DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5542#0156
Chap. xxxix.J
SAITT^.
145
ing the neighbourhood, until he was summoned to his duties
in the mosque *
In the course of the afternoon I found in the village two
inscriptions.-j- No. 338 was built into the wall of a fountain,
and the other was on a small pedestal in the court-yard of
thekonak. Neither of them gave any indication of the name
of the ruins ; but there can be no doubt, I think, that they
mark the site of Saitta3, a town of Lydia, of which many coins
are still extant. Ptolemy assigns it to the north-eastern part
of Lydia, which agrees very well with this position ; besides
which the coins of Saittse point it out as being in the neigh-
bourhood of the Hermus and the Hyllus. This latter river
I believe to be that called Demirji Chai by the Turks;
descending from the mountains near Demirji it falls into
the Hermus near Anailc, though hitherto entirely over-
looked in all our maps. But the name of the ruins, Sidas
Kaleh, is a sufficient proof of their identity with Saitta;,
which by Ptolemy was called Seta3, and by Hierocles Sitae.
Now the modern Greeks, in speaking of an ancient site,
generally use the accusative form, which would at once give
us Sitas; and nothing is more probable than that the hard
form of t has under the Turks and modern Greeks yielded
to the softer one of d, and become Sidas, the name which
the ruins now bear. At Koula I had procured many well-
preserved autonomous coins of Saittaj, an additional proof
of its having been at no great distance from that town.
Wednesday, June 14.—Leaving Injicier early for Kaplan
Alan we retraced our steps down the valley, passing by
Sidas Kaleh, until we reached the banks of the Aineh Chai,
where we left the road to Koula, and continued by a difficult
path along the banks of the river. Two miles down the
* The following distances from Inj icier to different places were given me by the
Ivnaum :—
Injicler to Adala . . .8 hours
„ Demirji ■ . • 8 „
„ Ghiourdiz • 8 „
„ Koula . . 7 „
t See Appendix, Nos. 338 and 339.
VOL. II. L
SAITT^.
145
ing the neighbourhood, until he was summoned to his duties
in the mosque *
In the course of the afternoon I found in the village two
inscriptions.-j- No. 338 was built into the wall of a fountain,
and the other was on a small pedestal in the court-yard of
thekonak. Neither of them gave any indication of the name
of the ruins ; but there can be no doubt, I think, that they
mark the site of Saitta3, a town of Lydia, of which many coins
are still extant. Ptolemy assigns it to the north-eastern part
of Lydia, which agrees very well with this position ; besides
which the coins of Saittse point it out as being in the neigh-
bourhood of the Hermus and the Hyllus. This latter river
I believe to be that called Demirji Chai by the Turks;
descending from the mountains near Demirji it falls into
the Hermus near Anailc, though hitherto entirely over-
looked in all our maps. But the name of the ruins, Sidas
Kaleh, is a sufficient proof of their identity with Saitta;,
which by Ptolemy was called Seta3, and by Hierocles Sitae.
Now the modern Greeks, in speaking of an ancient site,
generally use the accusative form, which would at once give
us Sitas; and nothing is more probable than that the hard
form of t has under the Turks and modern Greeks yielded
to the softer one of d, and become Sidas, the name which
the ruins now bear. At Koula I had procured many well-
preserved autonomous coins of Saittaj, an additional proof
of its having been at no great distance from that town.
Wednesday, June 14.—Leaving Injicier early for Kaplan
Alan we retraced our steps down the valley, passing by
Sidas Kaleh, until we reached the banks of the Aineh Chai,
where we left the road to Koula, and continued by a difficult
path along the banks of the river. Two miles down the
* The following distances from Inj icier to different places were given me by the
Ivnaum :—
Injicler to Adala . . .8 hours
„ Demirji ■ . • 8 „
„ Ghiourdiz • 8 „
„ Koula . . 7 „
t See Appendix, Nos. 338 and 339.
VOL. II. L