DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4680#0118
26. TERRITORY OF APAMEIA. 449
(2) Aurokka, according to the strictest local form of the name, was
a long narrow plain1, about 15 miles by 4, stretching nearly N. to S.,
behind and above the valley of Apameia, and separated from it by
the ridge of Djebel-Sultan, which is the outer rim of the great plateau
(PP- 236 f). The plain slopes gently downwards towards a point near
the southern end, where the stream that flows from several heads in
the northern hills2 meets the water running from the fine fountains
of Bunar-Bashi under the mountains on the east; and their union
forms a lake and a marshy reed-bed, stretching across nearly the
whole breadth of the plain. The western end is a small lake, which
discharges its water through a pair of holes at the NW. corner, and
a single hole a mile further S., under the ridge of Djebel-Sultan, to
rise again in the various fountains which feed the Maeander arms.
The water level is 3-34° ft. above the sea, while the northern end of
the valley rises to 3,600 or 3,800 ft. This Aurokran lake and fountain
had the name modified by the grecizing tendency to Aulokrene, the
fountain of flutes.
The chief ancient centre was probably at Bei-Keui on NE. (no.
35° f); Porsama which lies opposite on the W. side of the valley
bears a name that is probably an ancient word, but friends who
explored it for me saw no traces of ancient life there. Dombai, which
bears the same name as the whole valley Dombai-Ova, and Yerik-
Euren, show no ancient remains : Dombai means Buffalo.
Probably in 371-2, Aurokra was separated from Apameia, and
formed into a bishopric. The new bishopric seems to have included
only the northern half of the valley, with the populous centre at
Bei-Keui, while the southern half, containing the fountains which
were so closely associated with Apameia, remained attached to that
city.
In the later Notitiae, which gives the ecclesiastical arrangement,
as it was remodelled by Leo VI (886-911), when the empire was
recovering from the devastations caused by the Arabs, Aurokra does
not occur ; and it would appear that the town had sunk into decay
in the troubled period of the Arab incursions, and was no longer
suitable for a bishopric. Moreover Southern Phrygia and Pisidia
On Aurokra see Appendix III. bridges miles lower down the valley.
2 Prof. Kiepert makes this river flow There is a marsh in the north, but the
into a second lake at the north end of river does not flow into it; the marsh
the valley, near Bei-Keui; and so discharges into the river. In summer
M. Radet shows it in his work En I have ridden over the ground of the
Phrygie 1895 (see his Map II). This is marsh without difficulty,
an error : I have crossed the river by
VOL. I. pp. 11. H
(2) Aurokka, according to the strictest local form of the name, was
a long narrow plain1, about 15 miles by 4, stretching nearly N. to S.,
behind and above the valley of Apameia, and separated from it by
the ridge of Djebel-Sultan, which is the outer rim of the great plateau
(PP- 236 f). The plain slopes gently downwards towards a point near
the southern end, where the stream that flows from several heads in
the northern hills2 meets the water running from the fine fountains
of Bunar-Bashi under the mountains on the east; and their union
forms a lake and a marshy reed-bed, stretching across nearly the
whole breadth of the plain. The western end is a small lake, which
discharges its water through a pair of holes at the NW. corner, and
a single hole a mile further S., under the ridge of Djebel-Sultan, to
rise again in the various fountains which feed the Maeander arms.
The water level is 3-34° ft. above the sea, while the northern end of
the valley rises to 3,600 or 3,800 ft. This Aurokran lake and fountain
had the name modified by the grecizing tendency to Aulokrene, the
fountain of flutes.
The chief ancient centre was probably at Bei-Keui on NE. (no.
35° f); Porsama which lies opposite on the W. side of the valley
bears a name that is probably an ancient word, but friends who
explored it for me saw no traces of ancient life there. Dombai, which
bears the same name as the whole valley Dombai-Ova, and Yerik-
Euren, show no ancient remains : Dombai means Buffalo.
Probably in 371-2, Aurokra was separated from Apameia, and
formed into a bishopric. The new bishopric seems to have included
only the northern half of the valley, with the populous centre at
Bei-Keui, while the southern half, containing the fountains which
were so closely associated with Apameia, remained attached to that
city.
In the later Notitiae, which gives the ecclesiastical arrangement,
as it was remodelled by Leo VI (886-911), when the empire was
recovering from the devastations caused by the Arabs, Aurokra does
not occur ; and it would appear that the town had sunk into decay
in the troubled period of the Arab incursions, and was no longer
suitable for a bishopric. Moreover Southern Phrygia and Pisidia
On Aurokra see Appendix III. bridges miles lower down the valley.
2 Prof. Kiepert makes this river flow There is a marsh in the north, but the
into a second lake at the north end of river does not flow into it; the marsh
the valley, near Bei-Keui; and so discharges into the river. In summer
M. Radet shows it in his work En I have ridden over the ground of the
Phrygie 1895 (see his Map II). This is marsh without difficulty,
an error : I have crossed the river by
VOL. I. pp. 11. H