SURA. 137 



each bearing an inscription, on which the name 

 of Sura occurred several times. These appeared 

 to be funereal. We found the name afterwards 

 on several sarcophagi standing in the plain. On 

 examining the brow of the hill on the west side 

 of the acropolis, we found a square pilaster 

 about three feet high, cut in the face of a 

 rock that seemed to have been intended as a 

 pedestal for supporting a statue. This pedestal 

 was inscribed nearly its whole length, but the 

 letters are almost illegible. Mr. Daniell, finding 

 it to be a decree referring to the worship of 

 Apollo at this place, spent a long time endea- 

 vouring to copy the whole, but his patience was 

 worn out, after persevering for two hours, and 

 then only being able to make out the first three 

 or four lines. It might be more legible under 

 a different light. Sura does not appear ever 

 to have contained many inhabitants, its princi- 

 pal interest probably arising from the worship 

 of Apollo at the spot. Divination by means 

 of fish was practised here. Sura appears to be 

 the Simena of Pliny, or Somena of the Stadias- 

 mus, said in that document to be four stadia 

 from Andriace, a distance which would corre- 

 spond with the position where we found it. 



