Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 2 of 2)

In the Armenian church-yard he saw an inscription – “Good Fortune to the most splendid Metropolitan, and thrice Neocorus of the emperor, accordingto the judgment of the most holy senate of Smyrniotes[239 - A very ancient basso-rilievo, among the antiquities at Wilton House, brought from Smyrna, represents Mantheus, the son of Æthus, giving thanks to Jupiter, for his son’s being victor in the five exercises of the Olympic games; wherein is shown, by an inscription of the oldest Greek letters, the ancient Greek way of writing that was in use six hundred years before our Saviour.].”

Many writers do not seem to be aware, that the ancient Smyrna did not occupy the spot where modern Smyrna stands, but one about two miles and a half distant. It was built partly on the brow of a hill, and partly on a plain towards the port, and had a temple dedicated to Cybele. It was then the most beautiful of all the Asiatic cities. “But that which was, and ever will be, its true glory,” says Sir George Wheler, “was their early reception of the gospel of Jesus Christ – glorious in the testimony he has given of them, and happy in the faithful promises he made to them. Let us, therefore, consider what he writeth to them by the Evangelist St. John: – (Apoc. ii. 9.) ‘I know thy works and tribulation, and poverty; but thou art rich. And I know the blasphemy of them, that say they are Jews, and are not: but are the Synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things, which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the Devil shall cast some of ye in prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death; and I will give thee a crown of life.’”

Previous to the year 1675, it had been partially destroyed, and several times, by earthquakes; and it was predicted that a seventh convulsion would be fatal to the whole city. Such a calamity, attended by a dreadful fire, and the swallowing up of multitudes by the incursion of the sea, recurred in 1688, and did, indeed, very nearly fulfil the prophecy. “Repeated strokes,” says Sir John Hobhouse, “and almost annual pestilences, have since that period laid waste this devoted city; and yet the convenience of a most spacious and secure harbour, together with the luxuriant fertility of the surrounding country, and the prescriptive excellence allowed nearly two thousand years to this port, in preference to the other maritime stations of Asia Minor, still operate to collect and keep together a vast mass of inhabitants from every quarter of the globe.”

According to Pococke, the city might have been about four miles in compass; of a triangular form. It seems to have extended about a mile on the sea, and three miles on the north, south, and east sides, taking in the compass of the castle. This stands on the remains of the ancient castle, the walls of which were of the same kind of architecture as the city walls on the hill. It is all in ruins, except a small part of the west end, which is always kept shut up.

One of the gateways of white marble has been brought from another place; and in the architrave round the arch there is a Greek inscription of the middle ages. At another gate there is a colossal head, said to be that of the Amazon Smyrna. It is of fine workmanship, and the tresses particularly flow in a very natural manner. “Smyrna,” says Pococke, “was one of the finest cities in these parts, and the streets were beautifully laid out, well-paved, and adorned with porticoes, both above and below. There was also a temple of Mars, a circus, and a theatre; and yet there is now very little to be seen of all these things.”

Upon a survey of the castle, Dr. Chandler collected, that, after being re-edified by John Angelus Comnenus, its condition, though less ruinous than before, was far more mean and ignoble. The old wall, of which many remnants may be discovered, is of a solid massive construction, worthy of Alexander and his captains. All the repairs are mere patchwork. On the arch of a gateway, which is of marble, is inscribed a copy of verses, giving an elegant and poetical description of the extreme misery from which the above-mentioned emperor raised the city; concluding with an address to the Omnipotent Ruler of heaven and earth, that he would grant him and his queen, whose beauty it celebrates, a reign of many years. On each side is an eagle, rudely cut.

Near the sea is the ground-work of a stadium, stripped of its marble seats and decorations. Below the theatre is part of a slight wall. The city walls have long since been demolished. Even its ruins are removed. Beyond the deep valley, however, in which the Meles winds, behind the castle, are several portions of the wall of the Pomœrium, which encompassed the city at a distance, but broken. The facings are gone, and masses left only of rubble and cement.

