Isaura—Iconium—Lystra—Derbe—Apamea Cibotus—Aezani—Synnada—Philomelium—Laodicea Combusta—Hierapolis—Laodicea ad Lycum—Colossæ—Ancyra—Pessinus—Tavium—Nazianzus—Cæsarea ad Argæum—Tyana—Comana—Trapezus—Amastris—Sinope—Prusa ad Olympum—Nicæa—Nicomedia—Islands of Greece—Lesbos—Samos—Chios—Rhodus—Messrs. Biliotti and Saltzmann—Cyprus—Mr. Lang—General Palma di Cesnola.

Having now spoken of some of the principal places in the west and south of Asia Minor, it will, we think, be convenient to take next those towards its centre, in Cappadocia, Phrygia, and Galatia. We must, however, notice, first, the two small districts of Lycaonia and Isauria, which are really portions cut out of the larger adjoining provinces. Isauria will not detain us long, as there is little in it that can be called Greek. It was, as it has ever been, a wild mountain district, with a population unsubdued till about the time of Constantine; and, even after that, if the Byzantine writers are worthy of credit, whole armies of Constantinopolitan Greeks melted as snow in conflict with these robber tribes. Ancient authors knew little of Isauria except its northern part, all to the south, with its capital, Isaura, being to them, practically, a terra incognita. As marauders, however, the Isaurians were so troublesome to their neighbours, that the Roman Senate sent a considerable force against them, in B.C. 73, under P. Servilius, whose success won for him the title of “Isauricus.” This conquest, however, so to call it, was but temporary, and, not long after, Amyntas of Lycaonia lost his life in an attempt to crush one of their tribes. In later days, one of their chieftains, Trebellianus, claimed for himself the rank of Emperor, and struck coins; and the Isaurians boasted, also, of one genuine Emperor, Zeno Isauricus, A.D. 474-491.

Of its chief town, Isaura, we have coins of the time of Geta and Elagabalus bearing the title of ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΕΩΣ ΙΣΑΥΡΩΝ. Mr. Hamilton has satisfactorily identified its site on the line of road between Iconium and Anemurium—a determination in agreement with Pliny’s statement (v. 27), that the province of Isauria stretched to the sea in that direction: he adds that the tradition of their ancient robber propensities is still remembered by the existing peasantry of the district, though, considering what this country has undergone during the last fifteen hundred years, any such tradition is not worth much. Mr. Hamilton found the ruins of the capital on one of the loftiest ridges between the Taurus and the plains of Konieh (Iconium) at an elevation of quite 5,000 feet above the sea, the wild and inaccessible district around it offering, as he observes, “little or no temptation to the rapacity of its neighbours.” An inscription found on the spot fully confirmed his previous surmises: it was on a triumphal arch, in honour of the Emperor Hadrian, and, on the ground near it, was a marble globe, a common emblem of Imperial power “I afterwards,” says he, “found several other inscriptions in this part of the town; of these, No. 432, lying near the agora, is full of interest, as alluding to several buildings formerly erected in its neighbourhood.” Strabo had remarked (xii. p. 569) that Amyntas died before he had completed the town wall, and this Hamilton found to be literally true, everything around indicating a town entirely rebuilt, the wall itself, its octagonal towers, temples, and triumphal arches being constructed in the same peculiar style. “There is,” says he, “an air of newness in its very ruins, as if it had been destroyed before it was half built, although it must not be forgotten that it flourished for many centuries after the death of Augustus.”

In Lycaonia there were few towns of importance, except Iconium, Laodicea, Derbe, and Lystra, the geological features of the country being unfavourable to the existence of a large population. Travellers who have seen both compare Lycaonia with the interior of Australia. Both were, by nature, extensive sheep-walks (thus, Amyntas had as many as 300 flocks of sheep); while both, alike, had much of arid and salt desert, fitted only for camels. The central plain of Lycaonia, from Kiepert’s map, seems the largest in Asia Minor, and resembles the steppes of Central Asia and of southern Russia. Ainsworth tells how his camels browsed off the tops of the Mesembryanthemum and Salicornia, reminding them, as these, doubtless, did, of plains more familiar to them than those of Asia Minor. Strabo made Isauria part of Lycaonia.

