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- Sir Charles Fellows (1799-1860) was a British archaeologist and explorer, known for his numerous expeditions in Turkey. This account details his movements and observations on his 1852 journey in Turkey. -
(pg. 11) February 22nd. —Having breakfasted and packed, which latter is a serious matter with the Turks, I started from the inn at half-past eight o'clock. The first horse was ridden by a black-looking surly Turk, our guide, mounted on a saddle or pile of cloaks and padding, which was a sufficient burden for the horse without the rider; then followed the baggagehorse, bearing my canteen, tent, hammock and mattress, carpet-bag, and saddle-bags containing provisions; this appeared the slightest-made horse, but was the strongest and best suited to its work. My servant and interpreter, Demetrius Scufi, had a most complete establishment on his saddle, of holsters (used only as bags for knife, string, etc. for the road), and long leathern cases for his umbrella and pipe; over his shoulders was slung a capital double-barrelled gun. I followed on the fourth horse, equipped as an European ; having purchased for myself saddle and bridle, which articles the Turks never provide with the horses. At nine o'clock we arrived at the Caravan Bridge, an object picturesque in itself, and highly interesting to the people of Smyrna, as it is the land-gate or entrance to the city, and all the produce of the East which is shipped from Smyrna necessarily passes over this bridge. A toll or tax is here levied by the Government upon all caravans, the payment of which gives the title to depasture the camels, free of charge, all over the Sultan's dominions. It is a common and characteristic wish of the people to possess the value transported during one day over this bridge. The continual passing of the camels, and necessary halt for trans acting the business required by the collector of the toll, make this at all times an animated scene. The Greeks also frequent this neighbourhood on their gala, days, and I have here on such occasions witnessed much dancing and festivity among the lower orders. After crossing the bridge the road increased in beauty every mile, as we traversed the valley and ascended the mountains to the north-east. For the first ten miles Smyrna, with its rich and beautiful valley, was behind us, and continually showed itself in such an attractive variety of views, that I was often tempted to stop and turn to retrace my steps over the country, which lay spread out like a map. The predicted destruction of the port of Smyrna, by the promontory formed from the deposit which the river Hermus brings down, is strongly confirmed by the view from this point. Time alone is required to complete the work, and this is constant and irresistible in its effect. The villages, in which are the country residences of the merchants of Smyrna, furnish conspicuous points of beauty in this extensive landscape. When about twelve miles on our route, we halted for half an hour in a valley considerably elevated amidst the hills. The spot was beautiful, and surrounded by well-grown cypress and plane trees. After again passing a succession of hills, the rich and extensive valley of the Hermus opened before us. The descent into the valley was picturesque, wild, and in many parts precipitous. At halfpast five we arrived at the ancient Magnesia, now called Manser.
(pg. 16) February 23rd. — From Manser we started before nine o'clock, well-mounted, and traversed the valley directly north. At two miles' distance we crossed the river Hermus by a wooden bridge, and almost immediately after, its tributary the Hyllus, by a ferry; the latter is larger than the main river, which it joins within a furlong of the ferry. The valley over which we continued to ride must be at least twelve miles directly across from Manser, but we bore to the eastward up the valley of the Hyllus. The land is excellent, and I scarcely saw a stone during the first eighteen miles. Cotton and corn grow luxuriantly, but there are few trees except the willow and pollard poplar. At the solitary stable or rest-house half-way to Acsa, (the ancient Thyatira, one of the Seven Churches,) I found the well-coping formed of the capital of a column of white marble veined with red. A burial-ground adjoining was filled with triglyphs and columns of a similar stone, and the people said that they were brought from Sardis; but this is scarcely probable, as they would have had to be carried a very considerable distance. My informant said that within a few miles were some ruins, (from the direction, perhaps Apollonis,) and that much stone was fetched from thence. The valley along which I was now travelling inclined to the north-east, and became much narrower; at times it was intersected by the lengthened feet of the hills, on either side… We arrived at Acsa at five o'clock, after travelling thirty-six miles, much of the way at the rate of six miles an hour.
(pg. 20) February 24th. —Travelling W.N.W. from Thyatira, we rode for several miles over low bog-land, at a foot-pace; then quitting the level, we gradually ascended to a rich cultivated country, which became more picturesque as we passed over a range of limestone hills. At about twenty miles' distance a splendid and extensive valley opened upon up, in which appeared, not far off, Kirkagatch, and immediately before us Bakir…Passing Kirkagateh, we kept close under the cliffs, which were of white marble, but in places stained almost scarlet with a kind of ochre, and in some parts yellow, the veins or perhaps original cracks being saturated with this stain; this is evidently the source of the varied stripes in the marbles seen in the ruins in the neighbourhood…About eight miles more, making thirty-two in all, brought us to Soma, at three o'clock, having ridden the distance in six hours.
