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- Thomas Smith (1638-1710) wrote this account details as the title describes the manners, religion and government of the Turks in the 17th century. Additionally, this volume presents a survey of the Seven Churches of Asia (outlined in the book of Revelations in the Christian Bible) and a brief description of Constantinople. -
(pg. 231) On the 8th we left Thyatira and about a mile from the City in the plains, we found a stone-coffin that had an inscription.
As in the City we found several stones that had the name of Antoninus engraven on them.
Within two hours we past a small river, which crost the plain from East to West; and a mile off another stream, which we supposed might arise from the same spring, and be divided from it.
After two hours more we arrived at a Village called Selinte-kuy, where were to be seen several excellent pieces of polished marble up and down, and some few ruines, which assure us sufficiently, though we had but just time to look into it, that it is not originally a Turkish Village, but was once inhabited by Christians, especially considering the situation of it within a mile of a river, I suppose the Cryon, or rather the Halys, so fatal to Croesus formerly King of this Province; whose stream we found very swift, according to the ancient account given of it, passing thence into Hermus. About six or seven miles beyond is the Lacus Gygaeus;or Colous, of about five miles in length from East to West, which we viewed upon the banks of it; after we had ascended the hill that leads to Marmora, (probably the Exusta of the ancients, so famous formerly for the sepulchre of Halyattes;the Father of Croesus: admirably well situated, a spacious and fruitful plain lying under it) still a very handsome Town with several Moschs in it, one fairer than the rest, with a Tekeh or Monastery belonging to it.
Hence we came into the plains of Magnesia, where the famous battle was sought between Antiochus and Scipio, victory after many turns and traverses, uncertain to which side to encline, (the dispute being a long while maintained with equal fierceness, prudence, and valour) at last falling to the latter, who hereupon had conferred upon him by the Souldiery first, and after by the Senate, the glorious title of Asiaticus; which title he justly merited: the victory being of so great a consequence, that several of the Asian Provinces, terrified with this success of theirs, immediately yielded, and became an accession to Rome's greatness. Leaving at some distance mount Mastusia and mount Sipylus, upon the rising of which stands Magnesia, a Bashalick, though of late years governed by a Moselim or Deputy, which separates Ionia from Lydia to the East, we crost the plain toward mount Tmolus, called by theTurks Boz-Dag or the icy mountain.
In our way we repast the Hermus over a large stone-bridg, that seems to have been built of late years, and after two hours and a half passing through a Village called Jarosh-kuy, that lies about two miles on this side, we arrived at Sardes, having been eleven hours on horseback: our way all along from Thyatira lying almost due South.
Sardes (retaining somewhat of its name still, though nothing of its ancient glory, being called by the Turks Sart) is situated at the foot of the famous mountain Tmolus on the North side of it, having a spacious and delightful plain before it, watered with several streams that flow from the neighbouring hill to the South-east, and with the Pactolus, arising from the same, on the East, and encreasing with its waters the stream of Hermus, into which it runs; now a very pitiful and beggerly Village, the houses few and mean; but for the accommodation of travellers, it being the road for the Caravans that come out of Persia to Smyrna with silk, there is a large Chane built in it, as is usual in most Towns that are neer such publick roads, or have any thing of trade; where we took up our quarters, the Turks refusing to admit us into their houses and lodg us, hearing from our Janizaries, that we were Franks. The inhabitants are for the most part Shepherds, who look to those numerous flocks and herds which feed in the plains.
To the southward of the Town at the bottom of a little hill, the Castle lying eastward of them, are very considerable ruines still remaining, which quickly put us in mind of what Sardes was, before earthquakes and war had caused those horrid desolations there; there being six pillars standing of about seven yards in compass; and about ten in heigth; besides several vast stones, of which the other pillars that are thrown down were made, one placed upon the other, and so exactly closed in those that stand, as if they were one entire piece, now lying by in a confused heap; the first row of pillars supporting huge massy stones that lye upon them.
From hence we went up to the Castle which lies eastward; the ascent very steep, in some places almost perpendicular; so that we were forced to take a great compass about to gain the top of the hill, whereon it stands; easy enough to be undermined, having no rock to support it; but what might be as well impregnable for its strength, as inaccessible for its heigth in former ages, which knew nothing of the prodigious effects of the mixture of brimstone and salt-peter; and when they made use of no other artillery than cross-bows and slings. The wall still remain with several arched rooms, though somewhat narrow.
