of the GrcBco- Roman Era in certain ancient Sites of Asia Minor. 127 



fourth, or Gheyerah, presents highly interesting remains of temples and other 

 public buildings, whilst inscribed monuments lie scattered on all sides in such 

 profusion, as to render a judicious selection of their contents the chief difficulty 

 of the traveller. I remained there for three days, during which interval I copied 

 a considerable number of inscriptions in different quarters of the ancient site. 

 The labour and difficulty of this operation was much enhanced by the extreme 

 heat of the season, and my disinclination to adopt any mechanical device for cur- 

 tailing either. 



It is not my intention, at least for the present, to submit to the Academy the 

 result of my sojourn at Aphrodisias, but to connect it with another series, and 

 make these the subject of a separate memoir. I mean now to treat of those in- 

 scriptions alone which I have brought from the Apocalyptic sites, and one or two 

 other places which lay in my road. The Aphrodisian Tituli, I mean the whole 

 number which I found existing, would be sufficient to form a large volume of 

 themselves. 



The site of Tralles supplied me with none. I made anxious inquiries re- 

 specting them of the person who accompanied me in my excursions through the 

 Acropolis and other quarters of the ancient town, but received the discouraging 

 answer that all such monuments had disappeared. This gentleman (who was 

 the Pasha's physician) chose, for obvious reasons, to convey his sentiments on this 

 subject to me in Latin. I have a vivid recollection of his concluding words, 

 which were uttered with strong emotion : " Lege Strabonem : ille omnia con- 

 spectul dabit : sed monumenta delevit barbara manus." 



I pass over Eskl-Hissar, the representative of Laodicea, and Pambuk-Kalessi, 

 that of Hierapolis, as barren in the immediate materials of my present research. 

 Desolation more utter and more disheartening can scarcely be conceived than 

 that of Laodicea ; and the extraordinary vision which met my eyes at the second 

 of those places, wholly engrossed my attention during the brief period of my stay. 

 The remains of its baths, its temples, its amphitheatre, and more than all, the 

 singular phenomena of its stalactitic concretions, render it one of the most inte- 

 resting sites in the whole extent of Anatolia. But the feeling of utter loneliness 

 and desolation is the same there as in the neighbouring locality of Laodicea. Not 

 a habitation is to be seen, after the adventurous traveller has crossed the narrow 

 ledge of rocks by which the ruins are approached from the plain of the Lycus. 



VOL. XIX. B 



