Phocæa—Smyrna—Clazomenæ—Erythræ—Teos—Colophon—Ephesus—Mr. Wood—Miletus—Branchidæ or Didyma—Sacred Way—Mr. Newton—Thyateira—Magnesia ad Sipylum—Philadelphia—Tralles—Sardes—Halicarnassus—Mausoleum—Cnidus—Demeter—Lion-Tomb—Mr. Pullan—Physcus—Caunus—Stratonicea—Aphrodisias—Mylasa and Labranda.
Phocæa—the most northern of the Ionian cities—founded by emigrants from Phocis, under two Athenian chiefs, soon, from the excellence of its harbour, secured a prominent place among the early maritime states of the world, and was the first to establish colonies on the Adriatic, the coasts of Etruria, Gaul, and Spain. It is reported that Arganthonius, then king of Tartessus (probably Tarshish), did all he could to persuade these enterprising strangers to stay in his land; and that, failing this, he gave them large sums of money to build (or rebuild) the walls of their native town. Phocæa is often mentioned subsequently, though it does not appear to have performed any very memorable actions. It may be traced by its coins, and by the annalists and ecclesiastical writers to the latest period of the Byzantine empire. Indeed, so late as A.D. 1421, the Genoese built a new town near its ancient site, which still retains the name of Palaio-Phoggia.
A little further to the S. we come to Smyrna, one of the most celebrated cities of Asia Minor, though it was comparatively late in attaining this eminence. It was situated on a bay of unrivalled beauty and commercial excellence; and, almost alone of the great cities or ports of Western Asia has preserved its eminence to the present day, being now, as it has long been, the chief emporium of the Levant trade. In remote times, Smyrna successfully resisted the attacks of Gyges, king of Lydia, and was, in consequence, taken and destroyed by his successor, Alyattes. It is said, that, after this blow, it was nearly deserted for 400 years, but was, at length, rebuilt by Antigonus and Lysimachus, though not exactly on the same site. With this rebuilding its great prosperity commenced. Nor were the claims to distinction advanced by itself inferior to its real greatness. Inscriptions abound (some of the best, indeed, among the marbles at Oxford), where, as on its coins, it calls itself ΠΡΩΤΗ ΑCΙΑC, the “first city of Asia”; and so, indeed, it long continued, though at times suffering severely from civil wars and earthquakes, and most of all from the merciless treatment of Tímúr. Smyrna claimed, especially, to be the birthplace of Homer, and dedicated a temple to him. A cave was also shown there, in which the poet was said to have composed his verses (Pausan. Ach. 5). Smyrna is not, however, mentioned by Homer. In the reign of Tiberius, Smyrna contended with ten other cities for the honour (?) of erecting a temple to that worthless ruler, and won the prize; and here, not many years later, the Christian Church flourished under Polycarp, its first bishop, who is believed to have suffered martyrdom in its stadium about A.D. 166.
Next to Smyrna we may take Clazomenæ, a town whose date is probably not earlier than the Ionic migration. It was famous as the birthplace of Anaxagoras, the philosopher, whose disciple Archelaus taught Socrates and Euripides; and, also, as one of the states which joined with the Phocæans in founding the naval colony of Naucratis in Egypt (Herod. ii. 178). It retained its name and existence till late in the Byzantine period (Plin. v. 31; Ptol.; Hierocl. Synecd.), but, towards the middle of the eleventh century, was finally destroyed by the Turks.
Erythræ, celebrated as the home of one if not of two Sibyls—and a town whose life is traceable by coins and inscriptions to a late period of the Roman empire, and, from the acts of Councils and other ecclesiastical documents, was manifestly for some time an episcopal see. Its land produced good wine [being called in a distich preserved by Athenæus φερεστάφυλος Ἐρύθρα (Erythra yielding bunches of grapes)],[[18]] and fine wheaten flour:—Teos (now Sighajik), the birthplace of Anacreon and of Hecatæus the historian; famous, too, for its temple, dedicated to Bacchus, some remains of which have been published by the Society of Dilettanti, and, recently, more fully examined by Mr. Pullan:—Colophon, an early Ionian settlement, once the possessor of a flourishing navy, and of cavalry reputed victorious wherever employed;[[19]] and illustrious for its poets, Mimnermus, Phœnix, and Hermesianax, and, possibly even Homer; till at length it was destroyed by Lysimachus:—Priene, the birthplace of the philosopher and statesman Bias, and still identifiable by considerable ruins near the Turkish village of Samsoun, to the S. of Mycale, with a famous Temple of Minerva Polias, the ruins of which have been engraved in the “Ionian Antiquities.” In Chandler’s time, about 100 years ago, the whole circuit of the city walls was still standing.
[18]. The lines are—
ἐν δἐ φερεσταφύλοις Ἐρυθραῖς ἐκ κλιβάνου ἐλθὼν
λευκòς ἁβραῖς θάλλων ὥραις τἐρψει παρά δεῖπνον.
Archestr. ap. Athen. iii. 112, B.
[19]. From this continued success arose the proverb, τὸν Κολοφῶνα ἐπέθηκεν “he has brought the work to a completion.” And, hence, the final letters or signature at the end of a book have been termed the colophon.