DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9841#0061
XXIII. J
RUINS OF KISAMOS.
43
We leave Nopfa, the site of Methymna, at forty-five
minutes past one: pass the village of Dhrapania, cross
the river Typhlds, and then, passing the village of Kur-
valdnes, arrive at fifty minutes past two at the river of
Kamara, where I observe, on one side of the streamlet,
the massive supports of a bridge which no longer exists.
The village of Kamara had formerly forty or fifty houses,
it is now a complete heap of ruins : all its inhabitants were
Mohammedans, and, like most of their correligionaries of
the district, had taken refuge in the Kaste'li, where they
were blockaded by the revolted Greeks, and where nearly
all of them fell victims to the plague. Half a mile
further we arrived at Ki'samo-Kasteli, having observed,
just before entering the town, some ancient arched
caves in the Turkish cemetery: they are almost en-
tirely under ground.
In and about the town are fourteen or fifteen frag-
ments of shafts of marble and granite columns, an Ionic
capital, another column's base, and some remains of walls.
Other vestiges, which sufficiently prove that there once
existed here a flourishing and important city, are seen
scattered over nearly half a mile round about the Kasteli.
Four centuries ago Buondelmonti saw many columns and
other remains of a considerable ancient edifice within the
modern town ". The principal ruins now are at some
little distance to the southward of Kisamo-Kasteli, and
consist of a large mass of walls fallen in confusion : its
outer facing is of brick-work, and its interior consists
°f small stones and mortar : and what would appear to
have been an aqueduct, of which, however, only the
modem coast-describer, proceeding in his periplus, passes along the sandy
shore, and arrives "ad flumen Napoliara non magnum," or as we read at
P- 89. "ad non magnum Nopiliam flumen," by which I understand the river
of Nopia. He describes the mountains of Cape Spadha as abounding in caves,
PP. fi. and 89.
34 Boondelmojjti, in the Greta Sacra of Cornelius, Vol. i. p. fi.
" Antiqua Chissamospolis oppidum album videtur, in cujus medio fons uber-
rimus dulcis aquae, et palatium cum multitudine columnarum jam fere pro-
stratum cernitur."
RUINS OF KISAMOS.
43
We leave Nopfa, the site of Methymna, at forty-five
minutes past one: pass the village of Dhrapania, cross
the river Typhlds, and then, passing the village of Kur-
valdnes, arrive at fifty minutes past two at the river of
Kamara, where I observe, on one side of the streamlet,
the massive supports of a bridge which no longer exists.
The village of Kamara had formerly forty or fifty houses,
it is now a complete heap of ruins : all its inhabitants were
Mohammedans, and, like most of their correligionaries of
the district, had taken refuge in the Kaste'li, where they
were blockaded by the revolted Greeks, and where nearly
all of them fell victims to the plague. Half a mile
further we arrived at Ki'samo-Kasteli, having observed,
just before entering the town, some ancient arched
caves in the Turkish cemetery: they are almost en-
tirely under ground.
In and about the town are fourteen or fifteen frag-
ments of shafts of marble and granite columns, an Ionic
capital, another column's base, and some remains of walls.
Other vestiges, which sufficiently prove that there once
existed here a flourishing and important city, are seen
scattered over nearly half a mile round about the Kasteli.
Four centuries ago Buondelmonti saw many columns and
other remains of a considerable ancient edifice within the
modern town ". The principal ruins now are at some
little distance to the southward of Kisamo-Kasteli, and
consist of a large mass of walls fallen in confusion : its
outer facing is of brick-work, and its interior consists
°f small stones and mortar : and what would appear to
have been an aqueduct, of which, however, only the
modem coast-describer, proceeding in his periplus, passes along the sandy
shore, and arrives "ad flumen Napoliara non magnum," or as we read at
P- 89. "ad non magnum Nopiliam flumen," by which I understand the river
of Nopia. He describes the mountains of Cape Spadha as abounding in caves,
PP. fi. and 89.
34 Boondelmojjti, in the Greta Sacra of Cornelius, Vol. i. p. fi.
" Antiqua Chissamospolis oppidum album videtur, in cujus medio fons uber-
rimus dulcis aquae, et palatium cum multitudine columnarum jam fere pro-
stratum cernitur."