DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0083
Chap, iv.]
CAVE OF HOMER.
55
which the Spanish chestnut was conspicuous, which does
not grow on the southern side of the hill. The lake itself
is of great depth, and is said to he full of fish; it is surrounded
by thickly wooded hills, out of which pinnacles of limestone-
rock rise to a considerable height. The view to the N.W.
is very striking, overlooking the valley of the Hermus. We
returned by another road, to visit the caves, which overhang
the ravine by which we had ascended, and which have ac-
quired the name of the Caves of Homer. They are plain and
unimportant, about five feet high, and extend from twelve
to fifteen feet into the rock; they were probably sepulchral,
and are now used as places of refuge for the shepherds,
who occasionally pasture their flocks in this mountainous
region.
Chandler, in his account of the neighbourhood of Smyrna,
mentions a supposed cave of Homer, pointed out to him
near the upper aqueducts of Megalos Paradeisos, and
which he says he visited. This cave, into which I de-
scended amidst brambles and weeds, is a long narrow
passage, excavated in the soft calcareous tuff which has
been deposited by a neighbouring spring, and in which are
a few impressions of the leaves of recent plants. The gal-
lery is evidently the remains of an ancient aqueduct, for
the purpose of conveying the water through the projecting
promontory, where the rock was too precipitous to carry it
round. It resembles, both in shape and appearance, those
which are seen in the hills in the neighbourhood of Home,
and its antiquity is probably not very great.
Another remarkable feature in the neighbourhood of
Smyrna is the wall, which extends nearly east and west
along the summit of the ridge to the south of Mount Pagus,
separating the deep ravine of the Meles from the plain of
Budjah; it is nearly two miles in length, and crosses both
the upper and lower roads from Smyrna to that village,
although broken and interrupted in places. It appears
to commence at the eastern end, on the hills above Budjah,
without any apparent cause or object, making a sharp angle
CAVE OF HOMER.
55
which the Spanish chestnut was conspicuous, which does
not grow on the southern side of the hill. The lake itself
is of great depth, and is said to he full of fish; it is surrounded
by thickly wooded hills, out of which pinnacles of limestone-
rock rise to a considerable height. The view to the N.W.
is very striking, overlooking the valley of the Hermus. We
returned by another road, to visit the caves, which overhang
the ravine by which we had ascended, and which have ac-
quired the name of the Caves of Homer. They are plain and
unimportant, about five feet high, and extend from twelve
to fifteen feet into the rock; they were probably sepulchral,
and are now used as places of refuge for the shepherds,
who occasionally pasture their flocks in this mountainous
region.
Chandler, in his account of the neighbourhood of Smyrna,
mentions a supposed cave of Homer, pointed out to him
near the upper aqueducts of Megalos Paradeisos, and
which he says he visited. This cave, into which I de-
scended amidst brambles and weeds, is a long narrow
passage, excavated in the soft calcareous tuff which has
been deposited by a neighbouring spring, and in which are
a few impressions of the leaves of recent plants. The gal-
lery is evidently the remains of an ancient aqueduct, for
the purpose of conveying the water through the projecting
promontory, where the rock was too precipitous to carry it
round. It resembles, both in shape and appearance, those
which are seen in the hills in the neighbourhood of Home,
and its antiquity is probably not very great.
Another remarkable feature in the neighbourhood of
Smyrna is the wall, which extends nearly east and west
along the summit of the ridge to the south of Mount Pagus,
separating the deep ravine of the Meles from the plain of
Budjah; it is nearly two miles in length, and crosses both
the upper and lower roads from Smyrna to that village,
although broken and interrupted in places. It appears
to commence at the eastern end, on the hills above Budjah,
without any apparent cause or object, making a sharp angle