DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0565
532
BUYUK NAZELI.
[Chap. xxx.
the summit of the overhanging lofty ridge, only acces-
sible "by a laborious ascent amidst ilex shrnbs and- other
underwood, were more remains of walls of the same style
and character as those below, apparently marking the site
of the Acropolis. These ruins were constructed in the same
style as those of Antiochia ad Ma?andrum, which, had it
not been for the remains of the stadium, I should have been
disposed to attribute to a Byzantine era.
The bed of the ravine was dry, but in a cleft of the hill
above the ruins we found a beautiful although rather scanty
spring of fine cold water. This, or the stream below, must
have been the source of the Chrysorrhoas, which, according
to Steph. Byzant., supplied Mastaura with water. From
thence we returned to Nazeli by a shorter road, amidst the
wooded sand-hills. Finding it too late to proceed to Aidin
to-day, I spent the afternoon in visiting the bazaar, and the
lower town, at each of which places I found an inscription.*
The town contains about 1000 Turkish houses, and is a
clean, cheerful place; and in the court-yard of one of the
mosques I saw some fine fragments of fluted columns.
While wandering about the streets with my Greek host, we
fell in with a Turkish procession, preceded by a long train
of armed Xebeques and musicians, escorting a Mahometan
child six years old, the son of a neighbouring proprietor;
he was returning on a gaily-caparisoned horse, led by two
men, from the mosque, where he had undergone the cere~
mony of circumcision. On entering the court-yard of
one of the mosques, I found an old Imaum reclining be-
neath the shade, with books and writing materials before
him, who, after a few words of welcome, began an unintel-
ligible theological discussion respecting the existence of two
gods, one of whom, he said, dwelt above, and the other below;
but whether he meant the devil or not I could not ascertain,
as, unfortunately, Giuseppe was not with me, and my Greek
companion was but a sorry substitute for an interpreter.
He also asked me whether I believed that Adam was the
* See Appendix, Nos. 208 and 209.
BUYUK NAZELI.
[Chap. xxx.
the summit of the overhanging lofty ridge, only acces-
sible "by a laborious ascent amidst ilex shrnbs and- other
underwood, were more remains of walls of the same style
and character as those below, apparently marking the site
of the Acropolis. These ruins were constructed in the same
style as those of Antiochia ad Ma?andrum, which, had it
not been for the remains of the stadium, I should have been
disposed to attribute to a Byzantine era.
The bed of the ravine was dry, but in a cleft of the hill
above the ruins we found a beautiful although rather scanty
spring of fine cold water. This, or the stream below, must
have been the source of the Chrysorrhoas, which, according
to Steph. Byzant., supplied Mastaura with water. From
thence we returned to Nazeli by a shorter road, amidst the
wooded sand-hills. Finding it too late to proceed to Aidin
to-day, I spent the afternoon in visiting the bazaar, and the
lower town, at each of which places I found an inscription.*
The town contains about 1000 Turkish houses, and is a
clean, cheerful place; and in the court-yard of one of the
mosques I saw some fine fragments of fluted columns.
While wandering about the streets with my Greek host, we
fell in with a Turkish procession, preceded by a long train
of armed Xebeques and musicians, escorting a Mahometan
child six years old, the son of a neighbouring proprietor;
he was returning on a gaily-caparisoned horse, led by two
men, from the mosque, where he had undergone the cere~
mony of circumcision. On entering the court-yard of
one of the mosques, I found an old Imaum reclining be-
neath the shade, with books and writing materials before
him, who, after a few words of welcome, began an unintel-
ligible theological discussion respecting the existence of two
gods, one of whom, he said, dwelt above, and the other below;
but whether he meant the devil or not I could not ascertain,
as, unfortunately, Giuseppe was not with me, and my Greek
companion was but a sorry substitute for an interpreter.
He also asked me whether I believed that Adam was the
* See Appendix, Nos. 208 and 209.