The principal town of Lycaonia, Iconium, is mentioned first by Xenophon, who considered it the most eastern one of Phrygia, at one day’s journey, according to Cicero, from Philomelium (Ak-shehr). Its position, amid many small streams, which exhaust themselves in watering its gardens, and as the meeting-place of several of the most important of the Roman roads through Asia Minor, made it, from the first, an important entrepôt; and, though Strabo calls it πολίχνιον (a little town), the account of Pliny, and the narrative in the Acts of the Apostles, prove it was a large and populous place in the middle of the first century A.D. Indeed, in Pliny’s time, its territory embraced fourteen towns, stretched around the capital (v. 27). Cicero was there for several days previously to his Cilician campaign. Iconium will always be invested with much interest owing to St. Paul’s visits to it; the first of which was immediately after his expulsion from Antioch in Pisidia, when the Apostles “shook off the dust of their feet.” Messrs. Conybeare and Howson have well remarked, that the vast plain and the distant mountains are the most interesting features of modern Konieh; for these, probably, remain as they were in the first century of Christianity, while the town has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. Little, indeed, remains of Greek or Roman Iconium, except the inscriptions and fragments of sculptures built into the Turkish walls.

Iconium was famous in the early Middle Ages as the capital of the Seljuk Sultans,^[96] but was taken by the Emperor Barbarossa, during the second Crusade, in his famous but futile attempt to force his way through Asia Minor. To quote the picturesque words of Gibbon, “Forty campaigns in Germany and Italy had taught Barbarossa to command; and his soldiers, even the princes of the empire, were accustomed under his reign to obey. As soon as he had lost sight of Philadelphia and Laodicea, the last cities of the Greek frontier, he plunged into the salt and barren desert, a land (says the historian) of horror and tribulation. During twenty days every step of his fainting and sickly march was besieged by innumerable hordes of Turkmans, whose numbers and fury seemed after each defeat to multiply and to inflame. The emperor continued to struggle and to suffer; and such was the measure of his calamities, that when he reached the gates of Iconium no more than 1,000 knights were able to serve on horseback. By a sudden and resolute assault he defeated the guards and stormed the capital of the sultan, who sued for pardon and peace. The road was now open, and Frederic advanced in a career of triumph, till he was unfortunately drowned in a petty torrent of Cilicia.”^[97] Leake points out that its walls, still between two or three miles round, are full of inscriptions and of other ancient remains, which the Seljuks seem to have tried to preserve.

The position of Lystra and Derbe are still uncertain. Of Derbe, we know that it was the residence of a robber chief of Lycaonia, named Antipater,^[98] who was ultimately subdued by Amyntas (Strabo, xii. p. 569), while Strabo and Stephanus Byzantinus placed it on the borders of Isauria towards Cappadocia. St. Luke, however, and Hierocles placed it as clearly in Lycaonia. If Lystra and Derbe stood in St. Luke’s order, Lystra would be the nearest to Iconium; but, though mentioned in Pliny and Ptolemy, we have no further hint as to its actual position. One of its bishops was present at the Council of Chalcedon. The interesting account in the Acts xiv. 6-21, of the behaviour of the people of Lystra, when St. Paul proved his Divine mission by the cure of the cripple, must be fresh in the mind of every one. With regard to the speculative identifications of the sites of Lystra and Derbe, it is, perhaps, worth stating that S.E. of Konieh is a remarkable isolated hill, the Karadagh or Black mountain. Not far from this mountain, Leake and Hamilton placed these two towns, the former twenty miles S.E. of Iconium, the latter at some remarkable ruins around its base, called by the Turks Bin-bir-kalis-seh, or the 1,001 churches. Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Edward Falkener have both examined this remarkable group of ruined churches, recording, as they clearly do, some site peculiarly revered in early Christian times. Mr. Falkener’s remarks on these curious monuments are much to the point. “The principal group,” says he, “of the Bin-bir-Kalisseh, lies at the foot of Karadagh.... Perceiving ruins on the slope of the mountain, I began to ascend, and, on reaching them, perceived that they were churches, and, looking upwards, descried others yet above me, and climbing from one to the other, I at length gained the summit, where I found two churches. On looking down, I perceived churches on all sides of the mountain scattered about in various positions.... There are about two dozen in tolerable preservation, and the remains of perhaps forty may be traced altogether.... The mountain must have been considered sacred; all the ruins are of the Christian epoch, and, with the exception of a huge palace, every building is a church.” It appears from the Acts that, besides the Greek, there was still extant a local Lycaonian dialect, and this is what we should expect from what we know in the cases of Caria, Lycia, and Phrygia, respectively. There are, however, no certain means, now, of determining what was its character, and whether it was of Semitic or of Indo-European descent.