The ancient city has supplied materials for those public edifices, which have been erected by the Turks. The Bezestan and the Vizir khan were both raised with the white marble of the theatre. The very ruins of the stones and temples are vanished. “We saw,” says Dr. Chandler, “remains of one only; some shafts of columns of variegated marble, much injured, in the way ascending through the town to the castle. Many pedestals, statues, inscriptions, and medals have been, and are still, discovered in digging. Perhaps,” continues our author, “no place has contributed more to enrich the cabinets and collections of Europe.”

“Smyrna,” says a celebrated French writer, “the queen of the cities of Anatolia, and extolled by the ancients under the title of ‘the lovely, the crown of Ionia, the ornament of Asia,’ braves the reiterated efforts of conflagrations and earthquakes. Ten times destroyed, she has ten times risen from her ruins with new splendour. According to a very common Grecian system, the principal buildings were erected on the face of a hill fronting the sea. The hill supplied marble, while its slope afforded a place for the seats rising gradually above each other in the stadium, or the great theatre for the exhibition of games. Almost every trace of the ancient city, however, has been obliterated during the contests between the Greek empire and the Ottomans, and afterwards by the ravages of Timour, in 1402. The foundation of the stadium remains; but the area is sown with grain. There are only a few vestiges of the theatre; and the castle, which crowns the hill, is chiefly patchwork, executed by John Comnenus on the ruins of the old one, the walls of which, of immense strength and thickness, may still be discovered.”

This city was visited a short time since by the celebrated French poet and traveller Lamartine. He has thus spoken of its environs: – “The view from the top of the hill over the gulf and city is beautiful. On descending the hill to the margin of the river, which I like to believe is the Meles, we were delighted with the situation of the bridge of the caravans, very near one of the gates of the town. The river is limpid, slumbering under a peaceful arch of sycamores and cypresses; we seated ourselves on its bank. If this stream heard the first notes of Homer, I love to hear its gentle murmurings amidst the roots of the palm-trees; I raise its waters to my lips. Oh! might that man appear from the Western world, who should weave its history, its dreams, and its heaven, into an epic! Such a poem is the sepulchre of times gone by, to which posterity comes to venerate traditions, and eternalise by its worship the great actions and sublime thoughts of human nature. Its author engraves his name on the pedestal of the statue which he erects to man, and he lives in all the ideas with which he enriches the world of imagination.”

According to the same author, Smyrna in no respect resembles an Eastern town; it is a large and elegant factory, where the European consuls and merchants lead the life of Paris and London.

Though frequently and severely visited by the plague, it contains one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants; and may be considered as the great emporium of the Levant[240 - Pausanias; Arrian; Quintus Curtius; Wheler; Pococke; Chandler; Barthelemy; Hobhouse; La Martine.].

NO. XXXII. – SPALATRO

When Diocletian selected a spot for his retirement, he solicitously observed, that his palace should command every beauty that the country afforded. In this retirement he began to live, to see the beauty of the sun, and to enjoy, as Vopiscus relates, true happiness in the society of those he had known in his youth[241 - The valour of Diocletian was never found inadequate to his duty or to the occasion; but he appears not to have possessed the daring and generous spirit of a hero, who courts danger and fame, disdains artifice, and boldly challenges the allegiance of his equals. His abilities were useful rather than splendid; a vigorous mind, improved by the experience and study of mankind; dexterity and application in business; a judicious mixture of liberality and economy; steadiness to pursue his ends; flexibility to vary his means; and, above all, the great art of submitting his own passions, as well as those of others, to the interest of his ambition, and of colouring his ambition with the most specious pretences of justice and public utility. Like Augustus, Diocletian may be considered as the founder of a new empire; like the adopted son of Cæsar, he was distinguished as a statesman rather than a warrior; nor did either of those princes employ force whenever their purpose could be effected by policy. – Gibbon.]. His palace was situated at Spalatro, in Dalmatia.

