To The Right
And Left Are Some Low Arched Chambers.
From this spot the ground rises,
and on mounting a low but steep hill before me, I found on its top the
remains of a beautiful temple (g), commanding a view over the greater
part of the town.
The front of the temple does not stand directly
opposite to the long street and the forum, but declines somewhat to the
northward. Like the temple first described, it was adorned with a
Corinthian peristyle, of which one column only remains, at the south
angle. In front was a double row of columns, with eight, as I
conjecture, in each row. They seem to have been thrown down by an
earthquake, and many of them are now lying on the declivity of the hill,
in the same order in which they originally stood. They are six spans and
a half in diameter, and their capitals appeared to me of a still finer
execution than those of the great temple. I am unable to judge of the
number of columns on the long sides of the peristyle: their broken
shafts lie about in immense heaps. On every side of the temple except
the front, there appears to have been a large ditch round the temple. Of
the cella the walls only remain, the roof, entrance, and back wall
having
[p.258]fallen down. The interior of the cella is thirty paces in length,
and twenty-four in breadth; the walls within are in a better state than
those of the temple (a), which are much impaired. On the outside of each
of the two long walls, was a row of six niches, similar to those within
the temple (a).
On entering the temple by the front door, I found on the right a side
door, leading towards a large theatre (h), on the side of the hill, and
at about sixty paces distant from the temple. It fronts the town, so
that the spectators seated upon the highest row of benches, enjoyed the
prospect of all its principal buildings and quarters. There are twenty-
eight rows of seats, upwards of two feet in breadth: between the
sixteenth and seventeenth rows, reckoning from the top, a tier of eight
boxes or small apartments intervenes, each separated from the other by a
thick wall. The uppermost row of benches is about one hundred and twenty
paces in circuit. In three different places are small narrow staircases
opening into the rows, to facilitate the ingress or egress of the
spectators. In front, the theatre is closed by a proscenium or wall,
about forty paces in length, embellished within by five richly decorated
niches, connected with each other by a line of middling sized columns;
of which two remain with their entablatures, and six without their
capitals. Within these was another parallel range of columns, of which
five are yet standing, with their entablatures. The entrance to the
theatre, was by steps between the two ends of the proscenium and the two
extremities of the semicircle. Near the proscenium the steps on both
sides are ruined, but in the other parts they are perfect. The town wall
runs very near the back of the theatre.
On this side of the town there are no other ruins of any consequence,
excepting the south-west gate, which is about five minutes walk from the
semicircle of columns: it is a fine arch, and, apparently,
[p.259] in perfect preservation, with a smaller one on each side adorned
with several pilasters. I did not examine it closely; meaning to return
to it in taking a review of what I had already seen, but my guides were
so tired with waiting, that they positively refused to expose their
persons longer to danger, and walked off, leaving me the alternative of
remaining alone in this desolate spot, or of abandoning the hope of
correcting my notes by a second examination of the ruins.
Returning from the theatre, through the long street, towards the four
cubic pedestals, I continued from thence in a straight line along the
main street (l), the pavement of which is preserved in several places.
On the right hand, were first seven columns, having their entablatures;
and farther on, to the left, seven others, also with their entablatures;
then, on the right, three large columns without entablatures, but with
pedestals, which none of those already mentioned have; opposite to the
latter, on the left hand side of the street, are two insulated columns.
The three large columns are equal in size to those of the peristyle of
the temple (a); they stand in the same line with the colonnade of the
street, and belonged to a small building (m), of the body of which
nothing remains except the circular back wall, containing several
niches, almost in complete ruins. On a broken pedestal lying on the
ground between two of the columns of this building, is the following
inscription:
[Greek].
There is another stone with an inscription upon it; but I could make
nothing of it. The street is here choaked up with fragments of columns.
Close to the three columns stands a single one, and
[p.260] at a short distance further, to the left, is a large gateway
(n), leading up to the temple (a), which is situated on considerably
higher ground, and is not visible from the street. On either side of the
gateway are niches; and a wall, built of middling sized square stones,
which runs for some distance, parallel with the street. Among a heap of
stones lying under the gate I copied the following inscriptions:
From a broken stone:
[Greek].
The letters of the word OPNHA are five inches in length.
Upon another broken stone near it was this:
[Greek].
And close to the latter, upon the edge of a large stone, this:
[Greek].
Continuing along the main street, I came at (q), to a single column, and
then to two with entablatures, on the right; opposite to them, on the
left, are three single columns.
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