130 



ASIA MINOR. 



The diameter of the whole building is seventy paces, including the 

 thickness of the walls of the Hospitalia.* In the middle range of 

 the seats there are two large vomitoria. 



There are ruins of columns and architraves along the whole line of 

 the wall which fronts the sea, indicating an extensive portico ; in a 

 plain beneath is the ancient cemetery of Assos, where we observed 

 many sarcophagi. Some of them are seven and eight feet high, and 

 of a proportionate breadth and length; they have been hewn out of 

 one massive block of grey granite, and their covers out of another. 

 The sides are in general ornamented with festoons in relievo, and 

 many have the remains of inscriptions, now so much defaced as to be 

 quite illegible. 



The Turks appear to have broken into them all, by making holes 

 in their side ; this was not so difficult a task as to raise their ponder- 

 ous coverings. The entrances now admit kids and lambs, glad of the 

 shelter and shade which they find within these ancient tombs. 



The view of this city in ancient times from the sea, and the 

 approach to it from the shore must have produced a striking effect ; 

 first, an extensive cemetery presented itself, covered with huge sarco- 

 phagi of granite; then a flight of steps leading to a terrace and porti- 

 cos, and the principal gate in the city walls; then the baths and edi- 

 fices of the lower town, with the theatre, acropolis, and its temples 

 rising majestically behind. 



In different parts of the ancient town we observed heaps of broken 

 vases, of that light elegant fabric called Etruscan or Greek, beauti- 

 fully varnished with black. The labours of any one who should carry 



• For the use and position of these buildings, see D'Orville, Sicilia. 259. who explains 

 a passage of Vitruvius relating to them. " Haze aedificia," says D'Orville, "revera inser- 

 vierunt variis sccnicis et theatralibns usibus; hie fuerunt choragia; hie machinas scenicae; 

 hie ipsi histriones et chori parabantur." In the plan of the theatre found in Dr. Hunt's 

 papers, the foundations of the scena are marked ; the Xoyeiov, that part of it where the 

 actors stood, being generally of wood, is not of course remaining. The Aoyewv, answered 

 in some respects to the pulpitum, only it was not so wide as the latter. The Romans had 

 no Thymele; their singers and dancers were on the pulpitum. — See D'Orville, 259. 



