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182 T R A V E L S i n A S I A MI N O R .
Bacchus and the people. Beneath, near the bottom, are feveral
ftones infcribed, but not legible. By the Ifthmus is the vaulted
fubftrudtion of a corifiderable edifice j and on a jamb of the doorway
are decrees engraved in a fair charadler, but damaged, and
black with fmoke j the entrance, which is leffened by a pile of
ftones, ferving as a chimney to a few Greeks, who inhabit the
ruin. Oppofite to the Ifthmus is a flat point running out into the
fea, with a fmall fquare fort at the extremity.
T he fepulchres of the Iafians on the continent are very numerous,
ranging along above a mile on the Hope of the mountain.
They are built with a flaty ftone, and perhaps were white-
wafhed, as their afpedt is now mean. They confift moftly of a
Angle camera or vault j but one has a wall before it, and three
chambers, which have been painted. Many of them have a fmall
fquare ftone over the entrance, infcribed, but no longer legible.
In examining thefe, I found half of an infcription, which was
copied in 1673, and has been publiihed incorredlly. This remnant
was in a fair charadler, on a marble lying on the rock. Below
the fepulchres are broken arches, and pieces of wall, among
which is a maffive farcophagus or two ftanding on their bafe-
ments.
A marble by the Ifthmus records an Iafian, who was victorious
at Olympia, and the lirft conqueror in the Capitoline games
at Rome. We found there likewife a piece of infcribed architrave,
on which, when more entire, a ftoa or portico, and Diana
Civica or the tutelary Goddefs of the city, were mentioned. By
a wall, which feemed the,remnant of a fepulchre, is a long infcription
clofely, but handfomely engraved on a flab of white
marble, in which the theatre is mentioned, with the Prytaneum,
and the temples of Jupiter and Diana. While I was copying it,
a Greek prieft came, and difplaced me fomewhat roughly. I was
then informed that was a church ; and the ftone, the holy 'Table.
I had given offence by fitting on it. The prieft was wretchedly
ignorant,
Hi Mil;
T R A V E L S i n A S I A MI N O R . ^ 3
ignorant, and among his other abfurdities, told me they had a
tradition, that at the laft day St. Paul will rife there, fhewing the
place with his foot.
A Polacca from the ifland of Stanchio was at anchor in the
bay, with fome fmall-craft, which lade with tobacco, figs, and
cotton, the produce of the country. Thefe vefiels often carry
ftones away for ballaft. We had paid a piafter at Scio for leave
to tranfcribe three marbles, which lay on the fhore, and were
tranfported from this place. They contained honorary decrees
made by the Iafians. One is of the age of Alexander the Great,
and remarkable for the extreme beauty of the charadters, which
were as finely defigned and cut as any I ever faw. Thefe ftones
were part of a fquare pilafter before the fenate-houfe.
On our arrival here, a Greek, who lived in the ruin of a
large fepulchre by the Ifthmus, declared he was commanded to
fuffer nobody to enter Affyn-kalefi without a written order from
the Aga of Melaffo, to whofe diftrift the caftle belonged. We
offered to purchafe his permifiion, but in vain. He knew we
were going to that city, and was afraid to accept a bribe. After
a fliort ftay, finding him inflexible, we continued our journey,
intending to return in a few days, as we did, with authority.
This fepulchre was then our abode, and we lay in it, covering,
with the Greek family, the whole floor. We were guarded by
two large and fierce dogs, which were continually in motion
round about, barking furioufly at the jackalls, and then looking
in upon us, with an attention as remarkable as friendly and
agreeable.
C H A P .