Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 1 of 2)

Not far from thence he graved the wondrous maze;
A thousand doors, a thousand winding ways.

Of this monument no more is now to be found than amid the ruins of Babel Caroan and Casr Caroan. "Hereafter," says Savary, "when Europe shall have restored to Egypt the sciences it received thence, perhaps the sands and rubbish, which hide the subterranean part of the Labyrinth will be removed, and precious antiquities obtained. Who can say that the discoveries of the learned were not preserved in this asylum, equally impenetrable to the natives and foreigners? If the dust of Herculaneum, an inconsiderable city, has preserved so many rarities and instructive remains of art and history, what may not be expected from the fifteen hundred apartments in which the archives of Egypt were deposited, since the governors assembled here to treat on the most important affairs of religion and state[44 - Herodotus; Rollin; Savary; Belzoni; Rees.]?"

NO. XIV. – ARTAXATA

The ruins of this city are seen at a place called Ardachar, or, as it is more frequently called in the East, Ardechier; sometimes Ardesh. The city rose above the plain with fortress, palaces, and temples; and two more splendid than the rest, one dedicated to Anaites or Armatea, the other, a magnificent structure to Apollo. Statues were raised in all.

Artaxata was the capital of Armenia, and the residence of the Armenian kings. It was situate on a plain, upon an elbow of the Araxes, which formed a peninsula, and surrounded the town, except on the side of the isthmus. This isthmus was defended by a broad ditch and rampart.

It was built by Artaxias in consequence of Hannibal's having recommended the spot as a fit place for the king's capital; and there Artaxias' successors resided for many generations.

Lucullus having defeated the Armenians, under their king Tigranes, did not venture to lay siege to this place, because he considered it impregnable. The gates were, however, thrown open to the Roman general Corbulo, but the city itself was burnt and razed. It was afterwards called Neronia, in compliment to the emperor Nero, who commanded Tiridates to rebuild it. A few families, of the poorest order of people, are now the sole occupants of this once famous city.

"On reaching the remains of Ardisher," says Sir Robert Ker Porter, "I saw the earth covered to an immense extent, and on every side, with that sort of irregular hillocks, which are formed by Time over piles of ruins. These, with long dyke-like ridges, evidently by the same venerable architect, and materials connecting them in parts, told me at once I was entering the confines of a city, now no more. It is not in language to describe the effect on the mind in visiting one of these places. The space over which the eye wanders, all marked with the memorials of the past, but where no pillar or dome, nor household wall of any kind, however fallen, yet remains to give a feeling of some present existence of the place, even by a progress in decay. All here is finished; buried under heaps of earth; the graves, not of the people above, but of their houses, temples, and palaces; all lying in death-like entombment. At Anni I found myself surrounded by a superb monument of Armenian greatness; at Ardechier I stood over its grave. Go where one will for lessons of Time's revolutions, the brevity of human life, the nothingness of man's ambition, they nowhere can strike upon the heart like a single glance cast on one of these motionless life-deserted 'cities of the silent[45 - Strabo; Rees; Porter].'"

NO. XV. – ARTEMITA

Artemita was a large town in Mesopotamia, according to Pliny the naturalist; but Strabo, more correctly, places it in Babylonia, five hundred stadia east of Seleucia, on the banks of the lake Arsissa, now called Argish.

Though Chosroes was undoubtedly sovereign of Ctesiphon and built the splendid palace, of which the remains are visible; he did not approach the gates of that city for nearly four-and-twenty years. His favourite residence was Dustegerd (Artemita), situate on the Tigris, not less than sixty miles north of Ctesiphon; and here, since the length of his residence at Ctesiphon has not been clearly ascertained, and with a view of giving the reader some idea with respect to the power and splendour of this prince, we will cite the description that has been given of the wealth and magnificence for which his name has been rendered remarkable to all posterity. "The adjacent pastures were covered with flocks and herds; the paradise or park was replenished with pheasants, peacocks, ostriches, roebucks, and wild boars; and the noble game of lions and tigers were sometimes turned loose for the bolder pleasures of the chase. Nine hundred and sixty elephants were maintained for the use and splendour of the great king; his tents and baggage were carried into the field by twelve thousand great camels and eight thousand of a smaller size; and the royal stables were filled with six thousand mules and horses, among which the names of Shebdiz and Barid were renowned for their speed and beauty." The treasure, which consisted of gold, silver, gems, silk, and aromatics, were deposited in one hundred subterranean vaults; and his palace walls are described as having been hung with thirty thousand rich hangings, and thousands of globes of gold were suspended in the dome to imitate the planets and constellations of the firmament. When this palace was sacked by Heraclius, the conqueror found in it, as we are informed by Cedrenus, sugar, ginger, pepper, silk robes woven, and embroidered carpets; aloes, aloes-wood, mataxa, silk, thread, muslins, muslin garments without number, and a vast weight of gold bullion.

