Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 1 of 2). Charles Bucke

      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 silent45.'"

      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 idolatry46; 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 city47.

      NO. XVI. – ATHENS