Having dealt pretty fully with the provinces and towns of Asia Minor to the west and south, with some notice of those in Lycaonia, we propose now to notice the chief ones in Phrygia and Galatia, though we have not space to weigh nicely the limits of each of these districts, which were, indeed, till Roman times, in a state of constant change. Rome, as we know, thought fit to include under the name of Asia more than one piece arbitrarily cut out of the older provinces; Roman Asia being to the rest of Asia Minor much what Portugal on maps was to Spain.

The Phrygians themselves were, like the Mysians, probably of Thracian origin, as the name Bryges, or Briges, is found in Macedonia, and is, probably, connected with the Celtic word “briga,” as in Artobriga. We find also in the neighbouring province of Bithynia a tribe called Bebryces. The Phrygians have also been supposed to have some connection with Armenia—a theory, however, mainly resting on their legend of a primeval flood, and of the resting of an ark on the mountains near Celænæ.

It is certain that the people of this part of Asia Minor were very much intermixed. Thus, the Trojans and Mysians were almost certainly members of the great Phrygian race; for Hecuba was a Phrygian princess, and Hector a common Phrygian name. One stream of immigrators may, therefore, have come from Armenia into Europe, and have, thence, returned somewhat later to Phrygia, the Phrygians, like the Macedonians, being said to be unable to pronounce the φ (ph), and saying Bilippus and Berenice, for Philippus and Pherenice: in the army, too, of Xerxes, the Armenians and Phrygians wear similar armour. Recent researches by Baron Texier and Mr. Hamilton have shown that the Phrygians had a peculiar style of architecture, the former having discovered an entire town carved out of the solid rock. Tombs, too, occur, in construction resembling the lion gate of Mycenæ; while there is also a legend of a Phrygian Pelops in Argolis. Phrygian religious rites were widely accepted by remote districts of the ancient world, the goddess Cybele being strictly a Phrygian deity, and the wild “orgies” of her worship essentially Asiatic.

Of the towns of Phrygia we take first Apamea, as unquestionably one of the most important for its varied history and for the many persons of note who are linked with it. Its foundation is due to Antiochus Soter, who named it after his mother Apama. According to Strabo, it stood at the source of the river Marsyas, which burst forth in the middle of the city, and flowed thence into the Mæander; and, though this description is not quite borne out by recent observations, the identity of its size with the modern village of Deenare or Denair, has been satisfactorily shown by an inscription found by Mr. Arundell, reading—QUI. APAMEAE. NEGOCIANTVR. H. C. (hoc. curaverunt). “The merchants frequenting Apamea have taken care (to erect this monument).”^[99] Cicero, who was appointed proconsul of Cilicia in B.C. 51, has left us many interesting particulars about it in his letters to his friends, as he was much there. At this place, too, he deposited one of the three copies of his quæstor’s accounts, at the same time refusing to accept for himself or to permit his soldiers to appropriate, any of the booty taken from the enemy. In a letter to Can. Sallustius, proquæstor, he adds: “I shall leave the money at Laodicea ... in order to avoid the hazard, both to self and the commonwealth, of conveying it in specie.” While governing his province, one of his friends requested him to procure some panthers for him. This he did, and at his own expense, remarking at the same time “that the beasts made sad complaints against him, and resolved to quit the country, since no snares were laid in his province for any other creatures but themselves.”^[100]

But, besides the classical history of Apamea, which is well enough known, this place was accredited with a tradition referring to the Ark, which, though purely legendary, cannot be omitted here; the more so as the story of the Ark resting after the Flood on one of the heights near Apamea has been supposed by some to have given that city the title of “Cibotus,” or “Apamea of the Chest.”^[101] Indeed, Mount Ararat was placed by some on the confines of Phrygia. The coin of Alexander Severus, of which we give a copy above, is supposed to refer to this story. On the reverse is the name of the people of Apamea, and, above, a square structure resting on a rock, and surrounded by water. In this box are two figures, male and female, and in front the word ΝΩΕ (Noe). It is, therefore, a fair presumption that the maker of the medal did mean to represent Noah and wife. Two other persons, also a man and a woman, stand in front of the supposed ark. If, as we believe, the Scriptural deluge took place in Babylonia, some features of its story might easily have found their way to Phrygia; while, independently of this, we know that, even in the days of St. Paul, there were Jewish synagogues in many of the great towns of Asia Minor. Moreover, during the 150 years between St. Paul and Alexander Severus, some, at least, of the more striking events recorded in the Bible must have become popularly known.

