Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/145

Rh kind reception and clothed them with fine new linen and cloth of Damascus."$49$

The Gatelusio family reigned in this island till 1462, when Nicholas, the last of the dynasty, after gallantly defending the castle of Mytilene, surrendered it to Mahomet II. The dynasty of Gatelusio struck coins in silver and copper, which are of great rarity, and have been only recently identified by numismatists. Since I have been there I have succeeded in olitainiug a small collection of these for the British Museum.$50$

A portion of the castle called Chan Koolessy is separated from the remainder by a moat. Here are three towers, connected by a curtain-wall. In the western face of the centre tower is an oblong slab inscribed with three escutcheons. On the left a double spread eagle, crowned; next, a cross between four B's, the arms of the Palæologi: on the right, the coat of the Gatelusio already noticed.$51$

Below are six slabs, with reliefs representing Roman gladiators, in a late coarse style. They are apparently on the same scale as two or three in a small church at Thermæ which I have already noticed (ante, p. 61).

Here and there I copied fragments of Greek inscriptions, and in the wall of a street was part of a dedication to Pompey with the title of Soter. In the castle is the Kuli Jamessy, built by Sultan Mahomet II. in 1462, after the conquest of Mytilene. This mosque has been so much repaired that very little is left of the original building.

There is another mosque in the citadel, called