DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4680#0347
678 XVI. THE PENTAPOLIS OF PHRYGIA.
On the western side of that chain is a long depression stretching
S. to N., traversed by an easy road leading ultimately to Dorylaion and
Constantinople. The depression is divided into several parts : furthest
to S. is Dombai-Ovasi (Aurokra Ch. XI § 25): crossing from Dombai
(3,400 ft.) the bare flat ridge of Bel-Kavak (ab. 3,900 ft.) we reach
the territory of Stektorion, a long valley of varying width, unpro-
ductive in its southern and higher parts, but fertile lower down,
where the city lies (3,480 ft.) behind the lofty Ak-Dagh and Khoma-
Dagh: the valley of Stektorion widens N. into Sandykli-Ova proper,
where on the higher E. side is the mediaeval castle of Sandykli
(3,600 ft.)1, and on the fertile W. side are the four cities Hieropolis,
Otrous, Eukarpia and Brouzos : Sandykli-Ova, which is bounded on
W. by the hilly country of the Moxeanoi, rises on N. towards a steep
ridge (3,880), which is broken at the middle by the gorge where one of
the Glaukos branches forces its way S. into the Pentapolis-valley
beside the village Bash-Agatch: beyond this ridge lies a small valley,
Cutchuk-Sitchanli-Ova, containing several small and poor villages, the
chief of which is Saoran (3,950). Saoran lies in the corner between
two ridges of watershed, one stretching away W. to Ahar-Dagh2, the
other S. dividing the Pentapolis from Synnada.
The streams flowing S. from Saoran and N. from the Bel-Kavak
ridge, meet near Eukarpia3, after being joined on the way by many
small affluents chiefly from the mountains E.; the united stream then
flows away W. through a broken hilly region (the N. skirts of Ak-
Dagh and S. part of the Moxeanoi), receiving there the Aram-Tchai
(which flows down from Ahar-Dagh), and turning round the spurs of
Ak-Dagh towards S., penned in between them and Burgas-Dagh, it
issues at last on the open stretch of the Maeander valley, 2 miles E. of
Eumeneia.
§ 2. The Pentapolis of Phrygia. The name Pentapolis is men-
tioned only twice: (1) in the signature of bishop Paul at the Council
held in Constantinople in a.d. 553, who styles himself' misericordia
Dei episcopus sanctae ecclesiae Stectorii civitatis Pentapoliticae
regionis Phrygiae Salutaris provinciae': (2) in Nicetas Chon. p. 162
quoted in § 9. The list of Hierocles shows at a glance what the five
cities are: he begins his enumeration of Salutaris with the five names,
and in the first sentence which I ever published about Phrygia, before
1 M. Radet gives Sandykli as 3,527 ft. 2 See Ch. XIV § 1: crossed by Hassan-
He probably reckoned at the house Bel 4,300 ft.
where he lived : the castle is on a 3 Compare the Kara-Eyuk plain and
hill. streams, Ch. VIII § 1.
On the western side of that chain is a long depression stretching
S. to N., traversed by an easy road leading ultimately to Dorylaion and
Constantinople. The depression is divided into several parts : furthest
to S. is Dombai-Ovasi (Aurokra Ch. XI § 25): crossing from Dombai
(3,400 ft.) the bare flat ridge of Bel-Kavak (ab. 3,900 ft.) we reach
the territory of Stektorion, a long valley of varying width, unpro-
ductive in its southern and higher parts, but fertile lower down,
where the city lies (3,480 ft.) behind the lofty Ak-Dagh and Khoma-
Dagh: the valley of Stektorion widens N. into Sandykli-Ova proper,
where on the higher E. side is the mediaeval castle of Sandykli
(3,600 ft.)1, and on the fertile W. side are the four cities Hieropolis,
Otrous, Eukarpia and Brouzos : Sandykli-Ova, which is bounded on
W. by the hilly country of the Moxeanoi, rises on N. towards a steep
ridge (3,880), which is broken at the middle by the gorge where one of
the Glaukos branches forces its way S. into the Pentapolis-valley
beside the village Bash-Agatch: beyond this ridge lies a small valley,
Cutchuk-Sitchanli-Ova, containing several small and poor villages, the
chief of which is Saoran (3,950). Saoran lies in the corner between
two ridges of watershed, one stretching away W. to Ahar-Dagh2, the
other S. dividing the Pentapolis from Synnada.
The streams flowing S. from Saoran and N. from the Bel-Kavak
ridge, meet near Eukarpia3, after being joined on the way by many
small affluents chiefly from the mountains E.; the united stream then
flows away W. through a broken hilly region (the N. skirts of Ak-
Dagh and S. part of the Moxeanoi), receiving there the Aram-Tchai
(which flows down from Ahar-Dagh), and turning round the spurs of
Ak-Dagh towards S., penned in between them and Burgas-Dagh, it
issues at last on the open stretch of the Maeander valley, 2 miles E. of
Eumeneia.
§ 2. The Pentapolis of Phrygia. The name Pentapolis is men-
tioned only twice: (1) in the signature of bishop Paul at the Council
held in Constantinople in a.d. 553, who styles himself' misericordia
Dei episcopus sanctae ecclesiae Stectorii civitatis Pentapoliticae
regionis Phrygiae Salutaris provinciae': (2) in Nicetas Chon. p. 162
quoted in § 9. The list of Hierocles shows at a glance what the five
cities are: he begins his enumeration of Salutaris with the five names,
and in the first sentence which I ever published about Phrygia, before
1 M. Radet gives Sandykli as 3,527 ft. 2 See Ch. XIV § 1: crossed by Hassan-
He probably reckoned at the house Bel 4,300 ft.
where he lived : the castle is on a 3 Compare the Kara-Eyuk plain and
hill. streams, Ch. VIII § 1.