Ruins of Ancient Cities Part 14

NO. XXV.--CHALCEDON.

This place, which stands opposite Byzantium, was built by a colony from Megara, some years before Byzantium, viz. B.C. 685. Its position was so imprudently selected, that it was called the city of blind men[187]; by which was intimated the inconsiderate plan of the founders. It was built on a sandy and barren soil, in preference to the rich one on the opposite side of the Bosphorus, on which Byzantium was afterwards founded.

Chalcedon, in the time of its prosperity, was considerable; not only on account of its buildings, but the wealth of its inhabitants, who enriched themselves greatly by commerce; more especially by the exportation of purple dye, which was found in great quant.i.ties upon its coast.

In ancient times it underwent many revolutions; being first subdued by Otanes, general of the Persians, whose father Sisanes, one of the judges of the Persian empire, having p.r.o.nounced an unjust sentence, was flayed alive by the order of Cambyses. Not long after this the Lacedemonians made themselves masters of it, but were obliged to give place to the Athenians, who contented themselves with imposing upon the inhabitants an annual tribute, which they in time neglecting to pay, were again reduced to obedience by Alcibiades. Afterwards, with the rest of the world, it pa.s.sed under the dominion of the Romans, who were succeeded by the Greek emperors, under whose administration it became famous by a celebrated council of the church (A.D. 327), which is recorded under the name of the council of Chalcedon.

A tribunal also was here erected by the Emperor Julian, to try and punish the evil ministers of his predecessor, Constantius. "We are now delivered," said Julian, in a familiar letter to one of his most intimate friends, "we are now surprisingly delivered from the voracious jaws of the hydra. I do not mean to apply that epithet to my brother, Constantius. He is no more;--may the earth lie light on his head! But his artful and cruel favourites studied to deceive and exasperate a prince, whose natural mildness cannot be praised without some efforts of adulation. It is not my intention, however, that these men should be oppressed; they are accused, and they shall enjoy the benefit of a fair and impartial trial." The executions of some of these men, one of whom (Paulus) was burned alive, were accepted, says the historian, as an inadequate atonement by the widows and orphans of so many hundred Romans, whom those legal tyrants had betrayed and murdered.

Persians, Greeks, Goths, Saracens, and Turks, by turns, despoiled Chalcedon. The walls were razed by Valens, and much of the materials was employed in the aqueduct of Constantinople that bears his name, and which was, by a singular coincidence, repaired by Soliman II., from the remaining ruins of this devoted city.

Here it was that the infamous Rufinus, so justly stigmatised by Claudian, built a magnificent villa, which he called the Oak[188]. He built, also, a church; and a numerous synod of bishops met in order to consecrate the wealth and baptise the founder. This double ceremony was performed with extraordinary pomp.

A.D. 602, Chalcedon became remarkable for the murder of the Emperor Maurice and his five sons; and afterwards for that of the empress, his widow, and her three daughters[189]. The ministers of death were despatched to Chalcedon (by Phocas). They dragged the emperor into his sanctuary; and the five sons of Maurice were successively murdered before the eyes of their agonised parent. At each stroke, which he felt in his heart, he found strength to rehea.r.s.e a pious e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n:--"Thou art just, O Lord! and thy judgments are righteous."

It is now a small place, known to the Turks by the name of Cadiaci; but the Greeks still call it by its ancient name. It is a miserable village, inhabited by a few Greeks, who maintain themselves by their fishery, and the cultivation of their lands. Wheler found an inscription, importing that Evante, the son of Antipater, having made a prosperous voyage towards the Abrotanians and the islands Cyaneae, and hence desiring to return by the aegean Sea and Pontus, offered cakes to the statue he had erected to Jupiter, who had sent him good weather as a token of a good voyage.

Poc.o.c.ke says, "There are no remains of the ancient city, all being destroyed, and the ground occupied by gardens and vineyards." "We visited the site of Chalcedon," says Dr. Clarke, "of which city scarcely a trace remains; landing also upon the remarkable rock, where the light-house is situate, called the tower of Leander. The Turks call it the 'Maiden's Castle;' possibly it may have been formerly used as a retreat for nuns, but they relate one of their romantic traditions concerning a princess, who secluded herself upon this rock, because it had been foretold she should die by the bite of a serpent, adding, that she ultimately here encountered the death she sought to avoid[190]."

NO. XXVI.--CHaeRONEA.

A city in Boeotia, greatly celebrated on account of a battle fought near it between Philip of Macedon and the Athenians.

The two armies encamped near Chaeronea. Philip gave the command of his left wing to his son Alexander, who was then but sixteen. He took the right wing upon himself. In the opposite army the Thebans formed the right wing, and the Athenians the left. At sunrise the signal was given on both sides. The battle was b.l.o.o.d.y, and the victory a long time dubious; both sides exerting themselves with astonis.h.i.+ng valour. At length Philip broke the sacred band of the Thebans[191], which was the flower of their army. The rest of the troops being raw, Alexander, encouraged by his example, entirely routed.