(pg. 23) [February 25th.] -- On leaving Soma, after a gentle rise from the valley, a new and beautiful country opened before me, not so bold, but more expanded, and surrounded by a chain of mountains. I saw the plains of Pergamus, watered by the Caicus and its tributary streams; we crossed one of them, or rather passed its source; it sprung up by the road-side so strongly, that within fifty yards it turned a mill, and was a stream a foot deep and ten or twelve wide. It is said to be tepid, but I did not stop to take out my thermometer. The birds here are all either very bold or very tame, not moving until you are close to them. Three large eagles sat by the road, and did not rise until we were so near that we could almost feel the wafting of their immense wings ; the noise was startling, but our horses were not timid. I had never before been so near eagles at liberty, and this was on an open plain; but rocky mountains shadowed us, in the craggy sides of which these aspirants soon found their home. We had a delightful ride of seven hours and a half, about thirty-two miles, through a country so swampy with the heavy rains of yesterday that we had to travel slowly. The road varied but little in interest until within eight miles of this place, the ancient Pergamus, now Bergama ; nor did we see even in the burial-grounds any trace of what my servant calls "old stones;" but on stopping at that point to let the horses drink, I observed that the trough was the inverted lid of a sarcophagus ; and a little further on I had the baggage unpacked, and remained an hour to copy some long Greek inscriptions built sideways into a fountain.
We left Bergama at nine o'clock, and proceeded directly into the mountains towards the north, at the foot of which the town stands. On the right I saw in two places the ruins of aqueducts; these connect the hills, which are picturesque, but somewhat monotonous, resembling the Apennines north of Florence. As we ascended they became covered with the stone-pine, and occasionally splendid specimens of the plane, with underwood of the dwarf oak; hyacinths of several kinds looked very gay, mixed with the anemone and pale lilac crocus. The hills were successively of limestone and what appeared to be immense mounds of sand, with very large rounded rocks on their sides, but which on reaching them I found to be of the same substance as the castle rock of Smyrna, a kind of bastard granite; it decomposes so rapidly, that to the leeward of each rock was a heap of particles similar to the sand of the whole surface of the mountain, and looking like a snow-drift. In many places these round rocks had rolled from opposite hills upon the limestone rocks, and the combination made it somewhat difficult to know whence came the sand. Karavaren, where I am now sitting in a mud-built barn, is about fifteen miles from Bergama, and amidst the mountains. It contains scarcely a dozen hovels; but we have travelled so excessively slowly (fifteen miles in six hours), that this is the only halting-place we can reach; it is quite a mountain village, and the management of a few goats seems to be the only care of the people.
(pg. 29) March 1st. —By seven o'clock in the morning we had breakfasted, packed, and were proceeding through the mountains. The whole distance from Bergama to Kemereh is occupied by the pass of the mountains. We were fourteen hours making the passage, and nearly three hours more in crossing the valley to this place, Adramit, the ancient Adramyttium. This mountain-pass is extremely wild, and occasionally beautiful; scarcely a trace of a cottage is to be seen the whole distance. About four miles from Karavaren I saw in a burial-ground several columns, and among the wilderness of immense round rocks or boulders, I observed many squared stones of considerable size; and overhead, on the peak of an isolated rocky hill, old walls of good masonry were visible. The exceedingly fine and commanding situation induced me to be on the look-out for some trace of former resident: at present the whole seemed deserted. This would appear from the map to have been the ancient Lyrnessus. At Kemereh also I saw columns and squared or wrought stones; but from the cross and other ornaments seen upon them, I fancy they must have been the relics of a later date than the Greek.
This valley of Kemereh, which is far smaller than the others I have passed, is highly cultivated and beautiful; the olive-trees are very fine, old, and numerous ; and the vine is trained on trellis, as in Italy…
…The road from Adramit, a town in which no traces of antiquities are to be found, except in a few coins picked up in the neighbourhood, lay for nearly two hours through fine woods of olives, and along the sea-coast or gulf which takes its name from this town.
(pg. 33) March 2nd.— Our road lay by the sea-shore almost all the day. At about six miles' distance from Beahrahm, the ancient Assus or Assos, we left the sea-side and ascended through wild rocky scenery, rich in useless vegetation. The approach to the ancient town is very imposing: we passed a small lake, and then entered a little wood of shrubs, which I found thickly interspersed with the stones and lids of sarcophagi. As we drew near to the town, its surrounding wall of beautiful Greek workmanship crossed our path, and again another inclosing the Acropolis. They are very perfect, and in many places stand thirty feet high; each stone being beautifully cut, and laid without cement. The rocks which supplied the materials of the buildings, as well as the foundation of much of the town, rise sixty or eighty feet in abrupt cliffs, each of which has had its crown of temples. The village now on the spot consists but of a few sheds, one of which is appropriated to my use.
