Travels and Discoveries in the Levant/Volume 1/Letter XIII
XIII.
Rhodes, April 28, 1853.
When landing at Rhodes, we behold fr the first
time the fortress which so long formed the impreg-
nable outwork of Latin Christianity in the East, and
which, though shattered by cannon and earthquakes,
still presents to us one of the noblest and most
instructive specimens of military architecture in the
fifteenth century: when walking round its walls, we
recognize on every bastion and tower, the names
and escutcheons of Grand Masters famous in the
annals of its two sieges; when, after winding our
way through gateways, still defended by drawbridge
and portcullis, we find ourselves in that long and
lonely street, where the 'auberges of the Knights
stand side by side, still wearing on their richly-sculptured fronts the proud insignia of the Order, the
heart would indeed be dead to human sympathies
which could remain unmoved in the presence of
these tune-honoured monuments of Christian valour.
So absorbing indeed is the charm of this first impression, so completely does it fill our imaginations, that we forget for awhile the interest which belongs to Rhodes as the site of one of the great maritime republics of the ancient world, a city celebrated not less for the wisdom of its institutions than for the beauty of its architecture, the perfection of its ports and arsenals, and the strength of its defences by sea and land.
Founded B.C. 408, and laid out by the same great architect, Hippodamos, who built the Pirgeus, Rhodes was probably one of the earliest of the Hellenic cities of which the plan was designed by one master mind.
Hence that symmetry in the arrangement of the city which the rhetorician Aristides, writing in the second century A.D., describes in a well-known passage. Rhodes, he says, was built in the form of an amphitheatre; the temples and public buildings were grouped together so as to form one composition, of which the several parts balanced each other as in the design of a single edifice.
The whole was encompassed by a wall, which, with its stately towers and battlements, he compares to a crown. The temples and other public buildings were adorned with celebrated works in painting and sculpture; and, according to Pliny, the city contained no less than 3,000 statues, of which 100 were of colossal size.63
The maritime greatness of Rhodes was due not only to its geographical position, but also to the convenience of its harbours and to the perfect equipment of the dockyards and arsenal, which, from Strabo's description, occupied a large space in relation to the rest of the city, and, like those of Carthage and Halicarnassus, were probably screened from observation by high walls and roofs. Any curious interloper found within these forbidden precincts at Rhodes or at Carthage was liable to the punishment of death.
Aristides, in describing the harbours, specially praises their convenience in reference to the prevailing winds. They are so disposed, he says, as if for the express purpose of receiving the ships of Ionia, Caria, Cyi^rus, and Egypt. Towering above these harbours stood the famous bronze Colossus, which, from its position on the shore, was probably intended to serve as a sea-mark and a lighthouse. So vast a surface of polished metal reflecting the bright sky of Rhodes, must have been visible from a great distance at sea, and must have been to the Rhodian mariner an object as familiar as the statue of Athene Promachos was to those who sailed past the Attic Sunium.
Such was the character of Rhodes as far as can be gathered from the scanty notices in ancient authors. Vague and incomplete as these notices are, they suggest to us an idea of the ancient city far more definite than can be obtained by a visit to its site, of which the main features are so obliterated that the few vestiges which remain can only be detected after long study.
It will be convenient, before putting together these scanty remains of ancient Rhodes, to give a
short description of the city built by the Knights, 
Plate 5
VIEW OF RHODES OVERLOOKING THE HARBOUR.
London. Published by Day & Son, Lithrs to the Queen.
(LIMITED)
fixed for reference. (See the Plan, Plate 4.)
The present harbours of Rhodes seem to have been originally mere indentations in the line of the coast, subsequently improved by Hellenic art. The entrance to the principal harbour is flanked on the west by the tall square tower now called the Arab tower, and on the east by a long mole running nearly north, and terminating in the tower of St. Angelo. (Plate 5.)
To the west lies a smaller harbour, now called by the Greeks Mandraki, or the sheep-fold, from its security. This smaller harbour doubtless contained in antiquity the triremes and other ships of war; the larger harbour being then, as now, the receptacle for merchant-ships. The eastern side of Port Mandraki is formed by a massive Hellenic mole running parallel to the eastern side of the larger harbour, and defended at its extremity by the tower of St. Nicholas, which now serves as a lighthouse. Its entrance is protected from the north wind by a small rocky promontory, on which the Lazaretto now stands. To the east of the great harbour is a third natural indentation, which does not appear to have been used as a regular port in antiquity, though on the ridge of the rocks which bounds it are the remains of an Hellenic mole. This was probably intended to serve as a break- water in aid of the mole on the eastern side of the harbour. The town is built round the great harbour, following its curve, so that the area which it occupies may he compared to an irregular cent. The fortifications with which it is encircled, both by sea and land, extend from the round tower on the eastern side of the entrance to the great harbour to the tower of St. Nicholas, at the mouth of Port Mandraki.
On the land side the town is defended by a wall of circumvallation, and a fosse cut out of the native rock, which, being easily quarried, affords the same facilities for making fortifications which the Knights afterwards found at Malta. The fosse is from 40 to GO feet deep, and in width from 90 to 140 feet. The escarp and counterscarp are built of squared stones of moderate size, which were probably quarried out on the spot. In some places the fosse is doubled. The terreplein of the walls is 40 feet wide. Here still remain many of the fine old brass guns of the Knights, on which the fleur-de-lis, the basilisk of Francis I., and other heraldic badges, may be recognized. The vents are protected from the weather by old cuirasses taken out of the armoury of the Knights. Everywhere the immense stone balls lie about the ramparts. Many of these have been used to repair the breaches in the walls. In the towers, bastions, and other works by which these lines are strengthened in various places, the military engineer may trace the first germs of that science of fortification which has been developed pari passu with the improvement in artillery, and which in the fifteenth century seems to have been more advanced in the Levant than in Europe.