While residing at this place, Diocletian made a very remarkable and strictly true confession: – “Four or five persons,” said he, “who are closely united, and resolutely determined to impose on a prince, may do it very easily. They never show things to him but in such a light as they are sure will please. They conceal whatever would contribute to enlighten him; and as they only besiege him continually, he cannot be informed of any thing but through their medium, and does nothing but what they think fit to suggest to him. Hence it is, that he bestows employments on those he ought to exclude from them; and, on the other hand, removes from offices such persons as are most worthy of filling them. In a word, the best prince is often sold by these men, though he be ever so vigilant, and even suspicious of them.”

As the voyager enters the bay, the marine wall and long arcades of the palace, one of the ancient temples, and other parts of that building, present themselves. The inhabitants have destroyed some parts of the palace, in order to procure materials for building. In other places houses are built of the old foundations; and modern works are so intermingled with the ancient, as scarcely to be distinguishable.

The palace of Diocletian possessed all those advantages of situation, to which the ancients were most attentive. It was so great that the emperor Constantinus Porphyrogenitus, who had seen the most splendid buildings of the ancients, affirms[242 - De Administrando Imperio.], that no plan or description of it could convey a perfect idea of it. The vast extent of ground which it occupied is surprising at first sight; the dimensions of one side of the quadrangle, including the towers, being no less than six hundred and ninety-eight feet, and of the other four hundred and ninety-two feet: – making the superficial contents four hundred and thirteen thousand two hundred and sixteen feet; that is, about nine and a half English acres. But when it is considered that it contained proper apartments not only for the emperor himself, and for the numerous retinue of officers who attended his court, but likewise edifices and open spaces for exercises of different kinds, that it was capable of lodging a prætorian cohort, and that two temples were erected within its precincts, we shall not conclude the area to have been too large for such a variety of buildings.

For a description of this celebrated place, we must refer to Mr. Adam’s Antiquities; but there is one circumstance that may be highly interesting at the present time, which is, that not the smallest vestige of a fire-place is to be seen in any part of the building; and it may be therefore conjectured, that the various apartments might have been heated by flues or funnels, conveying and distributing heated air.

Of the temples, one of them was dedicated to Æsculapius; the ascent to which was by a stair of fifteen steps, and it received no light but from the door. Beneath it are vaults of great strength; its roof is an arch adorned with sunk pannels of beautiful workmanship, and its walls are of a remarkable thickness. This temple remains almost entire.

There is another temple, dedicated to Jupiter, who was worshipped by Diocletian with peculiar veneration; and in honour of whom he assumed the name of Jovius. This temple is surrounded with one row of columns, having a space between them and the wall. It is lighted by an arched window over the door, and is vaulted beneath like that of Æsculapius. There are remains of two other buildings, not much inferior in extent, nor probably in original magnificence; but by the injuries of time, and the depredations of the Spalatrines, these are reduced to a very ruinous condition.

Besides these the visitor sees large vaults along that side of the palace which looks to the sea; partly destroyed, partly filled up, and some occupied by merchants as storehouses.

In one of the towers belonging to the palace, Diocletian is supposed to have been buried; and we are told that, about two hundred and seventy-five years ago, the body of the emperor was discovered there in a sarcophagus of porphyry.

The shafts of the columns of the temple of Jupiter are of oriental alabaster of one stone. The capitals and bases of the columns, and on the entablature, are of Parian marble. The shafts of the columns of the second order, which is composite, are alternately of verd-antique, or ancient green marble and porphyry, of one piece. The capitals and entablature are also of Parian marble.

