Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/392

340 separated by a range of hills from the plain. In an open space near this we saw some plain limestone sarcophagi with inscriptions. Hence we descended into a fertile plain, and passed by the village of Sarla, about ten minutes distant from which we observed the rums of a mediæval building. We now ascended a small gorge between two hills, with pine trees on either side. This soon opened into a plain, and on a mountain opposite we saw the rains of one of the three cities of Cyaneæ. The fields were covered with a little blue flower, from which the name of Cyaneæ may have been derived. Jaghu is a small village situated in a little valley beneath the ruined city, where we halted.

Wednesday, 22nd.—From Jaghù the road to Cyaneæ is by a steep and stony momitain path. In parts the road is ancient, and, half-way up, cut in the rock, on the right hand side of the pathway, is a small bas-relief representing two groups of horses. In the upper division are two standing still; in the lower, one galloping towards another standing still. This bas-relief is much defaced. There are three rock tombs—mere holes cut in the rock just above this bas-relief A little further on we came to a group of sarcophagi of the Roman period. One of them is much ornamented; the lid is cut so as to represent overlapping leaves. In a few minutes more we reached the walls of the city, which are for the most part Byzantine or mediæval. The foundations of the houses and the directions of some of the streets of the old city can still be made out, though the whole is thickly overgrown with brushwood. There are some large vaulted buildings, and the walls and doors of temples formed of large blocks of limestone beautifully squared. One gateway is very beautiful, ornamented with a rich pattern of the Roman period. The ground is strewn with columns fluted and plain, dentils, and fragments of all kinds, including one or two inscriptions. None of the ruins inside the city walls appear to be of earlier date than the Roman empire. Outside the city gates on the north side of the hill the walls are partly of Hellenic masonry. On a lower hill is a long street of tombs, with sarcophagi picturesquely placed in the midst of brushwood. Here are also the ruins of some large public buildings. The theatre is situated on the south face of the lower hill; it is of Greek form, and measures 165 feet in diameter; there are twenty-four rows of seats, twelve above the diazoma, ten are visible below it.

On the perpendicular and rocky side of the city hill which faces the south are many rock tombs. Among them a group of three