Hierapolis

“ The last three places in Phrygia, which we think it necessary to note especially, we shall take together, as situate near one another, and, historically, closely connected. These cities are Hierapolis, Laodicea, (ad Lycum) , and Colossæ.
Hierapolis is chiefly remarkable for waters so loaded with petrifying materials as to have completely changed, by their deposits, the face of the country in the course of centuries; a result, noticed by 138many ancient authors, as Vitruvius, Pausanias, &c. ”

“ The position of Hierapolis must have been very imposing, placed as it was on a high piece of ground, “200 paces wide, and a mile in length.” Abundant ruins still remain, consisting of the relics of three Christian churches, one 300 feet long, and of a gymnasium, considered by Leake to be one of the only three “which are in a state of preservation sufficient to give any useful information on the subject of these buildings,” together with a prodigious number of fallen columns, in the wildest state of confusion. ”

“ Before the temple of Aphrodite at Hierapolis (q.v.) were two huge phalli (180 ft. high) , and other similar objects existed in all parts of the ancient world both in statuary and in painting. Among the Hindus (see Hinduism) the phallus is called linga or lingam, with the female counterpart called yoni; the linga symbolizes the generative power of Siva, and is a charm against sterility. ”

“ The people were mainly the descendants of Greek settlers and Phrygian natives, and the intellectual atmosphere was the same as that of which we have evidence in other parts of Asia Minor: every one was infected with the Greek keenness for subtle speculation, and the usual Phrygian tendency to superstition and fanaticism. Thirteen miles away, at Hierapolis, was growing into manhood the slave Epictetus, who later on will set out some of the most noble and lofty of pagan thoughts. The persistent love of the people of this neighbourhood for the angel-worship which St. ”

“ All Rome joined in mourning the public loss, and each man lamented his own personal loss.
4. After consuming the temple and the entire sacred precinct, the fire swept on to destroy a large part of the city, including its most beautiful buildings. When the temple of Vesta went up in flames, the image of Pallas Athena was exposed to public view—that statue which the Romans worship and keep hidden, the one brought from Troy, as the story goes. [18] Now, for the first time since its journey from Troy to Italy, the statue was seen by men of our time. ”

“ And they keep a yearly feast [Pg 116] which they call Ivy-cuttings. But they have no statue in any secret crypt, nor do they display one openly: and they have a sacred reason for acting so, for on the left as you go out there is a temple of Hera with a statue in Parian marble. And in the citadel there are some precincts sacred to Demeter, and in them a temple and statue of Demeter and Persephone, and also a brazen statue of Artemis, which seemed to me ancient. And as you go down from the citadel there is on the right a temple and beardless statue of Æsculapius. Under this temple is a theatre. ”

“ Her great citizen Pericles changed the government of Athens to a pure democracy. And then, by the magic of his influence, it sprang from its ashes in a form so beautiful, it was known as the "City of the Gods." The matchless temples and colonnades which arose on the Acropolis, adorned by the sculptures of Phidias, are still the wonder of the world.
But that was not all. No men have ever thought so profoundly, nor spoken so wisely, nor with such eloquence, as did the men in those temples and under those Greek arcades. ”

“ Sirs, our allies, we do acknowledge that we have done wrongly; for, befooled by lying divinations, we drove from their native land men that were our close friends and promised to make Athens subject to us, and presently having so done we delivered that city over to a thankless commonalty; which had no sooner lifted up its head in the freedom which we gave it, than it insolently cast out us and our king, and now has bred a spirit of pride and waxes in power ”

“ And first, while the generals were yet in the city, they despatched a herald to Sparta, one Phidippides, an Athenian, a courier by profession, who arrived in Sparta on the following day after his departure from the city of the Athenians, and on coming in presence of the magistrates, said: "Lacedæmonians, the Athenians {255} entreat you to assist them, and not to suffer the most ancient city among the Greeks to fall into bondage to barbarians; for Eretria is already reduced to slavery, and Greece has become weaker by the loss of a renowned city." ”