All the capitals throughout the palace are raffled more in the Grecian than the Roman style; so that Mr. Adam[243 - Adam’s Antiquities at Diocletian’s palace at Spalatro, p. 67. Thus the Abate Fortis: – “E ‘bastevolmente nota agli amatori dell’ architettura, e dell’ antichità, l’opera del Signor Adam, che a donato molto a que’ superbi vestigi coll’ abituale eleganza del suo toccalapis e del bulino. In generale la rozzezza del scalpello, e ‘l cativo gusto del secolo vi gareggiano colla magnificenza del fabricato.” – Vide Viaggio in Dalmazia, p. 40. For the plan and views of the palace, temples of Jupiter and Æsculapius, with the Dalmatian coast, vide “Voyage de l’Istrie et de la Dalmatie.”] thinks it probable, that Diocletian, who had been so often in Greece, brought his artificers thither, in order to vary the execution of his orders of architecture in this palace, from those he had executed at his baths at Rome, which are extremely different both in formation and execution[244 - Gibbon; Adam.].

NO. XXXIII. – STRATONICE

This was a town in Caria, where a Macedonian colony took up their abode; and which several Syrian monarchs afterwards adorned and beautified. It was named after the wife of Antiochus Soter, of whom history gives the following account. “Antiochus was seized with a lingering distemper, of which the physicians were incapable of discovering the cause; for which reason his condition was thought entirely desperate. Erasistratus, the most attentive and skilful of all the physicians, having carefully considered every symptom with which the indisposition of the young prince was attended, believed at last that he had discovered its true cause, and that it proceeded from a passion he had entertained for some lady; in which conjecture he was not deceived. It, however, was more difficult to discover the object of a passion, the more violent from the secrecy in which it remained. The physician, therefore, to assure himself fully of what he surmised, passed whole days in the apartment of his patient, and when he saw any lady enter, he carefully observed the countenance of the prince, and never discovered the least emotion in him, except when Stratonice came into the chamber, either alone, or with her consort; at which times the young prince was, as Plutarch observes, always affected with the symptoms described by Sappho, as so many indications of a violent passion. Such, for instance, as a suppression of voice; burning blushes; suffusion of sight; cold sweat; a sensible inequality and disorder of pulse; with a variety of the like symptoms. When the physician was afterwards alone with his patient, he managed his inquiries with so much dexterity, as at last drew the secret from him. Antiochus confessed his passion for queen Stratonice his mother-in-law, and declared that he had in vain employed all his efforts to vanquish it: he added, that he had a thousand times had recourse to every consideration that could be represented to his thoughts, in such a conjuncture; particularly the respect due from him to a father and a sovereign, by whom he was tenderly beloved; the shameful circumstance of indulging a passion altogether unjustifiable, and contrary to all the rules of decency and honour; the folly of harbouring a design he ought never to be desirous of gratifying; but that his reason, in its present state of distraction, entirely engrossed by one object, would hearken to nothing. And he concluded with declaring, that, to punish himself, for desires involuntary in one sense, but criminal in every other, he had resolved to languish to death, by discontinuing all care of his health, and abstaining from every kind of food. The physician gained a very considerable point, by penetrating into the source of his patient’s disorder; but the application of the proper remedy was much more difficult to be accomplished; and how could a proposal of this nature be made to a parent and king! When Seleucus made the next inquiry after his son’s health, Erasistratus replied, that his distemper was incurable, because it arose from a secret passion which could never be gratified, as the lady he loved was not to be obtained. The father, surprised and afflicted at this answer, desired to know why the lady was not to be obtained? ‘Because she is my wife!’ replied the physician, ‘and I am not disposed to yield her up to the embraces of another.’ ‘And will you not part with her then,’ replied the king, ‘to preserve the life of a son I so tenderly love! Is this the friendship you profess for me?’ ‘Let me entreat you, my lord,’ said Erasistratus, ‘to imagine yourself for one moment in my place, would you resign your Stratonice to his arms? If you, therefore, who are a father, would not consent to such a sacrifice for the welfare of a son so dear to you, how can you expect another should do it?’ ‘I would resign Stratonice, and my empire to him, with all my soul,’ interrupted the king. ‘Your majesty then,’ replied the physician, ‘has the remedy in your own hands; for he loves Stratonice.’ The father did not hesitate a moment after this declaration, and easily obtained the consent of his consort: after which, his son and that princess were crowned king and queen of upper Asia. Julian the Apostate, however, relates in a fragment of his writings still extant, that Antiochus could not espouse Stratonice, till after the death of his father.