The next place we notice is Azani, or Aezani (for both spellings occur), the latter, that of the coins of the place, being the more preferable. It is certain that the present Lord Ashburnham, in 1824, was the first to determine where it stood, though this discovery has, with some carelessness, been often attributed wrongly. It is now called Tchandur Hissar, and, from Keppel, Hamilton, and Fellows, appears to possess some ruins of remarkable beauty, and more than one Roman bridge. Hamilton (i. 101) states that its Ionic temple (of which Fellows and Pullan give drawings) is one of the most perfect in Asia Minor. Rather curiously, no walls have been found; but the place has suffered from plunderers severely, every tomb having been despoiled.

In Phrygia Magna, as distinguished from Phrygia Epictetus, a place of early notice and of long importance was Synnada, which we hear of first in connection with the famous march of Cn. Manlius against the Gallo-Græci. Cicero visited it in his progress towards Cilicia. In Pliny’s time, it was the judicial centre of the neighbourhood. It was chiefly famous for a beautiful marble with purple spots and veins, to which Statius alludes (Silv. i. 5, 56). Texier was the first to discover the actual quarries, which were, as the natives of old asserted, not at Synnada, but at Docimia; whence the marble itself was sometimes called “Docimites lapis.” Paulus Silentiarius, in a poem on the church of St. Sophia, has well described its character. Docimia itself was probably at the end of the plain where Synnada was itself situate. Hierocles makes Synnada a bishopric of Phrygia Salutaris. Its ruins are now called Eski Kara Hissar.

On the main road from Synnada towards Iconium stood Philomelium, the “city of nightingales,” now, since the discovery of the true site of the Pisidian Antioch, identified with Ak-shehr. It was a place of much value to the early Turkish rulers, and many handsome Saracenic buildings may still be seen; hence, too, it is often mentioned in the wars between the Greek emperors and the Sultans of Iconium, as in Procopius (Hist. Arc. 18) and Anna Comnena (p. 473).^[102]

But the most important place in the neighbourhood was Laodicea, often called “Combusta,” “the burnt,” which is to be carefully distinguished from the other town of the same name we shall presently describe in connection with Hierapolis, and which is generally called “ad Lycum,” “on the Lycus,” in the province of Lydia. Recent geographers, however, give both these towns to Phrygia. Laodicea Combusta was about nine hours N.W. of Iconium, and under its modern names of Yorgan Ladik or Ladik-el-Tchaus, is famous throughout Asia Minor for its manufacture of carpets. It has been, popularly, supposed, that it derived its name from the existence at it of some remarkable volcanic agencies. This, however, Mr. Hamilton has clearly shown, is not the case. “There is not,” he says, “a particle of volcanic or igneous rock in the neighbourhood; the hills consist of blue marble, and of the argillaceous and micaceous schists with which that rock is usually associated.” He thinks it may, at some time or other, have been burnt down, and, on being rebuilt, have received this distinguishing title. The inscriptions he found there, though in great abundance, have little interest, being chiefly funereal: they are all carved out of the dark blue-veined limestone of the adjoining hills.

The last three places in Phrygia, which we think it necessary to note especially, we shall take together, as situate near one another, and, historically, closely connected. These cities are Hierapolis, Laodicea, (ad Lycum), and Colossæ.

Hierapolis is chiefly remarkable for waters so loaded with petrifying materials as to have completely changed, by their deposits, the face of the country in the course of centuries; a result, noticed by many ancient authors, as Vitruvius, Pausanias, &c. Chandler states that a cliff near the town is one entire incrustation, and describes its appearance as that of “an immense frozen cascade, the surface wavy, as of water at once fixed, or in its headlong course suddenly petrified.”^[103] An excellent view of this curious scene is given in Mr. Davis’s “Anatolica,” p. 100. Besides its remarkable petrifying power, Strabo states also that the waters of Hierapolis were famous for dyeing; and it is curious confirmation of this statement, that an early English traveller (Dr. Smith, in 1671) copied an inscription referring to a “company of dyers” (ἡ ἐργασία τῶν βαφέων). The position of Hierapolis must have been very imposing, placed as it was on a high piece of ground, “200 paces wide, and a mile in length.” Abundant ruins still remain, consisting of the relics of three Christian churches, one 300 feet long, and of a gymnasium, considered by Leake to be one of the only three “which are in a state of preservation sufficient to give any useful information on the subject of these buildings,” together with a prodigious number of fallen columns, in the wildest state of confusion. It seems a pity that no efficient steps have been taken to excavate thoroughly such a site as that of Hierapolis, where monuments of much historical interest, possibly, too, of surpassing excellence as sculpture, might reasonably be anticipated. Hierapolis is specially noticed in St. Paul’s epistle to the Colossians (iv. 13), which shows clearly that, at that time, there were many converts to Christianity, probably owing to the zeal of Epaphras, who had been long a common labourer with the Apostle. Somewhat later, Hierapolis appears in Hierocles as the metropolis of Phrygia; and Arundell gives a list of the bishops of the see whose names have been preserved. The present ruins are called Pambouk Kalessi.

