Leaving Hierapolis, the traveller crosses the Lycus and, after a ride of two hours, reaches Laodicea, within five hours of which is Khonos, the supposed site of Colosse. Laodicea, one of the largest towns of Phrygia, standing on the borders of Caria and Lydia, derived its name from Laodice, the wife of its founder Antiochus Theos. But the founder and the founded are alike no more. With the glory of the one the memorial of the other has passed away. The ruins of an amphitheatre and two theatres, with vast masses of masonry to which no name can be assigned, and which hold out no inducement to a traveller to visit this desolate region, are the only indications of the pristine grandeur of the city. Deserted by all but wolves and jackals, not a single human being dwells here, and but a few squalid Turks in the neighbouring village of EskiHissar; the vial of God's wrath has been poured out upon this church for its "lukewarmness" in the Christian cause; and she who once boasted that she was "rich, and increased with goods" and had "need of nothing," is now" wretched and miserable, and poor and naked.”* *Rev. iii. 17. VOL. II. G CHAPTER XIX. THE APOCALYPTIC CHURCHES. THYATIRA. Road to Thyatira.- Aspect of country. Adala. - Khan.Anecdote. Hospitality of Turks. Mode of feeding horses.-Hill of lava.-The Katakekaumene.—Its extent. -Cotton plant.-Tumulus of Halyattes and others.Gygæan lake.- Temple of Diana.- Jemeordum. — Mode of preserving hay and straw. - Desolation of surrounding country. Burial-grounds.-Basins and wells.-Morass.Malaria. Marmora. Origin of name. - Houses and church. -Leeches. - Accident.. Turcoman chief. -His district. Thyatira.-Ancient history.-Present name. Site of palace of Cesars. Sarcophagi. Church of St. John. Church of St. Basil.-Mosque. - Old cypresstree.- Turkish cemetery. Ancient fragments.- Extent Bazaars. Khan. and population of modern town. - His wife. THYATIRA is somewhat farther from Philadelphia in a north-westerly, than Laodicea is in a south-easterly, direction. The moon shone brightly two hours before sunrise, as we rode out of the gate of Ala Shehr and crossed over the wide plain watered by the Hermus and one of its branches, leaving Tmolus and its rugged peaks on our left; whence as we receded the scope of vision became enlarged, and those peaks proved to be only the outline of a lower ridge, above which the towering summits of the noble mountain, hitherto concealed, now developed themselves. The country, rich in resources but devoid of living agents, teems only with the dead. In a ride of six hours to Adala, we passed cemetery after cemetery, silent, large, and full, and but two solitary villages. Before entering Adala, we forded the main branch of the Hermus, called Careechaee, measuring perhaps a hundred yards in width; and observed a cart-track, the only symptom of a vehicle on wheels that we met with in the interior of Asia Minor. The village contains about eighty Turkish families and a few poor Greeks who have apartments in the khan. Every town and large village in Turkey is provided with this accommodation for strangers. Those in the capital have already been described. A country khan is very simi lar. It consists of four walls forming a square, with a gate locked at night. In the enclosure are small rooms, with a door or window opening into the public quadrangle: the door has a key, and the window sometimes a shutter, but never any glass. For two or three pence a day, a stranger may hire a room for a longer or shorter period. The traveller is thus provided with a shelter for his bed, and a spot where he may place his goods and cook his food, if he be furnished, as is usual, with every necessary for that purpose. The porter of the khan generally keeps a caféné, where a cup of sugarless coffee may be procured; and the village will always supply coarse bread; but with these exceptions, the stranger is dependent entirely on his own resources. In a place of this description, as we were eating a cold fowl in the open quadrangle, a Turkish traveller, who entered the khan shortly after our arrival, unceremoniously came up to us and proceeded to help himself. The act wore the appearance of rudeness, but was not intended as such; for hospitality is carried to excess among the Moslims. When they are eating, any passer-by may join them; and we should have been as welcome to his kabab* as he considered him * A roasted scrap self to our fowl. The horses stand with sin gular patience while their masters refresh themselves: they are not accustomed to be fed in the middle of the day; and though the journey may be one of twelve or fourteen hours and the traveller offer to pay for the animals' provender, yet the sooreejee invariably declines to allow them to eat between morning and evening. We had scarcely left Adala on the road to Marmora, which is more than half-way thence to Thyatira, when suddenly we came upon a long ridge of lava, black, barren, and irregular, as if recently ejected; about a mile in length, and of considerable breadth. The straightness of the line is remarkable, and the absence of any large mountain, to which its probable origin may be assigned, is still more so. Nevertheless, indications of volcanic eruptions in the neighbourhood are numerous: at intervals of five miles from one another, are three pits called "The Bellows," which were, doubtless, volcanoes; and it is supposed that the hills immediately above them were formed by the cinders they threw up. Ancient geographers speak of this tract of country under the appellation of " Kαranexavμévn,”* (Katakekaumene,) or "The burnt This part of Lydia was known by the name of Mæonia. |