DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0079
Chap, iv.]
RIVER MELES.
51
Another argument against the probability of these ruins
being those of Sipylus, arises from the circumstance, that
Strabo, in his very exact account of the coast of Ionia, and
particularly of the bay of Smyrna, never alludes to the fact
of this town being near the sea-shore, although he speaks
of it by name in several places. It is, however, easier to
prove that it could not have been Sipylus, than to fix its
real name; unless, what is most probable, it was the ancient
Smyrna, built by the Smyrnreans before they were driven,
as Strabo relates,* from their habitations by the Lydians,
and dwelt in villages for 400 years, until restored to a new
city on Mount Pagus, built by Antigonus and Lysimaehus.
Dwelling in the neighbourhood of, and surrounded by
powerful enemies, their first efforts would necessarily be
directed towards securing their position by walls and for-
tifications, and thus their citadel would be built on one of
the most lofty and insulated peaks in the neighbourhood.
In the mosque of Bournoubat are several marble co-
lumns, evidently derived from older buildings, perhaps
those beautiful porticoes and temples which, according to
Strabo, once adorned the illustrious city of Smyrna. On
one of these is a remarkable Greek inscription, which has
been already published by a distinguished English tra-
veller, f celebrating the wonderful healing powers of the
river Meles. Now, it is a remarkable circumstance that
the river, which is supposed to be the Meles, and falls into
the sea near Smyrna, is a dirty, muddy stream; and to
judge from the deposit which it leaves in the choked up
water-pipes, must be extremely unwholesome; whereas the
bright and sparkling river, not much inferior to it in size,
which rushes over its rocky bed near Bournoubat, is cele-
brated for its agreeable and wholesome qualities. Is it
statue above described is not that nymph. The rudeness of the workmanship de-
notes a remote antiquity; and if it be not the statue of Cybele which Pausanias
mentions, we may conjecture that it represents some deity presiding over the spring
below, or perhaps some hero whose tomb may be concealed in the rock behind,"
* Strab. lib. xiv. c. 1.
t Morier. Appendix, No. 48. Arundel, Asia Minor, vol. ii. p. 406.
E 2
RIVER MELES.
51
Another argument against the probability of these ruins
being those of Sipylus, arises from the circumstance, that
Strabo, in his very exact account of the coast of Ionia, and
particularly of the bay of Smyrna, never alludes to the fact
of this town being near the sea-shore, although he speaks
of it by name in several places. It is, however, easier to
prove that it could not have been Sipylus, than to fix its
real name; unless, what is most probable, it was the ancient
Smyrna, built by the Smyrnreans before they were driven,
as Strabo relates,* from their habitations by the Lydians,
and dwelt in villages for 400 years, until restored to a new
city on Mount Pagus, built by Antigonus and Lysimaehus.
Dwelling in the neighbourhood of, and surrounded by
powerful enemies, their first efforts would necessarily be
directed towards securing their position by walls and for-
tifications, and thus their citadel would be built on one of
the most lofty and insulated peaks in the neighbourhood.
In the mosque of Bournoubat are several marble co-
lumns, evidently derived from older buildings, perhaps
those beautiful porticoes and temples which, according to
Strabo, once adorned the illustrious city of Smyrna. On
one of these is a remarkable Greek inscription, which has
been already published by a distinguished English tra-
veller, f celebrating the wonderful healing powers of the
river Meles. Now, it is a remarkable circumstance that
the river, which is supposed to be the Meles, and falls into
the sea near Smyrna, is a dirty, muddy stream; and to
judge from the deposit which it leaves in the choked up
water-pipes, must be extremely unwholesome; whereas the
bright and sparkling river, not much inferior to it in size,
which rushes over its rocky bed near Bournoubat, is cele-
brated for its agreeable and wholesome qualities. Is it
statue above described is not that nymph. The rudeness of the workmanship de-
notes a remote antiquity; and if it be not the statue of Cybele which Pausanias
mentions, we may conjecture that it represents some deity presiding over the spring
below, or perhaps some hero whose tomb may be concealed in the rock behind,"
* Strab. lib. xiv. c. 1.
t Morier. Appendix, No. 48. Arundel, Asia Minor, vol. ii. p. 406.
E 2