Laodicea “ad Lycum” was, in the time of Strabo, one of the principal places in this province, and the centre of the Roman power in this part of Asia. Many men of great wealth, it is said, contributed to its early magnificence; Strabo noticing Hiero, who, besides greatly embellishing it during his lifetime, left to it by will the sum of 2,000 talents, together with the orator Zeno, and his son Polemo, who was made by Augustus king of part of Pontus. There are some difficulties in reconciling the statements of ancient authors about the rivers that flowed by or close to this town, and even recent investigations have not made this matter quite clear. Four rivers are mentioned in connection with it—the Lycus, Asopus, Caprus, and the Cadmus. Of these the first is, unquestionably, the most important, as having given its name to the town. It is likely these difficulties have been increased by the earthquakes noticed by Strabo, who says that Laodicea, more than any other town, was subject to their baneful influence. His words are remarkable (εἰ γάρ τις ἄλλη καὶ ἡ Λαοδίκεια εὕσειστος, Strab. p. 578). Such earthquakes would, naturally modify the course of these streams.^[104] Col. Leake calls especial attention to the importance of a thorough investigation of the ruins of all these great towns: so much is still on the surface, that he thinks there is reasonable hope of the discovery of much still buried. The same, to a smaller extent, would, probably, prove true of other cities in the vale of the Mæander; for Strabo thought that Philadelphia, Sardes, and Magnesia ad Sipylum were not less than Laodicea, and had all alike suffered from the ravages of earthquakes; and this view was completely supported by Arundell from his own personal observations at Laodicea (Seven Churches, p. 85).

Laodicea suffered severely at the hands of Mithradates, but, with the reign of Augustus, its real fame and prosperity arose and long continued. About A.D. 1097 it was seized by the Turks, and subsequently was, alternately, in their hands or in those of the Byzantine emperors. In 1190 the Emperor Barbarossa was welcomed by the then inhabitants with much kindness, but, shortly afterwards, it was wholly desolated by the Turks. The zeal of St. Paul for the Church of Laodicea suggests that there must early have been abundant converts to the new faith in its neighbourhood. It is, however, also clear that their allegiance was not very trustworthy, and that they were much inclined to accept a modified form of Christianity. St. Paul’s words in his Epistle to the Colossians (ii. 1) show this plainly enough—“For I would,” says he, “that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.” Again, “When this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans” (iv. 16). The Book of Revelation contains, also, strong strictures on the lukewarmness of the Laodiceans. “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth” (Rev. iii. 15, 16). Laodicea, though sometimes called Ladik, is more usually known as Eski-Hissar, the Turkish form of the common Levantine title of Palæo-Castro—“Old Castle.”

Colossæ, the last of the three towns, has been much confused with the other two, from the haste and want of accurate observation of different travellers. Much time is, indeed, requisite for the comparison of the brief notes of ancient authors with the existing facts. It is not certain when Colossæ was founded, or to what circumstances it owes its name, but it existed some centuries before the Christian era, as it is mentioned by Herodotus as a large and flourishing town of Phrygia when Xerxes passed through it in B.C. 481, on his way from Cappadocia to Sardes (vii. 30); nor had it, apparently, at all decayed when visited by Cyrus the Younger, about eighty years subsequently, (Xen. Anab. i. 2). Like the people of the adjacent Laodicea, the Colossians were great growers of wool. It was nearly destroyed in the days of Nero, but it survived, at all events, as the name of a Christian bishopric, till the time of Hierocles’s Synecdemus. Somewhat later, a new town named Chonas was built there, the certain identification of its ruins being mainly due to the fact that Nicetas the Annalist was born there. St. Paul, as we know, wrote an epistle to the Colossians, but his words, “Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus,” seem to imply that he was never there himself. On the other hand, Epaphras, who was a native of Colossæ, and Onesimus, are specially noted as having preached there.

