Thyatira

“ Thyatira - Now called Akissat and Ak-kissar, a city of Natolia, in Asia Minor, seated on the river Hermus, in a plain eighteen miles broad, and is about fifty miles from Pergamos; long. 27 49' E., lat. 38 16' N. The houses are chiefly built of earth, but the mosques are all of marble. Many remarkable ancient inscriptions have been discovered in this place.
Sardis - Now called Sardo and Sart, a town of Asia, in Natolia, about forty miles east from Smyrna. ”

“ The Dīkshitars form a limited community of only several hundred families. The men, like Nāyars and Nambūtiri Brāhmans of the west coast, wear the hair tuft on the front of the head. They do not give their girls in marriage to other sections of Brāhmans, and they do not allow their women to leave Chidambaram. Hence arises the proverb “A Thillai girl never crosses the boundary line.” The Dīkshitars are priests of the temple of Natarāja at Chidambaram, whereat they serve by turns. Males marry very early in life, and it is very difficult to secure a girl for marriage above the age of five. ”

“ Thyateira was an ancient town re-peopled with Macedonians by Seleucus about 290 B.C. It became an important station on the Roman road from Pergamum to Laodicea, and one of the ``Seven Churches'' of Asia (Rev. ii. 18) , but was never a metropolis or honoured with a neocorate, though made the centre of a conventus by Caracalla. The modern town is connected with Smyrna by railway, and exports cotton, wool, opium, cocoons and cereals. The inhabitants are Greeks, Armenians and Turks. ”

“ I asked.
"Thiohero is well. The River-reed makes magic yonder in the swale," said Tahioni seriously.
"Is Thiohero here?" I exclaimed.
Her brother smiled: "She is a girl-warrior as well as our Oneida prophetess. Skenandoa respects and consults her. Spencer, who worships your white God and is still humble before Tharon, has said that my sister is quite a witch. All Oneidas know her to be a sorceress. She can make a pair of old moccasins jump about when she drums."
"Where is she now?"
"Yonder in the glade dancing with the fire-flies." ”

“ In Roman times, however, Tyriaion was placed without doubt at Ilgîn. It is more probable that the mound indicates a site of antiquity that fell for some reason into neglect as Tyriaion came into prominence. Out of the top of this there was dug up a block of limestone, about two feet eight inches high and six feet long. It is not quite complete; but upon it there may be made out with some certainty three rows of Hittite hieroglyphs in relief, the inscription commencing with the right-hand side at the top. ”

“ The word Tīyattu or Teyyatu is said to be a corruption of Daivamattu, or dancing to please the deity. According to one tradition, they were degraded from Pushpakas for undertaking service in the temples. In more orthodox times, tīyattu could be performed only in temples and Brāhman houses, but now Sūdras also share the privilege of inviting the Tīyattunnis to their homes for this purpose, though the ceremony cannot be performed in their houses without a previous punyaha. The rite is extremely popular when epidemic disease prevails. ”

“ These nine men eat only once a day during the festival; they do no work, remaining quietly at home unless when at the temple; they cannot approach any one of caste lower than their own; they cannot cohabit with women; and they cannot see a woman in menstruation during these days. A crowd of Tiyans join more or less in this, rushing about and barking like dogs, making a hideous noise. They too have kalasams, and, when they are tired of rushing and barking, they drink the arrack in them. These men are always under a vow. ”

“ Young Titiara had no designs on Tautu, and she possessed no finery to make herself beautiful in his eyes, but one day, when she was gathering wood in the bush, he chanced to pass. Stopping to speak with her, he was struck with her goodness and beauty, and from that time the two met every day in the forest. The older sisters, meanwhile, were the victims of a mischievous earth spirit which haunted the vicinity and visited them in the guise of Tautu. They were triumphant—when it was known that they had won the warrior's favors all their friends would be wild with jealousy ”