Hard by the entrance on the lefthand there is this inscription.
(inscription)
Within the Castle we found this inscription upon the Chapiter of a pillar.
(inscription)
By which it appears that it was erected in honour of Tiberius the Emperor, whom Sardes ought to acknowledg as a second Founder; he having taken care to repair the breaches caused by an earthquake, and having given it the form of a City again, as Strabo has recorded.
Easterly of the Castle lie the ruins of a great Church; and North of them other vast ruins, the walls still remaining of a very considerable length, with several divisions & apartments; all which take up a great compass of ground: whether it was the chief Seat of the Governour, or the publick Court of Justice, or the place where the Citizens used to convene at this distance of time and in so great a confusion wherein it is involved, is difficult to conjecture: but whatever it was when it stood, it must needs have been very stately and glorious. We met with other ruines all along this tract, which made us quickly conclude, that the greatest part of the City lay this way.
The Turks have a Mosch, which was formerly a Christian Church; at the entrance of which are several curious pillars of polished marble. Some few Christians there are who live among them, working in gardens and doing such like drudgery; but who have neither Church nor Priest to assist them and administer the holy Sacraments to them: into such a sad and miserable condition is this once glorious City & Church of Sardes, the Metropolis of Lydia, now reduced.
(pg. 239) On the 10th we set out from Sardes, and in our way past over several streams running down from Tmolus, which enrich the pleasant plains we rode through.
After six hours we found in a burial-place of the Turks full of pieces of pillars and marble-stones (among several others, but what were scarce legible, and required more time to transcribe than we could conveniently bestow) this that follows.
(inscription)
Three hours after we arrived at Philadelphia.
Philadelphia distant from Sardes to the South-east about twenty seven miles, is situated upon the rising of mount Tmolus; the streets to a good heigth lying one above another, which gives it a very advantageous prospect from most parts into the plain both toward the North and East.
It is called by the Turks Alah shahr or the fair City; which must be understood only in reference to the situation; for there is nothing of building in it to make it deserve that name. A City formerly of as great strength as beauty, having had three strong walls toward the plain; a great part of the inmost wall yet standing, though decayed and broken down in several places, with several bastions upon it. Defended by them, but more by the valour of the inhabitants, it maintained its liberty, and held out against Vr-chan and Morat the first, when all the lesser Asia besides had been over-run by the Ottoman forces; but at last in the reign of Bayazid the first, whom the Turks call Yilderim or Lightning, after a long distance the Philadelphians having made several sallies, but all in vain, to remove and raise the siege, it was forced to submit to the fate of other Cities, and became a prey to the barbarous Conqueror, who was not wanting in cruelty to express his revenge and furious rage against the distressed Citizens for daring to withstand so long his victorious arms: there being about a mile and a half out of Town to the South, a thick wall of mens bones consusedly cemented together with the stones; in all probability raised by his command: (for sure none but such a Barbarian would have done it) in complyance perchance with some rash vow that he had made, when he lay fretting and storming before it. The Churches felt the terrible effects of his fury as well as the inhabitants; most of them being demolished and turned into dunghills; as it that of St. Johns to the South-east, most probably the Cathedral for its largeness, where they throw their rubbish and filth, and the rest made Moschs. Southward is the river Cogamus flowing from the hill; abundance of Vineyards all along, which the poor Greeks used to cultivate, but were at that time deterred from making Wine, by reason of the severe prohibition of the Grand Signor; so that here, as a Greek Pappastold us, they had scarce wine enough for the Sacrament. The City is very populous, there being above five hundred Janizaries in it, who according to their priviledges (the government being so much in their favour) can be judged only by their Serdar or Captain; the Cady or Civil Governour having no power over them in the least. Next to Smyrna, Philadelphia has the greatest number of Christians above the other Metropolitical Seats, there being above two hundred houses of them there, and four Churches; whereof the chief is dedicated to (Greek), or to the holy Virgin St. Mary, the other three to St. George, (a great Saint among them) St. Theodore, and St. Taxiarches.
