THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Photo from E. L. Harris. A SCENE AT THE RUINED CITY OF APHRODISIAS JUNE, 1925 FEDERAL-AMERICAN NATIONAL BANK NOW IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION IN WASHINGTON, D. C. W. T. GALLIHER, Chairman of the Board JOHN POOLE, President RESOURCES OVER $13,000,000.00 ME FOREIGN S JOURNAL PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION VOL. II No. 6 WASHINGTON, D. C. JUNE, 1925 Aphrodisias By ERNEST L. HARRIS, Consul General, Vancouver ASIA MINOR is the stage upon which have before the dawn of history there are even Hit- been enacted some of the most stupen¬ tite, Phrygian, Lydian, and Greek ruined cities dous events in the history of mankind. left to tell the tale. From the time when Mardonius first crossed the Of all the ruined cities in Asia Minor—and I Hellespont down to the days of the have seen them all—Aphrodisias Anzacs is a goodly span of years, is the most interesting. It is vet every century of it has been also the best preserved because rendered luminous by Persian and it was outside the great Persian Greek, Roman and Pontian, Byzan¬ and Greek highways which tine and Moslem, Crusader and traversed the Hermus and Saracen, Turk and Mogul. The Meander valleys. This accounts graves of Australian soldiers almost for the fact that it was never within sight of the walls of Troy destroyed. The Salbaccus attest the latest scene of strife upon mountain range protected it this stage of apparently never end¬ from invading armies. The ing drama. Fading into the sable ruins are those produced by the mists of the past is the present hand of time rather than by the melancholy picture of ruined cities hand of man. which still remain as silent sentinels Aphrodisias is a five days’ over the tombs of their empires and journey from Smyrna. It is histories. three days from the nearest The agonistic contests fought out railway station, and the most of in Asia Minor never produced any¬ this time must be spent in the thing abiding for the country itself. saddle. The district has always It has always been a thoroughfare been infested with brigands. over which conquerors have passed. At the time I made the journey None ever re¬ the governor of Smyrna was mained there or kind enough to give me six able- established a last¬ bodied soldiers for ing nation. They protection. They were always too were armed with much interested in empty double-bar¬ reled shotguns, the continents be¬ Photo from E. L. Harris. yond. Of things apparently dating which happened CARVED SLAB FROM A TEMPLE from the days of 177 the Seljuks. One clay a young Dutch farmer the fact that the mausoleum had once been the lunched with me in a village. On his wav home last resting place of a wealthy manufacturer of a hand of Greek brigands captured him and one the city who had visited Rome no less than 72 week later he was ransomed for 6,000 Turkish times in the interests of his business. I was pounds ($26,400). All practical demonstrations impressed. That man would be worth the in these lesser historical contests, vet none the weight of his mausoleum in gold if he were alive less important to the particular individual who today and we could secure him to push Amer¬ is supposed to be protected, have amply proved ican commercial interests in Asia Minor! Just that the fire arms used by the brigands were think what a lot of commercial reports and trade better than those used by the soldiers. The letters such a man could write! equipment of the latter had been seriously dam¬ This part of Asia Minor has been termed the aged ages ago in the early experiments with quintessence of the East. The camel caravan; gunpowder. the groves of cypress, olive, plane, and valonia On the road to Aphrodisias we passed the trees; the mosque and towering minaret; lat¬ ruins of ancient Antiochia on the Meander. In ticed windows and veiled women; quaint and the old days it was a great place for wool and picturesque costumes, and a background made dyeing cloths, and the people seem to have been up of the remnants of an ancient civilization in thrifty and full of enterprise. I was especially the form of ruined cities which dot the surface attracted by one huge mausoleum. The inscrip¬ of the whole country. tion on the tomb was difficult for me to read. All these things you pass on the road to The difficulty lay less with the legibility of the Aphrodisias! characters than with my knowledge of ancient The old city itself was situated in a fertile Greek. After a wrestling match with the in¬ plain, watered by numerous small streams, some