DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4679#0153
3. THIOUNTA. 127
The Hyrgalean plain, therefore, was on the Maeander lower down than
the Eumenian country. "We can hardly identify it with any part of
the long valley of Eumenia, Peltai, and Lounda ; for the situations of
all these towns are well-established, and they leave no room for the
Hyrgalean plain between them. Moreover this long valley is really
a single plain (Ch. VII § t), and it is natural to suppose that Pliny's
account (founded on some good authority) comprehends it all as the
Eumenian plain1, and applies the name Hyrgalean plains to a different
valley. This other valley must be the district called Tchal-Ova, under
which name is now included the whole district along the Maeander from
Lounda to the point where it enters the mountains that form the rim
of the plateau, and divide it from the Lycos valley. Apparently
Pliny (or rather the original authority from whom he quotes) intended
this whole district when he used the term ' Hyrgalean Plains.' The
modern unity of government is, therefore, in all probability true to
the original character of the country. The unity was for a time
interrupted by the foundation of Dionysopolis, which introduced
a Greek city alongside of the native villages; but the Greek city
perished, and the villages still remain. We can detect the precise
period when the Greek names disappeared, and the native Anatolian
spirit again became supreme; it seems to have been the eighth cen-
tury (§ 8).
The Tchal-Ova is now one of the richest districts of the interior,
producing large crops of wheat, opium, and grapes 2. Grapes especi-
ally grow most luxuriantly; and the western part of the valley is, as
Arundel says, ' the very land of Bacchus.' Hence he rightly conjec-
tured that Dionysopolis was situated here; but he unfortunately
selected the site of Mossyna at Geuzlar as that of Dionysopolis.
§ 6. The Pergamenian Foundation. The precise site where
Attalos planted his city is not certain; but it was probably at Orta-
Keui. Here we have an excellent situation of the Pergamenian type
[Hist. Geogr. p. 86), on a gentle slope on the outer skirts of the hills
of the western Tchal-Ova, at the edge of a fertile valley. Orta-Keui,
and the villages near it, Badinlar, Develar, Sazak, abound in remains of
ancient life. The ancient remains, indeed, bear witness not to the Greek
spirit3, such as we should expect in Dionysopolis, but to the native
1 Strabo p. 629 calls the same great us, but those which we submitted to
plain IleXTj;i'oi/ weSlov. analysis in Smyrna were pronounced
2 Some fine specimens of asbestos to contain only a very small proportion
were shown us, and it was said to be of the metal.
very abundant: traces of copper were 3 One exceptional inscription is Greek
also clear in some minerals brought to and political in type, p. 131 n. 3.
The Hyrgalean plain, therefore, was on the Maeander lower down than
the Eumenian country. "We can hardly identify it with any part of
the long valley of Eumenia, Peltai, and Lounda ; for the situations of
all these towns are well-established, and they leave no room for the
Hyrgalean plain between them. Moreover this long valley is really
a single plain (Ch. VII § t), and it is natural to suppose that Pliny's
account (founded on some good authority) comprehends it all as the
Eumenian plain1, and applies the name Hyrgalean plains to a different
valley. This other valley must be the district called Tchal-Ova, under
which name is now included the whole district along the Maeander from
Lounda to the point where it enters the mountains that form the rim
of the plateau, and divide it from the Lycos valley. Apparently
Pliny (or rather the original authority from whom he quotes) intended
this whole district when he used the term ' Hyrgalean Plains.' The
modern unity of government is, therefore, in all probability true to
the original character of the country. The unity was for a time
interrupted by the foundation of Dionysopolis, which introduced
a Greek city alongside of the native villages; but the Greek city
perished, and the villages still remain. We can detect the precise
period when the Greek names disappeared, and the native Anatolian
spirit again became supreme; it seems to have been the eighth cen-
tury (§ 8).
The Tchal-Ova is now one of the richest districts of the interior,
producing large crops of wheat, opium, and grapes 2. Grapes especi-
ally grow most luxuriantly; and the western part of the valley is, as
Arundel says, ' the very land of Bacchus.' Hence he rightly conjec-
tured that Dionysopolis was situated here; but he unfortunately
selected the site of Mossyna at Geuzlar as that of Dionysopolis.
§ 6. The Pergamenian Foundation. The precise site where
Attalos planted his city is not certain; but it was probably at Orta-
Keui. Here we have an excellent situation of the Pergamenian type
[Hist. Geogr. p. 86), on a gentle slope on the outer skirts of the hills
of the western Tchal-Ova, at the edge of a fertile valley. Orta-Keui,
and the villages near it, Badinlar, Develar, Sazak, abound in remains of
ancient life. The ancient remains, indeed, bear witness not to the Greek
spirit3, such as we should expect in Dionysopolis, but to the native
1 Strabo p. 629 calls the same great us, but those which we submitted to
plain IleXTj;i'oi/ weSlov. analysis in Smyrna were pronounced
2 Some fine specimens of asbestos to contain only a very small proportion
were shown us, and it was said to be of the metal.
very abundant: traces of copper were 3 One exceptional inscription is Greek
also clear in some minerals brought to and political in type, p. 131 n. 3.