At the south end of the lake (Arcania), beautifully situated, stood the ruined towers of the famous Nicæa. Seldom have I had a harder day’s work than in attempting to see and comprehend this ruin of ruins.
‘The grandeur and peculiar beauty of the arts amongst the earlier Greeks cannot be concealed even in the broken materials.
‘Some parts of the walls are entirely Roman; in others the Cross, etc., give the date of the earlier Christians. On three of the towers in the walls of the city are three similar inscriptions. The sign of the Cross is prefixed to all three: “The Tower of Michael, the Great King, Emperor in Christ.”’—‘Travels in Asia Minor,’ by Sir C. Fellows (London, 1852), pp. 83, 85.
‘A very small church still stands within the present town, which, from its mosaic floor and ceiling, may probably be of the date of St. Mark’s at Venice, or rather of the Byzantine age.
‘Without the walls is a Roman aqueduct, which still supplies the town with water from the neighbouring mountain.’—Ibid., p. 87. (L.)
[91] Nicomedia, now Ismid. (W.)
[92] Sangaris, now Sakarieh River. The bridge is now some distance from the river, which has changed its course. (W.)
[93] Leake’s ‘Tour in Asia Minor,’ pp. 79, 80. (S.)
[94] Leake’s, ‘Tour in Asia Minor,’ pp. 180, 217. (S.)
[95] Leake, p. 215. (S.)