157 



AIZANI. 



AJAN. 



15S 



great thoroughfares. The most important buildings have been 

 already mentioned. Other remarkable structures are four pariah 

 churches, which contain some fine paintings ; some of the bath-houses, 

 especially that called Eliseu-Brunnen ; the Redoute, a handsome new 

 building, the lower story of which is occupied by shops of various 

 kinds, and the upper as ball- and gambling-rooms ; the new theatre ; 

 and the railway-station. The city has also several hospitals ; a public 

 library, containing 10,000 volumes of printed books ; a gymnasium, 

 with Id professors and 445 pupils in attendance during the session 

 of 1851-52 ; and a chamber of commerce. Within a short distance of 

 the town are the ruins of Frankenberg, a favourite residence of Charle- 

 magne ; and the small town of Burticheid (above 5000 inhabitants), 

 situated in a narrow valley, and connected with Aix by an avenue of 

 trees. Burtscheid also hag its hot mineral springs and its baths ; its 

 valley is crossed by the railroad to Cologne on a viaduct of seven 

 arches. 



Eight mineral springs, six hot and two cold, rise up nearly in the 

 centre of the city. The waters, which are strongly sulphurous, are 

 conveyed by pipes to the bath-houses situated in different parts of the 

 town. The bath-houses are the property of the town, and are also 

 fitted up with apartments for visitors. The hottest of the springs, 

 that called the Emperor's, has a temperature of 143 Fahrenheit. 



Aix-la-Chapelle is the centre of a nourishing manufacture of woollen 

 cloth and needles, which gives employment to about 10,000 persons 

 in the town and surrounding country. It is particularly celebrated 

 for a light blue cloth, exquisitely dyed, which is largely exported to 

 America. It also coutuiu.> ,m engineering establishment, a factory for 

 spinn ty and mill-work, several copper and brass foundries, 



.e coach-factories. Burtscheid also has a considerable manu- 

 facture of woollen cloth and needles. 



A ti.aty of peace was concluded at Aix-l-Chapelle, May 2, 1668, 

 between France and Spain, by which Louis XIV. restored Vi 

 Conite' to Spain, but retained his conquests in the Spanish Netherlands. 

 Another treaty wim r. dud^l Inn-, Uctober 18, 1748, which terminated 

 the war of succession in Austria. The city was taken in 1792 by 

 Dumouriez, who was driven out of it the same year by the Austriaus ; 

 but in 1794 the French again took it, and held it till 1814. During 

 this interval Aix was the capital of the French department of the 

 HI iff. By the Peace of Paris, the city was united to Prussia. A 

 congress was held here in 1818, attended by the emperors of Austria 

 and Russia, the king of Prussia, and ambassadors from all the great 

 powers of Europe, to decide upon the terms of the evacuation of 

 France by the allied army. 



AIZA'NI, or AZA'Xl, or, according to its modern name, Tchafter- 

 Hisaar, a city of Asia Minor, in the ancient province of Phrygia, about 

 nine hours' journey from Kutahia. It is mentioned by Strabo 

 (p. 570) as one of the places of Phrygia Epiotctus under the name of 

 Azani ; other authorities write the name Aizaui. Nothing is known 

 of its history. The numerous remains of its extensive edifices have 

 been made known to the world chiefly by the French archil 

 Charles Texier, who visited them in 1834. More recently they have 

 been described by Mr. Hamilton and Sir ('. Fellows. 



The fii>t building that attracts notice is a temple, which, being 

 raised on a considerable eminence, forms, like the Parthenon of 

 Ath.-us, a conspii > from u dintan>'>'. 1'nlike the Athenian 



' ills, however, the eminence njiun \vhieh this tt-mple at Aizani 

 stands, forms an elevated platform out out of the hill and perfectly 

 regular in its plan, which is a parallelogram running eaxt and west, 

 532 feet by 480 feet. From the remains of walls at the N.W. angle it 

 is conjectured that the platform of the terrace formed a peribolus 

 or court to the temple, inclosed on three of its sides, while the east 

 side wag left open, and on that side the face of the rock was decorated 

 architecturally throughout its entire extent by a series of 22 

 arches with pilasters between them eleven on each side of the 

 central flight of steps (100 feet wide), forming the ascent to the upper 

 level. The temple which stands in the centre of the platform appears 

 from inscriptions found among the ruing to have been dedicated to 

 Jupiter of Aiziini ; it is now more than half destroyed, little more 

 remaining than the columns of the north and west sides and the 

 corresponding portions of the cella. The structure wag Ionic, 

 octaatyle, pseudodipteral with 15 columns on its flanks. Its 

 general dimensions do not exceed 104 feet by 53 feet, or including the 

 broad socle on which it is raised, 121 by 72 feet. The whole is con- 

 structed of white marble, and the columns, 31 feet high, are oach 

 wrought out of a single block ; but what gives peculiar interest to this 

 monument ia, that it affords a very remarkable example of the Asiatic 

 Ionic, decidedly differing, at least in its entablature, from any 

 specimens heretofore edited. The columns have the peculiar Asiatic 

 Ionic base, but are not otherwise remarkable, except for the singularity 

 of there being a small vase or urn carved in the upper part of each 

 channel of the fluting. Far more remarkable is the entablature, both 

 for its proportions and decorations : the architrave, which is divided 

 into three facias with carved hMttaooqldizip, is considerably de< ]" r 

 than the frieze, wliirh excess is caused l>y thf unusual breadth of its 

 coping, consisting of a large ovolo and cavetto above it, both enriched. 