All round the great harbour the town is defended
by a wall with square towers at intervals: this wall is Plate 6
RHODES. D'AMBOISE GATE.
London. Published by Day & Son, Lithrs to the Queen.
(LIMITED)
Plate 7
RHODES. FOSSE NEAR D'AMBOISE GATE.
London. Published by Day & Son, Lithrs to the Queen.
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Bazaar gate. An inner wall, commencing from this gate, runs across the interior of the town from east to west, and after throwing out an angle to the north, joins the main line of circumvallation about halfway between the Amboise gate and the gate of St. George. The area on the north, enclosed between the inner wall and the outer lines, is called in the old chronicles the upper town, or Castello, and contained the palace of the Grand Master, the auberges or lodges of the different langues of the Order, and the churches of St. John the Baptist and St. Catherine. In this upper town or Castello dwelt the Grand Master and the Knights; the lower town was inhabited by a mixed population of Jews and Greeks. In the north-west angle of the Castello is the palace of the Grand Master, which, as it occupies the highest ground within the fortress, was naturally chosen by the Knights as their citadel.
The Castello is entered from the west by a noble gateway (Plate 6), commenced by the Grand Master D'Aubusson after a great earthquake, and finished by his successor D'Amboise, from whom this gate takes its name. Over the door within an ogee frame is a slab of white marble, on which is sculptured in relief an angel holding the escutcheon of Amboise, with the inscription, "Amboyse MDXII." A drawbridge connects this gateway with a stone bridge which here spans the fosse with three arches. (Plate 7.) Over the Amboise gate a head was formerly fixed, which has been thus described to me. It was flat at the top, and pointed like the head of a serpent, and as large as the head of a lamb. This head was certainly on the gate as late as the year 1829, and seems to have been taken down when the gate was repaired, some time previous to 1837.66
This is, perhaps, the same head which Thevenot saw, 1657, and which he thus describes:—"Elle était beaucoup plus grosse et plus large que celle d'un cheval, la gueule fendue jusqu'aux oreilles, de grosses dents, les yeux gros, le trou des narines rond, et la peau tirant sur le gris blanc." According to the tradition in Thevenot's time, and which has been preserved in Rhodes ever since, this was the head of the great serpent slain by Dieudonné de Gozon in the fourteenth century.67
Passing through this gate, a vaulted passage leads through the counterscarp over a second and third fosse, which defend the palace of the Grand Master on the west. After crossing the third fosse, the road enters the Castello between the church of St. John and the palace of the Grand Master opposite to the upper end of the street of the Knights. This street, which runs east and west, divides the Castello into two nearly equal parts.
At its western extremity has been a beautiful vaulted building, of which the single remaining arch is given in Plate 8.
In Rottier's time several of these arches were standing. On the south of this building is the chm'ch of St. John the Baptist, which seems to have been enlarged and altered by successive Grand Masters, and was probably founded by Foulques de
Villaret on the first establishment of the Knights at Plate 8
RHODES ARCH NEAR CHURCH OF St JOHN.
London. Published by Day & Son, Lithrs to the Queen.
Its plan is a rectangular basilica, containing a nave and two aisles, with a clock-tower, the upper part of which was destroyed in the siege. The interior dimensions are 150 feet in length by 52 feet in breadth. The columns dividing the aisles from the nave are chiefly of granite, and are probably taken from several ancient buildings. The roof is of wood, the beams and ceiling blue, spangled with golden stars. In the pavement .of the nave are the remains of the tomb of the Grand Master Fabrizio del Carretto. His effigy, which must have been sculpted in low relief on a flat slab, has been destroyed, but the border of the slab still remains, with an inscription at the foot, recording his name, titles, and services, and with the date 1520. At the head of the slab was his escutcheon. Carretto was the last Grand Master bm'ied at Rhodes. In the pavement the German traveller Ross saw a number of other sepulchral slabs with figures of knights in relief dressed in the long robe of the Order, but too much defoced to be identified. He also found here a Greek inscription containing a list of contributions to some public sub- scription.68 In the windows was formerly stained glass, with escutcheons of the Knights, several of which were copied by Rottier. On either side of the choir Ross remarked some carved woodwork painted and gilt, with niches containing smaU images of the Apostles.69
Opposite to the church of St. John is the entrance to the palace of the Grand blaster through a gateway flanked by two towers facing the south. On entering under this gateway, "we come to an open space covered with cisterns, in which the Turks keep stores of grain. In fi-ont is a confused mass of ruinous buildings, of which the plan can no longer be made out. On the left are strong square towers defending the citadel on the west. On the right a staircase leads to an open gallery communicating with many small rooms. In these the garrison probably dwelt. On the north the palace is defended by a tower overlooking a broad and lofty platform, which is raised by solid masonry out of the depth of the fosse. It was from the artillery planted on this platform that the Turks suffered so much during the first siege in their attack on Fort St. Nicholas, from the church of St. Antonio, now a small mosque near the Lazaretto. Returning from the Grand Master's palace to the archway already noticed (ante, p. 151), we look down the long and narrow street which is well known to travellers by the name of Strada dei Cavaheri, or Street of the Knights.
In no European city, perhaps, can be found a street so little changed since the fifteenth century.
No Vandal hand has disturbed the perfect repose and keeping of the scene by demolition or re- pairs; the very pavement has a mediæval look, as if it had known no thoroughfare since its broad marbles were trodden by Christian warriors three centuries ago. No sound of near or distant trafiic breaks in on the congenial stillness; we might almost suppose the houses to be without inhabitants, were it not for the rude Turkish jalousies which project
on either side, flinging long slanting shadows across Plate 9.
AUBERGE DE FRANCE.
RHODES. STREET OF KNIGHTS.
