DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9841#0050
32 ANCIENT REMAINS NEAR NOPIA. [cHAP.
eminence of Mount Ida, although at a distance of about
sixty miles. After crossing this ridge, we pass the vil-
lage of Nokia, which is a little on our right, and soon
come in sight of the gulf of Kisamos. In about an hour
from Nokia we pass a fountain, and, a few minutes after-
wards, see the plain of Kisamo-Kasteli, which is about
four miles long and a mile and a half broad. It is
chiefly covered with standing corn : there are, however,
also considerable patches of olive-trees. The Panopo-
litan poet has thought this plain worthy of being ex-
pressly mentioned1. The Kasteli is situated near its
further extremity. After advancing a mile more, we
are just above Nopia, which is on the extreme eastern
edge of the plain. A river running to the west of this vil-
lage separates it from the church of Haghios Ghedrghios.
We were now accompanied by a Greek called Antdnios
Kharadhakes of Nopia, who had been overtaken by us
half an hour before, and had immediatelv volunteered
his services to conduct me to certain remains of antiquity
close to this church, which seems to have been built on
the site of an ancient temple. Part of the foundations
of the older edifice may still be traced. In the laro-e
masses of brick and mortar, which are lying about near
the modern building, there are seen three earthen pipes,
such as one ordinarily finds only in cisterns.
This Greek chapel stands nearly due north and south,
instead of east and west as is usual in all orthodox Greek
as well as Roman Catholic and Protestant churches.
This architectural peculiarity of the building puzzled
my Nopian guide quite as much as myself. He asked
me whether in those times, for he transferred the anti-
quity of the ancient edifice to the comparatively modern
erection, the sun used to rise in the south: it must
have been so, he thought, because the Christian, as he
stands before the altar in a church, always looks to-
wards the rising sun.
1 Nonnus, xiii. 237.
Kat Sdiredov Kitra^oto.
eminence of Mount Ida, although at a distance of about
sixty miles. After crossing this ridge, we pass the vil-
lage of Nokia, which is a little on our right, and soon
come in sight of the gulf of Kisamos. In about an hour
from Nokia we pass a fountain, and, a few minutes after-
wards, see the plain of Kisamo-Kasteli, which is about
four miles long and a mile and a half broad. It is
chiefly covered with standing corn : there are, however,
also considerable patches of olive-trees. The Panopo-
litan poet has thought this plain worthy of being ex-
pressly mentioned1. The Kasteli is situated near its
further extremity. After advancing a mile more, we
are just above Nopia, which is on the extreme eastern
edge of the plain. A river running to the west of this vil-
lage separates it from the church of Haghios Ghedrghios.
We were now accompanied by a Greek called Antdnios
Kharadhakes of Nopia, who had been overtaken by us
half an hour before, and had immediatelv volunteered
his services to conduct me to certain remains of antiquity
close to this church, which seems to have been built on
the site of an ancient temple. Part of the foundations
of the older edifice may still be traced. In the laro-e
masses of brick and mortar, which are lying about near
the modern building, there are seen three earthen pipes,
such as one ordinarily finds only in cisterns.
This Greek chapel stands nearly due north and south,
instead of east and west as is usual in all orthodox Greek
as well as Roman Catholic and Protestant churches.
This architectural peculiarity of the building puzzled
my Nopian guide quite as much as myself. He asked
me whether in those times, for he transferred the anti-
quity of the ancient edifice to the comparatively modern
erection, the sun used to rise in the south: it must
have been so, he thought, because the Christian, as he
stands before the altar in a church, always looks to-
wards the rising sun.
1 Nonnus, xiii. 237.
Kat Sdiredov Kitra^oto.