[(9.)] “In this country Saint Basil was bishop.”—It was generally believed that the remains of St. Basil, interred at Cæsarea, were never disturbed; the Abbey of St. Philibert at Tournes in Burgundy, the cities of Bruges, St. Armand in Flanders, and Rome, each claim the possession, but how they came by them is not satisfactorily explained (Baillet, Vie des Saints, iv, 710).—Ed.
[(10.)] “Kureson.”—Near this city, commonly called Kerasous, Keresoun, situated between Samsoun and Trebizond, are still to be seen the ruins of ancient Κερασοῦς or Parthenium. There was at one time, on the coast near Trebizond, another even more ancient Kerasous, that of Xenophon, of which a lovely valley still retains the name, being known as Kerasoun-derè; but of the city itself, there are no traces.—Bruun.
CHAPTER XXXI.
[(1.)] “Then he left her.”—Virgin’s towers are by no means uncommon in the East. Rich (Residence in Kourdistan, i, 172) mentions a Kiz-Kalesi—girl’s castle—as being on a hill above the Kizzeljee in Kourdistan. Hear a place called Ak-boulak, about twenty-five miles to north-east of Shousha in Transcaucasia, are the ruins of Kiz Kaleh—Virgin’s castle—situated on a hill in a perfectly impregnable position. Another Virgin’s castle in that part of Asia, is at Bakou; an inscription on its walls, in Cufic characters, deciphered by Khanikoff (Ysvest. Geog. Obshtchest., ix), records its construction by Masoudi, the son of Daud, one of the “Samiardi fratres” mentioned in the history of Otto, bishop of Freising. Again, there is a tower, erected on the highest pinnacle of the rocky mount upon which stand the fortifications of Soldaya, now Soudagh, in the Crimea, called Kiz-Koula by the Tatars (The Crimea and Transc., ii, 158). The ruins of another fortress, Kaleh Dokhter, are described by Abbott (Southern Cities of Persia, MS.) as crowning the height above the city of Kirman; and visitors to Constantinople are familiar with the construction on the rock off Scutari, unaccountably called by Europeans the Tower of Leander, but known, more legitimately, as the Maiden’s Tower, ever since it became the burial-place of Damalis, wife of the Athenian general Chares, who was sent to the assistance of the Byzantines against Philip of Macedon.
The author says, that on quitting the neighbourhood of the mysterious castle, he proceeded to Kerasoun; it is, therefore, just possible that the legend of the sparrow-hawk was attached to an ancient Kiz-Kalesi seen by Ainsworth (Travels in Asia Minor, etc., i, 87) near Tash Kupri, close to the road that leads from Kastamuni to Boiabad, both to the south-west of Sinope. I am unable to discover why the name was so frequently given in the East, to such peculiarly situated strongholds, and would suggest that it was owing to their unassailable position.Ed.
CHAPTER XXXII.
[(1.)] “Lasia.”—The territory of the Lazi was part of Colchis, and lay between the Phasis and Armenia. The mountainous country belonged at that time to the empire of Trebizond.—Bruun.
[(2.)] “Kayburt.”—Neumann is persuaded that Schiltberger alludes to Baïbourt (or Païpourt), a very ancient fortress to the north-west of Erzeroum, that was restored by Justinian I. Procopius (De Bell. Pers., iii, 253) calls it Baerberdon. Bishop Aïvazoffsky is of opinion that “Kayburt” stands for Kaïpourt, called Kharpert by the natives, situated in a far more fertile country than is Baïbourt. In Marco Polo’s time, Paipurth was a castle on the road from Trebizond to Tabrecz; and we learn from Barbaro that the fortress of Carpurth, distant a five days’ journey from Erzingan, was the residence of Despina Caton, a princess of Trebizond, the consort of Hassan Bey.—Bruun.