Dustegerd stood upon the spot where now are seen the vast ruins of Kesra-Shirene. These have been described by Sir R. Ker Porter. "We are told, that the city of Dustegerd was the most stationary residence of Khosroo Purviz, and that it contained his most superb palace, treasury, and public buildings. There he passed his winters, with the beautiful object of his idolatry[46 - For the loves of Chosroes and Shirene, see D'Herbelot, and the Oriental collections.]; and thence he flew with her from the conquering arms of the emperor Heraclius. We entered upon a chain of hills, amongst which our road led in the most circuitous and intricate mazes I had ever trod; heights and depths, ravines, dry or water courses, rugged promontories, short stony plains, in short, every species of mountain difficulties, diversified our path for full fifteen miles, till we arrived at a once formidable barrier, not far from which we caught a view of the meandering river Zohaub. All along the alpine bridge we mounted, runs a massy wall of large hewn stone, which, in many places, like a curtain, closes the openings left by nature in the rocky bulwarks of the country. It had evidently been intended for a defence against any hostile approach from the eastward, and, on passing it, we went through what had formed one of its gates."

Journeying on a mile or two further, the traveller came to a second wall, still higher and stronger, and from that ran a third wall, which partly enclosed a large angular space. On various spots lay large stones of a great length, and hollowed in the middle, as if they were the remains of some ancient covered channel to convey water. This is still called the aqueduct of Khosroo Purviz; and the natives told Sir Robert, that it was one of the works constructed by that prince to win the smiles of his beloved Shirene.

Numerous fragments and continuations of the great rampart wall tracked their way, till they came to the ruins of another wall, the position and extent of which seemed to declare it to have been one side of the battlements of some large and ancient city. This they were informed was Kesra-Shirene.

They passed under a gateway of simple construction, formed of hewn stones, twelve feet high and about six in thickness. The wall ran to a considerable distance, then disappeared, and then started up in massy fragments; the whole seeming to have formerly enclosed an area of several miles, and likely to have been occupied by the streets, courts, and public buildings of a very noble city. "The first ruined edifice we approached," continues Sir Robert, "was built of stone, and consists of long ranges of vaulted rooms, nearly choked up with the fallen masses of what may have been its magnificent superstructures. A little onward, we came to the remains of some place of great magnitude. It is a square building of nearly a hundred feet along each side; four entrances have led into the interior, and the arches of these portals, which are falling to the last stage of decay, cannot be less than from thirty to forty feet in height. The walls are of equal elevation, and of a more than ordinary thickness for any structure to stand the brunt of war, being twelve feet in solidity. The interior of the place, which seems to have been one enormous chamber or hall, is covered with lime, stones, and other fragments of masonry. No remnant of any sculptural ornaments or inscription was to be seen. At the southern angle of the great arch within the city walls, on a commanding rise of ground, stands a ruin of a stronger character; the massiveness and form of the work proving it to be the remains of a fortress. The building is of stone and brick; the latter being of a large square surface, but not very thick. Various lofty arched chambers, as well as deep subterraneous dungeons, compose this noble ruin. In ranging over the rest of the ground, contained within the circuit of the great interior walls, we found it covered with every indication that there had once stood the busy streets of a great and populous city[47 - Rees; Sir Robert Ker Porter.].

NO. XVI. – ATHENS

"Look! on the Ægean shore a city stands,
Built nobly, pure the air and light the soil.
Athens! the eye of Greece, mother of arts
And eloquence, native to famous wits,
Or hospitable in her sweet recess.
City or suburban studious walks and shades!
See there the olive groves of Academe,
Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird
Thrills her thick-warbled notes the summer long.
There, flowery hill, Hymettus, with the sound
Of bees, industrious murmur, oft invites
To studious musing; there Ilissus rolls
His whispering stream. Within the walls then view
The schools of ancient sages; his who bred
Great Alexander to subdue the world.
Lyceum there and painted Stoa next." – Milton.