Colossæ has been repeatedly visited by travellers, such as Dr. Smith, Picenini, Pococke, and Arundell; but to Mr. Hamilton we owe the clearest notice of it, and the reconciling of many points not understood by those who preceded him. Herodotus, as we have remarked, had stated that there was a χάσμα γῆς (a deep chasm) at Colossæ, and that the Lycus flowed by a subterranean channel for half a mile. This chasm Mr. Hamilton traced, proving how the Lycus may well have been said to have flowed underground, owing to the great accumulation of petrifying matter from the stream, now called Ak Sú, or “White Water.” Mr. Hamilton quotes, also, a passage from the Byzantine writer, Curopalates, clearly referring to the same curious phenomenon. Pliny, too, makes an interesting remark as to the quality of this water, where he says, “There is a river at Colossæ which will convert brick into stone.” Hamilton adds, “The Ak Sú, which joins the Choruk in the centre of the town, would soon cover a brick with a thick incrustation, and even fill the porous interior with the same substance by means of infiltration.”

The only towns in Galatia we think worthy of any especial note are Ancyra, Pessinus, and Tavium—in fact, Galatia, the land of the Asiatic Gauls, was little more than a dismemberment of the ancient Phrygia, mainly induced by the invasion of a portion of the vast horde of Gauls, who, descending from Pannonia under the second Brennus, B.C. 279, were, ultimately, induced to cross the Hellespont, on the invitation of Nicomedes I. of Pergamus. The general history of Galatia is so well known, we need not dwell on it here. Suffice it, that the three principal tribes of these invaders were known as the Tectosages, the Tolistoboii, and the Trocmi, and that, after many battles, in which their power was greatly reduced, they were settled, the first at Ancyra, the second at Pessinus, and the third at Tavium. Some historical facts connected with them, it may, however, be as well to mention; viz., that Antiochus obtained the name of Soter from the great defeat he inflicted on them; and that, beaten by Attalus I. and Prusias, they were most completely subdued by the consul Manlius in A.D. 189. Gauls are found as mercenaries in all the wars of the times, and, often, fighting against one another, being even noticed as such in the Maccabees (1. viii. 2). So late as the fourth century, St. Jerome, who had lived long at Trèves, states that the common tongue of Galatia was the same as that of that city. Curiously, only one name, certainly Celtic, Eccobriga, between Tavium and Ancyra, has been preserved in the Itineraries. As a people, they greatly resembled the Gauls Cæsar describes—“Natio est omnis Gallorum admodum dedita superstitionibus”; hence, they adopted, at once, the Phrygian worship of Cybele as “Mater Deorum,”—the “Galli” of Pessinus being her special priests. Their leading men, however, soon became wealthy, and were speedily Hellenized.

The most important place in Galatia was Ancyra, on the Sangarius; traditionally, the foundation of Midas, the son of Gordius. The anchor he found there, whence the city’s name, Pausanias says, was, still, in his day, preserved in the Temple of Jupiter. The territory round this city was formally created a Roman province by Augustus, B.C. 25, the epithet “Tectosagum” being added to its title “Sebaste,” to distinguish it from Pessinus and Tavium, which bore, also, the epithets of Sebaste or Augusta. On the coins of Nero, Ancyra is, also, called Metropolis; and, though much decayed, is still a considerable place, with a large population.^[105] In the adjacent plains occurred the mighty conflict between Bayazíd and Timúr (Tamerlane), in which the former lost his crown, and was taken prisoner by the Moghul emperor, though the popular legend of the “cage of Bayazíd” is, probably, as little authentic as the burning of the library of Alexandria by the orders of Omar.

But the most interesting matter, in connection with Ancyra is the famous Inscription of Augustus^[106] (sometimes called his “Will”), generally known by scholars under the title of the “Marmor Ancyranum.” What was then visible of this Inscription was first copied by Busbequius, about A.D. 1555, and published in 1579, at Antwerp, by Andreas Schottus.^[107] At first, the Latin portion only was obtained, but, by degrees, portions of the Greek have been recovered, an important addition having been made by Mr. Hamilton.^[108] A very complete account of it has been recently published by Theod. Mommsen, under the title “Res gestæ Divi Augusti,” Berl. 1865, with very accurate copies of the Greek legend, specially executed for Napoleon III. by M. Perrot.