“Whatever traces of reserve, moderation, and even modesty, appear in the conduct of this young prince,” says Rollin at the conclusion of this history, “his example shows us the misfortune of giving the least entrance into the heart of an unlawful passion, capable of discomposing all the happiness and tranquillity of life.”

Stratonice was a free city under the Romans. Hadrian erected several structures in it, and thence took the opportunity of calling it Hadrianopolis.

It is now a poor village, and called Eskihissar. It was remarkable for a magnificent temple, dedicated to Jupiter, of which no foundations are now to be traced, but in one part of the village there is a grand gate of a plain architecture. There was a double row of large pillars from it, which probably formed the avenue to the temple; and on each side of the gate there was a semicircular alcove niche, and a colonnade from it, which, with a wall on each side of the gate, might make a portico, that was of the Corinthian order. Fifty paces further there are remains of another colonnade. To the south of this are ruins of a building of large hewn stone, supposed to have belonged to the temple of Serapis. There is also a large theatre, the front of which is ruined; there are in all about forty seats, with a gallery in the middle, and another at the top.

Chandler gives a very agreeable account of this village: – “The houses are scattered among woody hills environed by huge mountains; one of which has its summit as white as chalk. It is watered by a limpid and lively rill, with cascades. The site is strewed with marble fragments. Some shafts of columns are standing single; and one with a capital on it. By a cottage are three, with a pilaster supporting an entablature, but enveloped in thick vines and trees. Near the theatre are several pedestals of statues; one records a citizen of great merit and magnificence. Above it is a marble heap; and the whole building is overgrown with moss, bushes, and trees. Without the village, on the opposite side, are broken arches, with pieces of massive wall and sarcophagi. Several altars also remain, with inscriptions; once placed in sepulchres[245 - Rollin; Chandler.].”

NO. XXXIV. – SUSA

Strabo says that Susa was built by Tithonus or Tithon, the father of Memnon; and this origin is in some degree supported by a passage in Herodotus, wherein that historian calls it “the city of Memnon.” In Scripture it is called “Shushan.” It was an oblong of one hundred and twenty stadia in circuit; situated on the river Cutæus or Uhlai.

Susa derived its name from the number of lilies which grew on the banks of the river on which it stood. It was sheltered by a high ridge of mountains on the north, which rendered it very agreeable during winter. But in summer the heat was so intense and parching, that the inhabitants were accustomed to cover their houses two cubits deep with earth. It was in this city that Ahasuerus gave the great feast which lasted one hundred and eighty-three days.

Barthelemy makes Anacharsis write to his friend in Scythia to the following purport: – “The kings of Persia, besides Persepolis, have caused other palaces to be built; less sumptuous, indeed, but of wonderful beauty, at Ecbatana and Susa. They have, also, spacious parks, which they call paradises, and which are divided into two parts. In the one, armed with arrows and javelins, they pursue on horseback, through the forests, the deer which are shut up in them; and in the other, in which the art of gardening has exhausted its utmost efforts, they cultivate the most beautiful flowers, and gather the most delicious fruits. They are not less attentive to adorn these parks with superb trees, which they commonly dispose in the form called Quincunx.” He gives, also, an account of the great encouragement afforded to agriculture. “But our attention was still more engaged by the conspicuous protection and encouragement which the sovereign grants to agriculture; and that, not by some transient favours and rewards, but by an enlightened vigilance more powerful than edicts and laws. He appoints in every district two superintendants; one for the military, and the other for civil affairs. The office of the former is to preserve the public tranquillity; and that of the latter to promote the progress of industry and agriculture. If one of these should not discharge his duty, the other may complain of him to the governor of the province, or the sovereign himself. If the monarch sees the country covered with trees, harvests, and all the productions of which the soil is capable, he heaps honours on the two officers, and enlarges their government. But if he finds the lands uncultivated, they are directly displaced, and others appointed in their stead. Commissioners of incorruptible integrity exercise the same justice in the districts through which the sovereign does not pass.”

