DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1755#0366
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AKTA. 313
then the opus inceitum of the Barbarian and Oriental elements, all conglo-
merated together !—How different from the one solid mass into which the
heavy blocks of Greek masonry are wedged by their own pressure, or even
from that regular and systematic network into which a genuine Koman wall is
woven with equal symmetry and strength !
Toward the southern extremity of this wall and to the north-west of the
Odeum, is a large oblong building whose sides are indented with niches, in
each of which are the outlets of small pipes, which communicate by canals
along the wall of the fabric with two stuccoed castella, or reservoirs of water,
one at each end, which are still encrusted with a calcareous deposit, and
which were fed by the aqueduct of the city. We are to conceive now, that
each of these niches was adorned with a marble statue of a Naiad or a Nereid,
holding before them lavers or shells of marble ; we are also to imagine liquid
streams spouting from every outlet into these lavers, and then flowing over
their brims into a large clear Frigidarium of the same material. Such a
picture, especially in the heat of a summer's day, will give us an idea of the
arts by which the wild inhabitants of the neighbouring hills were seduced into
civility and servitude by the Conqueror upon the waters of Actium.
The road from Nicopolis to Arta follows the direction of the Aqueduct
mentioned above along the eastern inclination of Mount Zalongo, till it
arrives at the village of Luro, which consists of twenty-five huts; it passes in
its way through gardens of melons and gourds, and through hedges shaded
with plum-trees hung with the tendrils and clusters of the wild vine. At a
little distance from Luro we arrive at the river of the same name, which is
crossed in a ferry-boat. No remarkable object occurs in the road, which
passes over a series of low hills, till it comes to the brink of a second river,
that of Arta.
Arta stands upon the site of the ancient Ambracia. The proof of this,
derived from classical authorities, is much strengthened by a personal inspec-
tion of the place. The general character of the site corresponds with that
which is ascribed to Ambracia. It lies in a wide fertile plain surrounded by
hills; which circumstance, a remarkable one in this region, seems to have
suggested the name of the city, and to have attracted the attention of the
Corinthians, who selected it as a desirable place for planting a colony. In
after times, it also induced the enterprising Pyrrhus to make Ambracia the
seat of the government of Epirus.
AKTA. 313
then the opus inceitum of the Barbarian and Oriental elements, all conglo-
merated together !—How different from the one solid mass into which the
heavy blocks of Greek masonry are wedged by their own pressure, or even
from that regular and systematic network into which a genuine Koman wall is
woven with equal symmetry and strength !
Toward the southern extremity of this wall and to the north-west of the
Odeum, is a large oblong building whose sides are indented with niches, in
each of which are the outlets of small pipes, which communicate by canals
along the wall of the fabric with two stuccoed castella, or reservoirs of water,
one at each end, which are still encrusted with a calcareous deposit, and
which were fed by the aqueduct of the city. We are to conceive now, that
each of these niches was adorned with a marble statue of a Naiad or a Nereid,
holding before them lavers or shells of marble ; we are also to imagine liquid
streams spouting from every outlet into these lavers, and then flowing over
their brims into a large clear Frigidarium of the same material. Such a
picture, especially in the heat of a summer's day, will give us an idea of the
arts by which the wild inhabitants of the neighbouring hills were seduced into
civility and servitude by the Conqueror upon the waters of Actium.
The road from Nicopolis to Arta follows the direction of the Aqueduct
mentioned above along the eastern inclination of Mount Zalongo, till it
arrives at the village of Luro, which consists of twenty-five huts; it passes in
its way through gardens of melons and gourds, and through hedges shaded
with plum-trees hung with the tendrils and clusters of the wild vine. At a
little distance from Luro we arrive at the river of the same name, which is
crossed in a ferry-boat. No remarkable object occurs in the road, which
passes over a series of low hills, till it comes to the brink of a second river,
that of Arta.
Arta stands upon the site of the ancient Ambracia. The proof of this,
derived from classical authorities, is much strengthened by a personal inspec-
tion of the place. The general character of the site corresponds with that
which is ascribed to Ambracia. It lies in a wide fertile plain surrounded by
hills; which circumstance, a remarkable one in this region, seems to have
suggested the name of the city, and to have attracted the attention of the
Corinthians, who selected it as a desirable place for planting a colony. In
after times, it also induced the enterprising Pyrrhus to make Ambracia the
seat of the government of Epirus.