“ It was dotted with cities, and villages, and villas, and filled with statues, temples, and works of art, brought from remotest provinces—the spoil of three hundred years of conquest. In all the provinces were great cities, once famous and independent—centres of luxury and wealth—Corinth, Athens, Syracuse, Carthage, Alexandria, Antioch, Ephesus, Damascus, and Jerusalem, with their dependent cities, all connected with each other and the capital by granite roads, all favored by commerce, all rejoicing in a uniform government. ”

“ No other fortress has embraced so much beauty and splendor within its walls, and none has witnessed a series of more startling and momentous changes in the fortunes of its possessors. Wave after wave of war and conquest has beaten against it. The city which lies at its feet has fallen beneath the assaults of the Persian, the Spartan, the Macedonian, the Roman, the Goth, the Crusader, and the Turk. Through all these and other vicissitudes the Acropolis passed, changing only in the character of its occupants, unchanged in its loveliness and splendor. ”

“ These much decried donations to Alexandria, what are they but annexations of Rome? As Egypt is, or will be to-morrow, a Roman province, why is there any discontent? This wealth of the Orient, what is it used for? It is equipping the Roman army, feeding the soldiers of the Republic. It is building temples, it is erecting barracks, to make the name of our Capital revered throughout the world! Where is our loss? ”

“ What pretext or justification will there be for our ruin, if we are to perish? So far I do not make any difference between the case of our city as a whole and that of our fellow-citizens Polyaratus and Dino and the others whom we have brought with us to deliver up to you. Suppose all we Rhodians were equally guilty, what charge would be brought against us with regard to this war? You say we took the side of Perseus, and just as in the wars against Philip and Antiochus we stood by you against those monarchs, so now we stood by the king against you. ”

“ Athens was taken in 1397, and the Crescent, the symbol of barbarism, shone over the ancient seat of learning and the arts. The metropolis of the East, for which the emperor gained a temporary but ignominious respite by turning one of the churches of the city into a mosque, and consenting to pay an annual tribute of 10,000 ducats, would doubtless have speedily fallen into the power of Bajazet but for the appearance at that moment of a rival on the scene. ”

“ There is a little army, chiefly composed of officers, and a miniature cabinet, and a beautiful miniature university, and everybody knows everybody else; and when the King or Queen drives forth, the guard turns out and blows a bugle, and so all Athens, which is always sitting at the cafés around the square of the palace, nods its head and says, "The Queen is going for a drive," or, "Her Majesty has returned early to-day," and then continues to clank its sword and to twirl its mustache and to sip its coffee. Modern Athens tends towards the Frank in dress and habit of thought. ”

“ We may behold the great assembly of that lively, high-souled, sensitive, and inflammable people. There is the Agora; there the half-built temple to Aeacus;—above, the citadel, where yet hang the chains of the captive enemy;—still linger in the ears of the populace, already vain of their prowess, and haughty in their freedom, the menace of the Persian—the words that threatened them with the restoration of the exiled tyrant ”

“ The Acropolis, that towered above the homes and thoroughfares of men—a spot too sacred for human habitation— became, to use a proverbial phrase, 'a city of the gods.' The citizen was everywhere to be reminded of the majesty of the state —his patriotism was to be increased by the pride in her beauty— his taste to be elevated by the spectacle of her splendor.
"Thus flocked to Athens all who throughout Greece were eminent in art. ”

“ This practice of free debate and public discussion, the contest of mind with mind, and that popular eloquence which, if it were now here, on a subject like this, would move the stones of the Capitol—whose was the language in which all these were first exhibited? Even the edifice in which we assemble, these proportioned columns, this ornamented architecture, all remind us that Greece has existed, and that we, like the rest of mankind, are greatly her debtors. ”