London. Published by Day & Son, Lithrs to the Queen.
(LIMITED)
to a solitude only distiurbed, when from the gloom of some deep archway a veiled form glides by with averted face, scared at the unwelcome presence of the Frank traveller.
About halfway down the street, on the left, as you descend, is the auberge or lodge of the French langne (Plate 9), the façade of which is particularly rich in heraldic ornament. Over the door are the arms of the Order, and those of Emeri d'Amboise, mth the date 1492, and two other coats. In the upper story, within a frame of Gothic leaves, are the arms of France and of D'Aubusson on a marble tablet. Above the French coat are the words Montjoie and St. Denis; below, the date, 1495, and the words Voluntas Dei est. Near the doorway is the escutcheon of Villiers de l'Isle Adam, as Grand Prior, with the inscription "Pour Philerme, 1511." In another place the same coat, with the inscription " Pour la Maison, 1511," and a tablet inscribed "Pour I'Oratoire, 1511." Over a side-door the arms of the Order, those of Emeri d'Amboise and of Yilliers de l'Isle Adam, between oriflammes. The facade is crowned with battlements and small turrets, below which two long fantastic dragons' heads project as gurgoyles. A little higher up an archway crosses the street, above which is the auberge of the Spanish langue.
The arms of England may be seen on another house. At the bottom of the street is a house with the escutcheon of the Grand Master, Fabrizio del Carretto, and the date 1519. The style of architecture throughout this street is an interesting modification of the later Gothic. The escutcheons are generally set in a richly-sculptured ogee arch. Most of the windows are square-headed, with labels and upright mullions, while the pointed arch is constantly employed in the doorways. In the rich and fantastic ornaments we recognize the Flamboyant style so generally prevalent in Europe in the fifteenth century; but these ornaments are but sparingly introduced, so as not to disturb the noble simplicity of the general design. In all the edifices built by the Knights at Rhodes we see the same tendency to temper the stern and naked ruggedness of military masonry as far as possible with rich ornaments, such as we generally find associated with ecclesiastical architecture. No fitter symbol could have been adopted than this mixed style, to express the character of an order at once military and religious.
At the lower end of the Street of the Knights is the old church of St. Catherine, now a mosque ; in the windows a few coats of arms are still painted. The last building on the south side of the street is the Hospital of the Knights. This is a large square edifice, with a very simple external façade. The entrance is under a kind of vestibule facing the east. The original doors, which were of cypress-wood richly carved, were given to the Prince de Joinville on the occasion of his visit to Rhodes. On either side are large vaults now used as warehouses. The inside is a quadrangle, supported on vaults, above which are open arcades formed of round arches resting on pillars. Adjoining the arcades are four long rooms, corresponding with the four sides of the quadrangle. These saloons and the open galleries are covered with a roof of cypress-wood in very fine condition. The four rooms were evidently for the sick, the open galleries for the convalescent to walk in. In one of the vaulted magazines in the basement, the chain which served to close the entrance to the harbour was formerly kept, and was seen by Ross in his visit in 1843. He describes it as 750 feet long, each link being 112 foot long. Since his visit it has been removed to Constantinople. The hospital was commenced by Villeneuve, and completed by the Grand Master Fluvian, and seems to have been well planned for its purpose. It now forms an excellent barrack.
In front of its eastern façade is an open space leading to the gate of St. Catherine. This gate is defended by two massive round towers, with deep projecting machicoulis. Over the gate is a relief in marble, representing St. Catherine, St. Peter, and St. Paid ; below, the arms of the Order and of D'Aubusson, and the inscription " Reverendus D. F. Petrus d'Aubussonius Rhodi mamus magister banc turrem et portas erexit."70
The inner wall, running from this gate across the town to a point south of the Amboise gate, and separating off the Castello from the lower town, has been already noticed. South of this line are the bazaar and Jews' quarter, and on the west a number of small tortuous streets inhabited by Turks. This part of the town in the fifteenth century was occupied by the Greeks and Jews, who traded under the protection of the Knights. Throughout both the Castello and lower town, the streets have the same general character; the houses have flat roofs, and are built of stone throughout. At frequent intervals broad arches cross the streets overhead. (See Plate 10.) This mode of building was probably adopted to facilitate communication from point to point, and afford additional shelter from the fire of the enemy during a siege. The majority of these houses are cubical in form, and built in the simplest manner, without any architectural feature. Here and there bits of richly-sculptured façades may be met with. On the left of the bazaar is a building which bears the traditional name of Castellania, or Palace of Justice. On the fagade are the arms of the Grand Master D'Amboise, in a rich Gothic frame. The windows have lilies sculptured on their mullions and transoms. This building abuts on the wall which runs round the shore of the harbour. Near it is another, to which tradition gives the name "Admiralty." The entrance-door is under a pointed arch. This building is less richly ornamented than the Castellania. Nothing certain is known as to the original purpose of these two edifices.
In the Jews' quarter is a house which was probably the residence of some wealthy merchant, as it still contains a large room with a richly-carved ceiling. The remains of the church of St. Marc are near the Admiralty. Kottier gives a number of coats of arms copied in this church.
The mosque of Suhman, situated a little to the Plate 10.
RHODES. STREET OF KNIGHTS.
London. Published by Day & Son, Lithrs to the Queen.
(LIMITED)
marble columns; on each side of the door is a pilaster, on which are richly sculptured in relief helmets, battle-axes, and angels' heads between festoons. The design is a beautiful specimen of Renaissance ornament, and must have been executed at the close of the fifteenth century. The Benedictine and Augustine convents have also been converted into mosques.
