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TOPOGRAPHY and EPIGRAPHY of NOVA ISAURA.1 IF Any

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TOPOGRAPHY and EPIGRAPHY of NOVA ISAURA.1 IF Any TOPOGRAPHY AND EPIGRAPHY OF NOVA ISAURA.1 IF any confirmation were required of the evidence supplied by the first inscription published in the J.H.S. 1904, as to the ancient name of Dorla, it would be found in the Roman accounts of the siege of Isaura by Servilius Isauricus. Frontinus, iii. 7, 1, says that Servilius compelled the city to surrender from thirst, flumine ex quo hostes aquabantur averso. Now there are very few cases in which such an operation is possible. Three conditions must be fulfilled : (1) the city must be dependent for its water almost entirely on a river flowing through it or close to the wall; (2) there must be open ground on the opposite side of the river towards which the water can be diverted ; (3) the operation must not be on so great a scale as to be beyond the power of an army such as Servilius had with him, a comparatively small and rather lightly equipped force, able to cross the Taurus from Cilicia, and operate on the northern flanks of the mountains. Tarsus, for example, in ancient times fulfilled at least two of those conditions: the river flowed through the city and could be diverted without very serious difficulty by an operation which was quite within the power of a Roman army. But, on the other hand, there is every probability that Tarsus was sufficiently supplied with water from wells to enable it to hold out against a siege, as the soil yields water everywhere at an easily reached level below the surface, so that the loss of the river-water would indeed be inconvenient, but not decisive in a military view. It is impossible that a large city like Tarsus could be supplied solely from the river, because the river-water would necessarily become to some degree polluted in its course through the city. The wells must have been in permanent use within the city. Again at Dinorna,, where Prof. Sterrett placed Nova Isaura, the city was not dependent on a river, for the obvious reason that neither of the streams there is capable of supplying it with water. They were both quite dry when I passed through the place in 1890; and at no time during the summer can they ever carry much water. I believe that they are almost dry great part of the year. The city at Difiorna, like Tarsus, was undoubtedly dependent more on wells than on a river. 1 This paper was intended to follow the one was crowded out. The numbering of the in- by Miss Ramsay on The Early Christian Art of scriptions is continued from that paper. Nova Isaura, J.H.S., 1904, p. 260 ff., but M 2 164 W. M. RAMSAY But at Dorla all the conditions are fulfilled. The ancient town of Isaura was situated on the high ground on the right side of the stream (which flows here north, and slightly east; not north-west, as Kiepert has it), and extended at least down to the river bank. On the left, or west side of the stream, opposite the city, an isolated hill rises in the midst of the valley. It would be an easy operation for Roman soldiers, accustomed to the use of the spade, to divert the river a few hundred yards above the city and make it flow on the opposite or western side of the isolated hill, entirely out of reach from the city. In its present and normal course the river would touch Isaura only for a short distance, and was thus less liable to pollution. It flows through- out the year with a good supply of water for the city. The city for the most part lay on the broad ridge east of the river, which slopes back very gently towards the last eastern ridge of the Isaurian mountains. The surface of this ridge must lie high above the level of the subterranean waters. Wells would here require to be deep, and could not be quickly made. Further, Sallust in a fragment of the Histories mentions that Servilius occupied a mountain within javelin-throw of the city (montem ex quo in forum oppidi tali coniectus erat occupavit sacrum Matri Magnae)? This ' mons ' is evidently the isolated hill on the left bank of the stream. From this hill the lower part of the city could be reached by javelins; and it is quite natural and probable that the forum (assuming that this conjecture is to be adopted) may have been in that part of the city. The hill rises from the left bank of the little river, and we understand that the city wall bordered the right bank. The holy hill of Cybele, the Great Mother, therefore, was outside of the city ; and was in all probability employed in Anatolian, non-Hellenic fashion as a cemetery. The dead returned to the mighty mother who bore them, as the Lydian chiefs, the sons of the Gygaean Lake, were buried on its shore, according to Homer; and it has been repeatedly shown that this idea is peculiarly and almost universally characteristic of native Anatolian religion.3 The way from the gate of the city, crossing the stream by a bridge at the same place where the modern bridge stands, and ascending the hill to the temple, was bordered, doubtless, by a line of graves the whole way; and thus the Greek fashion was united with the Anatolian; but besides that, it is probable that the whole hill around the temple was full of graves. The Temple of the Great Mother, where on certain days she came to feast, was replaced by the Church, parts of which can still be seen amid the houses on the summit: it was impossible for us to tell how far the walls of the Church might still be traced, as careful exploration amid the houses was not within our power. It is unfortunate that the modern village is for 2 The MS. reading is fugam oppidi. Forum and uncertain, et in eo credebatur epulari dicbus is Hauler's emendation. Mommsen suggested certis dea, etc, iwga. The last may be right: iugum would 3 See e.g. remarks by the present writer in suit the single broad ridge on which the city B.C.H. 1898, p. 236; Cities and Bish. of stood better than iuga, but the plural may be Phrygia, i. pp. 100 f., 361, 367, etc. applicable. The sequel of the text is mutilated TOPOGRAPHY AND EPIGRAPHY OF NOVA. IS AURA. 165 the most part built on the hill, covering up the most interesting ruins. Even as things are, there can be little doubt that £100 or £200 spent in excava- tion would reveal many of the ancient grave-monuments. The account given by the inhabitants unanimously is that in the open spaces between the houses the upper surface of soil, about four or five feet deep, covers over a mass of cut stones. The tomb of the Bishop Theophilus, No. 2, was evidently a monument of large size; and perhaps several, or even many, of the component stones were inscribed (No. 58 may belong to this monument). Beside the great church on the top of the Hill of Cybele, there were of course others in the city. One of these doubtless stood on the site of the present mosque, close to the bridge on the left bank of the stream. It has been rebuilt, and the walls are full of tombstones ; I imagine that nearly all of them are Christian, and that the city was entirely Christian in the fourth century. While the outer walls of the mosque seem to be rebuilt, the inner door is probably pre-Turkish. The stones of which it is composed are dove- tailed (if the word may be used, where the form is so completely altered) in a very intricate style, which I take to be Byzantine. In the vestibule of the mosque, under the thick modern coating of white-washed mud-plaster, where this has partially scaled off, there appears an older coating of stucco, moulded in elaborate pattern, which I take to be Seljuk or early Turkish. Photo- graphs of this pattern proved unsuccessful. The situation of Nova Isaura, as now determined, illuminates the true character of the campaign of Servilius. Thinking of the enterprise as a mountain-campaign, I always found it a quite remarkable and hardly credible achievement at that period. Now an easier line of march is indicated as the probable one. It was possible to advance on the Isaurian country from a basis in Roman possession either directly from the south coast, or from the Province of Cilicia, or from the Province of Asia. The first of these three routes may be set aside as improbable : the country was too difficult for an army, and offered too many opportunities to the natives to attack and destroy the invader in positions where not a blow could be struck or a weapon hurled in reply. The least difficult road would go round by Laranda, and thus would fall into the second route. The second route would traverse the Cilician Gates, and pass through Cybistra, Laranda, Ilistra, and Derbe. Now Servilius, as Sallust says, captured another city, before he came to Isaura Nova; and if he had advanced from that side, the former must have been Derbe. No allusion to Isaura Palaia would in that case be contained in the fragments of Sallust that we possess. The third route was from the Roman province Asia by the valley of the Maeander.
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