We found several stones here with inscriptions, but what were either turned up-side down and so clapt into walls, or else horribly defaced and broken. These six verses found entire upon a monumental stone in a Church-yard of the Greeks.
(inscription)
(pg. 244) On the 12th, after three hours riding from Philadelphia, we past over the river Cogamus, whose channel was narrow, but stream deep and full; and leaving the plains some hours after, we climbed up the Tmolus, which we found in some places very sleep and rocky; on each side covered with vast numbers of Pine and Firr-trees: and having gain'd the top, we entred into a wood very dangerous to passengers, there being that shelter for thieves in it, and that advantage they have, keeping together upon the hills, between which the road lies, to pour down their shot upon them, and after three hours past out of it, and getting on the other side of the mountain, we came at last to a Village called Koshyenigeh-kuy, where we lodged that night, having travelled twelve hours compleat.
(pg. 245) On the 13th, about a quarter of a mile hence, we went to see several ruines, which in all probability, by their distance from Hierapolis, must be those of Tripolis; of which nothing left but huge massy stones lying confusedly in heaps, and the appearance of a Castle and Theatre; neer to which we forded the Maeander, and about four hours after we came to Hierapolis.
Hierapolis (now called by the Turks Pambuck-Kulasi or the Cotton Tower, by reason of the white cliffs lying thereabouts) a City of the greater Phrygia, lies under a high hill to the North, having to the Southward of it a fair and large plain about five miles over, almost directly opposite to Laodicea, the river Lycus running between, but neerer the latter; now utterly forsaken and desolate, but whose ruines are so glorious and magnificent, that they will strike one with horror at the first view of them, and with admiration too; such walls, and arches, and pillars of so vast a heigth, and so curiously wrought, being still to be found there, that one may well judge, that when it stood, it was one of the most glorious Cities not only of the East, but of the World. The numerousness of the Temples there erected in the times of idolatry with so much art and cost, might sufficiently confirm the title of the holy City which it had at first, derived from the hot waters flowing from several springs, to which they ascribed a divine healing virtue, and which made the City so famous; and for this cause Apollo, whom both Greeks and Romans adored as the God of Medicine, had his Votaries and Altars here, and was very probably their chiefest Deity. In the Theatre, which is of a large compass and heigth from the top, there being above forty stone-seats, we found upon a curious piece of wrought marble belonging to a portal these words
(inscription)
To Apollo the chief President, a title peculiar to him. Where these springs arise, is a very large Bath curiously paved with white marble, about which formerly stood several pillars now thrown into it.
Hence the waters make their way through several channels which they have formed for themselves; oftentimes overflowing them, and which cursting the ground thereabouts, which is a whitish sort of earth, turns the superficial parts into a Tophus. Several Tombs still remain; some of them almost entire, very stately and glorious, as if it had been accounted a kind of sacrilege to injure the dead; and upon that account they had abstained from defacing their monuments; entire stones of a great length and heigth, some covered with stones shaped into the form of a Cube, others ridge-wise. Some inscriptions we took, which here follow: the shortness of the time we staid there, and great danger we were in, not permitting us to take more.
(inscription)
Three hours and a half after we forded the Lycus; and having ascended a very high hill, after an hours riding through a very pleasant plain overspread with Olive-trees and Figtrees, we came to a poor Turkish Village, where we lodged.
(pg. 249) On the 14th in the morning, we set forward for Colosse, where within an hour and a half we arrived Colosse, by the Turks called Chonos, is situated very high upon a hill, the plains under it very pleasant; but we were no sooner entred into it, but we thought fit to leave it; the inhabitants being a vile sort of people; so that we doubted of our safety among them. There still remain some poor Christians, notwithstanding those horrid abuses they are forced to endure: but without any Church or Priest: poor miserable Greeks, who amidst that ignorance and oppression they labour under, retain the profession of Christianity still, though they have forgot their own language, and speak only Turkish. Hastily quitting the Town, not long after we met the Vaivod of Dingilsley, a very large and handsome Turkish Town about four miles to the South from Laodicea, with about three hundred horse in pursuit of a famous robber called Inge Morad, who with a party of two and twenty horse had alarmed the whole Countrey. Our way lay almost West to Laodicea, where we arrived after six hours and a half, and passing down the hill, lodged at the bottom of it to the North of the ruines in a poor Village called Congeleh.