Two gates originally led into the tower town from the land side,—the gate of St. George, which was afterwards walled up by the Knights, and the gate of St. John the Baptist, now known as the Koskino gate, on the south. Between these two gates arc the Spanish tower and the tower of St. Mary, which defends the south-eastern angle of the fortress. Over the gate of St. John is a relief of the saint sculptured in freestone; below, on a tablet of blue marble, the arms of the Order and of D'Aubusson, which seem of a later insertion.
From this gate the fortifications bend round to the north-east, between the Jews' quarter and Jewish cemetery, till they reach the rocky shore, where they turn nearly due north, running to the commencement of the eastern mole of the harbour, which is prolonged in the same direction. Here the fortifications meet the sea-wall of the harbour nearly at a right angle.
The part of the fortifications between this angle and the gate of St. John was twice assailed by the Turks with their whole force, during the siege. On the second assault they succeeded after a tremendous bombardment in mounting the breach, and were only driven back when D'Aubusson himself at the head of a chosen band of Knights regained possession of the ramparts and hurled the assailants back into the fosse. To commemorate this repulse the brave Grand Master built the chapel of Notre Dame de Victoire within the angle of the fortifications at the commencement of the eastern mole, which has been already noticed.71
On this mole stand three windmills, beyond which is a battery armed on both sides; and on the point of the mole a circular tower, called in later chronicles the Castle of St. John.72 This mole rests on Hellenic foundations. On the opposite side of the harbour is the stately tower built by the Grand Master De Naillac, at the extremity of a mole running out to the east from the north-eastern angle of the fortress. (Plate 11.)
The date of this tower is probably about A.D. 14OO. It is sometimes called by Bosio the tower of St. Angelo, and by later writers the tower of St. Michael, a name for which there seems to be no authority. It consists of three square stories, crowned by a machicolated parapet with overhanging turrets at the four angles, above which rises an octagonal lantern. Round the outside of this lantern a winding staircase leads to the summit, which commands a most interesting bird's-eye view of the town and environs of Rhodes. This tower is 150 feet high. Under the parapet is the escutcheon of De Naillac with that of the Order. In the basement story Ross saw, in 1843, the machine by which in the time of the Knights the great chain was stretched across the harbour.
The tower is united with the rest of the fortifications by a stone bridge leading to a platform built on the mole, and armed with guns on either side, so as to command a view of both harbours.
This platform, which is 21 feet broad and 36 feet high, joins the main wall of the fortress at its north-eastern angle. At this point a small door leads from the shore of the main harbour into a battery which commands the mole of St. Nicholas, and thence through another door over a drawbridge, which leads out of the fortress to the Mandraki harbour. Inside the battery is a small gate in the main wall, now built up, which seems to be the Porta del Castello mentioned in the old chronicles. Here four lines of fortifications intersect, running nearly according to the cardinal points of the compass. These are, to the south the wall defending the shore of the great harbour; to the east the platform leading to the Naillac tower; to the north the mole of St. Nicholas, and to the west the northern wall of the fortress.
The mole of St. Nicholas, which forms the eastern side of Port Mandraki, extends about 1,000 feet into the sea. It is in great measure the original Greek mole, the lower courses built of enormous squared blocks regularly fitted together. At the extremity stands the castle of St. Nicholas, built by the Grand Master Raimond Zacosta. Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, contributed largely to the expense of its erection: his arms, with those of Zacosta, and of the Order, are still to be seen on the outer wall next the sea. In the first siege of Rhodes the Turks made several furious assaults on this fort, bombarding it from the church of St. Antonio, and attempting to storm it by thromng a bridge of boats across the harbour of Mandraki. They were repulsed with great slaughter by D'Aubusson. Within this fort are casemates, magazines, and the remains of a chapel; above these is a platform, on which are many brass guns of the time of the Knights, some of which bear the date 1482, others 1507, with the arms of France and England. This part of the fort seems much in the state in which the Knights left it.
From the time of the Grand Master Zacosta the defence of the fortifications was so arranged that each langue had its appointed post. The distribution of these posts was as follows: The German knights defended all the part between the west side of the Grand Master's palace and the gate of St. George. The langue d'Auvergne was posted from the gate of St. George to the Spanish tower; the English from the Spanish tower to the tower of St. Mary, of which they defended the lower story. In the upper story of this tower, and thence as far as the gate of St. John, was the post of Arragon. This gate, with the outwork in front of it, and the waU as far as the Italian tower, were defended by the Provencal knights: thence, as far as the gate of St. Catharine, were posted the Italians.
The sea-wall from the gate of St. Catharine to the Porta del Castello was defended by Castile and Portugal; and thence to the palace of the Grand Masters was the post of the French.
The palace itself, as far as the post of the Germans, was guarded by a special body of knights under the command of the Grand Master himself.
It is curious that in the tower of St. Mary, assigned in both sieges to the English, the marble tombstone of an English knight may yet be seen built into the walls. It bears the following inscription:—
HIC JACET . FR. THOMAS
NEWPORT . PODATUS .
ĀGLIE . MILES . Q̄I . OBIIT
1502, XXII. DIE . MĒSIS
SEPTEMBRIS . CVIVS . ANIMA
REQVIESCAT . IN . PACE
AMEN
1502.73
The numerous bronze guns which still remain in the batteries have been already noticed. Their range is said to be about 2,000 yards. They are all honeycombed, and therefore unsafe. Much powder from the time of the Knights still remains, stowed away in vast magazines, connected with each other and with the ramparts by subterraneous galleries. In the upper town is a small armoury, in which are preserved helmets, cuirasses, battle-axes, bronze mortars, hand grenades made of a kind of opaque glass, and various other interesting relics of the Knights.
