DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4679#0029
4 I. THE LYCOS VALLEY.
Dagh, 8,013 feet), separated from each other by the narrow cleft, hardly
apparent at this distance, through which the little river Cadmos worms
its way, form the second side of the triangle. Gently undulating
alluvial hills slope back from the front valley towards the southern
mountains; and are in marked contrast with the loftier and more
irregular hills of Attouda and Trapezopolis.
On the outer edge of the hills, right opposite Hierapolis, are the
ruins of Laodiceia. A single sharp conical peak, Sivri-Dagh, 3,316 feet,
looking very small beside the huge mass of Cadmos, stands at the
apex where the two sides of the triangular valley meet. The Lycos
comes down from behind Sivri-Daghl, and turns round it, and draw-
ing its water from various large sources in front of Sivri-Dagh, flows
at first towards the west as far as Colossai, and then north-west
between Hierapolis and Laodiceia. The Maeander comes into this
valley from the north, near the N.W. apex of the triangle, breaking
its way in a narrow deep gorge, full of the most romantic and
striking scenery, through the very heart of the Mossyna mountains,
and flowing close around the spur of Messogis that lies on the
traveller's left. Then, joined by the Lycos, it runs away westwards
to the Aegean sea. On the front edge of the terrace, overhanging its
western bank as it issues from the Mossyna mountains, stands the
city of Tripolis ; and one of the finest views over the valley as
a whole is to be got from the upper seats of its theatre.
§ 3. The Two Valleys. The best way of getting an idea of the
character of the Lycos valley is to go up the road that leads across
the Mossyna mountains towards the north, and from their summit look
back across the valley. The mass of Asia Minor is a plateau, 3,000
to 5,000 feet above sea-level; around the plateau there is a fringe
of low-lying coast-land, consisting chiefly of river-valleys separated
by mountain-chains that are merely prolongations or spurs of the
plateau2. The Lycos valley is a deep hole, extending up from the
coast-valle)' of the Maeander into the flank of the plateau, and sloping
upwards as it penetrates to the east. It forms two shelves, the lower
and outer of which alone is fully visible from the point which the
traveller reached in § 2; while the upper lies above and behind it,
having the form of a small glen among the mountains. This glen
1 The branch from behind Sivri-Dagh at the eastern end of the Colossian
flows only after rain ; it is dry through- valley.
out great part of the year. The pass 2 Messogis and Tmolos are spurs of
down which it comes is called by Nice- this kind, projecting like toes from the
tas Graos Gala. The entire stream of plateau, which maybe compared to the
the Lycos rises in the Katabnthra ■ <\m\n\s I human foot.
Dagh, 8,013 feet), separated from each other by the narrow cleft, hardly
apparent at this distance, through which the little river Cadmos worms
its way, form the second side of the triangle. Gently undulating
alluvial hills slope back from the front valley towards the southern
mountains; and are in marked contrast with the loftier and more
irregular hills of Attouda and Trapezopolis.
On the outer edge of the hills, right opposite Hierapolis, are the
ruins of Laodiceia. A single sharp conical peak, Sivri-Dagh, 3,316 feet,
looking very small beside the huge mass of Cadmos, stands at the
apex where the two sides of the triangular valley meet. The Lycos
comes down from behind Sivri-Daghl, and turns round it, and draw-
ing its water from various large sources in front of Sivri-Dagh, flows
at first towards the west as far as Colossai, and then north-west
between Hierapolis and Laodiceia. The Maeander comes into this
valley from the north, near the N.W. apex of the triangle, breaking
its way in a narrow deep gorge, full of the most romantic and
striking scenery, through the very heart of the Mossyna mountains,
and flowing close around the spur of Messogis that lies on the
traveller's left. Then, joined by the Lycos, it runs away westwards
to the Aegean sea. On the front edge of the terrace, overhanging its
western bank as it issues from the Mossyna mountains, stands the
city of Tripolis ; and one of the finest views over the valley as
a whole is to be got from the upper seats of its theatre.
§ 3. The Two Valleys. The best way of getting an idea of the
character of the Lycos valley is to go up the road that leads across
the Mossyna mountains towards the north, and from their summit look
back across the valley. The mass of Asia Minor is a plateau, 3,000
to 5,000 feet above sea-level; around the plateau there is a fringe
of low-lying coast-land, consisting chiefly of river-valleys separated
by mountain-chains that are merely prolongations or spurs of the
plateau2. The Lycos valley is a deep hole, extending up from the
coast-valle)' of the Maeander into the flank of the plateau, and sloping
upwards as it penetrates to the east. It forms two shelves, the lower
and outer of which alone is fully visible from the point which the
traveller reached in § 2; while the upper lies above and behind it,
having the form of a small glen among the mountains. This glen
1 The branch from behind Sivri-Dagh at the eastern end of the Colossian
flows only after rain ; it is dry through- valley.
out great part of the year. The pass 2 Messogis and Tmolos are spurs of
down which it comes is called by Nice- this kind, projecting like toes from the
tas Graos Gala. The entire stream of plateau, which maybe compared to the
the Lycos rises in the Katabnthra ■ <\m\n\s I human foot.