The conduct of the victor after this victory shows that it is much easier to overcome an enemy than to conquer one's self. Upon his coming from a grand entertainment which he had given his officers, being equally transported with joy and wine, he hurried to the spot where the battle had been fought, and there, insulting the dead bodies with which the field was covered, he turned into a song the beginning of the decree, which Demosthenes had prepared to excite the Greeks to war, and sang thus, himself beating time; "Demosthenes the Peanian, son of Demosthenes, has said." Everybody was shocked to see the king dishonour himself by this behaviour; but no one opened his lips. Demades, the orator, whose soul was free, though his body was a prisoner, was the only person who ventured to make him sensible of the indecency of this conduct, telling him--"Ah, sir, since fortune has given you the part of Agamemnon, are you not ashamed to act the part of Thersites?" These words, spoken with so generous a liberty, opened his eyes, and made him turn inward; and so far from being displeased with Demades, he esteemed him the more for them, treated him with the utmost respect, and conferred upon him all possible honours.

The bones of those slain at Chaeronea were carried to Athens; and Demosthenes was charged with composing a eulogium, for a monument erected to their memory:--

This earth entombs those victims to the state, Who fell a glorious sacrifice to zeal.

Greece, on the point of wearing tyrant-chains, Did, by their deaths alone, escape the yoke.

This Jupiter decreed: no effort, mortals, Can save you from the mighty will of fate.

To G.o.ds alone belongs the attribute Of being free from crimes with never-ending joy.

According to Procopius, Chaeronea and other places in Boeotia (also of Achaia and Thessaly) were destroyed by an earthquake in the sixth century.

The Acropolis[192] is situated on a steep rock, difficult of access; the walls and square towers are, in some places, well preserved; and their style, which is nearly regular, renders it probable, that they were constructed not long before the invasion of the Macedonians.

The ancient Necropolis is on the east side of the Acropolis, behind the village: the remains of several tombs have been uncovered by the rains.

The church of the Holy Virgin contains an ancient chair of white marble, curiously ornamented. It is called by the villagers the throne of Plutarch[193].

There are two ancient circular altars with fluted intervals, in the manner of an Ionic or Corinthian column. Altars of this kind were placed on the road side. They were unstained with fire and blood, being set apart for exclusive oblations of honey, cakes, and fruit. These altars are common in Greece, and generally formed of coa.r.s.e black stone; those of Chaeronea, however, are of white marble. They are frequently found in Italy, and are at present used as pedestals for large vases, their height being in general about three feet. They are never inscribed, and sometimes not fluted; and are frequently represented on painted terra-cotta vases.

Some Ionic fragments of small proportions are scattered among the ruins.

On the rock there was anciently a statue of Jupiter; but Pausanias mentions no temple. The theatre stands at the foot of the Acropolis, and faces the plain. It is the smallest in Greece, except one at Mesaloggion; but it is well preserved. Indeed, nothing is better calculated to resist the devastations of time than the Grecian theatres, when they are cut in the rock, as they generally are.

"The sole remains of this town," says Sir John Hobhouse, "are some large stones six feet in length, and the ruins of a wall on the hill, and part of a shaft of a column, with its capital; the seats of a small amphitheatre, cut out of the rock, on the side of the same hill; in the flat below, a fountain, partly constructed of marble fragments, containing a few letters, not decipherable; some bits of marble pillars, just appearing above ground, and the ruins of a building of Roman brick."

Two inscriptions have, we understand, lately been discovered at this place; one relative to Apollo, the other to Diana. Several tombs have been also discovered and opened.

Though a respectable traveller a.s.serts, that the battle of Chaeronea, by putting an end to the turbulent independence of the Grecian republics, introduced into that country an unusual degree of civil tranquillity and political repose, we cannot ourselves think so; we therefore subjoin, from Dr. Leland, a short account of the conqueror's death.

"When the Greeks and Macedonians were seated in the theatre, Philip came out of his palace, attended by the two Alexanders, his son and son-in-law. He was clothed in a white flowing robe, waving in soft and graceful folds, the habiliment in which the Grecian deities were usually represented. He moved forward with a heart filled with triumph and exultation, while the admiring crowds shouted forth their flattering applause. His guards had orders to keep at a considerable distance from his person, to show that the king confided in the affections of his people, and had not the least apprehensions of danger amidst all this mixed concourse of different states and nations. Unhappily, the danger was but too near him. The injured Pausanias had not yet forgot his wrongs, but still retained those terrible impressions, which the sense of an indignity he had received, and the artful and interested representations of others, fixed deeply in his mind. He chose this fatal morning for the execution of his revenge, on the prince who had denied reparation to his injured honour. His design had been for some time premeditated, and now was the dreadful moment of effecting it. As Philip marched on in all his pride and pomp, this young Macedonian slipped through the crowd, and, with a desperate and malignant resolution, waited his approach in a narrow pa.s.sage, just at the entrance into the theatre. The king advanced towards him: Pausanias drew his poniard; plunged it into his heart; and the conqueror of Greece, and terror of Asia, fell prostrate to the ground, and instantly expired[194].