The western and southern sides of the fortifications are surrounded by two cemeteries; that of the Turks extending from the Amboise gate to beyond the gate of St. John; whence to the shore is the burial-place of the Jews, lying immediately outside their quarter. Large Turkish gardens border these cemeteries, beyond which on the south are the suburbs Bpano Maras and Kato Maras (the upper and lower Maras), both inhabited by Greeks. To the north-west of the town is the suburb Neo Chorio, or Neo Maras, the Frank quarter of Rhodes. Here are the residences of the consuls and the Roman Catholic church; and a large proportion of the population of this suburb profess the Latin faith.
These suburbs extend to the foot of St. Stephen's hill, which lies along the northern shore overlooking the town. This hill completely commands the fortifications of Rhodes, and, had the Turks possessed in the 15th century artillery of sufficient range to reach the town from such a distance, they would of course have made this ground the centre of their operations during the siege.
When the British fleet was at Marmarice in 1802, Sir Sidney Smith lived in a house on the summit of this hill, which has since been known to English travellers as Sir Sidney Smith's hill. It is here that the ancient city had its Acropolis.
This hill is an irregular plateau, lying nearly parallel with the seashore, in a direction from N.E. to S.W., and descending on the S.B. and N.B. sides in a series of terraces to lower ground. The highest part of the hill is where it overlooks the sea facing the N.W. On this side it terminates in a broken fine of cliff very steep and inaccessible for the most part; below which the road to Trianta, resting on a rocky base, winds along the shore. If we ascend the N.E. face of St. Stephen's hill from the Neo Maras and follow the edge of the cliff to the S.W., there will be seen at intervals a bed cut in the rock on which doubtless stood the outer wall of the Acropolis. The continuity of this line of cutting is constantly interrupted by breaks in the edge of the cliff, large portions of which have been detached by earthquakes at different times, and may be seen lying- above and below the road to Trianta. Several of these fallen masses are hewn as if they had formed portions of tombs or of the bed of the wall above.
The line of the rock, after continuing for some distance to the S.W., terminates in broken ground just before the curve of the bay commences; at this point the bed of the foundations cut in the rock makes an angle, turning to the east. Pursuing this new line across several fields, I came to polygonal blocks set in the modern wall of a field, after which the line was marked by a vertical cutting in the rock still pointing east. On a portion of this vertical cutting a course of oblong blocks still remained, the largest of which measured 10 feet 3 inches by 3 feet 4 inches. From the size of these blocks and from the fact that the angle from which this line commences is the point where the ascent to the hill from the sea becomes more accessible on account of the termination of the cliff here, I infer that the courses of masonry are the foundations of a wall defending the Acropolis on this side.
The base of the vertical cutting contains sepulchral chambers cut in the rock. From this cutting the ground slopes down to the S.E. into a hollow, which may have been a ravine.
Proceeding eastward from this point, I came to a series of terraces and ravines so intersected by the walls of fields and gardens that it is exceedingly difficult to discern the vestiges of the ancient city; still more so to indicate their position in such a manner as to enable subsequent travellers to find them. Everywhere I met with inscribed altars and bases of statues, and fragments of architecture, and especially in the courtyards of the ruined Turkish houses, which abound on the site. Many large tombs cut in the rock occur at intervals, and the beds to receive the foundations of temples were still to be traced in several places. It would be impossible to indicate with accompany the position of these remains unless a plan were made of the whole site on a large scale. In the absence of such a plan I noted down my observations as much as possible in connection with several roads by which the hill is traversed and which may be considered as fixed points. In exploring this ground, I was accompanied by Mr. Alfred Biliotti, the cancelliere of the Consulate, whose great local knowledge enabled me to see much which I should otherwise have missed. On crossing the Turkish cemetery about half-way between the Amboise gate and the bastion of St. George, we come to the commencement of a road which points to the N.W., leading to the summit of St. Stephen's hill. For some yards from its commencement the rock is hewn on each side, showing the Une of an ancient way.
Following this line to a place where a piece of Hellenic wall occurs on the left side of the road, we turned off on a cross-road running in a S.S.E. direction, and having on the right a vertical cutting. Proceeding along this road we passed on the left an old chapel of the Knights, at which point the road turns to the S.B. A little further on is a chapel dedicated by the Grand Master Dieudonné de Gozo. I was told that an inscription in large characters had been recently found here, which had been concealed by the Turk to whom the field belongs.
A little further on we came to a cross-road pointing to the N.W. In the wall bounding this road on the right was part of a shaft of variegated marble, and in the same wall about three yards further on, the fragment of an inscription in blue marble, which appears to have been a dedication to Helios, or the Sun- god, by certain Rhodians. The last words of this fragment appear to refer to an earthquake. The inscription is in large letters of the Roman period.
At this point we turned out of the road into some fields on the left. Here were foundations of a Byzantine building, and a little further on two inscriptions near a ruined house and a palm-tree. One of these was on a block of blue marble 3 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet, and recorded the conferring of a crown of gold on Anaxibios, son of Pheidianax, by the people of Rhodes. The letters were of a good period. The block seems to have formed part of a large pedestal. The other inscription was a dedication in honom' of one Timokrates, in fine letters on a square base of blue marble. On this spot are also two drums of travertine columns. A few yards further to the S.W. are two drums of Doric columns 2 feet 9 inches in diameter, and apparently in their original position. They are of travertine which has been covered with stucco. The intercolumniation is 6 feet 3 inches. There are several more of these lying in the same hue along a ridge which continues for 31 yards from N. to S. and marks the line of these columns.
To the W.N.W. of these remains is an artificial hollow with a terrace running round, which appears to be a stadium. The direction of this stadium is from N.N.B. by E. to S.S.W. by W. At the southern end it is curved, the other end being open.
Immediately to the north of the stadium is a ruined house with a well, at the side of which is a block of blue marble, 1 foot 7 inches wide by 1 foot 10 inches by 1 foot, on which is an inscription re- cording that the demos of the Lindopolitæ and the phratria (πάτρα) of the Druitæ had rewarded with a golden crown Eualkidas, son of Antilochos, in the priesthood of Antilochos.74
This block had been converted into a drinking-trough.