“ The Green faction in the Circus called the Emperor a drunkard and a madman to his face. Famine and pestilence ravaged the crowded city, and when Heraclius, already a renowned general, brought his fleet up the Hellespont and anchored at the Golden Horn the collapse of the power of Phocas was immediate, and a new Emperor was crowned in the great church of the "Capital of the World." The reign of Heraclius, gallant man though he was, began in almost unbroken disaster, and when in 615 Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Persians it seemed that the end was at hand. ”

“ This city is an abode of opulence, learning, and pleasure;—it is the Athens of Ionia. Within the walls the city is adorned by the productions of art; and without, embellished by the riches of nature. How often have we directed our steps to the banks of the Mæander, which, after having received a multitude of rivers, and bathed the walls of various cities, rolls its waters in innumerable windings through the plain which is honoured by bearing its name, and proudly ornaments its course with the plenty it creates! ”

“ Delegates from the Latin allies, after numberless appeals to the censors and the late consuls, were at length admitted to an audience of the senate, and their statement made a great impression. The gist of their complaint was that their citizens who were on the Roman register had migrated in great numbers to the City, and if this were allowed it would come to pass in a very few lustra that the towns and fields would be deserted and incapable of furnishing any men for the army. ”

“ The model city (or state, as we should say) must not be over large. In this, as in everything else, the ancient Greeks applied the Delphian rule—"Measure in all things." "A small city," says one of their poets, "set upon a rock and well governed, is better than all foolish Nineveh." Aristotle thought that the ideal city should not have more than ten thousand citizens.
↑ Under the name Hellas the ancient Greeks included not only Greece proper and the islands of the adjoining seas, but also the Hellenic cities in Minor, Southern Italy, Sicily, and elsewhere. ”

“ Those who had arms mustered in the open spaces of the city; those who had none tore down the spoils of the Gauls and Illyrians which the Roman people had given to Hiero and which he had hung up in the temple of Olympian Jupiter, and as they did so prayed to the deity that he would of his grace and mercy lend them those consecrated arms to use in defence of the shrines of the gods and in defence of their liberty. ”

“ The Acropolis is a detached rock, standing high above the plain or valley on which Athens is situated; upon this rock is the citadel, where the Parthenon, the Erechtheum, and all the other principal buildings are placed, and in addition to this it is a citadel or fortress, where, in case of attack, and the city below being taken, the Acropolis would form a refuge for the garrison and the inhabitants. From the summit you command a view of the country all around: on the north Mount Olympus and the Pindus range of mountains; on the south the Mediterranean, the island of Syra, and several others ”

“ The great plaza of the Agora is buzzing with life. The contrast between the dingy, dirty streets and this magnificent public plaza is startling. The Athenians manifestly care little for merely private display, rather they frown upon it; their wealth, patriotism, and best artistic energy seem all lavished upon their civic establishments and buildings. ”

“ These Roman towns, even more than the Greek cities of the Macedonian world, were parts of a greater whole. They were items in the Roman Empire; their citizens were citizens of Rome. They had neither the wealth nor the wish to build vast temples or public halls or palaces, such as the Greeks constructed. Their greatest edifices, the theatre and the amphitheatre, witness to the prosperity and population not so much of single towns as of whole neighbourhoods which flocked in to periodic performances. ”

“ He looks into the bathroom with its sloping stone floor and its holes to drain off the water. He imagines Greek maidens coming to the door with vases of water on their heads. He walks through the long, winding passages and into room after room. “The children of those old days must have had trouble finding their way about in this big palace,” he thinks.
Such was the palace of the king. Below it lay many poorer houses, inside the walls and out. We can imagine men and women walking about this city. We raise the warriors from their graves. They carry their golden cups in their hands. ”

“ The feeling that what they fought for was their own, which accounts for the heroism of Hellenic armies, likewise led, particularly at Athens, to the beautifying and adorning of the city, and the perfection of public taste. The people saw among them no palaces devoted to the private luxuries of a despotic court, where persons maintained at the public expense learn to look with contempt on the honest hands that support them. ”