The Athenians thought themselves the original inhabitants of Attica; for which reason they were called "Sons of the Earth;" and "grasshoppers." They sometimes, therefore, wore golden grasshoppers in their hair, as badges of honour, to distinguish themselves from the people of later origin and less noble extraction; because these insects are supposed to be sprung from the ground. "Our origin," said Socrates, "is so beautiful, that none of the Greeks can give such pure appellations to their country as we can. We can truly style the earth on which we tread our nurse, our mother, our father."

It was governed by seventeen kings, in the following order: —

After a reign of fifty years, Cecrops was succeeded by

The history of the first twelve monarchs is, for the most part, fabulous.

Athens was founded by Cecrops, who led a colony out of Egypt, and built twelve towns, of which he composed a kingdom.

Amphictyon, the third king of Athens, procured a confederacy between twelve nations, who met every year at Thermopylæ, there to consult over their affairs in general, as also upon those of each nation in particular. This convention was called the assembly of the Amphictyons.

The reign of Ægeus is remarkable for the Argonautic expedition, the war of Minos, and the story of Theseus and Ariadne.

Ægeus was succeeded by his son, Theseus, whose exploits belong more to fable than to history.

The last king was Codrus, who devoted himself to die for his people.

After Codrus, the title of king was extinguished among the Athenians: his son was set at the head of the commonwealth, with the title of Archon, which after a time was declared to be an annual office.

After this Draco was allowed to legislate, and then Solon. The laws of the former were so severe, that they were said to be written in blood. Those of the latter were of a different character. Pisistratus acquired ascendancy; became a despot, and was assassinated: whereon the Athenians recovered their liberties, and Hippias, the son of Pisistratus, in vain attempted to re-establish a tyranny. The Athenians, sometime after, burnt Sardis, a city of the Persians, in conjunction with the Ionians; and, to revenge this, Darius invaded Greece, but was conquered at Marathon by Miltiades.

Xerxes soon after invaded Attica, and the Athenians having taken to their "wooden walls," their city was burnt to the ground.

After the victory, gained over the Persians at Salamis, the Athenians returned to their city, but were obliged to abandon it again; Mardonius having wasted and destroyed every thing in its neighbourhood. They returned to it soon after their victory at Platæa. Their first care, after returning to their city, was to rebuild their walls. This measure was opposed by the Lacedemonians, under the pretence of its being contrary to the interest of Greece, that there should be strong places beyond the isthmus. Their real motive, however, was suspected to be an aversion to the rising greatness of the Athenians. Themistocles conducted himself with great art in this matter[48 - Brewster.]. He got himself appointed ambassador to Sparta; and before setting out he caused all the citizens, of every age and sex, to apply themselves to the task of building the walls, making use of any materials within their reach. Fragments of houses, temples, and other buildings, were accordingly employed, producing a grotesque appearance, which remained to the days of Plutarch. He then set out for Sparta; but, on various pretences, declined entering on his commission, till he had received intelligence that the work he had set on foot was nearly completed. He then went boldly to the Lacedemonian senate, declared what had been done, and justified it, not only by natural right of the Athenians to provide for their own defence, but by the advantage of opposing such an obstacle to the progress of the barbarians. The Lacedemonians, sensible of the justice of this argument, and seeing that remonstrance would now avail nothing, were fain to acquiesce.