To the N.N.W. of the stadium is a platform levelled and cut into steps, and in the boundary- wall of a vineyard is the drum of a travertine column, about 5 feet 10 inches in diameter.
Biliotti thinks that this is in position, and remembers large Hellenic blocks on which it rests, and which are now covered with earth. It would seem from the form of the ground that the vineyard occupies the site of a temple about 59 paces long by 45 broad. Its greatest length lies parallel with the stadium. Near this vineyard is a Turkish house, at the door of which is a square base of blue marble inscribed with a dedication to Apollo Pythios by Glykon, an Athenian, who held the office of proxenos or consul at Rhodes.
To the N.N.W. of the stadium'. a road cut through the rock leads to a higher platform, where is the drum of a column of calcareous stone 4 feet in diameter.
Near this cutting are some steps, also rough hewn.
A little to the east of the stadium is a great platform, where, perhaps, stood a temple of the Sun, as several inscriptions mentioning priests of this deity have been found near this spot.
It will be seen by the plan, that another road leads from the Turkish cemetery to the Acropolis, commencing a little to the north of the Amboise gate. This road passes over a little eminence, on which are three windmills. It was from this point that the cannon of Mahomet II. did great damage during the siege. Nearly parallel with this road may be traced very distinctly from the commencement of the slope to the windmills the line of an ancient way, indicated sometimes by the bed cut in the rock, and in one place 1)y the massive kerb-stones on one side. This road is marked in the Admiralty chart as a wall. On the south side of it rectangular foundations cut in the rock indicate the position of tombs. The windmills stand on masses of rock, the base of which has been cut into sepulchral chambers. On the north side of the windmills are two circular shafts, which probably lead to subterraneous tombs.
After passing the windmills, the traces of the ancient road become less distinct till they are lost on descending a slope crossed by a modern aqueduct. Its direction is N.W. to S.E.
After following out this road, we examined some tombs on the S.E. side of the Acropohs.
Here are some large subterranean chambers lined with stucco, and entered by a vertical shaft.
From an examination of this side of the Acropohs, 1 should infer that the strata of rock of which it is composed were originally scarped to a much greater depth than at present appears, the scarp having been filled up by the deposit of soil from above. In these scarps have been cut the entrances to tombs.
In one place south of the stadium is part of a monolithic tomb, on the face of which is a buckler cut in relief.
Crossing the Turkish cemetery in a direction south of the tower of St. Mary I came to a Turkish garden, where are six blocks of blue marble,all of whichappear to be pedestals of statues. One of them was inscribed with a dedication by the people of Rhodes to Lucius Decrius and his wife Agrippina. In a courtyard a little to the W. of these marbles is a block of blue marble, now a water-trough, measuring 4 feet by 2 feet 9 inches by 2 feet 4 inches, on which are the remains of a dedication in fine letters, recording the names of victors in the Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean games, and in the games called Halieia, celebrated at Rhodes in honour of the Sun-god.
Below, in smaller characters, is the name of the sculptor, Theon of Antioch, by whom the object dedicated was made. The mention of Antioch proves that this inscription is of a date subsequent to Alexander the Great.
In the same coixrtyard is a pedestal of blue mar- ble, 3 feet 9 inches by 2 feet by 2 feet 6 inches, with holes at the top for the feet of a statue. This is inscribed with the name Antisthenes, son of Architimos, priest of the Sun ; below is the name of the sculptor, Onasiphron, son of Kleonaios, of Salamis.75 In this field is a raised platform, about 63 paces long by 21 wide, on which a temple may have stood.
In an adjacent vineyard are many squared blocks built into the walls.
To the S.W. of St. Stephen's hill a platform ex- tends along the shore, from the point where I noticed the angle made by the wall along the edge of the cliff. This platform is rather higher than St. Stephen's hill. On its W. and S. edge is a ridge, on the surface of which lie at intervals loose square blocks of no great size. This ridge, which follows the outline of the hill, marks the line of a waU for the defence of the platform ; but from the small size of the blocks it may be infen'ed that this wall was not part of the main fortifications of the Acropolis. From the evidence of an inscription relating to Zeus Atabyrios found here, Ross and M. Guérin identify this platform as the hill which Arrian (Mithradat. c. 2G) describes as easily scaled, and as having on the summit a temple of that Deity surrounded by a low wall. It was this hill that Mithradates sought to surprise by a night attack during his siege of Eliodes. The character of the site corresponds sufficiently with the description in Arrian. It is probable that Mithradates landed below, at about the same place as the Turks did in their expedition under Mahomet the Second76
This platform overlooks a pleasant valley called Sandruh, where is an abundant soui'ce of water, overshadowed by planes, orange-trees, stone pines, and other trees. It was probably a favourite place of resort for the ancient Rhodians.
It is likely that tombs would be found on this platform, for on its S.E. side is a small marble cist, inscribed with the name of Timasikrates, the son of Bularchos, and another bearing the name of Euagoras, son of Damaratos. A road which seems to foUow the line of an ancient road leads from San- druli to the south of St. Stephen's Mount. On the right-hand side of this road, at the distance of five minutes' walk from Sandruli, is a hill, on the side of which is a block of white marble, 3 feet 6 inches long by 2 feet by 1 foot 7 inches, on two opposite faces of which are sculptured three bulls' heads. From the centre head hangs an ivy wreath; the other heads are crowned with myrtle.
On one face under the bulls' heads is a dedication in honour of Aristobulos of Termessos, and his wife Isigone of Ephesos. Both are styled on the marble benefactors; and it is stated that Aristobulos defrayed the expense of the choregia on bringing out some dramatic entertainment three times. Close to this block was another, similar in form and dimensions, on which it had probably been placed. These marbles seem to be part of a pedestal. A little higher up on the same hill is a square altar inscribed with the name of Xenobulos, son of ApoUodotos.
