C H A P . XXXIV.
Aiafaluck not Epbefus — 'Tamerlane at Aiafaluck — Hifory o f the
two places confounded — Origin o f Aiafaluck — Thunder-form
-— Afood. f
A I A S A L U C K has had an affinity with Ephefus fimilar to
that of Sevri-hiflar with Teos. We found no theatre, nor fta-
dium, nor temple. The whole was patch-work, compofed of
marbles and fragments removed from their original places, and
put together without elegance or order. We were convinced that
we had not arrived yet at Ephefus, before we difcovered the
ruins of that city, which are by the mountains at a diftance,
nearer the fea and vifible from the caftle-hill.
A c h a n g e in the names of places, with the new fettle-
ments which had been eftablilhed under the Turks, renders it
difficult to follow Tamerlane in his marches through Afia Minor
j but from Guzel-hiflar or Magnefia by the Msander he
came to Aiazlik or Aiafaluck. There alfo he encamped after
fubduing Smyrna in 1402. The events recorded of Ephefus
pofterior to this date belong, it feems, to Aiafaluck and its
citadel or caftle.
T w o years after the invafion by Tamerlane, Cineis, it is
related, took Ephefus from Amir, Sultan of Smyrna, who retired
to Mantakhia his uncle, prince of Caria. Amir, returning
with fix thoufand men, befieged and fet fire to the town.
The father of Cineis, who commanded there with three thoufand
men, maintained the citadel while he had hopes of fuccour.
Cineis again attacked Ephefus, and drove Amir in his turn into
the citadel. Thefe chieftains were reconciled, and Cineis by
the death of Amir became a fovereign. Sultan Soliman advanced
againft
againft him with a large army from Prufa, and came by Meni-
men and Smyrna to Mefaulion, where he intrenched. Cineis
had prevailed on the princes of Kotidum and Iconium to join
him at Ephefus, and the two armies were only fix leagues
afunder; when apprehending treachery in his allies, he gal-
lopped to the citadel, exhorted his brother not to give it up before
the following day, and at night repaired to the camp of Soliman.
The two princes, finding him gone, retreated with their
forces at fun-rife, fording the river on one fide, while Soliman
crofled it over a bridge by mount Gallefus, and entered Ephefus,
near which he lay encamped for four months. Cineis afterwards
recovered Ephefus. The Citadel is here diftinguiflied fo plainly,
that a perfon who has feen the places will fcarcely hefitate to
pronounce that the Ephefus of Cineis was the Aiafaluck of
Tamerlane.
A i a s a l u c k has certainly flouriftied chiefly, i f not folely,
under the Mahometans. Its origin may with probability be referred
to the thirteenth century. It is related, that Mantakhia
before mentioned fubdued Ephefus with Caria in 1313. He
perhaps fortified this rock for a ftrong-hold, and the town grew
under its protection. The mofque and aqusedudt as well as the
caftle, are great though inelegant ftrudtures. They fuggeft the
idea, that the place has been honoured with the refidence of
princes, and it is likely, were eredted under him and his nephew
Amir. The marble materials of antient Ephefus, then in ruins,
were amafled for thefe buildings, which have contributed largely
to the prefent nakednefs of its fite.
O n the fecond evening of our ftay at Aiafalfick heavy clouds
began to arrive apace, with a foutherly wind, and to fettle upon
the mountains round us j when all became black and gloomy.
At night frequent flalhes of pale lightening, each making a
momentary day, gleamed into the plain while awful thunder,
prolonged by repeated reverberations, moved folemnly along
upon the fummits. The explofions were near, and loud, and
dread