THE LOST WEALTH OF THE KINGS OF MIDAS 



839 



plain at the 57 yailas, or summer ham- 

 lets, where they stay from April to 

 October. There they feed their flocks, 

 for it is only by scattering themselves 

 over a broad area that sufficient grass 

 can be found for all the animals which 

 form the chief means of livelihood. The 

 great flocks of sheep stay at the yailas 

 all the year, cared for by a few lonely 

 shepherds. The other animals — horses, 

 cows, camels, and donkeys — are taken to 

 the large villages in winter and fed on 

 the hay stacked on the roofs. In sum- 

 mer, however, they, too, are taken to the 

 yailas. This sort of nomadism prevails 

 over large parts of the plain of the Axy- 

 lon. Once the case was different. 



ANCij^NT architecture: of the nomads 



In the days of Midas and Croesus, and 

 in the times of the Greeks and Romans, 

 nomadism appears to have been unknown 

 in this part of the world. The chief 

 proof of this lies in the large number of 

 ruins, all of which, to judge from the 

 style of architecture and the nature of 

 the Greek inscriptions, were inhabited at 

 about the beginning of the Christian era. 

 During nine days' travel in the plain of 

 the Axylon, I passed through 16 actual 

 modern villages, as distinguished from 

 yailas or summer camps. I made no 

 special attempt to visit ruins, merely ex- 

 amining those which came in my way. 

 Nevertheless I passed through the ruins 

 of 42 genuine villages, not to mention 

 various small isolated instances. Most 

 of the 16 sites now occupied by modern 

 villages were doubtless also occupied in 

 the past. 



It is certainly safe, then, to say that 

 the number of ancient villages was at 

 least 48, or three times as many as exist 

 today. Probably all these villages were 

 occupied at the same time, during the 

 days of greatest prosperity, but, even if 

 only half were occupied, the population 

 must have been much greater than at 

 present, for the old villages were almost 

 universally larger than the modern ones. 

 They must have been much richer, also, 

 in order to erect the fine buildings whose 

 carved columns are found in large num- 

 bers. 



AN ANCIENT I^EIGHT OP^ STEPS CUT FROM 

 SOLID ROCK BEFORE THE MOSQUE 

 OF SAVATRA 



Take, for example, the village of Ak 

 Viren, in the middle of the plain. The 

 place has no running water, but depends 

 upon deep wells. The inhabitants culti- 

 vate a considerable amount of land, but 

 rely mainly upon their flocks for suste- 

 nance, because the crops are so poor 

 and precarious. The present population 

 numbers 130 families, whose houses are 

 scattered irregularly among extensive 

 ruins. Once the town was a fine place, 

 the capital of the district. Savatra, as 

 it was called, boasted some excellent 

 buildings, in one of which was placed 

 the flight of seven steps shown in 

 the above photograph. They were 

 carved from a solid block of lime- 

 stone and are now preserved in the yard 

 of the mosque. The old town occupied 

 an area which I estimated to be ten times 

 as large as that of the modern village. 

 Other ruins are correspondingly larger 

 than their modern representatives. In 

 view of all the evidence, it seems con- 