No city in the world can boast, in such a short space of time, of such a number of illustrious citizens, equally celebrated for their humanity, learning, and military abilities. Some years after the Persian defeat, Athens was visited by a very terrible calamity, insomuch that its ravages were like what had never been before known. This was a plague. We now adopt the language of Rollin. "It is related, that this scourge began in Ethiopia, whence it descended into Egypt, from thence spread over Libya, and a great part of Persia; and at last broke at once like a flood upon Athens. Thucydides, who himself was seized with that deadly disease, has described very minutely the several circumstances and symptoms of it; in order, says he, that a faithful and exact relation of this calamity may serve as an instruction to posterity, in case the like should ever happen. This pestilence baffled the utmost efforts of art; the most robust constitutions were unable to withstand its attacks; and the greatest care and skill of the physicians were a feeble help to those who were infected. The instant a person was seized, he was struck with despair, which quite disabled him from attempting a cure. The assistance that was given them was ineffectual, and proved mortal to all such of their relations as had the courage to approach them. The prodigious quantity of baggage, which had been removed out of the country into the city, proved very noxious. Most of the inhabitants, for want of lodging, lived in little cottages, in which they could scarcely breathe, during the raging heat of the summer; so that they were seen either piled one upon the other, the dead as well as those who were dying, or else crawling through the streets; or lying along by the side of fountains, to which they had dragged themselves, to quench the raging thirst which consumed them. The very temples were filled with dead bodies, and every part of the city exhibited a dreadful image of death; without the least remedy for the present, or the least hopes with regard to futurity.

"The plague, before it spread into Attica, had, as we have before stated, made wild havoc in Persia. Artaxerxes, who had been informed of the mighty reputation of Hippocrates of Cos, the greatest physician of that or any other age, caused his governors to write to him, to invite him into his dominions, in order that he might prescribe for those who were infected. The king made him the most advantageous offers; setting no bounds to his rewards on the side of interest, and, with regard to honours, promising to make him equal with the most considerable persons in his court. This great physician sent no other answer but this: – that he was free from either wants or desires; and he owed all his cares to his fellow-citizens and countrymen; and was under no obligation to the declared enemies of Greece. – Kings are not used to denials. Artaxerxes, therefore, in the highest transports of rage, sent to the city of Cos, the native place of Hippocrates, and where he was at that time; commanding them to deliver up to him that insolent wretch, in order that he might be brought to condign punishment; and threatening, in case they refused, to lay waste their city and island in such a manner, that not the least footsteps of it should remain. However, the inhabitants of Cos were not under the least terror. They made answer, that the menaces of Darius and Xerxes had not been able to prevail with them to give them earth and water, or to obey their orders; that Artaxerxes' threats would be equally impotent; that, let what would be the consequence, they would never give up their fellow citizens; and that they depended upon the protection of the gods.

"Hippocrates had said in one of his letters, that he owed himself entirely to his country. And, indeed, the instant he was sent for to Athens, he went thither, and did not once stir out of the city till the plague had ceased. He devoted himself entirely to the service of the sick; and, to multiply himself, as it were, he sent several of his disciples into all parts of the country, after having instructed them in what manner to treat their patients. The Athenians were struck with the deepest sense of gratitude for this generous care. They therefore ordained, by a public decree, that Hippocrates should be initiated in the most exalted mysteries, in the same manner as Hercules the son of Jupiter; that a crown of gold should be presented him, of the value of a thousand staters[49 - The Attic stater was a gold coin weighing two drachms.], and that the decree by which it was granted him, should be read aloud by a herald in the public games, on the solemn festival of Panathenæa: that the freedom of the city should be given him, and himself be maintained at the public charge, in the Prytaneum all his lifetime, in case he thought proper: in fine, that the children of all the people of Cos, whose city had given birth to so great a man, might be maintained and brought up in Athens, in the same manner."

In the time of Agis and Pausanias, kings of Lacedemonia, Lysander was sent to besiege Athens. He arrived, therefore, at the Piræus, with a fleet of one hundred and fifty sail, and prevented all other ships from coming in or going out. The Athenians, besieged by land and sea, without provisions, ships, hope of relief, or any resources, sent deputies to Agis, to propose a treaty with Sparta, upon condition of abandoning all their possessions, the city and port only excepted. He referred the deputies to Lacedemon, as not being empowered to treat with them. When they arrived at Salasia, upon the frontier of Sparta, and had made known their commission to the Ephori, they were ordered to retire, and to come with other proposals, if they expected a peace. The Ephori had demanded, "that one thousand two hundred paces of the wall on each side of the Piræus should he demolished;" but an Athenian, for venturing to advise a compliance, was sent to prison, and prohibition made against proposing any thing of that kind for the future.

