Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 1 of 2). Charles Bucke
Towards the sea may be traced the remains of another wall; the ruins of these, in many parts, are almost buried under the waves31.
NO. X. – ANTIOCH
There are few cities whose immediate origin we know so well as that of Antioch.
Antigonus had built a city at a small distance from the spot on which Antioch was afterwards erected, and this he called after his own name, Antigonia. After his death Seleucus, having made himself master of Upper Syria, determined on founding a city. He, in consequence, demolished the one Antigonus had built, and employed its materials in constructing his own32. This he named after his son, Antiochus. He afterwards transplanted all the citizens to the new capital; and he adorned it with all the beauty and elegance of Grecian architecture.
Seleucus built several other cities in the same direction, amongst which may be particularly noticed Apamea, which he named after his wife, the daughter of Arbazus the Persian; and Laodicea, which he called after his mother. Apamea was situated on the same river as Antioch, and Laodicea in the southern part of the same quarter. What is rather remarkable is, that in these cities he allowed the Jews the same privileges and immunities as were enjoyed by the Greeks and Macedonians; more especially at Antioch, where that people settled in such numbers that at length they possessed as large a portion of the city as their countrymen enjoyed at Alexandria.
In the Christian times it was the see of the chief patriarch of Asia. It is often mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, and particularly wherein it is said, that the disciples of Christ were here first called Christians; and in the river Orontes, according to tradition, St. Paul is said to have been baptised. The city, at various times, has suffered severely from the rage of bigotry and superstition, inseparably attached to the zealots of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when the spirit of enthusiasm, roused by designing priests, induced the powers of Europe to attempt the reduction of Syria and the Holy Land.
Antioch has several times been subjected to the violence of earthquakes, and several times been afflicted with great famine; and when Chosroes invaded Syria, the city, disdaining the offers of an easy capitulation, was taken by storm, the inhabitants slaughtered with unrelenting fury, and the city itself delivered to the flames. It recovered, however, after a time, and was again visited by earthquake, and the sword of the conqueror. It was taken by the Crusaders A. D. 1098; and in 1262 all its glory terminated; having been taken possession of by Bybaris, sultan of Egypt.
It is now a ruinous town, the houses of which are built of mud and straw, and exhibit every appearance of poverty and wretchedness. The walls, however, of each quarter, as well as those which surrounded the whole, are still remaining; but as the houses are destroyed, the four quarters appear like so many inclosed fields.
It is said that this city, which was about four miles in circumference, was built at four different times, and consisted in a manner of four cities, divided from one another by walls. The first, as we have already stated, was built by Seleucus Nicator; the second by those who flocked thither after the building of the first; the third by Seleucus Callinicus; and the fourth by Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria. The present town, which is a mile in circumference, stands in the plain, on the north-west part of the old city; all the parts within the walls being converted into gardens. The walls, which now exist, though much ruined, mark the ancient boundaries of Antioch. They were built since the introduction of Christianity; the form of them being nearly of a rectangular figure.
There are, as we have already stated, very few remains within the city of any ancient buildings. The principal works are the aqueducts, and some grottoes cut in the mountain. There were once two temples of great celebrity, one of which was dedicated to Apollo and the other to the Moon. At this moment not a vestige of these is to be discovered. "Formerly," says Lord Sandwich, "it had a port of considerable importance on the north bank of the Orontes, and on the shores of the Levant; but the harbour is choked up, and not a single inhabitant remains. The sun of Antioch is set. The present city is a miserable place, extending four hundred yards from the side of the river to the bottom of a mountain, on the summit of which, and round the town, the crusaders, during their being in possession of Syria, built a strong wall. Nothing remains of its ancient grandeur besides some stupendous causeways and massy gateways of hewn stone."
At a distance of about four or five miles was a place called Daphne. There Seleucus planted a grove, and in the midst of it he erected a temple, which he consecrated to Apollo and Diana. To this place the inhabitants of Antioch resorted for their pleasures and diversions, till at last it became so infamous, that "to live after the manner of Daphne" was used proverbially to express the most voluptuous and dissolute mode of living.
Antioch is said to have been once greater than Rome itself; but often ruined, and finally razed by the Mamelukes, it is now only a small town, known by the name of Antakia. Its climate is so agreeable, that we may cite some observations, made in regard to it in a passage in Mr. Robinson's tour in Palestine and Syria. "For the breadth and brilliancy of the eastern landscape, there is no architecture equal to the Oriental. The solemnity and grandeur of the Gothic are suited to our climate of cloud and tempest. The severe or even the florid beauty of Greek architecture belongs to a country where the spectator sees it under the lights and shadows of a sky as picturesque as the hills and valleys that it covers. But the magnitude, strong colourings, and yet fantastic finish of Eastern architecture are made to be seen across its vast plains under the unclouded sky; and glowing with the powerful splendour with which the rising and the setting sun less illumine than inflame the horizon. At a distance it has the dream-like beauty which we habitually attach to the edifices of the Arabian Nights33."
NO. XI. – ARGOS
Argos was founded in the 1856th year before the Christian era; that is, in the time of Abraham. Its founder was Inachus. Euripides, however, says, that the city was built by the Cyclops, who came from Syria. After flourishing for about 550 years, it was united to the crown of Mycenæ. According to Herodotus, Argos was the most famous of all the states, comprehended under the general name of Greece. For a long time it was the most flourishing city in Greece; and this chiefly from its being enriched by the commerce of Assyria and Egypt. Its early history is resplendent with illustrious names and shining achievements. Its inhabitants conceived a hope of obtaining the sovereignty of all Peloponnesus; but they became at length enfeebled and at last ruined by intestine divisions.
There are many events exceedingly interesting in the history of Argos; amongst which, these. A war broke out, in the reign of Theopompus34, between the Argives and Lacedemonians, on account of a little country called Thyrea, that lay upon the confines of the two states, and to which each of them pretended a right. When the two armies were ready to engage, it was agreed, in order to spare the effusion of blood, that the quarrel should be decided by three hundred of the bravest men on both sides; and that the land in question should become the property of the victors. To leave the combatants more room to engage, the two armies retired to some distance. Those generous champions then, who had all the courage of two mighty armies, boldly advanced towards each other, and fought with so much resolution and fury, that the whole number, except three men, two on the side of the Argives, and one on the side of the Lacedemonians, lay dead on the spot; and only the night parted them. The two Argives, looking upon themselves as the conquerors, made what haste they could to Argos to carry the news; the single Lacedemonian, Othryades by name, instead of retiring, stripped the dead bodies of the Argives, and carrying their arms into the Lacedemonian camp, continued in his post. The next day the two armies returned to the field of battle. Both sides laid equal claim to the victory. The Argives, because they had more of their champions left alive than the enemy had; the Lacedemonians, because the two Argives that remained alive had fled; whereas their single soldier had remained master of the field of battle, and had carried off the spoils of the enemy: in short, they could not determine the dispute without coming to another engagement. Then fortune declared in favour of the Lacedemonians, and the little territory of Thyrea was the prize of their victory. But Othryades, not able to bear the thoughts of surviving his brave companions, or of enduring the sight of Sparta after their death, killed himself on the same field of battle where they had fought,
Rollin; Sandwich.
A. M. 3604, A. C. 300.
Wheler; Pococke; Chandler; Rees; Sandwich; Porter; Kinneir; Buckingham; Carne; Robinson; Walpole.
Rollin.