Susa is rendered remarkable by the immensity of wealth, hoarded up in it by the Persian kings, and which fell into the hands of Alexander, when, twenty days after leaving Babylon, he took possession of that city. There were 50,000 talents[246 - This is Quintus Curtius’ account. Plutarch says 40,000 talents.] of silver in ore and ingots; a sum equivalent, of our money, to 7,500,000l. Besides this, there were five thousand talents’[247 - Or five thousand talents weight. Dacier calls it so many hundred-weight; and the eastern talent was near that weight. Pliny tells us, that a pound of the double-dipped Tyrian purple, in the time of Augustus, sold for a hundred crowns. – Langhorne.] worth of purple of Hermione, which, though it had been laid up for one hundred and ninety years, retained its freshness and beauty: the reason assigned for which is, that the purple wool was combed with honey, and the white with white oil[248 - Plutarch says, that in his time specimens were still to be seen of the same kind and age, in all their pristine lustre.]. Besides this, there were a thousand other things of extraordinary value. “This wealth,” says one of the historians, “was the produce of the exactions imposed for several centuries upon the common people, from whose sweat and poverty immense revenues were raised.” “The Persian monarchy,” he goes on to observe, “fancied they had amassed them for their children and posterity; but, in one hour, they fell into the hands of a foreign king, who was able to make a right use of them: for Alexander seemed to be merely the guardian or trustee of the immense riches which he found hoarded up in Persia; and applied them to no other use than the rewarding of courage and merit.”

Here, too, were found many of the rarities which Xerxes had taken from Greece; and amongst others, the brazen statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton, which Alexander soon after sent to Athens.

This was the city in which a curious scene occurred between Alexander and Sisygambis, Darius’ mother, whom he had taken prisoner at the battle of Issus. He had left her at Susa, with Darius’ children: and having received a quantity of purple stuffs and rich habits from Macedonia, made after the fashion of his own country, he sent them to Sisygambis; desiring his messengers to tell her, that if the stuffs pleased her, she might teach her grandchildren, who were with her, the art of weaving them for their amusement. Now the working in wool was considered an ignominy by the Persian women. When Sisygambis heard Alexander’s message, therefore, she burst into tears. This being related to the conqueror, he thought it decorous to do away the impression. He therefore visited Sisygambis. “Mother,” said he, for he valued Darius’ mother next to his own, “the stuff, in which you see me clothed, was not only a gift of my sisters, but wrought by their fingers. Hence I beg you to believe, that the custom of my country misled me; and do not consider that as an insult, which was owing entirely to ignorance. I believe I have not yet done any thing which I knew interfered with your manners and customs. I was told, that among the Persians it is a sort of crime for a son to seat himself in his mother’s presence, without first obtaining her leave. You are sensible how cautious I have been in that particular; and that I never sat down till you had first laid your commands upon me to do so. And every time that you were going to fall down prostrate before me, I only ask you, whether I would suffer it? As the highest testimony of the veneration I owe you, I always called you by the tender name of mother, though this belongs properly to Olympia only, to whom I owe my birth.” On hearing this Sisygambis was extremely well satisfied, and became afterwards so partial to the conqueror of her son and country, that when she heard of the death of Alexander she wept as if she had lost a son. “Who now will take care of my daughters?” she exclaimed. “Where shall we find another Alexander?” At last she sank under her grief. “This princess,” says Rollin, “who had borne with patience the death of her father, her husband, eighty of her brothers, who were murdered in one day by Ochus, and, to say all in one word, that of Darius her son, and the ruin of her family; though she had, I say, submitted patiently to all these losses, she however had not strength of mind sufficient to support herself after the death of Alexander. She would not take any sustenance, and starved herself to death, to avoid surviving this last calamity.”

