132 Dr. Kennedy Bailie's Researches amongst the inscribed Monuments 



the question, after stating the measurement of the walls, and one of the rooms, 

 " Might not this have been the Gymnasium ?" * 



It was in the neighbourhood of this ruin that I discovered the inscription 

 which is numbered the eighth in my collection. The cubical block of marble 

 on which it was engraved lay, with the inscribed face undermost, in the open 

 ground to the east of this edifice, and had originally, I am persuaded, been set 

 up within the precincts of the treasury of the ancient city. It is now, as I have 

 said, prostrate, and is used by the Turkoman herdsmen and the villagers of Sart 

 as a seat, in consequence of which it has been worn down to such a degree as 

 almost to have ceased to attract the notice of the traveller. Mine it certainly 

 would have escaped, had it not been pointed out to me by the suruji (or groom), 

 who had the care of my horses, and attended me over the ground. I lost no 

 time in making myself acquainted with its contents, but the labour of trans- 

 ferring them to my note-book was very considerable, and occupied nearly the 

 whole of the time I could spare from visiting the other objects of interest in and 

 around the site of Sardes. 



The inscription numbered the ninth was copied by me from a Turkish grave 

 which I observed when approaching the town. It was well chosen by the Mahom- 

 medan who had pressed it into this service, as the marble fragment on which it 

 is inscribed, had itself once formed part of a soros, or sarcophagus ; but the pro- 

 cess which it has thus undergone has deprived it of its chief interest, the names 

 and dates having been cut away to adapt it to the dimensions of the grave. 



Such, however, is not the case with first-mentioned titulus, that near the Ge- 

 rusia. Sufficient of this as yet remains to acquaint us with its general import. It 

 supplies us in its names and historical references with data of no common interest 

 to the classical antiquarian. It appears to have been a decree, or public act of the 

 senate and people, directing a monument (fivrjfielov) to be raised in honour of 

 one of the imperial benefactors of Sardes, with whom there is some reason to 

 suppose a lady of Lampsacus, Publia, or Papia Patricia, to have been connected 

 in his offices of kindness and liberality towards the distressed citizens. There is, 

 as appears to me, distinct mention made of the names of Tiberius and Trajan : 

 and, perhaps, in the portions which have been defaced or broken off, that of 



* Visit, &c. p. 180. 