 The frieze is unique in its design : large upright acanthus-leaves 

 placed singly at intervals after the manner of triglyphs, are placed 

 beneath a sort of console formed by the junction of two scroll-like 



volutes, meeting each other in front like those at the angle of a 

 Corinthian capital, to which they bear a very strong resemblance. 

 The cornice again differs both from Greek and Asiatic-Greek examples 

 of the order, inasmuch as, in addition to the dentils of the latter, it 

 has small modillions : the corona is narrow ; the cymatium above it, 

 on the contrary, very deep, and enriched with a flower-pattern. 

 Beneath the cella is a subterraneous chamber or crypt, 52 feet by 

 29 feet 6 inches, with a vaulted ceiling ; light was admitted into it 

 by means of apertures in the pavement of the colonnades next the 

 walls of the cella, and the steps leading to it were within the posticuin. 

 Several columns now lying on the ground within the peribolus indicate 

 that that inclosure must have been adorned with them, since they 

 evidently do not belong to the temple itself, being not much above 

 half the size of the others, and besides, the lower part of their flutiiigs 

 is cabled. 



After this temple the other chief monuments discovered at Aizani 

 are a theatre, stadium, and gymnasium : the first of these, which is 

 in better preservation than almost any other ancient structure of its 

 kind, is 185 feet in its greatest diameter and the speetatory had sixteen 

 rows of marble seats, but those of the upper or second tier are nearly 

 all destroyed. The orchestra forma more than a semicircle with a 

 radius of 66 feet. The sceua was decorated with six pairs of coupled 

 Ionic columns, but these have fallen down, and are lying with a mass 

 of other ruins and fragments in the orchestra. 



The stadium, which is a little to the S.E. of the theatre, measures 725 

 feet in its extreme length and 152 feet in its extreme breadth. There 

 were two pulviuaria or loggias ; and ten rows of seats along each 

 side, capable of accommodating between 12,000 and 13,000 persons. 



Of the gymnasium, or what is supposed to have been such, and 

 which is situated to the south of the peribolus of the great temple, 

 little more remains than a Doric colonnade extending upwards of 

 200 feet, and formed by white marble pillars, each cut out of a single 

 block. To the N.W. of the temple are also some ruins of what is 

 supposed to have been a basilica. The river Rhyudacxis, which passed 

 through the city, was crossed by two bridges of white marble, each 

 consisting of five semicircular arches. Both are remaining, as also 

 the parapets of the quays along the river, which, like the bridges, 

 are constructed of white marble and ornamented with sculptures. 

 There are besides many tombs. Further interesting particulars 

 respecting Aizaui will be found in Hamilton's ' Researches in Asia 

 Minor,' and in Sir C. Fellows' g ' Asia Minor.' In both works 

 inscriptions are copied, and in the latter there are views of the 

 temple. 



A.IACCIO, the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte; chief town of 

 the island of Corse or Corsica, which now forms a department of 

 France ; the see of a bishop ; seat of tribunals of first instance and 

 of commerce, of a college, naval school, and agricultural society ; a 

 I of the third class ; situated on the western side of the island, 

 in I" :,:>' X. lat., S 44' 11" E. long. : population, 11,266. The town 

 is built on a high tongue of land, which forms part of the southern 

 "fa little bay at the head of the Gulf of Ajaccio. The two 

 principal streets are wide and well bm'lt, but the others are narrow 

 and dirty. There are two public squares, and a handsome public walk, 

 partly cut out of the rock along the bay. The largest vessels can load 

 and discharge at the quays ; but in south-west winds the rebound 

 of the waves from the opposite shore of the bay renders the harbour 

 a dangerous position. From northerly and easterly winds the port is 

 sheltered by high mountains. The chief objects of interest in Ajaccio 

 are the cathedral, which has a grand marble altar; the Greek chapel 

 situated on an eminence, which commands fine sea-views ; the house 

 iu which Napoleon was born, which is now the property of the 

 municipality ; the theatre ; the public library of 14,000 volumes ; the 

 foundling hospital ; the houses of Pozzo di Borgo and Cardinal Fesch ; 

 the barracks ; and the citadel, which occupies the point of the tongue 

 of hind on which the town is built. Some leather and bricks are 

 manufactured. The chief trade is in wine, olive-oil, oranges, citron, 

 and coral, which is gathered near the coast. There are several fishing 

 boats belonging to the port. Steamers ply regularly to Toulon, which 

 is 168 miles to the N.N.W. 



AJAN, the name by which an almost unknown tract of the coast 

 of uust Africa is designated. It extends from near Magadozo, wliich 

 is included within the limits of Zanguebar, northward to Cape 

 Guardafui, a distance roughly estimated at about ten degrees of 

 latitude. But the extent of the coast of Ajan cannot be accurately 

 determined, as the name itself is very indefinite. The southern coast 

 is sandy, barren, and low ; but the northern is higher about Cape 

 Delaqua and Cape d'Orfui. Between these two capes there is a deep 

 bay. D'Orfui has a bluff point towards the sea, and is backed by 

 lofty and singular-shaped mountains. It is in 10" 30' N. lat., 51 12 

 E. long. Cape Guardafui, the most eastern part of Africa, is also a 

 bold promontory with high mountains in the background ; it is in 

 11 60' N. lat, 51' 22 E. long. No great river is described as 

 entering the sea on the coast of Ajan. The neighbourhood of d'Orfui 

 is inhabited by a tribe of Somaulis. 



The name Azania. occurs in the 'Periplus,' and comprehends not 

 only the modern Ajan, but also the coast of Zanguebar as far as 

 Quiloa ; provided this place be the Rhaptum of the ' Periplus.' 

 Rhaptuiu (2 S. lat.) is the most southern point described on this 