The Corinthians and several other allies, especially the Thebans, insisted that it was absolutely necessary to destroy the city without hearkening any further to a treaty. But the Lacedemonians, preferring the glory and safety of Greece to their own grandeur, made answer, that they would never be reproached with having destroyed a city that had rendered such great services to all Greece; the remembrance of which ought to have much greater weight with the allies than the remembrance of private injuries received from it. A peace was, therefore, concluded under these conditions: – "that the fortifications of the Piræus, with the long wall that joined that port to the city, should be demolished; that the Athenians should deliver up all their galleys, twelve only excepted; that they should abandon all the cities they had seized, and content themselves with their own lands and country." The deputies, on their return, were surrounded by an innumerable throng of people, who apprehended that nothing had been concluded; for they were not able to hold out any longer, such multitudes dying of famine. The next day they reported the success of their negociation; the treaty was ratified, and Lysander, followed by the exiles, entered the port. It was on the very day the Athenians had formerly gained the famous battle of Salamis. He caused the works to be demolished to the sound of flutes and trumpets, as if all Greece had that day regained its liberty. Thus ended the Peloponnesian war, after having continued during the space of twenty-seven years.

The walls, thus demolished, were rebuilt by Conon. He did more; he restored Athens to its former splendour, and rendered it more formidable to its enemies than it had ever been before.

Philip[50 - Brewster.] having gained the battle of Cheronæa, Greece, and above all, Athens, received a blow from which she never recovered. It was generally expected, that Philip would avail himself of this opportunity of entirely crushing his inveterate enemy. That prudent prince, however, foresaw that powerful obstacles were yet to be encountered, and that there was still a spirit in the Athenian people which might render it difficult to hold them in subjection. It would appear, also, says an elegant writer, as if the genius and fame of Athens had, in the hour of her calamity, thrown a shield over her: for Philip is reported to have said, "Have I done so much for glory, and shall I destroy the theatre of that glory?" A treaty, in consequence, was entered into; and thus the Athenians, though reluctant to exist by Philip's clemency, were permitted to retain the whole Attic territory.

The number of men able to bear arms at Athens, in the reign of Cecrops, was computed at twenty thousand; and there appears to have been no considerable augmentation in the more civilised age of Pericles; but in the time of Demetrius Phalareus, there were found twenty-one thousand citizens, ten thousand foreigners, and forty thousand slaves.

Philip[51 - Dodwell.], son of Demetrius of Macedon, seems to have been one of the most inveterate enemies by whom Athens was ever ravaged. With unsparing cruelty he destroyed almost every thing which had either escaped the Persian invaders, or which had been erected after their final expulsion. Livy tells us, that, not content with burning and destroying the temples of the gods, he ordered that the very stones should be broken into small pieces, that they might no longer serve to repair the buildings; and Diodorus Siculus asserts, that even the inviolability of the sepulchres could not command his respect, or repress his violence.

Athens, however, still recovered some portion of its power; for when Sylla arrived before the Piræus, he found the walls to be sixty feet high, and entirely of hewn stone. The work was very strong, and had been raised by order of Pericles in the Peloponnesian war: when, the hopes of victory depending solely upon this port, he had fortified it to the utmost of his power.

The height of the walls did not deter Sylla. He employed all sorts of engines in battering them, and made continual assaults. He spared neither danger, attacks, nor expense, to hasten the conclusion of the war. Without enumerating the rest of the warlike stores and equipage, twenty thousand mules were perpetually employed in working the machines only. Wood happening to fall short, from the great consumption made of it in the machines, which were often either broken or spoiled by the vast weight they carried, or burned by the enemy, he did not spare the sacred groves. He cut down the trees in the walks of the Academy and Lycæum, which were the finest and best planted in the suburbs, and caused the high walls that joined the port to the city to be demolished, in order to make use of the ruins in erecting his works, and carrying on his operations.

Notwithstanding all disadvantages, the Athenians defended themselves like lions. They found means either to burn most of the machines erected against the walls, or by undermining them, to throw them down and break them to pieces. The Romans, on their side, behaved with no less vigour. Sylla, discouraged by so obstinate a defence, resolved to attack the Piræus no longer, and confined himself to reduce the place by famine. The city was now at the last extremity; a bushel of barley having been sold in it for a thousand drachms (about 25l. sterling). In the midst of the public misery, the governor, who was a lieutenant of Mithridates, passed his days and nights in debauch. The senators and priests went to throw themselves at his feet, conjuring him to have pity on the city, and to obtain a capitulation from Sylla; he dispersed them with arrow-shot, and in that manner drove them from his presence.