Alexander found in Susa all the captives of quality he had left there. He married Statira,[249 - Rollin.] Darius’ eldest daughter, and gave the youngest to his dear Hephæstion. And in order that, by making these marriages more common, his own might not be censured, he persuaded the greatest noblemen in his court, and his principal favourites, to imitate him. Accordingly they chose, from amongst the noblest families of Persia, about eighty young maidens, whom they married. His design was, by these alliances, to cement so strongly the union of the two nations, that they should henceforward form but one, under his empire. The nuptials were solemnised after the Persian manner. He likewise feasted all the rest of the Macedonians who had married before in that country. It is related that there were nine thousand guests at this feast, and that he gave each of them a golden cup for the libations.

When at Susa, Alexander found a proof of the misgovernment of which his satraps had been guilty during his absence. The Susians loudly complained of the satrap Abulites, and his son Oxathres, of spoliation and tyranny. Being convicted of the crimes of which they were charged, they were both sentenced to death.

Josephus says, that Daniel’s wisdom did not only reach to things divine and political, but also to arts and sciences, and particularly to that of architecture; in confirmation of which, he speaks of a famous edifice built by him at Susa, in the manner of a castle, which he says still subsisted in his time, and finished with such wonderful art, that it then seemed as fresh and beautiful as if it had been but newly built. “Within this palace,” continues Josephus, “the Persian and Parthian kings were usually buried; and, for the sake of the founder, the keeping of it was committed to one of the Jewish nation, even to his time. It was a common tradition in those parts for many ages, that Daniel died at Susa, and there they show his monument to this day. It is certain that Daniel used to go thither from time to time, and he himself tells us, that ‘he did the king’s business there.’”

There being some doubt whether the ancient Susa is the modern Shus, or the modern Shuster, we shall not enter into the argument, but describe them both.

The ruins of Shus are situate in the province of Kuzistan, or Chusistan. They extend about twelve miles[250 - Fragments of earthenware, scattered in the greatest profusion, are found to the distance of twenty-six miles. – Walpole’s Travels in Turkey, vol. i. 420.] from one extremity to the other, stretching as far as the eastern bank of the Kerah, occupying an immense space between that river and the Abzal; and, like the ruins of Babylon, Ctesiphon, and Kufa, consisting of hillocks of earth and rubbish, covered with broken pieces of brick and coloured tile.

There are two mounds larger than the rest. The first is about a mile in circumference, and nearly one hundred feet in height. The other is not quite so high, but double the circumference. The Arabs often dig with a view of getting treasures of gold in these two mounds; and every now and then discover large blocks of marble, covered with hieroglyphics. The mounds in general bear considerable resemblance to those of Babylon; but with this difference to distinguish them: instead of being entirely composed of brick, they consist of clay and pieces of tile, with irregular layers of brick and mortar, five or six feet thick, intended, it would seem, as a kind of prop to the mass. This is one reason for supposing that Shus is the ancient Susa; and not Shuster. For Strabo says, that the Persian capital was entirely built of brick; there not being a single stone in the province: whereas the quarries of Shuster are very celebrated; and almost the whole of that town is built of stone. But let the question, says a modern traveller, be decided as it may, the site of the city of Shus is now a gloomy wilderness, infested by lions, hyænas, and other beasts of prey. “The dread of these furious animals,” says Mr. Kinneir, “compelled us to take shelter for the night within the walls that encompassed Daniel’s tomb.”

At the foot of the most elevated of the pyramids stands what is called “the Tomb of Daniel;” a small, comparatively modern, building, erected on the spot where the relics of the prophet are believed to rest. Others doubt this circumstance; among whom is Dr. Vincent[251 - Nearchus, p. 415.], who insists, that to the legendary tradition of the tomb of Daniel little more respect is due, than to the legends of the church of Rome, and the traditions of the Mahometans in general. The antiquity of the tradition is, nevertheless, considerable; for it is not only mentioned by Benjamin of Tudela, who visited Shus in the latter part of the twelfth century, but by one of the earliest Mussulman writers, Ahmed of Kufah, who died A. H. 117 (A. D. 735), and records the removal of the prophet’s coffin to the bed of the river.