It would be impossible to give here even the briefest summary of this very interesting and valuable inscription, which fully deserves the most careful perusal; but we may mention that, among the historical events Augustus records, are his crushing the murderers of Julius Cæsar, when he was only 21,—the titles conferred on him—the census of his people—the closing of the Temple of Janus—his great largesses to the people, agreeably with the will of Julius Cæsar—with a remarkable list of the monumental works begun or completed by him in Rome^[109]—a notice of the highest value to Roman antiquaries, and, therefore, very properly given by Mr. Parker in his recent volume on the “Forum Romanum.” He then recounts his crushing the pirates, noticing also the Servile war; the effect of the battle of Actium on Italy; the boundaries of the provinces then subject to him, and the extension of the Roman arms to Æthiopia and Arabia; the submission of Tiridates and Phraates, the kings of Parthia; and of Dubnovelaunus, king of the Britons. He concludes by saying, “When I wrote this I was in my seventy-sixth year,” and very shortly after this he died.^[110]

The next town of Galatia we notice, Pessinus, was situate near the left bank of the Sangarius, on the road to Angora. It was the capital of the Gallic tribe of the Tolistoboii, and celebrated in antiquity for its worship of the goddess Rhea, or Cybele. The story went that the original shrine of this goddess was removed to Rome, towards the close of the second Punic war, the safety of Italy being said to depend on this step. It is clear that the people of Pessinus did not care much about their most sacred shrine—possibly, however, as King Attalus supported the Roman demand, they could not help themselves. It is worthy of note, that, not long after the removal of this shrine, the Galli became the chief priests of the worship of Cybele, and, as such, went out to propitiate Manlius, when about to throw a bridge over the Sangarius (Livy, xxxviii. 18). Polybius gives the names of these priests (Polyb. Fragm. 4). Coins of Pessinus exhibit the worship of Cybele as late as Caracalla, and we know that Julian the Apostate visited her temple (Ammian. xxii. 9). One name she bore was that of Agdistis, Pessinus itself being seated under this mountain, which was also called Dindymus. M. Texier seems to have first recognized its ruins at a place now called Sevrihissar, of which an excellent account is given by Mr. Hamilton (i. p. 438). “Every step we advanced,” says he, “gave evidence of the importance and magnificence of the public buildings with which this site must once have been adorned.” We may add that Mr. Hamilton’s further researches enabled him to reconcile the conflicting accounts of the march of Manlius in Polybius and Livy, the whole of the course of the Roman general being, now, fairly traceable.

The last of these Galatian towns, Tavium, was the abode of the third Gallic tribe, the Trocmi, as is shown by an inscription on a coin, reading ΤΑΟΥΙΑΝΩΝ ΤΡΟ. The position of this town has been identified by Mr. Hamilton as that where M. Texier found some very remarkable sculptures, which he, erroneously, called Pterium, the site of one of the battles between Crœsus and Cyrus. It is more probable that this place was much nearer the shores of the Black Sea. If Hamilton is right, Boghaz-kieui marks the site of the old town, which was one of great trade, and famous for a colossal bronze statue and temple of Jupiter. The careful measurement of the seven great roads, recorded as having met at Tavium, agrees, too, with his view. The bas-reliefs discovered by M. Texier, about two miles from this temple, are among the most curious in Asia Minor. Mr. Hamilton gives a view of them (vol. i. p. 394), whence we are inclined to think that they must be of Persian origin. So far as we can judge from the engraving, the work resembles much that at Behistan; moreover, two of the figures seem to be standing on lions or panthers, as on the reliefs found by Mr. Layard at Bavian, and to be seen, also, of some of the coins of Tarsus. The subject appears to be the meeting of two kings, the principal figures being five feet high. Two of the figures stand on a kind of double-headed eagle. Mr. Hamilton suggested a resemblance between them and those at Persepolis, an appreciation the more remarkable that when Mr. Hamilton’s work was published in 1842, none of the Assyrian excavations had been begun. Considering the great influence of the Persians after the establishment of the empire of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, there is no improbability in the carving being the work of some powerful satrap, like Pharnabazus, who might easily have been familiar with the sculptures at Bavian, Behistan, and Persepolis.

Over the towns in the remaining provinces of Asia Minor, Cappadocia, Pontus, Paphlagonia, and Bithynia, it will not be necessary for us to linger at any length; not because there are not abundant objects of interest in each of them, but that the remains, purely Greek, are comparatively few, while the space we can give for an adequate description of them is exceedingly limited. We shall, however, notice some of the chief places, either of Greek origin, or directly connected with the Greeks, referring to the journals of the travellers we have so often quoted; and especially to Mr. Hamilton, for a more full and detailed account of them.

To take first Cappadocia, which is in this sense peculiar, that it was for centuries governed, first by satraps claiming descent from one of the seven conspirators who aided Darius, and, secondly, by a native race of kings, till it became a Roman province. The great plains of Cappadocia, at an altitude seldom less than 4,000 feet above the sea, were famous for the breed of horses they raised; corn, too, and many excellent fruits found in this province their native home. Salt, and various kinds of crystal, were also largely exported from Cappadocia.