NO. XXVII.--CORDUBA.

"Are we at Cordova?" says a modern writer. "The whole reign of the Omniad Caliphs pa.s.ses, in mental review, before us. Once the seat of Arabian art, gallantry, and magnificence, the southern kingdom of Spain was rich and flouris.h.i.+ng. Agriculture was respected; the fine arts cultivated; gardens were formed; roads executed; palaces erected; and physics, geometry, and astronomy, advanced. The inhabitants were active and industrious; accomplishments were held in esteem; and the whole state of society formed a striking contrast to that of every other in Europe."

It was situated in Hispanic Boetica, having been built by Marcellus. It was the native place of both the Senecas, and Lucan. Indeed, it produced, in ancient times, so many celebrated characters, that it was styled the "mother of men of genius." Its laws were written in verse; and its academy was partly distinguished for its cultivation of the Greek language, as well as for rhetoric and philosophy. It became celebrated, also, under the Moors.

Of its ancient grandeur, however, Cordova has preserved nothing but a vast inclosure, filled with houses, half in ruins. Its long, narrow, and ill-paved streets are almost deserted; most of the houses are uninhabited; and the mult.i.tude of churches and convents which it contains, are besieged by a crowd of vagabonds, covered with rags. The ancient palace of the Moors has been converted into stables, in which, till within these few years, one hundred Andalusian horses were usually kept. Their genealogy was carefully preserved; and the name and age of each written over the stall in which he stood. In the place appropriated to bathing, is part of a Cufic inscription.

Cordova was called at first Corduba, and afterwards Colonia Patricia, as appears from inscriptions on the numerous medals which have been discovered in this city and neighbourhood.

From the Romans it pa.s.sed successively under the dominion of the Goths and Arabs; and, while the latter swayed the sceptre of Spain, Cordova became pre-eminently distinguished, as we have just stated, as the seat of arts, sciences, and literature.

About ten miles from this place is a small town, called by the ancients Obubea[195]; and we mention it here merely because it reminds us that Julius Caesar came thither to stop the progress of Pompey's sons, who had a little before entered Spain in twenty-seven days[196].

NO. XXVIII.--CORCYRA. (CORFU.)

Corcyra is an island in the Ionian Sea, on the coast of Epirus: it is now called Corfu; was first peopled by a colony from Colchis, B.C.

1349, and afterwards by a colony from Corinth, who, with Chersicrates at their head, came to settle there, on being banished from their native city 703 years before the Christian era. Homer calls it Phaeacia; Callimachus, Drepane.

Ancient authors give glorious descriptions of the beautiful gardens of this island belonging to Alcinous; but, at present, no remains of them are to be found. It was famous for the s.h.i.+pwreck of Ulysses.

The air is healthy, the land fertile, the fruit excellent. Oranges, citrons, honey, wax, oil, and most delicious grapes, are very abundant.

The war between this people and that of Athens was called the Corcyrean; and operated as an introduction to the Peloponnesian war. Corcyra was then an independent power, which could send out fleets and armies; and its alliance was courted by many other states.

Thucydides gives a frightful account of a sedition which occurred in this city and island during the Peloponnesian war: some were condemned to die under judicial sentences; some slew one another in the temples; some hung themselves upon the trees within its verge; some perished through private enmity; some for the sums they had lent, by the hands of the borrowers. Every kind of death was exhibited. Every dreadful act, usual in a sedition, and more than usual, was then perpetrated. For fathers slew their children; some were dragged from altars; and some were butchered at them; and a number died of starvation in one of the temples.

Corcyra, when in the possession of the Romans, became a valuable station for their s.h.i.+ps of war, in their hostilities against the cities of Asia.

Septimius Severus and his family appear to have been great benefactors to it; for, about 150 years ago, there was found a number of medals, not only of Septimius, but of his wife Julia Domna; Caracalla, his eldest son, and his wife Plankilla; also of Geta, his youngest son.

Two hundred years ago, Corfu consisted of nothing but one old castle and a village. It is now a considerable town. It stands projecting on a rock into the sea; and, from the fortifications guarding it, is a place of strength. The fortresses are completely mined below; and the roads to the gates of some of them are narrow and precipitous. By an accidental explosion of a powder-mill, one of the fortresses, in the early part of the last century, 2000 people were killed and wounded; and by a singular catastrophe, in 1789, 600 individuals lost their lives; ten galleys and several boats were sunk in the harbour; and many houses in the town greatly damaged.