Shuster is the capital of Kuzistan, and is situate at the foot of the mountains of Bucktiari, on an eminence commanding the rapid course of the Karoon, across which is a bridge of one arch, upwards of eighty feet high; from the summit of which the Persians often throw themselves into the water, without sustaining the smallest injury. It is situated so agreeably in respect to climate and supplies of all kinds, that while Shus, in the old Persian language, signified “delightful,” Shuster had a more expressive one; “most delightful.”

Shuster, from the ruins yet remaining, must have been once of great magnificence and extent. The most worthy of observation amongst these ruins are the castle, a dyke, and a bridge. “Part of the walls of the first,” says Mr. Kinneir, “said to have been the abode of Valerian[252 - When taken prisoner by Sapor.], are still standing. They occupy a small hill at the western extremity of the town, from which there is a fine view of the river, mountains, and adjoining country. This fortress is, on two sides, defended by a ditch, now almost choked with sand; and on the other two, by a branch of the Karoon. It has but one gateway, built in the Roman fashion, formerly entered by a draw-bridge. The hill is almost entirely excavated, and formed into surdabs and subterranean aqueducts, through which the water still continues to flow.”

Not far from the castle is the dyke to which we have alluded. This dyke was built by Sapor. “Not,” says Mr. Kinneir, as “D’Herbelot would insinuate, to prevent a second deluge, but rather to occasion one, by turning a large proportion of the water into a channel more favourable to agriculture, than that which Nature had assigned to it.”

This dyke is constructed of cut stone, bound together by clamps of iron, about twenty-feet broad, and four hundred yards long, with two small arches in the middle. It has lately been rebuilt by Mahomet Ali Maerza, governor of Kermanshaw.

The fate of Valerian, to whom we have alluded, is thus recorded by Gibbon: – “The voice of history, which is often little more than the organ of hatred or flattery, reproaches Sapor with a proud abuse of the rights of conquest. We are told that Valerian, in chains, but invested with the imperial purple, was exposed to the multitude, a constant spectacle of fallen greatness; and that whenever the Persian monarch mounted on horseback, he placed his foot upon the neck of a Roman emperor. Notwithstanding all the remonstrances of his allies, who repeatedly advised him to remember the vicissitudes of fortune, to dread the returning power of Rome, and to make his illustrious captive the pledge of peace, not the object of insult, Sapor still remained inflexible. When Valerian sank under the weight of shame and grief, his skin, stuffed with straw, and formed into the likeness of a human figure, was preserved for ages in the most celebrated temple of Persia; a more real monument of triumph than the sacred trophies of brass and marble, so often erected by Roman vanity[253 - The Pagan writers lament, the Christian insult, the misfortunes of Valerian. Their various testimonies are accurately collected by Tillemont, tom. iii. p. 739, &c. So little has been preserved in eastern history before Mahomet, that the modern Persians are totally ignorant of the victory of Sapor, an event so glorious to their nation. See Bibliothèque Orientale. – Gibbon.]. The tale is moral and pathetic; but the truth of it may very fairly be called in question. It is unnatural to suppose, that a jealous monarch should, even in the person of a rival, thus publicly degrade the majesty of kings. Whatever treatment the unfortunate Valerian might experience in Persia, it is at least certain, that the only emperor of Rome who had ever fallen into the hands of the enemy, languished away his life in hopeless captivity.” The place of that captivity is said to have been Shuster[254 - Strabo; Plutarch; Arrian; Quintus Curtius; Prideaux; Rollin; Gibbon; Vincent; Rennell; Barthelemy; Kinneir; Walpole.].

NO. XXXV. – SYBARIS