Of the towns of Cappadocia, we may mention Nazianzus, a site celebrated as the birthplace of its famous bishop, Gregory, a great ecclesiastical writer, a wit and a poet (see his humorous description of Sasina, the church to which he was first appointed, Orat. xxv. p. 435, which we wish we had space to quote). Its ancient position has been accurately determined by the observations of more than one modern traveller (Hamilton, ii. p. 228). Mazaca, afterwards called Cæsarea ad Argæum, was for many centuries the capital of Cappadocia, and is still a place of some importance. The chief feature of its scenery was the Mons Argæus (now Erjish Dagh), reputed the loftiest mountain of Asia Minor, which rises immediately above it, covered with perpetual snow. The town itself, though ultimately the capital, appears to have been for a long time little more than a camp; indeed, Horace’s description probably tells us all that “His Majesty” of Cappadocia really required: “Mancipiis locuples, eget æris Cappadocum rex” (“Though rich in slaves, the king of Cappadocia lacks ready money”), (Ep. i. 6, 39). Cappadocian slaves were abundant in Rome, and had a high reputation as bakers and confectioners (Plut. Lucull. Athen. i. 20, &c.). One of the most memorable events of the history of the town was, its long and gallant resistance to the Sassanian emperor, in the war between Valerian and Sapor. In Christian times, it derived much fame from the fact that St. Basil was born there, and was, subsequently, for many years its bishop (Socrat. H. E. v. 8; Hierocl. p. 698). Mr. Hamilton (ii. pp. 274-281) gives an interesting account of his ascent of the great mountain near it [the height of which he found to be about 13,000 feet], a feat, we believe, he was the first to accomplish.

Tyana, another Cappadocian town, is chiefly noted as the birthplace of Apollonius of Tyana, whose amusing life has been preserved by Philostratus. From its position on the defiles leading through Taurus into Cilicia, it must have been a place of some importance; and hence, probably, the tradition that it was built by Semiramis (Strab. xii. 537). In later times it was the seat of a Christian bishopric (Greg. Naz. Epist. 33). Hamilton thinks that a place called Iftyan Kas may mark this site. There is near to it the remains of a fine aqueduct, ascribed by the natives to Nimrod, but, really, of Roman origin.

Comana, the only other place in Cappadocia, which it is necessary to notice, was really the chief town of a subdistrict called Cataonia. It was chiefly celebrated for its collection of priests, soothsayers, and the like, who were devoted to the worship of Mâ (the Moon), or, as some say, the Cappadocian Bellona. Strabo asserts that the votaries of this sacred institution amounted to as many as 6,000 persons, of both sexes (xii. 535). Some, on the other hand, think this goddess the Anaitis of the Persians, the Agdistis or Cybele of the Phrygians. Coins of Comana, of Antoninus Pius, show that there was a Roman colony there, which was in existence as late as Caracalla.

Pontus, a narrow slip along the shores of the Black Sea, was chiefly memorable for its great fertility in the fruits now so common in our western lands, as cherries (perhaps so named from one of its towns, Cerasus), peaches, almonds, &c. It was also very rich in grain, timber, honey, and wax; while its mineral wealth is strikingly shown by the fact that one of its tribes, the Chalybes, famous so early as the time of Xenophon for their skill in working iron, gave their name to the Greek word for hardened iron or steel.^[111] Trapezus (now Trebisonde), its only considerable town, was in ancient days believed to be a colony of Sinope, the foundress of several other places along the coasts of the Black Sea. It was evidently a city of note when Xenophon came there, in B.C. 400, with the remains of the Ten Thousand, as its citizens hospitably entertained the Greek host under his command. We find it, also, in much prosperity when Arrian was governor of Pontus, under Hadrian. In later days, Trapezus was the capital of a petty empire under a branch of the princely house of the Comneni, its rulers assuming the pompous title of Emperors of Trebizonde, and claiming, though not always securing, independence of the Greek Empire. It is still a place of commercial importance. We may add that it was not far from this place, near the town of Zela, that Cæsar defeated the troops of the despicable traitor Pharnaces so quickly, that he announced his victory in the famous words, “Veni, Vidi, Vici” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”) (Hist. Bell. Alex. c. 72; Plut. Vit. Cæs.; Sueton. Cæs. c. 37). The history of Pontus is closely interwoven with that of the famous Mithradates; but, into this, we have not the space to enter here.