Or those of Virgil:
Pelagi volucres, et quae Asia circum
Dulcibus in stagnis rimantur prata Cäystri. Georg. i. 384.
It is inhabited by frequent villages, and enclosed on both sides with two high and snowy mountains, namely Tmolus on the right hand, and on the left what Strabo calls Μεσογειότης[36], or the Midland hills.
Soon after eleven a clock we arrived at Tyria, and conácked in an old, dirty, ruinous kane; having by this time learnt, that the weary and thirsty traveler must repine at no reception, which he meets with in Turkey. Tyria yeilds a pleasant prospect, as we ride into the city, gently ascending from the adjacent plain. The buildings are curiously intermixt with trees and gardens, which extend the circuit of the place; tho the number of its houses seems inferior to that of Smyrna. We counted about fourteen mosques, one of which we observed to be royal, that is, adorned with a double minarée. Having entered the town we found the streets negligently kept, and meanly built; but at the same time populous enough, not without the appearance of a considerable trade. It is to be wondered that so large a city, standing in the very heart of Asia, should have no remains of antiquity[37]. There are indeed two Greek churches in the place, where the poor ignorant priests would persuade both themselves and us, that this was the antient Thyatira; but we thought it not fit to rob them of the satisfaction of this error, nor puzzle them with any accounts of antient geography, or late experience, that evince the contrary.
It is pretended in some journals, that two or three valuable inscriptions are to be found in these churches, tho we were now eye witnesses of the contrary; for there occur’d nothing in that, which they call the Metropolitan church, but a defaced monument, whereon no intelligible words were to be read, except ΧΡΗΣΤΕ ΧΑΙΡΕ. Over the entrance of the other there is a piece of devotion, written in modern characters: but more remarkable, in the body of the wall stands a large image of our Savior, elegantly carved in porphyry; tho it now appears rudely mangled, and seems to have felt the fury of the old angry iconoclastae. In the hand is portrayed an open book, inscribed with this sentence out of St. John’s Gospel, viii. 12. Ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου. This was an instance, which may perhaps appear to be singular, at least it is contrary to the general practice, as well as persuasion of the Greek church; for tho they have a superstitious fondness for religious pictures, yet they abhor all imagery in relievo, and look upon it as inclining to heathenism and idolatry.
April xxx.
By six this morning we set forward from Tyria in our way for Ephesus, and passing thro the extreme skirt of the city, we observe the inscription of an ancient stone coffin, now converted by the Turks to supply the use of a cistern. It has been defaced towards the upper parts of the chest, and permitted us to read only these following words:
....... Η ΣΟΡΟΣ .......... ΦΛΑΒΙΑΝΩ ......
.... ΟΥΔΕΝΙ ..... Ε ..... ΑΙ .... ΜΕΤΑ .....