At the foot of St. Stephen's hill, on the north, is a tannery, where may be seen several large blocks and drums of blue marble. Here is a natural fountain, and the site is not an unlikely one for a temple. A road passing this tannery runs on to the shore, crossing a bridge and then turning to the W. At the angle may be seen under the soil of the modern road courses of ancient squared blocks. This road leads to the village of Trianta.
It is probable that it follows the line of the ancient road but on a higher level, as much rock has fallen from the cliff above. All along the side of the road here the soil is full of fragments of pottery, and in one place is the entrance to a gallery cut in the rock, which points to the south, and may have been an aqueduct.
Between St. Stephen's hill and the harbours, inscriptions and other remains of the ancient city may be seen in various places; but such stray vestiges throw little or no light on the plan of the ancient city, and do not enable is to identify any one of its buildings. It is evident that, as Rhodes was strongly fortified, the Acropolis must have been connected with the harbours by walls enclosing a large area. What the direction of these walls was, cannot be determined without further evidence than we at present possess. It is probable that they included the quarter called Neo Maras, north of the present town, and the greater part of the sandy spit beyond, for the following reasons. On this shore, as will be seen by the Admiralty chart, No. 1637, are two rows of windmills, which converge towards the point of the spit, and run nearly parallel with its shores. Between the two last windmills on the western shore, that is to say those most distant from the point of the sandy spit, is a foundation cropjiing up through the sand on the edge of the sea.
On excavating here, I traced three lines of massive foundations, apparently the base of an oblong tower. The wall nearest the sea measured 26 yards, running N.N.E. by N. Another ran at right angles to it for 2912 yards, when it made a return. The opposite wall could only be traced for 15 yards. This foundation is composed of large blocks of conglomerate, 8 feet 6 inches wide. The length of the longest was 15 feet 10 inches. The depth of these blocks was 1 foot 712 inches. The foundation facing the sea had on its outer face a step 1 foot 6 inches wide. This face has been worn smooth by the action of the sea. The two foundations running at right angles, were entirely concealed beneath sand and shingle, under which, as I advanced towards the windmills, I found ancient soil, with fragments of pottery. A little to the S.W. of these foundations is a rocky ridge running out into the sea, and forming a natural breakwater. Between the windmills and the French church is a swampy hollow, which during most part of the year is covered with water. Looking at the position of this lake relatively to the foundations on the shore, I am inclined to think that it must in ancient times have been a harbour. Indeed, I am assured by M. Ducci, the Russian vice-consul here, that he remembers to have heard from old inhabitants of Rhodes a tradition that a canal formerly connected this lake with the sea. If we suppose that another canal anciently communicated between this lake and Port Mandraki, ships would have been able to pass in and out without having to weather the sandy point. Such an hypothesis woidd give a more definite meaning to the rhetorical statement of Aristides (see ante, p. 148), that the harbours of Rhodes were arranged as if for the express piurpose of receiving the ships of Ionia, as well as those of Caria, Cyprus, and Egypt. It may be observed that the row of windmills on the N.W. shore stands on a ridge running parallel with the edge of the sea. It is not improbable that this ridge marks the line of the wall of the ancient city, in which case the foundations uncovered by me may be those of a square tower. The margin of shore at the foot of this ridge has probably been thrown up, and the sandy spit prolonged by deposit from the sea since the time of the ancients.
It will be seen by comparing the plan of Rhodes, Plate 4, with the view, Plate 5, that Port Mandraki is separated from the great harbour by a narrow isthmus at the N.E. angle of the fortress.
Within this angle is a level area, covered with rich vegetable soil, and occupied by gardens. Through this area, which lies so low that it can only be seen from the battlements, it is supposed that a canal formerly led, connecting the great harbour with Port Mandraki.
From Strabo's description of the arsenals and dockyards at Rhodes, it may be inferred that there were interior basins, where galleys were built and refitted, and which probably were screened from observation by high walls. The level ground between Port Mandraki and the larger harbour may have served for such a basin. Between the tower of De Naillac and St. Catharine's gate, a small mole runs across the great harbour, behind which caiques are moored in shallow water. This mole may mark the ancient commencement of an inner basin.
The mole, at the extremity of which stands the tower of St. Nicholas, has been an Hellenic work. The lowest courses of the original masonry remain in several places undisturbed on the native rock, which has been cut in horizontal beds to receive them.
At the end of the mole, enormous blocks from the ancient breakwater lie scattered about.
Two of these are still in position, one above the other. As the celebrated bronze Colossus was, doubtless, a conspicuous sea-mark, if not actually used as a Pharos, my first impression on seeing these immense blocks was that they were the remains of its pedestal, and that it stood where the fort of St. Nicholas now stands. This opinion,
suggested originally to my mind by the aspect of Plate 11.
RHODES. DE NAILLAC TOWER.
London. Published by Day & Son, Lithrs to the Queen.
(LIMITED)
Caoursin, the Vice-Chaucellor of the Order, whose contemporary history of the first siege was printed at Ulm as early as 1496. "When describing the building of Fort St. Nicholas, he states that it was placed in " molis vertice Septentrionera spectante—ubi priscis temporibus collosus ille ingens Rhodi (unum de septem miraculis mundi) positus erat."77 On the other hand, it may be objected that from Pliny's account of the overthrow of the Colossus we may infer that it fell on the earth, whereas, if thrown down from the extremity of the mole, it could hardly fail to have fallen into the sea. It may, however, have been split open by the earthquake, and afterwards been hauled down, so as to fall along the mole. The notion that its legs bestrid the entrance to either harbour, as is commonly believed, is not based on any ancient authority.78
The mole of the great harbour on which the windmills stand is also an Hellenic work, with massive foundations, which, however, cannot be seen from the inside of the harbour. To the east of the great harbour is a small bay, called Archandia, protected on the east by a ridge of rock, on which, as has been already noticed, are the remains of an ancient mole. This bay is unsuited for a harbour, as it is exposed to the north, and contains rocks; but it may have served as a place of refuge for vessels beating up against a strong north wind.
