650 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol.. II., No. 41. 



St. Paul probably passed through the valley of the 

 Satnioeis, which flows into the Aegean on the west 

 side of the Troad, a few miles south of Alexandria. 

 But if he had known what was good for himself, in 

 this world, he would have done as we did, and, leav- 

 ing the plain, have aseended the steep sides of the 

 little niountauious hill which separates the valley 

 from the southern shore. There we found, upon the 

 top, a tolerably level tableland commanding views of 

 most surpassing beauty; to the north and west, Samo- 

 thrace and Imbros and Lemnos, with Mount Athos 

 just discerned in the western horizon on the other 

 side of the sea ; then, to the south, Lesbos, across 

 the strait ; and finally, in the gleaming morning sea, 

 the little black hill which marked the volcanic moun- 

 tain which was the goal of our endeavor. 



The mountain of Assos is so steep as it rises out 

 of the sea, that within a distance of half a mile it 

 reaches a height of nearly one thousand feet. The 

 steepest parts of the bridle-paths vipon Mount Kear- 

 sarge and Mount Washington are not steeper than 

 the road from the sea to the temple on tlie summit; 

 and the agora, the mari\:et-place, which has been de- 

 scribed to you, the centre of the city, is five hundred 

 feet above the water. 



One finds himself there, as you may now imagine, 

 as on the stage of some classical theatre with all its 

 scenes still standing, — here, the bouleuterion ; there, 

 the gymnasium, Mr. Koldewey's stoa, Mr. Clarke's 

 temple and city walls, and, lastly, Mr. Bacon's street 

 of tombs, leading half a mile away, towards his bridge 

 at the river. 



But interesting and exciting as is the presence of 

 these monuments of antiquity, one can hardly keep 

 his mind upon these things, for the attractions of the 

 scene before him. To the east, where the long slopes 

 of Mount Ida descend to the sea, the line is taken 

 up by the blue and rose-colored mountains of Asia 

 Minor, stretching along toward Smyrna; toward the 

 south, filling the southerii horizon, the island of 

 Mitylene, — the mountain-tops brown in the sun- 

 light, with purple shadows lying in all the valleys, 

 and everywhere encompassing and infolding it all, 

 the wonderful blues and greens of the Mediter- 

 ranean Sea. Splendid as is the view from the 

 acropolis of Athens, — the most famous in the world, 

 — it seems to me that the view from the heights 

 of Assos surpasses it in loveliness and splendor; 

 and these buildings seem to have been so set, that 

 this unparalleled prospect could be enjoyed to the 

 utmost. 



The buildings themselves are constructed of a 

 stone which in its general aspect resembles a fine- 

 grained granite, but in color and hue is more like the 

 darkest and most purple of the Connecticut free- 

 stones. Yet the grain is so smooth that the most 

 delicate mouldings can be cut upon it; and one is 

 surprised to find, in passing the hand over the sur- 

 face, how sharp, clean, and refined are the profiles of 

 the mouldings. 



The architectural interest attaching to these re- 

 mains is unique. And here I cannot do better than 

 to read an extract from a half-finished letter which I 



found in Mr. Bacon's [lorlfolio, and snatched from 

 oblivion, — a letter dated in December last, and never 

 finished : — 



" As the end appi-ouclieN, my work Ii:ih uHsumed it more detl- 

 iiilc form; and I know prelty well wliiit the results will be. 

 Hitherto 1 hnve been working rather blindly, aud Willi but linzy 

 ideas of finaUresuUs. The street of tombs is sucli a collection of 

 email, isolated ruins, tbat any thing iike'a complete idea of the 

 original disposition was impossible al first. Sobered by tbe ex* 

 jjerience of last year, I tbis year attacked the monuments sejia- 

 rately, with a resolute disregard of their relation to each other; 

 excavated the most worthy, and drew Ibera out iu plan, eleva- 

 tion, and detail; then located each in a general survey, strung 

 these plans along on a large map; and, lo, order is come out 

 of chaos! Where before seemed nothing but confusion, now 

 appears tbe hand of man; and tbe tombs are placed with such 

 a picturesque regard for their purpose and for each other tbat 

 the appreciative soul is filled with delight. Tbe existing plan 

 is more complete than the Appian Way at Home, nearly aa 

 well preserved as that at Pompeii, and, to my mind, far more 

 interesting than either, for it is pure Greek in every line and de- 

 tail. Indeed, that may be said of all the work at Assos. There 

 does not seem to be tbe slightest Roman influence. Of course, it 

 is not always faultless. Work there is of all kinds, good, bad, 

 indiflerent, but, good, bad, or indifferent, Greek, not Roman. 

 This absence of Roman feeUtig in the later work is a very peculiar 

 thing. In Pergamon, Smyrna, and all the cities of Asia Minor, 

 there exists a great deal of Roman work, and most of it pretty 

 bad too. But here the bulk of the people probably never under- 

 stood a word of Latin. The number of Latin letters upon the 

 inscriptions we have found could almost be counted on your fin- 

 gers. ^Vllencver the Roman governors bad any thing to say, they 

 bad to say it in Greek, to be understood. Even on the tomb of 

 the Publius Varius family the dedicatory inscription over tbe 

 doorway was in Greek. 



*' Tbis absence of Roman work shows pretty well what a pro- 

 vincial town tbis must always have .remained. Their stone- 

 masons, builders, and archileels were born and bred here; aud 

 they were a cousei^'ativo set, with old-time notions about clamps 

 and dowels, and about running down to tbe ledge forfouudations. 

 All tbis can be read like a book in tbe biilkliiigs we have laid 

 bare. When any thing extra was to be ' run up,' ibej' didn't im- 

 port a foreigner from Miletus or Ephesus with his new-fangled 

 idea^; not at all : they built it themselves. And this was not 

 owing to lack of money, for tbe remains show that Assos must 

 have been a wealthy city." 



Another point of great interest is this, — almost all 

 the principal publications of Greek work that have 

 been made relate to monumental buildings. We 

 have the temples, volume after volume, exhibiting 

 a complete system of Greek architectural construc- 

 tion and design ; but they have left unanswered the 

 questions, how far Greek architecture was confined 

 to sacred buildings, and to what extent the princi- 

 ples and methods which are exemplified in so mag- 

 nificent a manner in the temples and sacred 

 monuments were carried out in other structtu'es. 

 The long series of secular buildings which have been 

 discovered at Assos offer the best answer that has 

 yet been given to these questions; and the publi- 

 cation of the work, when it comes to be made, will 

 mark an era in the study of the municipal and mili- 

 tary architecture of the Greeks. It is a question, 

 moreover, not without practical interest to the work- 

 ing architects of to-day, who are striving to solve for 

 themselves the problem of fitly applying to secular 

 and domestic buildings the same architectural forms, 

 and the same principles of design, which they apply 

 to sacred and monumental structures. This is an 