(pg. 41) March 3rd. — I left Beahrahmn;at half-past eight o'clock this morning, and travelled until five in the evening, a distance of about thirty miles. The first part of the road lay over barren hills, and it was only in the valleys and ravines that the rich evergreens and the pink blossom of the almond, with hundreds of Angora goats browsing upon them, re minded me in what country I was rambling…
…As we approached Doosler, about sixteen miles on our way, a range of hills lay before us clothed with little vegetation, and the valley below seemed barren, the greater part of it looking like fields covered by a flood; but as we approached, I found that these expanses of waters were salt pans…
The composition of these hills is limestone, but as we approached Alexandria Troas they became a mass of shells, with scarcely any combining earth; one of them, about two miles east of the ancient city, has many hot springs, strongly chalybeate, but my thermometer only indicated a temperature of 140°, to which the mercury rose quickly; I do not think it would in any of them have far exceeded that height, as many were only 135° and 137°, varying according to the nature of the apertures whence the water gushed. The whole of the hills that I have mentioned are surrounded on the south-east and north-east by a chain of bare craggy mountains, of the grey granite of which all the columns of the ancient city of Troas were formed. The buildings of the town were almost wholly of the stone containing, or rather consisting of, masses of shells; some few were of limestone.
The site of the ancient city being now covered by a forest of oak-trees, it is impossible to see its ruins collectively; but for many miles the ground is rendered useless for agriculture by the multitudes of broken stones and marbles and arches, which lie under the surface in every direction. I had fancied that the difficulty of tracing the foundation of Troy had been from the scarcity of remains, but I judge from this place that it may have been, on the contrary, from the confused numbers which meet the eye on every side. The ancient port is very interesting, and has been highly ornamented; hundreds of columns, on a somewhat small scale, lie scattered in all directions, and bristle among the waves to a considerable distance out at sea. A wall or pier also stands out in the sea, under water, causing breakers, which show its situation. The harbour is now shrunk to two small salt-water lakes. The island of Tenedosis exactly opposite, and in the distance toward the north-west is seen the island of Imbros. One immense broken granite column lies in the harbour; but I could find no trace of more, or of any corresponding parts of a temple or building…
…I am now at Alexandria Troas, called by the Turks Esky Stambool.
…Riding towards the north-east for a mile and a half, we followed an ancient paved road from the city, and by the wayside found an immense granite column, unbroken, lying in the bushes… …In two hours we reached Gaicle, and thence walked to a gorge near one of the peaks of the granite range of hills, about a mile off, to see the Seven Columns. I there found in the quarry, with all their chips about them, and their parent rock within a few feet distance, seven finished columns…
On two adjoining summits of this range of mountains are the ruins of the towns of Criscool and Criser: I was told that the walls only of the latter remained, and that they were an hour and a half long. Riding between two of these hills we passed a woody summit, and had before us a splendid and extensive view of almost the whole of the Troas,— Mount Ida capped with snow, with the amphitheatre of mountains which range with it, encircling the valley of the Mendere, or ancient Scamander. In an hour and a half we reached Enae, a tolerably large town, situated on the two sides of a river. I find all the maps that I have with me so incorrect, that tomorrow I shall have to make an excursion of six hours to a town which is marked on the maps two hours in a contrary direction.
(pg. 48) [March 4th.] -- From Enae I made an excursion to the site of Old Troy, and back, a distance of about fifteen miles. Adjoining Enae is a mound, which, if artificial, is a colossal work. I believe it is supposed to be a tumulus, and is called Enea's tomb, connecting it with the present name of this place. The mound or tomb, whichever it may be, is now, together with the fields at its base, become a Turkish burial-ground, covered with stones and planted with the cypress. A mile below the town, the stream on which it stands flows into the Mendere, which is here a large river, equal in size to the Wye, and much resembling it in scenery; it carries down much soil, and occasionally lays waste a tract of country three times its own width. About a mile further on our route, which lay by the river, is a wooden bridge; the only other crossing at this season is by a bridge near the mouth of the river on the plains of Troy, distant eighteen miles from Old and New Troy ; and in consequence, although these two places, the most interesting in this part of the country, are not far distant from each other, standing on opposite sides of the river, the traveller has to make a day's journey down the western side to Old Troy, and return, and then along the eastern bank to New Troy, and afterwards proceed to the Dardanelles.
Mapped by Janelle Sadarananda, University of Pennsylvania, May 2017