“ Theoretically, all the married males of the Dīkshitars have a voice in the management of the temple, and a share in its perquisites; and at present there are some 250 of such shares. They go round the southern districts soliciting alms and offerings for themselves. Each one has his own particular clientèle, and, in return for the alms received, he makes, on his return, offerings at the shrine in the name of his benefactors, and sends them now and again some holy ashes, or an invitation to a festival. ”

“ It almost seems as though the Tahitians had attained the utmost pitch of their civilization, and thence, in obedience to a mysterious natural law, have been compelled, like so many other coloured races, to surrender this lovely abode to a more energetic and self-developing race, till the appalling doom befalls them of being erased from the list of nations! ”

“ It has no landed or other endowments, nor any tasdik allowance, and is the property of a class of Brahmans peculiar to the town, who are held in far more respect than the generality of the temple-priest Brahmans, are called Dīkshitars (those who make oblations) , marry only among themselves, and in appearance somewhat resemble the Nāyars or Tiyans of Malabar, bringing their topknot round to the front of their foreheads. Their ritual in the temple more resembles that of a domestic worship than the forms commonly followed in other large shrines. ”

“ He awakened Hatim, who addressed the demons in their own language, saying, “Friends, we have travelled far, and being fatigued, we here sought repose. Why have you disturbed our slumbers, and what is your business with us?”—“We wish to know,” they replied, “who you are.”—“For me,” said Hatim, “I am a helpless stranger wandering I know not whither. Shams Shah, the king of the fairies, has exterminated the tribe of Mukarnas, and burnt their dwellings, which is the cause of my being here. This he has done for the sake of one of the race of Adam, who is now journeying to the island of Barzakh. ”

“ It is evident, therefore, that we must see in the Hittite tribes fragments of a race whose original seat was in the ranges of the Taurus, but who had pushed their way into the warm plains and valleys of Syria and Palestine. They belonged originally to Asia Minor, not to Syria, and it was conquest only which gave them a right to the name of Syrians. 'Hittite' was their true title, and whether the tribes to which it belonged lived in Judah or on the Orontes, at Carchemish or in the neighbourhood of Palu, this was the title under which they were known. ”

“ A man, a woman, and two small children crawled along the street; their eyes surveyed the upper windows. All were ragged and filthy; the elders bore the unmistakable brand of the gin-shop, and the children were visaged like debased monkeys. Occasionally a copper fell to them, in return for which the choragus exclaimed 'Gord bless yer!'
Thyrza sat in her usual place by the window, now reading for a few minutes, now dreaming. Lydia had some stockings to be darned; she became at length so silent that her sister turned to look at her. ”

“ It will not be worth while to attempt a description of the marriage ceremony of the Tiyans of North Malabar, because there is none, or next to none. There the Tiyans and all classes, including even the Muhammadan Māppillas, follow the rule of marumakkatāyam, or inheri- tance through females from uncle to nephew. The children have no right to their father's property. ”

“ Whatever may have been the direction of the Royal Road eastward of Giaour-Kalesi, it would seem to have passed west by way of Yarre, which is found near a bridge over the Sangarius called Karanji Keupru. Here a sculptured slab has been found [373] decorated with a relief representing a ceremonial feast. This is an important link, for this class of subject has a wide distribution, as we have seen, [374] throughout Hittite lands on both sides of the Taurus. Its appearance west of the Halys betrays the influence not only of Hittite art but of a common religious institution. ”

“ Kash' Aurâha informed me that in their books it is always written Shathista, a foundation, it being considered the first and largest village of Tyari, and the key of the province. Asheetha itself is divided into five quarters, called severally: Tcemmané, Tcemmané Tahteitha, Mâtha d'Umra-Khateebet, Isroor, and Merweeta, and contains a population of about 2500 souls. The people are in general robust and well-made, and till the ungenerous soil of their native hills with unwearying industry. ”

