base to the top of the head may be about twenty feet. The
features and costume are so much corroded as to be hardly traceable. There can
be little doubt that this is the ancient statue of Cybele, mentioned by Pausanias
as the work of Broteas, son of Tantalus.f Its form is too regular and artificial to
agree with his account of the figure of Niobe.f No modern traveller seems to have
noticed it except Chishull, who considered it to be the figure of Niobe. Chandler
and Emerson both passed within 100 yards of it without seeing it. The former
fancied that he saw Niobe in the rude outline of some cliff near Magnesia, but I
believe no succeeding traveller has verified his conjecture. Emerson involves the
matter in confusion, by connecting Chisbull's description of the statue with Chand-
ler's fanciful account of the lights and shadows on the cliff at Magnesia.§ Whether
or not. the latter be right in his identification of Niobe, it seems pretty clear that the
* 7 a. m. April 14, 1836. t Pausan. Lacon. c. 22.
X Pausan. Attic, c. 21. § Letters from the Egean, vol. i. p. 225.