scription I managed to read it. Archaeologists, of which rose in the center of the city. These I believe, call this kind of work “taking a springs today have degenerated into filthy squeeze.” I managed to “squeeze” therefrom swamps and are now the home of turtles, mos¬ quitos, and fever. Any future plan to excavate this buried city which does not, first of all, in¬ clude some scheme to drain these swamps is doomed to failure. People resorted to Aphrodisias for sports and games, and the free cities of Asia contrib¬ uted to the erection and adornment of these in¬ comparable public build¬ ings, the remnants of which today call for our deepest admiration. The worship of Venus alone, in a temple the gor¬ geousness of which 16 massive pillars still bear testimony, was sufficient to secure for this city the good will of the Roman emperors, for at that time it was popu¬ larly supposed that Caesar was directly de¬ Photo from E. L. Harris. scended from that god- RUINS OF THE TEMPLE OF VENUS dess. Perhaps no city 178 in Asia ever enjoyed so much prosperity or has disias was famous, and this worship lasted in all been so much spared from the contingencies of its pristine vigor until the final overthrow of war. So intact were these monuments epi- paganism. The Temple of Venus at Aphro¬ graphically that until a few years ago, when disias was one of the finest monuments of many inscriptions and objects of fine art were antiquity, but nothing is known of the date of removed, the history of this city and its leading its foundation. After Christianity had forced citizens could be traced upon the public build¬ paganism from the field, and that mystic cult ings. had been banished to the realms of fable, this Among the ruins of Aphrodisias there are great sanctuary was transformed into a Chris¬ some 30 columns still standing, which at one tian church and assumed the character of a time belonged to the various temples which cathedral. Sixteen columns are standing in adorned this city. With the exception, perhaps, their original positions, while the bases of all of Baalbek these are the most imposing ruins in the others are still in place. Some of these Asia Minor or Syria. I have seen both, and columns were donated by citizens, who had their those of Aphrodisias impress me as being more names inscribed upon them, together with the extensive and picturesque. Aphrodisian monu¬ purpose of the offering. Many of these inscrip¬ ments belong to the best period of Greek art, tions date to a period prior to Roman dom¬ and their foundation dates back to the time when ination. the. people of Asia Minor divided their worship To day Aphrodisias is not a place where one between the goddess Diana at Ephesus and the cares long to tarry by the way. There hangs goddess Venus at Aphrodisias. over the spot a spell which is fraught with It was in its reverence for Venus that Aphro¬ (Continued on page 208) Photo from E. L. Harris. COLUMNS OF A RUINED TEMPLE 179 First Aid In Extraterritorial Jurisdiction By FRANCIS M. ANDERSON, Department A CONSUL sitting in his office at some rather than a helpful guide. If he searches further pleasant post in a European country sud¬ into an encyclopedia of practice and procedure, denly receives orders to proceed to a post he may be in even greater difficulty. He may in a country where the United States exercises then turn, as has often been suggested, to the extraterritorial jurisdiction and where he will he Code for the District of Columbia, which may charged with the judicial duty of conducting a appear to him in many instances to be about as consular court of the United States. It may per¬ suitable to the solution of his problem as Sir haps he that the consul has had no legal training. Harry Lauder's characteristic cane would he at a Hardly has the consul settled in his new post diplomatic reception. before some irate son of the desert storms into A perusal of the statements under the appro¬ the consulate swearing by the beard of the priate headings in an encyclopedia of law would Prophet that some rascally American has de¬ probably give a proper orientation of the funda¬ frauded him of a considerable sum of money; mental question of law involved in the case before or perhaps a disgruntled heir or legatee is con¬ him. After a reading of the encyclopedia he vinced that other beneficiaries of the estate are may then turn to Volume 30 and Volume 31 of intent upon depriving him of his share; or that the Statutes at Large of the United States where some luckless American national or protege may he will find two other helpful guides.