So far as I have been able to ascertain, no foundations of ancient buildings have been discovered within the walls of the fortress; but it is probable that many temples and other public edifices stood within its precinct. The present Bazaar may occupy the place of the Agora. The ancient city was probably for the most part built of calcareous stone, covered with stucco; and the greater part of such materials woidd, in the course of ages, be broken up into rubble, and leave no trace by which they might now be recognized in the walls of more modern structures.
Very few ancient architectural marbles are now to be found in the Turkish town. In every direction, however, are to be seen small circular cippi, which, from the inscriptions they bear, seem to be, for the most part, the pedestals of Iconic statues. In a few instances, the name of the sculptor who executed the statue is recorded below that of the person represented. Many of these pedestals are probably sepulclural; and, being circular, and of no great bulk, they may have been easily transported from some distance. At present they serve as horse-blocks at the doors of the houses.
If ancient Rhodes contained, as Pliny states, 3,000 statues, the great number of these inscribed pedestals still extant is not surprising.
What were the limits of the ancient city on the south, we have no means of ascertaining. After passing through the Jewish cemetery outside the ramparts, we come to a belt of suburbs on that side, inhabited by Greeks, and enclosed with high garden walls, into which inscriptions and other ancient remains are built.
Beyond this suburb are rock-cut tombs extending for miles over the whole district between St. Stephen's hill and the eastern shore. Many of these tombs may be seen half-buried in the sand along the shore, between the suburb of St. John and the bed of a winter torrent which anciently flowed through an ample rock-cut channel to the sea. On the left side of this duct many Greek names have been cut on the scarped face of the rock. A bridge, the lower part of which is built of massive regular courses, and which appears to be Hellenic, crosses this stream, and doubtless marks the line of the ancient road leading to the city, with tombs on each side of it. A little further to the south is Symbulli, a most picturesque spot, with a fine fountain overshadowed by plane-trees. The grateful and refreshing shade of this spot, and the excellent quality of its water, make it a favourite place of resort for the Rhodiotes on their joum de fete, and it was probably not less frequented in antiquity. Near the basin into which the fountain flows, Ross noticed a fragment of an altar of white marble, nearly 112 foot in diameter, on which has been a frieze of dancing figures, now nearly effaced. Symbulli is situated on the right bank of a ravine, at the point where it is crossed by an aqueduct, which was probably built by the Knights. The plane-trees are overlooked by a rocky ridge running from S.W. to N.E., which on both sides and at its north extremity is cut into steps.
Near Symbulli are a number of rock-cut tombs, one of which is locally known by the name. Tomb of the Ptolemies, for no other reason than that a coin of one of that dynasty is said to have been discovered on this site. This tomb has been engraved and described by Ross in his " Archäologische Aufsätze."79
It has been cut out of a small hill of sandstone situated between two ravines, which form the channels of winter torrents. The form of the tomb is a basement rather more than 88 feet square, and resting on three steps, above which has probably been a pyramid cut oiit of the rock. On each side of the basement are twenty-one engaged columns of very slender proportions. Their capitals are broken away; but, as they are Avithout bases, they were probably Doric, though the shafts are not fluted. Ross calculates that their height, inclusive of the architrave, did not probably exceed 5 metres, with a diameter of 48 centimetres.
Large masses of the base lie at the foot of the monument, which have been broken away either by earthquakes or the undermining force of the torrent flowing below. Only the north side has been well preserved. On this side is the only entrance now to be found—a doorway between the fifth and sixth pillar from the N.W. angle, which leads into an antechamber, communicating with a second chamber, round which are long recesses for the reception of bodies. This chamber is rather more than 22 feet long, and about 1412 feet wide. It has long since been plundered of its contents, and contains no fragment of sarcophagi or other sepulchral remains. It is evident, from the position of these chambers, that they occupy only one-fourth of the whole area of the basement; and as there is no sign that the tomb has ever been opened in any other part, it is possible that, if the ruins round the base were cleared away, other chambers might be disclosed. The upper part of this monument is now covered with earth, on which trees are growing, and it is possible that an earthen mound may have been originally heaped over it; but from the analogy of similar monuments, I am inclined to think that it was surmounted by a pyramid.
With regard to the age of this monument, there is no sure evidence to guide us. Ross thinks that it may be a work of the later Hellenic period; at the same time he observes with truth that its design has more affinity with Oriental, and especially with Phœnician, than with purely Greek types.
Between this tomb and St. Stephen's hill, and for a considerable distance to the south of Symbidli, are a succession of low table-lands, formed of tertiary limestone and sandstone, out of which vast quantities of building materials have been quarried by the ancients; and all through this district tombs are to be met with—mostly plain sepulchral chambers, long since rifled of their contents. Ross thinks that the walls of the ancient city enclosed much of this waste land, and he met with traces of them in several places at the distance of an hour and a half from the modern town. The massive materials of which these walls were composed have long since disappeared, and were probably employed by the Knights to build their fortress with. On the other hand, the form of the ground has probably been much changed by the severe earthquakes to which Rhodes has been from time to time subjected; so that, though it cannot quite be said of this once famous city, etiam periere ruinæ, its site is far less striking than that of most Hellenic cities from the absence of marked and definite features.
I feel, therefore, that the few disconnected facts which I have here noted down are of little present interest; though they may, perhaps, aid future travellers in exploring the ancient topography of Rhodes.