DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9840#0284
230 THE VILLAGE OF ARKADHI, [CHAP.
Hegumenos complains of the unhappy situation of the
monastery, in a district inhabited almost solely by Mo-
hammedans. Cypresses and the palm-tree are seen in
and about this pleasing retreat from the busy hum of
men.
Qui da' cipressi e cinto ombroso chiostro,
E di palme il bel colle ancor verdeggia.
I learnt that Arkadhi, which is about three miles south-
ward, is a very small Mohammedan village, and I could
hear nothing of any remains of antiquity as existing
there. I had with me an extract from the Peutinser
Table, by which the ancient city of Arcadia appears
to have lain more than forty miles to the east of Cnossos,
and therefore I was not led to entertain any great hope
of finding it near this village of Arkadhi, although I
read1, that "north-east of the ruins of Gortys is a spot
named Arcadioti, which, from the similarity of name,
and the vestiges of antiquity which may be traced in
its vicinity2, corresponds, doubtless, with the site of
Arcadia, or Arcades, a Cretan city named by several
writers.,,
Had I entertained high hopes of finding traces of
the ancient city, they would all have been disappointed.
The village has suffered severely during the revolution,
and only five of its houses are now occupied : the people
are all Mohammedans. Not a single stone can be seen,
either in or near it, which may not have been laid within
the memory of men who are living; and I could not
even hear of an ancient coin.
Tournefort, wandering still more incautiously than
Dr Cramer from the positive topographical indications
of the old authors, no sooner arrives in " the most beau-
1 In Dr Cramer's Description of Ancient Greece, Vol. in. p. 385.
2 It is much to be regretted, that when a fact so important as the existence
of vestiges of antiquity, in any given place, is stated, the authority, on which
the statement depends, should not be given. I have not had the good fortune
tc meet with any account of any such remains, and Dr Cramer gives no refer-
ence to support his assertion.
Hegumenos complains of the unhappy situation of the
monastery, in a district inhabited almost solely by Mo-
hammedans. Cypresses and the palm-tree are seen in
and about this pleasing retreat from the busy hum of
men.
Qui da' cipressi e cinto ombroso chiostro,
E di palme il bel colle ancor verdeggia.
I learnt that Arkadhi, which is about three miles south-
ward, is a very small Mohammedan village, and I could
hear nothing of any remains of antiquity as existing
there. I had with me an extract from the Peutinser
Table, by which the ancient city of Arcadia appears
to have lain more than forty miles to the east of Cnossos,
and therefore I was not led to entertain any great hope
of finding it near this village of Arkadhi, although I
read1, that "north-east of the ruins of Gortys is a spot
named Arcadioti, which, from the similarity of name,
and the vestiges of antiquity which may be traced in
its vicinity2, corresponds, doubtless, with the site of
Arcadia, or Arcades, a Cretan city named by several
writers.,,
Had I entertained high hopes of finding traces of
the ancient city, they would all have been disappointed.
The village has suffered severely during the revolution,
and only five of its houses are now occupied : the people
are all Mohammedans. Not a single stone can be seen,
either in or near it, which may not have been laid within
the memory of men who are living; and I could not
even hear of an ancient coin.
Tournefort, wandering still more incautiously than
Dr Cramer from the positive topographical indications
of the old authors, no sooner arrives in " the most beau-
1 In Dr Cramer's Description of Ancient Greece, Vol. in. p. 385.
2 It is much to be regretted, that when a fact so important as the existence
of vestiges of antiquity, in any given place, is stated, the authority, on which
the statement depends, should not be given. I have not had the good fortune
tc meet with any account of any such remains, and Dr Cramer gives no refer-
ence to support his assertion.