“ Thyrza, the fisher-maiden, had beheld all.
The long hours of the afternoon dragged to their close. Sunset was at hand. Black clouds rose over the edge of the world, the sea darkened, and the heavy waves grew black and streaked with foam. A wind began to howl.
Suddenly Thyrza beheld the sails of a great ship fleeing before the gale. The hidden sun had almost set, and the black clouds were barred with rays as red as fire.
“’Tis the ship of Altair,” cried Thyrza. “The night is gathering fast, and, unless he hears the bell in the dark, Altair will be wrecked upon the reefs. ”

“ The territory covered by them is a square, the base of which is formed by a line running from Carchemish through Antioch into Lykaonia, while the remains at Boghaz Keui and Eyuk constitute its northern limit. We must regard this region as having been the primeval home and starting-point of the Hittite race. They will have been a population which clustered round the two flanks of the Taurus range, extending far into Kappadokia on the north, and towards Armenia on the east. ”

“ I find that the name of Hittite was confined to that portion of the race which lived eastward and southward of the Taurus. In Asia Minor itself, their first cradle and home, they called themselves Kas or Kasians; it was the kingdom of Kas over which the Hittite lords of Boghaz Keui claimed to rule, and it is still as kings of Kas that they are entitled on the monuments of Carchemish, though here they also acknowledge the name of Hittite. ”

“ From the Taurus we descended firstly to the north of Syria, because in the development of Hittite studies this region first attracted attention through the references to it in Egyptian and Assyrian history. But modern research has added to our knowledge of the Hittite lands a wider and different territory on the other side. There the descent to the interior of Asia Minor from the mountains is not so marked, for even around the foot of snow-capped Argæus, the most advanced pinnacle of the system, the plateau is still four thousand feet above the sea. ”

“ On hearing this, the king gave orders to his demon subjects, saying, “Let all this wealth be carefully packed up, and you shall accompany this worthy man, in order to carry it to whatsoever place he may desire.”
Hatim took leave of the king, and taking the jewels and gold, departed under the guidance of the demons. In about six months he arrived at the extremity of the cave through which he had entered the dominions of Farokash. The guides accompanied him through the cave, and in the space of three days landed him safe at its mouth. Hatim asked them, “Have you any objections to go further?” ”

“ Logan is quite right when he describes the service of the Tīyattunnis as jumping through fire. It is dancing with lighted wicks in the hands, to exorcise the genius representing the evil eye, or as a propitiatory service in temples. It answers to the pallippanna and kolantullal of the Kaniyans. A figure of Bhadrakāli is drawn on the ground with powders of different colours, and the chief incidents in the incarnate life of the deity are recited by the Tīyattunnis. ”

“ Thyrza believed—she could not be quite sure, but she believed—that she had heard Mrs. Ormonde address Miss Newthorpe by that name. She remembered Miss Newthorpe very distinctly, her refined beauty, her delightful playing; strangely, too, she had associated Egremont with that lady in the thoughts she had after her return from Eastbourne. If that were Annabel, did there remain no fear? If he had once loved her, might not the love revive? He and she would meet—doubtless, would meet. ”

“ Thus we see the Hittites as a purely inland people, not taking to the sea more kindly at any rate than do the Turkish peoples of to-day. The centre of their monuments is the mountainous region of the Taurus and Anti-Taurus systems, whence on the one hand they lead us down to the hot plains that lie between the right bank of the Euphrates and Mount Amanus (the Giaour Dagh) , with a continuation to the south by the valley of the Orontes as far as its sources in the Lebanon ”

“ She had thought the Grails' parlour luxurious. And the dear old easy-chair, now so familiar to her, how humble it was compared with this in which Mrs. Ormonde seated her! These wonders caused her no envy or uneasy desire. In looking at a glorious altarpiece, one does not feel unhappy because one cannot carry it off from the church and hang it up at home. Thyrza's mood was purely of admiration, and of joy in being deemed worthy to visit such scenes. And all the time she kept saying to herself, 'Another whole day! I shall be by the sea again tomorrow! ”