DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0548
Chap, xxix.]
LAODICEA.
515
particulars of any consequence have escaped their obscr-
vation. Nothing can exceed the desolation and melan-
choly appearance of the site of Laodicea; no picturesque
features in the nature of the ground on which it stands
relieve the dull uniformity of its undulating and barren
hills; and, with few exceptions, its grey and widely scat-
tered ruins possess no architectural merit to attract the
attention of the traveller. Yet it is impossible to view them
without interest, when we consider what Laodicea once was,
and how it is connected with the early history of Christianity
— a reflection which withdraws the mind from the gloomy
scene presented to the eye, and leads it to meditate upon
the past and the future. Its stadium, gymnasium, and
theatres, one of which is in a state of great preservation,
with its scats still perfectly horizontal, though merely laid
upon the gravel, are well deserving of notice. Other
buildings also on the top of the hill are full of interest,
and on the cast the line of the ancient wall may be dis-
tinctly traced, with the remains of a gateway; there is
also a street within and without the town, flanked by the
ruins of a colonnade and numerous pedestals, leading to
a confused heap of fallen ruins on the brow of the hill
about 200 yards outside the walls. North of the town to-
wards the Lycus are many sarcophagi, with their covers lying
near them partly imbedded in the ground, all having been
long since rifled.
Amongst other interesting objects are the remains of an
aqueduct, commencing near the summit of a low hill to the
south, whence it is carried on arches of small square stones
to the edge of the hill. Here also the water must have been
much charged with calcareous matter, as several of the
arches are covered with a thick incrustation. From this
hill the aqueduct crossed a valley before it reached the
town, but, instead of being carried over it on lofty arches, as
was the usual practice of the Romans, the water was con-
veyed down the hill in stone barrel-pipes; some of these
also are much incrusted, and some completely choked up.
2 l 2
LAODICEA.
515
particulars of any consequence have escaped their obscr-
vation. Nothing can exceed the desolation and melan-
choly appearance of the site of Laodicea; no picturesque
features in the nature of the ground on which it stands
relieve the dull uniformity of its undulating and barren
hills; and, with few exceptions, its grey and widely scat-
tered ruins possess no architectural merit to attract the
attention of the traveller. Yet it is impossible to view them
without interest, when we consider what Laodicea once was,
and how it is connected with the early history of Christianity
— a reflection which withdraws the mind from the gloomy
scene presented to the eye, and leads it to meditate upon
the past and the future. Its stadium, gymnasium, and
theatres, one of which is in a state of great preservation,
with its scats still perfectly horizontal, though merely laid
upon the gravel, are well deserving of notice. Other
buildings also on the top of the hill are full of interest,
and on the cast the line of the ancient wall may be dis-
tinctly traced, with the remains of a gateway; there is
also a street within and without the town, flanked by the
ruins of a colonnade and numerous pedestals, leading to
a confused heap of fallen ruins on the brow of the hill
about 200 yards outside the walls. North of the town to-
wards the Lycus are many sarcophagi, with their covers lying
near them partly imbedded in the ground, all having been
long since rifled.
Amongst other interesting objects are the remains of an
aqueduct, commencing near the summit of a low hill to the
south, whence it is carried on arches of small square stones
to the edge of the hill. Here also the water must have been
much charged with calcareous matter, as several of the
arches are covered with a thick incrustation. From this
hill the aqueduct crossed a valley before it reached the
town, but, instead of being carried over it on lofty arches, as
was the usual practice of the Romans, the water was con-
veyed down the hill in stone barrel-pipes; some of these
also are much incrusted, and some completely choked up.
2 l 2