CHAPTER I. Geographical Observations relating to some Parts of Syria, Phænice, and the Holy Land. I AM now entering upon those countries, where Mr Maundrell has travelled before me; and, as it may be presumed that every curious person is acquainted with that author, I shall only take notice of such things as seem to have been either mistaken or omitted by him. Latikea, then, the first maritime city which he describes, was also the most northern part of Syria that I had an opportunity of seeing. It is situated upon a rising ground, with a full prospect of the sea, and was called by the ancients Laodicea ad mare*, and Axa AxT, from the white cliffs that lie on each side of it. From the citadel, we have a pleasant, though distant view of the mountains of Caramania and Cassius to the north; and of Jebilee, Merkab, Bannias, as far as Tortosa, to the south. The founder could not VOL. II. * Είτα Λαοδικεία, επι τη θαλαττη καλλιςα εκτισμένη και ευλίμενος πολις, χώρον τε έχουσα πολυοινον προς τη αλλη ευκαρπια. Strab. Geog. xvi. p. 1091. Exclusus ab Antiochia Dolabella-Laodiceam, quae est in Syria ad mare, se contulit. Cic. Epist. 1. xii. ep. 14. Λαοδικην θ ̓ ἡ κειται επ' ηιονεσσι θαλασσης. Dionys. Perieg. ver. 915. have pitched upon a more agreeable situation, affording, at the same time, both delight and security. Here are still remaining several rows of porphyry, and granate pillars; with a large fragment of an aqueduct, the same perhaps that Josephus* informs us, was built by Herod. It is a massy structure without arches, and stretches towards the S. E. But the chief surviving monument of the ancient grandeur and magnificence of this place, is a large triumphal arch of the Corinthian order, now converted into a mosque: The architrave is adorned with trophies, shields, battleaxes, and other military weapons; whilst the rest of the entablature is exceedingly bold and sumptuous. We see, dispersed all over these ruins, several fragments both of Greek and Latin inscriptions, but all of them are entirely defaced. A furlong to the westward are the ruins of a beautiful cothon, in figure like an amphitheatre, and capacious enough to receive the whole British navy. The mouth of it, which opens to the westward, is about forty feet wide, and defended by a small fort. The whole appears to have been a work and structure of great labour and design, though at present it is so much filled up with sand and pebbles, that half a dozen small vessels can only be admitted. The like accidents, arising chiefly from the large billows that attend the westerly storms, and bring along with them. great * Λαοδίκευσι δε τοις παραλίοις, ύδατων εισαγωγήν-ανέθηκε. Jos. de Bell. Jud. 1.i. c. 16. |