Laodicea (called by the Turks Eski Hisar or the old Castle) a City of Lydia according to the Geography of the ancients, is above twenty miles distant from Colosse, situated upon six or seven hills, taking up a vast compass of ground. To the North and North-east of it runs the river Lycus at about a mile and a half distance: but more neerly watered by two little rivers, Asopus and Caper; whereof the one is to the West, the other to the South-east; both which pass into the Lycus, and that into the Maeander. It is now utterly desolated, and without any inhabitant; except Wolves, and Jackals, and Foxes: but the ruines shew sufficiently what it has been formerly: the three Theaters and the Circus adding much to the stateliness of it, and arguing its greatness. That whose entrance is to the Northeast is very large, and might contain between twenty and thirty thousand men, having above fifty steps which are about a yard broad, and a foot and a quarter in heigth one from another, the plain at the bottom being about thirty yards over. A second that opens to the West; and a third, a small one, whose entrance is to the South: the Circus was about two and twenty steps, which remain firm and entire, and is above three hundred and forty paces in length from one end to the other, the entrance to the East. At the opposite extremity is a Cave that has a very handsome arch, upon which we found this inscription.
(inscription)
To the South-east are the ruines of a fortification; not far an Aqueduct, the channel of which is cut through massy stones: formerly there were two rows of pillars from South-east to the North-west, the bases only remaining, continued on a great way, and other rows from North-east to South-west, which probably might bound the walk leading to some Palace.
The walls of a very large Church still remain; to the West-side of which are adjoyning three very curious arches.
More to the Southward two rows of arches, five on each side.
On the Chapiter of a pillar I found these verses engraven.
(inscription)
Upon a piece of white marble.
(inscription)
(pg. 253) On the 16th we left the Village an hour after Sun-set, the Moon favouring us; and after six hours and a half, at the bottom of a small hill, but not far distant from a very high one we saw a boyling Fountain, whose waters were extraordinary hot and scalding; it sent forth a very thick vapour like the smoke of charcoal, which diffused it self over the plain. About half a mile thence we crost again the Maeander over a very rotten and dangerous woodenbridg, a fair and large bridg of stone somewhat above it being so broken in the midst, that there is no passing over it, and so entred upon the pleasant and fruitful plains of Apamea, watered by the Maeander, whose various windings and turnings we observed with great pleasure and satisfaction: riding all along its banks for several hours. After almost seventeen hours riding we arrived at Nozli.
(pg. 254) On the 18th, after we had rode three hours from Nozli we came to a Village called Teke-kuy, very pleasantly situated, and about a quarter of a mile thence on the right-hand went to see several great ruines that lye on the North upon a hill; between which and the opposite great hill is a very lovely plain. We made up to the ruines of the Castle, and a great Aqueduct: other vast ruines lying dispersed up and down for a great way: these ruines are called by the Turks Sultan Hisar or the Sultan's Castle; and can be no other than those of Tralles, formerly the seat of a Bishop, and a famous City in the first beginnings of Christianity: situated about three quarters of a mile from the Maeander. Having travelled eight hours this day, we came to Guzel-Hisar, where we took up our lodging in a Chane.
Guzel-hisar or the fair Castle, a very great and well built Town, walled, and having very handsome gates, with several Moschs. We found in it several pillars and ancient buildings, which made us conclude from its distance from Tralles, that it is Magnesia ad Maeandrum, formerly the seat of a Bishop, to distinguish it from another City of that name in the same Province, upon mount Sipylus. It is now maintained by the trade of Cotton yarn, which they send to Smyrna, caravans going weekly hence.
(pg. 255) On the 19th, from Guzel-Hisar to Gherme-aule we made it six hours; our way lying North-west.
(pg. 256) On the 20th, our way lay hence West by North, till we came to descend the hill, upon the top of which we had seen the Island Samos to the North-west; at the bottom is a very large Aqueduct with three great arches below, and five above to convey the water from one side of the hill to the other, and so to Ephesus, where we arrived after six hours.
Mapped by John Sigmier, Version 1 (February 2017)